Belated Merry Christmas!

We've been so busy during December between the boys' birthday and Christmas that the blog has suffered a bit. I'm hoping to pick it up again with the new year. 

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday^2

So our little munchkins turned the big 1 and we partied hard. Well hard for the one year old crowd which included balloons, cake, and plenty of wrapping paper. We kept the celebration pretty low key with a few friends from church and Nathan's work. The boys LOVED having other kids around. I think that was the favorite part of the party. I took some video of them opening presents, but forgot to take pictures of anything but the traditional cake smashing.

At first they weren't quite sure what to think:

But they decided to give it a try

And they liked what they tasted. So much so they wanted to share

{The boys (especially Andrew) LOVE to share their food}


It was close to nap time and with all the distracting people the boys didn't really get into the cake smashing.

So we did take 2 after their nap and it went much better.

Gavin wanted a chance to share with Dad too.

And then all kinds of smashing took place:

{Isn't he the picture of happiness? Love that little face}

They managed to get a smidgen messier during round 2 and did some real damage to the cake:

We finished up with a rousing game of peek-a-boo:

{Peek-a...}

{...boo!}

And this next picture is also the boys playing peek-a-boo. They are a little hit and miss with covering their eyes.

{bahahahahaha!}


And because pictures just don't fully capture the moment here is a short video of the cake smashing.

A big thank you to everyone, near and far, that helped celebrate our boys' birthday. We feel so blessed to have these little boys in our family.

Meeting Santa

The morning of the boys' birthday our church had a "Brunch with Santa" Christmas party. So in addition to turning one they also got to meet Santa for the first time. It was a big day! I was actually pretty impressed with how the handled it. I figured they would instantly scream bloody murder, but not so.

Andrew just scoped Santa out at first and Gavin looked totally unphased.

There were so many people around that it was hard to get a picture where they were both looking, but I still like this one.

Then Andrew took a second look at Santa...

And, well, this time Santa made the mistake of looking back at him....

oh boy.

Then Gavin looked at Andrew...

...and revealed that under that calm exterior....

...he felt the same way about Santa.

oh boy^2.

So we actually got the best of both worlds. A decent picture with Santa and a crying picture.

We made it up to them by letting them sit in the comfy chair in the lobby before we left.

Andrew loved it so much he didn't want to leave. Seriously, if we hadn't already finished shopping for Christmas we'd be adding 'comfy chair' to the list.

Just a taste

Here's just a taste of the birthday fun we had on Saturday:

{I love this picture! Who made this big mess?}


We had such a fun day celebrating these two little munchkins.

Happy Birthday my little men! We love you!!

The boys at their finest

All right for those who've been missing seeing pictures of our boys, this post is for you.

These two are up to all kinds of mischief these days. They really are entering toddlerhood, complete with temper tantrums and an intense curiosity about the world around them. They can both take steps, but no solid walking around by themselves yet. This new phase is turning out to be quite the adventure. I'm more than a little nervous about how adding walking to the mix will change things. Oy!

The dishwasher is the boys absolute favorite these days. Nathan will put a cup or two of water in the door let them splash to their hearts content. They decided to take it up a level recently and will climb right in if given the chance.



Remotes are also a favorite toy.


{Gavin is looking super intense with the wii remote!}


This picture is just too cute. The love to lounge and watch a little Sesame Street. I really want to make them little bean bag chairs. I think they would absolutely love them! I'll just add it to my ever growing list of projects :) Someday, right?



They love to climb pretty much anything they can. They are usually good about sharing, but this prized position at the window has come a point of contention lately.


{ I can't believe they both manage to get on that little box!}


Andrew loves to push things across the living room floor (his fire truck, the vacuum etc); Gavin loves to push (or pull) things over, like our floor lamps. Together they make a pretty great team:

{A piano bench boat; Andrew pushed the piano bench to the middle of the room and then Gavin pushed it over and the both climbed aboard.}

Did I mention they like to climb? Because they do. They also like all things electronic, especially cell phones. These two preferences are going to prove a deadly combination (just ask my last cell phone). But really I couldn't believe the next series of photos. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have had no idea how Gavin managed it.

So we have a recliner and it is tall enough that they can't climb up on it (yet!). I put my new cell phone on the recliner believing it to be safe. Ha! I looked over and saw this:

{He used the box in the right hand corner to climb onto the edge of that plastic tote.}

{Then he hoisted himself onto the arm of the recliner by standing on the very edge of that plastic tote!}

{Ah! Success at last. Mom's phone is hand. Shoot! She's spotted me. Maybe if I put it behind my back she won't come over here and take it....What's that Mom? Why no I haven't seen your cell phone anywhere!}

Wish me luck people. I'm gonna need it to keep up with these two curious bugs!

O Christmas Tree

We have our Christmas tree up! It took some work and creativity, but we love it (babies included).

You can check out my other blog to see how we did it.

Hooray for Christmas!

birthday thanksgiving

Last year I spent my birthday defending my thesis followed by a night on my friend's couch watching TV
all by myself (the friends I stayed with were out of town), stuffed to capacity with two ever growing fetuses thumping away on my insides.
This year I spent the day with my littlest men on my outside instead of my insides and had dinner at home with my husband.

Given the choice I'd take this year's birthday celebration :)

We delayed the officially celebration by one day so we could share the delicious dessert Nathan made with my brother and his family who were nice enough to trek to our place for Thanksgiving.

{Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake from ATK; to DIE for}


We took the rare opportunity of having another adult around to take a picture of Nathan and I together.
(We had a little stow away in our picture. She's just too cute to crop out!)

We had an awesome Thanksgiving together. Nathan once again took the lead on Thanksgiving dinner and it was awesome. I got a whole one picture taken before the camera battery died. Dah!

This year, in addition to a cider brined turkey and sausage-corn bread stuffing, we tried our hand at making home made Martinelli's sparkling cider. It turned out pretty good, but still needs a little tweaking. We had a great week of celebrating which we followed up by a cold from you know where which turned into bronchitis for me. Yuck!

Thankfully we are all on the mend now and will hopefully be the picture of health by the boys' birthday on Saturday. Because this first year needs to be celebrated in a big way.

twin differences

It is so fun to start to see the boys' personalities really developing. They are definitely becoming their own little people. For example, we took them to the park and pushed them in the baby swings. I thought they'd love it since they adored their infant swings.

Well Gavin thought it was awesome!

Andrew not so much...

hahaha! I love his sweet little serious face!

Gavin also loves to be thrown around by his dad while Andrew runs hot and cold (sometimes he loves it, sometimes it makes him cry). 

Swings aside, they both loved the park. Too bad the cold weather is already upon us!

5k

As I sat down tonight, determined to put something up on this here blog, it dawned on me that I don't think I've posted anything on this blog about my 5k.

Yes, that's right, MY 5k.

The 5k I've had on my 'want to do' list since I was an undergrad.

Check that one off!

I was super nervous about being able to actually run the whole thing since the last couple weeks of  training sort of flopped
(life just gets in the way sometimes, ya know?)

But I am very pleased to say that I was able to run the whole thing!

(with my shoe lace untied 2/3rds of the time no less! That should count for something, right?)

In our haste to make it to the race on time we forgot our camera (doh!). Thankfully,  a friend was there with one and they got a few shots for me (some more flattering than others. Turns out it's hard to look your best while running ;))



{Here we are just before the race started. Nathan and the boys came out to show their support which was brave because it was freezing cold.}

{My original training buddy wasn't able to make it (bummer!!!), but I made a new friend on race day and happily we were pretty evenly matched. Plus, she has an awesome name: Katie}

{Here we are on the home stretch. We did it! I totally love Katie in this one. Captured what I was feeling exactly.}

{At the finish line. Note: 53:33 was not how long it took me to finish (thank goodness!). My time was 35:02}


I am so glad I was able to do this and it was a great experience. Nate and I really want to try to run one as a family in the spring. He'll be pushing the stroller of course!

Telling our twins apart

A couple of people have asked me recently how we tell the boys apart so I thought I'd do a little post on it.
 I think the following picture highlights their differences.



Basically it's like the picture says: Andrew's eyes are a little larger and his hair is a little longer than Gavin's.

So let's see if you can tell them apart too!
(Answers are at the bottom of the post.)

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Now let's make it a little harder and do a couple photos where they aren't side by side:

Picture #4


Picture #5


And I'll be really impressed if you can tell the apart in them bonus picture!

Bonus Picture


Honestly, the older they get the harder they are to tell apart. They still weigh about a pound different, but that made more of a difference when they were 12 lbs and not the 20+ they weigh in at now. The take turns being the shy one or the flirty one, the sober one or giggly one. I used to be able to tell their cries apart. Now I can about half the time (which always impresses Nathan). And I swear they look more alike by the day.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has any tips or tricks for telling them apart.

Answers:
Picture #1: Left: Andrew; Right: Gavin
Picture #2: Left: Gavin; Right: Andrew
Picture #3: Left: Gavin; Right: Andrew
Picture #4: Gavin
Picture #5: Andrew

Bonus Picture: Left: Andrew; Right: Gavin

More Family and Orchard Fun

We followed up our weekend with Nathan's cousin Tyson with a visit from his sister Angela and her brood. We headed out to a local orchard we'd heard good things about and it lived up to its reputation!


{The boys perched and ready to go have some fun!}


The orchard had an awesome play area with all kinds of cool play stuff. We started out on the oh-so-exciting swings :) I think this was maybe the second time the boys have been in a swing.

{Gavin LOVED it!}

{Swinging with their cousins}

{Andrew liked it too, but it took  him a little longer to warm up to it. Also he insisted on sitting all hunched over like that. Guess he wanted something to hang on to!}

After the swings we headed over to the tractor track and Nathan took them each for a little ride.

{Andrew was in HEAVEN}

{He seriously loved it so much. I see a push and ride toy in his future...}

{Gavin was a little unsure at first}

{But he was diggin' it by the end}

Then we each took a baby down this really cool slide they had.

{Nathan and Andrew}

{Gavin looks totally indifferent, but I thought it was a blast!}

Then it was off to the petting zoo! 

(see I told you this orchard was awesome)

{Here is Nathan being super dad and balancing both kids on his knees so I could take a picture!}

Then we just goofed around a bit while we waited for the "hay" ride

{ah! he looks so grown up in this picture!}


Gavin looked so cute standing between his cousins that we had to get Drew in on the action

{Notice Gavin leaning forward in this one? He was totally like "Let's go!!"}


Then we attempted a cousin pumpkin picture which was a total failure because our two were sick of sitting still.

But we managed to get in a couple of family shots:

{Notice Andrew pushing my hand away. "All Done Mom!!"}

We finished off with a "hay" ride that didn't involve any hay whatsoever.



And some pumpkin taste testing.



We had a great time with our family and we are looking forward to go back next year when the boys can enjoy it even more!