Weekends

Weekends have had a little extra pep in its step here lately now that the weather has cooled down.  In combination that the girls are getting older, it's just all around easier right now to be able to enjoy being outside, and we really love the 2 whole days that Blake is home from work.

Anytime we get close to the swings at the park by our house, the girls immediately start to wave their arms and make all sorts of cute noises letting us know without a doubt that they want to sit in those swings.

They love it!  We have not yet been there long enough to reach their max capacity in the swings.  I think they'd sit their until they fell asleep, if we let them.

My parents arrive this weekend.  I have a feeling we're going to be taking my trips to the swings this week!

Birthday Celebration Via Skype

Celebrating Caroline and Ellie's big day (translation: Blake's and My Big Day) continued throughout the entire day as we skyped with the rest of the family and let the girls open gifts that came from those family members.

The whole day was so fun for all of us, and at the end of it, Blake and I went to bed totally exhausted, hearts totally full, and a living room totally full of new things.

Lauren and Nathan gave them this shopping cart, and Caroline and Ellie can't get enough of it.  They LOVE to swish the toys around inside it and then one by one, toss them onto the ground.  This is the first thing they go to every morning when they wake up.

I'm going to be so sad when these ballerina tutus no longer fit them.  I can't get enough pictures with them in these things!

What a fun day.  What a fun weekend.  What a lot of Skyping, which we wouldn't change for anything.  Thank you to all our family for making it such a fun day for us even from so far away.

We love you all!

And Just Like That....

...Caroline and Ellie turned 1 year old on Saturday.  I just need to pause and take that in for a second...

...or maybe two since we are talking about twins here.  

To celebrate, we had my brother and two other families that we've become friends with over for breakfast out in our backyard.  

We had a cold front come in the night before.  We woke up with weather in the 60's, and just like that it felt like fall was in the air.  It was the perfect excuse to use our fire pit, that of course all the kids loved.  It was a wonderful morning to celebrate Caroline and Ellie turning 1.  

This was the first morning that the girls did not eat their oatmeal and bananas for breakfast...they got to eat pancakes, sausage, hashbrowns, etc like the rest of us that they scarfed up as if they were wondering why we've been holding out on them for so long.

I made each girl a little cupcake and they hesitantly dug in.  

After a couple bites, Ellie dug in and ate all the icing that she possibly could.  

She wasn't all that into the cake part, but the whole thing kept her occupied for a long time.  

Caroline, on the other hand, wasn't all that into it.  Blake and I were both really surprised because she normally attacks all of her food with both hands and shoves food in her mouth with each fist.  

I guess I'll have to remember next year to cover Caroline's cupcake in Cheerios and Peas, and then she might really go for it!  

Our next door neighbors that joined us for breakfast have a daughter, Annalee, that was also born on the 19th.  She turned 9 on this day, and so we also sang to her, had a little gift and had candles for her to blow out.  It was cute, and we think she enjoyed it too.  I asked her later if she had fun, and she said that maybe we could do this again next year and call it the "Triplet Birthday Breakfast Bash".  

How can you say no to that?

Caroline and Ellie did great the whole morning.  They seemed to just be observing all the commotion and they most certainly were not suffering from a lack of attention.  

We opened gifts out on a picnic blanket.  Our friends, the Snyders, have 4 kids, and their 2 year old, Annaka, is really into babies.  She gave Caroline and Ellie her full attention almost the whole time, and the girls loved it.  She helped us open all the gifts.  Totally adorable.  

They both sat on Rick's lap toward the end.  They love their Uncle Rick!

The whole morning, I kept thinking about the verse in Luke 2:19 after the Shepherds come to visit baby Jesus, and it says, "Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."

This is how I felt.  

I'm learning that as a Mom, there is something so sweet and special about watching other people love on your babies.  I can't believe that a whole year has gone by....a year that the Lord brought us indescribable joy through our two beautiful babies.  

Thank you Jill and Jessica for you and each of your families being wonderful friends to our family.   

What a wonderful morning celebrating Caroline Kate and Ellie Rachel turning 1 year old.

A morning that Blake and I will never forget!

Shopping, Playing, Snuggling

I am always texting Blake pictures during the day with my phone of the cute things that Caroline and Ellie are doing.

I try to get out every afternoon to do at least something, even if it's roaming the aisles of the grocery store when they only thing I need to buy is more bananas (which we do a lot!)  The girls enjoy being out, but I think I love it even more.

Here are some pics that I've sent Blake recently while we've been out running errands.  These are fun for me to look at, I can see so much of these girls personalities in these photos....

Caroline is a thumb sucker, but really loves to play with the pacifier.  When we're out, both girls usually get bored, so I give them my emergency pacifiers attached to clips that entertain them.  Ellie is not so interested in hers, but Caroline evidently likes the one that Ellie has better!

At WalMart.  Caroline looking out and observing everything,  Ellie sucking her thumb and looking at her Mommy.  This is the typical of both of them!

At Costco.  Both girls loving the samples as much as I do.  I love Costco for the double seaters.  Why don't more stores have this??  Caroline on the left, Ellie on the right.

Caroline, of course, looking out and soaking it all in.  This particular day, she was squealing at the top of her lungs the whole time we were in HEB.  This was their first time in a cart like this.  Ellie joined in later!

Caroline savoring every moment of this applesauce.  She was done with it at church about 30 minutes prior to this photo, but she just wouldn't let it go.  I let her take it home with her, and she sucked on this thing all the way home.

Caroline super content being crammed in the cart with all the groceries.  I was holding Ellie during all this.  She much prefers to just be held and suck her thumb.

Shopping at HEB.  The girls have a great time in this cart, and it makes grocery shopping so much easier for me.  We have a great time.  We always stop and talk to everyone that wants to admire the twins.  I, of course, as the proud momma, am always happy to do so!

This is the first toy Caroline looks for when she gets up in the morning.  

Caroline hanging out on Daddy.  Sucking her right thumb.  I, of course, am taking this picture while holding Ellie.

Blake and I trying to get some yard work this day while letting the girls play outside in their stroller right next to us.  Caroline did great and loved looking around, while Ellie screamed her head off until I picked her up and just snuggled with her.  Again, Ellie's preferred position.  I'm going to miss these days.  Melts my heart every time.

The girls love it when I do laps around the house dragging them in the laundry basket.  They squeal and laugh like crazy.  Ellie is in the front.

Guess who?  Ellie!  This never gets old.

When I'm not holding Ellie, I'm holding both of them.  I keep wondering what I'm going to do as these girls continue to get bigger.  The most difficult it trying to stand up while I'm holding them both.  Built in strength training!

Ellie standing up in her crib, not too happy about nap time, clutching her bunny.  She was so cute, I had to snap a picture as I walked out of the room.

I went to the mall with the girls yesterday to buy them some clothes.  They are still wearing 6 month clothes, but I don't have anything for them when the weather gets cooler.  Ellie just looked at me the whole time with this sweet little face.  

To sum up:  Ellie likes to be held...a lot, and after looking at these photos, I'm starting to feel bad about not holding Caroline as much.  I'm sure she will hang this over my head one day.

Clean-Up Crew

I call the twins my little puppies.  They follow me around as I imagine a little puppy would do.  They  are constantly holding on to my ankles and pulling up on my legs.  One baby per leg.  It's times like these that I always think, how do people with triplets do it?!?

Caroline standing up, Ellie on the ground

I think they got smart one time while clinging to my legs and realized that the cabinets open a whole new world of exploring and mess making that they hadn't yet tapped in to.

Sigh.

They had a blast licking and banging every single tupperware and lid on the floor.  Crawling around listening to the noises of everything sliding along the tile was also thrilling...and then of course, taking a break to lick the black squares on the floor.

(The black squares on the tile have the same effect of Caroline and Ellie as the squirrels did on the dogs in the movie, "Up".  Anyone know what I'm talking about here?)

Ellie licking the tile.  Those black squares can be so distracting.

The sound of our beatiful cabinets banging open and shut makes my heart beat a little faster.  Observing how the doors bounce back with a slam after they fling them open was a total mystery to them.  I'm not sure how pretty our cabinets are going to be looking in the next couple months.

Ellie

All of this was a total blast for them, which of course lasted no longer than 5 minutes.

Once the cabinets were empty, they looked at me as if to say, "What's next, Mom?"

...and off they went to unload the laundry basket, as I clean up the tornado that hit my kitchen.  I have a feeling our dishwasher will be working some major overtime!

Whenever we are out, people always stop me and ask me how it is with twins.  I always say that it is so busy, but it's so fun.

As the girls get older, I continue to stand by that.  I'm starting to get a little nervous about them walking.  They are so fast and into everything right now...I can't help but think what it's going to be like in about a month or so.

We are bracing ourselves.  In the meantime, we're enjoying these chunky legs and bellys hanging out of their tutus.