TwiceGirlies at Trader Joe's aka TJ's

Don't you just love Trader Joe's (aka TJs)? If there was a TJs in my city, this store would be the only place I would grocery shop..for the most part. Whenever I walk in there, I am so excited, so are my twins. My hubby knows I will go over the top and practically buy everything in the store.

My twins have always wanted to use the kids shopping carts. This time at TJs my twins were able to walk around the store with their own. It was so cute, I would place some small products, like canned re fried beans, whole beans, sardines, kids juice drinks, kids waters, yogurt and so much more. Yes, so much more.

As soon as I walk into TJs, I go down the middle aisle, slowly look around, take a couple products I use, off the shelves, them move down the aisle to the left and continue looking for goodies I like in those aisles. Not only does TJs have the best fruits and veggies around, they have amazing frozen food like fish, pasta meals, Chinese meals and more. There is also an array of drinks like iced tea, sparkling water, coconut water and kids drinks too. Aside from these drinks TJs have the best coffee, hot chocolate and teas. Yesterday at TJs, I walked up to the coffee bar, as I always do, filled a tiny cup with cream, coffee and a packet of TJs organic sugar. I loved it and asked one of the employees if I could have one of the sugar packets. He said, "Sure take as many as you want." Then he walked over to the coffee bar and picked up two handfuls of sugar packets and wrapped them in foil.

WOW, this the reason I love shopping at TJs, their customer service is superb. They employees go over and beyond to answer customer questions and make them feel at home in their stores. I am still hoping a TJs will set up shop in my city. I keep waiting and waiting. But until then, I am willing to drive 25 miles to shop at a store I love.

Aside from the foods my twins had in their carts, I can not forget the JoJos. There are Trader Joe's version of Oreo's and they are so yummy. My twins, Mommy and Daddy like them so much.. One of my twins filled her little cart full of JoJo's and kids snack bars. I am sure all the TJs has a JoJo Tiger in their store too. I asked our cashier where JoJo was in the store and she pointed out where he was. So, I walked my twins over to see him near the produce section, on top of one of the shelves. Then I told my twins to tell JoJo how much they love the JoJos cookies and it was nice to see him.

From there, we walked back to the register and my twins wrote on the chalkboard. That chalkboard is a lifesaver for my twins when it is time to leave because..well..it keeps them busy. This is a great idea TJs came up with. TJs is totally kid friendly too. Not only is TJs an adult grocery shopping paradise, kids are able to stay occupied as well.

Thank you TJs for all the awesome foods products you sell and keeping my twins occupied. I am your loyal customer. Now please set up shop in my city.

TwiceGirlies Go To Multicultural Night at School

Tonight was my twins multicultural night at school. They were able to go to different countries without leaving their school. When the girls entered their cafeteria they were given  a paper passport. Countries I saw represented were Egypt, China, Japan, India, Mexico and there must have been others but we only stayed for an hour.
For each country/table, my twins visited, their passport was stamped. Along with getting their passport stamped, they were able to do a craft of some sort depicting that countries heritage. I really had a lot of fun and my twins did too.

There were students from India, Mexico and Native Americans were dressed in their native dress wear and dancing to the music of their customs. I did take some photos, they are still on my phone. I only took a few photos and might add them to this article soon.

To be honest, I did not want to go because this is the night my twins go see their grandparents, but my twins did have a good time. They saw some of their friends and got to see a variety of countries they would never visit if not for the multicultural night at their school.

Seasons With My TwiceGirlies

My goodness, time is a funny thing, isn't it?  Before you know it, your babies are no longer babies. In the blink of an eye, my twins went from 32 week old preemie's, to six year old little girls. What happened to the time in between my twins starting out in life as preemie's, to now energetic and vibrant six year old little girls? In the blink of an eye, in the blink of an eye they are babies no more.In an instant, they went from preemie twins being the most precious, and oh so tiny, newborns laying in my arms, on my chest, on my legs, on my shoulders or on their backs and tummies, to crawling, pulling up, walking and running twins. Seeing my twins grow up right before my eyes has gone by way to fast for me. The good thing is, you can always look back, through photographs, but you can never go back.

It is a shame I did not know a personal photographer when my twins were born. I went to the mall, which was a very, very bad choice. The girl, yes girl, who took one set of photographs of my twins was just awful. I mean, dare I say yuck! I should have sued the company. Now this "photo studio" is no longer in the mall, thank goodness, but there is another one in its place.
The only way I was able to get some really good photographs of my twins was when I took them myself. You know they saying, "If You Want Something Done Right, You Have To Do It Yourself"? Well this is what I had to do. Although, I was not able to take the photographs a real and independent photographers would have take, I did the best I could without all the props and lighting.

Never, ever go to a mall photography studio and trust their "photographer" to take the photographs you want. It is well worth it to have an independent photographer take the most precious photographs of you babies.
But I digress...I totally got of track here. I had to vent a little.
When my twins were a year old, I did hire an independent, professional, photographer who took these photos before they began walking:

So now that my twins are six years old, I look back at their last five years and I just wonder what happened to those years? When did they grow up so fast? By the time my twins were four years old, they were in preschool and learning from their awesome preschool teachers and making friends. In fact, some of the friends they made in preschool are going to school with them today. From age one, my twins have been full of life and always on the go. I think this is one reason why I had to get them into school, for a least three hours a day, three times a week. Then, at age five, I enrolled them in kindergarten. Yeah, they wanted to go and they were ready physically, mentally and emotionally. My twins just have so much energy, I really do not know where they get it from.

Well, another reason why I had to get them into school was because of their fighting. Yeah, I know this is what siblings do, but even when I would separate them at ages one through four, they would, like magnets, become attached to each other...again and the fighting would ensue.

Even as I was playing with them together, my twins would fight for me to play with them one on one. Well, I did play with them one on one, and they would still fight, as I know they become jealous of Mommy spending more time with one twin. From what I have read about twins, their fighting happens more often than singletons do. 

When my twins were conceived, they were in a Womb mates..kind of. Well, they were in their own embryonic sac as they are fraternal twins/who look identical and when they were born, they were one minute apart. So, one would think because they were in separate embryonic sacs they would not fight so much, but this would be the wrong conclusion.

Have you ever heard that song by The Offspring, "Come Out and Play" (you gotta keep them separated)? Oh my goodness, I loved this song in the 1990's and now, well now this song is the theme song for my twins. Okay, okay my twins are no where near what this video depicts, but I still have to keep them separated and this song is always in my head, in fact sometimes I sing the song out loud to them. This video maker should re make this video with twins who are in constant fighting mode. The only time my twins are nice to each other is when they are sleeping.

As I see my twins growing, their facial features are changing as well. How I used to love their soft and squishy faces, their baby fat arms, legs, hands and feet. They had hardly any hair on their heads. When my twins were nine months old, I strolled them to the park and we were sitting on a blanket having Mommy and Twin time, when a girl from the local high school comes walking across the grass asking if they were twins, as people usually do, and I said, "Yes they are". Then she asked, "How old are your twins boys?" I said, "My twins are not boys, they are girls." Then she said, "Are you sure?" I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face and said, "Yes they are girls. Baby girls are not born with long hair." This is the photo I look of my twins that day in the park and they look nothing like boys, even at nine months of age.

Switchfoot, "Gone", gone, like yesterday is gone, like history is gone, just try and prove me wrong and pretend that your immortal...Yeah, I can never go back, just forward and see my precious TwiceBabies grow into the beautiful TwiceGirlies they are at this very moment.

As every season in their little lives are changing, so to are the seasons in my life. As my twins grow up and change into beautiful little ladies in Christ, so to am I changing into the Mommy they need me to be, and I want to be, in Christ because "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13 KJV.

Being a Mom of twin girls is a blessing, especially since, as a little I prayed for twin girls, or as my Dad has always called twins, "TwiceBabies, TwiceBabies". Yeah, beginning in grade school, my Dad was walking around the house saying, "TwiceBabies, TwiceBabies" and I would ask him, "What are TwiceBabies?" He said, "Twins!" I said, "Oh!" and that is when I began praying for twins. My Dad has a twin brother and sister, but they have been in Heaven since 1954.

This is one of the main reasons I prayed for twins. Since my Gramma was not able to see and love her precious twins(Thomas Paul and Mary Therese), at least she can still hold and her love twin great granddaughters, just like my Dad, holding and loving his twin granddaughters. My whole family is blessed to have my prayers answered and love my twins as much as I do.

Now, I am looking forward to my twins getting older and seeing them blossom into the beautiful girls God has meant them to be and grow to love Christ as I do. Like I always tell them, and have told them since they were little, "They are the Apple(s) of my Eye"(precious), just as (Jacob)Children of Israel and King David are the "Apple of God's Eye", Proverbs 7:1-3, Lamentations 2:17-19 and Zechariah 2:7-9 (all KJV), and always will be. Along with my twins being the "Apples of my Eye", they are my "Angel Lambs". Yeah, that is a term have also used since they were preemies.

"God is still on the Throne and Prayer Changes Thing"-(Rev. Noah Hutchings-Southwest Radio Church Ministries.

TwiceGirlies and Pajama Day

Tomorrow my twins are going to school in their pajamas. Yes, my twins are having another Pajama Day! If you have children, do they get a Pajama Day as well? Oh, my twins love this day. Well, of course, it would be fun to I mean, this is so much fun. Just roll out of bed in the morning, brush hair, eat breakfast, maybe watch some cartoons, get jacket and backpack on and my twins are out the door.
Yeah, no reason to get dressed is a good day. I am just wondering, do all the kids at my twins school have Pajama Day, or is it just the kids K-3? Oh, I am sure the older kids will wear their Pajama's too. Thank goodness this is done in the Winter time so if kids do wear their pajama's to school, they will wear warm pajamas like flannel or fleece. Well, that is what I will have my twins wear tomorrow and they might want to wear their robe too.

Do you ever remember having a Pajama Day when you were is grade or high school? I do not remember.  I am sure we did, but I really do not recall.

TwiceGirlies Mom Makes New Valentine's Day Headbands

Last Thursday I made these really cute headbands, which are for sale, by the way. They are adorable and I make them for little girls and adults can wear them too. These would be great for any occasion actually. If you have a daughter, granddaughter, niece or a friend, this would make for a great gift.

I plan on making more, but they will probably not all look the same.

When you buy one, two or three of them, just email me and I will send one out to you. I do not have a point of sale website, just my blog.

Here are my newest headbands for Valentine's Day:

TwiceGiriles Wearing Valentine's Day Velvet Headbands

With Valentine's right around the corner, I thought it was time to make my twins another headband. This time, I made them this adorable light pink velvet with a white polka dotted/pink ribbon under a red ribbon reading L O V E around the ribbon.

I do not have a lot of this type of ribbon left over as I bought these ribbons two years ago at Michael's. If you want one, I might have enough ribbon left for three more headbands.

Well, here are my precious TwiceGirlies wearing their new Valentine's Day Pink Velvet Headbands.

TwiceGirlies and Beauty and the Beast

Yesterday my hubby and I took our twins to see Beauty and the Beast, and it was not the 3D version either. At first I wanted to see it in 3D, later decided against it. I thought the 3D might scare them. Anyway, the theatre was so empty. There must have been, including the four of us, twenty people there.

Now, even though we own this movie and watch way too much, I thought my twins would like to see it on the BIG SCREEN. My goodness, I had forgotten how nice it looks in the theatre. The last time I saw it at the movies was when it first came out in 1991 and I loved it then, just as much as I did yesterday.

In fact, I liked this movie even more because I was able to see it with my twins. For Christmas, Auntie Amy got them this awesome plush Belle doll where she is wearing the exact dress yellow and her hair is the same to. My twins were going to take it with them, but they forgot.

Anyway, I am so glad my twins liked the movie on a larger screen and they were actually paying attention and not asking too many questions.

TwiceGirlies Learning To Read In One Minute

Last week my twins came on with this story of a bear that they had to read in one minute. Since they had not read the story before, Mommy read the story aloud to them. I pronounced each word to them while putting a pencil under each word as I read the story.

The purpose of my twins reading this way is that everyday they will get better at reading sentences, which make up the story. This is actually a great way to learn to read.

So, after Mommy reads the story to them, then I give them the story and they have to read it to me in one minute. Usually on the first they of their reading, the numbers are low...as my twins read the  story each day, their word reading is supposed to progress.

The progress of learning the words and what the story is about is really working. The majority of the words are from their sight word folder and this makes reading easier for my twins as well.

My twins new story in on The Bus. This story is easy to read and they really are getting the hang of it, along with Mommy reading them questions about the story and telling me if A, B or C is the correct answer.

Walgreens And Express Scripts Part Ways

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you are, or were, a member of  Walgreens and Express Script , you will be no more. As sad as it may be, Express Scripts has decided not to renew their three year contract with Walgreens Pharmacy. This will also affect the Duane Reade pharmacies in the New York area,

With Express Scripts not renewing their contract with Walgreens Pharmacy, this will have customers moving to to another in-network pharmacy and/or driving farther away to fill their Walgreens prescriptions. Sadly, customers will be facing less convenient hours for their hectic schedules. Walgreens offers their customers a 24-hour and drive-thru service all over the country.

An increase in prescriptions is bound to happen. This would be alright, if customers did not have to drive far and wide for every prescription they had to fill. Another thing is, unless patients with certain prescription plans with Express Scripts will be impacted. For the sake of current customers, Walgreens Prescription Savings Club has been created. This prescription saving club is risk free. That is, if you are not saving more than to cost of your membership, Walgreens will refund you the difference.

With this Prescription Savings Club, families can join for $10 annually. This price covers every member of your family up to age 22, even pets! As for individuals all they pay is $5 annually. This offer, with these awesome prices, will expire on January 31st, 2012.  For current or future customers, Walgreens offers over 8,000 brand name and generics prescriptions. There are also discounts on pet medications, nebulizers and so much more. While filling up and picking up prescriptions, customers will also have an array of Walgreens brand products and photofinishing services.

Nobody likes change, especially when it comes to customers having to relocate their current pharmacy and possible pharmacy plan. Customers are not happy with this change for their current prescription plan Walgreens said  over 120 Express Scripts clients have either switched PBMs or taken other steps to maintain access to Walgreens pharmacies.  

To show support for Walgreens and stay updated, customers can 'like" Walgreens on Twitter and 'like' Walgreens on Facebook. This is the best way to see what is happening on a daily basis.

TwiceGirlies and Their Playdate

So, tomorrow after school, my twins will be having a play date with one of their best friends. For months now, my twins have been asking Mommy for a play date with one of their church/classmate friends. At the end of the day, when my twins were getting ready for bed, I told them about tomorrow.
You see, I never, ever...tell my twins about an event about to occur, before it occurs. If I do, they will talk about it and talk about it to ad nauseam. I mean, I was not going to tell them at all, but I was trying to get them to obey Mommy before going to bed. Well, it worked because they went to bed in twenty minutes, instead of an hour.

Tomorrow the play date will be at my home and the girls can play indoors or outdoors. I just hope the weather is warm enough for the girls to play outdoors. It is highly unlikely it will rain, but you never know!
Let's see, my twins have a lot of fun toys and dolls to play with..and games too. So, instead of watching a two hour movie, the girls will other things to keep them busy and have fun too. My twins friend will also be eating over..I am thinking pizza as it is an easy food to eat with friends over and I do not have to prepare anything.

TwiceGirlies in Jazz Class

My twins have been taking dance classes for two years now, off and on, at Starlight Studios. Yeah, their first class was a Combo Ballet/Tap class and they were 4 years old. Since my twins have so much energy, I thought they needed to release some of that energy in dance classes.

When my twins first started taking dance class, they did it with two of their friends and they had fun dancing together. My twins love taking dance classes with their friends. I mean, who would not want to take a dance class with friends, huh?

Well, this year instead of taking a ballet class, I enrolled them in a Jazz class. The jazz class, unlike ballet, is a bit faster, indeed. This class is excellent for my twins as sitting still and/or doing elegant dance moves, are not for them right now. I say right now because I would like to enroll them again in a ballet class. Maybe once my twins are able to sit and stand still, ballet will be more to their liking.

I am just glad they like to dance, period. Right now, my twins are the only ones in their Jazz class, so if any of their friends want to join them in this class, just click on the above website and look at the schedules available.

TwiceGirlies Play in Forest

In my front yard is a spot that looks somewhat like a mini forest. My twins love playing in this mini forest. The "forest" has a variety of small trees, shrubs and rocks between the trees and shrubs. The bed of rocks looks like it could be a stream.

Well, on warm days, my twins love playing in the "forest" with their Panda's and some other stuffed animals. My twins like to hide the Panda's and one of my twins has to look for the Panda. Oh and sometimes one of my twins "hides" in the "forest" so the other twin can find them. I play this game with they and they love it.

My twins are very creative in their outdoors activities. This "forest" is a fun place to play I have to admit. The previous owners of our home had the front yard landscaped to have this "forest" added to the home. Although, I am sure they did not know this "forest" would ever be a play area. I am not sure how long ago the landscaping was done, but it has looked the same way, I am sure, since we moved in.

TwiceGirlies Learning To Read Better

Over Christmas break, I read to my twins and they read to me a lot. My twins like this one book Nana got them called It's Time to Sleep, My Love. This book is awesome and contains a lot of animals in this story. Along with this adorable book about sleepy time, Nana got her twins granddaughters a puffy, fluffy Panda Bear. My twins LOVE Panda's and with the book, it was an excellent addition.

This book and stuffed animal is from the Kohl's Cares Program and they proceeds to to various education programs. This is not the only book either, right now, they have some familiar children's book that are on their website.

Along with the lap desk I got my twins, they loved this Panda and book set. Yeah Nana! Nana knows her twin granddaughters love Pandas..

TwiceGirlies Love Portable Desk

One Christmas gift Mommy got my TwiceGirlies was a portable desk. One of my friends daughter has a portable desk where she can store paper, pens and books. Well, I have had a portable, lap desk, since I was in high school which my Mom got for me. Yes, I still have it and it has been over twenty years now.

Well, this portable desk is pink, with a princess design on the outside and a soft and squishy lap bottom. This lap desk also have a white washboard on the cover that closes.  I do not see it anymore on Amazon, but my girls LOVE it. They use it all the time and they have their colored pens and colored pencils, from Auntie Amy and Nana, in the lap desks. Oh, and I but some activity pads and the small books they read, and bring home, in the lap desks too.

This is just an all around fun gift and I am glad they like it. I was not sure if it was something they would like, but as it turns out, the LOVE it. Yeah for Mom!!

TwiceGirles in Christmas Play, "Christmas Hang Ups"

This was a fun Christmas play. The whole play made me laugh and all the characters, actors and singers alike, were fun to watch and hear them sing. Christmas plays are always so traditional, and that is wonderful, but this play was a mix of non-traditional and traditional all at the same time.

My twins only had one singing part with the other Angels and Stars. When my twins were rehearsing for this play, like them, I learned the songs too. My twins and Mommy practiced at home on days before their rehearsing at our church. So, during the play, well, I was singing right along with them. I mean, I could not help it.

Well, here are the photos I took of them singing. I was taking video, but my card was out of space. I knew I should have purchased another card last year!