Our New Tree House

We were going to post pictures this week of our HUGE adventure to Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish Country this week (we might still get to it!), but we had more pressing news to share.

Just yesterday there was a storm that came through our area. It wasn't the worse storm we've ever seen around here, but the wind sent half of our neighbor's tree plummeting into our kitchen ceiling, kitchen windows, and the driveway!

This picture should be up and down, so if you look at it sideways, you can see how one large branch is poking through the ceiling:

Another fabulous spot of the ceiling:

Here you can see how drywall hanging into the kitchen is a real interior design plus. We think it's going to be a new trend!

And finally, here's our smashed window with one of the big branches resting nicely on the roof. What you can't see here are all of the branches that made their way through the roof and into our kitchen! So much for asking Daddy to build us a treehouse in our backyard; now we have our very own in the kitchen!

The great news is that no one was hurt and the damage could have been much worse. 2010 is shaping up to be QUITE the year for our family!!

Smile for the Camera!

We wanted to get our pictures taken when we turned 2 (WAAAAY back in January), but Mommy was just too sick to make it happen. Instead, we got our pictures taken at the ripe old age of 2 1/2. We just had to wear pig-tales because we are still pretty much sporting the baby-mullet and putting our hair up really helps give us that "yes, we are 2 1/2 and no our mom does not cut our hair in a mullet on purpose" look.The pictures are courtesy of Target Studios and we've picked out the best ones for your viewing enjoyment. Smiles all around!

This is serious business!

Of course Target Studios is no match for our favorite photog, but it's what works for us now (especially with Mommy in her current condition). We hope you enjoy them!

If you'd like to see all of the pictures we took (the good, the bad, the silly, and the crazy), you may go to The Smile Station and enter
Customer Name: Amy Butcher and Access Code: LTTT0832103544TAR
These pictures are courtesy of Target Studios and are in low-res format for viewing only.

Ode to Daddy

It is no mystery to anyone who knows us that we love our Daddy. But over the last 6 months while Mommy's been so sick and incapacitated, we just love him even more. He works so hard, plays with us like a maniac (it's great!), and is just all around a super-duper dad. We thought we'd try to be just like him, but found out that his are BIG shoes to fill. How do we look in your shirts, Daddy?You think they're a little big for us? Oh well, we'll just have to settle for BIG hugs instead!

Happy Father's Day to our awesome Daddy!!

Super Summer Silliness!

We are enjoying summer so much that we've just had hardly any time to update you on our crazy little lives! Mommy is doing better each day and has even had a handful of outings in the last month! Here are some snapshots into our summer fun:Elyse: I'm working on perfecting my smile. It's still a work in progress.

When it's hot, hot, hot outside, we just love swimming in our pool:

To celebrate Father's Day early with one of our grandpas, we had ice cream cake for the first time and let's just say it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

Delicious, scrumptious, and I'd like to eat it peace please.

Even though we still have the baby mullet, we're currently rocking the pigtales. We think they're just the right look for the dog-days of summer:

Our grandma is here for the summer to help out Mommy and Daddy and boy are we sure happy she's here! We, of course, are working her to the bone and we love it!

Many an afternoon is spent relaxing in our lawn chairs enjoying ice cream cones:

Elyse: Ta-Da! Go for the perfect landing, Felicity!

It's a wild and crazy life, but someone's got to live it! Here's to more summer silliness!

Three's Company

Elyse: It's BIG news! Are you ready for it?

We are going to have a new little SISTER around soon!Felicity: We can't contain our excitement! We are just going to be the best big sisters, showing her all of the ways of the world and will help her get into all sorts of mischief!I'll show her how to be fancy in every way and how to always be cool and collected for the paparazzi:

Of course I'll teach her how to use her smile to get out of sticky situations and remind her that she's very lucky to have two fabulous, fancy sisters like us!

The ultrasound showed that baby #3 is doing well and growing very strong in spite of Mommy's setbacks. Mommy has made dramatic improvements in the past few weeks and is now off of her PICC line and able to eat some foods. She's still pretty weak and can't do much, but is feeling a little better each day.

A Little Easter Catch-Up

It's been a month since our last post and we can't believe how fast time flies for us when we're having fun and how s.l.o.w. it goes for Mommy while she's sick. The good news is that Mommy finally broke her 6 week food and drink hiatus last week and we're hoping little by little she will be able to eat more food. She's still very weak and sickly, but the docs think she's taking a turn for the better!

Even though Mommy was super sick, we tried to have a good Easter as a family. We celebrated that Jesus is alive and watched church on the internet together with Mommy in bed, then we got our beautiful dresses on and pretty bows (which we promptly took out) and had an eggstra-special Easter egg hunt in the back yard.

Look, Elyse!! I found some over here!I found one over here! What a tricky spot!

Elyse, you'll never believe what I see in here! I've got to check this out:

I knew it was something special! It's an Easter Basket!! Could it mean more delicious goodies? Easter is my new favorite holiday!

I found mine too, Felicity! Check out this loot! Daddy, is this really for me?! Yippee!

You won't believe it, there are even more eggs over here!

Elyse: Hey guys, did you know there was candy in our eggs? I discovered that gem of a fact early on in the hunt!

We had to take a little break during our big hunt to sample the goodies in our eggs. Jelly beans, chocolate, and other such yummy treats filled our baskets to the brim! We'd like to have an Easter egg hunt every day!

Who says you can't sit in the dirt in a white dress to open eggs to find out what lies inside? Not me, that's for sure!

Even though it was a pretty quiet Easter (and Mommy was unable to host her 2nd annual Easter party and egg hunt BUMMER!), we had so much fun celebrating the true reason for Easter and having our first unassisted egg hunt. Not to mention, we received tons of "bunny treats" and even though she can't have any, Mommy is quite pleased we share her obsession for the ooey, gooey, artificial creation that is the Peep!

What's the BIG Idea?

Elyse: You're probably wondering, "Hey, what's the BIG idea? Where have those crazy twins been?" Well, we've been holding down the fort, keeping a big secret, and helping take care of Mommy. Felicity: Because you see, our Mommy has been extremely sick lately and she wanted us to tell you the big news: We're going to be big sisters! (Elyse: well, I'm actually going to be a big sister for the second time as I am a whole 14 min. older than Felicity!). Can you believe it? It was a big surprise to all of us, but we haven't been doing much celebrating because Mommy has this awful condition called hyperemesis gravidarum which makes her just so so sick.

Mommy has been in the hospital multiple times, has home nursing care, and now has a PICC line with TPN (which means she gets all of her nutrition through a central line into a main artery). It's been a rough road for all of us, but we're a resilient clan!

We decided to document one of our visits to the hospital so you could see we're still our crazy little selves!! We hate when Mommy has to go to the hospital and we're happy she can at least be at home with her nursing service now.

Thankfully we have an amazing daddy who plays with us lots while Mommy's in bed!

This curtain thing was so fun to play with and hide behind. Who says a hospital has to be boring?!

This room had a great view and we could see for miles!

We took every opportunity to climb, jump, and make this crazy place fun for Mommy!

That's it folks! We hope you've enjoyed our update and we want you to know we sure have missed you! Hopefully Mommy will start to feel better soon (although the docs aren't very hopeful), but until then, we'll be sure to take good care of her!

For those of you who want to know the details, here they are: Mommy is 11 1/2 weeks along, is due in early Oct, and is pregnant with one baby. If you'd like to learn more about her condition and how it differs from morning sickness, click here. And if you're wondering who is taking care of us, we now have full-time nanny help. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time!

Can't Get a Good Princess Down

Elyse: Listen up! We are not going to let this snow get us down! We embrace the snow and rule over it as Ice Princesses!
Felicity: Um...can someone from Wardrobe fix my earring?I don't think it's a coincidence that I'm dressed like Snow White...since our whole city is snow white too!!

We are getting pretty CRAZY being so home-bound lately. In the Frozen Tundra, at least they know how to clear out the snow and streets and get on with life; but here we have to wait days and weeks to get back to normal. Until some sort of normal returns to our crazy town, we're just going to have to rule the roost looking fancy!