The obvious post to make at this time of year with a cookie theme would be pictures of the boys making Christmas cookies for their first time. However, I’ve decided to save that experience for later this month when my mom arrives. So you’ll have to wait a few more weeks for those images. To tide you over I thought you might like to see just why I felt that waiting to make the cookies with my Mom was so important.

Because that’s what I loved to do when I was a kid! One of my fondest memories of childhood is making Christmas cookies with my mother every year.

I’ll also leave you with one of my favorite cookie recipes of all time. I love these things. So much so that I didn’t have enough regular oatmeal on Monday and made them with maple. And now they are too sweet and I can only eat like a half at a time. But I love them!

No Bake Cookies:

INGREDIENTS
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 pinch salt
* 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
* 3 cups quick cooking oats

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, salt, peanut butter and oats.
2. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow cookies to cool for at least 1 hour.

Ever since their ability to crawl out of their cribs began a few months back, they love to fall asleep in the same bed.  At first we thought it was just Logan but recently Forest has been the one making the cross room trip to sleep in Logan’s bed.

Another touching example was today when Forest wouldn’t come outside to play with Logan and I because it meant having to leave behind his bunny blanket.  Right now the boys are teething something awful and we’ve been letting Forest keep his pacifier more then the usual “naps and bedtime” rule.  But with him, having the pacifier is only one half of the equation, he also has to have his bunny/blanket.  It’s cute and all but not good for playing outside in all the fall leaves.  So he played inside by himself while Logan and I ran around the backyard together.  Logan kept asking for Forest.  “Bruder?” and I’d have to explain that he didn’t want to come outside.  A few minutes would pass until Logan ran to the door “bruder?”  When Forest finally did come outside, I was pretty much ignored as the two boys ran around the yard exploring the world together.

It’s been an awesome experience to see how different two people can be from birth.  And also awesome to see how two brothers are already so deeply bonded even if they have already started fighting over space with lots of kicks and pushes enough to make a momma crazy.

Not five minutes after hitting “post”, I sent the following twitter message: Listening to Logan yell “my bed - go!” at Forest after having written a sweet post about twin bonding.

Logan’s started this obsessive behavior where he gets an idea into his head and won’t let go of it which then leads to tantrums. But thanks to the suggestion by a wise woman at a recent retreat I attended, we’ve been talking Logan down with happy thoughts. We ask him about the things we did that day and he starts changing his thought pattern and talking to us instead of crying. It’s an amazing technique that will hopefully also teach him a future coping skill for life.

Logan’s also taken the word “mine” to the typical two year old extreme. Everything is “mine”. Not sure what technique to use with that one but I tend to say “No, that’s yours and Forests.” Or “no, that’s the family’s” or whatever the case may be.

Tomorrow the boys head off with Dusty to visit his family for the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m excited that they will get to see so many of their Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, and Great Grandparents. Once again my mentioning it has Forest jumping through the roof to get to that day and go see Nana and Pa, as they call Grandparents. I love how no matter what words we use, they come up with their own anyway.

Brad and I are headed to Earthsprings for Thanksgiving, to visit with good friends who have become extended family to us over the years. It will be different and fun to spend the holiday in the woods.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

My post triggered an email from my Dad about how my parents were already booked on a Holland America cruise in September of next year and would Brad and I want to go with. They have a big (in cruise ship terms anyway) suite with a fold out couch. Not luxury accommodations since four of us would be sharing a small space, but at probably as good a price as you can get since they give really great deals for the 3rd and 4th person. I got excited and started talking to Brad about whether or not we could make it happen. We even have a ton of air miles and could probably make the flight to Seattle for free. But over the course of the weekend the reality of why I had said “in two years” came back again because we want to buy a house next summer and we can’t afford to do both, no matter how good a deal it is.

We even discussed putting off buying a house by a year because it would be such a great opportunity to take a vacation with my parents. I was struck by how wonderful it would be to have that memory to look back in on years to come. But the housing market is in such an amazing place for some of us to take advantage of right now and it would be silly of us not to do just that. I was close to tears on Saturday as I thought about it, it made me that sad no matter how much I knew it was the right decision.

This morning I am at the park with the boys. It’s cool and windy and we are running around having fun. My phone rings and I look to see who it is. “Dad” I should answer in case he’s calling with the cost to let him know that we probably can’t go. He has a huge surprise for me. He says, “Happy early Christmas, you and Brad are booked on the cruise with us.” I didn’t even understand at first and he had to clarify that this was a gift. I was so excited my eyes welled up with little tears of joy. Just typing this brings back the emotional memory and more little tears of joy. So next summer, Brad and I are taking an Inside Passage Alaskan cruise with my parents. Melt!

Thanks Mom and Dad. This means so much to me for so many reasons! I love you!

Logan eating a pear.

From apples and pears

Forest says cheese when you say to smile for a picture!

From apples and pears

They discovered that they can roll the apple back and forth to each other.

Click on the link to see the whole set of photos. There are some pretty cute ones.

This is where you come in.  Maybe this is mostly directed at Carrie but maybe others of you have been on a cruise or a trip to Alaska and have some advice.  I’m open.  What should we see?  What is “can’t miss”?  What is no big deal even though everyone does it?  Any and all input is greatly appreciated!

This would be a kid free vacation, by the way.

I have always told the boys what we are going to be doing days in advance. Well, after days of telling the boys that we were going to Earthsprings for the retreat, Friday morning arrived. I told the boys that we’d leave for Earthsprings when Daddy Brad got home from work (he went in for a half day) and that we’d take their naps in the car. So Friday morning all I heard (mostly from Forest) was “Daddy…Bye bye…SpringS!” And when Daddy got home you’d have thought the most exciting thing in the world had happened because they ran to the car and jumped in. Not ordinary behavior. We were thrilled to see this expression of excitement.

I’m not sure how much has to do with my being more relaxed and how much just is, but this time it was a lot easier for us three parents to handle them and take care of ourselves as well. I remember past retreats being a flurry to try and get food into them and us. But this time, only one parent would need to watch the boys and the other two would get a chance to eat. Or mornings Brad and I were able to get breakfast while the boys played with others or would draw.

We had no sleep issues the whole weekend. I attribute this in big part to arriving early enough for the boys to realize where they were and get adjusted so that when it was time for bed, they weren’t confused and overstimulated.

As of this weekend, Forest will tell you that his name is “Foes” and that his brother’s name is “Lon” (or something like that). Both boys are really starting to understand this whole “name” thing and understand that everyone has one. They are very proud of the names that they know including O.E., the Earthsprings’ Black Lab. He’s a bit of an older dog and hasn’t been in the best of health this past year. But you’d have thought it was five years ago the way he was acting and the boys went right along with it. They’d wake up each morning asking for “dog, OE” and wanting to go pet him. I walked outside yesterday morning to find OE holding a long thin stick in his mouth with Forest on one side and Logan on the other tugging and trying to get it away from him. He followed us on all of our walks with the boys and really made their day.

The boys were very particular about wanting all three of us parents together the whole time. Any time one of us would leave to go help prepare a meal or something, one or both of the boys would get upset and put a call out for the missing parent. And in two year olds, this means some pretty obsessive behavior. But like all things at this age, as much as it is crazy behavior, it’s sweet in it’s meaning and the understanding that they are expressing.

Logan’s obsessive behavior can get over the top though and I really don’t know how to handle it. He’ll get something into his head, like that he wants something or to do something, and I no matter how much or often I tell him that we don’t have that or why we can’t do it, he won’t let go of the idea and says it over and over again. It usually ends in some kind of emotional break down when he finally realizes it’s not going to happen. It’s sad.

Forest is very bossy recently, and Logan can be as well. They now like to grab our hands and tell us to “go” places that they want to go or do things that they want to do. Forest takes our faces into his little hands as he moves us to look at him when he’s trying to tell us something.

Due to the crazy weather ups and downs (highs in the 80s and lows in the 40s in a 24 hour period) we are all battling colds. Plus, I think that both boys are teething again. So emotions are running high and Forest in particular seems to be very unhappy and on edge. He’s super sensitive about his brother being in his space and yet will go right up to him and hit him or push him. He’s also bitten Logan several times recently 9I’ve found that this only happens during teething). I’m praying that the weather will even out soon so that we can all get well and get past this negativity.

Forest got sad and weepy when we left Earthsprings on Sunday to come home. It touches my heart so much that they love being there as much as I do. He was also sad and kept asking for Green Daddy (Dusty) so I think he may have thought Dusty was going to stay there without them. Luckily, Dusty was just a few minutes behind us on the road and came right over to show Forest that no, Daddy was still here and won’t be far.

It was a joy to share time with our family and friends at Earthsprings this weekend and to reflect on all the recent changes in the boys as they move so quickly into their twos. Their behavior can be over the top now but it’s also showing an incredible amount of understanding and empathy. They communicate pretty well and amaze me with demonstrations of their personalities and intelligence.