Happy New Year! The 1st 11 days have been a blur for us. We got home in the 4th and we’re back to school and our routine on the 5th. The past week it has felt like one big holiday hangover. I finally got all the Christmas decorations down and stored away again today.

5th grade is going pretty good. Emi was on the A/B honor roll for the first quarter. Taya missed it with a high C in math. Math is still the subject they both struggle with the most. And it’s the tests that really take the toll. The girls will know what to do, but sometimes become paralyzed with the first step. They completely black out. Once they see an example or have a nudge then they are fine. Unfortunately test don’t always measure knowledge completely. We have hired a tutor for them to see once a week and I’m hopeful that she can get them there. She’s a former teacher and familiar with our school’s curriculum. She has already cut down on the tears and frustration (on both sides) of Tim and I trying to teach them. I also hope it builds their confidence before they head into middle school. Speaking of confidence, I know I mentioned Girls on the Run in my last post. The 5k that we were going to run at the end of the program was cancelled due to weather so we didn’t have to do it. We were all happy to have dodged that bullet.

Halloween was fun. As usual the girls had very specific ideas about their costumes but this year they actually opted for something not glamorous and I was very surprised. Taya’s costume was DIY and they did their own makeup. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before or not, but there is one house that is famous for Halloween in our little town. They have over 7 storage units of decor, have fog machines, music and live characters roaming the yard. The girls have been obsessed with it since they were little and dubbed it “the scary house”. They make us drive by it all month long so we can track the progress of the decor. I think their costumes were influenced by it this year.

Taya in white wig, Emi in black wig

We carried on our tradition of making homemade cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving. We pass them out to neighbors and friends as a way of showing our gratitude. It’s nice because we don’t have family around for the weekend and we’re not around here over Christmas. It’s like the kickoff to the holidays for us. The girls get bored with the baking but like to deliver and love sampling the goods.

Christmas was great. The girls are in that in between stage, where they don’t really play with toys but aren’t old enough for true teenage stuff but I think we pulled it together. Clothing with bows and pearls, skincare, and the big labubus were on the top of their list this year. Pretty sure this will also be the last year they “believe”. This year they mentioned things that people at school have told them but I don’t think they wanted the truth yet. It makes me sad that the magic is fading, but not gonna lie, it will make my life much easier. They spent lots of time with cousins playing games and having sleepovers. The only disappointment was the lack of snow. We had hoped to take the girls snowboarding/skiing for their birthday but the weather didn’t cooperate. They haven’t tried it yet and it would have been a disaster when they were younger but they’ve said they’d like to try it and I think they’re old enough to deal with the frustration of learning. Maybe next year. We gave them Pandora bracelets for their birthday, so we had a girls day with Canes, shopping for a charm and a big family dinner instead.

I hope the holidays were fun for you and that the new year brings nothing but happiness!

Taya, Emi

Happy New Year! It felt like the holidays lasted forever this year. Our trip home got delayed because of winter storms and then the first two days of school after break were cancelled because of snow and we actually had another snow storm last night. This area completely freaks out at the first mention of a snowflake. The snow removal system is literally the sun. Thankfully it never sticks around for long and only happens every few years.

The cheer season ended early this year because our football team was not great, but that’s been a bit of a blessing for us. Fourth grade is really kicking our butts. The girls have a lot of homework plus it seems they have at least one quiz/test a day. I was never a big fan of math in my day and now we’re I’m having to do it all over again with them. I know I mentioned that they learn differently, so repetition really is the key. The thing that sucks is that it requires more after schoolwork, but they are starting to realize that hard work pays off and they are just as smart(smarter in some cases) as everyone else. Taya is on the A/B honor roll and Emi is not far off. I just need to get them to have a little more confidence.

Taya, Emi

Halloween this year was nice. The weather as mild and the girls were excited. They didn’t really go as a “thing”, more like they picked out certain looks and went as models. Emi really wanted a biker jacket and Taya chose a little more glam. By the end of the night both were barefoot and on sugar highs. I think being models was more work than they thought it would be.

Emi in black, Taya in gold

Christmas was the usual mix of crazy and excitement. I’m thinking this might be the last year for the magic of Santa but I’d like to squeeze in another if I can. Part of the way I keep them believing is by having Santa get them something I swore I would never let them have. This year that gift was real makeup and a vanity/desk for each of their rooms. Santa even got them foundation (tinted moisturizer). They are phasing out of the dolls and toys and becoming tweens. They did still get the dolls they asked for but most of their list was clothes, shoes and makeup.

Taya – left, Emi- right

For their birthday this year, we had a girls day and they got to go shopping and pick out an outfit and shoes. They also got new bedding for their rooms. As I said earlier they are leaving little girl stuff behind and sometimes they are in too big of a hurry to grow up. They said they wanted boobs, a nose ring and a foot tattoo for their birthday. They actually thought they might wake-up with boobs in the morning! They were disappointed on all accounts but I think they had fun anyway 😂

Taya, Emi

Hope the new year brings wonderful things for all of us. I’ll write again in May.

Happy September! It seems like the summer flew by. I think it’s because this year we had a good mix of camps and downtime.

We started the summer with swim lessons. The girls were a little annoyed at having to take them because now it’s really about learning the strokes properly. They love the pool and the water but are more interested in swimming under water and goofing around than technique. I need them to get stronger. Especially since we live on the water. They also got new electric scooters and cruised the neighborhood all summer long.

Taya

Emi

They went to summer school in July and I thought I might get some resistance from them but they actually said they kinda liked it. I think because they are the class of students that started school during Covid as online instruction, many of their classmates struggled this year and a lot of them chose to do summer school as well. They would go straight from school to afternoon gymnastics camp. It worked out well because it was crazy hot during that time. We went to the public pool and the water was so warm that it wasn’t enjoyable. In August they did Busch Gardens camp and both conquered new rollercoasters, but Taya has done more than Emi. Both of them are cautious but Taya is more adventurous. Emi takes her time, thinking things through. She is very determined so when she makes her mind up, it very rarely changes. It’s interesting because Taya will be up to try more stuff but will stand at the top of a ride forever gathering courage. Emi will refuse to even look at it but then when she decides she’s ready she has no hesitation. Once she decides she wants something, there is no stopping her.

Taya in front, Emi behind

The best discovery of the summer for the girls was the Cat Cafe. It’s a business that fosters cats and for a fee you can go in and play with them and feed them treats. They usually have between 20 to 30 cats and kittens at a time. The girls love that place and could spend hours there. They still have their cats at home but I think they believe there’s no such thing as too many cats. This is the next best thing for them.

Emi, Taya

We wrapped up summer by having one final adventure in West Virginia. We rented a cabin for a couple of days and went white water rafting one day and did the inflatable water park another day. I’d never done something like that before and we weren’t sure what the girls would think of it but it ended up being so much fun. We did a couple of grade 3 rapids as well as some lesser ones. It was an all day event so by the time it was over I could barely lift my arms. I took Taya and she loved it. Emi went with Tim and said she liked it but didn’t really want to do it again. We’re hoping she’ll change her mind in a couple of years when they’re old enough for us to go on the more challenging trip. The cabin we rented had a hot tub and she did really enjoy that. She’s not exactly one for roughing it, but she does enjoy glamping.

Taya, Emi

School started the last week of August. We missed orientation because of our trip but we did manage to go shopping for their first day of school outfits. This year I took them individually and it was much better. They are definitely shoppers and love trying things on. They both picked their own outfits and I thought they looked cute. So far things seem to be going well. They like their teachers and have recess together. I really hope this is the year they gain some confidence and break out of their shells a little. They are also doing cheer again and get to do some gymnastics during the half time routine.

Taya, Emi

Taya, Emi

That’s it for the summer recap. I’ll update again in January.

Happy New Year! It was nice to get your note on the girls’ birthday. Thanks for letting me know you appreciate the posts. You’re right, they really are gorgeous, but boy do they know it. I’m constantly trying to reinforce their character over their appearance but they do love a mirror. 

Emi in white, Taya in black

3rd grade has been a bit of a difficult transition for the girls. The work gets a lot harder and they have regular grades vs pass/fail. I feel bad for them that they started school during COVID so I don’t think they got the foundation they would have gotten if they hadn’t been doing virtual school. They do process information a little differently so the biggest challenge is math. I also struggled with math, so I’m not the best at helping them. The trick is trying to explain it in a way they understand which is not necessarily the way other kids learn it. Aside from that, they’re doing well and both of them often get special recognition for good behavior in school. Their favorite part of school is still picking out their outfit, although they have kind of veered away from dresses and are going more towards leggings and fancy tops. Apparently they each have a “crew” at school and that’s what the crew wears. Also Taya’s crew is more “sassy”than Emi’s crew. I guess that means they talk like 80’s valley girls because when she talks like that around me it just sounds annoying. When the girls are picking at each other they will threaten to tell their crew not to talk to the other one and it’s serious business. It’s so silly. When one of them is misbehaving in the morning I will punish her by making her wear plain leggings and a regular tshirt to class. No one would even think they look out of place but looking basic is like a fate worse than death to them.

Emi top, Taya bottom

Halloween was pretty great. The girls started getting into the creepy aspect of it this year and practiced doing their own makeup for a couple weeks before. They watched YouTube tutorials and even figured out how to use toilet paper and qtips to make scars and wounds.

Top row- Taya, Taya, Emi.  Bottom row – Emi, Taya and Emi

Thanksgiving is pretty uneventful for us because we do so much for Christmas. We started a tradition last year of baking cinnamon rolls to deliver neighbors and friends to show our gratitude for them in our lives. They also got to be in the Christmas parade for cheerleading. I bought them each a giant bag of candy from Costco to throw but Taya tried to save hers for herself and wouldn’t throw any. Finally her coaches noticed and made her spread it out to the crowd. We ended up with plenty of candy at home from Tas and Tim collecting, but I guess she didn’t trust them to share. 

Emi, Taya

Christmas was fun and busy and crazy. We did our cookie decorating party, gingerbread houses, and horseback riding. The girls are obsessed with American Girl Dolls and they each got one. They also got plenty of other dolls, hoverboards, games, makeup and dress up clothes. Emi specifically asked for “fashion” dress clothes, not princess clothes. Luckily I found a bunch of homecoming dresses on sale and because they’re so tall they can fit in them. They are also pretty heavy into slime and Squishmallows. We had to do some creative packing just to get it all home. I know we go a bit overboard at Xmas but I don’t really buy a bunch of stuff throughout the year and Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I have a hard time reigning myself in. I have great Christmas memories and I want them to have them too. 

Top – Taya in purple, Emi in white and Tas  Mid – Emi, Taya, Taya Bottom – Emi, Emi, Taya

This year for their birthday we went to the Wisconsin Dells for 2 nights. The girls were super excited because they got to do a water slide that they had seen on TV. I hated it because it felt like being in a washing machine, but they couldn’t get enough. They were also pretty excited to sleep in bunk beds. They played arcade games, swam and had pizza for lunch and dinner both days. The only disappointment was that there was no snow. We had planned to let them try snowboarding and go tubing one day but ended up having to do the waterpark 2 days. Overall it was a major success. I like that we all go somewhere for there birthday so it feels separate from Christmas. 

1st row – Emi, Taya, Emi. 2nd row – Emi, Taya, Taya

As much as I love the holidays, they are exhausting and it takes us a while to get back in the swing of regular life. I hope that this is the beginning of a great year for all of us. I’ll post again in May.

Hello! We had a short but busy summer. Normally our school district starts classes after Labor Day but this year we made a shift to be more in line with other areas and started earlier. That meant we had 2 less weeks of summer vacation and I’m not mad about it.

Taya, Emi

The girls finished up their acting program with a production of Mary Poppins. They worked so hard and had 2 straight weeks of 9 hour rehearsal days. It was a really great show and my sisters came up and surprised them to watch their performances. The first two weeks of summer were all about the theater and family.

Taya. Taya, Emi

They also had two summer camps. Girl Scout camp , which they did last year as well. It’s like an old school 80’s camp with nature hikes, canoeing, crafts and swimming. They also played Gaga ball everyday and that was the girls favorite. The 2nd camp they did was Busch Gardens camp. Busch Gardens is the local amusement park. They loved this camp and by the end of it Taya had ridden all of the rollercoasters. Emi was a little more unsure about the big coasters so she didn’t ride all the big ones but rode most of them. I’m proud of them for knowing their own comfort levels and doing what they wanted without being influenced by their sister. They also had 2 weeks of swim lessons and are getting pretty good at freestyle. I might sign them up for the local swim team next summer.

We spent the last week of summer break in Clinton and did all the important stuff. Eagle point, horseback riding, painting pottery, swimming and the skate park. The only downside was that their favorite ice cream place went out of business.

Top row Taya, bottom row Emi

Their favorite news of the summer is that cheerleading started. The girls were very interested in joining the team and have waited all year for signups. Personally, I was never a big cheerleader fan and really hoped they would change their minds, but they were determined. I’m not sure how much of their interest is based on the act of actually cheering or if the bigger draw is the cheer uniform and the fact that they can wear it to school on Fridays. They are also fans of the bow, which is a cheer thing but also a big southern thing. I don’t get it but I’ve never been a girlie girl and they definitely are. Emi cried this morning because it’s PE day for her and she had to wear tennis shoes and shorts instead of fancy shoes and a dress. My favorite day was always PE day. They’ve had a couple of games and really seem to love it so I’m pretty sure they’ll be cheering next year too. They do look pretty cute.

School has started the girls were a little nervous because they moved up to our elementary school, which is grades 3-5. They each picked out a new outfit. Taya said her dress was kind of a Wednesday dress but also what smart girls wear and Emi went with more of a punk vibe. I totally would have worn her outfit in the 80’s.

That’s the summer recap. I’ll update again in January.

It just occurred to me that I’m a month late on my update. If anybody was looking for it – I apologize. It simply got away from me. A couple of months ago our ceiling literally crashed down around us. Our house had these old, elaborate plaster ceilings and they are quite heavy. Apparently with time the plaster separated the drywall from the ceiling joists and one Saturday we heard a giant crash at about 6am. Thankfully nobody was injured but it has been quite an ordeal getting things fixed. The floors were also damaged in the crash so we decided to replace all the ceilings and floors in the main part of the house. We then lived in the bonus room over the garage and our bedrooms while Tim replaced everything. During that time he got an illness that had him out for a couple of weeks and that delayed things even more. At the same time, school and life are still going on and I was trying to have this impact the kids as little as possible. The good news is that the house has now almost had a complete remodel and we should be done with projects for a while. Tim isn’t back to 100% but he’s much better and life is getting back to normal.

Top row = Taya, bottom row = Emi

The girls have mainly been busy with school and their theater classes. They put on a production of Annie and it was really good! They were both orphans in the ensemble. Neither of them wanted to audition for a speaking role – they’re still too nervous and insecure for auditioning- but they sang and danced in most of the scenes and they were absolutely phenomenal. I was so proud of them and more importantly they were proud of themselves. It was a lot of hard work with rehearsals everyday after school in the 2 weeks leading up to the shows but they never complained and were excited to perform. This program has really built their confidence. They are now rehearsing for Mary Poppins. The shows will be the last 2 weeks of June. My sisters are coming in to watch but the girls don’t know, so it will be a big surprise. For the Annie shows they had some classmates and neighbors come and they really felt special.

They also both played soccer this year and while I still don’t think they love it, they did much better than last year. Taya enjoyed being goalie and Emi had some good plays in defense. What they’ve really been working on is gymnastics. I had them in a gymnastics class for 2 years and they couldn’t be bothered. They never even worked out a cartwheel. Now they’ve taught themselves front and back walkovers, handsprings and the splits. Taya can even do an aerial cartwheel and Emi is not far behind her. The reason for the sudden obsession with gymnastics is that they want to be on the cheer squad. I signed them up for the local team and practices start in July. I’m not sure how I feel about competitive cheer teams but they have some friends that do it and are very interested in doing it too. We’ll see how the summer and fall go. Maybe next year. The thing they need to realize is that they’re never going to be the top of the pyramid. They are too big and nobody is going to be able to fling them around. Also they sport focuses so much on appearance and the girls already get so much attention in that area. They talk about looks a lot and can be too focused on their clothes and hair etc. I want them to know that their worth is not tied to their looks. They are kind and smart and funny. We’re trying to focus on how the inside is better than the outside.

We’ve got one week of school left and the girls are counting the days down. They’re ready for summer. I’m not sure I am. I’ll let you know how it goes in my September post.

Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s almost the middle of January. It feels like the last few months went by in a flash.

The girls have settled in to school nicely. They love their teachers, have made some good friends and are reading well now. They seem to really enjoy school and have come out of their shells a bit. Our school hands out “bucket filler” awards for excellent behavior, responsibility, leadership or kindness. They have both received several of these although Emi has a few more. But who’s counting (Taya’s definitely counting)? Whenever someone accomplishes something big or gets acknowledged for something good, they get to have dinner on this yellow plate with a big star on it that says “you are special!” I’ve had to wash that plate quite a few times this year. We had parent teacher conferences recently and aside from going over their academic progress, both teachers commented on the girls fashion sense. They still prefer to wear dresses to school but will now wear jeans but only bell bottoms. Nobody else in their school wears them, but they saw them on tv and begged me to get them some. Not just flared but as wide as they get. They are so tall and lean that they are part of the few people that look really good in them. Many mornings they want me to do a photo shoot at the bus stop because they are feeling themselves. Emi’s teacher had to move her seat away from the mirror on I day I her hair before school because she couldn’t stop looking at herself. We teach them that beauty comes from within, but they are definitely invested in what their “look” is. I have no idea where this comes from because I’m usually in jeans or sweatpants. It’s probably because of their artsy nature. Emi even had her artwork selected for the town fair.

For Halloween this year Taya really wanted them to be models, with high heels and slip dresses, but I dashed that dream and we settled on belly dancers. I bought them long ponytail clip-on wigs and let them wear fake eyelashes so they were happy with the end result. They had a couple of Halloween parties on top of their school celebration so they were eating Halloween candy almost til Christmas. Taya loves milk chocolate and caramel but hates dark chocolate. Emi likes chocolate as well but really loves licorice and AirHeads.

Emi, Taya

After Thanksgiving Tim took the girls on a daddy daughter date to a really fancy hotel in Richmond where they serve high tea. They all got dressed up and ate off of silver trays. They were less than impressed with the tea sandwiches but were big fans of the desserts. Taya, however, was blown away by the bathrooms. When they called me on the way home she kept talking about how fancy they were. It was actually pretty funny because Tim said she kept having to go and normally she freaks out about having to use public bathrooms.

Christmas was good this year. They are in a musical theater program so they got to do some holiday shows and march in a parade. We hosted a cookie decorating party with 6 of their friends and went to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens. We went to Iowa over the break. The first week we were there it was -30 and the second week we were there it was in the 40’s so they really didn’t get any good sledding in. We went roller skating and to the trampoline park a few times. Mainly we hung out with family and played games. Their cousins are all 20 or older, but they all take off time to hang with them and do activities with us. Every year Tim and my brother in law do gingerbread houses while my sisters and I go shopping. All of my nieces took off work because they don’t like missing or being late for gingerbread day. I’m really grateful that they take such a big interest in the kids when their is such a big age gap. The girls love it because they’re pretty much spoiled the whole time we’re there. This year they both asked Santa for American Girl dolls and an American Girl dollhouse. I had hoped we were going to avoid the American Girl Doll thing but they got a hold of a magazine and that was that. Luckily Santa had them on the good list so they got their wish. They also got the usual mess of Barbies, dress up clothes, LOLs and the like.

For their birthday we had originally thought of taking them tubing and teaching them how to ski/snowboard but the weather didn’t cooperate. We went to the indoor waterpark in Dubuque again and ate at their favorite restaurant—Pizza Ranch. They got Nintendo Switches for their birthday presents and that made the drive home a lot more entertaining for them. I have always heard of people born around Xmas saying they kinda felt shorted on their birthday and then being twins also can affect things, so I buy their birthday presents before I start Christmas shopping. I hope that by doing it that way, they don’t feel like their bday is just leftover Xmas stuff. Plus it’s nice that our whole extended family goes and it’s a party. I think they’ve pretty much outgrown that waterpark now and next year we’re all going to go to the Dells for a couple of days. My sister’s present to them was taking them to a braider, so they each got a fancy do that lasted them through the first week back to school. I’ve watched all the videos and understand the steps of how to do it, but my hands don’t work the way my brain tells them to. I’m going to have to find them one here because they were devestated when it was time to take them out.

Emi, Taya

So now we’re getting back into the groove of things here and the next few months until spring will be a little slower. I’m looking forward to it.