a Very Merry Christmas!

What a exciting week we had!
Monday we got up early and left the house in our pajamas to go see the doctor. He took our height & weight - I am 32 lbs and Noah is 38 lbs. We were very good, showing off to the doctor how good we were when he wanted to look at us to make sure we were healthy and showing off how smart we are. We did an eye test and ear test, but just when we thought we were done, the nurse came in with shots! YUCK! I cried when they put the mist in my nose, so when she poked me with needles I REALLY screamed! Noah cried until he got to pick out his sticker & pencil. I cried, but didn't miss out on my sticker & pencil.
I was very tired all day and didn't feel very good. It was really snowing out hard, so Mommy had to stay at work until late. But, we still got to kiss her good night before we went to bed. I wasn't able to sleep, though. My ear really hurt, so Daddy sat on the couch and cuddled with me while I cried. He went and got me medicine, but it still hurt, so he took me down to watch TV. It made me feel a little bit better.
Wednesday, we had our Christmas Party at Daycare! We played games, hid candy canes and opened presents from our friends! I got a Polly Pockets set and Noah got Bumblebee, his FAVORITE transformer! It was so cool.
Thursday, we didn't go to daycare. We just stayed home with Mom. We tried to clean up a little bit, but we really just wanted to play with our toys. Noah dressed up in each of his costumes at least twice and I tried on a few of my costumes, too. We helped Mom bake some cookies and helped her make a birthday cake for Jesus. I asked if Jesus would be coming to the party, but Mom said he was pretty busy. I asked if he would be having a party with Uncle David and Uncle Adam and that other girl (Mom said her name is Natalia, but I always forget that long name!), and she said he would. We'll just have to save him a piece of cake.
Shortly after Dad came home, we got ready to go to the Diva Christmas Party. It was at Piper & Anika's house, so we were excited to go play with them and other kids. I fell asleep on the way there - Noah was tired a couple of times, but made sure to stay awake.
We played a little bit when we got there, ate some yummy food and then went back to play. We even got to play in our pajamas! (I think our Moms & Dads wanted us to lay down and watch a movie, but we built a fort, played with toys and jumped on the trampoline!) Noah had a little accident - he said a wall hit him and so he got a bloody nose. But Mom & Dad stopped it so he could come down and play. I also had an accident when I collided with Piper, but we were both OK.
We even got our own yummy cookies with our names on them! They were so cool - they were HUGE cookies as big as my HEAD that looked like little people. And, they were really yummy! When we came up to eat our cookies, we realized it was SNOWING and had been for a long time. We said goodbye to our Diva friends & their families and headed home in the snow.
I don't remember leaving their block - I just remember waking up on Christmas Eve morning in my own bed. It was still snowing when we got up.
We got to pick our dinner on Christmas eve (Daddy made NOODLES!) and ate while Daddy and our neighbor Dan used their snowblowers to clean their driveways & sidewalks. Shortly after we were done eating, Grandma Lois and Grandpa Bob came! They brought our little cousin Alex. He is little, so he got into our stuff a lot. Mom told us that we should play with him, but we just wanted to play big kid games with each other. Griffin also came over and played for a little while - he brought PRESENTS for us! YAY!
After we showed off to Grandma & Grandpa for a while, Aunt Angela came with Michael & Michelle (we've been waiting for this for a long time! Mom promised Michael & Michelle would be here). Michelle played with Noah & me for a while until it was time to eat. We got to use special snowman plates that Mommy said she would carry so they wouldn't break. It was so cool to eat in the living room with all our family from Daddy's side of the family.
After dinner, we opened PRESENTS! We got pillow pets - just what we wanted! I got a purple unicorn and Noah got a frog. We also got a few other things including a JUMPOLENE. Noah can't wait to set it up - it's like an inflatable trampoline.
We had to say goodbye to Angela and her family and get ready for bed - we were tired, but made sure to lay out cookies and milk for Santa!
Christmas morning, Mom & Dad woke up to find Noah laying on the couch just waiting for everyone to get up. He hadn't turned on the tree or opened any presents, he was just laying there waiting quietly. He didn't even wake me up! But, when I got up, we started opening presents. It was soo cool! Santa brought me a Barbie CRUISE SHIP and Noah got Monster Trucks. We also got a whole bunch of cool stuff from Mom & Dad! I got a Barbie, some clothes for Barbie, a car for her, books and too much stuff to name! Noah got a lot of stuff, too - Megatron (the transformer), Iron Man, a Buzz Lightyear gun (which he shot me with, so Daddy took it away from him for a whole day for shooting me!) with a belt & binoculars, a Buzz Lightyear voice changing helmet and a bunch of other cool stuff. It was such an awesome Christmas - thanks Mom & Dad! Our daycare provider gave Noah a flip over truck that was pretty cool when it ran into walls, and I got a zhu zhu pet. Yay! Mom & Dad gave me a car and Noah got a pet with a room, so we played Zhu Zhu pets in the kitchen after we opened our gifts up.
After we took an afternoon nap, Mom & Dad kind of disappeared into the basement. They said that the pipes backed up into the basement, so they wouldn't let us come down because they said it was a big mess. A guy with a BIG machine on wheels came in to help Daddy right before we went to bed, but Mommy said it was a big mess to clean up! Luckily, Grandma & Grandpa helped us get started on dinner while Mommy & Daddy worked on the basement.
Sunday was a good day to just play with more of our toys. We got so many cool things, we don't know what to do first! Mommy & Grandma went shopping for a little while, and when they got back we had Jesus' birthday cake (we forgot to sing him Happy Birthday and have cake when Angela was here, and yesterday we got too busy to remember the cake, too!) So we all had a piece of cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.
Finally, we got back into our routine when we had supper, took our baths and went to bed on time. It was a busy weekend!
This morning, mom was a little scared. She went into our bedroom to make sure we had blankets, and after she covered Noah, she couldn't find me! She looked all over, and went to see if Daddy had been up with me overnight. He got up and helped look upstairs and all over, but Mom checked the couch a second time and found me under a blanket sleeping on my pillow pet on the couch! I guess she didn't know I had gotten up and was sleeping there. She hugged me and carried me back to bed. Just before she put me in bed, I asked her if Jesus had come to have birthday cake yet. I was really tired, but she asked me if I was waiting up on the couch for Jesus to come have cake. I told her yes, and cuddled back into her arms. I was tired, and fell asleep in front of the Christmas tree waiting for Jesus. I guess I missed him.
It was good to be back at daycare today. We got to be with our friends again - we missed them.
It was very fun to see Grandma & Grandpa, though. We sang songs with Grandma and showed off how we can even do math! Unfortunately, they were gone when we got home from Sue's today. Dad said they went to go see Michael & Michelle because they wanted to spend some time with them, too.
We were sad when we saw the decorations were off the tree. The lights are still on but Daddy and Mommy said we are going to have to take the tree down now that Christmas is over. Sad. We asked what the next holiday is, and they told us it's New Year. I don't know what that is, but I hope Christmas comes again very soon! It really was so much fun to decorate, have presents, see Santa, have snow and see family.
It's getting late, and it's been a very busy and fun week, so I'll stop now and maybe I'll write more next week. Until then, Happy New Year!
Love- Hannah

Happy Birthday to US!

Whew! What a weekend!
The week was kind of crazy because we were still getting used to all that snow we had - but our big news was that we were anticipating our birthday!
Monday night, Mommy dug in our front yard to find our penguins. Daddy finished digging them out, so we now get to turn them on again, though they look like just penguin heads from the street because our snow is so deep. It is so deep, that it's up to our swings in the backyard.
Tuesday, we asked how many days until school starts. Mommy said we could make a paper chain to count down the days to school. We started making one, but still have to finish decorating some of the links and putting them all together.
Friday, we had a party at daycare - we got cupcakes and presents from Sue!
Friday night, I had a rough night - my forehead hurt when I got home from Sue's, then my ear hurt after I went to bed, and my throat hurt when I got up at 5. I fell back asleep for a short time, but realized I felt better so I was ready to set up some toys and play!
As we ate our breakfast, the door opened and Grandma Diane and Grandpa Mark walked in! How exciting! We didn't know they were coming, so we were very happy to see them! We got to take them to ice skating class to show off how we skate. I still wasn't feeling great, so I didn't move my feet as much as last week, but I got a pink balloon, and Noah got a green balloon for moving his feet and catching his balloon really well.
After that, we had to go to church to practice the pageant. We like going to church, but this was a drag. We had to sit on stage and be quiet, then they made us put on costumes. Noah didn't want to put on an angel costume at all, and even sat in a time out for a while because he wasn't cooperative. We decided to leave early because we just weren't feeling well.
We did, however, feel better once we got home and had dinner! I wasn't very hungry, but a few bites of Mac & Cheese makes me happy. I even took a nap for about an hour. While I slept, Noah got a Christmas tree for our bedroom. He really wanted to get the big one (that's about as tall as him) for our bedroom, but Mommy said it wouldn't fit in our room, so he said he would take the small one from Mommy's college days. Noah dusted it off and got it ready to put in our bedroom.
When I got up, we had a snack and got ready to go to the mall for pictures. We had to wait a little while, so we ran around with another little girl named Journey, but Mommy & Daddy said we were pretty good for pictures. We had to be! They kept telling us they would only give us treats (Mom had raisins & strawberry bars) if we were good! We were so good, in fact, that we got to go to a restaurant for supper!
Again, I wasn't really hungry, but I had fun looking at the pigs around the restaurant! Here is one of our pictures, but Mom put more in the photo album online.
We were so tired by the time we got home, but it was soooo cool to fall asleep to Christmas tree lights in our room.
This morning, we woke up to balloons in our room! Grandma bought us each a shiney balloon that floats and put it in our room while we slept. Noah cried when he got up and the Christmas lights were off, but he was excited to find a balloon!
Then we were off to the races for a busy day - we had to get to church to get ready for our pageant. We did very well. Noah said maybe he would be an angel another day, but he decided today was a good day to be an angel, so we both were good angels and sang Jesus Loves Me in front of everyone. After the program, we got treats (cookies!), then went to church. We even got to to up on stage while Mommy & Daddy read aloud and lit the candles on a high wreath. The nursery was closed, but we were pretty good in church for Mom, Dad, Grandma & Grandpa.
Unfortunately, Grandpa & Grandma had to leave after church, so they left and we got in the car. Mom & Dad bought us Happy Meals and we ate them on the road on the way to the big Mall. Daddy was awesome and found a parking spot within 10 minutes of us getting there, and we got to go in, finish our food and walk around a little bit. We waited in line for a few minutes, then got to see Santa! He was so awesome. He sang songs about what we asked for, he made us laugh, told us we were good, and took pictures with us. He even gave us a toothbrush and a birthday hug. We got to see a movie of US with Santa after we were in Santa's workshop.
When we got home, we got to talk to Grandma Lois and Grandpa Bob online, then opened the gift they gave us. We got Superhero dress up costumes, so we tried them all on and had fun! After Dad hung up the online call, we got to open the rest of our gifts. We got some fun stuff - game tub (Noah said he knew we were getting them), monster trucks & Barbies, books, lacing cards, new pajamas and money. After supper, we got to have cupcakes. I had Spiderman on my cupcake and Hannah had Tinkerbell. We had candles and Mom & dad sang Happy Birthday to us.
It was an exhausting day, so after our baths, we crashed.
Tomorrow, we have to go to the doctor. I hope they don't give us shots.
Have a Great Christmas week!
Hannah

SNOW DAY!

Wow! We thought we had a lot of snow before, but now we REALLY have a lot of snow.
Last week, Mommy was very late picking us up from daycare on Friday because she was stuck in traffic with lots of snow. We got to hang out with Megan, though, which was fun!
After Mommy picked us up, we went to get our hair cut. Hannah wanted hair short, so she cut 3 or 4 inches off of her hair! Hopefully it won't hurt so bad when Mom & Dad brush it now. I have NEVER liked to have my hair cut when Mom & Dad took us to salons. I've always thrown a fit when I got my hair cut, but this time I was very good. I sat nicely for the stylist. We were so good, that we got balloons, combs, suckers, tattoos AND Mom & Dad took us to SUBWAY! It was awesome.
On Saturday, we were very good at skating. Hannah didn't cry and she moved her feet and tried really hard. I decided to skate over to the next class to see what the more advanced class was doing, and another little girl took my hand and helped me skate with them. Mommy & Daddy laughed.
After we got done skating, Mom & Dad were so happy with us that they took us to a Christmas dance at the Community Center. Santa was there, but we had already talked to him at Santaland, so we just danced at the dance, colored, did crafts and got tattoos. Santa's reindeer were also there, so we made sure to tell them not to miss our house this year. We've been very good, but our house is not green anymore! We don't want Santa to miss it.
We also got to go out and see a petting zoo - there were no cages or anything between us and the animals. We just could walk up to a goat, horse, cow, goose or bunny and pet them. It was so cool.
I've been bugging Mom & Dad to put up the blow-up penguins in the front yard, so they FINALLY did it today. We love those penguins! Daddy bought a remote control for the penguins so we can turn them on and blow them up from inside the house, and it's a big treat for me to turn them on!
Mommy also let me wear my new Bumblebee Transformer costume Monday because my Optimus prime broke. I love it - I have worn it every night this week. I'm an awesome bumblebee! Hannah got a new ladybug, too, so she could be a ladybug or Ariel when she dresses up.
Friday night, Hannah read a bedtime story to me. I don't know if it was the right words, but it was fun to have someone other than Dad or Mom read to me.
Saturday morning (yesterday), we woke up for skating and found SO MUCH SNOW EVERYWHERE! There was so much that our blow up penguins were gone! Daddy dug really deep to find them buried in the snow in the front yard, but they wouldn't light up, so something was wrong. After skating class, we went to Target to buy toys that Mom & Dad said were for kids who don't have toys. It's hard to imagine not having toys because we have so many, but Mom said some kids don't have toys like ours. After we bought the toys, we drove to bring them to the Marines. The roads were really bad - I don't know how daddy could even find the road because it was so white and snowy - but Daddy is a really good driver so he didn't get stuck in the ditches or intersections like so many other people did. The Marines thanked us and took the toys to kids who don't have toys - he said that some kid will love the Bumblebee Transformer I picked, and someone will love the Barbie Hannah brought.
After that, we got to get McDonalds because we were so good at skating. We both tried really hard - Hannah moved her feet and I kept moving and listening to the teacher. I want to be a good skater so I can play HOCKEY! When we got home, Daddy had to get the snowblower out and blow the sidewalk clean again because so much snow had fallen while we were gone. And, it was still falling!
We just stayed in for the rest of the day. We watched a few Christmas specials and baked cookies while it finally stopped snowing. The snow is higher than Cheyenne's back! This is a picture of the path that Mommy shoveled on the deck. The deck was cleared off with no snow on Friday, but today, we had all this snow!
Now it's just really cold. Church and Sunday School were cancelled today, so we just hung out and home and played with our toys and helped Mommy with Christmas gifts. She's really far behind on wrapping those! Daddy went to play volleyball, then picked us up and took us out to eat where we got to see Diva Carol and Ron. Yay!
We're very excited because we're turning into FOUR! Our birthday is just one week away.
Now that we're four, we get to go to SCHOOL! Mom said that she's going to enroll us in preschool with our friend Joey. We get to ride the bus from Sue's and everything. We're so excited to go to regular school 3 times a week!
Well, it's getting late. It's going to be a busy week leading into a busy weekend, so we've got to get our rest.
Noah

Fun weekend!

This weekend wiped me out! I'm exhausted!

We had a short week at daycare. We were still excited that the tree and lights are all up. And Mommy put some presents under the tree on Monday!

Mom picked us up Wednesday and we saw snow outside, then Thursday morning we got up and asked if we could go to Grandma's. We had to wait until after dinner, but we were so excited to get to Grandma & Grandpa's! Nobody else was there when we got there, so we got Grandma & Grandpa all to ourselves.

Friday, we helped make brownies for Grandma, then after dinner we went to visit Santa and his village. It was very cool, and he was so nice. I told him I wanted Barbies. Lots of them. Noah wants lots of Monster Trucks. (Though, he hardly ever put Uncle Adam's transformer toy down when he played at Grandma's this weekend!) Santa even gave us an apple. We got to see the North pole, Mrs. Santa's kitchen with all the gingerbread, the elves' workshop (the elves were there and they gave us TWO toys!), trains, and the reindeer barn. We got to sign the naughty/nice wall (of course, I was nice. Noah signed that he was nice, though I'm not so sure...) and we even wrote letters to Santa and mailed them right there.

After we got home and ate our apple from Santa, Angie came - just as we were setting up Grandma's Christmas Tree. Ben & Lauren were not far behind. We were very excited to get to see our aunts and cousins.

Saturday, we got up early and went to see Great Grandma Marita. It was quiet, but she was happy to see us. She let us play with her teddy bears on her couch and we played hide & seek and looked at all of her pictures from when mommy was little like us!

After that, we went to Great Grandma Leona's, and LOTS of mommy's cousins, aunts & uncles were there. It was CRAZY! After dinner, some of our cousins were going to Santaland, so we went again. We showed our cousin Hailey that Santa wasn't scary. Then, we showed Ben, Lauren & Hailey around Santaland, since we were just there. When we got back to Great Grandma's, we got to play upstairs with the "bigger" kids and color fun coloring pages. We were sad to stop playing uno and go home, but we were tired.

Today, we got to play with Lauren & Ben again before we ate dinner and went home. I was really tired. I was ready to go home. When we got home, I was so tired that I just put on my pajamas and went to sleep! I didn't even eat my favorite meal (macaroni & cheese) and take a bath.

Well, time to go. A full week of daycare, though we're starting to get excited about our birthdays coming soon. We'll be FOUR! (2+2 is 4!) We're learning to add numbers together now. We can add simple things like 3+3, 4+4, etc...though it's tricky when you have different numbers like 3+4. What's that?!

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving, and we're looking forward to the crazy weeks ahead before our birthday and Christmas.
Hannah

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had a rough week. I have been coughing a lot; so much that I almost threw up a few times. I wasn't even hungry for Mac & Cheese - my favorite - on Wednesday! I started to feel better on Thursday, though I am still tired and cough a lot.
Saturday, Mommy went to a volleyball tournament while Noah and I went to skating. I still don't want to walk on the ice, but I was good and went on the ice while Daddy watched us. After skating, we got McDonalds and went to see Mommy and the Divas. It was fun to run around the bleachers in the volleyball gym, watch soccer and (of course) watch Mommy play volleyball. After she was done, Daddy took us to meet her at a restaurant. Most of the other Divas were there with their kids, so we got to eat at our own kids table with 6 other kids. It was so fun. I got to color 2 placemats, too. I wrote "dad" on a special placemat that I colored, and gave it to him. :-)
Today, it was VERY icy outside, so Daddy had to carry us to the truck to go to church. Lots of people missed Sunday School because it was so slippery outside, so we got double treats in class. Yay! After we got home, we cleaned up the living room so we could decorate for Christmas. We cleared out a BIG space and then Daddy took us out to buy a Christmas tree! It's a REAL tree, so it smells like a forest. We were so excited when Daddy put it up! After he put on lights, we helped put on decorations. The lights are so pretty! We LOVE to turn off the lights and watch them dance. We even set up our Little People Nativity Set under the tree. After our bath, we turned off the lights and danced around the lit tree in the dark while our Nativity Set played "Away In the Manger". It was so fun!
We're looking forward to getting to go see Grandma and Grandpa this week. We haven't seen them in a while, so we miss them. Hopefully the weather gets better so we can drive out to see them!
Well, gotta go. It's been an exhausting week and we look forward to another busy, COLD week.
Hannah

Yay! SNOW!

Yay! We got snow yesterday! We were so excited. When we got up, we ran around the house looking at the snow on the ground, cheering, telling Mommy and Daddy about it and watching it fall (Boy was it falling hard when we got up!) What a fun way to cap off an exciting week.
Monday night, we played dress-up and even ate supper in our dress-up costumes. I was Optimus Prime and Hannah was Ariel.
Tuesday night, we had friends over! Mommy's friend Renee brought her three kids over to play with us while Mommy and Renee played volleyball. We had pizza, made cookies and played with them. We play with them all the time at Ron & Carols, and sometimes we've been to their house to play, too, so we know them pretty well. We don't have friends over very often, so it was really fun to have them over to play.
Wednesday, I wrote my own name with NO HELP on my paper at daycare. Mommy and Daddy were so proud. I'm working hard on my fine motor skills. I love to run and jump, but am just starting to focus on smaller things. I really want to learn to write my letters (I've known them for over two years!) and I even buttoned my own pajamas tonight.
Hannah is working on writing her lower case letters. (When she started writing her name, she used capital letters, so she's now learning lower case letters.) She's getting really good at lower case a's now.
Saturday, we woke up to LOTS of snow! It had snowed overnight and was snowing hard when we woke up. Daddy had to go play a volleyball tournament, but Mommy took us to skating. It was a very snowy drive! But, we had lots of fun at skating. We worked hard to walk on the ice in our skates.
After skating, we got to go to the Library. We got some movies, a Spiderman book and a Mickey Mouse book. I love to read, and right now, my favorite book to read before bedtime is The Night Before Christmas.
When we got home from the library, we ate, had quiet time and then played outside in the snow. We played for a long time, made snow angels, 2 snowmen and took the sled around the yard. (Cheyenne ate the face of one of our snowmen...Mommy couldn't find coal for eyes, so she used dogfood for eyes, and Hannah and I gave them carrot noses. Our snowmen are melting today but we'll have to use something Cheyenne won't eat for the face next time we make a snowman.) We had the best time sliding down our slide, though, with all that snow. It was a really big day, and Daddy took us to Red Lobster for dinner that night. It was so yummy! I had shrimp and mashed potatoes-I love shrimp!
Today, we went to Sunday School, then came home and moved our beds from beside the window to a corner. It was a big job that took Mommy and Daddy all day to take down our shelves, take apart our heavy bed, reassemble it and put up shelves on the other side of the room, but Mommy and Daddy didn't like us by the window when we slept, so they're happy to have us moved. We ended the day getting to talk to Aunt Angie on the computer, so we were very happy to see her! We're looking forward to Thanksgiving to see our family again.
We're still very excited about the snow! It will melt fast, but we're looking forward to more snow this winter. :-)
Have a great week!
Noah

I'm such a big boy. Monday night, I took a shower! I had already taken a bath to get my hair washed, but I put on goggles and danced under the shower water for a while.
On the way to daycare on Friday, Daddy turned the wrong way, parked his truck and we got to watch a train from beginning to end. We love trains - it was so cool.
Saturday, Mommy was gone at a tournament all day, so daddy took us to skating. I am having fun - I can get up on my own and walk a little. I'm going to play hockey, so I can hit people! I can't wait! Hannah prefers to get one-on-one attention, so she cries when she isn't being carried on the ice. She wants to sit with Mommy and Daddy and not even get on the ice sometimes. Daddy told her she needs to try harder, so maybe she'll start walking on the ice more (she can already stand for a long time) so she can go skating and play on the ice with me. Mommy said Grandpa used to skate a lot when he was a kid, so we want GRANDPA MARK to take us skating when we go to his house.
Today, we put together a penguin for Christmas. Mommy said we can't put it up until after it gets cold but it's so neat! It lights up and everything. After that we went to Sunday School and came home to work in the yard. We helped Daddy rake leaves and put them away in bags, then played inside for a while. When Daddy started to watch football, I started to pretend I was playing football and jumping over the defensive line until Mommy took me outside to play football with her. My hands were too small to throw the ball correctly, but I wanted to play with the real ball, so we just caught the ball, ran and tackled! I had so much fun, I laughed the whole time (especially when I tackled Mommy and she tackled me!).
We're looking forward to another nice week! Have a good week!
Noah

Haloween Fun

We had a very fun weekend.
Friday, we had a party at daycare with all our friends. We dressed up in our costumes, danced to Halloween songs and shared treats with friends. When we came home, we decorated pumpkins - we colored on ours, then helped Mommy carve a REALLY BIG pumpkin. (it was the first time Mommy had ever carved a pumpkin, so we helped her decide on what design to make. We told her we wanted it to have a silly face!)
Saturday at skating, we got to play with balloons! Noah got up and kicked his balloon and inched across the ice. Hannah was a little scared to join the class, but had a lot of fun when the teachers finally got her on the ice. She stood for a long time, though she's afraid to move her feet and walk.
After skating, we went to Cub for a Halloween party. When we walked in, we got to see our Sunday School teacher driving into the parking lot. He was excited to see us, and we were excited to see him. Cub had gift bags we could color with apples and candy, a bride painted jack-o-lanterns on our faces and we even got a cookie. Yum! After we got home, we played for a while then went to see our friends Anika, Piper and Deion. There were LOTS of kids there to play in their new home. We had a lot of fun and were sad to leave. But, when we got home, we did a kids bonfire!
Daddy made a bonfire just for us. Our neighbor Griffin came to join us shortly after we started it, and our neighbor even came over with her dog Lucy for a short time. We got to roast marshmallows and have Smores. It was so cool! We love bonfires!
This morning, we sang in church. After Sunday School, we stood in front of church and sang a song. We tried to follow the words, and did a nice job standing up in front of the church and being good singers (and looking cute). After church, we went to Menards, then came home to play with Griffin for a short time. After we played, we put on our costumes to trick or treat! YEAH! We went trick-or-treating with Griffin around 2 blocks this year (last year, we went around 1 block). Then we had supper and went to visit our friends Trevor & Dillon. We love to go play with them! We got to go trick-or-treating with them for a short time, but got cold and were very happy to go in and play with the boys.
We were very exhausted by the time we got home! We had a really fun weekend, though. This holiday is really becoming a cool thing - but we're looking forward to Thanksgiving and then OUR BIRTHDAYS as the next major holiday for us. We'll have so much fun on our birthdays, and lots of fun at Christmas time.
Have a great week!
Noah & Hannah

How they've grown

For the past 3 years, we've taken the kids to Apple Jack's Orchard to play, see the animals, ride the tractor ride and take a few pictures by the river. There is one tree that we perched the kids in the first year we went, thinking it was a cute picture. We put them in that same tree last year and this year, just to see how they've grown in comparison with the little tree. It's fun to see the progression of how fast they've grown since they were 22 months old to now, almost 4 years old!

You can also see the progression at our photo album:
http://stephenandshari.com/yr4/oct10/slides/hannah_tree_22oct.html
and
http://stephenandshari.com/yr4/oct10/slides/noah_tree_22oct.html

Happy Halloween

We're exhausted after a big week!
Monday night Mommy let us go through a toy catalog and write our names on everything we wanted! There is REALLY cool toys in stores - we hope we can have ALL the toys we want!
Friday Mommy & Daddy stayed home with us. We got ready to go to an apple orchard, ran a couple of errands, stopped to eat then drove to the orchard. We'd been there before, so we knew all the fun stuff they had - we slid down a haybale hill on slides, crawled through a hollow log, saw chickens, goats & horses and pretended to drive a car. We also got to go down by the river and mommy took our pictures. We had so much fun - we would have LOVED to stay longer, but we couldn't stay all day. We got to ride in a cow train then went and picked out a big pumpkin for Halloween.
On our way home, Daddy stopped at a park with a GIANT play area! There were slides, steps, a tire swing and a hug rope net area where we climbed for a long time. It was such a nice day, we didn't want to go home, but we had to.
Saturday morning, we had ice skating class. Daddy went to play volleyball while we skated. We got to see TWO garages in the rink - they had this big machine that Mommy called a Zamboni that made snow on the ice. It was very cool! Hannah didn't want to skate, but the teacher told her that she could just watch. One teacher helped her up and she stood a long time, though she was hesitant to follow the group when they were dancing. Noah tried to follow the group, but had a hard time getting back up when he fell. Both of us did a great job keeping up with the class. We're hoping to stand up on the ice soon so we can work on moving forward to skate.
After skating, we got to stop at volleyball to see Daddy. We were so happy to see him, though we also got to see Diva Carol, Diva Renee, Aaron, Ron and lots of other people we know. Then Mommy let us play on the playground for a while before we went home.
When Daddy got done with volleyball, we put on our Halloween Costumes and went trick or treating at the mall. There were so many people there and we got a lot of candy. Shortly after we got home and ate, we went to a party with other twins and their families. There was dancing, crafts, pizza, ring toss, face painting and pin the nose on the pumpkin. It was so much fun we were sad to go but we had to go grocery shopping.
Today, we got up and talked to Grandpa on the computer for a while, then drove to our Aunt Angela's place to celebrate Michael's birthday. We got to play with our cousins, watch Michael open gifts and have cake & ice cream. After our bath, we played a fun game of Hide & Seek with Mommy & Daddy before we went to bed. We were exhausted after such a busy weekend that we fell asleep quickly.
We're looking forward to trick or treating next weekend! Happy Halloween!
Noah & Hannah

Ice Skating

We started skating lessons this week!
Mommy bought us skates a few weeks ago, so we tried them on a few times at home. They were hard to stand up in.
Saturday morning, we got up and Mommy & Daddy told us we were going to get dressed and go ice skating. I looked out the window and said "But, it's not snowing Mommy!" Daddy took us to a building that had ice rinks in it. So, we got to put on our skates and get on the ice. It was slippery and still hard to stand, so we started off just sitting on the ice and watching our teachers skate. By the end of our class, we were able to stand up! We get to go back and practice next week.


After we got done with skating, we went to see Mommy play volleyball. It was fun - we got to see the Divas and play with some of our friends.
When Mommy got done, we went out to eat then to Menards. We looked at grills, then went to the Halloween stuff. There was a Pacman pumpkin that I loved and a scary skeleton with red eyes that talked and scared me, so we went to look at all the Christmas stuff because it wasn't scary. It was so cool! We are very excited about Halloween, but Christmas will be so much fun! Mom had a Christmas toy catalog and we wanted all of the stuff on the pages she looked at. I want to get Hannah a Minnie Mouse, and Hannah wants to get me Buzz Lightyear everything. Mommy promised that we could each look at the catalog and circle everything we wanted. Yeah!
I'm really trying to write my letters. At daycare, Sue helps me, but I've started to work on writing my own letters with no help. It's so hard to know how to start! Mommy bought me a Spiderman book to help me draw my letters, so it's a treat when I get to do my spiderman book. Hannah is working on her lower case letters, so Mom bought her a book to help her with her letters. Soon, we'll be able to write all the words we can spell!
Have a fun week! We hope to.
Noah

Fall Colors

Tuesday morning when I was getting in the car, I noticed the neighbor's trees were turning red and yellow. They were so pretty, so I told Mom to look at the pretty trees. They were green all summer! Mom said that trees turn colors in the fall when it gets colder out - so I will look for red, yellow, orange and purple trees. That is very cool! (yes that is my phrase when I like something!)
Thursday we had a fun bath - we used our foamy letters to spell all sorts of things like DINOSAUR, FINGER, RED, BLUE...we even saw how rhyming words worked with TRUCK, LUCK, PUCK and BUCK.
Friday Mom picked us up from daycare. She brought Cheyenne, but Cheyenne was so naughty for jumping out of the car and running in Sue's backyard! We left right away to get to Grandma's house. We drove a very long time, stopped at Subway to eat then we got to Grandma & Grandpa's when it was black dark out! Daddy had driven out in front of us on his motorcycle, so we were happy to see him after a long drive.
Saturday, we got up and got 4 wheeler rides from Aunt Angie. That was very cool. Noah helped Grandpa put the camper trailer away behind the shed. After we had dinner, we played with Lauren & Ben (our cousins) for a while. We took pictures with them, but we just wanted to play. We weren't really in the mood for pictures on such a hot day.
After Grandpa got home from work, he took us out to the field to ride in a combine! We drove on dirty roads and when we got there, we hopped in a tractor with Grandpa to take a grain cart across the field. When we got there, I went in the combine with Mommy's Uncle Roger and Lauren. That was so neat! While I rode in the combine, Mommy drove the tractor with Noah & Ben. Then, we switched spots so Noah could ride in the combine with Ben. While they rode in the tractor, Mommy let me climb the ladder on the grain cart and see all the soybeans that I helped to pick from the field. Then, Mommy & Grandma showed me the bean pods and how the beads were inside.
Grandpa came back to the field in a REALLY BIG truck and filled it with more beans, but not before letting me drive the tractor. Then I got to RIDE in the really big truck to take the beans to the elevator with Grandpa Lauren & Ben. Noah stayed behind for one more ride in the combine. When we were at the elevator, we got to lay in the beans and play.
Grandma met us on the road on our way back to the field. She took us home while Grandpa stayed and helped uncle Roger.
Today, we put on our Halloween costumes and trick or treated! We were just going to secretly dress up and knock on Grandma's door and trick or treat, but then we got in Grandma's truck and drove over to see our Great Grandmas, Aunt Cathy and Mom's Aunt Linda. I didn't have my Tinkerbell Wings and Noah didn't have his Doctor hat but we had fun anyway. We got some money for our bank account and some candy.
After a full weekend, we drove all the way home. We had a lot of fun combining beans, but we're happy to be home. We sure have something to talk about at daycare tomorrow!
Hannah

We had a big week.
Wednesday morning, we got to make our very first visit to the dentist. We were very good. Hannah was eager to please the dentist and her assistant, and Noah was very curious about how the magic chair worked. He even got to make it go up and down with his feet! We got to take pictures of the teeth UNDERNEATH our teeth (and we even saw them, although the pictures looked really funny!) and got toys, fun dinosaur flossers and new toothbrushes.
Friday, we were very good at daycare because we knew we got to go to the Barnyard Boogie Dance if we were good! We got to wear our Halloween costumes from last year, so Noah wore his Lightning McQueen Pit Crew outfit and Hannah wore her Cinderella dress and crown. We even got to take our Aunt Angie! She came to our house right before the dance so she came with us. That was so fun! We were worn out before the dance was over, though, despite the fact that we took naps at daycare
Angie had to go to school on Saturday, and Daddy went to play volleyball, so we went to the farmer's market to buy flowers, apples and pumpkins. Noah picked out apples and both of us picked out our own pumpkins. We also bought flowers for Grandma. When we got home, GRANDMA was walking down our sidewalk! So we could just give her the flowers we bought for her. She loved them and we were so excited to see her! She helped Mommy paint but also played with us a little bit. We showed off our Halloween costumes to her. :-)
Sunday, Grandma and Daddy took us to church and Sunday School. We made door signs in Sunday school and had so much fun with TJ and Miss Penny. When we got home, Angie was there, so she read to us. Then, we put on our Halloween costumes to "practice" trick-or-treating to Angie. She gave us a whole bunch of cool treats in our Halloween buckets!
We got to play with Angie all afternoon while Grandma helped mom finish painting. We were sad when they had to go home, but we had a really fun weekend with them!
Stay warm - it's starting to get chilly!
Noah & Hannah

What a Weekend!

We had a fantastic weekend!
It started out a little bit rocky...I threw up in my bed Friday morning so I stayed home from daycare with Daddy. But, I felt better in the afternoon, so I picked up Noah then we went to Ron & Carol's. Mommy's team played volleyball against Daddy and all the Diva's husbands while we played with the other kids. I got cold at the end of the night - but Noah was running around and playing on the court when Ron lit a bonfire. Noah stopped in his tracks and said "The Bomfire is turned on!" and ran over to the fire. We had a fun night!
Saturday morning, we got up and went to meet Grandma & Angie. We stopped at Target before we went to meet them for brunch, so I sat in the car and Noah helped daddy change the taillight on his truck.
We were so excited to meet Angie at Perkins! Grandma was there, and so was great grandma and aunt Dee & June. We had yummy pancakes - Noah finished his but I wasn't very hungry.
After we had brunch, we went back home and had quiet time before we went to Grayson's party! We had been looking forward to this all week. We hoped Spiderman would be there, but he didn't make it. We had fun anyway - we had a sack race, hit a Spiderman piniata, played with Grayson's toys, had pizza, cake & ice cream, and helped him open his presents. A lot of our daycare friends were there, and we were so excited to see them! Mommy & Daddy even left us there and didn't stay with us. Daddy kept making comments on how big we are now that we're going to friends' parties without them.
Noah didn't want to go home - when Mommy told him it was time to go home, he fell down and threw a tantrum - he was so mad that Daddy had to put him in the truck.
Today, we went to church and had our first real day of Sunday School! We have a big class of 3,4 & 5 year olds. Mommy & Daddy don't come with us to our class - we go with our teachers while Mommy & Daddy wait without us. We had fun - we made bags for our Sunday School stuff.
After Sunday School, we went home and got ready for the baseball game. Mommy & Daddy took us downtown to the new baseball field to a Twins game! We got there early and saw the statues and plaza area in front of the stadium.
We had so much fun there! It was a cool place - we had hot dogs, lemonade, snacks and watched baseball! We were very excited when the fireworks went off. We got to see fireworks twice. yeah! We were in the shade, so we were cold, but we kept moving and mommy shared her sweatshirt with us (mostly Noah) to keep us warm. I kept warm with my cozy sweatshirt and cuddling with Mommy.
We're exhausted after a long, busy weekend! Have a great week!
Hannah

If my son wears a Vikings jersey to bed on NFL opening kickoff night, does that mean we're doing a good job as a parent? The kids put on their Vikings shirts for supper last night and watched part of the game. Hannah took hers off but Noah wanted to go to bed with his jersey over his pajamas.
The kids went to the neighbor's birthday party today. When they were invited, they both were adamant that they were going to get a Transformer for him. So, today we went to Target to pick out a Transformer. As much as we told them "This is a surprise. Don't tell Griffin what we got him." We got home and saw him playing in his yard. Hannah runs up to tell him "We got you a surprise!" Noah ran over and shouted "We got you a transformer at Target!"
I guess we have a little work to do on how surprises work. Though, the birthday boy was still surprised when he opened his transformer. Ahhh...to be three again.
The kids have been doing a preschool program at daycare for 2 years now. They're starting their third year of preschool learning letters, shapes, colors and numbers. Hannah does really well on writing her letters. Noah still doesn't have a lot of interest in writing, though some days are better than others. He is, however, holding his pencil better than he used to. Both kids can spell well, though.

State Fair!

Monday night Angie came to see us. She came so she could go with us to the State Fair!
We were very excited about it. We got up early, got ready to go and got there at 9 o'clock. We promised we would be good and stay in our strollers all day. And, we did.
First, we got to see the baby animals who had just been born. We got to pet a baby calf, two baby pigs and a baby lamb. We also saw baby bunnies and baby turkey chicks. Then we got to start our day with hot cheese! (Cheese Curds) We LOVE hot cheese - it's always a treat, though we don't usually have our hot cheese battered and fried. We also got lemonade. We don't get to drink it at home, and we LOVE IT!
We got to go through the cow barns, spin the moo-lette wheel, enter a coloring contest (Hannah spent a lot of time making a beautiful rainbow cow) and see how they milk cows. We also saw the biggest pig in Minnesota and got new pig ears from the oink booth. We saw some horses, too.
Daddy bought us tickets to ride on the sky ride this year - last year, we rode the space needle to the top so we could see all around us. This year, they closed us in a small car and we rode above everyone at the fair and saw all over the fairgrounds.
When we got off the ride, there was a booth that gave us free applesauce. (We LOVE applesauce!) Then we tried more hot cheese, an elephant ear and had some milk.
We saw a lot of things - we participated in a study at the U of M building where they measured our height, weight and waist and gave us free ride tickets to use. We got ourselves weighed and saw all the germs on our hands in one place, we played lacrosse with professional lacrosse players and toured inside campers to see how nice they were.
We got to help out on the farm...We've done it before but get better every year. We fed the chickens, sheep, got wool, planted seeds, picked apples, milked cows and drove the tractor, then brought our wares to the farmer's market and picked something from the market. We got cereal. Yummy!
We also got to ride a couple of rides in the kidway. We both wanted to ride the dinosaurs, then Noah wanted to do the slide while Hannah wanted to ride the train.
At the end of the day, after we were tired and ready to go home, we saw fish and went through a cave of animals. We had a fun day.
Friday, Daddy had to work, but right before we went to bed, Dani & Jason came to see us. They had to leave early Saturday morning, but it was fun to see them!
We have enjoyed playing outside this weekend. It's been much cooler, but still fun to play on the swings and slide. Today, we even got to play with Griffin for a little while in our backyard. When we're inside, we like to play house or restaurant.
Tomorrow we're looking forward to a party at Ron & Carol's sandbox with our friends. Then we'll go back to daycare - it will be quiet with all the school kids gone.
Have a Happy Labor Day!
Noah & Hannah

fun weekend!

Last week we tie-dyed shirts at daycare. We loved dying our own shirts, and loved how they turned out. We were very excited to show them off to Mom & Dad when they picked us up on Friday!
We had a fun weekend at Reid & Denise's house! We left our house on Saturday and were anxious to get there. We got to go fishing, swimming, play with our friends Trevor & Dylan and went on a boat ride. We even stayed up and made s'mores at the campfire! We were so tired when we got to sleep in our sleeping bags! (We love our sleeping bags - we asked Mom & Dad to blow them up all day long!) What a fun day.
Noah spent a lot of time fishing from the dock - Hannah swam, played with her My Little Ponies and read books while Noah fished. Mom & Dad even took us out on a paddle boat ride, though Hannah wanted to turn around and go back when we weren't very far from Reid's house.
We're looking forward to the fair - though we don't know exactly what it is. Mom said we went last year and saw animals and fun stuff.
Have a fun week!
N&H

Happy Birthday to Grandma!

Happy Birthday to Grandma!
We had a fun week - and today was Grandma's birthday, so we got to end the week with birthday cake.
Last week, our aunt Angela came to see us for a few days.
Tuesday, we got new toothbrushes. Mommy took us to Target over the weekend and bought us SpongeBob toothbrushes that tickle our tongues when we turn them on. They are so cool! We love brushing our teeth again.
Thursday, Grandma came with Daddy to pick us up from daycare. We were so happy to see her! She stayed with us while Daddy played volleyball, then stayed with us all day Friday while Mommy & Daddy worked.
Saturday, Angie & Grandpa came, too, so we got to hang out with them all day while Mom & Dad played volleyball. We drove out to an airport where we watched people jump out of airplanes - we even got to see Angie, Great Grandma, Aunt Dee and some of mom's cousins jump out of the plane! It was so cool to see the parachute open up and watch them fall from the sky. We want to go skydiving - we can't wait until we're big enough to jump!
We even got to stay up WAY past our bedtime! They jumped out of the plane 5 hours late, and Grandma said we were so good when we waited, so they took us to Subway for supper. Yummy!
Today was Grandma's birthday, so we helped decorate a cake for her, and told her Happy Birthday! We even got to eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake.
Grandma is going to stay with us again tomorrow, so we're looking forward to playing with her again tomorrow.
We've really enjoyed playing with each other lately. Yes, we still fight but we like to play together. When we take baths, we play with 4 ducks - a mommy, daddy and 2 babies (we each pick a baby from our collection of 10 little ducks!). Our duck families have conversations, the babies get in trouble and the Mom and Dad show the babies how to do stuff. We have so much fun together, we are sad when we have to get out of the bathtub. We also play house, build buildings with Noah's tools and, of course, playing outside on the swings.
Have a fun week - and Happy Birthday to Grandma and her twin Deanna!
Noah & Hannah

Vacation Week

Last week we were all on Vacation!!

We took the Twins to the Children's Museum in Saint Paul on Monday. They had a such a great time that they wanted to go back after a late lunch at McDonald's. So we took them back for more fun...hey, they were on vacation too.

On Wednesday we headed off to Great Grandma's Cabin North of Alexandria and spend a couple days on the Shores of Lobster Lake. The weather was excellent and Hannah and Noah had a marvelous time learning how to fish and swim in cool waters. We took them for several rides around the lake in the boat and they even got to get a ride on Aunt Angie's Jet Ski. We saw loons and fish and lots of bugs including a Stick Bug on Grandma and Grandpa's Camper and spent time alone as a family for 3 days before Shari's extended family showed up for their annual reunion at the lake.

We came home Saturday and enjoyed a mostly quiet day at home (Aunt Angela made a brief visit on her way home from Arkansas) before returning to our normal routine next week.

Hoping you all are having a wonderful Summer,
Stephen (Dad)

fireworks

We actually got to play a game at our last baseball practice of the year. We took turns in the field and batting. Our team won. We got to play on the same team, so daddy could cheer for our team. After baseball, Daddy took us to the swimming pool where we met Mommy. We had such a fun day that we didn't want to go to bed.
Daddy was a little bit sad on Wednesday because he said Grandpa Bob had surgery on his brain. But, Daddy was happy the next day when he found out things went well for him. Grandpa spent less time in Intensive Care than he'd expected and Hannah even got to talk to him Thursday!
Thursday, Daddy picked Hannah up from daycare without me knowing he was there. After nap, I asked Sue where Hannah was, and she told me she went to the doctor. Dad said Hannah was a very good patient for her chiropractor doctor. She laid down on a funny table, let the doctor crack her back, and helped the doctor while it was Daddy's turn to get his backed cracked. She massaged his feet like the doctor massaged her back. Hannah said the places that hurt tickled after the doctor touched her back.
Friday, Mommy & Daddy picked us up at Sue's. After we ate supper, we took a bath and then Mommy told us we had a surprise later that night. So, we put on clothes and played for a while, then Mommy said she would take us to watch softball games while Daddy worked on the house. She took us to watch her friend play, but he was done by the time we got there, so we went to the park by our house to watch them play. It's like baseball but with a big yellow ball, and we cheered! We both yelled "GO TWINS" for the teams. We also made a new friend - a girl name Amara was playing with us while she watched her dad play softball.
After softball, we went home, had a snack and put on our pajamas. We got in the truck and drove up to a parking lot near our daycare. We got out and sat for a very long time - but Mom & Dad brought us snacks and had fun dancing to music for over a half hour. A little girl just walked up to say hi to Hannah when the fireworks started! We had guessed that was the surprise when Mommy gave us our fireworks blankets. We were so much braver than the last time we saw fireworks. We didn't cover our ears, and Noah didn't hide in the truck. We sat with Mom and Dad and watched the pretty fireworks.
While we waited, Hannah wasn't shy! There were some boys playing football, so she kept yelling "Hey, you guys! Come over here!" Dad asked her why, and she just said she wanted to talk to them and see what they were doing. Hannah is so funny sometimes.
When we got home, it was late, but we had another surprise. Grandma & Grandpa! (Though, Hannah guessed what the surprise was when we were leaving the fireworks. Mom & Dad said we had another surprise at home, and Hannah said "I think it's Grandma & Grandpa, Noah".) We were SO GLAD to see them! They had just gotten back from a 2 week motorcycle vacation, so we didn't know we were going to see them so soon after vacation.
We got to play with them a little bit in the morning, then they went outside to work on painting the house. We helped, too, though we got bored quickly. Hannah didn't like getting paint on her hands. Daddy & Grandpa worked on boards that looked icky (Daddy said they were rotten and stinky!) so they had to replace something on the front of the house and 2 windows. One of them was in our bedroom, and one was Mom & Dad's window. We were very good and played mostly by ourselves while they worked.
Grandpa brought a cool climbing structure that he kept calling scaffold. I loved climbing it, but Mom & Dad said we could only go up 3 steps. I tried to climb all the way to the top, but Grandma yelled and scared me. I almost fell, but Mommy caught me. Mom calls me a little monkey because I like climbing on things so much! Finally, at the end of the day, Mom & Grandpa moved a plank to the height where we could walk on it without being in trouble for being too high.
We were overtired at bedtime, so we had a hard time falling asleep. But, Mommy told us we had donuts if we were good, so we settled down and fell asleep.
Today, it was more work. We wore our work clothes and helped. We worked so hard, we had to take a nap in the afternoon! Unfortunately, Grandma & Grandpa had to go home. :-( So, we said good bye.
It's getting late and it's been a busy weekend. Have a good week - I am looking forward to seeing my daycare friends again tomorrow.
Noah

We had baseball pictures last week. We both practiced with the team, got new hats and smiled nice for our pictures. Daddy was so proud - he bought pictures! We have one more week of baseball - we're bummed. Just as we are starting to get into it, it's over.
The weekend was exciting.
Saturday, Dylan came over to play with us. Mommy & Daddy were working outside painting the house with 3 other people, and someone else cleaned up our house while we played inside. After we got up from our naps, the outside of our house was a different color! It had started to rain, so Mommy & Daddy were done painting. Our house is not green anymore.
Mommy asked me what color I thought it looked like - cream, yellow or white. I told her I thought it was cream because cream rhymes with green!
Mom & Dad took us to Dylans & Trevor's house to watch movies and eat supper. Dylan was gone, but Trevor played with us. Noah and I got scared when there were sirens, lightning and the sky looked funny. So, Mommy and Juanita took us kids downstairs and we made Christmas trees! They are sooo cool! Even Noah got into it. (He doesn't normally have a lot of patience for crafts). We also made animals out of molding clay. It was fun. Finally after all the really hard rains and strong winds, we fell asleep at their house. What a fun, exciting night!
It's been so nice the past 2 nights, that we've eaten outside on our new deck. I think Cheyenne likes it, too, because she can sit next to the table and not get in trouble for being in the kitchen.
We're really trying to learn rhyming lately. Grandma bought us a rhyme train game that we like to play with. We always tell Mom what words rhyme when we're playing with her.
And, I LOVE dresses! Whenever Mommy lays a dress out for me to wear for the day, I'm so happy. I even like them at night - nightgowns are my favorite. Noah doesn't have any and he doesn't want a nightgown. He likes boy stuff - dinosaurs, racecars and trains. I like trains, too, but I also love taking care of my babies, playing store with a pretend credit card and dressing up like a princess.
It's getting late. We have our last day of baseball tomorrow. I'd better get rested up so I can show off my baseball skills!
Hannah

We hope you had a fabulous 4th of July. We've had a great July!
The day before the 4th, our Grandpa Bob and Grandma Lois came to see us. We don't get to see them very often, so we were happy to see them!
Sunday we played with them in the morning, then we went to Ron & Carols to play with other kids while Mom & Dad played volleyball. We always have fun when we go to to Ron & Carols. We were sad to go, but happy to go home to see Grandma & Grandpa.
Monday, we played with Grandpa while Daddy took Grandma shopping. She came back with all sorts of fun stuff for us - lacing cards, learning games & puzzles - even a drill with screws for us to learn colors & patterns.
After we ate, we left for Wild Rumpus. We've been there before, but it's such a cool place that we love to go back. Grandma bought some more books and Grandpa read to us after we visited all the animals in the store. We even found out that they have a fish tank in the bathroom. But, you can only see it in the dark...
Tuesday, we got to go see our friends at daycare while Grandma & Grandpa saw the Dead Sea scrolls and went shopping. Mom & Dad picked us up early so we could hang out with Grandma & Grandpa before we went to baseball. At baseball, we got our baseball jerseys! Yeah! Then, after baseball, we went to the pool. We got to go swimming with Grandma & Grandpa. (We love the pool!!!)
Grandma & Grandpa left Wednesday to see our other cousins, Michael, Michelle & Alex.
But they came back Saturday. We went to get our pictures taken so we were all together! We were so good - Mommy and Daddy gave us fruit snacks and raisins because we were so good to wear what Mommy asked, smile for the photographer and stand where the photographer wanted us to stand. Grandma was very happy with the pictures that we took.
After pictures, we went home and got to play with our cousins and eat with them. We were bummed when they had to go but Grandma & Grandpa stayed so they could nap.
While everyone napped, we went to play with a the girl who lives a few houses down from us. That was fun - she got a new bike, so we saw her new bike and Hannah played with dolls with her.
Today, we had to say goodbye to Grandma & Grandpa. They had to go home, and Daddy found out he's very sick, so we played with Mommy for most of the day. We played on our swings for a long time this morning, and went to Menards with Mommy & Daddy after our naps. We go there so often, we can read Menards' sign and know our way there. Hopefully Daddy gets better and we don't get bronchitus and sinus sickness from him!
After a few exciting weeks, we're ready for things to settle down and relax for a while. We're learning to play lacrosse at daycare and baseball on Tuesdays. We're looking forward to some relaxing time at home to hang out with Mom & Dad and just play with our toys.
Happy July!
Noah & Hannah

Happy Fourth of July!

We had such an eventful weekend.
Friday, Mom & Dad stayed home with us and we went to the zoo!
First, we met a new friend, Laura, then we went to see the animals in the zoo. We saw lions and tigers and monkeys and polar bears. We even saw our friend Grayson from daycare with his mom and little brother when we were watching monkeys.
After we saw the animals, we got to ride some of the rides at the zoo. We rode the old cars, the race cars and the train! It was so much fun.
After we got up from naps, it started to storm with thunder and lightning and rain. So, we got to eat pizza in the basement until Angie came! Grandma Diane & Grandpa Mark came to see us, too.
Saturday morning, we got up and drove a long time in Grandma's new truck. We crossed over a big river and pulled into a train station. Grandma gave us railroad hats & bandanas so we fit right in with the train's staff. Our cousins Lauren & Ben were there, so we got to see them, look at trains and even play with a Thomas train table in the train station. Then we got on the train...
We had such a fun ride on the train. Grandma brought us food, so we had a picnic while we rode the train. When we were done eating, we got to walk all over the train and see the mail car, the box car (you could see the rails underneath us through the floor of the boxcar!), the air conditioned luxury car. It was very cool!
When we got home, I took a short nap (Noah didn't sleep) until Ben & Lauren came back to our place to play. We played a little while, then ate and Daddy brought our friend Laura over to play with us.
I told Mom & Dad that she didn't want to play with Laura - I just wanted to go to Cirque with Mom & Dad, but when Laura came up the sidewalk, I gave her a big hug! She played Candyland with us. Noah was tired, so he was naughty and threw a tantrum for Laura but I was good for her. This was the first time we had a babysitter besides Megan or our aunt Angie.
Sunday, went to a farmer's market with Grandma, Angie & Mom while Noah stayed with Dad & Grandpa. We waited a long time for Ben & Lauren to finally come play with us, but when they showed up we didn't have long to play. We had to find clothes to wear and take pictures of all the cousins. We went to Griffin's house and stood in his garden for the pictures.
After we had pictures taken, we all went to eat at the VFW so we could watch airplanes and eat pancakes. Yum!
Unfortunately, Dani, Jason, Ben & Lauren had to go after we ate, but Angie, Grandma & Grandpa hung out with us for a while longer. When they left we played until supper, then we went swimming in our backyard. We swam a short time until our neighbor invited us to play in her pool. She has a BIG POOL! We had so much fun in her big pool. Even her dog Lucy swam with us. :-)
Tuesday night we had our first night of baseball. We had fun. We were so excited to use our baseball gloves! We learned to field the ball, throw it and how to bat. Mommy was late but Daddy got to see us play the whole time. We did very well - we listened to the coaches and let Daddy kick back and watch us play! I even got to run the bases at the end of practice when Noah was resting and drinking water at the end of practice. I'm excited to go back next week.
Wednesday we started LaCrosse practice with Coach Track at daycare. We learned to scoop and throw. I practiced for about 1/2 hour then went to play with my friends. Noah really enjoyed it and played for about an hour until Mike said practice was over.
We're so busy, we'll have to squeeze in a time to learn volleyball so we can play fours with Mommy & Daddy when we get bigger!
We're looking forward to a fun long weekend. Daddy told us a secret: We're going to go get Mommy from work tomorrow and take her to LUNCH! Then when she's done with work, we'll start a long weekend.
Happy Fourth of July!
We'll be hanging out with our friends at Ron & Carol's volleyball court on the fourth.
Hannah

Happy Birthday to our cousins

We are still so excited about our new bunk beds - we've only had a chance to sleep in them once since Daddy put them up!
It's been cold since last week when Daddy put up our bunk beds. We hope that warm weather comes soon - Daddy wants it to stop raining so he can work on the deck, and we want to be able to play outside on it before it snows and Christmas comes.
We got to stay home and play with Mommy all day Friday. We played on our new bunk beds, packed our suitcases (of course, we played with our suitcases, since they were out of storage) and got in the car for a long drive to Grandma's house. We were so excited to get to see Angie, Grandpa & Grandma after that long drive!
Saturday Ben & Lauren came to Grandma's. Ben stayed after we ate dinner, but everyone else went to Lauren's dance recital. It was fun to play with Ben - we played zoo, fireman, and then we played outside until Grandma & Grandpa came home. We were so tired by the time we went to bed.
We went to Lauren & Ben's house to play today - they had a birthday party, so we got birthday cake! YUM! We were ready to come home, though. We almost fell asleep on the way home, but were re-energized when we got to our house. It is good to be home and sleep in our own room (in our new beds!)
It's been a long, exhausting weekend. We're ready to get back to daycare with our friends again tomorrow.
N&H

Bunk Beds!

We got bunk beds! We’re so excited!

Today, we didn’t go to daycare, but stayed at home with Mommy. She let us watch Toy Story while she cut our hair. Then we got ready to go see Daddy at work. We picked him up and he took us to a restaurant with really yummy food.

Then we went to Daddy’s office and saw a bunch of his coworkers who saw us when we were little babies. When we got home, Daddy came home and started to put together our bunk beds. YEAH! Mommy helped him put them up against the wall by the window, move our dressers and put our mattresses up. They’re HUGE!! We both agreed on where we wanted to sleep with no fights. Hannah wanted to be on the bottom and Noah wanted to be on the top.

After we ate and took our baths, we were so excited to get into our bunk beds, we didn’t even ask to play the cow game. We crawled into our beds before Mommy even read our story.

Of course, we normally don’t fall asleep right away when we go to bed, but tonight we talked and played even longer because we were so excited because of our new beds.

We weren’t able to blog last week because there was something wrong with our blog site. We had a good weekend!

Friday after daycare, we got ready and went to a surprise party for some of Dad & Mom’s volleyball friends. We were a little scared that we didn’t know anyone at first, but when the “guests of honor’s” children showed up, we loosened right up and had fun playing and eating delicious food. Too bad we couldn’t stay very late because we had to go home and go to bed.

Saturday, Daddy left in the morning and came home in a black truck. He dropped off some things on the deck, and the next time we saw him, he had his red truck again. We didn’t get a chance to play outside because it started to rain after Dad got home in his red truck.

We ran some errands with Mommy & Daddy after dinner, played in our room for an hour then we got in the truck and went to another Barbeque party at one of Daddy’s coworkers’ homes. We kinda fell asleep on the way there, but it was worth waking up for! They had cool stuff! We met lots of other kids and got to play with Thomas on a big train table, Barbies in a big Barbie castle, Littlest Pet Shop and Sesame Street doll houses, PLUS they had a trampoline in their basement! We need one of those. That was so cool!

We were very bummed to have to go home, but we were very tired once we got home. (We told Mom & Dad we were tired, but we were up talking & playing for over an hour past bedtime.)

Hannah had been asking to go to church for weeks. (Actually, she wanted to “hang out” and go to church over the weekend.) We finally were home on a Sunday, so we went to church as a family. After we had lunch at home, we went to Menards to buy paint. When we got home, we played in our bedroom while Mom & Dad worked.

We were playing on a cushion in the hallway when Noah fell down and smacked his head on the door frame to the upstairs. He started to bleed and cry, but stopped after about 2 minutes of ice packs and hugs from Mom. When he realized he had blood on his Mickey Mouse shirt, he had to IMMEDIATELY go change his clothes! Mom & Dad decided to take him to the bandaid store (which turned out to look a LOT like the doctor’s office!) The doctor said he didn’t need stitches, but gave him a very tiny bandaid that didn’t quite cover the cut.

Noah was very good for the doctor, just playing with his cars while the doctor looked at his cut.

Since we were out, Mom & Dad decided to go shopping for new beds!

We went into one store, but Daddy & Mommy yelled at us for jumping on the beds and we left right away. We drove to Sams Club and goofed around in the cart while Mom & Dad shopped, and when we checked out, Dad came around the corner with new mattresses! When we got home, he took our mattresses away and put down these new big mattresses in our room! YEAH!
Dad said we’re going to get bunk beds this week for our new mattresses. We got new sheets that we’ve never seen then after our baths, we got new pajamas, too. New big kid beds, new pajamas! Despite the hole in Noah’s head, we had a really fun weekend!

N&H

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Kids say the funniest things.

Noah really has been excited to spell things. This week, Dad was looking for Noah, so he shouted “N-O-A-H ! Where are you?”
From upstairs, we heard a voice say “I’m upstairs, D-A-D!”

At a Barbeque on Saturday, the kids had eaten and went back to playing. We told them it was time to go, and Hannah decided she wanted cake. She told Dad “I’m so hungry!” Dad asked her how she could still be hungry, and she replied, matter-of-factly “Because I didn’t have cake!”

Since Noah cut his head, he has walked around telling everyone “I got a hole in my head!” Today he had a Goofy Bandaid covering it, and he told all of Daddy’s coworkers “I got a hole in my head and Goofy covered it up!”

Mom went into Subway on Sunday to pick up 2 sandwiches. As Mom was in the store ordering, Hannah called to tell her “no onions” on her sandwich. Of course, the minute mom got in the car, Hannah made sure Mom did NOT put onions on her sandwich. Mom joked that she got onions and olives on her sandwich and Hannah replied in a serious tone “Mom! I don’t LIKE onions and olives!” Of course, Mom was joking. She knew that ham & cheese was exactly what Noah & Hannah wanted.

This evening, at the supper table, Hannah asked how to spell “brain”, so Mom spelled “B-R-A-I-N” for her. She picked up a cheeto and went “whoah. That’s a long word.”