Fake Makeup

Thank you Camille!

Buy cheap makeup and cheap nail polish

Chip out cheap makeup and throw away

Clean slate

Pour in nail polish and if it's iridescent, swirl with brush stick

Let dry overnight.

Now Lily can pretend to put on makeup while I'm putting on mine and she will keep out of mommy's real (expensive) makeup. The best part is she gets to use the little brushes and unlike the kind you buy in the little girl makeup kits...this is not makeup. No mess, no clean up, no purple eyeshadow smeared all over my walls.

Couches are so much fun

Ready...

Set...

GO!

Even more videos...

Now you can say...I remember when he was two and obsessed with golf, look at him now, the best PGA player of all times and giving all his earnings to his mommy as a thank you. (the giant grassless spots are where we've recently had trees removed)

Chatty Lily on a rainy afternoon

She can work it

Video Rewind: A year ago

Holiday's always make me nostalgic.

July 4th weekend in Miami.

*******************************************************

And now in 2010, this July 4th week in Texas. Zane still likes to dance

The BEST part of this video is at the very end, the way that Zane poses with his arms in a ballet pose, just like the dancer on TV. ADORABLE. I keep telling Jason it's ok, plenty of athletes take ballet.

(PS you can see the coffee table corner to blame...don't worry since the gash, the foam has been replaced)

Let mama have a moment

Allow me to brag. I've been very proud of myself over the past few years because I like to use this blog as a form of entertainment. I find my kids hilarious and try to capture that in this blog. There are a large majority of mom-blogs out there that just constantly shove it down people's throats how awesome their kids are, yet I refrain.

However...Please allow me this one indulgence. There are days when I am constantly amazed by Lily. She just "gets it". She is an old soul and is able to grasp things and learn with ease. I'm proud of her everyday.

Tonight I was picking up some toys and I noticed her magnadoodle. She had drawn: A large daddy fish standing guard over us all. A mommy fish (apparently I have a large eye, she must know I see everything). A Lily fish and a brother fish. She drew them all tightly together as a family unit and even separated the Lily fish and the brother fish between the mommy fish. Then she drew an Emma fish out to the side. She made sure to include her friend in her drawing and even gave it curly hair like Emma has.

Sometimes all I can do is shake my head and smile.

Love Love Love

Ouchie.

...and this is why you should have the corner foam protectors on ALL the corners of your coffee table. We had them on all four corners. Playful toddlers took two of them off. Irresponsible mommy didn't replace them. Unlucky Zane fell backwards and hit the unprotected corner.

After the bleeding stopped and we were able to clean it up, we were able to see the nice gash he's got in his little head. Sigh. At least the scar will be in his hair line and not on his beautiful face.

When is the potential rain going to stop?

Zoo day cancelled...

Not a happy nap wakeup

Zane, I'm sorry you don't feel well baby...

And I'm sorry, if you don't feel better by tonight, we're not going to be able to go to the zoo tomorrow

(fingers crossed it's just a pesky 2 year molar)

AIRPANE!!!!!!

Good thing the fences aren't electrified...

Saturday Snapshot

With Baby tucked carefully into bed behind them, Daddy and Lily take an adventure with Brown Bear to see what he sees.

Good Morning Park

Lily manages Emma's hydration levels

but didn't get the memo about wearing green...

Family Photos

Check out the pictures here:

Hawthorne Fam

Ya, my kids are pretty cute.

Thanks to Amy who did an AMAZING job running around with Zane and Lily. The park is their favorite place to be so you can imagine trying to get them to hold still for photos was quite a task.

Can't wait to get these printed so I can finally put things up on our walls!

A beautiful gift

Thank you GiGi for your gift to Miss Lily. She absolutely adores it and we've added a new step to our night time routine. After she rocks her baby to sleep we put her in her new bed and say ni-night. :)

Thank you for passing it down to us, I know one day she will truly appreciate her great grandmother's doll bed.

My little opposites

Zane likes playing in water...

Lily, not so much

Dear Jason...

Little did you know 11 years ago when you met me and 6 years ago when you married me that you'd get the adventure of being a dad to twins.

Even as we sat in the hospital waiting room I don't think we were at all prepared for what lie ahead of us. But we did it. We pushed through the round the clock feedings and diaper changes. You slept on a fold out couch with me for 3 months and got up with me each time I nudged you that it was time, yet again to feed them. You can still swaddle better than any man on this planet. We moved twice in two years with two babies. We keep on keeping on and I couldn't have done it without you.

You have given me a gift that I will treasure for the rest of my life. The ability to be a stay at home mom to our children and raise them the way we want them to be raised. You allow me to be their mom all day long and see their faces from the time they get up until the time they go down. I get to play with legos, go to the zoo, slide at the park, paint fishes and run through sprinklers. It is a gift I am grateful for and will never take for granted.

You're an amazing father to our babies and I try and not hold it against you that they like you more than me. Thank you for all that you do. I love you hope you had a wonderful Fathers Day.

~VAL

Birthday

One year old

Two years old

....to be continued

My twosome are now two

Happy Happy Birthday to my beautiful and amazing children.

We had quite a week here. Lots of family and friends in town celebrating the second birthday of Zane and Lily. Everyone had such a great time. Zane and Lily are completely wiped out and I fear that next week will be filled with questions such as...why am I not getting attention 100% of the time! :)

Thank you to everyone who wished us a happy birthday and for those who travelled all the way in to come and be with us on this amazing week. Words can not express how grateful I am for each and every one of you. Zane and Lily are so very lucky to have people like you in their lives. Thank you also to everyone who took pictures this week. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon I realized I hadn't taken a single photo all week. Especially a big thanks to Neenee who let me grab her shots below.

I mean really, how could you not adore this child

Funniest. picture. ever. Neenee was explaining to Zane that he couldn't play with her laptop. He wasn't happy about that decision.

Outside in the backyard playing with their new birthday toys

Lily felt that Pop needed to share in the delicious lunch

Pawpaw and Lily share a special ketchup moment with Nana.

Out at the park with Uncle Dom and Emma playing soccer

Zane's death grip on Uncle Matt while goofing around

Thank you Daddy Zane and Shirley for coming to the party!

Miss Robyn and her adorable Baby Morgan stayed cool in the shade

Lily was pretty concerned about whether or not Emma was getting enough food

I think Karla decided that the green went best with her purple shirt

Claire preferred the green duck look

RJ and Zane represented the stud muffins of the party

We had a great time Saturday night going out to dinner to also celebrate Fathers Day and then hanging out at the house when the temperature had cooled to about 96 from the 99 it was earlier that afternoon...eesh. However, I will still take it over a Miami Summer ANYDAY.