Birthday Cupcakes

The twins turned one on Aug. 12th and their party isn't until the end of this week. But, I thought they deserved a little something yummy on their actual birthday so I bought them teeny weeny cupcakes. Both approached the cupcakes with major apprehension but after some coaxing Nathan decided that they were actually okay. Matthew, on the other hand, just became increasingly anxious over the fact that his fingers were all sticky from the icing. Ultimately, Matthew ate none of his cupcake and started crying hysterically while Nathan ate what he could manage to pick up off his tray. This is an excellent example of their very different personalities!!

Not so sure about the cupcakes.

Nathan: "Hmm...this isn't so bad."

Matthew: "What is this...some form of torture?!?!? Get this stuff off my hands NOW!!"

Fun in the River

The river that runs in front of my parents' house has provided countless hours of entertainment for Jack as he LOVES to climb rocks, swim in the river, and throw rocks into the water for Harry to chase. This afternoon we decided since it was getting WAY too hot inside the house (no AC in Maine!) to take the babies down to the river. They too loved the water and had no hesitation crawling around and exploring....the problem we quickly discovered was that they thought the rocks would make an excellent snack! Yes, that's right, we had to watch both babies like a hawk because at any given moment one or the other of them was trying to stuff river rocks (of all shapes and sizes) into their mouths.

Roasting Marshmallows

Jack's new favorite thing to do is roast marshmallows after dinner. We made S'mores too which are one of my favorites so I'm not complaining!!

Harry is supervising Jack's marshmallow roasting.

In the end, Jack preferred to just eat marshmallows right out of the bag!

We made it to Maine & Surprise!

We made the two-day drive to Maine to stay with my parents where we will be for all of August. They had a nice surprise waiting for Jack - a power wheels!! I'm feeling a little slighted because I never had one of these when I was a kid..... :-)

Here he is on his first ride - he loves the shovel on the front and loading bed in the back.

Jack is actually a really good driver and loves to race down the hills.

Jack & Grandpa getting ready to ride into the woods on one of the trails.

Off they go!!

The Boys - July

Matthew very proud of himself for standing up!

Nathan is also getting very good at standing...and pretty excited about it.

Jack & Matthew

Beach Day!

Today Jack and I went to the beach (again) while the twins stayed home with the babysitter. We love our babies but babies + beach = no fun for anyone. Jack has SO much fun playing in the sand, digging for shells and other beachy items, and (more recently) has developed a love of the water. He fiddles around for hours completely self-entertained. Which means that I was actually able to sit in my beach chair and enjoy the afternoon! Ahhhhh......

Jack is prepared for some beach fun!

Playing in the water.

Catching some waves!

Jack loves the beach (and his new fishy swim ring)!!

More Visitors, July 4th & Standing Up

We've been busy here over the last couple of weeks....More visitors - Aunt Mary Ann & Uncle Dan stopped by on their way to OBX and Grandpa Ron & Grandma Dixie stayed with us over the July 4th holiday. It's always so fun to have guests - we love it!!!

Matthew turning on the charm for Great Aunt Mary Ann & Uncle Dan. He seems to really enjoy having his picture taken!

Twins in their new-to-us (i.e., used) high chairs. I had feeding seats for them but not only did they take up two of my dining room chairs but they weren't at a comfortable height for me. Considering I sit and feed them two bottles and LOTS of baby food three times a day, I decided to invest a little more in our overall comfort! Plus, they gag on anything thicker than a puree so I'm thinking I'll be spoon feeding them for quite some time to come.....

Matthew thoroughly enjoys standing up now and can do it with ease, however, he is unable to get down from a standing position without taking a total face plant. So, he'll just stand there whining (which quickly escalates to all out tears) for me to come help him get down. Much to his disappointment, I'm sure, I only come to his rescue every now and then so he's going to have to figure it out on his own one of these days!

Another of Jack's former toys which has quickly become a favorite.

Jack talking to Jay on the phone. He's getting better at keeping up a conversation with him. It struck me that Jack looks so old in this picture!

Nathan trying to climb up on Jack while he's watching TV. Jack generally has plenty of "helpers" at the ready and he's so good about being patient with their unending curiosity.

Grandpa Ron & Grandma Dixie brought sparklers to celebrate the 4th of July - how fun!!! (notice how all of my nice new green grass now has more of a scorched earth look to it....all our rain came to a screeching halt and I don't have time to water, oh well.)

Grandpa & Grandma Lambert also brought Jay's old boy scout tent which makes a fun place to play in the back yard.

Jack about to go to a baseball game with Grandpa Ron...he was SO excited and had a fantastic time!! (he's showing off a new McDonald's happy meal toy--a white dinosaur with a mouth that opens & closes--and since dinosaurs are his latest obsession this is by far the best kids' meal toy he's ever gotten!)

Grandpa Jim & Grandma Jane Come to Visit

I unearthed more of Jack's old toys and this music table was an instant hit. The babies are starting to pull themselves up to standing too!

Nathan having fun swinging at the park near our house.

Matthew loved being in the swing!

Grandpa Jim & Grandma Jane brought Jack a fishing pole (actually it's MY grandpa's old rod) and he had SO much fun fishing at the park near our house. He's actually pretty good!

Here's one of the fish! I think he caught at least nine over the few days he was able to go fishing with Grandpa. Although he was surprisingly concerned about the fish once he'd caught them!


Jack "helping" Grandpa wash his car. Actually he did a really good job (well, as good as a 4yr old can do!) soaping up and hosing off the car. And he only sprayed Grandpa with the hose once. :-)

Pics from the week

Nathan: "Help me Mom...I got here and now I can't get figure out how to get my legs to go the same direction!"

Jack, ever the great helper, picked up bottles and started to feed the babies all my himself one night when they were too impatient to wait for me!

Matthew being silly.


Jack wanted a tent so this was the next best thing until Daddy gets home and we can buy a real one.

I think Nathan is going to be a thumb-and-blankie kid like his big brother.

Jack (before his quiet time): "But Mom, I'm not tired!"

Pictures for Jay

Here are some pictures mainly for Jay's benefit. This is the best way for him to see pictures because their e-mail is too slow to receive photos. So here are some of the things I've wanted him to see or have told him about. Sorry that they're probably really boring for the rest of you!!

Jack decided to "help" me by unpacking groceries and lining them up all the way around the kitchen counter top....this picture doesn't do it justice, I needed a panoramic lens!

The babies will routinely crawl right over each other in order to get something they want and oddly the one on the bottom usually isn't complaining. In this instance, Nate is the one being mowed over and he actually had a smile on his face!

So when we moved into this house six months ago the back yard was a mess of mostly weeds, dirt, and a bit of grass. Jay put down some grass seed literally days before deploying and I have been trying to get it to grow. I put straw down in several areas and that is basically where the grass grew in. This section right off the deck was literally all dirt so it's doing pretty well! I wanted Jay to see because I was so excited!! No more mud pies for Jack, though, and he is none too happy about that.

Jack playing in his sandbox at the other end of the yard. Notice more straw here....the grass did not fill in very well on this end unfortunately. I think this is where all the water runs when it rains so that doesn't help. But the large tree makes for a great shady spot - just perfect for the sandbox.

Another shot of what was a huge area of dirt. (If you're wondering what that huge piece of paper taped to the slider is, well it's a picture Jack drew to scare away the squirrels because they eat all of the bird seed out of our feeder. They have figured out how to open the top of the feeder and I have witnessed them actually sitting INSIDE the feeder feasting on bird seed. Hence the drawing to scare them away.)

And finally the latest baby confinement device to hit the family room! The twins quickly outgrew the "play pen" so I had to find a way to confine them in here because I simply cannot baby proof the entire upstairs of this house (it's a split-level so our living areas and the master bedroom are all on the upper level while the playroom and kids' rooms are all on the lower level). It seems to work pretty well and the babies enjoy more room to explore so they're not complaining as much. Plus it has a door so it's super easy to get in & out. It is hardware mounted to the wall so I had to pre-drill holes and everything to install it - I'm pretty proud of myself! We'll see how long it stays up....