Fall, the most wonderful time of the year!

My favorite season is upon us, and I get to enjoy it for the first time in 7 long years!!!  Three years I spent clawing at the 1-2 week season in North Dakota, aka the frozen tundra, where darkness consumed our "day" falling at an abnormally early time and lasting long into the morning hours.  I love the winter, but not three out of four seasons.  We needed our mental and physical bodies to thaw, and so we journeyed to the south, and the Texas heat was brutal.  Autumn passed so swiftly in San Antonio, then it was back to air conditioning or laying poolside.

I'm going to gorge as much Fall as possible this year.  The smell of the air brings a sense of peace to my life, which seems hard to come by these days.  The boys and I have been picnic lunching almost every afternoon, the windows are open, we've pulled out our cool weather wardrobe and I even bought the boys snowsuits.  They cracked up when I dressed them head to toe to check sizing.  Stay puff marshmallow toddlers are hilarious!

We enjoyed a delicious Sunday walk in the park last weekend.  This is a favorite childhood memory for my siblings and I.  A special time for our family to connect with each other and nature.  I plan on continuing this tradition with Kaleb and Aiden hoping they'll love it as much as I still do!  Passing things down to your own children is truly a fine concept.  I dug around in our attic and came across the brio train set my sisters and I would spend countless hours creating.  We'd have long elaborate stories and tales of the passengers.  The set contains so much the boys aren't ready to play with yet, but they'll have a blast with the drawbridges, train stop benches and overpasses one day too.

Then, today the boys had their first Ohio zoo adventure.  Their reactions to the animals at this age, compared to our zoo visit in San Antonio 7 months ago, was impressive.  They were able to point and tell me what some animals were and cried leaving each exhibit.  We'll have to look into a season pass for next year!  Plus I want to keep my eye on those baby giraffes we saw today!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and happy Fall.

Weekend Adventures

I've been really behind uploading weekend adventure pictures, so tonight I'm playing catch-up.  Most weekends we bounce between Pittsburgh and Ohio visiting friends and family.  We've been having so much fun it's really hard to say what the boys favorite weekend activity has been!  Swimming always thrills Aiden and Aunt Nan taught him how to blow bubbles.  Kaleb is always so happy driving his truck around and gives pretty awesome smiles for the camera now!

We've been to Twinsburg for TwinFest2014, which was pretty surreal.  I'd like to take the boys back each year.  Eventually they'll be old enough to meet new twin friends and participate in the twin studies inside the research tents.  We got a bit more attention at the festival than I expected, since most of the visitors are twins themselves, but every comment was kind-hearted and polite, which was a wonderful experience for myself!

Earlier this summer Jammin and Aiden had a blast washing the car together and Keith and I took the boys to the Randolph Fair in Ohio.  The boys got a kick out of seeing all the animals.  We pet ducks, bunnies, horses, goats and sheep.  Everyone enjoyed a ride on the merry-go-round (probably the boys favorite part) and got to see some BIG tractors up-close!

My sister Rachael had us over for a pool/pizza party, the boys got musical on a piano and we had a nice picnic in the square where our favorite farmers market takes place.  The same square had a September 11 memorial set up with a large flag display.  Watching the boys squeal with happiness and burst with excitement fills my, and others hearts with pure joy, especially on a day full of such heartache.  It's pretty wonderful to experience life though a toddlers eyes!

This weekend Keith and I spent our first night together away from the babies.  This was my first night ever away from them, and it was surprisingly easy-peasy.  I put the kids to bed and was back the next morning after breakfast.  Big thanks to Mama Rickel for stepping in to babysit, and to Timmy who got us out for a fun bday celebration!  It's fun staying up till 3am when you aren't wrestling fussy/crying babies.  Last thanks to Meg for having us come by the Fall kick-off today!  Aiden was hilarious dive bombing that giant football and I can't stop laughing at Kaleb racing Megan!  Hope everyone is enjoying their September!

Labor of Love

Almost an entire month has passed without a post.  Sorry for the delay.  Things have been busy and Keith was away for a couple weeks, with the computer.  Every weekend we've been on the go-go-go, and I'll get some past weekend photos up soon.  For now I wanted to share our Labor Day weekend.

Great Grandma Muriel looking simply beautiful

My big sister and the twin cousins were in town so it was an extra exciting weekend!  We ate the best donuts in the whole wide world, visited with gobs of family, picked tons of tomatoes from my Dad's garden, took the babies to the mall on a rainy day and had a nice visit with our Grandparents at their home.  The kids got a kick out of feeding the fish and new toys their GG had ready for play.

Lucie June, the professional relaxer

Chloe and Sophie, the best, most fun big cousins to the "quads"

Love this photo.  Reminds me of Raffi's "down by the bay"

Aiden, Mr. Impatient, needed into that fish food!

Thanks everyone for a great visit and Happy September!