sleepy play

We got a second entertainer toy for the twins, but this one also doubles as a jumper. Crew absolutely loves the jumper and constantly has a bounce going whenever he's playing. This video is of Crew and shows just how dedicated he is to jumping, tired or not!

the beauty of a big brother

Crew and Kade absolutely idolize Brody, every time he comes around -whether it's to hug them or tackle them- they have the biggest smiles on their faces. Now that they're a little bigger, they're starting to play together a bit, which is so super cute! I love this video of Brody and Kade, I can't make Kade laugh this hard for the life of me, but Brody just does it with ease!

more brody babble

The other day Justin and I were talking with Brody, trying to see what he thinks about having brothers here all the time, and the convo went like this:
J- Do you like brothers?
K-Brody do you like Crew and Kade?
B- YEAH!
J- Do you love mommy?
B- Yeah. I like daddy. I like french fries!!

So, clearly he had food on his mind and wasn't really into having a heart to heart at the moment, and who can blame him? We were eating lunch.

We've also started helping Brody say his own prayers which consists of him repeating each line we say. But every now and then he throws something different into the mix:
K-We love mommy and daddy
B- We love mommy and daddy
B- We love brothers, Crew, Kade
B-We love brothers, Crew, Kade
K- We love Jesus
B- YUP!
K-We love Jesus
B-YUP!

Thankfully he agrees! He's just a funny little guy!

halloween

Well my original costume idea for the boys fell through when I saw the price of the costumes I wanted for the twins (two at the price was a bit too much!) So after assessing what we already had (a bear costume) we quickly came to the conclusion that our three little guys could be lions and tigers and bears. I figured I had better act quick on the plan because there's only so many years one can dress their son up as a bear or lion without any protesting. So here's some pics from the trunk-or-treat at church:

Lions and tigers and bears and Justin's shirt said "oh my"

Crew, our lion, who LOVED wearing his costume!

Brody, our ferocious tiger.

Kade, our little bear.

Part of our trunk display, we had teeth with needle nose pliers, which were splattered with blood, some 'lost and found' dental x-rays, and a sign that read "free extractions and root canals, no shots needed". It wasn't much, but we only planned for 20 minutes.

Brody with his friends at the trunk-or-treat.

On Halloween we hit our favorite places to trick-or-treat: my grandparents, my parents, and Justin's aunt and parents. We tried to get a family picture from the night, but lets just say the twins couldn't adequately tell us their costumes were over their faces, and we didn't know until we looked at the pictures at home that night. So, instead of closing with a cute family Halloween picture, I close with Brody in his "pooky" skeleton pajamas.

I love that when you ask him if he's a spooky skeleton, he replies, "yeah, I pooky."

review session

Well clearly I haven't updated for a while, and this post should take everyone up to date. So here goes:

At the end of August we went to our ward's annual beach party, Luckily this year there wasn't any large waves to soak everyone! The twins, each in a baby bjourn, did great and really enjoyed being outside. Brody loved running around, and thought the kite flying was super cool.

There was A LOT of this going on:

Colds all around, teething for Brody (six teeth!), and four-month shots for the twins.

We celebrated this guy's 28th birthday, and kicked off the start of his LAST year of school (we are sooo excited)!!

We finally ordered a second:

And now the boys are all in one room together. So far it's had a couple bumps, but it's coming along pretty well.

We're getting LOTS of smiles from these two:

Crew and Kade have begun:

Rice cereal and rolling over both ways.

We realized Brody knows what it means to go "hands free".

Obviously I've showed him how to talk on the phone when both hands are occupied with:

Things are a little crazy, but no matter what I still LOVE these sweeties:

boys club

"Cute" meetings like this could seriously backfire on me one day. Talking and babbling could become scheming and plotting. At least for now it's harmless!

blinded

Ok, I know I've only been a mom for a couple years, so I'm not quite the seasoned professional I one day hope to be. However, in some situations I just have to stop and ask myself: "How did I NOT see that coming?" Today I gave Brody some water to wash his magnetic alphabet letters with, thinking this was a great way for him to unleash some energy and get some toys clean. But as usual, things went way differently than planned:

Things seem fun, and non problematic.

Brody, king of pouring and transferring objects from one bowl to another, obviously found a better way to have fun!

So probably everyone, except me, would have seen that watery disaster coming. Of course while cleaning up the water, I couldn't really blame him for pouring two bowls of water all over the table, chairs and floor. I mean hello! He LOVES to pour stuff! Oh well, it's just soapy water, so I guess at least part of our house will be cleaner! Hmm.. maybe I should put him to "work" in other parts of the house too!

smiles all around

Time has been flying with the twins, pretty soo they'll be three months old. When Brody was little we took tons of pictures, but with twins it's hard to find a free hand to take a picture! Luckily we've taken a couple to capture their latest accomplishment: smiling! Crew and Kade are becoming so social, it's really fun to "converse" with their little coos! They also have really been packing on the pounds, especially Kade, so they have squishy little thighs, cheeks and chins! Here's some pics of our two little guys:

Kade giving a super big smile!

Playing together (and are actually not being held!)

Kade using a bottle top as a pacifier

Kade was not going to give me a smile, but Crew gave a little one!

table for three

So after a rather large break from doing anything crafty, I was a little inspired to make something for the boys. I used the cricut for the letters, dicuts for the shapes and of course a little mod podge! Luckily this was a pretty quick project, so it was easy to finish in an afternoon. Here's the finished product:

go dodgers!

A couple weeks ago, we were able to take Brody to mormon night for the dodgers, and had lots of fun! Before the game we taught him how to cheer and say "go dodgers" and "go manny". He loved that he was able to yell and cheer really loud with everyone else -of course the junk food didn't hurt the night either! Justin was super excited since our seats were in left field where manny stands, he's such a fan! Although we left early, we had a fun night and enjoyed hanging out with friends! Thanks again to Shauna and Diane for watching the twins!

Go Dodgers!

Brody babble

Brody's a pretty fun kid, at least I think so! Here's a couple funny things he's said lately:

After placing a laundry basket on his head: "Ohh, big hat!"

The twins were laying down and Justin pick one up, Brody pointed to the one still on the floor and said: "Oh, that one's mommy's."

We're trying to help him feel safe even when it's dark by saying 'it's ok, mommy/daddy's here' but the other morning he announces: "It's ok, chocolate milk's here!" That might be the first sign of an emotional eater!

double duty

Before Crew and Kade came I was always wondering 'how you do it' with two babies (I think some mornings I still wonder how) so here's some photos to satisfy your curiousity:

How to hold two babies.

How to feed two babies.

How to burp two babies.

So that's part of our day, there's lots more were figuring out, but Crew and Kade a pretty good babies, so it's coming right along! I can't believe they're already over two months, that seemed to go by so quickly! Crew and Kade are starting to look more and more alike, it's so easy to mix them up! Lately they just started smiling which is so cute! We love our new little guys and hopefully we'll have some more pics to come soon!

not a place to sit

Grandma and grandpa got Brody this cute water sink for our patio in hopes that this would keep him a little occupied while I'm busy with the twins. Great idea right? The first day Brody played great, but from the second day on this is the result, maybe five minutes after I fill up the sink:
The good news is once he's given into temptation and becomes fully immersed he'll play for quite a while. I just have to make sure he's in his trunks before I fill up the sink!

kid proof?

Ok seriously what does "child proof" mean? Last year Brody figured out the cabinet locks, and how to climb out of his crib. This year he figured out baby door locks, medicine bottles, and how to unlock and open the sliding door to let people in (whether or not we're around). What the heck? My last working lock is for the fridge... hopefully it lasts!

blessing day

Today was Crew and Kade's blessing day! It was so exciting to have two little guys to bless! I didn't hear most of what Justin said, but the feeling was so special! These two little guys can be really overwhelming at times, but at other moments, like today, I feel so special to have two little boys here together that Justin and I get to raise and teach. Lately the twins have started to show some little smiles, and during Kade's blessing, Justin snuck a peek at Kade, who was just smiling away! That really summed up the experience, it was just a happy day for our family. Even though we missed those who are far away, we were happy to have friends and family to share the day with!

learning to share

Sometimes Brody does great with the twins, and other times he'd probably prefer to have Justin and me all to himself. Tonight he was great with the "brothers". He has some little letter sets from Shauna, which he absolutely loves, and tonight he decided to share his letters with Crew. He was so excited to share that he just kept piling the letters on Crew*, this was the result:


*No brothers were harmed in this share time.

2 years old!

Last week Brody turned two! Brody is such a little ball of energy that sometimes it seems unreal that he's only two! We absolutely LOVE Brody, he's such a fun guy to hang out with. He loves anything that involves running, jumping or climbing! If he does sit, he loves hot wheels, matchbox cars and anything involving letters! He's such a crack up and he certainly knows how to work a crowd! He's tried really hard to be a good big brother and we're so proud of the big kid he's become! We decided to celebrate with a little family get together in the park, which turned out to be pretty fun! That night my parents watched Crew and Kade so we could take Brody out for a birthday dinner at Ruby's and also to enjoy the car show. I know it was Brody's day, but I really had a blast!

He loved having everyone sing happy birthday to him!

Devouring his cake.

One of the cars he liked, of course it was yellow!

Dinner out at Ruby's. I was so impressed, he actually ate his meal! Hopefully it's a 2 year old thing!

5 years

Last week Justin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! Our anniversary and Brody's birthday fall on the same day, so our anniversary is always going to be celebrated before or after the actual day, this year we celebrated the night before. Diane and Shauna were nice enough to babysit our little guys so we could have a night out together. We started out having dinner at the cheesecake factory (have you ever tried their chocolate oreo mudslide cheesecake? LOVE it!) and afterward we ran a couple errands to prep for Brody's b-day. I know, I know, errands aren't romantic, but it really was nice to have some quiet time to talk and be with each other. I've never needed anything spectacular to make my time with Justin feel special, I always just love the little times we spend together day in day out. We've been through quite a whirlwind in the past five years, and thankfully I had the best guy ever to experience it with! Love you Justin!

first swim of summer

Last week we headed out to Justin's grandpa's house, which has an incredible backyard, with an amazing swimming pool. Justin's been waiting for the weather to warm up so he could take Brody swimming, luckily today it was warm enough! They had a great time swimming and loved the water slide! After an afternoon of swimming, Justin's grandpa fired up the grill for an amazing bbq dinner! Thanks Lita and grandpa for letting us come play!

Enjoying the pool

Ready, set, JUMP!

Lovin' that water slide!

poser

Crew is a funny little guy, he always seems to have his arms set in these little poses. Sleeping, eating, or just hanging out, this guy's always set like he's ready for his close up!

the boys

It still seems a little unreal that we've got three little guys here, but we're getting used to the craziness! We love these little guys!

trendsetter

Brody's kind of learning how to dress himself -scratch that- he's learning how to undress himself! Sometimes shirts can be a little tricky (pants not so much, they just slide over his non-bum) so shirts can take on a new look. Do you dare to try?

two of a kind

Our little guys may not be identical, but they certainly are similar! Not only do they like to wake each other up or eat while the other one's feeding, but their often caught doing the same movements (not too hard to imagine since their both newborns!) Here's a couple looks at their twin behavior:

kobe

Justin said he had a treat for me, and this is the cookie he brought home for me from my favorite bakery. Go Lakers!