Green Thumb

I'm nothing like my mother, who creates and builds the most beautiful gardens you could imagine.  If she lived at a lower altitude, with more than one warm weather season, Claude Monet would ask to paint at her home.  But, those cards can't be dealt and...I try.

The first day of Spring the boys and I picked up some fresh planters and got to work.  We filled some empty pots I had around the house, a couple baskets and put a ton in our front yard bed.  Aiden is beyond obsessed with…the hose…so he's in charge of watering!

Aside from planting and eating dirt the boys had their 15 month check-up.  Kaleb weighs 20 pounds 1 ounce and measure 30 1/4 inches tall.  He is absolutely on track with talking.  Currently he says Mama, Dada, Kaka ("potty" mouth), Kitty, Boom, Doggie, Turtle, Cow and signs Milk.  Yodeling is still Kman's choice communication.

Aiden weighs 21 pounds 14 ounces and measures 30 3/4 inches tall.  He says Mama, Dada and Kaka.  Yesterday Aiden started what sounds exactly like barking…..but tonight during dinner I realized he is actually meowing.  I think.  The cat meows…he barks.  Funny!

Both boys can identity nose and eyes, window, door, painting, flowers, light, fan, smoke detector…..They eat with forks, point to things they want, understand gobs of phrases (like: lets go brush our teeth, time for breakfast, lets go upstairs) and LOVE reading stories!  They also roar like lions and go ooo-ooo for an owl.

Shenanigans

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The boys and I had a really fun day and they pulled a few shenanigans that got the better of me….

It all started before breakfast.  Kaleb and I were building a tower with stacking cups, and I thought Aiden was playing in his room…which he often does if he manages to reach through the crib bars to grab his elephant or binkie.  I heard a weird noise a few times in a row so went to investigate.  Ummm, yeah.  Aiden 1 Mama 0….

I called Keith upstairs to take a look and when he asked Aiden "what did you do?" the kid let the waterworks roll, hahaha.  I thought it was hilarious to begin with, but that just made me laugh harder.

Breakfast was entertaining with green waffles, lucky charms and a fruit rainbow!  On the way to the table Kaleb also said good morning to our house guest by saying, very clearly, "doggie!"  It was adorable.

We spent the rest of the morning making lucky charm/rice krispie treats and cupcakes.  The boys are very good at helping me in the kitchen.  Aiden can reach all the stove knobs and happily turns up the fire…yikes.  I'm learning everyday Aiden requires constant supervision and Kaleb is not far behind.  He is learning to climb on everything too.  Kaleb 1 Mama 0…

We took our morning walk to deliver treats to neighborhood friends, and on the way home the boys ditched their new green light-up spike balls.  I didn't realize until we were already home or where they could be for that matter.  BUT, immediately spotted one at the end of the street and ran to grab it…..the next one was another block up….Twins 2 Mama 0.

Despite the shenanigans it was a fun day, and the boys actually went past the icing for a change and ate some cake.  Hope you didn't get pinched today!

Spring Forward

The boys first visit to a Museum

Daylight savings time….shutter...Fall back was very hard on us and things went bazerk for a solid week, then we all started sleeping and breathing again.  I was determined to conquer Spring forward and so far so good :)

Thanks to the help of my sister, wise advice from Dr. Weissbluth (author of healthy sleep habits, happy child) and great feedback from my multiples group, I was prepared to change everything….

We're still adjusting but things are going extremely well.  We've transitioned to ONE afternoon nap a day leaving TONS OF PLAYTIME!  Holy cow we are wild over here.  It's pretty awesome having more time to build castles, read books and focus on puzzles.  We also have plenty of extra time to run errands and visit the playground in the mornings or afternoon, or both.

Most epic play date ever with my multiples group.  3 sets of triplets and 11 sets of twins!  Kaleb in front with yellow shirt and Aiden off to the left with grey hoodie.

We have some fun upcoming morning dates to visit a farmers market and library story/activity time.  St. Patty's day cupcakes are on the menu too.  Until then Kaleb asks me to wash the windows every day and Aiden is climbing UP on EVERYTHING!!

Company and Thirty

Thought it'd be nice to share some photos from when my Dad came to visit!!!  Our cold front ended just in time for us to head to the zoo and take in some sunshine.  We were so spoiled having the park to ourselves (again)….the weather was still too chilly for Texas-folk.

Watching the crazy monkeys

Papa Bear, Aiden and a giant croc!

Kman and his cars….

Spring has officially arrived this past week.  I've cleaned up my flower beds, cleared weeds, mowed the lawn and the boys and I are going to pick up some extra flowers to plant this week!

Kaleb in yellow.  A shirt I dug out of MY baby box when I found out I was pregnant.  Love seeing the boys wear it now!

This weekend we had a lovely surprise visit from our Colorado friends Kelly, Kevin and Kayla!!!  Aiden is seriously obsessed with dogs, so having Kayla around for a couple days was very exciting.  It was also fun having new faces to show off our new tricks.  Both boys are eating with forks, but Kman really has stabbing and eating off the fork down pat.  Kman gives knuckles and Aiden gives high-fives!!  It's so fun.  They understand more language everyday.  Current favorite things to talk about, find and point at are….the turtles and any object on the ceiling (lights, fans, vents, smoke detectors….this is VERY handy while changing diapers).  Speaking of diapers…I had my first successful potty adventure with Kaleb!  I try to get one boy on the potty at least once a day, and Thursday night paid off.  I never thought I'd get serious about potty training at 14 months….but it's about to happen.  We also love pointing out mama's nose, eyes, ears and belly, and roaring like lions is by far their favorite thing to "say"!

Apparently Aiden was bored on the swings...

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.
Today I'm VERY excited to celebrate a new milestone!  I was treated to an hour massage, pedicure and yummy Texas BBQ for dinner.  I also came home to the most thoughtful present in the world.  I've cried twice over these….

Looking forward to all my 30's have to offer, thank you everyone for the all the love!!  It's been a truly marvelous start to a new decade.

Funny Valentine

Hope everyone is having a truly happy day, full of love!!!

The ridiculousness just makes me laugh

The boys each got a sweet book, we LOVE story time around here!  Mommy Cuddles and Mommy Hugs were too cute to pass up!  Then we all enjoyed a yummy heart shaped breakfast!

We have a fun outing planned this afternoon and spaghetti and meatballs on the menu for dinner.  Hugs and Kisses to you all and our heartfelt apologizes for late Valentine cards this year!  We're going to attempt to mail them off next week.

Spreading the L.O.V.E.

The boys and I have been hard at work this month.  We're doing a little spring cleaning, and getting really excited for Grandpa Eddie to visit!!!

They've helped me sort through my crafting supplies, hang garland around the house and we're currently making some fun Valentine cards.

K&A are big sports dealing with me shoving a camera in their sweet faces.  I have several ideas for valentines photos….but it is increasing difficult to get a good picture of both boys together.  Aiden is always on the go and Kaleb is super serious when the camera appears.  Trying to get smiles and have Aiden sit still is close to impossible.  A photo attempt without props turns into a blurry disaster.

These are a few of my favorites from our most recent Valentine photo adventures.

It's been unusually cold for south Texas, but the boys and I had a little bike ride yesterday.  Kaleb and Aiden did the slides for the very first time on their own!  They are VERY good at the playground and extra studious watching how I climbed up the steps, crossed the bridge, turned around at the slide and went down on my belly.  So trusting these boys and utterly fearless.  Hope you are able to view the video below!

More Valentine photo adventures to come during the next week!  I leave you with a cutie Kaleb eating his cheerios his new favorite way…..out of his shapes.  I love this kid!  And Aiden too!!

Two little Indians

Happy February!!!  A month all about LOOOOVVVVE!!!!

I was out taking some Valentines Day photos of the boys today, and upon uploading to the computer I came across the day the boys saw their teepee for the first time!!  3 weeks ago the magnificent holiday present arrived from the Colorado Mountains!  I fell in love with this style and am SO lucky to have such a talented mother who MADE IT!!!  We found a heavy duty, last a life-time, canvas fabric and increased the size to better suit the boys.  Thank you cannot possibly express my gratitude!

I was pointing for Kaleb to turn around and look….and he just kept pointing back at me!

Find the kitty...

We play Indians everyday.  Kaleb and Aiden can both make an Indian noise (bopping their hand on their mouth going ahhh-ahhh-ahhh).  We keep a basket of stuffed animal friends inside the teepee at the moment, and Aiden loves to run inside and "surprise" me by running out…..like he's completely invisible inside.  Hilarious.  I can't help myself, and when he goes in I start saying "oohhh, where's Aiden???  Aiden, Aiden, where are you????"  He laughs and laughs.

We play the drums and read stories inside too!  I can't wait to have a teepee slumber-party someday!

Hope all our friends and family are thawing out at home!  Tomorrow maybe our friend Phil will give hopes of an early spring.