Ever since I can remember I dreamed about growing up and having twins. My great-grandmother was a twin. She was Ruby and her twin sister was Ruth. I think I had heard that twins run in families so since my Bubby was a twin, of course, I would have twins too.

When I was just a child, like many little girls, I imagined my adult self married with babies; my twin babies. They would be two girls and I was going to name them Hannah and Hailey.

So when I was 25, pregnant, sick as a dog and my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to “rule out the possibility of twins” I knew exactly how the ultrasound would turn out. I set up my ultrasound appointment and went straight to the book store to buy a book on being pregnant with twins. I was that confident.

The day we had our ultrasound Lee and I looked up at the monitor as the ultrasound tech said, “Well here’s why you’re so nauseous. You’re having twins.” Lee nearly fell out of his chair. But I wasn’t shocked at all. I was excited.

However, I completely underestimated the double tween and teen angst that comes with twins.

Skyler & Spencer couldn’t be more different starting with that fact that Skyler is a girl and Spencer is a boy (no Hannah and Hailey which was fine with me because after 20 years I was sick and tired of those name). Skyler is very social (an extrovert all the way). Spencer is pretty quiet (an introvert like his mom).

At the Sock Hop last night Skyler was hollering out to everybody, waving and fluttering around like her usual social butterfly self. One boy in their class, Joseph, walked by Spencer and Skyler yelled out “Hi Joseph!”

But he didn’t hear her so Spencer turned around and said, “Joseph, Skyler wants you.” Joseph took this to mean that Skyler wanted his hot 4th grade bod and seemed a bit stunned.

Spencer said, “NOOO. She just wants to talk to you.”

Joseph said, “Oh” and walked over to Skyler so she could say Hi to him.

As Joseph walked away Spencer said, “Skyler you know all the boys in our class think you’re annoying.”

I looked over and Skyler to gage how she was going to take this news. Sometimes she’s just blows off her brother. And other times she gets upset. This was one of those upset times.

She crinkled up her nose, pursed her lips and started to cry.

She knows Spencer says things like this just to get her riled up. But she always takes them to heart anyway. Spencer likes to tell her “I don’t like you” to which Skyler responds, “Yes you do. You love me.”

So there we were in the middle of the school cafeteria. Skyler in tears. Spencer looking all smug.

I said, “Skyler you know Spencer just says stuff like that to make you mad. Joseph wouldn’t have walked over here to talk to you if he thought you were annoying, right?”

I think in the mean time Lee was giving Spencer the evil eye so Spencer was giving a very unbelievable “I’m sorry Skyler” speech.

But Skyler realized I was right. Joseph would have just ignored her if he thought she was annoying. [Well no more annoying than any other girl in the 4th grade class. Aren't all girls annoying to boys in the 4th grade?] So she cheered back up and went off to shake her booty.

They’re only 10. We have years and years of these little battles to deal with. I’m going to need much, much more wine.

Today is Skyler & Spencer’s birthday. Their 10th birthday. The beginning of the double digits. Smack dab in to their tweens. Just a hop, skip, and jump away from being a teenager. How can my twins be 10-years-old already?

I’ve enjoyed [almost] every minute of watching them grow up to the ripe ol’ age of 10. This continue to be very brilliant students with great senses of humor. This year they started 4th grade and they are both doing very well. At their school 4th graders are the top dogs. The kings and queens of the school. Next year they will be in intermediate school. I shudder at the thought that three of my four kids will be out of elementary school next year. And Justis will be out of school completely. Somebody hold me.

Skyler continues to amaze me with her creativity; writing fabulous stories, drawing awesome pictures, singing, and dancing. She also continues to be a teacher’s pet. She’s always been my super polite and helpful child. She has no problem making friends, even befriending the new kids at school. And she’s like a little mom. She loves to play with the neighbors one-year-old daughter; taking her for walks and playing games in the yard with her. She’s a pretty awesome kid!

She’s also really doing well at dance (ballet, tap, lyrical, and funky jazz) and loves gymnastics. Although she did break my heart a little bit a few weeks ago when she told me she no longer likes the color pink. But she’s still very much of a girly girl who loves to style her hair and dress up in dresses. We took them shoe shopping yesterday and she wanted me to buy her a pair of high heels. HIGH HEELS people! Where did my little girl go? [BTW, I did not buy her high heels. I still think 10 is a little young for hooker boots. Just sayin'.]

Speaking of growing up too fast Spencer already thinks he’s a teenager. His birthday list consisted of an iPod Nano (only because he knew I wouldn’t buy him an iPod Touch…never mind the fact that he already has an iPod Shuffle) and a DSi (even though he already has a PSP). Instead he got a new bike. He seems happy with that. But he wants to do everything Keaton does. He wants his own room…because Keaton has his own room. He wants to wear some of the same clothes that Keaton wears. In fact when we went shoe shopping yesterday he got the same exact tennies that Keaton used to have. I’m so not ready for him to be a teenager, let alone act like one.

On another note, Spencer has turned in to quite a little athlete. He continues to excel at soccer as part of the schools soccer club. He even moved from defender to forward and is doing really well. This year he started playing football too. Last week he was moved from wide receiver to runningback, got the ball and ran for 12 yards (which is pretty impressive for 4th grade football). This week he got put on the 4th quarter team. I’m so proud of the effort he’s putting in and he’s not giving up even though he hurt his wrist last week. He’s really grown up from the kid who once just stood there and let an opponent wrestler pick him up, drop and pin him because Spencer refused to participate since the kid was bigger than him. Now he has problem tackling the big kids. My baby’s all grown up.

We decided not to have birthday parties this year…for any of us, starting with Justis’ birthday in April. Instead we’ve just celebrated all of our birthdays at home, together as a family. But since this is kind of a big birthday, we decided to let Skyler & Spencer have one friend each join us for dinner and a movie.

After we laughed our butts off at Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs at the movie theater and then stuffed our already popcorn-filled stomachs with pancakes and eggs at IHOP, we brought all of the kids home for a mini-sleepover. As I was making my way to bed I eavesdropped on their conversation. Kids have the best conversations when they think nobody is listening.

Spencer said, “[His best friend] is to young to have sex.”

“Spencer! What are you talking about?” I asked.

Spencer proclaimed, “What? I can say sex.” I couldn’t really argue with that. After all I’m the one that told him sex isn’t a bad word.

[His best friend] went on to say, “Yeah, I think you have to be about 25 before you can have sex.” [Good kid!]

Skyler said, “I think you should be 42.” [She's such a kiss up!]

Skyler & Spencer turned 9-years-old on Saturday. NINE! I say this every year, but it bears repeating. Time just flies by so fast.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so. On Friday I was talking about my twins’ birthday coming up and a co-worker said, “It’s been nine years since you were THAT big?” Isn’t it wonderful that I work with such nice, sensitive people?

Of course, I’m kidding. I really was THAT big. And I still have the back pain to prove it.

So anyway…back to Skyler & Spencer. And their ninth birthday. NINE! Gone are the birthdays were they get a push toy, a big, green sandbox in the shape of a turtle, or a big, plastic rocker shaped like a fish. Instead they want the latest fashions, video games, iPods and a new computer. Sigh!

But what they still have is that big toothy grin as they peel away their wrapping paper, their squeals as they see they got just what they asked for, and their excitement as they blow out their candles. The candles that now light up the whole room because there are so many of them. Sniffle!

In this last year we have seen them graduate from 2nd grade and start 3rd. They have grown to be very strong readers and great spellers. And speaking of growing, Spencer has grown a size and Skyler has grown two. I keep telling her she’s going to have to get a job to pay for all these new clothes if she keeps growing like this. This year Spencer graduated from pee wee soccer and joined soccer club. And Skyler continues to excel at dance and gymnastics. A lot changes in a year.

Happy Birthday Skyler & Spencer!

We decided to let Skyler & Spencer have a sleepover for their birthdays. We were going to have one on Friday night and the other on Saturday night, but the kids both have activities early Saturday morning so that wouldn’t work. So we had to schedule both parties for Saturday night. I was a little worried that parents would be upset there was a sleepover with boys and girls so I felt the best thing to do was disclose this information. So at the bottom of both invitations I put “Skyler/Spencer’s party is the same night, but there will be two adults present at all times and the parties will be on separate floors of the house.” And I thought I was good.

But then I got a call from the mom of one of Spencer’s friends. She left a message and asked me to call her back because she had some questions.

Me: Hi! This is Christine. Spencer’s mom.
Her: Oh hi. I just had a couple questions about the party. It’s a sleepover, right?
Me: Yep.
Her: Cole told me there was going to be girls there. I saw the note on the invitation, but I wasn’t sure.
Me: Oh yeah. Skyler & Spencer are boy/girl twins and are having their parties on the same night. But it’s really two different parties. They will be on separate floors of the house. No mingling.
Her: Oh, ok. That makes sense. I just wanted to make sure.

I guess I should be a little more clear next time rather than just assuming everybody knows all our business and is aware they are twins. I don’t want to be known as the mom who allows co-ed sleepovers because we all know I’m against that.

Just for fun, here’s a shot of Skyler & Spencer blowing out their birthday cakes cupcakes.