the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox
Eau Claire, WI



Rosie says: Did you know that it took FIVE storks to deliver Paul Bunyan as a baby to his Mom & Dad? That's a big baby!

Mae Mae says: And, that when he learned how to clap and laugh the vibration from it broke every window in their house? That must have been really loud!

Cousin Phil says: What are these girls talking about? We all know this guy is just a normal sized guy with his own paper towel company. Good grief.

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

 

Santa Claus
The North Pole

Rosie says: Help! I'm sitting on a throne of lies with this guy!

Mae Mae says: You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa!

(This picture is for Grandma Rose who LOVES Santa. When she asked if we were going to do the whole Santa bit and I told her no, she sighed and said, "Well, please tell me you'll at least send them to a REAL school!" Haha, only my Grandma Rose!)

10 months

How I love these girls!

By 10 months, this is what we're doing! (Boy! Am I behind in the updates!)

Waving (started at 8 months) ... Paisley also used to do a high pitch "hiiiiiiiiiiiii" sounding noise along with her wave. It was funny! Paisley does the full arm wave, while Pem started doing just the fist clench and unclench wave. She's now doing the full arm wave as well.

Pem blows kisses. Though, she's confused and puts her hand over her eye to do it.

Both give kisses. Watch out, they could be wet ones!

Both give hugs. SO CUTE! They will give hugs to each other, which usually knocks them over.

Both clap. Adorbs.

Pem puts the phone up to her face like she's talking on it.

At about 8.5 months, they both would take a single step here and there. Just one. And very wobbly. The day before they turned 9 months, Paisley took 5 steps in a row, and then was off! Pem wasn't about to let her walk and leave her behind, so within the week, she was walking too. They both now walk everywhere!

As soon as Pem started walking, she started eating everything. Bugs, fuzz, paper, books, crumbs. Anything she found she would eat. Books have now been put away. DVD cabinet is locked. If you ever borrow and DVD from me and it has teeth marks all over it, that was Pem.

Oh, and if you have a stubborn sticker that just won't come off of something, Pem can get it off for you. Her teeth. Razor blades.

Paisley went through a phase where she seemed to get mad and then clench up everything and strain. It was pretty funny, but I'm glad it didn't last too long, haha!

"No" is now a fun game.

They love music. And certain commercials with catchy tunes. The National American University commercial's song is their favorite, and they will stop all they are doing to watch it. Including eating. They also love the theme songs from Downtown Abbey & The Office (and will dance to that one!).

I feel they are way too smart for their age. At 9 months they knew how to unscrew caps of off certain things, open the sliding closet doors ... others that I'm not thinking of at the moment. Keeps me on my toes!

Their only words are "mum mum mum mum mum" when they are tired, hungry or want me. It's so sad sounding!

Pem has 8 teeth, and Pais has 6.

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Pitchfork Pete
Albert Lea, MN

 

 Mae Mae says, "10% off everything in the store, excluding twine."

Rosie says, "I'm ready for my pitchfork. Hello? I'm ready. Anytime now. Come on. Pitchfork, please!"

7 months

Sorry for the delay! I've had this mostly done since they turned 7 months, just wasn't able to work on it further with the two little monkeys who like to bang on my laptop when they see it, locking things up and doing things that take me forever to reverse because I'm just not too tech-savvy! Ha ;)
____________________________________

you girls! how you grow and bless my heart!

August 26: you started to pull yourself up on things Pem ... just like Pais! tho, you still like to scootch instead of crawl.

September 6: you are crawling most of the time now, Pem, and you sat up all by yourself for the first time!

September 22: Paisley, you let go of the couch and just stood in front of me for a few seconds. waaaaaah? bold little baby! you also can walk pretty well around something, like the bench in the kitchen.

September 23: Pem, you followed in sis' footsteps and stood without holding to the couch for a few seconds as well. the countdown is now on! walking is soon to follow!

................

Pem, you make an adorable clicking noise with your tongue.

you both love to sit on your knees.

a few days shy of 7 months, Pais, you popped a tooth on the bottom. A few days after that, Pem, you popped a new tooth on top! Tooth score: Pais: 1, Pem: 3

you both love buckles. on the car seat, booster seats ... anywhere you can find one!

you both love to play and get into everything. dvds are some favorites. and your headbands. and taking laundry out of the basket. folded laundry. must be folded or we don't bother with it.

a few days after you turned 6 months, you both hit a major sleep regression and went from waking up 2-3 times a night each, to EVERY HOUR. say whaaa? a few days of that and I hauled you into bed with me. we'll worry about getting you back into your cribs later. ;) plus, I really enjoy waking up to your beautiful faces and then watching whichever one of you is up first to crawl up on me to peek at the other on. adorable!

it is also nearly impossible for me to take a picture of you. as soon as you see the camera, you stop the cuteness you are doing and scurry as fast as you can for the camera.

I love, love, love it when you laugh at each other. one hiccups and the other laughs. one of you squeals, and the other laughs. of course though, I can't get it on film because as soon as the camera comes out we stop everything. trixy little girls!

what a joy you are to me!

mmm ... pie!

such joy!



found her standing, then we lowered the mattress.

Pem adores the dog bed. eeewwwww.

great grandma Rose!

she wanted a caramel apple.

I must have told them a funny joke.



paper bags = great fun

silly girl!

love those lashes!

the only way I could get them to sit still was to give them kitchen utensils. and the doll? yeah, they wouldn't let her sit there for anything. so much for a comparison!

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Green Giant
Blue Earth, MN

Rosie says: "This guy is 55 & 1/2 feet tall, 8,000 pounds, and wears a size 78 shoe. Yikes!"

Mae Mae says: "I told Mom I'd eat my vegetables if she took me to see this guy. Hahahahahaha!"

6 month shoot

my dolls!

this is her favorite expression. bottom lip sucked in.
{and, I did not dress her.}



sweet face!
{she wouldn't leave her bow tied.}

I like big diapers and I cannot lie ...

 

she has a bottom lip, I promise.

this luggage belonged to their Great Grandma, Ellen Boysen.

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Giant Ear of Corn Water Tower
Rochester, MN

Rosie says, "What do you call a guy with a rubber toe? Roberto! Hahahaha!"

Mae Mae says, "Sis, your jokes are corny."

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Giant Frankenstein
Janesville, MN

Rosie says, "Meh! Don't turn around, Mae Mae! I think he just moved!"

Mae Mae says, "Who? Where? What moved?! Who??!!"

{Interesting fact: Did you know that Frankenstein was NOT the name of the monster, but the last name of the scientist that created him in the novel? Yep. The monster only ever went by "creature", "monster", "fiend", "wretch", "vile insect", "daemon", "being", and "it".}

6 months

folks, six months! SIX MONTHS!

I'm going to do this a bit differently ... I find the progression funny!

july 26: Pem starts to "arm" crawl.

july 30: Pais needs to keep up with Pem, so she starts the "lunge" ... up on all fours and then lunging forward. Repeat. Repeat. And repeat. this is lots of face planting, mind you.

august 6: Pais decided to actually crawl. just a bit, here and there. gotta beat the sis, I guess.

august 9: Pais has decided to crawl crawl, all the time. Cheetos were the motivator.

august 13: Pem is tired of Pais one upping her. legit crawling happened today. she then decided that she can arm scootch and keep up with her anyway, so she gave up on crawling. she pushes off with her right foot and holds her left in the air. she even has blisters on her "pushing" foot. and, she is faster than Pais too.

august 16: Pais realized Pem is keeping up with her, even though Pem is just scootching, so she pulled herself up on an end table. take that, sis. she also sat up all the way up by herself. say whaaa?

august 18: Pais now pulls herself up on everything. me, couch, chair, package of paper towels. {this is crazy!}

august 22: Pais is now walking along things, like the couch. Pem is content with her scootching.

::

when Pem started to scootch, she discovered how awesome the kitchen floor felt ... on her tongue. yes, I know. gross. I looked over at her and she was sucking on the kitchen floor like a sucker fish. siiiiiick. needless to say, the kitchen floor was cleaned, every night, and she was kindly discouraged from doing it if I caught her. thankfully, it only lasted a few days!

Pais started laughing at Pem. cutest thing ever! they now do it to each other regularly. makes my day!

Pem has the silliest tongue. always sticking it out. kinda like the guy from KISS, just way less gross.

they both recognize their names.

Pem likes to bite me. {I. don't. think. it's. funny.} she does.

they sampled their first "table" food on august 19. sweet potatoes. though they always are uber interested in food when we are eating it, and like pretend "bites", they were less than enthused when they got a REAL bite. we'll keep trying.

in celebration of their half birthday, we took the girls camping. all in all, it went great!

love this scrunch!



you want me to what?

a basket. the only way to get them to stay put!

I don't like it.

no thanks.

not sure about this grass stuff.

love this pose!

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

World's Largest Popcorn Ball
Sac City, IA

 



Rosie says, "This 5,000lb popcorn ball was born on February 28th, 2009, and took 900lbs of popcorn, 2,700lbs of sugar, and 1,400lbs of dry syrup mixed with water."

 

Mae Mae says, "Sure hope popcorn tastes better than these keys do."

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

World Famous Butter Cow
Iowa State Fair

Rosie says, "The butter used in this 600lb butter cow would be able to butter 19,200 slices of toast and is recycled for up to ten years ... so, please don't butter your toast with it."

Mae Mae says, "What can I say? Everything's better with Blue Bonnet on it! What? Blue Bonnet's not butter? Sacrilege."

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Ben Franklin
1706-1790

Rosie (Pem) says, "You may know Ben Franklin for his historic 'flying a kite during a lightning storm' incident, but did you also know that he was an avid chess player? So much so, he wrote essays on the game and was even elected into the Chess Hall of Fame in 1999."

Mae Mae (Pais) says, "Fly a kite in a lightning storm? Ain't nobody got time for that!"

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

Dutch Windmill
Orange City, IA

 

 

Rosie (Pem) says, "This beautiful windmill is 76 feet tall with a dome weighing five tons and vanes weighing over seven tons. Originally, windmills were used to mill grain or pump water."

 

Mae Mae (Pais) says, "Helaas, pindakaas!"

 

(translation: Unfortunately, peanut butter!)



the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

The World's Largest Rascal
Rochester, MN

 

Rosie (Pem) says, "My Mom once helped a man pick up his Rascal after he

                   tipped it over and fell into a busy street."

Mae Mae (Pais) says, "How come he gets to ride it and we don't?"

 

{Claims of "World's Largest" may or may not be true.}

five months

you girls amaze me!

Pais, while you were slow to start to move, you are by far the wiggle worm between the two of you. you roll, and roll, and roll, all around the room. you get up on all fours (gasp!) ... how soon will you be crawling?!

Pem, you are a mover too, just not as go-go as Pais. you are close to being up on all fours, and you do for sure have sticking your bum up in the air down, inching your way towards a toy or whatever it is you have your eye on.

however, laying on the floor is just not as fun as it used to be for you both. sure, you roll around, but you get easily frustrated because you want more! you want to be moving more, standing, etc. you like being in the jumpers, or in your booster seats ... the view is better I guess!

speaking of your booster seats ... it is amazing how quickly you learned the game of "throw my toy on the floor just so Mom has to come and pick it up" ... little stinkers.

you both grab for everything. eating has become difficult with you on our laps. Pem, you've grabbed a handful of BBQ Pork in an instant off my plate, and Pais, a handful of green bean casserole. I don't blame you, those are some of my favorite foods!

you both are super ready to eat solid food, and will just love it when the time comes. one more month, babies, and it's all yours! well, not all of it. we'll start with bananas, avocados, and sweet potatoes. once again, all my favorites, so here's hoping you love them as well!

Pem, you've developed quite the high pitched scream type of cry. it's amazingly loud!

you both are quite the little talkers, especially in the morning. I love to hear your little voices, music to my ears!

Pais, you crack up easily at the dog running around crazily. you did it one night as well, Pem, the most I've heard you laugh yet!

Pem, you do the cutest little scratchy thing on your sheets when you're going to sleep. you just open and close your fist, scratching the sheets to make a noise. adorb.

Pais, you love to suck on your fist. or my finger. or my arm. or neck. or your arm. and you are quite powerful ... you've given me a few hickeys, and even yourself! silly girl! you ironically dislike a pacifier. Pem, you love your paci.

when you hit four months, you went through a phase of waking up every two hours in the night again. you are thankfully back to sleeping a bit longer now ... still waking up 2-3 times a night (6 total for me!), but I can't, and won't complain ;)

Pem, you do the cutest nose crinkle and sometimes it is even accompanied with a snort of sorts!

Pais, you've been "growling" for lack of a better word. so stinking adorable!

Pem! you have poked through two bottom teeth! I went to give you a "pretend" spoonful of what I was eating and I heard a "clunk!" against the spoon! {7-19}

blessings, you are! (said like Yoda)

sweet Paisey!

love this nose crinkle!

that doll is shrinking, I think!

"Let me fix your bow, Pem."

"Yep, that's better."

Pais isn't amused with the splashing.



do-rags?

the adventures of Rosie & Mae Mae

I'm excited to take my girls to all the weird and random places and things I like to see, like giant frying pans, three-toed sloths, Lady Libs, etc, etc. Especially since people told us "your lives are going to end" once we had the girls. Good grief. Why are people so silly?

Of course our lives changed once they were born, and everyone's does and should when they have kiddos, but that doesn't have to mean changed for the worst, like everyone seemed to imply. I love all the changes. They are so great, and I longed for them for so, so, so very long. Well, except for my mega stretched out belly, that I fear will never resemble anything presentable ever again. I guess I don't LOVE that, and certainly didn't long for it, but alas, I'll embrace it at least. It's a reminder that I have these two sweet babes, so I'm thankful for it! "Mom" jeans have never been so appealing.

Anywho. Adventures. My two littles will have many, many of them with us. And someday, they'll look back and think, "We have the coolest Mom EVER!" ... or more than likely, "We have the WEIRDEST Mom EVER!" ... but "cool" and "weird" are pretty much interchangeable, right? Right.

Here's the first picture in their series of adventures! There may not ever be much of a story, but there certainly will be a bit of humor.

____________________________

The World's Largest Bullhead
Crystal Lake, IA

Rosie (Pem) says, "This guys was built in 1958 and is over 17 feet long."

Mae Mae (Pais) says, "Yeah, I caught that."

{Claims of "World's Largest" may or may not be true.}

identical?

It amazes me how often people ask, "are they identical?" ... or just assume, "twins? they must be identical?" ... or just say, "wow! are they identical or what?!" ... one day, a lady told her little girl, "look at them, they are EXACT copies of each other!"

Well, I don't know what babies they are looking at, but I'm thinking they need their eyes checked. ;) Haha, here are my "identical" twins. ;) (pardon the just wakin' up goober faces!)

Paisy Poo & Pemby Roo

four months

laughter! Pais gives actual giggles, and on occasion, so does Pem. and Pais is a bit ticklish between her collar bone and shoulder ... perfect for tickles with my chin!

mornings are still happy happy time ... the smiles and talking are non-stop!

at 15 weeks Pem rolled over. I thought for sure it would be weeks for Pais to do it, but nope, two days later Pais did! I was shocked!

Pem acquired major "stranger danger" and for about a week and a half would flip out on anyone who even dared to look at her. except me, of course ;) now, it comes and goes.

at the four month check, Pem weighed 13lbs 4oz, and Pais weighed 14lbs 3oz. the Dr said that they were both advanced in their motor skills for their age, couldn't believe how well they would stand up!

bedtime has been moved up to 7:30pm ... these little non-nappers couldn't make it quite as late!

you both are still beautiful, perfect, little girls!

these shots don't ever work out like I see in my mind.

if you only could have seen the rigmarole of this shot!

three months

you both wake up with smiles every morning. sometimes at 6am. 6am is nothing to smile at, just saying. But, if I have to be up, there's nothing I'd rather be up for than those smiles!

most days, you both only take little cat naps during the day. naps are good, girlies. just saying.

you both rub your eyes when tired and I think it is beyond cute.

you've been good about going down for the night between 8-9pm and then you sleep til midnight at least.

I am discovering, that for the most part, Pem does everything about a week and a half before Pais does.

Pais, you are a mover while you sleep. You wiggle and wiggle, all night long.

you both are turning yourselves sideways in your cribs. Pem, you will wake yourself up when your head touches the bars of the crib.

you both are scootching now. Pem, you were mad one night when I was vacuuming and scooted almost all the way across the living room floor. You will be rolling soon, I'm sure of it!

you both are super strong, and enjoy tummy time. Pem is a bit stronger though. it's ok, Pais, you've still got her beat in size.

since we are talking about size, Pais, you have super chunky legs and cheeks. I call you my "Chunky Monkey" ... don't worry, you're still adorable! And, it's cute at your age to have a double chin.

you both are cooing, talking, and squealing. You've both been making eye contact with me and smiling at me for quite a while, but you have just begun making eye contact and smiling at EACH OTHER ... so fun to see the wheels turning, wondering who this other baby is stealing my time!

Pem, you squeak a lot and have acquired the nickname "Squeaks".

Pem, you still pull your hair and scream bloody murder. silly girl.

Pem, you also don't like to be held like a baby much. you are definitely an oldest child. You both love to stand as well.

you both are extremely drooly and love to suck on your fists. Oh, and Pais, you suck your bottom lip in completely at times. adorable.

you both are reaching and batting at things/toys, though you are not able to purposely grab them yet.

Pais, you play well by yourself, and love to play under the activity gym. Sometimes, you will even fall asleep playing, arms straight above your head. Simply cute.

Pem, you like to be held and rarely fall asleep by yourself. you like to be rocked to sleep.

you had your first full baths at 10 weeks. Pais, you loved it. Pem, you thought the world was ending. But now, you seem to be doing just fine with them.

I am pretty comfortable going out and about with you both now. Yipee!

look! the crazy doll is shrinking!

baths are now ok ... I think?

love these faces!