A Father's Day Surprise

Blake has wonderful memories of growing up with a hammock in his backyard.  

Since we've been working on our backyard for the past several months now, he's been talking about how fun it would be if we got one for our yard.  

We have the perfect tree in the perfect spot for one of these netted family swings, and so for Father's Day, Blake's mom, Sharlene, and I surprised him with one.

He loved it only after he spent some time in the hot humidity hanging it up himself.  But once it was up, it was a total winner.

...and the girls totally loved it.

Now, instead of Dad being their own personal jungle gym, they now have one on a huge swing!

I even thought we'd try to get a little family photo enjoying the momentous gift together since we had Sharlene there to snap a picture for me.

...and for the record...Pinterest lies.  How they get those adorable family photos where everyone is looking at the camera and looks natural and happy....whatever.

This was how most of our pictures turned out.....

 We did manage to a couple that were a little better...

 Happy Father's Day Blake.  I love you like crazy and I couldn't dream of a better Dad for our girls than you.

Missing Daddy

Blake is out of town this week on a business trip...you know, slaving away and working long hours on the golf course.

We're having fun just us girls.  My mom taught them last week to how pretend drink out of their toy tea cups and we've been playing it over and over.

Caroline looking at her Daddy

It's the cutest thing, but it will even be more fun when Daddy's here to play with them.

Meanwhile this week, the girls took 2-3/4 steps!  Ellie took two full ones and Caroline took about 3/4 of one!  I expect them to be running by the time Blake gets home tomorrow!

Can't wait for you to get home, Blake!  All 3 of your ladies miss you!

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!

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.