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!

Teething Times Two

Need I say more? Both babies are screaming and I'm getting close to joining them. Orajel doesn't work. Motrin takes forever to kick in. Which baby with tears streaming down their cheeks and imploring looks in their eyes do I pick up to comfort? The one who's so hysterical they're choking - until the other one becomes that way, then we switch. Good times.

"Semo," I mean Sammy

Who can believe this boy is sitting up? Wasn't he just a newborn, almost unable to keep his eyes open, with the highest pitched cry I've ever heard? Now he's grown into such a big kid. He loves books and really looks at them and takes time to play with and turn the pages. His favorite toy is my pony tail and the poor guy got both of his bottom teeth on the same day last week. He is a giggle factory when his dad comes home from work and looks at him as if to say, "Come on! Do Something funny! What funny thing are you going to do next?" He is the most adorable little baby and it's absolute magic when his eyes light up.



We've started calling him "Nemo" because one of his eyes looks like it's lazy. Can you see what I mean when compared to M's eyes in this picture? His eyes never seem to be looking at the same thing. It's now known as his "lucky eye" and we're waiting for an appointment at Children's Hospital with a good ophthalmologist. Wanna know how many attempts before I spelled that correctly? It makes him even more precious to us and we hope he can fully see this beautiful world around him.



I've had the car this week (I guess it's still only Tuesday) and we went out for 1 hour yesterday. It was enough to delay the afternoon nap one hour and throw the babies into utter exhaustion. They went down for the night around 10pm and so we ate hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner at about 10:15.
My friend with 3 year old twins says the first year is pretty much spent at home, and then the whole potty training phase is pretty much at home too. I guess that gives us a one year window to paint the town red! Good thing I have two energetic helpers! We'll do a lot more exploring and they will eventually learn to nap out of their cribs.

Dancing Cheek to Cheek

Heaven, I'm in heaven . . . dancing cheek to cheek with my baby! M. loves to dance with me and he doesn't even step on my feet. I don't have a picture of us dancing as I haven't mastered the one-handed self-portrait, but I had to write about my sweet boy.

Our first dance was when he was a couple of weeks old and he would not stop crying. I took him out on our patio to look at the snow on the pine trees and feel the fresh air. I sang Anne Murray's "Can I Have This Dance For the Rest of My Life" and he calmed right down. Ever since then, he has loved dancing. He can do the box step ("Stars Fell on Alabama"), foxtrot (Love Was Meant for You and Me"), and the cha cha.

He has the softest cheeks in the entire world and, if I had the time, we would spend all day dancing cheek to cheek! Here's to my cuddly baby boy! Thank you loving to dance with me!

Meet Me in St. Louis

Last week we had quite the adventure -and a lot of fun flying to St. Louis for a family reunion. With a baby on each lap, Josh and I hoped they wouldn't cry for the entire flight, and surprise, they were angels! The flight home was a little more rocky, but they were seriously sleep deprived. They napped in the car and drank bottles while I sat between their car seats, but we did it.

Some reunion highlights were Sam's first time swimming and Michael's entertaining the entire family with his jabber and smiles. We took a historic family history tour of St. Louis, narrated by Mom and Dad, stopped at Ted Drew's, went to the zoo, and saw fireworks. Every family member was there and it was so fun to be all together! We love you family!

Now we're recovering at home. Michael has 2 new teeth and Sam is working on his first. More pictures to come once they flash those pearly whites!