Zoo Day!

One of our favorite birthday gifts? Our zoo membership! We've already gone four times, and each time we find a new animal to observe and talk to. Last month, we took a trip to the zoo with our twin friends Foster and Jack. 

These stroller clips are the best! They link two umbrella strollers together, so the girls can be side-by-side for better animal viewing (in this photo, they're viewing a tall mammal talking loudly on his cell phone).

Monkey watching!

Foster introduces the stuffed monkey to the real monkey

We were lucky enough to get a sneak peak into the new pachyderm exhibit

What a great day with friends! It is so wonderful when the main goal of the day is to have FUN!

Hands and Feet

On Chris's birthday last month, I wanted to do something with hand and footprints for his birthday card, but wanted to do it a little differently than the usual print-in-paint, so I used our scanner. Can you guess whose are whose?

(Answer: 1. Addison, 2. Emily)

Snacktime

Snacktime happens twice a day, once after morning nap and once after afternoon nap. Sometimes our snacks are quick, small, and served on the floor, and sometimes they're big, messy, and served in high chairs. It just depends on how hungry the girls wake up, and how close to lunch or dinner it is.

Right now, Emily loves mini peanut butter sandwich crackers, and Addie loves goldfish. Neither of them will ever turn down a graham cracker, and grapes are almost always a hit (but Addie will eat more of them). They get their straw water cups at snack. Emily can suck that water down like there's no tomorrow, and will often need a refill. Addie's better about drinking milk at meals, so doesn't seem as thirsty at snacktime.

Lately, we've been having our snacks out in the front yard, where we can people watch and sit in the shade. Both girls LOVE when the kids across the street come outside, because big kids are the best. It's also a wonderful treat when someone walks by with a dog, or our neighbor's dog, Louie, comes outside.

Baby Oscar

We got to meet another little newborn friend last month, Oscar Joe. What a precious little guy!

Aunt Susan is so much fun!

Backyard Photo Shoot

What do you get when you combine a perfectly lit April evening, a bench, and two cute girls? You got it! A photoshoot!

First, let's water the yard so it starts turning green.

Then we'll eat dinner so we're happy and full. (Yes, Emily is giving the "eat" sign!)

OK, now let's stand by this bench and look cute!

An intense conversation about dandelions

Addie sets out to explore the bench

Emily does her little hip wiggling dance

Addie eats some bark....

and then makes obscene gestures when I try to take it away

Emily gives me her flirty "come get me" look
She's started understanding "chase" and loves when Chris chases her around the coffee table

Mid-photo shoot, Chris came home from work, and he got quite a warm reception

Emily is in awe of her daddy!

Another attempt at the two at the bench with Dad's help, and we have smiles!

Now let's go explore the yard

LOOK! Over there!

Thanks for visiting!

See you next time!

Post-Easter Egg Hunt

The girls got to hunt Easter eggs with their twin friends Abbie and Ian. Well, they didn't really hunt eggs as much as open the eggs we threw on the blankets. They'd all had plenty of egg practice and knew how to get to the goodies.

On our way back home, I spotted a beautiful pink tree that I just had to show Emily and Addison. I'm not sure which they loved more, the tree, the dandelions growing under the tree, or the ants climbing all over the tree.

Addie's such a hugger. She'll even hug a pair of sunglasses.

This is Emily's flirt face. It starts as a smile, then the head tilt follows.

Easter

Happy Easter!

We had a very memorable second Easter with the girls. While our trip to church was somewhat unsuccessful and Addie had a little too much to eat at lunch, we had a great time at Uncle Bob's that afternoon.

When we make it to church these days, we go to the 11:30 service. The girls have had their morning nap and the only drawback is that lunchtime occurs right in the middle of the service, but we've managed to keep them happy with snacks so far. The nice thing about Catholic churches is that there isn't a nursery, so we get to spend time together as a family. The hard thing about Catholic churches is that there isn't a nursery, so we need to attempt to entertain two toddlers while remaining stationary and trying to listen to the message. But I digress....we usually go to the 11:30 service, and planned to do so on Easter. We showed up about 10:30, nice and early to beat the "Easter and Christmas Eve" crowd, only to discover that our usual service wouldn't start until noon. Yikes! We spent some time at church, but didn't want to hoard a seat when we knew we probably wouldn't make it through the entire service, so we left before things really got started. The girls did get to see lots of big kids all dressed up for Easter, which was quite entertaining for them, and they got lots of smiles and ooos and ahhhhs over their cute little hair clips from many of the parishioners.

Back home, we Skyped briefly with Eric and Cathy while Emily and Addison had their lunch. We took their Easter dresses off to eat, but didn't bother taking out the teeny tiny little clips in their hair. Big mistake. They each started lunch with two little clips in their hair, and with all the chatting and eating, we didn't notice until it was too late that Addie only had one. Where did the other one go? We searched high and low with the sinking feeling that our little monkey, who loves to put everything she can get her hands on into her mouth, had swallowed her clip. Several panicked phone calls were made; one to the doctor's after hours line, one to Aunt Liz, and one to Uncle Mike. Everyone told us the same thing: keep looking (everywhere!) and it will turn up, not to worry. Well, it sure did turn up, two days later in her diaper!

Afternoon nap followed, and we were all ready for a little rest, and then it was off to Uncle Bob's.

Cousins! Emily's reading her book, Addie's eating her dress, and Callie's eating her "can-ny!"
 (The best shot we could get, but at least they're all in the same frame, don't know if we'll be able to do that next year.) 

Addie just wanted to walk walk walk all day on Easter

Daddy and Em

Silly Monkey!

Emily LOVED the treats she found in her eggs

Yes, that's right, Addison is walking unassisted here! Like I said, she was a walking fool on Easter!

Skirt in the bloomers...a great trick for crawlers! 

Great Grandma Nicoll with 4 of her great grandkids