First Day of Kindergarten

Evan and Owen at their first day at kindergarten at Carver.

 

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They're so young, but they were ready... So, at the advice of Carver Elementary, we sent Evan and Owen to kindergarten. Looking forward to an amazing year. This year, they'll learn to read! Hard to believe... They'll also learn math and continue with art and music classes. I'm particularly excited to see if they get some good fundamentals down in piano.

They wanted to be in separate classrooms, so Evan is in Mrs. Smith's room, with his best friend, Shaddon, and Owen is in Mrs. Bergeron's class, with great buddy Grayson from soccer.

Carver Circus

I was two hours late to work this morning, and for very good reason.

Evan and Owen were performing in the Carver PreK Circus, a "delight for the ears and eyes," as the ringleader exclaimed.

The program included acrobats, twirlers, magicians, monkeys, seals and much more, including jugglers:



and clowns!

Visit from Grandpa

Short but sweet!

We got to hang with Grandpa during a very quick visit to Amarillo. Wish he could stay longer, but it's hard for him to be gone long, with all of his animals missing him in Kansas City.

A funny (probably had to be there) moment:

"Goodnight, kids," said Grandpa.

"Are you going to say goodbye to us in the morning before you leave?" Evan asked.

"Of course!" reassured Grandpa.

"Be sure and bring us that candy we found in your bag," Owen said.

"Yeah, Grandpa, don't forget the candy," added Evan.

Twin Talk

I think I'm the last person in the world to stumble upon this, but it sure brought back great memories.


And I loved the ABC commentary about the fascinating way identical twins communicate in this clip.

Momma's Boys

"We don't want to look like twins," one of them said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because," the other replied, "We don't want people saying, 'oh, you guys are sooooo cute!' "

Home, Sweet Home

It wasn't an easy process, but after a long wait and a little struggle, we closed on the house of our dreams in mid-December. We had the perfect buyers and some pretty awesome sellers, but we had a corrupt mortgage company in the middle messing it all up. Our good friends at Amarillo National Bank, where we've held both our mortgages and banked for years, couldn't have been more wonderful.

Long story short, we were supposed to close two weeks earlier and had all our belongings, except a TV, a couple mattresses and most of our clothes, locked away in a uHaul outside our old house, where we had to continue living until our buyers' mortgage papers went through. We sacrificed a lot those two weeks, and we often told each other, "we'll laugh about this someday." But it was a difficult time, and we wouldn't want to do it again. But on the bright side, we found some fun ways to entertain ourselves and the kids and managed to grow closer as a family amid the stressful situation.

We are thankful everyday for our new home, which has truly felt like "home" since the moment I stepped inside with my fabulous real estate agent and good friend, Marcia Parr. Call it instinctual, but I knew it was where we were meant to be. And, luckily, Nate trusted me.

Merry Christmas 2010

Christmas morning in the new house was great, and we got to spend it with Grandpa.

Santa brought both twins a Nintendo DS, new winter jackets, pillow pets, light sabers and a few other awesome things.

But it was neat to see them get just as excited about the Dr. Seuss books Aunt Sharon sent them.

Christmas 2010

Our first gathering at the new house. We welcomed the entire Reynolds clan and exchanged gifts.

For one rare moment, we had all the grandkids together in one place.

Separating Twins in School

Probably one of the greatest things that's ever happened to the twins was getting accepted to Carver Early Childhood Academy for preschool. Located in far north Amarillo, in what many would refer to as the "ghetto," Carver is a magnet school with the best teacher/student ratio of any public school in town.

I'll never forget orientation day, however, when the principal told me of their "twins policy." Carver insists on separating twins, and, despite natural reservations, I felt I had to trust their expertise. So, although Evan and Owen get to share lunch and recess, they are in separate preschool classes.

Has this been a good decision? That's debatable. They love their classes and their teachers, however their preschool experiences have been vastly different. And it's hard, as their mom, to watch one come home to show me a really cool project he completed, while the other has nothing to show me. Or hearing how one went on a super-cool field trip, but the other one doesn't get to go until next week and it doesn't involve a sack lunch. It's the little things... I can definitely tell that one twin gets more positive reinforcement from his teacher than the other.

The twins are surprisingly supportive of each other and have almost never gotten truly jealous of each others experiences. But, at the same time, I think things would be better if they were together in class. Although they both get great grades and do well in school, I think they'd be even better off together, to share similar experiences, support each other and give each other confidence. The blessing of being an identical twin is so unique, and I think it needs to be held sacred in school.

I like the way reporter Pamela Prindle Fierro states the phenomenon on About.com:

Nonmultiples can perhaps relate the experience to a relationship with a spouse. Certainly, you could face the challenges of day-to-day life without the presence of your beloved, but doesn't it make it easier and more enjoyable when you're together? Thus it is with multiples in the school environment. Proponents of separation argue that having multiples together in the classroom is a distraction; however it can be just as distracting to sever the bond. Children who are wondering "What's my twin doing? Where is she? Why aren't we together? Were we separated because we were bad?" can't favorably focus on their school work.

So, next year, if the kids advance to kindergarten, which the teachers say is the right decision, we hope Carver will respect our wishes to put them in the same class.

Same teacher, similar friends, same homework, same field trips, same chances to cheer each other on and foster each others strengths. They're best friends, and they work at their very best when they're together.

The Force

I honestly don't know anyone more obsessed with Star Wars than Evan and Owen. Collaboratively, they know every ship, and who drives which one, who carries the red sword or the purple one, who dies in which episode and who works for whom.

And, of course, it's cool that Luke and Lea are twins.

For Halloween this year, they wanted to be Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker, which wasn't the perfect matching, seeing as how they lived in separate episodes. Which, of course the twins know.

But, Grammi made it happen, with another year of Halloween costume perfection.