Daddy's little helpers

Carter says hi

I'm not sure 'helpers' is the right word, but Luke and Carter are always interested in being a part of whatever it is Jeff and I are doing.  We try to teach and encourage them to help us.  I'm not sure if it is just my children or that they are only 2, but help isn't what they are doing most of the time.  I call it getting in the way and creating more of a mess.  I guess that is just part of the learning curve when you are a toddler.  Whatever it may be, we always enjoy showing them new things and watching them reenact our actions. 

Luke cleaning up after Daddy

A quick update on our new addition.  We haven't been able to work on it much lately so instead of enjoying our last summer holiday weekend we spent ours working on our new room.  I am very excited with the progress we made in 3 days with only one small (huge) setback.  Jeff rented a saw to cut the concrete and little did we know one small cut would create such a huge mess.  Our entire house was covered in what seemed like a foot of cement dust.  They tried to build a barrier to keep the dust from the rest of the house, but unfortunately that didn't work to well.  So, instead of spending my Saturday painting, I spent it dusting (not sure which one is worse).  We felt we had most of the dust cleaned when we went to bed only to wake up to a new layer of dust covering our entire house.  I guess we stirred it up more than cleaned it.  We are now on a good track to hopefully finishing the room soon.  I will post more pics as we get more exciting things done besides cement dust. 

Toddler Sleepover

Ok, first of all I give two thumbs up to any quad moms out there-that is hard work.  We have our buddies Wes and Evan over to stay the night tonight and I'm not sure if they are more tired without naps or if I am!!  Actually 3 of the 4 did nap for a small bit, but I don't think it was enough to count as a real nap.  Regardless of nap or not these four boys played their little hearts out.   We had fun playing outside in the pool and on playground, we watched just about every Dora episode I have on DVR (don't judge until you have four toddlers at one time), just about ate every snack in the house, played 'flashlights' and just had great fun together. 

I wasn't sure about what I was getting myself into when I offered to keep Wes and Evan on such short notice, but I am so happy I did. Luke and Carter love being around these two little boys and look up to them (they are 9 months older than L&C).  I overheard my first toddler conversation (one sided, L&C aren't quite to conversations yet) and also confirmed that two toddlers is enough work for me. 

Look at all the smiles on their faces

Dinner time x's four

Milk and Dora before bed

Wes watching his brother in the sandbox through the binoculars.

I have enjoyed having Wes and Evan here with us.  They are wonderful behaved little boys and are welcome to stay with us anytime.  I am looking forward to our weekend away with the Anderson family this coming October.

Shaving Cream Fun

 What a fun mess!!!!!  The babies had a good time playing with shaving cream and paints with their oldest cousin yesterday.  Megan is home for a few weeks from college and is always willing to help me out when I'm in a bind.  I needed to go to a meeting yesterday afternoon and she was so kind to come down to play with L&C.  She is studying child development and works at All Star Equestrian so she enjoys being with small children (at least I hope she does).  By the pictures they all had a great time making a mess and playing in the water.  Thanks Megan for babysitting and entertaining my little indians.  

Luke's Doggie

Luke and his doggie one day 1

The next morning

Well I'm not real sure how it happened but it happened.  I left the babies at my SIL's for a few hour to run some errands and upon my return Luke has fallen in love with a dog slipper.  I tried to take it off him before we left, but he refused enough that his cousin was willing to give up the slipper for the sake of keeping Luke quite.  Little did I know at that time that this little 'doggie' would become so valuable to my little two year old.  He has worn not two doggie slippers, but only one and always on the right foot for two and a half days now.  Oh boy what will I do with this silly kid.

Please excuse the background, we are still living in a construction site.

Birthday Galore!!!!

July and August are busy birthday months for us.  Not only do we have our own b day we also have several friends with summer birthdays.  Today we got to help celebrate with three of our sweet friends.  All the festivities began this morning at 9:30 and  ended with a late nap in the car.  All the parties had wonderful themes. We got to be superheros, train conductors and little fish.  I didn't get very many pics but here are a few.  Thank goodness for the winds today and the scattered clouds since all parties were outside.  I don't think it could have been a better day for an outdoor party.  Here is a little video clip and a few pics showing off all our party goods.  

Conductor Carter taking a break

Luke in C's super hero cape

All aboard anyone?

Life's a Beach (California 2010)

We are home and finally getting back into routine.  We had another successful vacation as a family of four.  Traveling is much different now with kids.  Much more stress, much more fun and much more junk!!!  You would have thought we were moving by the sight of us in the airport.  I really tried to pack lightly, but you know how that goes, even without children. 

Waiting on our plane

The reason for our trip was to celebrate my grandmother's 90th Birthday (and to get a break from this heat).  Along with a wonderful ocean side party for my grandmother, we also had a little to do for L&C's b-day, went to the beach a few times, visited my grandfather's burial site, hit up just about every park in town, played with all our second cousins and slept like babies (including myself).  I'm not sure if it was the fresh air or just pure exhaustion, but I think the babies were asleep more there than they were awake. 

Luke with two of his second cousins

Grandma with all her girls

We had a very relaxing vacation and loved spending time with all of our wonderful family.  We were sad to leave, but it's always nice to be home and back into our routine.  Now just to get our room addition done so I can sit back and enjoy this ever so fast life. 

Happy Birthday to my babies

Well it's official-my babies are now a part of the terrific two's. How did two years already go by? I feel I have missed so much, but I know I have gained so much more. I have two years of memories of raising two babies at the same time (thank goodness for video and photos). I am so proud of my toddlers and fall more in love with them everyday.

Once again we celebrated Luke and Carter's second year of life bigger than planned. We not only had a wonderful party with all our little friends at Abby's Playtown, we also had a huge family BBQ and a Birthday celebration in California with our family there. How am I ever going to keep up with these awesome celebrations. Last year at Disney World and this year at the beach. Next year we are staying home, I promise Jeff ;).

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate another milestone in our journey. I am excited to see what's next and will keep my camera rolling so I can continue to share it with you.