Fall Insta update

I thought I would update you with my fall instagrams! It is a fun glimpse of what we have been up to. 

We had some fun dress up days for homecoming this year at school and it was easy especially for teachers to just wear a tshirt that fit the theme and jeans. I wore jeans every day that week! We had patriotic day, superhero day, decades day, and spirit day. 

We had such a good habit going of taking a walk to the mailbox after school (before even going in the house) this fall. Michael would ride his bike and usually ran into a neighborhood friend and the girls held off on their crankiness just for a bit. I appreciated the fresh air and sunshine! 

Decades day- any excuse to wear a Star Wars shirt, right? 

I've made it to a few football games this fall and have had a good time. I've appreciated the help from my mom and sister so much. I started out the season with a "cold heart" towards the Cyclones as to not get too worked up about so many losses but it does make it less fun when we do have some big moments. I feel like I really, truly was "all in" for a lot of years and I hated the way I would feel after so many big losses and close games. Is that weird? It is hard to describe but I have had to distance myself emotionally from it just to save my own grief. I realize this makes me sound like some kind of crazy fan but I guess its where I am at in my personal Cyclone sports journey. :o) I have enjoyed the season and I'm looking forward to next year and for basketball!

I took a group of students to ISU to tour the music department and visit campus. It was fun! 

We celebrated Scott's 37th birthday with a trip to the Iowa Tap room (it was awesome!), a visit to the basement video game bar (yeah, thats a thing) and then a concert downtown. It was a really fun night out and nice to do something different. We also celebrated with cake and the kids. 

We went to night eyes at the zoo before Halloween and had to wait for Scott for almost an hour to get done with work. The girls were being so cranky and while I was trying to take a "everyone look happy!!" selfie, Brynn totally chucked her milk cup at me and it was caught on camera! I figured that summed up it pretty well. 

Scott brought the kids to my children's concert with Central Iowa Wind Ensemble and the girls did so good. He did have help with my mom and aunt (I guess it take three adults for three kids-no joke!) and I was happy to be able to show them off. 

A baby girl rhino was born at the Blank Park Zoo and the day after they announced she was ready for exhibit, we booked it out there early to catch a glimpse of her. She is the cutest! It is really special for a black rhino to be born in captivity and they said her mommy is taking extra good care of her. She acted just like a baby, prancing all over the place and needing to take lots of naps. It was really amazing for me to see and it was a little bit of an emotional experience for me, especially this was the time of fall leading up to the election and right after two police officers were shot in Des Moines. It is hard to keep your eyes to the positive things when so much darkness is still in the world, but this baby rhino helped me on this day. They are going to name her after Christmas-exciting!

It had been such a nice October and November- such a saving grace to be able to go outside for a bit after a busy day. I loved it. 

I celebrated my 34th (still young!!) birthday this fall also and my mom surprised me with flowers sent to school. They came during 1st hour band and it gave all the students a chance to oo and ahh over them. They lasted for a good two weeks and were such a nice treat. Mom also got me the soundtrack to Hamilton and I LOVE it!! 

Love these positive notes from kids! 

We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Scott's parents and then being home for the last football game afterwards.  I am officially not celebrating Christmas until December, but I did stop for a peppermint mocha in a red cup before my conference last week. I couldn't help myself! 

Ordinary days November

I got my real camera out and took some photos of the girls while they were playing a few Saturdays ago. These mornings of just being at home and together are so precious and are some of my favorite. 

We are definitely in the routine of having cranky kids who want to eat supper the minute they walk in the door after getting home, and then its crankiness until our early bedtime. I have come to accept this weeknight routine and we are doing our best by dropping everything, getting quick meals on the table (like super quick-any amount of prep is too much or not worth the tears and small children clinging to me while trying to get it ready) and then spending some quality time with kids before getting them in bed. It is working and we do feel like we get to spend good time with them, but I also love it when I get to see them be their happy, cheerful selves on a weekend morning. I know this is just a phase in life and we are making it work. 

The girls are really into saying cheese when they see me with a camera. They also like to play with their pretend phone or anything else that looks electronic and play taking pictures of each other. 

When you have twins, you really do need two of everything. Exactly two of the same thing. These strollers are always a cause for a fight because they are different. We only had one for a while and had to keep it hidden because it was such an issue for fights. Luckily, we figured out how to solve that problem! :o) 

They are such good little mommies. They love to take care of their babies and pretend each other are babies. It involves an elaborate bedtime routine of specially covering the person up with a blanket, a lot of very rough patting on the back (not sure where they get this at?), a kiss dropped on the forhead, and a bunny placed right by their cheek. 

Brynn is a master at the stinker face. Anna is a master at the pouty face (yet to be captured on camera!). 

I sure do love these kids! Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We had an awesome Halloween season around here and I think the kids had a lot of fun. We did our annual night eyes at the zoo outing as well as the girls fall party, trick or treating in our neighborhood and Michael's school party. It was good but a lot and now I'm ready to look forward to a nice November. 

Before I get to this year's costume photos...here is a trip down memory lane: 

Michael, 1 month old for his first Halloween! 

At one year old, one of my favorite costumes ever! 

At two years old, right after we lost Trace. I had bought Trace a matching lion costume and it was all so sad. I was over Halloween but one day when my mom was here we put Michael's costume on just to see how cute he looked. We later went to night eyes that year also. 

Age 3-Woody! 

Age 4-Spiderman! 

Girls first Halloween at two months old- pink foxes and pumpkin  heads! 

Michael age 5- Captain America (another one of my favorites!) 

Girls age 1 -black kitty cats! 

Michael age 6- T Rex from Jurassic World. 

And this year....

Minnie Mouse! 

Mom had gotten these little outfits for the girls when we were at Disney last spring and I was so glad they still fit. They were perfect and the girls loved wearing their mouse ears. They wore a black tshirt and leggings underneath and it was perfect for the cooler but still nice weather. 

Michael was the white pumpkin head from Minecraft story mode. He was 100% committed to it and at least I can give him credit for knowing what he wants. It involved a lot of talking with him, looking at pictures on google, but we finally got it figured out and I think he was happy with it. I carved the head from a "funkin" and it was pretty fun and now we have a fun keepsake we can bring out every Halloween!   

I really wanted the girls to give each other a kiss! You can see that Brynn was not totally on board with that idea. 

I also got in on the fun with my Minnie outfit (thanks for letting me borrow the ears, mom!) that I wore to school on Monday. I was even twinning with a student! 

I hope you had a great Halloween also!