Time for those dazzling Friday Fashions!

It's Fashion Friday, time to take a look back at the fashionable (cough cough) ensembles the girls put together on their own this week. I should probably mention that they're a little wild, so you might want to brace yourself or get coffee first or something (I know I did). The outfits this week kind of made me grit my teeth, to tell the truth. But I'm proud to say that this uptight mama kept her mouth shut and let them do what they wanted. How could I not, when one morning Ree ran into our room and yelled "Do we get to pick our clothes today?" and when I said "Sure" she bounced back down the hall to her room saying "Happy!" "Happy!" "Happy!" with each bounce. Little sweeties. Alrighty, let's see. Ro (on the left in both pics) has been into crazy pants this week. She has on a pair of Hanna Andersson soft knit pants in both of these pictures. She also picks her chocolate-brown "teddy bear boots" from Target pretty regularly. She loves the soft fur-lined insides. In fact, when we were riding in the car recently she looked down at her feet and said "I wish my underw**r could be furry like my boots." Ha!! Ree is going for layers upon layers of multicolored stuff lately. I think she's embracing "the more the merrier" school of style. I know I'm a control freak, but her outfit this morning was just begging for some intervention. I think it actually would have turned out ok if she had just grabbed a simple jean skirt or something. Anything but that summer butterfly skirt (which I have a feeling is going to get mysteriously lost in the laundry, shhhhh)... Ah well, other than holding the jean skirt out hopefully (and in vain) while she was rifling through the closet, I didn't do anything. Then we've got a little Mama Fashion, because, hey, I get to have a little fun in their closet sometimes too. I got these orange and chocolate-brown shirts at Gap, the skirts are hand-me-downs, and those are Ro's fave boots. Fall stuff is so cute!: Happy day before Halloween! And heaven help the teachers, because the kids are all carving pumpkins at preschool today.

I don't believe these riding styles are approved by the manufacturer

When we were at the store recently checking out their birthday bikes, the girls had a little trouble deciding. They zoomed all over the store, hopping on this bike and then that one, pedaling furiously up and down the aisles. (It was a little hairy, to tell the truth, I'm actually shocked that they didn't take out any innocent bystanders.) Anyhow, there were sporty orange and purple racing bikes, girly pinkety-pink bikes, rugged speed bikes with hand brakes, fendered bikes with tv characters, and even trick bikes—the extra sturdy kind with those sticky-outy pegs that you can stand on (I think they're called axle pegs, in case my description just doesn't do it for you). Anyhow, we know our girls, and we know the kinds of things they dream up. So we tried hard to push them toward the trick bikes. Yeah... no dice. They were just not interested, and we came home with some adorable, sweet, girly pink and purple bikes. But I suspect they were paying attention when we talked about what you could do with those trick bikes, because they promptly set about doing this kind of stuff: Hmm... Does anyone know if there's an after-market kit to add axle pegs and miscellaneous and sundry braces to normal bikes? Basically, a twin-proofing kit for bicycles?

And she's off!!

The big news for today is that Catherine -- our awesome Canadian friend and the sweetest human on the planet -- is in the air right this second flying to China to meet baby girl Hannah. I'm her backup blogger, so anytime Catherine can't post she'll give a yell and I'll get the info up on her blog. So check Catherine's Chatter as the trip goes along, and be sure to leave her tons o' love. I posted one update already this morning. Wheeeeeeeee!

Halloween jammies

Purdy dang cute (with the possible exception of the giant red-eyed rat). I started to write what color each girl was wearing, then thought it might be fun to do a quick poll to see what you guys think. So here it is:

Can you tell who's who?
	Ree is in the orange top
	Ro is in the orange top
	No freakin' idea
pollcode.com free polls

Update: I'll put the answer in the comments section, so it won't spoil the fun for anyone who still wants to vote.

Don't make this lunch, it was a dismal failure

I had such high hopes for it too! Pumpkin-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (sprinkled with orange sugar, in lieu of dessert), goldfish, and applesauce. Shouldn't have bothered. They picked off the raisin faces, ate one or two goldfish, swallowed the tiniest bite of sandwich possible (under duress), and then Ro ate her applesauce while Ree spilled hers down her shirt. Bah.

Scarecrow doppelgangers

We went to the coolest Halloween party today. It had something for everyone: a beautiful log cabin house in an incredible location, antique cars, a scarecrow-making contest, pumpkin carving, delicious tri-tip, friendly dogs, and Uncle Bobby (the girls think he should fly into town for every party, and frankly, we agree). Before you scroll down, brace yourself for entirely too many pictures. I swear, this is the severely edited-down set. Sorry, I tried my best. Ree has a bumblebee in her hair (think Ree the Bee), and Ro has a white flower in hers. My folks drove here in their Model A (along with a hundred or so of their friends): The merriment started immediately with a stylin' tractor ride up to the house: The girls were in hog heaven with two strong relatives to carry them around. Honestly, the princesses would be happiest if their feet never had to touch the ground: Pumpkin-gutting was the first order of business (I cited pressing photographic duties, and kept my hands clean): Others were not so lucky: In case you're curious, Ree chose the glowstick accessories. We were headed out the door and she tore up the stairs screaming "Wait! Waaaaaaaiiiiiiit!!" Then came back downstairs, ready to party, proudly wearing a glowstick necklace and bracelet. (She got some for Ro, too.): Ro seemed to think we were having a combo belly dancing/pumpkin carving contest: Ro's pumpkin is on the left, and Ree's is on the right. They're kind of funky, aren't they?: With all of those beautiful antique cars outside, we weren't too surprised to see this little guy make an appearance: Next up was scarecrow making. The girls were supposed to hand us pieces of straw but they got a tiny bit distracted by the enormous, thrilling bin of hay: Wheeeeeee (this makes me itchy just to look at it): Their twin scarecrow doppelgangers turned out pretty dang cute, if you ask me: I don't think Ree stopped smiling once today: The girls had picked out lollies for dessert but weren't supposed to touch them until everyone was done eating dinner. Yeah... At one point, Ro said "Hey! Ree's lolli looks awful shiny!" and Ree said "My lolli was bumpier than Ro's, but don't worry, I just lick the bumps off." Heh. Awfully fun day. It was Family Day, by the way. We met the girls three years ago today in China. Life sure has changed since then...

Winner announced: Justin Roberts cd giveaway

Heather has been chosen as the winner for the Justin Roberts cd giveaway. Read more.

Fashion Friday

It's Fashion Friday, time to see what the four-year olds think is the height of fashion. We've got three outfits to show from this week, and I'm just gonna come right out with it and say that I cheated and put some of my picks in there too. This first set of outfits was completely assembled by the girls. Ree is on the left, and Ro is on the right. I thought it was interesting that they chose the same pair of velour pants, just in different colors, and it was hilarious when they decided that they needed some "props" for the picture. Ree chose Car Doggy (so named because he used to live exclusively in the car) and Ro chose a pink bucket filled with an old baby bottle of theirs and a purple oven mitt on her left hand. Hee! This second set of outfits was my doing. I did a little retail therapy when TubaDad was gone so much on business trips the last two weeks, and this is one of the finds. The dotted outfits were on sale at Crazy8, and made me grin. (The chocolate brown boots and tights we already had in the closet, and actually I wanted plain tights for Ree, who is on the right, but they were all in the laundry -- we go through a LOT of tights around here.) This third set of outfits was a combo effort. I was trying to hurry things along a little this morning, so I grabbed the shirts and tights, then the girls ran with it from there. Ree (on the right) immediately picked the ruffly pink skirt that she never gets to wear because her sister always has it on, and chose low shoes instead of boots so we could see her tights. Ro was pleased-as-punch to get a soft velour pink skirt and then wanted shoes to match her sister. And she tucked everything in, like she always does. Fun stuff. Always interesting to see what they do. Hope everyone has a great weekend. PS: TubaDad finally did call about the multi-car-accident day. And he didn't even sound surprised!! (You have to wonder if he expects even worse out of the three of us when he leaves for work...) I really snickered when the girls called Wela and Ree yelled into the phone "Wuyuh, Wozee cwashed into da house and it bwaked!"

I guess this is a good test for how often TubaDad reads the blog

Hey TubaDad, we regret to inform you that both Ro and I had minor car accidents today. Seriously. You think I'm kidding don't you? First, I pulled out of the garage and hit my dad's car which was parked behind me. You know how our driveway slopes downhill? Well if you park a short car on the downhill side behind the van, it's virtually invisible. Who knew? Dad's car is ok, ours has some new scratches. And then, Ro and Ree were out driving their pink car, and had to do some tricky maneuvering around another parked car to get back into their space in the garage. And, well, Ro hit the house. Really. And get this: the house is made of foam. Foam, like styrofoam. FOAM!!! What the hell?! The girls think maybe they should try to glue the pieces back together with their Elmer's Glue. Who knows, maybe they're right. Anyhow, that's all the news for today. (So far at least.) Call me when you read this?

Announcement of review and giveaway for Justin Roberts children's music

Ro and Ree just reviewed the children's music cd Pop Fly from singer/songwriter Justin Roberts. Check out the wild gyrations that pass for dancing in our house and enter the cd giveaway here.

The biggest pumpkin patch in the land

We made the trek back to the world o' pumpkins today, and it was actually open for business. Phew. Ro was so excited that she got to wander among the pumpkins this time instead of just hearing about it from her sister. Ro is in red, and Ree is in yellow. I thought these grey ones and white ones were ultra cool. The girls called them "ghostes punkims." It truly is a beautiful place, and worth making that drive a second time (slight grumble): Mama, isn't this one of those uncarvables? Yes, dis is definitely one of those uncarvables, we don't want dis one, mama!: I was shooting straight into the sun on this one, so the picture isn't that great, but the cuteness sure is: A pumpkin pyramid. Now that really takes the cake: Mom, when do we get to ride the cow train? Seriously, is it time for the cow train, I think it's that way!: I like this family portrait (see me in the bottom part?): The girls talk about this cow train all year. And we were dying laughing that Ro (by complete coincidence) ended up in the cow named "Rosebud": Awwww: Awwww, again: Riding the crazy hay ride (it was wildly, wonderfully bumpy): We tried to get a sweet shot of the girls and their BFF, but they just couldn't resist plopping right onto the pumpkin pile: No trip to the pumpkin farm would be complete without this for dessert, and it was delish: They had a live mariachi band at the lunch pavilion, and the girls danced their little butts off (they were hilarious!): A good day. Now that we've all seen a pumpkin farm in person this year, we can kick back and buy any future pumpkins at the grocery store like normal folk. Heh.