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