Goodbye 2012!

A quick goodbye to 2012... a momentous year during which Spencer was born and the twins turned 1.  Owen and Oliver went from crawling, to taking their first toddling steps, to swimming in the pool all summer, and are now on the run everywhere and even riding tricycles around the house!  Spencie went from a tiny baby to being on the verge of taking his first steps any day now around only 10 months!  The big boys are talking up a storm, love learning letters and practicing counting, and have their colors down pat.  Can't wait to see what's in store for 2013... it's sure to be a lucky year as we consider 13 a lucky number in this house :)

Let's just leave it with this video... all I can say is that I hope the boys get some of their father's creativity...

Choo Choo Season

It's been the season of choo choos for the boys (including cats) - and the train set we've had under the tree continues to be a main focus each day from the time the boys wake up in the morning, until the time they go to bed at night. We've had to tell them that the choo choo needs to go to bed at night too, and let them help us put it to sleep by laying it down on its side under the tree. Otherwise we'd never get them to part with it and go upstairs to bed. Even as we're laying them down to sleep in their cribs and leaving the room, they still look up and ask a few more times, "choo choo?" and we have to remind them about the sleeping train under the tree.

Saturday we took the boys to ride the mall choo choo and they were so excited! They went once with mommy and once with daddy...and they would have went all night if we let them! Oliver kept reciting the colors of the different train cars on drive home, and also in his crib as he was going to sleep. He's so cute with colors lately now that he's got all of the major ones down (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, pink, orange) - sometimes we'll find him just sitting with a toy reciting all the different colors to himself!

Easing Easel

We all had a very fun filled Christmas day - it literally took the entire day to open gifts since the boys became obsessed with every new toy and wanted to stop and play after receiving each one.  I have sooo many pictures to go through...but more to come from Christmas!

Well the day after Christmas was not as relaxed and fun for the boys as they might have hoped.  It snowed and we couldn't even go out and play because we were scheduled to take Spencie to the pediatrician for his 9 month checkup and get flu shots for the boys while we there.  This was the first time the twins truly remembered and associated unhappy memories from just being in the waiting room, doctor's office, seeing the nurses, etc., because they screamed and cried the whole time... before anything was even done to them!  Poor babies - we let them play with their new easel in the kitchen while we made dinner that night.  They love putting all the magnetic animals and letters on, and Owen especially likes trying to spell his name.  And Spencie won't be left out of the action - it's the perfect height for him to stand and hold on to the tray.  I love the last picture of all 3 of them playing with it together!

 

Pineapple Please!

The twins love pineapple and always get fresh pineapple as a special treat when Pap Pap visits.  They've gotten really good at saying "pine-apple" and of course following up with a please to expedite the service.  I don't think they can get enough of this stuff!

Santa Santa Santa!!

Friday we went to see Santa one more time...because you can't get enough Santa when you have almost 2 year old twins and a baby, right!?  So here are the final 3 photos - the last being our most recent trip to the mall Santa.  This is the same one we saw last year and I wanted to go back because he was the most genuine looking and in a somewhat secret location at the Tyson's Galleria mall...where the wait was only about 10 minutes (pretty good 4 days before Christmas)!  There was a bit of nervous crying as they got within inches of Santa's lap, but they were fine moments before and after, as they waved and said "bye bye" to Santa from a safe 5 feet away on the way out.  Spencie and Owen were so tired on the ride home that they took little naps in the car.

Santa 1 - Northern Virginia Parents of Multiples Christmas Party

Santa 2 - Sterling Volunteer Fire Dept

Santa 3 - Tyson's Galleria Mall

Play Eagle

Today was Kathryn's last day and we took the boys to the Tyson's Corner mall in the morning to see Mr. Knick Knack - a performer who comes to the play area on Wednesdays to play guitar and sing for the kids.  We only just discovered this last week, so it was our second time on this outing.  There are a lot of soft play structures in this indoor playground, and the boys ended up wandering over to one shaped like an Eagle in a nest with eggs and had so much fun yelling, "Eagle, Eagle!"  Owen kept laying down in the nest by the eggs and pretending he was like the baby Eagle in the nest.  Afterward we drove Kathryn to the airport for her long journey back to Spokane, Washington.  We are definitely going to miss her!

Santa and a Fire Truck

How do you calm the fears of almost 2 year old boys when it comes to Santa??  Mix Santa with a firetruck or two!!

We had scheduled this event for the day after the twins club Santa event long before knowing Owen and Oliver would freak out when it was time to meet and greet Santa up close.  So we went into it half expecting the boys to start screaming again when they were ushered over to Santa for a photo.  But...the power firetrucks currently have over them prevailed!  They were so excited when we pulled into the fire station and saw a truck outside that they insisted on sitting down on the sidewalk and just watching for a bit.  Little did they know there was a bright, shiny firetruck for them to explore inside!  They got a tour from a volunteer fire fighter and were allowed to climb all over the back of the truck.  Owen made sure to push his baby brother around to see the firetruck, which Spencer thoroughly enjoyed.  And when it came time for the picture... all it took was a simple "look, Santa's in front of the fire truck...let's go see" and we were in!  Owen was still timid, and I don't think either would have made it onto his lap, but that was Spencie's spot anyway.

Owen stoically braves standing so close to Santa!

Little Helper

Owen's been trying to make sure he's on Santa's "nice" list lately by helping me push the trash down to the street.  He loves doing this, and diligently walks the can all the way down the driveway and then down the pipe stem to the main road without taking his hands off once or stopping for a break.  That's a lot of exercise for his little legs!!  I think Santa will reward him well.

Singing Santa

The first weekend in December was our twins club holiday party...and our first "meeting" with Santa of the season.  The event was very well organized and tons of fun for all the kids.  The boys didn't realize how lucky they were to not only see Mr. and Mrs. Claus...but a singing Mr. and Mrs. Claus!!  Since the boys are too young to know about this blog, I will divulge that the pair was non other than their music class teacher, Ms. Lolly, and her husband; they are one talented couple!  After the show, all the kids gathered around to listen to Mrs. Claus read stories while we waited for our turn to get a picture with Santa.  When we went over to take the picture, suddenly getting up close to Santa with his white beard and strange white gloves terrified the twins and both started screaming and crying!!  Spencie had no idea what was going on (just like the twins at that age last year) and sat happily on his lap.  I think the last Santa picture is so funny because not only are they screaming at the big man in red, but they are also both staring him down and wondering why he has taken their baby brother hostage on his lap...and confused as to why Spencie is ok with it all and not fighting back like they were!  Aside from this brief photo op at the end, the event was a good time for the whole family!

Dancing Spencie!

Tree Time

Last weekend we took the boys out after dinner to pick out a Christmas tree.  We thought they'd enjoy going out "at night" and running through the maze of trees...and we were right!  It was hard to get them to slow down for a minute or two so we could actually pick out a tree.  They really liked watching the workers with chainsaws trim the bottom up before loading it on top of the car.  And little did we know, there was more fun to be had inside the store where we went to pay for the tree.  They had a little house with a ceramic Santa inside, and it took the boys several minutes to slowly work their way up to the house and peek in.  The Santa was about their size, but was a bit confusing for them since he wasn't moving!  We picked up the tree Friday night, and it took us all weekend to get it decorated in small chunks of time during nap breaks and evening bedtime.  We let the boys spend some time "helping" with the lights on Saturday and they had a blast.  They think it's so cool to have an outside tree in the living room.  We pulled out the play yard to try and convince them they were playing in an open fort while we continued decorating the tree, but only Spencie was fooled by that trick!  I guess the play yard is still new and exciting to him, while the big boys knew they were being held prisoner.  More pictures of the finished product to come...

Owen nervously waits for Santa to make a move!

The twins love smelling flowers!!