Rebel 3.9

Saturday came and we headed off to the Fall Festival bright and early. "I want to get my face painted like a skeleton!" Tanner said pulling me towards the face painting booth, "well I want a Rainbow!" Berlin said. I gave each of them twenty dollars and told them to go have fun. The both took off to get their faces painted. "C'mon Tanner! Let's enter the pie eating contest, I bet you can't beat me!" Berlin exclaimed grabbing her brother by the hand and pulling him towards the pie table. I watched as they took their places behind the pies, and waited. On the word go, both of them dove face first into the berry pies, eating as fast as they could. Berlin finished her pie just a few seconds before Tanner, making her the winner.

We played a few games and cashed in our tickets, but it was getting dark and it was time to get home. "Guys! Time to go!" I called. Both of the kids talked all the way home about the food, and games, with Tanner swearing he was going to beat Berlin in the pie eating contest the following year. When we got back home I told them of the surprise I had planned for two weeks from now. "Gram and Grandpa are coming to visit for thanksgiving!" the were so excited, jumping up and down, making plans for all the things that they wanted to show them when they got here. Dad and Shirley lived clear across the country, so they hadn't been back for a visit since before the twins were born. They talked all the time on the phone with the kids though, so at least the had some sort of relationship. As the kids got ready for bed they were still talking about the upcoming visit.

The next two weeks went by in a blur, I was busy as work, finally having landed a decent gig with a local band. I dreamed of traveling around with the band, but with no one here to watch the kids, I had no choice, but to stay local. My band understood, but I still felt like I was letting them down. 

We had a great visit with everyone, Dad and Shirley got the kids a costume chest, which they dove into right away. Tanner played as a T-Rex and Berlin was a princess, of course I'd expect nothing less from them. 

Winter arrived and with it came a pay raise, which was a blessing. We had tons of snow, and the kids had several days off of school due to the snow. On one of their snow days, I decided to take them to the winter festival. "Are you ready?" I called to the kids as I headed to the door. "Ready!" They shouted in unison, running out the door ahead of me. We piled into the car and drove to the fair grounds. I had plenty to spend on them this time around. "What do you want to do first?" I asked as we got out of the car. "I want to ice skate" Berlin said. "Skating is for girls, I want to snowboard" Tanner chimed in. "Well, Berlin and I will skate, and Tanner you can go snowboarding. How's that sound?" "Sounds great" they both said. So Tanner headed off to snowboard, and us girls went skating. We skated for a while, till we fell down laughing. Getting back up I suggested going to get some hot chocolate, calling to Tanner as we made our was to the food cart. On the way the kids saw the snowball fight zone, and just had to stop for a game. Well one game turned into five and pretty soon it was getting dark. "Come on guys, time to go!" I called. That was met with "aww, mom! One more game!" "No, guys. It's getting late, we need to get home." "Can we get some hot chocolate to go?" Tanner asked. " That's a great idea." I said. I ordered three cocoa's to go, and we piled back into the car headed home. Both Berlin and Tanner were fast asleep before I even reached the house. I pulled up in the drive, got the house open, and carried them to their beds one at a time, kissed them goodnight, and went to bed myself, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.