day 20!! damn!
the twins are 2 here :)
enjoy!!
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"Mama?" Layla asks.
"Yeah, Ladybug?" Cady replies, putting some slightly snazzy earrings in as her babies watch from the bathroom counter.
"Why... um... um... why we get dwessed up?"
"Because we're having people over for dinner tonight," Cady explains. "You remember Mommy and I told you who's coming?"
"Nana!" Leo cheers excitedly.
"Yeah, Nana is coming. Who else?" Cady says happily, helping her daughters down and adjusting the adorable oversized Christmas sweaters they have on over some comfy leggings.
"G'amma?"
"Yeah, Grandma and Grandad are coming too," Cady nods.
"Aunt Juwie?" Layla asks.
"Aunt Julie should be here too, yeah. She should be here with Nana," Cady says.
"Santa!" Layla cheers. Cady laughs and kisses her cheek.
"Santa will be here on Christmas Eve, he's not coming for dinner, Bug."
"Oh." Layla says sadly.
"I know, baby love. But you don't have to wait too much longer. It's already the twentieth, you only have a few more days," Cady comforts.
"How much days?" Leo asks.
"Let's go check, come here," Cady replies, picking them both up and carrying them downstairs to the kitchen. Janis smiles when she sees all her girls together and comes up behind them as Cady carries them over to the calendar. "Bumblebee, which one says twenty?"
"Uh..." Leo hums, anxiously nibbling on her fingertip. "Dis one?"
"Yeah! You're getting so good with those big numbers," Cady cheers. "That's today. Ladybug, Santa comes on the twenty-fifth, can you find that one?"
"Two and fibe?" Layla clarifies. Cady nods, so Layla sets to work trying to find that one. "Here!"
"Yeah! My clever little monkeys," Cady says happily. "How many days are in between?"
Leo taps each day with her finger as they both count them off. "One, two, free, four, fibe."
"Fibe days!" Leo cheers when her finger is next to Layla's on the twenty-fifth. Janis takes her from Cady and kisses all three of them on the cheek.
"You girls got Mama's brains," she says quietly. "Thank goodness."
"Mommy, Santa comin' on... fibe days," Layla says happily.
"I know he is, he's gonna bring you so many presents," Janis replies. "But who's coming today?"
"Uh... everybody," Leo says. Janis and Cady both laugh.
"Just about everybody, yeah," Cady chuckles. "They should be here soon, you girls wanna help finish getting everything ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright, go on then," Cady hums, setting Layla down. Janis follows suit with Leo and grins as they both run off to the kitchen with their pigtails bouncing behind them. "They're so cute."
"That they are," Janis agrees. She pulls Cady close for a quick kiss before she heads after the twins to make sure they don't totally destroy everything they have set up so far.
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The twins go barreling down the hallway to the front door when they hear their dog, Daffodil, start barking at someone. Cady follows and giggles quietly as Layla tries to shush the puppy.
"Daffy, no barking," she chides, gently booping the dog's snout with one of her little fingers. Layla looks very proud of herself when Daffodil quiets for a moment, but she huffs when Daffy kicks off again after catching sight of someone.
"Who is she barking at, girls?" Cady asks to cheer her up.
"G'amma and G'andad!" Leo says happily, bouncing up and down a few times as she sees her grandparents heading up to them. Layla perks up as well and stands on her tippy toes to try to open the door for them. She winds up going out with the door and dangling from the doorknob. Cady's dad rescues her and holds her close.
"Hi, twinkies! How are you?" he says in his booming grandfather voice. Layla giggles and tugs on one of his ears. "Ouch."
"Layla, be gentle," Cady says, coming to hug her parents and take the dish her mother is carrying. "They've been so excited to see you, they've been waiting all day."
"Um... um... Daffy barkin' at you," Leo explains when Cady's mom picks her up. "But she nice."
"Oh, okay," Cady's mom chuckles. "You must take such good care of her."
Leo nods proudly and giggles as her grandma tickles her belly.
"Where's Janis?" Cady's dad asks.
"She's just in the kitchen, she'll be done in a second," Cady says. "Girls, can you help Grandma and Grandad get comfy in the living room?"
"Yeah!"
"Good, thank you," Cady chuckles. She carries the container of... whatever her parents brought into the kitchen to find her wife. "Love, this is fine, you don't need to fiddle with it anymore."
"I want it to be perfect," Janis whines quietly. She looks up at their daughters eagerly explaining Christmas and all the decorations to their grandparents. "For them."
"Janis, they're only two," Cady hums. "They're just excited to see everyone and get presents and love on their family. If we mess up somehow they won't even remember it in, like, ten years. Baby Christmases are easy."
"I guess," Janis sighs. "They do look like they're having fun."
"We just have to work on them talking over each other," Cady chuckles. Janis laughs and nods in agreement.
The doorbell rings and Daffodil sets off once more. The twins slide down off their grandparents' laps to go welcome the next guest. Janis grins at the little thumps of their bare feet as they run top speed to the front door.
"Is Nana!" Layla calls happily.
"It's Nana?" Janis chuckles, coming down the hall after them to let her mother in. "Look who's with her, too!"
"Juwie, Juwie!" Leo cheers happily. "Juwie got p'esents!"
"Oh boy," Janis sighs. Her mother lets herself in and catches the little ones as they crash into her, quickly getting out of the way for Julie with her massive pile of presents. "Jules, come on, man."
"They're my nieces, I have a legal obligation to spoil them!" Julie calls, stumbling to the living room to deposit the presents under the tree. Cady starts laughing when she sees the walking pile of presents and hops up to help her.
"Hi Nana!" Layla says happily.
"Hi, my favorite girls," Janis' mom replies, carrying the twins to everyone in the living room. Janis and Juliana both scoff indignantly. Their mom rolls her eyes and corrects, "Favorite little girls."
"I get it, they're my favorite girls too," Janis hums, taking Layla from her mom and holding her close. "Except your mama, but you're my favorite little girls too."
Layla giggles as Janis kisses her cheeks before she's released to go see everybody. She makes a beeline over to her aunt Julie to try to peek at the presents.
"Haha!" Julie cheers, snatching Layla up just before she makes it to the large pile. "Gotcha. You can open the presents after dinner."
"Okay," Layla says. "Hi!"
"Hi!" Julie chuckles in the same tone, holding her niece on her lap. "How is my favorite older niece doing?"
"I good," Layla says. "What p'esents?"
"You're focused today, arentcha?" Julie chuckles. "You'll see soon. After dinner, remember?"
"Oh. Mama?" Layla asks.
"Yes, pumpkin?" Cady replies, looking up from the conversation she had been having with her parents.
"When dinner?"
"Soon," Cady chuckles. "Nana has to make her special potatoes first."
"Oh." Layla says again. She stands up and heads back to her nana, tugging carefully on her pocket to get her attention. Janis' mom puts Leo down to go greet Juliana and picks Layla back up. "I can help?"
"With what?" Janis' mom asks.
"Uh... um..." Layla stutters. "Special."
"Oh, the potatoes?" Janis' mom chuckles. "Sure, you girls can help if you want. I always need some extra little hands."
"Lolo too?" Layla clarifies. Her nana nods. "Lolo!"
"Huh?" Leo says, turning to look at her twin upside down, hanging off of Julie's lap.
"We hafta help Nana," Layla says. "For p'esents."
"You don't have to," Janis says. "You'll still get presents after we have dinner. But if you want to help Nana you can."
"Oh!" Leo says eagerly. "I help, I help!"
"Come on then," Janis' mom hums, reaching out a hand for Leo. "Julie, go get the stuff from the car."
"Why do I have to?"
"Because I have my hands full," Janis' mom says. "And I'm old."
"Janny, come help me," Julie whines.
"Fine," Janis huffs. "But only because I have kids now. Set a good example, Juliana."
"Oh, shit," Julie chuckles. "Oh, the little ones, fuck. Shit. Damn it. Fuck! I'm just gonna go."
"Juwie said grownup word," Layla says as her mommy follows Julie to the car to grab things. "Mama be mad."
"Julie's a grownup, she's allowed to say grownup words," Cady says. "I'm not mad."
"Mommy not a grownup?" Leo asks in confusion. Mama always gets a little bit mad when Mommy says grownup words.
"She is," Cady says. She's really dug herself a hole here. How does she explain this without confusing her children further? "Uhm... the rule for our family who live in this house is that we ask before saying grownup words. Aunt Julie doesn't live here, so she's allowed to say grownup words without asking."
"Oh." Leo says. "Okay."
Cady breathes a sigh of relief and hears a faint chuckle from her parents next to her. Janis returns with Julie and several bags of ingredients.
"Mama, can you handle them?" Janis asks, panting slightly as she sets her bags on the ground. "I can hang out if you need-"
"I could handle you and your sister just fine, I don't need three children to look after," Janis' mom chuckles. "Go chat with people, spend some time with your wife. I'll holler if something happens."
"Okay," Janis laughs. "Girls, go easy on Nana, okay?"
"Okay!" they both chirp, even though they have no idea what she means.
Layla immediately heads for the sink to clean her hands, and Leo wiggles to be put down to do the same. Their nana holds them up to the sink one by one to help wash their chubby little hands, and then sets them on the counter with a towel to dry their hands off.
They each have their own little stepladder, so their nana tugs them over where she needs them and starts preparing things in the middle. When all four little hands are dry she helps them off the counter and leaves them to pick where they want to be.
"What are dose?" Layla asks.
"These are potatoes," Nana says. "We're going to cook them my special way."
"Special?" Leo asks, tilting her head curiously.
"Special just means lots of cheese," Nana explains. "But don't tell anybody, okay? It's a secret recipe."
The twins both nod seriously, making the little jingle bells on their hair ties ring. Nana chuckles and carries the potatoes over to the sink to wash the dirt off. The twins climb down and push their stools over to watch.
"Nana?" Leo asks.
"Hmm?"
"Clean dem?"
"Yep," Nana replies, gently pinching Leo's little nose. "Potatoes grow under the ground. But we don't want to eat the dirt. So we scrub 'em off first before we start cooking them."
"Oh."
The twins look delighted as they're each handed a bristle brush and a potato to scrub clean and get right to work. They fumble with the large vegetable a bit, little hands and all, but make remarkably good progress for their age.
Of course, they have nothing on Nana, who gets a solid ten scrubbed off in the time it takes each of them to do one. But that just gives Nana a chance to bond with them. They talk about their favorite toys, and Disney princesses, and how excited they are for Christmas. And soon, all the potatoes are clean.
Nana heads back to the counter, followed once more by the grating sound of the twins pushing their stools over. "Cady, hon?"
"Yeah?" Cady calls from the living room. Nana smiles to herself as she sees Cady absentmindedly holding hands with Janis.
"How do you feel about knives with the little ones?"
"Dull ones like butter knives are fine, and then with anything sharp we usually do hand over hand if they want to help," Cady explains. "If anyone gets cut just let me know, we have a solid first aid kit."
"We gots happy face bandaids," Layla explains, looking up at her nana. "For owies."
"Oh, smiley face bandaids make any owie better," Nana hums knowingly. The twins nod again and look curiously as she rests another potato and a peeler in front of each of them.
"Whassat?"
"This is a peeler," Nana explains. "To take the skin off the potatoes. See how it's white inside?" The twins nod. "That's the part we want. So hold it like this, and go slow. Watch your thumbs, too."
"What's a fumb?" Layla asks.
"These," Nana says, wiggling her own. Layla copies the motion with a giggle. "Your mommy used to suck her thumb when she was a baby."
"You sawed baby Mommy?" Leo asks in wonder.
"I'm your mommy's mommy," Nana says. The twins look at her in a way that tells her she's just blown their minds. She'll leave it to Janis and Cady to explain in detail. "Alright, get to work, little peelers."
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The twins both helpfully peel their potatoes to the best of their ability. They're rather patchy and have a few chunks taken out, and it's slow going, but they do pretty well for two year olds. Nana is the only one who gets hurt, forgetting to keep her thumb out of the way and getting a small cut. A smiley face bandaid and two little kisses make it all better, and then they can keep working.
Each twin gets to cut a potato with Nana's help, cutting them in half and then into small scallop shapes. They switch off so they each get to do the same amount of work. Nana takes over after a while to save time, while the twins plop all the slices into the big bowl to be seasoned.
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"Now bake 'em?" Layla asks when the potatoes are all cheesy and put in the dish to be cooked. Nana nods and helps them down before carrying the dish over to the oven. The twins both stay well away from the heat, but eagerly approach and peek through the window to see once the door has been shut. It's not particularly interesting, the potatoes have been covered in foil, but Nana just sets the timer and sits on the ground with a grunt.
"The most important part comes now," she says quietly as both her grandbabies crawl into her lap for a cuddle. "Now we add the love."
The three of them blow kisses to the potatoes, and sit to wait together.
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"What?" Cady asks when she notices her dad looking between the four members of her family as they sit next to each other at the table.
"Nothing. Just feels like yesterday those two little plates were empty and labeled baby A and baby B," her dad sighs with a small grin. "And now look at them."
Cady does, looking down at Layla next to her. Layla looks back, her chubby cheeks made even chubbier by the large mouthful of potatoes she's stuffed in. Cady chuckles and wipes some stray cheese off her chin before she gives her a gentle peck.
"Little bites, baby love, we don't want you to choke," she hums. Layla carefully chews her bite before swallowing and looking up at her with a wide smile. "Makes sense you'd like those. I ate soooo much of this stuff when I was pregnant with you two."
"I could never get the recipe right," Janis chuckles. "But we did live off these for a good month."
"I think we single handedly bought up a farmer's entire potato crop that year," Cady laughs. "But you girls did such a good job helping, these are the most delicious potatoes we've had yet."
"Yummy," Leo says around a large mouthful of her own. Janis wipes her little chin off and gives her the same little bites warning. "Nana come ebery day?"
"For you, I will," Nana chuckles. "Or maybe you lot could come back to Illinois."
"We've been talking about it, actually," Cady says. "But we think we're gonna wait until they're a little bit older, we want them to remember it here too."
"Just a suggestion," Janis' mom hums, reaching for another helping of stuffing.
"We definitely need to do this more," Cady's mom says. "I have so many animal photos saved up on my phone and I never get to show the girls."
"Nanimals?" Layla asks excitedly.
"Yeah, you remember we talked about jobs? Grandma and Grandad both work with animals," Cady explains. "Do you remember where I grew up?"
"Afrita," Leo chimes in. Cady chuckles and nods.
"Yeah, I grew up there so they could work with the animals there. And now they work with animals here. Grandma will show you all her pictures after dinner."
"And p'esents!" Layla says eagerly.
"You're raising a very determined child, Janny," Juliana chuckles.
"She knows what she wants," Janis shrugs with a chuckle. "Not my fault you brought them in right off the bat."
"Fair," Julie agrees. She raises her glass for a toast. "To family."
Everyone echoes her, including the twins with their sippy cups held up. They aren't totally sure what's going on, but they're happy to be included.
To family indeed.
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thanks for reading!! see you tomorrow!