Hi!  So sorry about the late post but we’ve had an interesting couple of weeks. School started and the next week Hurricane Florence looked to be barreling towards us. Our town is a low lying town on the water and flooding was a serious concern. About 15 years ago, Tim and I lost our home to flooding from a hurricane and lived in a FEMA camper for 18 months. We are not hoping to relive the experience. They issued an evacuation for our town so I took the kids and drove to Iowa, while Tim stayed home and tried to prepare the house. He joined us a few days later. Thankfully for us,  it was all for nothing and we didn’t even get rain because the storm turned. The reason we went to Iowa was because my niece got married and the girls were her flower girls. We just ended up going a little early.  We drove back a few days ago and it took me a couple of days to recover from all the chaos.  I’m glad you all commented and our checking the updates.  I’m sorry if I disappointed you but I hope you understand.  I know it will mean a lot to the girls one day as well.

Taya

Emi

We we had a great summer.  We spent nearly every weekend on the boat or at the beach.  The girls are definitely water babies.  If they woke up and saw Tim and sunshine they were demanding to go on the boat before they ate breakfast.  We also bought a floating water mat to tie off of our dock and the loved jumping off of that in the evenings.  They love their little life jackets and have no problem trusting them in deeper water.  I actually wish they were a little timid about it but they are fearless.  They did do swim lessons and we’re gonna do some at the Y this winter.  I had avoided taking them to a pool because it was hard with the two of them and one of me.  I wasn’t sure I could keep them safe.  By the end of the summer they could swim with their life jackets on so we did go to the pool on weekdays.  They even jumped off the diving board!  Taya tried to dive like the big kids,  but it’s kinda hard to do with a puddle jumper on.  The lifeguards couldn’t believe that they’re only 3.

Emi

Taya

Another favorite place this year was a local park that is also a farm.  They have pretty much every farm animal and many can be pet or fed by hand.  The girls loved to feed the baby goats and pet the horses.  They got to go on a horse ride this summer and can’t stop talking about it.  They’re also big fans of the aquarium.  They kiss the fish tanks. Toy Story has been replaced by Finding Nemo as the girls top movie pick so the fish are like celebrities to them.  They aren’t quiet children and will shout at each other in their “twin talk”.  It makes quite a scene.  People stop us often when we’re out because the girls draw a lot of attention.  They’re beautiful and loud and identical twins are still pretty uncommon.  The ends of their hair turns light blonde in the sun and people are always commenting on how pretty it is.  They also have a naughty/mischievous streak and when they are embracing that, they can cause a scene anywhere.

I took them in for a checkup with their speech therapist before school started and they are still in the normal range.  The problem is that they are so wrapped up in each other that they don’t care about speaking properly.  Only when they are separated and told that no one understands them, will they speak normally.  Obviously they spent all their time together this summer so the twin talk is strong. We’re hoping that with school starting and them being in separate classes, it will die down.  It’s incredibly frustrating for me and they know it.  I make them speak properly to me and they will often spend all day mispronouncing words just to drive me crazy.  They get this smirk on their face and glint in their eye when they know they’re being naughty.  Then they will run around the house and laugh.  I am both infuriated and proud of how strong willed they are.

We did put put them in tball this last month but I’m not sure it’s their sport. It’s a little slow for them and they’re on the same team so they basically have a play date in the dirt while a tball game happens  around them.  They spend a lot of time throwing their gloves in the air and drawing in the dirt.  I’m not sure we’re going to make it through the season.  They really would like to play football with their brother but they’re a little young for the helmet and pads.

So so that was our summer in a nutshell, I hope you’re doing well. I’ll be back on track in January.  If you ever want to reach me, I get an email notification when you comment here.  I’ll respond as soon as possible.