Summer Sleepovers!

The Caswell Kids have been invading one anothers bedrooms lately and sleeping over in each other's rooms lately. It is so cute to walk in and check on them at night and see them cuddled up together. Too afraid that I was going to wake them with the flash of a camera (that would be my luck), I haven't snapped a shot yet, but may sometime soon since it's just way too cute not to. :)

Spanish Camp

The kids attended their first afternoon of summer camp today. When I dropped them off, I was realizing (for the millionth time) how great it is to have a twin. In a class of all incoming kindergarten kiddos, a little girl began tearing up telling her Mom she was scared. Of course the teacher was quick to help, but Little Miss A and Mr. D were cool as cucumbers. I don't know if this was necessarily because they had one another or just that they are already so accustomed to the school environment. (The school they are in for camp is another in-district campus set up identically to the school we were at last year, so they walked the halls like they owned the place even though they'd never set foot inside the building prior to today.) It was so cute, they each had their own desk with a cute little name tag waiting for them.

When I picked the kids up, they both said "adios" to their teacher and waved good-bye then set off down the hallway like this was any other day. I asked Little Miss A and Mr. D what they learned. D...silence. A "I learned to say adios, that means good-bye." After that statement, D says "Hey, I learned where they gym is!!!!! Let me show you." Did I mention this campus was a total twin to our last school and that he already knew where the gym was? To that I ask, "Do you know what to call it in Spanish?" "Uh, no...but it's fun." That's my boy...

With additional probing this evening, we realized the kids remembered their numbers as well. (Thank heavens since they've known those for a while now.) Little Miss A also recalled singing and dancing with "funny hats" and Mr. D said "muy bien" but said he forgot what it meant. Since I took French class in middle/high school it looks like my kids are going to be teaching me some things this week. :)

A New Obsession?

Mr. D woke up this morning remembering (of course) his last spoken words before crashing last night after the game..."We have to play baseball!!!" He threw on some flips flops and came running downstairs in his pajamas ready to go. He got his old t-ball bag out and was headed to the backyard to hit a few balls. Mind you the tee was "lost" in the move so it was the real deal today. Feeling like that was more of an experience to share with Daddy, we waited for batting practice until tonight. (Hopefully, uh hm, Daddy will post that later.) Instead, D and I opted for a nice afternoon game of catch. However, his short fuse blew when he realized I was catching more balls than he was...the little man still HATES to lose...not sure where he got that OR his short temper from, but I digress! Needless-to-say, I think we have a new obsession in our midst...Lord knows there has to be something ALL the time. I guess if this doesn't turn into a total obsession, maybe we'll at least have a new family pastime. :) Wonder if he'll switch from soccer to t-ball for the fall...hmmmm. We'll keep you posted.

Tuesday Trip #3

We took an evening trip with Daddy tonight to a

Round Rock Express game.

Not sure how much the Caswell Kids actually understood about the game, but they loved the interactive games, songs and dances between innings. :) They especially enjoyed rolling down the grassy berm area towards the end of the game.

We were so glad Daddy could join us for a Tuesday Trip!!! :)

Napping on the Couch

Knowing that my little monkeys were going to need a nap for the evening edition of our Tuesday Trip, we started winding down for a rest this afternoon. Little Miss A insisted on sleeping by Sophie and Mr. D insisted on sleeping by Little Miss A.

So here they are...

sweet little angels!

Boots

Little Miss A and Mr. D came running down he stairs this morning in their boots, insisting that I needed to wear boots too!! I told them to pick some out and that we'd be triplets this morning. They picked out the most atrocious pair that I have and even put them on for me. I think I need a more Texas option for them to choose from.

Wii

In an attempt to prime the kids for tomorrow's Tuesday Trip (without them knowing) we played a little Wii this afternoon. We started with Mario Kart. Though we haven't played in FOREVER, the kids have actually improved. A single race didn't take 30 minutes like it used to. Of the four races in a match, their best places...Mr. D came in 9th for one race, Little Miss A came in 5th for a race!!!! This is astounding since they were ALWAYS either 11th or 12th (last and second to last place) based on how the other twin played. Remarkable...and there were no arguments, a sad Mr. D (shocker, right?) about his performance, but that was it. Then we broke out baseball. Uncle K taught them how to play when he came to visit in the fall. (Have I mentioned how much I love you for that BTW?) This is seriously a no fighting, no tears game that the kids can totally play on their own. The cheers of "There's Mommy, Daddy, Aunt K, Cousin J or Uncle D" prompted us to make more Miis for our system. We now have all of our family members accounted for and some friends as well. I wonder if the Miis they made for themselves on their own systems look like the ones we made for them here? :) Can't wait to play again to see if we filled up 2 baseball teams and can avoid playing with "strangers" as the kids call them. :)

Did I mention the Wii might need to become a more regular occurrence. Now that it seems to be less frustrating for the kids, we may need to try family game night again. Aunt K already mentioned we need Wii Dance...bring it...that's my kind of game. After seeing the pics of the Florida fam playing for Father's Day, that's a definite!!! (Not to mention the fact that I think it would be HILARIOUS to watch Jamie.)

Father's Day Weekend Rewind

We had a nice Father's Day weekend with Daddy!!! A successful trip to the neighborhood pool on Saturday where we all soaked up some much needed sunshine.

Sunday afternoon we sent Daddy for a massage after church then made his favorite dinner, packed it up and hit the trails. We enjoyed some great family time atop a cliff over looking the canyon. What a great weekend!!! Happy Father's Day Daddy!!! We love you!

Seven?

At the park this morning, I noticed a fairly large group of girls surrounding Little Miss A. Upon closer inspection of the situation,I realized these were definitely older, they weren't taller, but then again most of my students entering 3rd grade are shorter than she is, but these girls were definitely more mature given the things they were saying and they way they were saying the things they were saying. After a brief encounter with Mr. D amongst the group where he asked if he could play too, the girls said he wasn't old enough. Mr. D's reply, "I'm EXACTLY as old as she is...we're twins!" Silence...the other girls just looked at Little Miss A. Then I asked "How old do your friends think you are?" Little Miss A's response "7!!!! That's how old I am pretending to be today!!" The sad thing is that she could SOOOOO easily pass for seven and um, she's only five!!! What are things going to be like as we enter the teen years? Will she be the one getting into 21 and up clubs at the age of 18? YIKES!!!!

Cookies or Carrots?

Silly question, right? We made cookies this afternoon so we could have a super fun dessert tonight after dinner. Apparently not for Little Miss A, however tonight she said "Actually, can I have carrots instead?" Um, what? Absolutely yes...but who are you related to? Your Daddy has seriously been dubbed "cookie monster" and your Mother has a giant (non chocolate mind you) sweet tooth. :) Little Miss A is definitely a unique little girl!!! She could eat broccoli ALL day every day and I love it!!!! Don't get me wrong, she LOVES frosting and always ditches the cake/cupcake underneath and definitely loves her share of "prizes" that we pair with our popcorn movie nights. :)

Mr. D on the other hand...my bouncing baby boy devoured those cookies like there was no tomorrow. I think he would have single-handedly eaten the entire batch without proper adult supervision. My picky little eater unfortunately has his mother's sweet tooth. Uh oh!

Four Legged Friends...

I don't get to post very often about the our four legged family members, but I just have to say how much I LOVE my sweet Sophie!! It wasn't long after we got her that I went back to work, so it's only in the summer when I really get to see how good she truly is with the Caswell Kids. She is out and about in the house wherever we are regardless of the noise level. Little Miss A can pick her up any time without any struggle what-so-ever. Sophie just LOVES our daughter!!! Since Spencer previews in pics all the time in that he is our constant shadow...still at the ripe old age of 11, I figured I'd post a feature of our other sweet little girl. I snapped this picture of our sweet little kitty this afternoon in the midst of MAJOR noise from a particular little man that is really too loud for his own good. (BTW, if one day you call and I am deaf and can't hear you on the other end, you'll know my sweet little culprit.)

Up Do

I may need to start relinquishing some control when it comes to Little Miss A's hair do's. She was playing dress up and came downstairs with this cute do!!!

She did it on her own...

I was thinking we really had something...UNTIL I went to take it out tonight and it was one giant knot. I was seriously thinking I was going to have to cut her beautiful hair to get it out. 10 minutes later she was freed of the hair ties. Maybe we'll keep practicing with a little Mommy help before I truly turn her loose on a daily basis. :)

Face Painting

The kids have been BEGGING me to paint their faces...here's what we came up with this afternoon:

Tigress...

Storm Trooper..

The kids in turn decided, Mommy and Daddy needed face painting as well...

Queen Amidala...

Witch...

Cookies...

After a morning of running errands, we came home to a nice afternoon thunder storm and decided we needed to make cookies!!!!

Little Miss A and Mr. D did virtually EVERYTHING!! They had so much fun! :)

Dance Recital 2010

Tonight was the "real deal" for Little Miss A's dance performance...recital day at last. Her class danced to the Perfect Nanny from Mary Poppins and she did a wonderful job. Way to go baby girl!!! I am so proud of you!!! :)

Here she is all dressed up and ready to go...

After the show...

Tuesday Trip #2

Our Tuesday Trip this week took us to the Austin Zoo. To my out of town family and friends that haven't experienced this little gem, our zoo is as weird as Austin...it's a rescue zoo. The super fun thing about our trip to the zoo is that it used to take us about an hour to get there, today it was a mere 20 minutes!!! Have I mentioned how much I love our new house and location?!?! :)

We had so much fun reading the exhibit write-ups on each animal. This was truly the first time we actually stopped to read each animal's info, usually we catch their names and what they are and that's about it. The kids really got into it this year, which was so much fun!!! It was almost like we were on a fact finding mission for all of these new friends. :)

Here we are reading about the brown bear...

Of course one of the MAJOR highlights of the zoo is the petting corral. We bought bags of food to feed the goats, sheep, deer and llamas and the kids could have spent the day JUST doing that....so fun!

The other highlight is the train.

The Caswell Kids LOVE to ride the train!!! :)

We had an iced treat before to help keep cool in this crazy summer Austin heat. It wasn't long after this picture was taken that Little Miss A lost her snow cone to the ground, we've been totally butterfingers over here lately, but that's another post in and of itself. :)

As we were leaving the kids spotted a sunflower. I am only including this because they have literally been on the hunt for sunflowers for the past MONTH and this is the first one we've found. There are TONS of wildflowers on the side of the road everywhere here in the spring and early summer and the kids were convinced that the little yellow ones we kept spotting were sunflowers. When we FINALLY found one today, they realized how special they really are. I was telling them about the sunflowers I remember seeing on the side of the road when growing up in Salt Lake City...way taller than Daddy. They were completely shocked!!! Maybe we need to purchase some seeds to plant our own little Sunflower garden in the backyard. :)

Little Miss A's Dress Rehearsal

Little Miss A had her dress rehearsal tonight and did a great job! It really is amazing how much her routines have progressed over the past three years. She has become quite the little dancer...

She made quite a few new friends in class this year!!

We're already looking forward to play dates this summer. :)

Birthday with Daddy...by Jamie

Ok...so here it is: My first post on the kid's blog! I've finally cracked thanks to the relentless "encouragement" from several family members! :)

As you can probably tell by the title, I got to spend my birthday at home with the kids. Stef had to be at some work thing all day, so I stayed home and planned a couple of things to do to keep the kids entertained.

First thing on the agenda was to get breakfast ready. Then we watched cartoons (Scooby Doo is the best) for a little while and I was ready for a nap...what can I say, I am getting old!!

I made our lunch and we headed off to Zilker Park for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, so we picked out a spot and had lunch on the ground under a tree. Well, I guess I had lunch on the ground...the kids wanted to have their lunch IN the tree. All was good until a couple of ants crawled them and then they were back down on the ground with me.

We finished lunch and headed over to the playscape. Then it was off to the train. It was all fun and games until D got mad that A and I saw a turtle in the water and he didn't (everything is a competition). So, we took a walk down the trail and found some turtles laying out in the sun and everyone was happy again.

We met mommy at home and went to Benihana's for dinner. The chef did the obligatory "toss the shrimp trick" and I didn't catch it in my mouth. To my apparent lack of coordination, D proceeded to say, "Daddy, why do you always lose?" Nice. :)

I had a great day and could not have asked for a better birthday present than spending the day with A and D.

Tuesday Trip #1

Our first "Tuesday Trip" of the summer took us just outside of Austin to the Dinosaur Park. (Part of the excitement to our trips is that the kids have NO CLUE where we are going until we get there.) This place was perfect for 2 five year olds!!! We picked up the scavenger hunt sheet at the entrance and walked our way through a dino adventure!!! With dinos along the trail and "hidden" items along the way it was like a real life "I Spy" experience. :)

Our first stop was peering through the t-rex's mouth. Do we look scared?

Having fun together as we trekked through the woods. :)

Screaming "A T-Rex is Coming!!!! Run for your lives!!!"

A dino dig...
Teamwork!

We loved reading the dino blurbs and learning more about these fascinating creatures. I think I've spurred a new obsession...as we enter the world of Dinosaurs. We got home and pulled ALL of our dinosaur books off the shelves and read ourselves into an oblivion, then curled up with Dinosaurs the movie and popcorn and a prize for a fun ending to a fun-filled day!!! :)

Hello Summer!!!

We "OFFICIALLY" started summer today and met our bffs at one of our favorite parks. The kids LOVED playing with Ken and Mck...gosh we don't get to see them often enough anymore, but hopefully summer will change that all around. :)

Playing in the shade...

It gets hot really EARLY these days!!!

Borrowing wheels...I think Little Miss A has a new item on her b-day list!

Playing circus and treasure hunting!!!

Such amazing imaginative play when they are all together!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!

Last Week of School

The Caswell Kids had a fun filled final week of school!!! They began the week with a fun splash day with their class. Then had PJ day and FIELD Day!!! Talk about packing it in!! :)

Snow Cones!!!

Snow Cone Tongues!!!

"Pearl" Hunting...

it wasn't long before they started using their hands instead of their toes.

This was a tough one. :)
"Horse" Races

There were LOTS of super fun activities. The kids had a BLAST!!! One of the greatest things about having the kids in the same class is that they get to participate in field day activities TOGETHER!!! So my thoughts of keeping them in the same class next year, for that very perk, lasted all of about 5 seconds maybe. Live it up monkeys...this was your last year in the same class. :)

Can't believe my "babies" are officially Kindergarten Kids!!!! Where does the time go?