{bean & sprout admiring their first bean sprout}

Bean (Lexi) & Sprout (Kenzie) were in awe looking at the first bean sprout that has emerged from the soil, thanks to their daily watering. I can't wait to watch their amazement as it continues to grow ... now let's just hope that they don't pick it first :)

{singing & screaming & singing}

Since Kenzie has started having nightmares and thus has had trouble going to sleep at night, our routine has looked like this. We read our bedtime story, say our prayers, sing a lullaby, tuck the girls in. “I love you to the moon and back,” I whisper as I rub their backs. “Choo-choo?” the girls plead for daddy to draw a train on their back. Then they both start instructing. “Daddy sit. Daddy sing” while pointing to the rocker in the nursery. And Daddy obeys. As I sneak out of the room, whispering, “sweet dreams my darlings, sleep well, good night,” I listen to Daddy sing. The girls have started to throw out requests … with “baby” (aka hush little baby), “star” (aka twinkle twinkle little star) topping the charts. But he has also started mixing in some new hits. On the day that the girls went to the zoo it was “So we went on down to the Audubon Cincinnati zoo, and they all asked for you … yes they even inquired about you. The monkeys asked, the tigers asked, and the elephants asked me too!” Not a traditional lullaby, and probably louder than anything that I would sing as a lullaby, but it brought a smile to my face because that is Randall. These girls are so lucky to have such a fun & loving Daddy … who would sit and sing to his daughters for hours... because that’s just the kind of Daddy he is.

Kenzie is perfectly content as long as Daddy is singing, but as soon as he makes a move to leave she starts screaming… whether he has sung 1 song or 100 songs. So he has started to have to limit it to 2 songs, and then has to walk out and let her cry. This is when Lexi takes over. While Kenzie is screaming, Lexi is singing and talking to her sister ... and then somehow miraculously Lexi seems to calm her sister and they both drift off to sleep.

Kenzie & Lexi adore their Daddy and watching & listening to them interact makes me love them all that much more!

{day & night ... blend into dusk}

My girls are day & night. Yin & yang. How can they be so different when they have spent almost every waking & sleeping hour together, have been given the same love & care, eaten the same foods, been exposed to the exact same experiences? It amazes me and I love it so.

In addition to being drawn to different things (Lexi is our reader and is very musical, Kenzie loves to figure out how things work and is more athletic) here is a recent example to illustrate just how different they are:

They both got new tricycles for Easter. When Lexi “rides” her tricycle she sits up straight, hands at 9 and 3, feet firmly on the pedals, and if one foot happens to slip off the pedal she freaks out until things are back in order. Kenzie on the other hand exerts the least amount of energy possible to still remain upright on the tricycle. She crosses her legs and props them up, hangs her whole upper body across the handle bars, and has fallen off a couple of times for lack of attention. Completely opposite approach, yet they both love them & beg to ride their "bikes"!

There are countless little examples like this.

I read something about yin & yang the other day that made me think of Kenzie & Lexi. It said, ““Part” & “whole” cannot be understood – much less exist – without each other.” While my girls are very much individuals and so different from one another, this statement rang true to me. I cannot truly describe one of them without involving the other because they are so deeply connected and inextricably linked. They are individuals, yet they depend on one another and are who they are because of the other. They are twin sisters, they are best friends … at times they infuriate each other. They are dusk.

“Dusk is just an illusion because the sun is either above the horizon or below it. And that means that day and night are linked in a way that few things are. There cannot be one without the other yet they cannot exist at the same time. How would it feel to be always together yet forever apart?” ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

K&L - I am so curious to see what you will both grow up to be. Will your differences become even more pronounced or will you start to converge and become more similar? Whatever you become I just want you to be happy and I hope you will always love one another deeply. I love you to the moon & back. xoxo - Mom

Now for last week's instagram download...

The girls rode their new tricycles (translation: we pushed the girls) to Hyde Park Square for dinner at Indigo. The free Bonbonnerie mini-cupcakes for customer appreciation were a big hit! A trip to the zoo with Sara & friends! Dinner out at Buca di Beppo with Ai & Chris. A special cupcake treat at Whole Foods. Pretending to be at the "beach" on a rainy Saturday.



Celebrating a 2nd birthday with twin boys! A walk up to Alms Park ... to see the planes take off, play on the playground, and see the inspiration for "Kenzie's" name. Lexi's first date with JJ ... blowing dandelions. Planting our vegetable garden.

{walking hand in hand}

Last night after dinner the girls and I went for a walk. They wanted to wear their "backpacks" so I let them. And they wanted to "hold mommy’s hand" so I happily let them. As we walked 3 across down our sidewalk I smiled and my heart felt like bursting. This is what it is all about. I am walking hand in hand with MY daughters. And what made it even more special was that we had a conversation as we walked. They told me about their day, which involved (gym)“nastics” and “outside play.” Lexi even sang a little song as we walked. When we spotted Beau, Kenzie exclaimed, “Beau! Kitty cat! Not nap. Eat dinner.” As we passed by the house with the big gray & white dog who happened to just have been groomed Lexi observed, “Doggie get haircut. Pink bow!” They told me that they wanted to, “Go to park. Go slide.” And so we did. We walked and we talked. And I smiled the whole way trying to contain my bursting heart.

{happy easter}

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time. ~Martin Luther

Promise and proof of the resurrection were abundant this Easter Sunday. It was a gorgeous day. The leaves were a perfect new green and the flowers so vibrant it was as if they were shouting, “He has risen!” Kenzie & Lexi’s excitement and wonder when they discovered that the Easter bunny had visited and left them new tricycles and Easter baskets was priceless. It was the third Easter Sunday service that we have attended at our church with the girls – we had intended to take them to the nursery, but they were not happy with that idea so we all ended up going to the church service together (in the overflow room).



I am so happy that it ended up that way because I loved that we were all together as I listened to the Easter message. The blessing that God gave us in Kenzie & Lexi does more to affirm my faith than anything else could – it is hard to explain exactly. It is awesome! I got tears in my eyes as I sang “Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!” while my daughters were standing beside me. As Lexi stood there singing along/humming a bit, I remembered singing that same song while holding her in my arms when she was just a month old. We are so blessed! Lexi also folded her hands whenever we prayed and would say “Amen.” However, after a while she started to get restless and started saying “Amen. Go bye bye.” I guess she thinks that once you say Amen, the prayer is over and it is time to go :)





During the girls' nap the Easter bunny visited again and hid eggs in our front yard. The girls were really excited by the Easter egg hunt this year … to the point that we had to rehide eggs a couple of times. Lexi was very aggressive about it … rushing to collect the eggs quickly and even stealing a few out of her sister’s basket when she wasn’t looking. Kenzie was into it for a while but was more interested in riding her tricycle around to go gather the eggs.









Kyle, Audra and Maddie came over for Easter dinner (we missed celebrating with the DeLacy’s and Dujan’s this year). The girls had such a fun time with “baby Maddie” and we had a great time celebrating with Kyle & Audra, as usual (I am in denial that they are moving in less than a week :().








It was such a wonderful day. I am so blessed and thankful.

Here are some instagram photos from the rest of our week, including ... cooking dinner together, cheering on Kentucky for the NCAA championship with the neighbors, a trip to the zoo with sara, eating jumbo lollipops from the circus, walking out baby dolls in our pj's, family dinner night out ...



...morning snuggles, trips to the park, impromptu get together with neighbors, helping daddy build our container garden ...



... dyeing easter eggs ... Kenzie thought that this was a contact sport. She would throw the eggs into the color and laugh when it splashed everywhere. I am pretty sure every egg that she touched broke ... but she had fun! :) Lexi was much more gentle and deliberate in her approach, but also had fun! :)

{celebrate!}

It was another gorgeous week weather wise.  I am loving this time of year with the girls.  The days are longer and we are getting to do many fun things together in the evening after work.  This week we went on frequent walks ... often scouting for Beau the neighborhood cat.  We had a picnic dinner up at Ault Park.  We had dinner out on the back porch.  We went out to dinner in Hyde Park and played in the square afterwards.  This involved imitating the big kids doing cartwheels, collecting pine cones, "climbing" the big pine tree, and putting on a show for anyone that would watch :)  And that was just Monday through Friday.  The weekend was filled with celebration ... "parties" and "cake." 



Saturday was Randall's birthday and we celebrated by baking Daddy a birthday cake.  The girls were so excited to be celebrating Daddy's birthday and were really into baking the cake.  Later in the day we got to go to Seth's (Sara's adopted little brother) 5th birthday party.  The girls LOOOOVE Seth (esp. Lexi) and were so excited to be going to his party!  They were a little shy at first but quickly warmed up and enjoyed the pizza, cake and playing football outside.  It was so great to finally get to meet Sara's wonderful family.



Later in the afternoon, after we sang happy birthday to Daddy and enjoyed more cake and ice cream, we all went up to the park together.  We lucked and caught the tail end of an event that had a petting zoo.  The girls were excited to pet the animals, but were quite concerned by the amount of "tootsie aka poop" that the animals left behind.  We then went for a nature walk along the kids tree trails and the girls really enjoyed it!

On Saturday evening we had a babysitter so that Randall and I could go out to celebrate his birthday.  As we feared might happen based on Kenzie's sleeping (or lack of sleep) habits that started this past week, she was not cooperating.  At 9pm she was still screaming and Randall said that is she didn't quiet down by 9:05pm that we should just tell the babysitter to go home.  I guess she wanted Daddy to have a nice birthday dinner after all as at 9:04 she fell asleep :)  Thankfully our plan had been to go down to the Gateway quarter where they don't take reservations anyway ... so while we got a late start we had a great evening.  Appetizer and pre-dinner drinks at A Tavola and dinner and more drinks at Bakersfield.  A much needed evening out to celebrate the one I love!  Happy Birthday Randall!



Sunday started off cool and cloudy so we ran some errands in the morning, including picking up some princess baseball bats & balls and Nerf football and basketball for the girls.  I am not sure where they picked up on this, but starting this past week Kenzie has been using her shovel as a baseball bat, so we thought it was time to invest in some real sports equipment.  They had so much fun playing with their new gear on Sunday afternoon.  We topped off a fun weekend with a walk to the park with the Schlegel's.  Kenzie & Lexi were so excited to see Maddie & Moose!  It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.

{the things she says: the moon is happy}

Last week we were playing outside as the sun was setting and suddenly Lexi yelled with excitement, "Mommy, Mommy!  Look!  Moon is happy!" as she pointed up at the waxing crescent moon that was "smiling"  down upon us.

Now that the girls are starting to talk more, I will use this blog to capture the things they say that I don't want to forget.