When we went on Vacation

So back in May a certain special cousin of mine graduated from High School. We loaded up the boys for their first real vacation. Traveling to southern Georgia we assumed that as in years past it would be hot and humid and we would have the opportunity to play in the pool and get out and see some sights. Instead it rained. The entire time. It was so fun though to see family that doesn't live close by and being able to share in such a special time with Joanna.




Joanna has a special bond with my boys. She was here last summer when they were born and saw them for the first time when they were just a few hours old. She spent nights at our house and logged MANY hours the first couple of weeks giving us lots of help with our 2 tiny babies.



I know that she and the boys will always have a special relationship because of this. She even got up super early during her summer vacation while we were there, just so she could sit with the boys.


It is always exciting when we travel with family. In addition to Matt, myself and the boys we rode in the car with my mom and dad. My Uncle Rick and cousin Charles drove down with my Aunt Susan. My Grandma and my mom's cousin Kathy flew. My Uncle Gil and Aunt Teresa live in Georgia and so do my cousin Cara and her family and cousin Nicole and her family. We stayed with Aunt Julie, Uncle Jerry and Joanna, Josh and Jordan. All in all there were a bunch of us there and it wasn't even half of my extended family.


We had a ton of fun and the boys really enjoyed playing with everyone. Josh introduced all of us to the joys of playing Rock Band and Matt and Charles went for an extended ride in the countryside with Josh as a guide.


I think James favorite part of vacation was the ice cream he had at the Calico Cat.

More Fun from the Weekend

So thank you to my observant Aunt that noticed James has a bright red ear in his photos in my last post. It is because of our good friend the mosquito. Apparently James has the same reaction to their bites as I do, meaning they get super red, raised the size of quarters and itch! I think that is part of the reason why he didn't want to wear clothes all weekend is because he had about 4 bites and they all itched.

I also wanted to show all of you exactly what my house looks like after the twinados are done playing at the end of the day. Since we don't have a ton of room for storage of toys we do toy rotation. Some toys rotate in and out of the toybox so that we don't have so many out all at one time and I have to keep on top of moving things they don't play with to the storage area in tha garage or they would take over our house!

In the morning the toys that don't live in the toybox are all neatly organized on one side of the living room.

Notice how he looks like he is thinking about getting into trouble.

By the time they are ready for their morning nap they have only had about an hour and a half of playtime to mess things up so they aren't quite so bad yet. Notice that even though a lot of things haven't moved, they are now open or taken apart and there are little pieces everywhere. Thank you Grandpa and Sheryl for the gears, they feel great when big people step on them. Thank you Great Grandma Sally, Amy and Grandpa and Sheryl for the blocks......they also hurt when big people step on them and thank you to the Bauer family for the little people farm......there is nothing like trying to get to the kitchen in the morning and stepping on a little people farmer and his horse to make you say "OW" They love all those little things and they get strewn everywhere.



By the end of the day, the boys are tired and the mess has spread. James was so tired by the end of the afternoon that he just laid down in the middle of it all to take a 10 minute nap while his brother happily banged the floor with a plastic phone. I have no idea how he slept hanging onto a boat and listening to his brother bang.


But the worst is when we get out the tunnel to play with. They boys like it, but it takes up a ton of room when opened and just becomes another place for toys to get shoved into. Jack sometimes has trouble crawling through it because there are already toys in it or he is bringing more with him.


But I guess as long as they like playing together with their toys more than watching tv, I'm okay with the messes they make for now. I'm sure it will just get worse the bigger they get.

Busy Weekend

So we didn't do a whole lot this weekend except play around the house. I am always amazed that the boys can entertain themselves so well. I am also continuously amazed at how much they always want to be by each other.

When crawling all over Daddy

When playing with the ride on lion

When they are sleepy

when they are exploring

and when they are relaxing

I also learned that their favorite ride on lion can be used for much more than riding.....like climbing over gates, as an easy way to get on the couch or as a seat to relax on




Since the lion plays music, Jack thinks it is great for his dance moves




And James has learned the fine art of cleaning himself up after lunch, as long as he's in only a diaper

Happy Friday!!

I love those days at work where nothing is going right, but thank goodness it's Friday so I can leave early!!

This morning when I dropped the boys off at daycare the kittens were being quite wild. Running around and playing with each other like only kittens can do. I was glad I took a few extra minutes to go in this morning because I got to see how NICE James was with the kitties. He was so gentle touching their heads and the one kitten crawled in between him and I and curled right up like it could stay there forever. Matt will never let me bring a kitten home and I think Pudge would hate me forever, but it was so precious!

Poor Pudge never gets to just relax like this anymore. He is always having to run and hide from babies when they are home and I can't imagine he would do well with a kitten. But oh they are so cute and she only has one more that needs a home. But Matt will never let us do it right now. Even if he saw how much the last kitty left and James have become such good buddies. Maybe next year.....or maybe a dog......

I recently re-discovered why I LOVE the Binder Park Zoo. We used to go quite a bit when I was a kid since it was so close to my aunt and uncles house. So 2 weekends ago when it was super nice out and Matt and I were deciding what to do with the boys for the day (especially since staying in the house was NOT an option) we picked the zoo. After a few phone calls to the grandparents and my family who still live near the zoo we were set. Off we went, packed into the van with my parents and anticipating a day of fun. After meeting up with Uncle Mark, Aunt Marilyn and our personal zoo tour guide Jessica (aka my cousin) we first had a great picnic lunch. Much like the ones I remember sharing with my grandparents as a kid and I'm so glad we are creating those moments for our boys. Once our lunch was finished we loaded the boys into the stroller and headed into the zoo.


One of the reasons that I love the Binder Park Zoo is that it is mostly in the shade. They have worked really hard to blend into the existing landscape which means there are lots of trees for shade, especially in the Africa area. Which is where the boys got to "feed" the giraffes with Grandpa.


They seemed to enjoy it even though they were getting super tired by the end of the day. It was neat though. In addition to the giraffes, we saw zebra, african wild dogs, snow leopards, monkeys and wolves. We had an enjoyable day and I can't wait to take the boys back when they are a little older. I'm sure they'll enjoy it more once they can actually walk around and try to touch everything......and eat their own ice cream cone.

James with Grandpa

Jack with Jessica

Adventures at the Park

So a few weekends ago we took the boys to the park for the first time ever. It was a nice day and since the boys were going stir crazy in the house (or was that the parents?) we had to get out. We loaded them up and off we went. We had never been to the park in town before and we were pleased to discover that our tax dollars are paying for a pretty nice set-up. I was glad that there were 2 baby swings and this is where we started.

The boys really enjoyed swinging and were thrilled to stare at the ground. I'm not sure what was so fascinating about it but they wouldn't even look up for a picture.



After swinging for awhile we decided that they should try to experience the rest of the play things at the park as well. We made our way over to the play structure which James hated and Jack loved. I think James didn't like the idea of being very high off the ground. Jack on the other hand wanted to climb all over it like a little monkey! After a short amount of time on the structure we made our way over to the sandbox. We were feeling brave I guess. The boys weren't quite sure what to do at first and were really apprehensive about touching the sand. It took them awhile to warm up to it, but once they realized that they could make a mess they were happy to play. There were some toys that were already there and the boys quickly got the hang of flinging sand. I'm glad we were the only ones there because I'm sure it would have been an issue if there were other kids around. All in all we had a good day and I think this will be added to our rotation of stuff for the boys to do on the weekends.



Mostly I was impressed that I got them to keep their shoes on until we were in the sandbox....

Bedtime Antics

So those of you who know us, know that the boys sleep fairly well at night. But now we're having problems. For the last few nights one or the other of them tries to keep their brother awake. Last night Jack kept throwing his penguin into his brothers crib to keep him awake. This would have been fine except Jack would scream since his beloved penguin was now residing with his brother. Mommy came to the rescue 3 times before she came up with the brilliant idea to put them both into the same crib. The boys were happy. They laid down and were babbling happily at each other and I had great visions of them drifting off into dreamland.




A bit later I realized it was quiet and I decided to peek my head in to see if everything was okay. As soon as I looked through the crack in the door I could see that they were both sitting up in the crib. Jack was playing with a cup. I started wondering where on earth did he get this cup. I took a step into the room and realized right away that someone needed a diaper change. As I stepped over to the crib to see who was the culprit, I realized that they were playing with a diaper. I flipped the lights on and quickly realized that they were in deep sh**......literally. They had somehow managed (FROM THE CRIB!!!!!) to get the lid off the trash can and pull out dirty diapers and an empty McDonald's cup. They had manged to get the diapers apart and were now playing with the contents in their crib, 2 hours past their bedtime. I was livid......and they could tell because as soon as they saw me, they both laid right down to pretend they were sleeping. Thank goodness it was only in the one crib. They both went into Jack's crib while I cleaned up the mess. But what a surprise, they went right to sleep after that. If only it didn't take a night of playing in poop to get them to sleep.

The Newest Adventure

I'm not sure anyone who knows me ever would have thought I'd become addicted to blogs. I have the ones I NEED to read every day to see what is going on with people I've never met. I need to read about the crazy lives of other moms of multiples to realize that I'm not crazy and that yes all multiples do these wild things! Sometimes I feel like even though I don't know these other families in real life, knowing them through their blogs help me stay sane.

So now I need my own blog. I need a place to record all the crazy things my boys are doing, or I'll never remember it all. Who has time to do a baby book when you have 2 babies?!?! I actually did pretty good for the first couple months when I wasn't working and they slept a ton. Now that they're one, I can't tell you what day they said their first word or when they are doing something new and exciting. So at least here I'll have a place to put down all so I can remember what we're going through on a day to day basis. My family who doesn't live close will get to see what the boys are doing without having to hound me for pictures. And after their antics last night I have a great first story to share.