All Dolled Up on a Pretty Spring Day

These pictures were taken outside church two weeks ago when I figured out that these dresses, given to the girls by cousins Amy and Caitlin at their baptism, finally fit! Amy and Caitlin wore the same dresses to the baptism, and if Amy and Caitlin did not grow like weeds, they might, perhaps, still fit into them (which would make for quite a cute picture). However, I have it on good authority that said cousins are bigger than ever these days :-) Nonetheless, I hope they enjoy seeing Emma and Caroline in their dresses and remember the fun time they had in Louisiana!

Emma wasn't so keen on having Caroline give her a hug.



My brown-eyed girl and her Morson family half-smile :-)



Hat Day

Discipline has been challenging lately, and I have to say that Lucas and I have not been completely prepared for the "Terrible Twos" given how sweet and gentle our girls have been up to now (and yes, we know how lucky we are!). In fact, we got a call from school just the other day telling us that one of our girls (who will remain unnamed so that this blog cannot be used against her in the years to come) PUNCHED the other on the playground. The red mark that remained around her sister's eye for several days was evidence that the incident was serious enough to warrant the call we received!

So I am sharing this picture in no small part to remind myself that while things may have gotten a little rough lately, I still have super cute and truly happy and smiley little girls most of the time. This picture was taken one morning as the girls were leaving for school. They had simply decided that it was a great day for hats and searched the drawers in their room until they found some. Emma's didn't even fit her anymore, but they were so happy about having them that we let them bring the hats to school and keep them on as long as they wanted. Sometimes they're just (two) too cute!

Conge

Last weekend we went to my high school's annual fair, which is called Conge (French for a short respite or break), and the girls had a fantastic time roaming the campus and playing with Ma Mere and Papa. It was a perfect spring day of food, family, music, and fun.

Playing on the lawn and listening to music.

Ma Mere and Papa were on hand to push a swing or buy a sweet treat or whatever else the girls wanted.

The girls had a great time playing house. They are really starting to understand imaginative play.

Caroline "driving" on the playground.

Emma dancing to the live music.

Mama's Make Up

The pictures below are  fairly self explanatory... We seem to be finding the girls with my make-up a lot these days. They've definitely hit the stage where mimicking everything Lucas and I do is a favorite pastime and their greatest challenge. It would be easy to get angry at some of the things they do... if only they didn't look so darn cute doing it!

Unfortunately, I had only bought this lipstick the week before...



Lucas calls this Caroline's Lady Gaga look.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

I imagine most parents have trouble getting their kids to buckle seatbelts and settle into their carseats once they have passed the age where parents are carrying them, but with twins, there's a further complication: what to do about the child who is free to run around while you're busy buckling in the other child. In our case, this inevitably means that each time we head out to the car, one or the other of our girls (usually Caroline) bolts straight into the back cargo area and somehow manages to make herself just out of reach. After listening to the complaints of the first child who is either a) not wanting to be buckled in or b) wanting to be buckled in ONLY if she can do it all by herself (a process that will take no less than 5 quite frustrating minutes for this impatient mama), I begin to strategize. Do I open the back hatch, forcing the second child towards her car seat or attempt to shimmy my way into the super-tight second row of our "mini minivan" and trap said second child in the spot she only THOUGHT was out of reach? Either way, it's bound to be a stand-off, or else another good 5 minutes with yet another stubbornly terrible-two child, unwilling to be buckled in, then insisting to do the buckling herself.
Many times, the second child ends up running to the front seat and pretends to drive. There is no end to the giggles that follow and the delight this provides the first child. In fact, my girls have had so much fun making a game out of staying out of mom's reach that I have to admit that I allow it to go on longer than it should sometimes just to see the smiles and hear the giggles. The joke is often on me, though, when I finally do get everyone buckled in and start the engine, only to find the windshield wipers turned on, the radio turned all the way up, and the bright lights on... Little boys may play with toy cars, but apparently little girls prefer the real thing :-)

In the front passenger seat of our car, attempting to avoid getting buckled in. Note the dresses for St. Patrick's Day. They may only be 1/4 Irish, but their mama is proud :-)

One More From Mardi Gras

I had to include this picture because it is, well, too, too cute! It was taken at our friends Mary Elizabeth and Tyler's house during the Mardi Gras parade that goes directly through our neighborhood. Like the rest of the Mardi Gras weekend, things were very wet, but the revelers who turned out to particpate in the parade were incredibly generous to our gaggle of kiddos.

It's Carnival Time!

We spent Mardi Gras day in Lafayette, where the weather was quite questionable, but the fun was undeniable. I couldn't believe that this was Emma and Caroline's THIRD Mardi Gras! They certainly looked like pros, though, as they waved their arms and shouted for beads. Of course, there was lots of dancing to the music and running with their cousins, too. As the saying goes, "a good time was had by all."



Uncle Jamie and Stephen pulling the girls to the parade route



The crew trying to stay dry: Shawn, Stephen, Emma, Erin, Thomas, Lucas, Robert and Caroline



Dancing during the Krewe of Gabriel parade



Lucas' boss Bruce and Uncle Mike Michot throwing beads to us. Their float stopped right in front of us for a VERY long time!