Multiples & More Question of the Week...

Multiples & More Question of the Week...

Here's how it works...go to Multiples & More and link it up to your blog by answering the question below...don't foget to comment while you're here answering the question. 
Thanks so much and Happy Sunday!

And now.. here is your question!

What is your policy on giving kids candy?
What age do you think it is appropriate?

And.. be honest.. do you eat your kids Halloween candy?:)

My policy on giving kids candy has really been limited since they are only 6 yrs old.  I believe candy should be a "treat" not a daily occurrence.  There are a couple of days a year though that I just let my girls eat until they are sick...Halloween is one of them.  So tomorrow will be the day.  Easter and Christmas we allow them to do the same thing.  You figure you are getting candy from the Easter Bunny and Santa, you can't be rude, you have to eat it.  The age we started giving our kids official "candy" is around 4 to 5 yrs old.  However we are very healthy eaters and we don't keep candy in the house.  It really is a treat in our family. 

And as much as I don't want to eat their Halloween candy...we have to make sure it's not poisoned...right? 

Will post pictures today of the girls' costume!

For more answers to the above question...click on the "Multiples & More" link above.

Moving + Halloween = Craziness

Halloween is a crazy time anyway...finding costumes, dressing up w/ makeup and the whole 10 yards, coordinating trick or treating, etc.  Throw a move in the mix...and you don't actually have to dress me up for people to think I am wearing my costume already. :)  the costume is... I am playing the roll of stressed out mom!
I know that moves can be hard on our children.  Thankfully we are not far away from the other house and we have actually been hanging out at the pool of our new house we just bought for the whole summer as my mom lived in the Mother-n-law house and we were blessed by a phenomenal woman to let us buy the whole place.  This is truly a testament that good things happen to good people. 
Anyway, my girls have already become comfortable here, but none the less, it's still a change in their little lives. 
So they are super excited for Halloween and all that goes along with that and then they are moving...I felt bad for them today as I believe they were very overwhelmed. 
Then to top it off, we had a lot of family over and that always gets a little crazy in itself.  Anytime I feel that my girls are out of their element or feeling uneasy, I stress to the max!  They are my whole little life and if everything is not going perfect in their world...mother nature has me unsettled as well. 
So tonight, they lay down in their new bedrooms and we are in ours.  This house is crazy big and I am going to go back to having a monitor so I can hear them at night.  That would make me sleep better...not to mention our big dog sleeps in their room at the foot of their bed.  That does help a mom sleep better also.
Tomorrow we will finish the house and officially be moved in to our new house.  Very exciting with a lot to get used to!
We will move for half of the day tomorrow and then get the girls in their costumes and ready to rock and roll the Halloween night.  Can't wait for them to be kids and enjoy themselves greatly!
Have a safe night tomorrow everyone!

So, according to Kailani from An Island Life, Friday is the day in Hawaii where everyone takes it easy! So I will post a simple question, and you can leave an answer!

What are you or your kids going to be for Halloween?

 My girls are going to be Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I always want them to do something "twin related" and this is the 2nd thing they have done twin related.  Last year one was Hannah Montana and one was Miley Cyrus.  It actually worked out really well because one girl wanted to wear the wig and the other one didn't.  So it didn't matter who was who, just as long as one was dressed up as her and one was dressed down. 

For the Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes, this was a little challenging.  I thought these outfits were going to be so super simple that I would be able to find them easy.  What I learned is that no one sells costumes of Thing 1 and Thing 2 anymore.  So I started looking for the blue hair wigs early on.  We ended up ordering those from The International Wig Co. online.  The hair is perfect and was very reasonably priced. 

Then I had to find the outfits...this is where the challenge was.  I searched online for outfits specifically for Things 1 & 2 and there weren't any cute.  I then proceeded to all the Halloween stores, party stores, etc.  Mind you, I wasn't just looking for Thing 1 & 2 costumes, I was looking for any red costume that I could turn into Thing 1 & 2.  My last stop was Target.  I just started looking for the separates that I could put together to make the costume.  I found red long sleave shirts, red sweatshirts, but no red sweats however I did find red leggings.  I thought my poor little ladies were going to freeze to death.  I had everything it was going to take to make the costumes and then I decided to look at the costumes in the Halloween section.  By this time, I knew they weren't going to have specific Thing 1 & 2 costumes, but anything close with a red outfit could have a Thing 1 & 2 circle put on the front very easily.  I finally found THE PERFECT outfits.  They were intended to be little devils (which I would never allow my girls to be just for the record) and yet you wouldn't know they were devils if they didn't have all the extras (horns, tail, bow tie, etc.).  They are fuzzy red long sleeve, long leg...kind of reminds me of a red Grinch costume without the puffy stomach!  They were so awesome!  The only challenge was that the stomach to this outfit is sequins.  So no iron on.

I went to Wal-Mart over the next couple of days and picked up some iron on material (about a yard), then I got white fleece (about a half of a yard), I have an awesome picture of Thing 1 & 2 from the movie with Mike Meyers.  I took a large plate, put it face down on the fleece and traced around it with a pencil.  Cut out the fleece and followed what it looked like on the picture to write Thing 1.  The first time I wrote Thing, I realized it was too small.  Thankfully I got enough iron on to have a test piece.  I turned the test piece around and did it again a lot larger...it was perfect.  I then cut out another piece the exact same way and put it over the sample and traced it.  Then did it with Thing 2 as well.  That turned out really well because they match perfect since I traced the same one.  Then I put the same large plate face down on the fleece and cut out two pieces of that.  Took the iron on and the fleece to the ironing board and ironed it on. 

Time to sew it on the outfit.  I had the girls try on the red suits so I knew exactly where to put the Thing 1 circle...then I used white thread and just tacked it on (with them out of the suits, of course). 

They turned out SO ADORABLE!!!  I can't wait to post pictures.  After Saturday, I will put pictures on...so keep an eye out!

Remember Thing 1 and Thing 2 do exactly the opposite of what you say...so Saturday is going to be interesting. 

Happy Haunting!

"Which one is older..."

There are so many things that crack me up that people will say to my identical twin girls and they think they are the only person in the world that ever thought it up.  For example, "double trouble", "boy you've got your hands full", "are they identical", etc.  I know the other twin moms reading this will totally know what I'm talking about and then some.  There are many many more things that people say to twins and twin parents, those were just to name a few.
Recently there has been one question that my girls are getting asked over and over...first question, "are they twins" the question right after that one "which one is older"?  We have never raised my girls to know that one is older than the other.  They are 2 minutes apart and they don't know that one is older than the other by two minutes cuz we have never wanted to go there.  I am a firm believer in not comparing my girls at all.  Even to the extent to say at the dinner table, "look at your sister, she is eating good."  We never compare them at all! 
It's so funny when people say, "which one is older" cuz my girls will say, neither of us.  We were born at the same time."  The person asking the question is bound and determined.  It's almost like they HAVE to find something different about my girls before walking away.  They look closer at my girls when they are told no one is older and have to go into the whole thing..."well who was born first".  I always speak up and say, they were born on the same day and they are the same age, neither one is older.  Like that wouldn't be good enough they continue, well ne of them has to be older.  I then have to tell them, for the sake of competition or an argument, they are both the exact same age.  And they really are.  They are 2 minutes apart for heavens sake.
Whats so funny to me is that two friends can be born on the same day, same year and they are exactly the same age and everyone is fine with it, but when it comes to twins, people have to find something different and will actually go down to the last second of when they were born to find something different. 
I have been reading a really good book that I recommend to anyone who is related to an identical twin in someway; married to, sibling of, child of, parent of, etc.  The book is called, "One and the Same" by Abigail Pogrebin.  She is an identical twin who is writing a book about identical twins.  She interviewed identical twins and got a lot of statistics about twins.  It is such a raw insight on how identical twins are.  I highly recommend it!
There is really nothing that bothers me that people do with my girls...stare, talk about them, stop them to find out how they are different, etc.  These things don't bother me because I know that identical twins are fascinating and there is a lot of curiosity out there.  My girls will never know what it's like to not be stared at, talked about, compared.  So the easier I can make it on them, the better.
Happy Thursday!

Halloween moment I wish I had on video...

I'm participating in a Writers work shop today at Mama Kats Loosin It. Today's question is which Halloween Moment do you wish you had on Video?

The Halloween moment that I wish was caught on video would be when my girls and I are putting together their Halloween treats for school.  It is so much fun and I love to plan parties so much that we really try to find a "creative" treat for school that is easy, but still healthy. 
This year's Halloween treat...actually consisted of two...
1)  We got large marshmellows and small craft sticks.  We used white chocolate for dipping and melted the chocolate, dipped the marshmellows on a stick in the chocolate and then the girls would dip them in halloween sprinkles.  I then buy a pack of the celophane bags that you can get at the dollar store.  We cut the bottom of the bags off, put them over the chocolate covered marshmellows with the stick in them and put colorful ribbon around them.  They look so cute.  It looks like they have really cute suckers for the kids, but their just a large marshmellow.  This is fun for the kids to do and even funner for their friends to eat.
2)  Then we got bags of the long pretzel sticks and we got the colored chocolate for dipping. We used the green chocolate. We dipped the pretzels in the chocolate and then the girls would roll them in Halloween sprinkles. They turned out so cute.
These moments are so fun and special for my girls and I.  This is something that I would like to remember forever!
Happy Halloween!
To read more answers to this question, click here.

Things I love Thursday...video phone

My very favorite item in the whole world is our video phone.  This is a phone that hooks up over the internet and anyone that has this phone can see the other person they are talking to.  It reminds me of the Jetsons...My family has one and my 6 year old twins love to call Grammy and see her when they talk to her.  Erynn lost her first tooth recently and all she did was call Grammy and smile and my mom could see that Erynn had lost her tooth.  This is such an awesome way to keep in touch with loved ones that you don't get to see very often.  To buy the phone is only $99 (which I thought was going to be way more expensive) and the service is $29.99/mo for unlimited local and long distance calls.  It can actually replace your home phone.  This is the only phone we use in our house.  Another cool thing is that you can actually plug your current base that goes to your cordless handsets into the back of the video phone and your existing handsets still work. 
My mom made my girls a blanket the other day that she couldn't wait for Christmas to show me, so she called and showed me!  There is no delay, it's picture perfect and in real time.  It's like sitting in front of her.  These phones and the company were actually featured on the Celebrity Apprentice in March of this year.  To learn more about the phone...click here.
To find more Things I love Thursdays, click here.

Works for me Wednesday...

For this Works for me Wednesday, I have two things to write about.  First, I have 6 year old identical girls and as much as I would love for them to keep their adorable outfits clean, they don't.  When they get home and they have something on their clothes, I instantly have them take it off and in the laundry room I always keep a bottle of dye free dishsoap...I put that all over the stain, fold it over and let it sit there until the next load of laundry.  Then I throw it in there and it comes out perfect.  That has saved many items of clothing.
Second, the thing that helps me clean my microwave is so easy and works so good.  I get a coffee cup, fill it 3/4 of the way full and then microwave it for about 3 minutes.  The steam that is created by the cup of hot water loosens everything on the microwave and when you are done, you can take a wash cloth and just wipe everything out.  It works perfect!
Those are a couple of things for my Works for me Wednesday!  For more things that work for others, click here.