Happy Birthday Daddy

It was recently Daddy's birthday and let me tell you birthdays are a hundred times better with kids in the house. Maybe it's because I was home instead of working and I got to do more or maybe I was just excited to celebrate with the babies but it was the most fun birthday we've had at our house to date.We started the day with waffles that the boys were able to eat with us. Daddy had the special birthday plate and was able to play for a few minutes before dashing off to work. Later, my friend came over and asked me if I wanted to go out to lunch. Five second consideration - YES! She helped me feed the boys and made it so much easier to get them in and out of their stroller and car seats. She even played peek-a-boo with them at the lunch table and kept them entertained. We went to Marshall's which is my new favorite store and got some presents and 10 things I hadn't planned on buying but needed.

The boys took 2 hour naps that afternoon and I was able to wrap all of the presents and make the chocolate cream pie. When Daddy came home - early! - we had shredded beef tacos which had been quietly cooking away in the crock pot all day. The boys were so confused when I turned out the lights to bring in the pie with candles on it. They clapped when I sang Happy Birthday and laughed when Daddy blew out the candles. I gave them little tastes of the pie. Sam kind of threw up his bites. I guess that's why we're supposed to wait until after 1 year to introduce chocolate and milk. Hope he's not allergic.

We gave the boys baths and put them to bed, then watched "Transformers" which we missed when it was in the theaters. Save yourself $5 and 2 hours and skip it unless you were a huge fan as a kid. We skipped a lot of scenes to get to the end, but it was a good excuse to sit on the couch and eat popcorn.

The whole day was made sweeter because I knew the babies would be there for the party and because Josh has been working such long hours and was recently out of town for a few days and was sorely missed.

He received phone calls from all of his siblings and cards from most of mine. Thank you to everyone who made it such a great birthday!

Happy birthday Daddy! Next birthday is the boys'!

Adventures in Laundry

After doing all of the laundry the other day, I found this pea in my washing machine. I have so many questions. How long had it been sitting in the laundry pile? How long was someone wearing it in their clothes without knowing it? Is it clean enough to eat now that it's been through the laundry? How did it remain intact? It's not even wrinkled! Now that the boys are feeding themselves more and more, do they sell garbage disposals for washing machines?

A Weekend

Every weekend I need rescuing from the fictional reality my brain creates while taking care of the boys all week long. My great husband always promises he will "cure" me each weekend, and he always does.

Friday night we watched some back episodes of "The Office" and "Hero's" which are now free! I only wish we could have saved our money on all of the "Lost" episodes we downloaded last winter.

Saturday morning started with the first family fort. Sam is crawling all over the world and climbing onto and over anything he comes across. They spent the morning playing in the fort and knocking down Dad's towers, like this one.


Then I got to go to the Relief Society Super Craft Saturday where I did not do any crafts but got to talk for a while. My pre-paid craft projects are now sitting on a closet shelf. I hope I will not only have the time to do them, but that I'll be able to figure out how to do them with no instruction!

After that, I got to go to Target all by myself. I bought the boys their Halloween costumes and their first official "Church Clothes" hanging on the armoire in this picture. Sam is our little monkey - the climbing - and the sounds he makes. He wasn't sure he liked the costume but Michael got the giggles seeing him in it!


Michael is so in love with his bath-time ducks we thought he'd like being a duck and he does! He laughed seeing himself in the mirror. They are so squishy and snuggely in these outfits! We will have a ward Halloween party and I will try to take them to the parade at my niece's school before doing some real trick or treating early on Halloween. We can't wait.

Saturday afternoon we went to a nature preserve and let the boys play with leaves and help us throw rocks in a stream with no buildings in site. I went to the grocery store at 10pm last night and got everything we'll need for the next week - using a shopping cart instead of putting what I can hold into the stroller. At church today the boys wore their new clothes - their first button-down shirts - for the first time. They looked like little men. Sam was so entertaining in Sunday School that half the classroom was looking at him instead of paying attention to the teacher so we had to take him out. Michael is teething, I think, and was a little warm so we took him home before the last hour. During dinner, Michael sang along with Josh to some hymns and we took this picture of them in the bath tub. We had black beans and rice and quesadillas for dinner and I didn't have to do a single dish.


I took 2 hour naps Saturday and Sunday. I didn't make a single bottle of formula all weekend. I got to update this blog. I hardly did the dishes all weekend and I got the precious gift of the weekday fog lifting so I can see my family as it the priceless treasure it really is. Thank you for a great weekend, hubby!

My Favorite Picture

That is a Cheerio stuck right into his chin dimple. Prize winning photo, don't you think? He should be the Cheerio's poster child.

My Pumpkins

My Pumpkins!

On Thursday we made a trip to pick apples. This was a dream come true. A real mother-child outing and I was so happy! We went with my neighbor and her daughter. It took a lot of planning and a lot of work, but it was so exciting!

The drive to the farm was beautiful and we felt like we were on a real get away from the city. The leaves are changing and the babies enjoyed looking out the windows at the new scenery.

We ate our lunch on a quilt by a duck pond. Not one of those ponds more full of bread crumbs than ducks, one actually clean and clear with 4 white ducks swimming around and delighting us all by poking their heads into the water and their feet into the air.
The apple orchard was fragrant with the smell of the fallen apples and there were butterflies and bees. Sam couldn't stop trying to touch everything in sight. He really loves being outside and was content the rest of the day. It seemed to be as relaxing for him as for us moms!
Michael looked so cute with the pumpkins. We've always said he reminds us of Charlie Brown sometimes and I wished I had him in a yellow shirt to make this into a "Great Pumpkin" picture. He was a little sleepy and may have inherited his dad general allergy to the outdoors. He is as sweet as he looks in this picture. Truly, there could not be a more loving baby.

I haven't made any pies yet, but we did enjoy the apple cider I bought and I made the boys some quick applesauce that night which they loved.

The Homeland

Getting all of that saved up love from Granny and Pepaw!

We had our annual pilgrimage to Salt Lake in late August and had a wonderful trip. Despite the fact that neither one of us grew up in Utah, we feel uncomfortable if we don't get to say we're going to Utah each summer with the rest of our ward. Actually, we took the boys to see their great grandparents and some aunts and uncles. It was amazing! We loved being able to hold the babies one at a time for a large time bloc on the plane. Seriously, it's not something we get to do very often. They were very good and Dad had a great time looking out the window with them as the plane took off and landed. Everyone was very friendly and helpful and we arrived only slightly exhausted.











We had an exciting time with their cousin - one week younger than S and M. They were so cute playing together and were quite the scene all lined up eating baby food at the restaurant. We can't wait to get them together again!


Michael got his first kiss from his Aunt K and fell head over heels.

He also fell in love with his great-grandpa C and couldn't take his eyes off of him. We stayed with Aunt M and Uncle E who were so generous to us and who they boys loved playing with. They explored their place with new interest each morning.

The boys could sense we were doing something special and as their minds expanded with the new experience they started babbling , Sam started crawling, and they got new teeth. They were good sports with our busy schedule of waking up in a different place every time they napped (granted, that wasn't very often) and they didn't even get sick when we got home. I could not believe that. We then finished packing our apartment and moved into a 2-bedroom apartment 2 days after our return. After they figured out that this apartment is their new home and they will not be dragged around anymore (except to Grandma's house) they settled into a new routine and gave up their 3rd nap. We're officially on a 9am and 1pm nap schedule and life is good.

Summertime

For a month I've felt bad that my current post was "The Scream." It turns out the boys had terrible sore throats which turned into terrible colds. Teething, on the other hand, isn't so bad. Between the two of them they now boast 10 teeth.

On a more positive note, after we recovered from the 2 week cold and restocked all of the boxes of kleenex in the house, we've had a lot of fun. Here are some of the highlights.


Sam likes to ride around the house in his backpack and do chores with me instead of taking his late afternoon nap. He loves to pull my hair and steal the phone from me but he is a very good listener! In this picture he's saying "Giddyup, Mom!"
Here are some pictures our our first family picnic. Mom and Dad didn't have time to eat anything and the babies' menu was oatmeal, applesauce and sweet potatoes.



Here my friend and I are still alive after kayaking on the Potomac. Supposedly downstream was going to be easier than up, but the current was so strong it pulled us in all the wrong directions. We finally figured out how to go in a straight line and made it back to the dock!

Life is good. The boys are sweet. I love my husband and summertime!