Not A Care In The World

I love this video. Just watching the boys splash away without a care in the world does good things for my soul.

Morning of Play

I decided it was time for some new photos! Babies at this age are so darned hard to photograph because they don't sit still long enough! But, I did my best and here are some shots.

Tyler's new favorite game is crawling between the couch and the wall.
Zach looks less than thrilled this morning
Tyler can now climb up on pretty much anything by himself, including the couches. So here he is showing off to me that he made it up on his own.

We have a big exercise ball and Zachary loves bouncing against it

Being Thankful

Since I have started this blog, I have used it primarily as a way to show pictures and share stories of the boys growing up to all of my friends whom I don't get to see very often. Other friends of mine who have blogs write so beautifully, so passionately and emotionally, and I so admire their thoughtfulness and gift with words. Me, on the other hand, not so much. I rarely get deep into any posts. I just don't have the brain power for it anymore! Or at least I don't by the time I sit down to write on my blog!

But since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to take a minute to thank each of you. For if you are reading my blog, it is because you care about me and my family. You are a great friend and although I don't see you near enough, I appreciate you. You have all stood by me through the tough times, through the changing times, through my infertility, through my hormonal-ness (is that a word?) after the boys were born....and I thank you for it.

I have so much to be thankful for. A loving husband, 2 beautiful boys, Matthew and Kathryn, a home to raise my family in, family and friends....God is good.

Another Use for Toilet Paper

Who knew Costco toilet paper could be so entertaining?

All aboard!

My good friend Kim, whom I've known for 7 years now, is probably one of the craftiest people I know. I absolutely marvel at her abilities to make things! She is especially talented with wood. She made the boys the most beautiful wooden bears before they were born! And today the boys got quite a surprise in the mail: a package! And inside were two of the neatest toys I have ever seen. Animal trains that Kim made! Here is one of the trains:

The boys love them! They carried them and rolled them around all evening! While I was giving Tyler a bath tonight, I noticed that he had red marks on the back of his neck. Upon closer examination, I realized that they were rope burns from where he had carried the train around tonight dangled over his shoulders, causing the rope to rub on his neck. I think he loves the train!

I took these photos after I put the boys in their cribs and took the trains away from them for the night. I decided that the trains will go in the window sill at night and then down for play during the day. They match the woodwork in their room perfectly also!
Kim is a twin herself. She and Zach are the 'Twin B's' and I'm sure will have that special 'B' bond. Thank you Kim for such a wonderful gift!

John Deere Day

Diaper Dilemma

Today was Grandpa Miles' birthday! He returned from hunting today so we had him and Grandma over for dinner. Happy birthday Grandpa Miles! Above is a photo of grandpa half asleep in the chair after a long week of hunting, while Tyler plays with his presents.

Here are a couple more photos. Tonight Zachary wanted dad's water from the grown-up cup! I wish I had taken an after photo. Zach did get dad's water....all over his shirt! He was drenched afterwards!

Here is Tyler in the yellow blankie that has helped in the cause of so many bruises to his face.

And here is my diaper dilemma story. So, we're in the boys' room and I'm changing Zach to get him ready for bed. Tyler is playing in the room. Zachary has a nasty poopy diaper, which I am in the middle of changing. As I'm changing it, Tyler decides that this would be the perfect time to destroy his room! He literally pulls about 50 diapers out and proceeds to decorate the carpet. So what do I do? Do I leave the child with the poopy diaper and butt to stop the child trashing the room, knowing that if I do this, the poopy butt child will run around the room causing more chaos while I stop the other child? This is a daily dilemma for me having two little ones. I swear its like they plan all day long how to make messes when mom is tied up with the other child. I know I will offend all of you with singletons, but, my gosh, it is at times like these that I think having one child at a time would be SO EASY! (Yes, I know it's not really easy with one but with having two, it just seems like one would be a breeze). So here's some photos once I got the poopy child changed and grabbed the camera:

Tyler loves his mess

Yes, that is a diaper on his head

He is so proud of himself

I think Zach is just annoyed with the mess

But the good news is that he then decided that all of the diapers should go back in the diaper holder so here he is trying to clean up

Someone call Child Welfare!

I think someone is going to call Child Welfare and report me as an abusive mother. My children are covered in bruises!

Tyler has decided that the greatest game ever is to take his coveted yellow blankie and put it over his head so he looks like a ghost and run around the house, laughing the whole way. He absolutely loves it! Until he runs into things with his face, that is. I think he's managed to collide with every edge of every coffee table we own. His face is literally covered with bruises.

And Zachary: the poor kid sometimes lacks coordination and balance! He just gets going too fast and gets ahead of himself. Like just 5 minutes ago, he makes it almost all the way down the stairs, and when he saw the bottom, he just decided he was close enough, and missed the last step and had a run-in with the wall using his head.

So, I think someone will probably call me in here in the near future. Lucky for me I can at least say that they beat on each other instead of me doing it. ; )

Always into things

Tyler is my trouble-maker. He is very mischievous and is always into things. He's also figured out how to find something, mess around with it, wait until he gets his brother interested in it, and then manages to walk away before mommy catches them so Zachary always looks like the guilty party. I have a feeling this little man is gonna give me lots of headaches.

Today I was going through clothes that I had tucked away for winter in the boys' dresser. I had emptied out the side drawer and look who managed to take advantage of the situation:

He thought it was pretty fun to open, close, open, close the door until mom finally decided that she needed the space back.

'Let me in' says Tigger

We had a wonderful Halloween. The boys are just at that perfect age to have so much fun this holiday season. When Tyler was only a few months old, all he wanted to do was bounce, so of course we had to get him a Tigger costume. And Zach ended up as a dinosaur. There's no real reason behind that one other than that he looks good in green and the costume was so darned cute!

After dropping Kathryn at school in her witch costume, we took the boys down to my work and showed them off in their costumes. Then we got to go to a toddler party at our friends Jay and Kelli's house. Let me tell ya, that was so fun! The kids were just adorable. Then it was off to do some trick-or-treating. I thought the boys might not like it, but boy was I wrong! They loved it! In fact, Tyler kept trying to go into peoples' houses! We'd set him down halfway up the driveway and he'd take off running for the front door. He'd climb up the steps and as soon as the people opened the door, he'd try to walk right in! Zach didn't try to enter any houses, but he sure did great standing there at the doorway looking cute!

Here's some photos of our day:

Zachary eyeballing the football
Tyler found our pumpkins

And they were just his size!

So he carried them around for about an hour.

Zach's costume was so cute that I had to get photos from several angles.

See the little tail?

Gearing up for trick-or-treating with Grandma and Mom