A Few Remnants of the Holidays

Days later, Sam and Anna are still talking about Santa.  They love to take turns pretending to be Santa or Mrs. Claus and will assign the role to us as well.  I caught Sam sitting on Anna's lap one day telling her what he wanted for Christmas.  This hat has been worn almost every day since December 25th.

Anna loves candy canes, which I find interesting because she's usually not the one with a sweet tooth.  I'm not sure how she ended up with sticky candy cane all the way up to her eye!

A Fun Fourth

We spent a good chunk of the fourth of July inside because of the 105 degree heat indices.  We made some firework art after talking about fireworks in prep for Sam and Anna's first firework display that evening.

We decided to brave the heat for the noon parade downtown, mostly because I came up with a plan to play in the center fountain to keep cool until a few minutes before the parade started.

It was the first time we've done this, and oh boy, they had a blast!

We got a prime location in the shade, but it didn't stop us from sweating buckets.  Thankfully, a lot of the parade people gave out frozen ice pops and cold bottles of water instead of just candy so that helped!

 I thought it was so sweet to see my duo clap along with the crowd when veterans walked by us in the parade.

Sam was enthralled by the fire engines and other vehicles.

Anna loved waving her flag while collecting goodies

We took a good long nap (until almost 5 pm!) to help get through the late night we had ahead of us.  This was the first time Sam and Anna have seen fireworks, and the latest they have ever stayed up (except for one trip driving home from visiting relatives).  Considering that, I think they did really well.

Waiting for the fire works to start. 

I had my doubts that tossing our sleep schedule out the window would be worth it to see fireworks (which is why we've skipped them so far), but I had a feeling that this year Sam and Anna would really enjoy them.  I was fairly certain that neither one would get frightened and they would be thrilled.

I was right.

I spent more time watching the wonder and amazement on my children's faces than what was flashing in the sky above.  Their eyes shown and twinkled with joy.  Perma-grins plastered their faces.  Anna's gasps of awe before some of the spectacular ones filled my heart.  They loved to call out the colors they were seeing, but couldn't keep up.  Both Sam and Anna spontaneously clapped in happiness several times.  The big boomers especially thrilled Anna.  While a 30 minute show could have been shorter for their attention span, the end was filled with lots of cuddles from our tired twins.  I would take them again in a heartbeat to experience fireworks through their eyes once more.

Easter in Photos

Saturday we took Sam and Anna to our city's (free) egg hunt to check it out for the first time.  Our littles were in the 0-3 age group, which allowed one adult per kid inside the roped off area.  I was happy that no one was vicious in the "search" for eggs, but it only lasted for a few minutes.  Although the rules were no bags or baskets allowed, I saw some being used.  We brought our hats and they made the perfect egg collection holder!  Sam and Anna did a great job!  While Sam reached for the eggs closest to him, Anna was pretty selective about the eggs she wanted to pick up and keep- often bypassing some to get to one farther away.  Since it was over so fast, we ended up hanging out at the park and re-tossing the eggs in the grass for them to continue picking up.  Sam and Anna thought that was as fun as the actual egg hunt.

We made Kool-eggs Saturday night using Kool-aid powder.  I am so glad I saw the idea for that (and using wire whisks as dipping holders) on pinterest.  The fruity smell was great!

Anna and Sam enjoyed their overflowing Easter baskets from the Easter bunny. 

The aftermath

Quick bunny pancakes before church

All dressed up for church 

We ended up having to sit in the front pew (and the twins from our church that are 6 months older than Sam and Anna ended up sitting in the front pew on the other side), which made me break out into a cold sweat... but Sam and Anna did marvelously. Anna helped direct the choir by copying the director waving her arms in the air- so cute, and since we were so close, they sat up front by themselves for the children's sermon for the first time. Sam came back to sit by us after a short bit, but Anna (Miss Independent) stayed the whole time... and even ordered a rowdy boy to "sit down!"


We stuck close to home this year, instead of road tripping to the grandparents for a big feast.  When it comes to holidays, I really prefer to attend a service at our home church and have Sam and Anna wake up to filled stockings and baskets at their own home.  I think we'll continue to try to do that as long as they are young children... and still believe fully in the magic of the season.