Taking advantage of naptime

Since all the kids are asleep, and should be for a few more minutes, I decided to update the blog before we leave for Utah on Friday. I'll just give a quick update of things that have been happening. Things that are not pictured; Paul and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary on April 27th. It's amazing to think that we have been married for three years, have three kids, and have lived in three different states. I'm so lucky to have Paul. He's wonderful. We look forward to many more anniversaries! Paul turned 26! Yeah, I know...wow! He's closer to 30 than 20! We had celebrated with white chocolate chip cookies, frozen pizza, and root beer. I know, we're big spenders. We watched Sherlock Holmes and Kung-Fu Panda. Paul got to pick out a book at Borders, which he has already finished. It was a pretty awesome day! Ewan is starting to really scoot! He's getting into "army-crawl" mode. He rolls, swivels, and manipulates his body to get where he wants to go. It's usually towards the noise!
Now for the pictures...

A woman I visit teach just had her first baby a few days ago. My companion and I threw her a baby shower and, I made a diaper cake for the event. I had to take a picture so I would remember how to do it if it ever came up again.

The twins are into, "I do it myself" more than ever! They want a fork and bowl all to themselves. Sometimes it's, "I throw it on the floor all by myself", but whatever. I have to clean up a little bit more and it's not so efficient, but they're learning.

We went to the zoo on one of Paul's off-Fridays. This is the really big tortoise. We thought he was stuck, or dead. When we came back an hour later, he moved a couple feet.

The girls loved the monkeys. They even got to feed the giraffe. Paul got to pet a snake.

About half-way through our trip, we let the girls run around one of the little parks. Aislee would only get back in the stroller if she could sit by Ewan.

A very large goldfish.

A duck with a very blue bill.

A duck with a very red bill.

Sometimes, I get in a dinner stump. So, I've decided to make one new recipe a week. I've been given quite a few cook books that I haven't really looked through! A lot of the things look fun to make, but I have a hard time using alcohol in my cooking. A lot of my books call for alcohol, and I haven't figured out a substitute, so I skip those recipes. This is a herb rub roast chicken with steamed broccoli and herb mashed potatoes. Most of the ones I've tried have not made the permanent list, but it's fun to try new things.

I've been trying to get the girls to color for a little while during the day. We got a table for them to sit at. Sometimes they miss the paper, and color the table. Well, Olivia misses the paper and colors on the table. Aislee is quick to say, "Oh no. Oh no Ia." She calls Olivia "Ia", and Olivia calls her Aisee. It's pretty hilarious! They also holds hands in the car. Paul and I are always holding hands in the car ('cause it's the only time we can!). We'll turn back to check on them, and they're holding hands the same way we are.

We went to a birthday party earlier in the day and got bouncy balls. They bounced them under the fridge. We had to find them! We were all sad that they were too far back for any of us to reach them. Olivia almost had a come-apart. Paul had to move the fridge to get them out. We found a few missing Potato Head pieces. Yay for a big, strong daddy!

We tried big girl beds for like a week. Either they're not ready to stay in one, or we're not ready for them to keep us up all night and take short naps! I think it's more of the latter. We may try in a few months.

For right now, they're fine sleeping in their crib. Ewan is now sleeping in his own room in his bassinet. He sleeps from 9 to 5:30 or so. Some mornings, I wake him up to feed him so I can go run. He usually falls back asleep for a little while longer.

My sister, Megan was a genius. She had an indoor sandbox made up of a bunch of beans and little toys with shovels. She'd pour the bucket out on a blanket and her kids would dig through the beans to find stuff. I decided to try it. It's been getting pretty hot here, and it's hard to get outside some days. I get this out when Ewan is sleeping and let the girls dig around for a while. When they're done, they help clean up as much as they can. They usually get bored and find other toys while I finish picking the rest of the stuff up. It's neat to see them cover their toys and then dig them out and pour the beans in one cup and into another. Genius, I tell you!



The kids caught a cold over the weekend, and Paul and I had some pretty long nights. So, I had a glasses day. I just wasn't in the mood to put my contacts in. We all had a glasses day! (Olivia)

Aislee


Because it's been so hot out (98), we've been using our water table from last August. I should have gotten them in swimsuits, but we just needed to get outside (oh to have a yard...!).