Preschooler Squared

Hmmm. Don't even know where to begin this post. How did we go from this,

to this???


It is so hard to explain how I feel today. I feel like my heart is sitting at a little church over the bridge here in Tequesta. My babies started preschool today. Although, so many mothers are excited, I am beyond words. I am not excited, I am heartbroken. I can not possibly explain. I went through so much to have these babies here with me on earth, why would I ever want to let them go? I understand (boy do I understand!!) the need for a break, getting away, and having some alone time. But this is just different. I'm not upset because I'm worried about them. I know they are going to have so much fun at school. It's more the "milestone". They are growing up way too fast!

It just seems like yesterday, that I had the scare of my life when I went into labor at 24 weeks. I never prayed so hard in my life. "God, I will do anything if you will just protect my babies. Please let the doctors stop this labor. I want them so bad and already love them so much. I will do everything in my power to be the best mother that I can be. Please save my babies". And he did. For that I will forever be grateful. Then the fabulous bedrest for 13 weeks. 1 five minute shower a week, no standing, no sitting, no watching scary or tense things on tv, just lie down, and stay calm. Looking back, I know the only reason I was able to do that was because of the love I already felt for my children. It was and is even more so today, overpowering. Having twins definitely has it's challenges, as do having singletons, I'm sure. I LOVE that I have twins, don't get me wrong. There is nothing better in the world. I get to experience all the love and kisses double! However, I am not loving one bit the double pain I feel today. I already miss my babies and can't wait to go pick them up.




I know I will soon enjoy this free time to get things done. It's just today, I can't concentrate. I am doing a load of laundry in our broken washing machine right now. For the first time, I am thankful we haven't replaced it yet. I welcome the loud noise it is making. The second I walked in the door without Luke and Ashley, I thought, "Whoa... It's WAY TOO QUIET HERE". So I started the laundry and sat down at the computer to write on the blog.

This blog has been very therapeutic in a way. I love writing on it and now I will have more time to do so. I already feel better after getting my feelings out on here. I was talking to Brent the other night about starting a whole new blog, since Luke and Ashley are preschoolers now and no longer "Toddler Squared". I'm trying to come up with a creative title for the new one, but I am just not that creative! So if anyone has a good one, let me know! The content will remain the same, Family, Food etc. (ha! actually, that might me kind of funny, "Family Food" Like Family Feud? no? ok.) But my entries will remain about Luke and Ashley and what is going on in our lives, as well as some good recipes and photography. After all the point of this blog is to keep our family and friends who live so far away up to date and for Luke and Ashley to one day look back and read it. I have been trying to change the settings so it is easier for you to leave comments. I tried to fix it so you don't have to have a google account to leave a comment anymore, but who knows. I am overwhelmed by the number of people who read the blog and send me emails in response. I wish all of you could read what I can. That's another reason I'm trying to get the comments section worked out. I may have to go to an entire new sight. For anyone who blogs, if you have a suggestion, let me know.

I will end this post with what I am thankful for. I try to end every post with this. Today, I am thankful for so much. My college roommate and close friend, Ashley, sent me these flowers yesterday. She has two great kids of her own and truly understands the feeling of letting your kids go. She knows me well, and knew how flowers would brighten my day today. Thank you Ash.
I am thankful for my wonderful friends and family who have listened to me cry over the twins starting school. Although some of you don't "get why I'm so upset" I think it is a common feeling among mothers, and that is something that is understood.
Most of all, I am thankful for my 2 beautiful, healthy children. And I thank God EVERY DAY, for putting them in my life. How did I get so lucky??

Taffy Time

We were a little disappointed this morning, because we were supposed to meet up with friends and the plan fell through. So we quickly came up with Plan B.... Taffy Pulling!

If you want something fun to do in the kitchen with your kids, this is it. If you want something healthy, then read the blog entry about Fruit Roll ups on April 23rd. Be prepared, this is not healthy at all, so turn away now if you must!

We had lots of laughs making the taffy, however, I'm not sure I would actually give any of you what we made. It ended up on the floor more times than I can count, but it sure was fun. It took Luke a few minutes to get over the "slimy hands" but after I said, "lick it" he was fine. BOYS.... Then he asked, "how far can we stretch it?!" Turns out, Taffy can stretch F.A.R.! I know I'll be finding taffy in weird spots for days to come. Oh well, totally worth it! Here's the recipe.

We called it "Laughy" Taffy:
2 1/2C white sugar
3T cornstarch
1C light corn syrup
1 1/3C water
2T butter (plus lots extra to butter hands)
1t salt
1 small envelope of unsweetened, fruit-flavored drink mix (like Kool-Aid)
1/2t vanilla extract

Butter large cookie sheet well, including the sides.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Add corn syrup, water, butter and salt. Stir well until butter is melted. Bring to a boil and stop stirring. Cook mixture until candy thermometer reads 250 degrees F (120 C). This takes a long time.

Once it approaches 250 degrees, watch very close because it cooks quickly at the end. Immediately remove from the heat. Carefully stir in vanilla and drink mix. Stir well, or you will get dark spots in the taffy. Pour mixture into the buttered cookie sheet. Allow to cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes.

Once taffy has cooled enough to handle, butter hands and begin pulling.

And pulling

And pulling


And pulling
After the taffy has been stretched long enough, it will become more opaque and lighten in color. Pull into long ropes and cut with buttered scissors.



Wrap in wax paper and twist the ends.


Enjoy! I know we did! What a great way to spend a day that started out so disappointing.

I am thankful to have the time to spend with my children cooking in the kitchen.

Idiosyncrasies

Brent and I are about to go away for our long summer vacation. We are heading to the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. We usually go to a different island every year and I am especially excited about this one. We are staying at the Cuisinart Resort. (Yes, Cuisinart as in the kitchen tools.) The resort even offers a Caribbean cooking class that I will be taking. I am so excited! I absolutely LOVE taking cooking classes, especially in different countries. I took one in the French Riviera several years ago and it was one of the best cooking experiences I have ever had. I often use a lot of the French techniques that I was taught and can not wait to see what the Caribbean chefs have to offer. I have NO idea what to expect! I will soon see!

Although I am very excited, I feel the need to warn our parents who will be taking care of Luke and Ashley while we're gone. I am not ONE BIT worried about the twins, it's more the grandparents! They watch Luke and Ashley every summer when we leave, but every summer it is different. When they were babies, they needed to be on a strict schedule. It was most important for the grandparents to follow the schedule to make it through the week with their sanity in tact. Now I'm not as obsessed with a schedule. As long as they eat Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, take a bath and sleep at night, they will be fine. No, I'm not worried about the schedule. I'm worried about all their idiosyncrasies driving our parents crazy... and they WILL.....

-Like Luke: I can ask him 3 times what he wants for breakfast and he'll say "pancakes", so I'll make him pancakes. When I set them down in front of him at the table, he'll have a fit and say, "I don't WANT pancakes, I want cereal!"

-And Ashley: Whatever you do, do NOT give her a lot of juice at the beginning of breakfast. She will guzzle the whole thing, then ask for more and be too full to eat breakfast. Give it to her in small portions.

-My mom experienced this one when we went to Cumberland Island, DO NOT BREAK LUKE'S BANANA!

-Luke still prefers to urinate outdoors and not in the potty. BEWARE in public!

-They will both change clothes about 10 times a day.

-They will find band aides and cover their bodies with them.

-They like their sandwiches cut in quarters.

-If you turn your back for 1 minute, they WILL destroy the house.

-Their favorite thing to say is "poopy diaper", and this is NOT allowed at the dinner table nor in public. (Although, you will have to bite your tongue to keep from laughing.) Luke just says it out of the blue sometimes and Ashley laughs and laughs. I just don't get these two sometimes.

There are so many, I could never write them all down. To our parents, just know, if they make you feel like you're doing something "wrong", you're probably not. If you can figure out how to get them to stop being so obsessive about any of these things, I would be forever grateful! And as my grandmother told me when the twins were born, "don't worry about the mess, just play with your babies" Have a great time! We are so excited for our trip and know the twins will have a great time too.

OH! And one last thing. The frogs are extremely loud at night! Especially after it rains. Hopefully, they won't keep you up. If you get lucky, you may see one swimming in the pool in the morning.

Brent and I are thankful to have parents who are willing to watch our kids so we can go away and have some responsibility-free time. Thank you so much!

Summertime, summertime, sum. sum. summertime.

I know I probably say this every summer, but doesn't it feel hotter than normal?? We can't get from our car to the door without breaking out in a sweat. Swimming is just about the only thing we can do outdoors these days. It's a good thing the twins can swim. They are little FISH!!

And when we're not outside swimming, we're getting creative inside. Like checking out yellow jackets from INSIDE the house....

We have been super heroes a lot lately. I know if my neighbors could see in our house, they would think we were crazy seeing the 3 of us running around with towels on our backs.

They think they can fly off the steps.



We have also been playing a lot of indoor football.

Ashley does NOT like it when Luke gets the ball.

But they still have so much fun.

And of course, cooking. Luke and Ashley love snapping green beans!

We have had such a wonderful summer, but I must admit I now have a little "Fall" fever. Bring on the cool weather, well "cool" for us at least......

I'm thankful we have a pool in our backyard!