Fourteen Months

A few days...and some Thanksgivin' action!

I'm sorry about all of the radio silence this last week, but between preparing the Farm School business plan, baking 2 desserts for twelve hours (That's right - twelve!), traveling into the mountains for Thanksgiving and general twin chasing, it's been hard to scrape up a few moments in which to type.

Heck, I didn't even take very many pictures on Thanksgiving day, even though it was also the twins 14 month anniversary. If I shot 10 pictures, I'd be surprised. So busy!

Ayup.

Anyway, the twins are also staying busy being terribly cute and working on their language skills, both sign and verbal. Eric has been working on teaching them "sleepy" and today, Emma used that sign on Heather and I to tell us she wanted a nap. Mind you, I had no idea Eric had been teaching her that sign until she did it so I was completely boggled when it happened.

And it was so cuuuuute!

Emma had been sitting in Heather's lap, demanding a book be read to her when she got up, walked over to her crib and said, "Ungh!" Then she walked back over to Heather and sat down in her lap, put her hand on the side of her face and tilted her head over into her hand. It happened so fast, we would have missed it if we hadn't been looking right at her. Then I asked if she was tired and she lit up and dropped her head over to the side again, onto Heather's chest. The child wins major points for being tired in the cutest possible way.

Then (Don't hate me Ali!) I picked up both Emma and Logan, popped them both into their cribs with their blankets, walked out and shut the door to nary a peep from either of them.

Ahhh!

Maybe that was to make up for all the screaming last night? (Naps might be easy, but sleeping through the night still ain't happening over here.) Who knows!

They are both working on new words. They like "duck" very much and will also quack for you, if they don't feel like saying duck. They also say "doggie" and "puppy" and will pant whenever they see something that looks kinda-sorta-possibly like a dog. Like a gecko, for instance. Or a bear. Or a kitty! Almost everything is a doggie. They still say "kitty", or "kiddee" as we translate it around these here parts. Eric swears he's taught Emma to meow, but I haven't heard it yet. They still say "Caitlin" and are changing over from "Mom-mom-mom" to "Mommy", a very distinct difference. They are very clear about "Dahhh-dee" and Emma whispers "star" when you point one out to her.

There might be more words that I just haven't worked out yet, but those are the ones I know offhand.

They are madly in love with the Doggies book and anything else they can get their hands on to have us read. Logan loves stealing books from Emma and then dodging her attempts to get it back. He laughs hysterically while sitting abruptly, changing directions and crawling off.

Caitlin taught them a fun new game by taking an empty orange box and turning it into a car. Emma will now get in and out of the "car" by herself and wait for Caitlin to push her all around upstairs. Logan just likes to push the box around, but not really ride in it himself. They scream with laughter when Caitlin is in a good mood and being crazy for them. They love to dance with her to music, Logan especially.

They love the "C is for Cookie" song that Dan and Laurie had sent them for their birthday (Thanks!) and will bop up and down when listening to it. They didn't seem to like the Elmo song, though. Perhaps it was all the reference to oneself in third person that bothered them? We find it very pretentious of Elmo.

Oh and it turns out that the twins love pumpkin cheesecake.

Pumpkin cheesecake

(Nice segway, huh?)

Which is what I brought for Turkey Day. Only this year, there was no turkey! Instead we had slow roasted prime rib roast and a spiral sliced ham, both of which were wonderful! (Sorry Matt!) However, since I made a fantastic cranberry-apple chutney, I need some poultry to go with it, so I have a small turkey that I'm brining as we speak! We'll be eating turkey for at least a week!

As I said, I'd made two desserts for the celebration: spiced pumpkin cheesecake with Bourbon whipped cream and the Dutch Apple Pie that I had threatened to make previously.

Dutch apple pie

I liked it, it was pretty good, but I liked the standard apple pie a lot better. Funnily enough, Eric liked the Dutch apple better. Unfortunately for him, that sucker is a lot more work than a regular pie, so it probably won't happen again unless I'm specifically asked for it. Yes, I do realize that the cheesecake actually is a longer process, but it's sorta easier. Or maybe I'm just more familiar with it, but either way, I'm stickin' with the cheesecake. (Last year's cake is pictured here. Hey! This time last year I was still being thrown up on! Yay to no more of that!)

So we hung out, played with all of the kids, Caitlin had too much fun with her cousin Max to notice the twins were eating off of two or three different plates (They definitely ate more than she did!) and had a great day.


No drama, great weather, lovely drive, fabulous company.

Ahh!

How did your assorted Thurdays go? For those of you for whom it wasn't a national holiday, what's your favorite celebratory food? You do have a favorite celebratory food, dontcha?

Logan shows off how much he loves whipped cream and waffles.

Emma loves whipped cream too, and isn't afraid to show it by diving face first into a mound on her tray.