maple and meredith

November in a nutshell

November 18, 2017 by Rebecca Whitehead

A random compilation of pre-Thanksgiving photos from November!

We begin with all of the festive Thanksgiving-themed school projects, including these very cute and useful laminated placemats:

More turkey projects:

Joyriding on a crisp fall day in the Barbie Jeep.

The night the girls most look forward to during the week is Friday night, which is movie night at our house. I won an air popper at the preschool’s annual dinner fundraiser, so the girls have enjoyed popping their own corn and don’t seem to mind the lack of butter or salt. We just eat it straight up plain!

My dreams of seeing Hamilton came true! I didn’t think I’d survive the drive up to LA since I was in the throes of morning sickness, but I had been dying to see this show forever and wasn’t going to let some pesky nausea and extreme fatigue stop me, even though this was the latest I had been out in months! We had some yummy tapas at a restaurant in the theater district before meeting our friends, Sheela and Todd, at the show. I don’t often say anything is really worth the drive to LA, but this was definitely an exception. Best. Musical. Ever.

Samantha and Amelia did their best to smile and not look tortured in their school photos.

Meredith hangs with her bestie, Maple, whom she lovingly refers to as “May May.” They are hilarious together! One minute they are throwing sand and pushing each other, and the next they are hugging and kissing bye bye. Meredith frequently asks where May May is when we go to the park and she’s not there, and sometimes asks to bless May May in her prayers.

The twins started ice skating lessons, and despite spills and struggles the first few weeks, they love it. Ice skating is one of the few lessons we’ve tried that they are super excited to go to each week, probably because Jake buys them hot chocolate afterwards.

Daddy Daughter date at the Spectrum. I believe I was at a doctor’s appointment on this particular excursion and when I picked them up, I notice they were wearing new pants that we don’t own. They explained that Amelia had an accident, so instead of thinking to go to the car where I keep extra clothes, Jake just ran into one of the stores and bought them new undies and pants.

Livin’ la vida loca.

Meredith is obsessed with her dollies.

There’s an orange grove within biking distance of our house and the girls love to bike there, bringing big sacks of oranges home with them. The ride home is uphill all the way, so they are always exhausted when they get back.

Just past the orange grove is a fun little “Exploration Park” the girls like.

Showing off those strong muscles.

Gymnastics practice.

Thanksgiving potluck time! The hour of setting up, serving a class of hungry preschoolers and directing them to help clean up is tiring! I didn’t even get a chance to go say hi to Amelia in her class since her class is smaller and they were on to storytime by the time I got there. It seemed like every kid in this class ~~asked for~~ demanded two or three more helpings of everything… and then wasted it all! Argh! There was so much food that I wanted to take a few dishes home and call Thanksgiving done!

A few nighttime shenanigans:

Jake filmed this at 1 a.m. one night after Samantha had vomited and Amelia had woken up, startled and crying incoherently. Apparently, she wanted to throw up too! Good times.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: amelia crying, carousel, exploration park, ferris wheel, hamilton, jeep, maple and meredith, meredith falls out of bed, orange grove, preschool photos, riding bikes, school photos 2017, thanksgiving preschool crafts, thanksgiving preschool potluck

Neighborhood Adventures

July 22, 2017 by Rebecca Whitehead

I wouldn’t normally put “fun” and “moving” in the same sentence, but one of the more enjoyable aspects of moving has been exploring the new neighborhood. We are only ten minutes away from our old house and already knew this area pretty well, but it’s different being a resident. Almost every afternoon this summer, we’ve been out discovering all the local parks, splash pads, and best biking paths. The twins have been busy finding all the best patches of flowers to pick and discovering all the new bugs (box elder beetles really seem to love our new neighborhood). Bandit’s favorite new spot is the trail on the hill behind our house and Meredith loves “walking” him there, stopping to pick flowers along the way. We love being able to walk or bike to several little parks, splash pads, the water park, and the elementary school and library. It’s been a summer of adventures right in our own backyard!

Biking to the park.

Many afternoons, we just hang out at home and have friends over to swim. There are several pools within walking distance to us, but I don’t think we’ve been even once this summer, just because it’s so nice to not have to load up the car to cool off.

Meredith loves saying hello to Jodi’s yet-to-be born little boy.

Toddler playdate with Maple.

Forget the craft or playroom– everyone’s favorite room is our empty living room!

Water table fun.

Morning swim date with Amy, Sheela and their crews.

Can’t decide on a floatie? Just throw them all in!

Our first official overnight guests were Jake’s nieces, Lacey and Olivia, who were taking a summer road trip from Utah after graduating high school. The twins were fascinated with all their makeup and clothes and basically shadowed them the entire time.

Italian soda night.

Frolicking at the cute splash pad down the street.

Our favorite neighborhood attraction has been the little kids water park, and since residents are only allowed to bring five guests at a time, we’ve slowly been cycling through invitations to our friends. The girls were happy Nate could make it!

Meredith usually spends the entire time snacking.

After a morning at the water park with Crystal’s girls, the twins finally worked up the courage to stand beneath the bucket to get drenched!

Meredith’s favorite splash pad.

Exhausted from running around, filling up buckets of water, and pouring them down the slide to make a water slide with Gavin, Owen and Parker, everyone took a break.

Break time for babies.

Take away our snacks? Oh no you didn’t.

Meredith throws a fit and thrashes around if I put her in the puddle jumpers and try and swim with her, but with Jake, she’s as calm as can be.

Those cheeks.

More snacking.

Staring at the fascinating flecks of color on the floor! Summer lounging at its finest.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: bikes, bucket park, Erpeldings, hossfelds, maple and meredith, new house, Nguyens, pool, splash pad, summer 2017, water park

Four and Fabulous

March 24, 2017 by Rebecca Whitehead

From wombmates to roommates, these two four-year-olds are still as close as can be! In between the constant arguing, tattle-telling, badgering, teasing and driving each other crazy, there are some sweet moments. Today, before bed, we were sitting on the couch and Amelia hugged Samantha saying, “I love you because you’re my sister.” Samantha repeated the same to Amelia and they both gave Meredith, who was feeling left out, a giant bear hug and “I love you’s.” Those heart-melting moments make up for all of the hair-pulling ones.

From becoming big sisters to starting preschool, these girls have really grown up over the past year!

Their big day began with a festive balloon drop… because who wouldn’t want to be showered with balloons on their birthday?

The girls chowed down on the traditional funfetti birthday pancakes, which, tragically, did not turn out as fluffy and pretty as in years’ past. The girls still gobbled them up just the same!

Funfetti birthday pancakes in their former glory:

After breakfast, the girls caught a frog on the patio! While I was shrieking and leaping back in fear, the girls were super calm and tried their best not to squeeze it to death.

The girls played with some of their fun crafts and gifts from their birthday celebration the day before, and opened some birthday packages that had come in the mail. We are loving this awesome Shakespeare for kids set from Marisa and Lori! I love it when I don’t have to be bored to tears during storytime!

Samantha and Harper went for a cruise to the park in their bday jeep from Katie and Jenny.

Won’t be long before they are driving their friends to the mall… I just had a minor heart attack.

Meredith LOVES this thing. She’ll hop in and start hitting the steering wheel and screeching for someone to start it for her.

Let the good times roll.

Samantha and Amelia had their ballet/yoga class while Meredith took her morning nap, and then we met up with Phi, Michael, Parker and Baby Maple for some pasta and foosball/bean bag tossing. Parker and Maple always have the most excellent audiobook recommendations and gave the girls Madeline and Cat in the Hat, which we’ve been enjoying in the car!

These two were hilarious toddling around with their signature baby zombie walks.

SQUEEZE. The girls wouldn’t take off their number 4 necklaces from Meredith until bedtime and randomly kissed Meredith and told her thank you throughout the day.

Hmmmm… I think it goes through this hole.

Eh. Close enough.

Struggling to hold wiggly babies!

I think it was time for a nap…

Later that day, Grammy and Grandpa drove in from Utah just in time for birthday cake with Great Grandpa.

Make a wish! We are apparently going to have an awesome Christmas this year, because every time the girls throw a coin in a pond or wish for something, they wish for a “Merry Christmas!”

Chocolate and milk YUM.

The only way I can get the girls to look at the camera and smile for pictures these days is to have them make a silly face first, and then tell them to switch to their princess smile faces.