Another overnight with the twins

The twins were really into building with blocks last weekend when I spent the night with them. It's now all about how high they can stack the blocks. Then of course Jake loves to knock them down. Claire has some definite ideas about how things should be, and the blocks should be placed with the seam side down. I deliberately put a block on the stack with the seam side up, and she promptly said, "No JanMa, this way" and turned the block over. I did it again with the same results. I held up a block and pointed to the seam, "So this side down Claire?" "Yes JanMa, that way." You can see in the video that she does place seam side down when stacking the blocks flat.

Bill came over and he drew pictures on the little etch-a-sketch thing, and then wrote Claire's name. She pointed and said "C". She is very good at recognizing and naming some letters, when she wants to!
I had brought a few cookies and we shared them. Bill taught them to say MMM, MMM good.

I delayed bath time, hoping to make them really sleepy. After the baths, though, they wanted the Wiggles on the DVD and that started a frenzy of dancing and jumping around, which only made Claire more awake. Jake went right to sleep, but Claire fidgeted for over an hour. I stayed in the room for awhile, then left for awhile, during which time I could hear Claire get out of bed, run around the room, and quietly talking to herself. I went back in, prepared for the long haul, but she tossed and turned for a few minutes, then it was silence, her switch finally turned off!

Jake slept in til about 7:30. I heard him stirring and went into their room to check on them. He still had his eyes closed, so I got 2 diapers and took them back to my room, leaving their bedroom door open. I walked back into room, turned around and there was Jake, right behind me. He climbed into bed with me and we played with the IPad.

About 8:30, I heard Claire stirring and talking. After a few minutes, I saw her standing out in the hall looking around, she had a book in her hand. I called to her to come in with me and Jake. As soon as she heard and saw us, she ran into the room, tossing the forgotten book over her shoulder. She leaped onto the chest at the foot of the bed and jumped into bed with us. We all played with the iPad for a bit longer, then we all brushed our teeth and got dressed to go downstairs.
Claire was trying to put on her jeans while I was dressing Jake. I noticed she had both legs in but the jeans were backwards. I told her to take them off and put them back on with the zipper in the front, and when I went to help her after dressing Jake, she had the jeans on correctly and was trying to zip them up. She asked for help snapping them, then zipped them herself, saying "I do it". She also says "I did it" when she accomplishes something.

Jennifer had brought some balloons home from her birthday dinner the night before, so I added some ribbon to the balloon ribbons and let the kids play with them. Claire called hers "pink", not pink balloon, but just pink, and Jake had blue. Once outside, Jake showed off his pedaling ability on the Little Wheel.



We went inside to change Claire, and while I was trying to find wet wipes and a clean diaper, Jake proceeded to tangle himself up in the balloon string. When I got back downstairs with Claire, he was standing outside Mommy's bedroom door, making loud "help me" noises. Jeremy let him in, freed him from the balloon which immediately got sucked up into the ceiling fan. Claire climbed into bed with Jennifer while Jeremy untangled the fan, and I decided it was time for JanMa to go home!

Working for JanMa

Since my last post about being a sloth, life has gotten pretty busy, much of it JanMa work related. I have turned out 4 projects in the last 2 weeks, with 2 more sitting in the office waiting my attention, and 3 more potentials. All good, since I work on my own time at my own pace. That plus grandchildren involvement, lunches out with friends, retired teacher stuff, and a new start to my walking program have all kept me off the couch. Bill was off last weekend and most of the week too, so more time to spend doing stuff with him.

One of the things we did together was go to Luke's Locker, a running apparel store in Market Street area, and I got a new pair of walking shoes. The folks there are good, they have you walk barefoot, check out your arches, have you walk on the treadmill, then bring out many pairs of shoes that meet your needs and your feet to try on. He put a different shoe from each pair on my feet so I could compare them, walking around and on the treadmill. Then another set, then switch right to left, and so on, until I was able to narrow it down to the ones that fit best. I have some heel pain when I walk, so I ended up with a pair of Saucony's that have air gaps in the heel, so when I walk my heel doesn't actually touch anything. The price was not any more expensive than other athletic shoe stores, with a lot better help.
I also subbed several Wednesday nights for either Jeremy or Jennifer for swimming lessons. I like getting in the water with the kids, going through their 30 min swim lesson, helping them get dressed after, then we walk down the strip mall to CiCi's pizza for dinner. Makes a great evening for me.

Jake likes the pizza and breadsticks, Claire goes for the pasta and alfredo sauce, (macaroni and cheese) and will eat bowls of it.
I've been keeping up with John and Taylor and her climbing antics. Taylor has climbed to the top of the dining room table, up onto John's bed, the top of the book case, and now on top of anything she can so she can reach the light switch, like a toy box, chair, rocking horse....

John also got an early birthday present, a Lightening McQueen bicycle. Plus a pair of noise-reducing headphones, since he is going to a motocross this weekend and a monster truck rally next weekend.
And I have some new favorite things, they aren't really new, but they have become such an integral part of my life I can't imagine ever not having them.
First, Bill's and my IPad (yes, it is half his....)
I check email, surf the web, facebook, play games, read books, facetime video conference with the grandkids, show off their pictures on it, and let them play their games on it when I come to visit. It has changed the way I function during the day. Many times I have thought of something while watching a TV show, and can quickly surf the web to find the answer, or to interact with comments about something on TV. I love to video conference with the kids, seeing their faces and smiles and talking to them when I can't be there. My Mom got a Kindle Fire and it has changed her life too. We play words with friends together, a long-distance version of scrabble. I have multiple games going on with several friends.

Another favorite thing is my new big TV. But what makes it so much more than just being a large screen, is Suddenlink DVR box that lets me record shows, but even more.... While watching something on TV, even without recording, I can pause the show, go do other stuff, and come back and start it up again, fast forwarding through commercials. I know, I know, this has been around for awhile, but I just got it. If I had known what a difference it makes, I would have done this some time ago. Jeremy told me years ago that TIVO would change the way we watch TV, but I just couldn't imagine... now I know the concept, whatever kind of technology you use to get it. You can see the timer bar on the bottom of the picture below.

I also got a new phone system, and now I have caller ID. WOW, this is huge. Before, I used my answering machine to screen calls, but now I can just pick up a receiver and see who is calling. Even cooler, my TV will show on the screen who is calling!


TV screen with caller ID showing up at the bottom.
I'm off to overnight with the twins tonight, Jennifer's birthday weekend and they have a late night planned. So do I with the kids!

Avoiding the sloth!

Actually, avoiding becoming a sloth should be the title of this post! It is far too easy to become quite lazy, especially when the skies are gray and drizzly and the air is cool and damp and threats of a head cold, sinus congestion, allergies, whatever, loom large. Long afternoon naps with kitties on my lap and books on the ipad became the order of the day, along with hot soup and crusty bread. A delightful way to spend some time, to be sure, but one must get off the couch at some point. So I quit taking decongestants, which make me sleepy, and eased my way back into the outside world. I started work on another JanMa's project, set out the papers for tax preparation (ugh!), and started back into walking outside 30 minutes a day, which is about 1.3 miles. I may not walk fast, but I have short legs, so I take a lot of steps!

I also engaged in my favorite pastime, playing with grandchildren. I did some twin sitting and filled in as a substitute daddy for swim lessons when Jeremy couldn't get home in time. I had a great time swimming with Jake and watching Claire with her Mommy.
Twins' new backyard covered patio, not quite finished, which will provide a shaded play area on hot summer days.
Jake and Claire enjoying some outside time with JanMa.
Video of Claire in her pink tutu and high heels. She had been holding her hands overhead, spinning like a ballerina, and as soon as I grabbed the camera to take a picture, she stopped and refused to perform again!



The family also got the exciting news of Blaine and Erin's engagement. This of course required a celebration involving food. We went to Beck's Prime for lunch the day after he popped the question and got to ooh and aah over her ring. He picked it out all by himself, fortunately she said yes!

Meanwhile, up north in McKinney, Taylor is expanding her climbing skills. She has managed to climb up on John's bed, without using the steps, on top of the dining room table, and now on top of John's bookcase. She'll be the one on the roof trying to jump on the trampoline, if they ever get a trampoline.
I was also up late one night and heard a couple of hoot owls. I went outside and tried to record them. You can hear the audio but the video is basically dark night. They sounded very close earlier, in my front yard, and later when I got the camera they had moved to trees behind my neighbor's house. It was a dark and foggy night, and they sounded rather ominous.