Double the Fun!

My sister, Loni and her husband Matt, decided that they needed a vacation.  She asked if we would watch her twins, Chloe and Chase for a week while they were gone.  Of course we would!  My boys anxiously awaited the week of the vacation, asking every week if this would be the week.  The boys went on the annual Father and Sons campout the Friday before Mother's Day, giving me Friday night quiet before we nearly doubled the voices in the house.  It was perfect timing!  The twins arrived Saturday morning and we played together until the boys came home from camping.  The first three hours were spend behind the gate on the stairs because they were scared of Roxy.  I thought this week would either go really well with them upstairs all the time, or it was going to be a long week.  Fortunately, the barriers for Chase broke down when we went outside and I started throwing a tennis ball to Roxy, Chase happily engaged in the game.  After watching their favorite movie "Frozen" that night, Chase proclaimed that Roxy was his best friend.  It took a little longer for Chloe to come around to Roxy, but by the end of the week, Roxy was the one who was timid around Chloe.

That night we all went to dinner with Priscilla to celebrate motherhood (thank you for having a wonderful son!) at Romano's Macaroni Grill.  All children behaved well, until Priscilla tried to help Chloe out of her chair, which resulted in a small fit of independence.  This was foreshadowing for more stands of independence from her.  There's certainly nothing wrong with doing things yourself, it just requires a little more patience coming from a 3-year-old.

Mark peeked in on Chase and chloe while they were sleeping in D.J.'s room.  He couldn't find Chase and then realized that Chase was sleeping on Chloe's pillow.  He said his heart melted when he realized they were holding hands.

Another cute sleeping picture:

Even though we had two extra kids around, Mother's Day was great!  Mark and the boys treat me well and they don't let me do any work. Even when I get up from the table and start taking my plate to the sink, they rush in a grab it from me and go tell me to sit down.  Spencer and James gave me sweet gifts and I got the tiller I wanted (I'm weird like that) and D.J.'s gift was this ensemble:

You can't tell from the picture very well, but he's wearing a blue and white plaid shirt, with a different plaid bottom and a camouflage belt.  He thought it was just fine and I smiled for five minutes while watching him swing in the back yard in his outfit.

Monday, I took Chase and Chloe to Home Depot to get some new sand for the sand box. They had a great time riding on the sand and potting mix.

But before I could put the sand in the box, I had to fix the wheel barrow tire.  Chase was so helpful in the endeavor and tried to get the tire on the rim with Roxy's rubber chicken.

Spencer had a band concert on Monday night, so the two came along with us.  Spencer joined the Jazz band this term, in addition to beginning band.  He played Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Bad. The picture is not great because the lighting for pictures is weird, or I don't know what I'm doing (probably the later), but he is the trombone player on the left.  I only caught the last of Bad, but check it out.

Hopefully this will work: Click on the picture and turn your sound up.

This is what Chase thought of the band concert.  He started falling asleep, Mark asked, "Chase, are you asleep?" He said, "yes."  Mark: "Don't you want to stay awake for the concert?"  He shook his head no.  We let him sleep for a bit then tried to wake him up by standing him up.  He started heading for the stage, then into another aisle, then Mark took him out to walk around.

Chloe didn't think the concert was that boring:

We spent a lot of time on the swings in the back yard.  I actually did get some gardening done, but swinging was priority.  We had Damon and Andrew come over to play as well and while I cared for the raspberries we traded name calling: "oh yeah, well I'll call you giraffe eyes!" Giggling.  "Oh yeah, well I'll call you twinkle toes!"  Then they said, "Oh yeah, well I'll call you Raspberry Lisa!"  I told them that's what my Mom and Dad used to call me!

Chase found that the bathroom soap made a lot of bubbles, and if we weren't paying attention, he'd get a lot of cleaning done:

After one of Chloe's shows of independence, I set her on the couch for quiet time and she promptly fell asleep. It's safe to say that I still know the name of the game with toddlers is: who can wear who out the fastest.

I think this is the night that we had pack meeting and Mark came home just in time for me to go to my Recreation Volleyball league (we are undefeated, thank you very much), and for him to take five kids to Pack Meeting.  After Chloe was less enthused about me not going with them, they made it to the church, but Chase caught his toe in the door and required a few band-aids.  Mark was calm and collected and helped the little man out so he could play crab soccer in high spirits.

Friday, the PTA had their annual Spring Carnival fundraiser.  I spent most of the morning finishing up this photo op from the LEGO movie for one of the activities.  It's a good summary of our week with Chase and Chloe "Everything is Awesome!"

 Toilet ball was a one of the games next to my "Wheel of Fun" so Chase and Chloe were participants.

The highlight of the evening was an appearance by the "Frozen" princesses, Elsa and Anna.

Chloe stuck by me at my booth for most of the carnival, but ventured out to do some line dancing with a 6th grade boy.  

All in all is was a good week, reminding me that toddlers ask lots of questions, even if I've answered them before, it's nice to have children that can pump themselves on the swings and buckle themselves in their seats and dress themselves, and I am not getting any younger.  It was fun to be reminded of my toddler raising years and realize that "to everything there is a season and a purpose under the heavens."  It was also nice to watch my boys care for the two little ones and they did a great job with them.  I'm glad we were able to give Loni and Matt a little break!