Pick Your Snowball Battles Carefully! by Gabby

Once again, I woke up looked out the bedroom window…Another dusting of snow. So very pretty, but no real accumulation to speak of. The window that I was looking out, I saw the neighborhood handful of kids waiting on the corner for the school bus. They really all pretty good kids and get along well. Imagine my surprise when I saw a couple of them tossing snow at each other. What pitiful little tiny snowballs they were, too…It did make me laugh but seemed they were having fun. It reminded me of snowfalls we would get back when Autumn and I were their age. Oh my goodness, we had some major snow…Often so much school was cancelled. The days we all dreamed of naturally!

So many times we had snowball battles, built snowmen and snowforts. My mind does work in a way all it’s own…What made me remember a snowball battle from us twinnies youth? Probably seeing the neighborhood kids, they were about the age we were back then, maybe 10 years old or so. Autumn and I had neighbor boys we were good buddies with, their names were Alex and Tim. Boys we grew up with, they were always fun and we all got along quite well.

This particular day, school was cancelled and we were all over the moon! Alex and Tim came over to play in the snow with us. We all had great fun building a little snow fort, a snowman to stand guard. I was pretending it was the prince and the twinnie talked Tim into building a snow unicorn. It honestly did resemble a unicorn, Alex and I were kind of surprised. We always had a thing about magical beings and all that, those poor boys! Anyway, all was fine until Tim and Autumn got a little rowdy with tossing snowballs…Wait just a minute who said we were having a snowball battle?! Pretty soon the snowballs were just flying like crazy…I wasn’t happy.

I should be embarassed to admit it, but I could be a bit snippy about getting too wet. The snow was in my hair, too and not making me at all happy. Plus my snowman prince was now missing part of it’s face. I wasn’t trying to ruin the twinnie’s unicorn, honest…But oops, there went the head flying off. Alex had come to my rescue…A snowball gone wild! By now Autumn was crying, I had joined in and those poor boys were just trying to get us to calm down. Tim and Alex comforted the twinnie with fixing up her unicorn, then mended my snowman prince. Wow, those boys sure worked fast…Anything to shut up the crying twinnies I fear.

Anyway, order was restored and we all decided to trail inside for hot cocoa and I simply had to fix and dry my wet hair, too! These are the wacky and weird things that just a small ground covering of snow made me take a stroll down memory lane.The good and fun old days, they make me smile, then laugh out loud. Then, just grab the phone to call the twinnie to ask her if she remembers…She did! 🙂 😉

The Year of the Hippie Snowman (and Woman) ~By Gabby Angel

There was a light dusting of snow this morning when I woke up. I have no idea what made this memory pop into my head. My mind is a mysterious place…I will be the first to admit it! Anyway, the year of the snowman and woman we turned into hippies! It’s is a fun memory to tell, so I will get to it.

Back when you’re young, you just love looking forward to creating something out of snow. For some reason the cold doesn’t bother you in the slightest either. So this one morning, we woke up and had gotten a nice couple feet or more of snow. Autumn and I must have been 11 or 12 years old. Our friends and favorite neighbor boys came over to fetch us twinnies to get outside and create some special snowman.

Alex and Tim were just always the greatest with their imaginations, so this was going to be awesome fun. We all headed to our backyard, playing around and throwing a few snowballs first. Tim and Autumn started this, so we had a small snow battle but got down to business. We all decided to have the coolest and best snowman on our block. How lofty that sounds, but we all were competitors in our own fashion. The snowman came together so nicely, it was so big! At least it seemed like it was, but we were young. Autumn insisted we make a Mrs. Snowman, Tim agreeing as always with his buddy. OK, it seemed like a fine idea we all though…Let’s really go for it! On we worked, before long Mrs Snowman joined Mr. How to decorate them? We talked among ourselves and hit on a fine idea, too I must say.

We twinnies raced inside our house to gather a few things, the boys took off for theirs to do the same. Gaining our parents permission, who got into the spirit of things…What a fun set of parents we had. Soon, the twinnies and the boys were out in the backyard. The Mrs. Snowman had a floppy hat for her head, we had used some yarn for hair, button eyes in place. Mom had donated a flowery old blanket for her fashion attire. Autumn and I fashioned her a nice getup, slipped the Peace sign in her hand and she was all done. Yes, she was a knockout!

On to the Mr. Snowman, he got a nice pair of sunglasses and a colorful headband. Adding button eyes, he also got draped in an old blanket. We fancied it was a fetching looking poncho and added his sign that said Love. They were all complete, we stepped back to admire our handiwork. By now both sets of parents, our sibilings, too had gathered to congratulate us on a job well done!

Yay, they all loved Mr and Mrs. Hippie Snowman and his Woman! Both Dads took pictures, one of them ended up hitting our very small town newspaper. Thrilling the twinnies and boys beyond reason! We ended up the talk on not only the neighborhood, but also of our little town. That makes me laugh out loud, thinking back to that year…Smalltown celebs we were for just a short while anyway! 😉 🙂

Trick or Treat Twins~By Gabby Angel

This adventure features the twinnies and again the neighbor boys. Trick or Treating done on October 31st , Halloween here in the US, what fun! I know the day also means other things. Bear with me please, this involves costumes and all with Tim and Alex joining us. They have been featured with Autumn and I on several adventures now. As they were involved in many of our “twin memories”, this one too is begging to be written. Please read on, I think you will get a few smiles! Autumn and I had been planning our costumes for weeks. This one is at 6-7 years old, closer to 7 because our birthday is in January.

Back to the story, sorry but my mind gets ahead of me at times 😉 I wanted to be a princess, Autumn just begging to be Tinkerbell, seriously. No, we didn’t want to dress in similar costumes this time. As always, Autumn saying she knew Tinkerbell had blond hair. And no, she wasn’t asking Mom to go blond! 😉 Tim was going to be a pirate, Captain Hook he said since his buddy Autumn was going as Tinkerbell. I confess I did plead my case to Alex to be Prince Charming, to match my princess get-up. No way, he was being a cowboy…John Wayne, was one of his heroes at the time.

Halloween night rolls around and we all meet up with our Moms (Lucky them!) 😉 They walked with us around our neighborhood as went door to door, to what amounts to asking for candy and treats. Small town, traditions and all the kids were doing it…Also so very safe back then. We all were behaving fairly well. Autumn and Tim were teasing and pushing each other, but that was fairly normal for those two. I must say Autumn not pleased when Tim hooked his Capt. Hook “hook “in her fancy hair up-do! 🙂 The Moms got them settled down and on we went smiling, laughing and collecting so many treats!

Last block and no major mishaps, the Mom probably wanted to do a Happy Dance! Next house Mrs B she answered with a smile, opening the door. Oops, luck ran out..Autumn and Tim spotted her cat beside her and reached to pet her. Yikes poor Patches liked us all, but wasn’t in the mood to be petted. Off she went out the front door and up a tree! Patches was an inside cat but thankfully still had claws to climb and climb she did! Way, way up she climbed in the maple tree..Mrs. B. was very upset! She fetched nice Mr B. who got a ladder and coaxed Patches down close enough to reach her. Yay!! Mr. B. saved the day and all adults smiling now. The Moms hurried us away after good byes to Mr and Mrs B.

A lecture for Autumn and Tim, who had the nerve to start whining “We didn’t get treats from Mrs. B.” That ended our night of trick or tricking, no more houses were visited and we all retreated to our separate homes. The Moms no doubt to get some headache remedy or perhaps a small glass of wine! 😉 Halloween and trick or treating over for the year with one small mishap! 😉 Not really, it had caused plenty of commotion and attention to other parents and Trick or Treating kids. Not to mention poor Patches and Mrs B. She forgave of course, but Autumn and Tim’s stunt “haunted” them for months. 😉 It was talked about by many adult neighbors and kids as well…What a pair those two could be! Hope you enjoyed this one and see you all soon! 🙂

Twinnies and Rollerskating Memories~BY Gabby Angel

Rollerskating not for the faint of heart! Autumn and I started rollerskating quite young actually. We took to it like little ducks to water. Perhaps it was the getting around faster on skates, than walking or running! 😉

Our first attempt on rollerskates, we were about 5 or 6 years old. Those first tries are a bit pitiful to write about, lots of falling, scraping body parts and lots of crying. 😦 We thought first time out we would be these little pros, that wasn’t going to happen! But we learned and we got pretty good, if I do say so myself! 🙂 This particular event happened at about 8 years old, it’s a funny one indeed and why I feel compelled to tell it. Hope you all do enjoy it and get chuckle.

It started out an early spring day, got our skates on and ready to roll! 😉 We were joined by our favorite little boy neighbors Tim and Alex. Having gained our parents permission off we set to our neighborhood playground. It was a nearby school only a block or so from home, with huge stretch of open playground. Oh joy, we had the whole entire playground to ourselves this particular morning!

Lots of smiles and cheers were exchanged by us all. We first skated by ourselves for awhile then went off in pairs. Alex and I were the more subdued and cautious skaters. The same could not be said for Autumn and Tim, the two of them were out and out dare devils and risk takers! While Alex and I enjoyed making up our own special routines like we had watched on television. OK, I admit that may sound boring but we played it safe. Does that make us the boring pair, well not really right??

We watched Autumn and Tim as they got wilder and crazier, skating faster ans faster! Perhaps some might say those two were a menace to each other when paired up together. After all, remember the toad incident and backyard fun? 😉 Before we could stop Autumn and Tim off they went skating like wildfire to the forbidden hill! Alex and I tried yelling the crazy pair, they ignored us off course. Oh no, they were skating out of control and still holding on to each other’s hand. those two were flying!!

Well, Alex and I watched in terror and awe as Autumn and Tim crashed! We got to the pair as quickly as possible, both scraped up badly, bleeding and both crying. They had landed in the grass, which was kind of fortunate. The not so fortunate part was Tim appeared to have a messed up arm. Yes it ended up being broken. 😦

Autumn had fared slightly better having landed better, she sported serious scrapes and her little finger looked swollen. No, it didn’t end up broken. 🙂 Alex and I ran home for our parents, I do mean running, we had taken our skates off. After Autumn and Tim’s bloody, sad scene we got literally scared out of our skates. Once home we rounded up both Dads, who had to take the wild pair to the ER. Well, they were each fixed up by the kind Doctors and sent back home with the Dads.

You guessed it the pair of Autumn and Tim were grounded by their own doing, for a few weeks anyway. What a lesson we all shared that day! After Autumn and Tim mended they did settle themselves a lot…So ends that day of rollerskating. 🙂 We all shared many more and I am also happy to report no more injuries! 🙂

Twinnies Can Find Fun In Our Own Backyard~by Gabby Angel

Yes indeed we could, fun and adventure without even leaving home! 😉 This one again brought to you be Gabby, the girl with the memory of an elephant. 😉 Yes indeed us twinnies could conjure up an adventure right in our own backyard! 🙂 This one was Autumn and I with our two favorite neighbor boys having a little innocent swim. Well, that’s what it started out as anyway. Autumn and I were joined this sunny, summer day by Tim and Alex. Tim being our age and Alex only 1 and 1/2 years older than us, these neighbor boys were our best guy friends back then. This particular adventure we were about 6 or so years old, still needing a bit of supervision!

Mom & Mrs A. (the boys Mom and also Mom’s friend) were keeping an eye on us from our enclosed backporch. Thankfully it had a nice big window because keeping watch on us was important! 😉 Our pool at the time was maybe only 2 feet deep or so & the boys and Autumn and I were splashing about having good times. Tim got splashing Autumn a bit too much and she started crying and yelling at him. It got a bit ugly, but Mom was out the door to straighten them out. Alex and I were looking at them in disgust, Tim and Autumn seemed to revel in getting each other stirred up. She did end up dumping a bucket of water over his head, this done with Mom still standing there. Well, Mom had them both saying their own “I’m sorry’s” & they both did settle down enough for poor Mom to return to the porch!

All was OK for about 15-20 minutes, then it was my turn to howl, bringing both Mom & Mrs A, racing outside. It wasn’t the boys or Autumn, I had stepped out of the pool to go have a drink. After all, I couldn’t drink the pool water! 😉 What happened I had stepped on a bee and was seriously not liking this pain and everyone sure knew it. Mom got me set down on a nearby chair, while Mrs A. had retrieved tweezers and baking soda, boy were they both moving fast! Mom got the stinger out and Mrs A applied baking soda to take some of the pain of the sting away and to reduce swelling.

Autumn was out of the pool beside me, holding my hand and consoling me and also had started her own crying in sympathy. Our poor Mom and Mrs. A, getting us both quieted and calmed while those poor little boys looked on with both their little mouths hanging open. They were used to us, but Oh my, both the twinnies howling loudly at the same time was not a fun sound! Shortly , probably seemed hours to the boys, Mom and Mrs A. but really only made 10 minutes in Real time, the twinnies settled down and the howling, crying sniffling had stopped. Autumn, the boys and I were all sitting at the picnic table having ourselves a popsicle by then, everyone smiling chatting and laughing! 🙂 So ends another adventure, oops I did forget just one little thing.

After the popsicles were eaten Autumn and Tim had wandered off to admire the new rocks in the flower garden. Tim discovered a baby toad and before we all could stop him tossed it on Autumn! 😦 She was screaming and jumping up and down telling Tim he was an evil boy, well who could blame her…Yuck!! Mom and Mrs A. back to the rescue both deciding time for the boys and Mrs A. to head back home. Well, not before Tim said “I’m sorry” about 5 times & had given Autumn a true friend hug. All was happy and we waved a goodbye to Tim, Alex and Mrs. A.

The bad news was this started poor, dear Autumn’s fear of anything toad and frog like. 😦 That is also another whole blog, maybe? Pease, anyone reading this Do Not tease Autumn about her fear, she may get testy! 😉 See you back here tomorrow and thanks for reading! 🙂 🙂

The Twins, Neighbor Boys and A Haunted House~by Gabrielle Angel

Yes, another one of the us twinnies and those neighbor boys of ours. 🙂 We were all friends from a very young age of 3-4 years old. I know they were boys, but I have to say Tim and Alex were a lot of fun. Many happy twinnie memories of them and us.

This one Autumn and I were maybe 8 or 9 years old. The haunted house? Well, we were all convinced at the time it surely was! 😉 This is another memory that had me laughing like crazy when I reflected back to this particular day. Hope it makes you all laugh, too and trust me scary if only in our young minds! 🙂

A crisp Saturday in late September Tim and Alex came to fetch Autumn and I for a walk and to gather fall leaves. The boys knew we loved the pretty leaves and also a school project was due concerning leaves. So with parents permissions we were off, Alex and I leading. Naturally Autumn and Tim were lagging a bit behind, heaven only knows that crazy pair was cooking up. We never knew, Alex and I but we did learn to keep a careful eye on those two.

While Alex and I were gathering a leaf here and there, what were Autumn and Tim doing? Tossing leaves about, at each other and just being generally silly. At one point as we were strolling along we saw a leaf pile. Some poor innocent neighbor had raked the leaves ever so carefully into a tidy pile. When what happened next? Autumn and Tim were daring each other to jump in, after all weren’t piles of leaves meant to jump in? 😉

Is it any wonder Autumn turned into more the “wild child”, Tim was teaching her the ropes! Where, on the other hand my buddy Alex who was 1&1/2 years older was the calm, mellow and laid back one. It’s only my theory, those two spents lots of time together and what ideas they had between them! 🙂

Thankfully the neighbor didn’t come outside to witness their stunt & Alex kicked Autumn and Tim from the now messy leaves. He was a thoughtful boy that Alex, he saw a rake leaning against the tree and quickly tidied them up. My l own little hero he was. 😉

Once again back to our walking we happened upon the sad looking desserted house a few blocks away. It was rumored to be haunted by all the local neighbor kids, I do stress rumored! 😉 Alex and I being the sensible pair said “No we aren’t going to snoop around”. Like that stopped Autumn and Tim. Bold as could be those two went snooping about at each window, again daring each other to see if a door was open! Thankfully no, but clear from the back of the house we heard Autumn and Tim,” the snoops” screams.

Oh no! What now, Alex and I asked each other? Off to the back door we raced and there we saw a scared looking pair. “Look in this window!” Tim and Autumn insisted, holding on to each others hands slowly backing off the back porch. What do you suppose Alex and I saw upon looking in the window? Furniture and things with sheets covering them, a tall lamp did resemble a very skinny ghost-type person. With the stretch of an imagination, that is! That’s what had scared those two silly, Alex and I did have a laugh. 🙂 We walked back to the sidewalk to where they both stood waiting for us. Alex calmly explained what it really was, with much more patience than I had at the moment. They pretended to laugh and insist that they this all along! 😉

We all walked back home gathering leaves, while Alex and I still shared a few smiles over Autumn and Tim’s “Ghost“! So you see, the house wasn’t haunted after all, another twin adventure comes to a close. 🙂

Hey! A Haunted Hayride..~BY Gabrielle Angel

This is a silly and fun memory that came back to me. It was triggered by seeing an advertisement for a Haunted Hayride. Well, when Autumn and I were younger we went on one of those. It was called a “Haunted Hayride”, but it was OK for kids…So not meant to be real scary.

Which is all well and good, unless you go on one of these adventures with boys. Autumn and I had good friends who were boys and also our neighbors. We were only about 11 years old and this ride was during the late afternoon and being held at a nearby farm. It also had a pumpkin patch, where after the ride we would be picking out a pumpkin.

It sounded like so much fun and our parents all agreed, our parents were dropping us off and picking us up. So Autumn, Tim, Alex and I were really looking forward to this outing. Our Dad dropped us all off and we were running for the big wagon filled with bales of hay, a scarecrow anda few pumpkins…Looking so festive and Halloweeny.

It was Autumn’s and my first ever hayride and we were so excited! The boys had been on one the year before so they knew what was in store and what would be happening. They had assured us twinnies it wasn’t going to be scary. The nice driver and owner of the farm, Mr. G. who was a friend of our parents hopped up and got behind the wheel…Off we went! There was a few other kids there as well, we knew a few of them. They were all nice, or so we thought.

Autumn and I didn’t know a couple of the boys were a little too rowdy. Well, we were safe since we had our buddies Tim and Alex…We trusted those boys. On we rode and having a very nice ride, Tim and Autumn were busy chatting to each together quietly. He seemed to be comforting her, ever since the “toad incident” he had been more protective of Autumn.

One of those rowdy boys started making scary sounds, and being annoying. Alex told him to stop it, but this guy wasn’t listening! His rowdy buddy was egging him on now and laughing. They were sitting kind of close to Alex and I, so I was getting a bit upset. Before I knew it, a big spider landed on my arm and I screamed! Next thing we knew another one landed on Autumn, she too screamed even louder! The spiders weren’t real of course, they were plastic. Autumn and I didn’t realize this at first. We were both now being loud enough that Mr. G. pulled the wagon over. He was a very nice man, but not at all happy with these two rowdy boys. Mr. G. first calmed Autumn and I down with Tim and Alex’s help…Our heroes! 🙂 Autumn had been wondering about those two boys. That’s why Tim had been comforting her. Little did he know what was going to happen. 😦

We were nearing the end of the ride before we headed to the pumpkin patch. So Mr. G. had the two rowdy boys get out and ride up front with him for the next 5 minutes…Yay! The rowdy boys were in big trouble and their parents were being called…No pumpkin patch for those two! Justice prevailed, the ride ended and off Autumn, Tim, Alex and I were headed to the pumpkin patch.

The rowdy boys and the fake icky spiders now behind us, we went to pick out some cool pumpkins! 🙂

Carving Pumpkins…Guts and All ;) ~BY Gabrielle Angel

I had been looking over my recently purchased pumpkin. Trying to decide whether to carve it or paint on a face. That made this amusing memory pop right into my head. It really did make me laugh out loud! 🙂

Autumn and I, with our friends and neighbor boys carving pumpkins one year. We were maybe about 9 or 10 years old and of course doing this with a bit of supervision. We were having a nice fall day, so we were going to be working at our picnic table. Mom and Mrs A. were going to hang out and be helping us, they were always fun. Mom and Mrs A laid down a plastic table cloth that Mom brought out of the house.

We were all getting antsy, but trying to be patient. Autumn, Tim, Alex and me were all just wanting to unleash our inner artists. 😉 We all had special and specific ideas of what our pumpkins would look like. We got busy drawing on the faces we wanted, all laughing and chatting happily. Autumn and mine were more girly and going to have smiley faces. Not Tim and Alex’s, they had decided on scary and freaky ones. Well, they were boys after all.

Time for the Moms to help carve, the boys were able to mostly carve their own. It was Autumn and I that needed a bit of help, Mom and Mrs. A got busy lending a hand. Everything still going well, no one getting cut or anything bad. Tim started getting a bit silly and teasing Autumn about her girly pumpkin. She had to set him straight with making sure girly was better than scary. After all Autumn told him, we didn’t want to scare our little sisters and so there! He had to agree and they gave each other a smile.

Alex and I as always chatting nicely, no arguing between us. After all, he was 18 months older than all of us. The pumpkin faces were nicely carved and the “guts” as Tim called them had been set aside. Our Moms like to take the seeds and later roast them, they were good too! 🙂 Tim just couldn’t resist, it was bound to happen…Tim drizzled some “guts” on Autumn’s arm. Look out, she was mad and before we knew it…Tossed a handful of “guts” in Tim’s face! Oh no, could they just never behave themselves! It’s just always how it was, those two put together were sometimes bound to pull something.

Nobody had gotten real messy yet and the Moms got them wiped off and settled back down. Tim and Autumn were saying their “I’m sorry’s” and making up with each other. They really were the best of buddies, for real they were. The Moms exchanged a smile and a sigh of relief, only a minor skirmish this time around.

Everyone’s pumpkins were done, Mom called Dad outside to take some pictures. Our parents did love taking pictures! 🙂 Dad made sure everyone was smiling and flash! Of course Autumn and Tim had made the rabbit ears or devil horns, behind each other’s heads. They claimed they were only doing peace signs to each other, what a chuckle that was. We all knew what they really meant! 😉

These are the things that make you laugh when looking at pictures later! It was a fun day, pumpkin carving…Guts and all! 😉 🙂