Even more adorable pictures

I guess they miss sleeping close together. . .

After the twins had been in bed and quite for a while, Todd and I went in to check on them (really just to look and marvel at them). This is what we found.



Now for the close up:


This is the first time that we have seen them do this.

Update

Over the Christmas holidays the kids figured out how to escape their play pens and then when we returned home they started trying to escape from their cribs. So, right before New Years, we pulled down the toddler beds and things have been rather crazy but awesome!

Now that they have all this freedom, they have destroyed their room several times. We have had to move their bookshelf into to the hall, tape up their dresser and put pretty much everything else in the closet or in the guest room. Their room was once fun and very cute, but now is BORING! Despite all of this, Todd and I have had so much fun listening to them on the monitor during nap time and at night.

To go along with that last sentence, Dylan and Kiera are talking so much. Here are some fun stories about our conversations.

1. After being in their big kid beds for almost a week they discovered how to open their door and ESCAPE! We could hear them on the monitor whispering to each other, "Sister (or brother) open door!" After 2 hours of leading them back to their bed we decided to 'lock' them into their room with a child gate so that they cannot open the door. Now don't worry, this contraption is removed every night before we go to bed. Now when Dylan was not able to open the door he yelled very clearly and for the first time "Daddy, are you ok?" When Todd answered yes, he tried the door again then "Mama, are you ok?". I answered yes, this went on for about 30 minutes until they both finally passed out.

2. Trying to get the kids to ask for something politely is something that we work on all the time. One day while we were all in the car, Dylan asked (yelled out) for something. Todd asked him to say 'please', so Dylan said 'please'. Todd then asked him to say the whole thing, so Dylan said "Whole thing". After laughing for quite sometime, I think we finally were able to give Dylan what he asked for.

3. Tonight was the first time that the kids said "I love you" without cueing from us. Dylan was in Todd's lap and said "I love you, Daddy", "I love you, Mama" then the best part he then said "I love you, chocolate milk!"

I doubt that all of you reading this enjoyed our stories as much as we did but I had to share. These two keep us laughing all day long. I love being their Mama!

Santa Pictures

We ventured out to the mall for our annual Santa picture. The did well as always. Dylan was a bit nervous around Santa but he did ok as long as he had his football (such a boy).

O Great Pumpkins

Here are some pics from our annual Owen's Farm pumpkin patch trip. As always the twins loved it and even more this year since they now LOVE pumpkins. After picking all our pumpkins the twins painted their own pumpkins. Todd and I were rather adventurous and carved 4 pumpkins this year.

"I want this one Mama!"

My little flowers.

Best buds

This was one lazy little lamb, he is lying in the feeding trough.

How cute are we?!?!?! Especially my hubby.



Painting pumpkins

Kiera is our own little Jackson Pollock

Yummy!!

Maddy's pumpkins

Todd's pumpkins

Birthday Party!

The kids b-day was on Friday this year and their party was scheduled for Saturday. On their birthday Todd and I woke them up and gave them their presents, which they absolutely loved. We got them each a toddler music recorder and a travel doodle board. Then we proceeded to send them away to our WONDERFUL friend Jessica so that we could do all the cleaning that is not possible with them running around. Yes, we sent them away on their bithday, are we horrible or what? Well thanks to Jessica, we were able to get the house ready for the party the next day.

Morning of September 25th

For the party we borrowed a friend's bounce house, which everyone loved. Thank you Heather. The bounce house was the hit of the party. We had adults and kids all over the house and the backyard, about 40 people. The best part of the party was the fact that there was no crying from either Dylan or Kiera. They had a blast. After the party the twins passed out for over 4 hours and Todd and I were also able to get a nap. It was a GREAT party.

Helping each other up the ramp.

party favor bags

My favorite picture!

2nd Birthday

As many of you know the twins turned 2 years old at the end of September. I cannot believe they are already 2! I have not forgotten to blog about it, I just havent finished getting all the pictures together, there were MANY pictures. I promise, we will post about the party soon.

Mini-van Drama

In May we bought a wonderful 2008 Toyota Sienna mini-van. It was awesome! It had 8 leather seats with the front seats having 'bun warmers'. It is/was the perfect mom-mobile. Here are some pictures of it right after we got it.

While driving home, I was rear-ended. We were in the middle of traffic so speeds were not high, but I was hit at just the right spot so that the rear axel was damaged. Our insurance has 'totalled' the mini-van and now our insurance is working with the other insurance to figure out a settlement so we can get another mini-van. Yes, for anyone asking, I want another one just like this one. I don't know if I will be able to get the same color but I am looking! Here are some pictures of my wonderful car after the accident. So sad!

Hanging out with our new friend!

In August our friend Melissa and her new little man, Buddy, came to visit us. The twins weren't really sure what to make of him but Kiera's mothering nature kicked in whenever Buddy cried or his pacifier fell out.

Finally got that pacifier in.

Here are pictures to prove that Dylan and Kiera can play very well together.