Overall fun summer, except for the sickness

Man, this summer has flown by!!!

We were very busy, and the boys were also sick quite a lot, thankfully not during any of the busy-ness. Here's our summer in a nutshell.

June - Dustin and I went to Hawaii on the beautiful island of Maui. We had sooo much fun! We almost didn't want to leave, but then we remembered that we missed our kiddos and needed to get back. We drove up Haleakala and saw the most gorgeous sunrise ever, we snorkeled quite a bit, during which, we saw a shark and a HUGE turtle, we saw an actor and actress when we arrived, and we chilled on the beach a lot, and just had an amazing time! My mom and stepdad were so kind to watch the kids while we were gone, and they had a blast too. Thanks mom!

July - All of us (including dogs) went up to OK for my class reunion.

August - Family trip to the beach! We took the boys to a condo on Port A for the weekend. It was a blast! The boys really enjoyed running on the beach. We really enjoyed the condo thing, as we don't really like being confined to a hotel room (especially during naps and bedtime). This is definitely going to be a yearly thing.

September - We went to Stillwater to watch an OSU game. We met some family up there (mom, stepdad, brother and his girlfriend, sister, and bro-in-law, along with his girlfriend. Overall fun trip, except for the rain all the way up there, during the game, and all the way back. And we lost. But Stillwater has always been a fun town, so it was fun. Dustin already wants to move back. Here's us in our OSU gear!

October - going to ACL!!!!

Back from OK

Well, we just got back from Oklahoma. The trip with the boys wasn't too bad. On the way up there, they were pretty cranky, and got about 6 hours LESS sleep at night than they usually get. But other than that, they were really sweet. The trip back was fabulous. We stopped to see Dustin's sis on the way back, so it broke up the trip a lot. The boys did fantastic with Veggie Tales, and kids sing along cds (I was the one singing).

Hunter got a little sickly when we were leaving, and now has a massive cough, and snot going on. Isaac is starting to get it as well. Fun!!!

Also, some fun news... Both boys have mastered running and spinning in circles, and they are both starting to say a LOT more words!

Isaac: Mama, Dada, Ball, Blue, Duck, Tars (which is Car)
Hunter: Mama, Dada, Duck, Bye

Walking madness

Well, the boys are starting to walk. Hunter started taking steps when Dustin's mom was visiting, and Isaac started taking steps the next week. They are doing quite a bit of walking, get really frustrated when they fall. They haven't quite mastered the "not falling down" thing. I think once they do that, they'll be WALKERS!!! Guess we need to tell them in the Children's ministry at church, so they can finally bump us up to the 1 year old class!

Can't believe they're ONE!!!!

Hey all, sorry for not posting in a while (6 months is a long while, i know). It has been a whirlwind. Where do I begin.

At 7 months - the boys didn't want to eat solids.
At 8 months - we finally coaxed them into it
At 9 months - the boys were crawling
At 10 months - the boys started pulling up, and feeding themselves
At 11 months - the boys started cruising, and rejecting all baby food. We're on straight table food. I was able to cut down to 5 bottles/day
At 12 months - the boys are now 1 year old!!! We are eating a bigger variety of food now, and down to 4 bottles per day. Still trying to move over to the sippy cups, but for now.. If it ain't broke.....

I just love the boys. They are still momma's boys sometimes, but I absolutely love that. I'm still working from home. We just got a new nanny that is GREAT!

Life if good! In 2 weeks we are going to HAWAII!!!! Just Dustin and I. It is a much needed break, after a year of parenthood without one. I'm totally looking forward to it!!!

Christmas Fun!

Well, we made it back safely in one piece from Oklahoma. We had fun seeing family, and got to celebrate the boys first Christmas (which was very very memorable)..... What happened - Let's see......

• We had family photos (which turned out decent)
• Hunter's eardrum ruptured (very gross)
• I got sick (stomach flu, called Norovirus), then Isaac, then Hunter......
• And the boys spread it to everyone in our family (I think the count is up to 20 people now - well, what can I do, everyone wanted to hold the boys, whether or not they were sick)
• I didn't get a whole lot of pics at Christmastime, since I didn't feel very well.

So, now we're back, and now Isaac has an ear infection. But the good news is the boys are now starting to eat more solids, which is nice. I really enjoyed the week off at home with them. It was a nice way to unwind after our trip.

What a trip!

Well, this weekend was the boys first plane ride. That's right! We flew to Santa Fe, NM for the weekend to see my dad get his vows renewed.

The boys did so great on the plane. Everyone was remarking how well they were doing. We also attracted a lot of attention in the airport, and on the plane.

When we got to Santa Fe, Hunter was so excited to see new stuff, that he didn't sleep too well after we landed. By nighttime, he was so overtired that he was screaming for 5 hours straight! No amount of cuddling/holding was calming him down. We finally tried some chamomile tea, and he conked out. By the morning, he was fine, and did fine the remainder of the trip, and when we got home as well.

On Saturday morning, as we were getting ready for the wedding, we noticed Isaac was cutting his first tooth! Yay!! He had been fussing a lot, and we knew it was coming, and there it was!

The ceremony was short (which we LOVED), and we got to see a lot of family (which we loved even more)! Everyone was so excited to see the boys - Especially Grampa Cliff, who made sure they had EVERYTHING they could possibly need (which is nice, since it allowed us to cut down on our packing a lot).

Anyways, we made it back home in one piece, and all four of us took a nap. It had been a long day. We started at 4am. But all in all, it was a good trip. We prayed and prayed about it in advance, so I know that helped!

Doing better, and had a great Thanksgiving

Well, the boys are now over their ear infections. It was sooo much better after the initial 24 hours. And we are just now starting to get their (and our) sleep schedule back on track. They are doing great, and their nasal congestion is pretty much cleared up by now.

My mom and stepdad also came down for Thanksgiving, it was pretty fun. We were pretty stressed with screaming boys, lack of sleep, and painful arms and back from carrying babies around trying to get them to sleep. So, my mom had a great idea; why don't we just order our Thanksgiving dinner, and not worry about cooking, so we ordered a complete Thanksgiving dinner from Cracker Barrel. It was GREAT! We didn't have to cook (fortunately, because we found out we didn't have time to), and the food was really good. We had just enough leftovers. Dustin made 2 pecan pies (one plain, and one choc chip). I liked the choc chip.

We fed the boys sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. We let them get all messy. It was a lot of fun.

We have some good milestones to report. Isaac started taking solids well, and Hunter learned "open your mouth" after which, he started eating solids better, and taking his medicine (for ear infection) completely without fussing. Isaac is working on not fussing for his meds. This is a BIG achievement, since for the last week, we had to force medicine down them, and it would be everywhere.

Here are a few pics from the first Thanksgiving:

Boys eating sweet potatoes: