This and That

We've been doing a little bit of this and that the last few weeks. I've posted quite a big the last couple of days, but I'm trying to catch up on stuff.

We had Elliot over while his parents were packing up their apartment to move. It was fun to have another buddy to play with. We're sad to see him go.

We danced.

And played with baby dolls.

We danced some more.



This is what happens to Aislee around 8am when she's up at 2:30. Unfortunately for Paul and I, we still have to do stuff like go to work and take care of other kids. Bummer...

We do a babysitting exchange with another couple who has twins and a 4 year old.

Paul likes to make faces at people. He's so attractive!

We got some balls out for them to play with. We needed them to run around and get some of the energy out!

And then we watched a few Sesame Street videos on youtube. Old school Sesame Street is way better than Elmo's World! We especially like clips of Kermit singing the African Alphabet, James Taylor's "Jelly man Kelly" and Ernie's "I don't want to live on the moon".

Who doesn't love Sesame Street from the 80's?

Ewan striking a pose!

We went to the pool a couple times last week. We were hot!

The girls are doing really well with the arm floaties. They love the independence, and so do we! Ewan wishes he could join them most of the time!

They do get a little nervous when a wave comes in and takes them a little further from Paul or me.

We played with the water table, and the blinds. This is "peek-a-boo".

Ewan's such a kid. He's never been very good with bottles, but he takes a sippy very well.

Since it's been so hot, he really enjoys some cool apple juice or water.

Rah, Rah, Rah for Rocket!

When I decided that I was going to make a cake for the twins, I googled for the Rocket Cake. I thought it'd be fun to have something that they would recognize. I came across a few blogs that had the cake, but nobody really showed pictures or steps on how to make it. Maybe it's because it's super easy for them, and I stressed out about it not looking the way the picture did. I decided that I would take some pictures of the process so that maybe somebody as non-crafty as I am would be able to make the cake (even better). I had a lot of help from a creative husband. My cake wasn't perfect, but it somewhat resembled Rocket...!

I used a large, round pan for the bottom. It took two cake mixes. I baked it for 50 mins.
I used a football shaped pan for the dome top. It only took one cake mix and about an hour to cake. (sorry no picture, I was getting ready for church while it was baking) Since we're non-chocolate eaters, we used FunFetti, but any cake mix works.

Paul, being the engineer that he is, carved the cakes into rocket-shapes.

We put it on a large cutting board because it didn't fit under my cake holder.

You can see how he slanted the front of the football and shortened the back of the round piece.

Paul did the blue, while I mixed the red frosting. I used non-tasting red food dye. It's not the super market food coloring, but the high powered stuff you get at Jo Anns. The grocery store stuff doesn't get white frosting red enough.

We used some of the left-over ends for the engine part of Rocket on the back and just covered them with frosting.

We made a little yellow frosting for the lights, and frosting bag and tip for the window pane.

There's Rocket! Maybe for Ewan we'll just make a nice football or something.

We're Two!

We celebrated a momentous occasion at our house yesterday! The twins turned two! This day marks a new era in their lives. They're no longer lap children on flights. We can't get them in for free at the museums. They can now take vitamins, if you know how to actually get them to take the vitamins, let me know. They can no longer fit into 18month clothes. As far as celebrations, we went to Stake Conference in new dresses, we opened presents while skyping with Grandma Stacey and Grandpa Jeff, and then we had a few friends over for Rocket Cake.

As you can see, they really are two! They can't hold still for five seconds!

This was a struggle!

Olivia and me.

Ewan, Olivia and me.

Paul and the girls. He was making noises so that they would smile. I think he did a pretty good job.

They were really ready to go!

They found their new coloring books for Church. I think I colored in them more than they did!

This is supposed to be Rocket from Little Einsteins.

Paul was my big helper with the cake. I made the cakes before Stake Conference, since we were up at 5:30. While the kids napped, we assembled and frosted. He's fantastic!

Getting sung to.

Blowing out the candle with some help.

We had three sets of twins, 8 two and under, and all together 11 under 5 for the party. Oh, and two due November and December.

These are the girls eating cake. We had a set of boy twins and their older brother and Ewan to make up the boys.

These are afghans made for the girls when they were first born. We told them apart with the colors; a purple baby and a pink baby.

Their new strollers! Very exciting.

We got another stroller from Parker and Christine. So, we have one for friends to come over!

Happy birthday Olivia and Aislee. We love you! We are so glad you came to our family. We look forward to many, many more birthdays!

Introducing...

Magnum! So, Ewan is nine months old today. He was born on Friday November 13, and turned 13 weeks on a Friday the 13th, and is now 9 months old on Friday the 13th. Just a little about my little man...Ewan loves to eat. He loves to find whatever he can and stuff it into his mouth. He likes just about everything he has tried, except for baby food. He's still a very good nurser, every 2-3hours except at night. He sleeps pretty well, 8-5ish. He wishes he was a little bigger so he could play a little more with the sisters. Ewan is pretty easy-going and happy. He cries when he falls over after letting go of something, or when the sisters get a little too much into his business. He loves the tub and pool. He'd stay in all day long! He's about 20lbs. I haven't taken him in for his check yet because I want to do all of them at the same time and since the twins will be 2 in a few weeks, I'm gonna wait and make Paul come with me (Muwahaha!). Ewan is also a model. Yeah, he's gonna be a model someday. He has a pose that he finds comfortable and can basically stay in it for quite some time. We call it "magnum", but it's pretty similar to "blue steel". I've wanted to a post on his trick for a while, but when I started the post, I realized that I didn't document it the way I should have. I've spent the last couple days taking every opportunity to catch him!






We'll also give an update on the twins. They're are quite the talkers these days. they try to repeat everything I say, which means that I should really start being more careful about what I say. Every mother's nightmare is to have her two year old say "crap" in sacrament meeting or something! They say, "Where did he go?", "Daddy will be right back" "What are you doing?", "Wake up!", "Help me please", "Please have more", "boogers have dirt and bugs", "He get you!", "He bite you!", and a few others that I can't recall right now. They don't like bugs or being sticky. When they're done crying, they ask to have their noses, eyes and cheeks wiped. They sing and dance and shut doors.

Paul getting hugs and kisses.

Playing with daddy's guitar. I don't let them play with my violin.

Tickles.

Paul singing and playing with some help.

This is how Ewan spends "water table time". He doesn't really like it, but he'll be playing soon enough.

Olivia making faces at Ewan.

Olivia's after-nap hair.

Singing time! "The Wise Man and The Foolish Man"

Olivia giving Aislee a kiss.

Ewan moved out of his pose.

Friends

Best friends.

I was chasing them down the hall with the camera and asking them to say CHEESE!

So happy!

Tired! They woke up at 2:30 in the morning, and were very, very tired.

Eating dream-sicles.

Nap time is a wonderful time!

After water-table time and before getting clothes back on. They're all in the same size diapers. Cannot wait to have only one in diapers!

Tubby-time!

An update on Paul and I...We finally went on a date that we had been planning for three months. Every time we made a plan something would happen. The babysitter got sick, we got sick, we just didn't have time that week...the list goes on. I wanted to try something new and was really looking forward to going somewhere we'd never been before. I did research on restaurants, places I wanted to try...when it came down to it, we ended up going to the Olive Garden and ordering something we've never tried before. We got an appetizer, split a meal, and got a dessert. During my research, I found that a lot of these places have recipes online. So, we're trying a few of our favorites at home. So much for being adventurous! I ran 10 miles last Saturday. I wasn't too sore afterward, and I'm told that if you can run 10, you can run 13. I sure hope so! I have six more Saturdays until the half-marathon!