“You can do it, Luke. I’ll be waiting…”

Lately it’s been all about Star Wars…most assuredly because they have been playing with Jackson and Mason, their 6 year old pals who are obsessed with Star Wars.

Sammi ran to the garage one day to tell Ed that she must have an authentic Luke Skywalker outfit so he attired her with his jacket and a foam baseball ball. Fit the need perfectly!

She then runs back out to Nicki (who is, of course, Lea) for this exchange:

Luke: “I’m off to fight them (ayii.the poor grammar…we are trying!!) bad guys.”

Lea: “I will be waiting for you!”

Lea: “I know you can do it, Luke!”

Victorious!

Made me smile. Hope it did you for you…

-cindy

Scooter-ing

We have a long and fairly flat and wide driveway. It’s perfect for scooter-ing. Have you personally tried scooter-ing lately? It is FUN though Buddy and his barking probably brought all the neighbors out to their windows. How come Buddy only goes crazy when I’m on the scooter and not the girls? (Don’t tell me because he is trying to tell me I look silly..!)

Sam in yellow….Nicki in pink.

-Cindy

Five Joy-Filled Years Later….

Five years later and every single dream, expectation, hope, wish and desire has come true. Our girls have completely enriched our lives and they are our precious treasures. It is simply impossible for me to imagine ‘life’ without the girls….I know all parents must say that but….I ‘really’ mean it!! Our 5th Year Anniversary ‘Gotcha Day’ was November 6th, 2006 and it has zoomed by….

We spent our Anniversary Day in a low-key way…..we went out to lunch, went to the park, cooked together (which the four of us love doing together) , and mostly just played around the house while I snapped some pictures. The night before the Anniversary Day, the girls insisted on pulling out their ‘fancy’ dresses for the ‘important’ day. At one point during the day….as I watched them running and tumbling and scooting and biking and twirling and swinging and sliding and zooming and hurling themselves all about (like normal), I asked them if they wanted to change into their play clothes. They both looked at me indignantly and said (truly!) that it would be “disrespectful’ to change out of the important clothes because the anniversary lasts all day.” Well-said, girls,  though, I have to say in my and Ed’s case, we have been celebrating every day since Referral Day on August 24th, 2006.

Sammi on left; Nicki on right….

 

 

So Nicki is my silly one…..always giving me funny poses and being ultra goofy….hard to get her to be serious and she is definitely the one to tell a joke or catch a joke first….

And Sammi wants to ‘tow-the-line’ and keep the order and make sure everything is just ‘so’…..She wants to plan and organize and direct.

You can see just from this pic below…Sammi trying her best to smile in that direct sunlight and Nicki just being an irreverent as possible….

Nicki….

Now check out this very last picture. Isn’t it interesting….?  I caught them dancing together and just simply joy-filled.

I hope you and your family are filled with joy and treasures, too!!

Hugs,

Cin

Blue-Jean Girls

The girls attend drama school for about 3 weeks every 9 weeks or so during their Track Out periods. At the camp, the children (aged 3 to 14 with most children around first grade to fifth grade) learn all aspects of drama and production such as set-building, script-writing, direction, filming, lights, stage work, and of course, acting. It is rather impressive. Then, each Friday, the  company puts on a weekly play that lasts about 20 or so mins with 8-12 or so kids. It's great fun. We initially enrolled them when they just turned four as they were so shy…so very very timid. Our hope was that acting would allow them to gain confidence in speaking and interacting with others. Well, I am happy to report that they are thriving at the drama school and in fact just played two key roles in last week’s production. They both now are assigned complex lines, they have to sing and dance about and……the best part, of course….is that they just love it. They talk about their beloved drama school all the time. Ed and I get the biggest kick out of watching the productions. The school hires professional actors and artists to work with the kids so it’s all so top-notch and well-done.
I think the drama and productions are spurring them on to constantly bombard me to film or shoot them as they bounce around the house and yard creating their own little plays. And, I am highly encouraging and inciting them on as it is so fun for me to watch them love doing what they love to do.... :)

As a side note, I highly recommend any parent to think about drama school activities (as long as you can find a theater company with a good reputation) if you have an unusually timid child and you are looking for something to help build their confidence. We are fortunate as the drama school the girls attend is actually affiliated with a very reputable city sponsored Theater organization that has been in our area for almost 100 years and is quite well-established so we feel great about their involvement in this troop.

Below, they both wanted to dress up as blue-jean girls and pretend they were getting ready to perform at a Bruce Springsteen concert. (are you surprised to hear that Ed is from Pittsburgh and we listen to Bruuuce all the time…?). 


Happy Dancing to You, Too. !!!
Hugs,
cin

First Day of First Grade

In our area, we have some schools that operate on a  ‘year-round’ schedule and we love it! We’re on Track 2 (there are four tracks) and the children attend for approximately 9 weeks then they are out for 3 weeks. Multiple tracks are staggered and it works out so that the schools are operational all year long and…so much better….the children don’t ‘waste’ the first 6 weeks of the traditional school year relearning what they forgot during the 3-month summer block. Plus, the girls attend Track-Out camp (mostly) during the 3 week hiatus and get to go to all sorts of fun programs though by far their favorite camp it a drama school.
Sammi and Nicki returned back to school a few weeks ago but the pics below are from their very first day of First Grade.
Sammi  in the red stripes; Sammi in blue….


Hope you continue loving first grade, Little Ones!
Hugs,
cin

Easy-Peasy Greek Salad

Someone wrote in earlier and asked for another easy-peasy summer recipe. ……Well, here you go…

Greek Salad --  I found this on the web quite some time ago and have since lost the citation to the person who posted it. If anyone knows, please do let me know. It is EASY-PEASY and simply fantastic. You just cannot go wrong and it is HEALTHY HEALTHY HEALTHY. Nicki is crazy about the black olives…….Just serve it with plain pita chips you can buy in the grocery store.

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice – fresh ONLY please

1 clove garlic-minced – the minced garlic in the jar is fine

1/2 tsp dried oregano (use same amount fresh if you have it…fresh is better!!)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper for garnish

3 tomatoes cut into wedges

1/4 onion chopped finely (can be cut into rings or slices)

1/2 cucumber sliced in to thick half moons

1/2 green pepper julienned

4 oz feta cheese cut into small cubes

16 kalamata olives

Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake-shake-shake and then dance a bit around the kitchen….any silly dance will do….. to combine.

Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine just before serving. GARNISH the Greek salad with a little freshly ground black pepper.

Ta-DA!!!! And then serve with a light wine for you and sugared lemon-water (freshly squeezed) for the little ones.

So what haunts you then?

The girls’ target bedtime is 8 pm. Mostly (95%) of the time, we make that deadline faily well as I push hard to stay on schedule each night....even weekends for the most part. Dinner and dinner-clean-up is done by 6:30; baths 630, books start at 7:00 until 8. So….no big deal. Then, I come downstairs and read books or my NY Times or hang-out on the back porch with Ed (mostly) and chat or watch Charlie Rose or cooking shows. (or the Antique Roadshow). My TV watching really is limited to about those three shows..or sometimes we'll catch Masterpiece.

I’m getting to my plot line here…

I then go upstairs to check-up on the girls around 10pm-ish. Most of the time, Nicki has crawled into Sammi’s bed and is curled up next to Sammi. Sammi’s arm is draped over Nicki’s back and sometimes her hand is lying on Nicki’s head...really a sweet scene. Nicki likes her head to be patted so I'm sure Sammi is doing so. During the daytime, Nicki is typically the de-facto leader and Sammi mostly goes along with her games and mostly takes her leadership in stride…except…..except….if there is anything at all whatsoever that makes Nicki hesitate or that spooks Nicki or scares Nicki, then Sammi is 'enguard at her side' to take over and be Nicki's 'protector".

It is one of my greatest joys the girls treat each other this way and it is my greater fear that somehow they could possibly lose each other. I do, of course, dwell on "the good" and I try hard not to think about "the bad" but it’s there and it can haunt me. How on earth do parents get through the loss of a child and how on earth do twins get through the loss of the other...?I guess one doesn't get 'through it', do they...

I thank my lucky stars about a quadrillion times a day.....

Here's to keeping us all safe and sound as can be,
Cin

Summer Smiles

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well…we’re all going great here though it is quite hard to believe the girls are almost ready to start first grade in a few weeks. We’re in year-round school which means some families start school in the summer. Before I let months go by again without posting, I am happy to put up a few great summer pics. I hope your household is as full of smiles and giggles and silly stunts as ours is as it is quite fun. We’re crazy-tired at night but it’s a ‘good’ tired…

Nicki in pink……Sammi sitting up….Buddy in fur….

Nicki has the pink bow….

NIcki in these next three

Sammi in purple…

And Sammi once again…

Nicki is the goof-ball…she has the very silliest streak….always hi-jinks with this one….

And Sammi below…

Nicki on left kissing Sammi….

Sammi in blue…

And that’s it for now…Whew, I feel so much better FINALLY getting some pics posted. Now I’m looking forward to looking up other blogs, too.

Hugs!

Cindy