On the couch...

They looked too cute last night on the couch....

A long road back...

I try my best with this blog.  I really do.  At first it started out as a way to let our friends and family know of all our adventures of parenting twins. I quickly learned that it was a great way to preserve all the little stories of our lives as these little two grew up in front of us.  For the past three years, I have dutifully blogged throughout most weeks and at the end of each year, have put their blog into print using a cool company I found online (Blog2print..check it out!)

These are the first three and I have two of each - one for each of them for when they grow up.  I plan on doing this for as long as I can.  What better way to preserve all the little things we forget over time, those that make raising children so wacky and fun.

As some of you know (and some of you may not), last November in an attempt to make room for more picture storage on the blog, I accidently erased the whole blog.  Well, at least all the pictures I had posted..EVER...FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS.  At first, after realizing what I had done, I froze and then tears started to come.  But then I realized, that while the first three years were no longer visible online, I had them in hardcopy...and I started to feel a bit better.  But then I realized I was almost to the end of 2012, and I hadn't ordered the 2012 book yet.  This meant that I would have to slowly "re-blog" all of 2012.  It really meant reposting all the pictures to the correct blog posts.  I had all the pictures on my laptop, it would just take some time.  It has been a long five months.  And after 182 recovered blog posts, I am thrilled to announce that 2012 has been fully restored and the 2012 books were ordered tonight.  

I let Liliana look through some of the books this evening. She got such a kick out of them.  It was a lot of work, but no amount of work is too much to recapture lost memories.  

Spring Break Part 2

When April break came around for the kids and I, we headed up to Lake George for a few days.  We stayed at a great hotel with a waterslide at the pool.  The second day we were there, we ventured down the road to a huge indoor water park where the kids played for about 5 hours.  We went down a ton of slides and we were all beat at the end.  Since I was on my own, there was a lot less picture taking.  

Here we are at check in about to the hotel.

This was actually taken at the hotel pool.  I didn't have much opportunity to take pics at the indoor water park as I was chasing them around the whole time with water splashing everywhere.  So the phone stayed in the locker.  Aside from the water slide, the hotel had a kids pool wit fun features.

And the last day, we had the slide almost all to ourselves.  They had a blast and rode down many times together.

Tod's.

It's been so nice lately, that I took the kids down to Tod's point after school one day to ride around.  Lucas chose his scooter and Liliana her bike and we found a nice stretch of back road that was closed to cars.  Spent about half an hour riding back and forth by the water.

When we were done, we headed to the beach.  Felix met us there and we all relaxed in the sunshine.  

Leave me alone....

The other morning, Liliana was upset about something.  At this time, I cannot remember what it was.  I think it was because she didn't get her milk in the cup she wanted, and well, we didn't switch cups and she got quite upset.  We sent her up to her room to calm down a bit, and when I went to check up onher about 5 minutes later...I found her hiding in Lucas' room behind the window.

Oh the teenage years are going to be fun!

A visit to Aba

After the twins and Felix returned from DC, we headed into the city to visit with Aba.  She was in the hospital for some treatment and so we went to visit with her for the morning.  It was really nice to see her with them and how happy they make her in what is a tough time for her and Felix's family.  We love you Aba!

Spring Break Part 1

The twins had two mini Spring breaks this year.  Felix and I had different breaks, almost a month apart.  So right around Easter, he took the kids out of school (they are on my school schedule), and took them on a field trip to D.C. and Philadelphia!  And they had a blast!

Who wouldn't LOVE to ride their scooters at the Mall?

Hanging out with Abe....

And the Vietnam War Memorial.

They spent one night on the road and the next day ventured to Philadelphia and explored a museum.

Of course, Liliana found a ballerina!

Flirting with summer

It was 82 degrees on Tuesday!  82!  Surprisingly, Lucas' asthma is not acting up with all this crazy fluctuation in temps.  On Tuesday, we went to the beach to ride bikes and enjoy the sunshine.

And on Wednesday it was a little cooler but just as nice, so we headed to Compo beach with Lucas and Josephine...even made it to the cannons for a photo op.

Got Flour?

The other day, Felix was going to Costco and asked if I needed anything to which I replied that I needed flour.  Expecting maybe a three pack (it is Costco afterall) I was surpised when he returned with this huge bag over his shoulder.  I took a pic next to Liliana just to give a reference to how big it actually is.

We emptied most of it into large ziploc bags and now the top shelf of our pantry is almost solely comprised of flour.

Been cooking/baking a lot...trying different types of bread, fried chicken (have to cut down on this..but it's so yummy!)  I think by Halloween it should all be gone, if not sooner.

I don't know what it is about this picture, but I really like it.  Almost like she is a little girl, but yet so grown up at the same time.  (Taken at the St. Paul's swing)

Easter Part 3

And finally Easter morning.  The kids had gone to a few egg hunts and while I gave them about five "eggs worth" of candy, I put the majority of the eggs away.  On Sunday morning, after I returned from an early morning run, I simply took all the eggs and put them on the lawn in the front of the house.  The kids woke up and were amazed that the Easter Bunny had left "all those eggs!"  

Since they were picking up eggs and would have plenty of candy, I decided to pass on the traditional baskets and when they came in from picking up their eggs, there were two little gifts waiting for them.

Toothbrushes!!!  Barbie and Scooby Doo to be exact!

And then we were showered and dressed in our Sunday best....

And as a flashback, here they were in their Sunday best three and a half years ago!

Easter part 2

On Saturday, we headed over to Grandpa's for an Easter egg hunt they were having.  Pete and his family were up so the twins were able to hang out with some of their cousins.

Hanging with the Easter Bunny