We got a fun surprise today!

Grandma & Grandpa sent us a box with 2 outfits to dress up in! We got a Lightning McQueen Pit Crew outfit and a princess Cinderella dress with a tiara. We had so much fun dressing up in them! We can't wait until tomorrow to dress up again!

Barnyard Dance!

Last night, Mommy took us to the Barnyard Dance. We got to dance and run around the big dancefloor with a bunch of other kids. It was so much fun! We also got to see baby animals and pet them - we saw sheep, miniature horses, a duck, chickens, really friendly goats, a calf and bunnies. Other kids had to be told to be nice to the animals but we were very nice to the animals when we petted them.

We even got to have a treat: we had pink juice and cake with sprinkles. We had so much fun at the dance! We can't wait to go to another one!

Noah & Hannah

Pretending

It's interesting to see how different Noah & Hannah's "pretend" play is. Hannah has been playing with "pretend" objects for a couple of months. She likes to pretend she has pretend foods. noah used to get SO mad when Hannah shared her M&Ms with Mom, Dad and him and he didn't GET any M&Ms because they weren't real.
Lately, Noah's pretend play has been talking to objects as if they're real. When he wakes up in the morning, he says "good morning Bob" (Bob is his small stuffed dog), holds Bob in front of his face and says "Good morning Noah". When he wears his Lightning McQueen pajamas, he says "Good morning Lightning McQueen." "Good Morning, Noah. Ka-chow!"
Lightning McQueen is still Noah's favorite, and Hannah still loves Princesses. Noah often tells us "I'm a Prince!" While Hannah tells us that she's a Princess.
Noah is very good at spelling his name now. He can read his own name, and if a letter is missing or added, he will tell you it's wrong! Hannah isn't spelling her name out loud, but she's working on writing it. Her letter "H" is very good, and she's working on the rest of the letters. Unfortunately, she keeps thinking she has an "O" somewhere in her name, like Noah.
We've had a little bit of a rough week. Hannah woke up several times on Monday night, and after a trip to the doctor on Tuesday found out that she had croup. She finally slept through the night Thursday and had a good day on Friday, but Friday night Noah had a fever. He was a real trooper - he didn't cry or act whiney or sick. However, he had moments where he was feverish and very lethargic. Hopefully he's coming out of it, though his voice & cough are sounding a little bit like Hannah's did earlier this week...
Unfortunately, Hannah has decided that the phrase "I'm sick" carries a lot of sympathy. When she wants attention or wants something she fears she may not get (like a snack or orange juice), she says "I'm sick." Funny - when she said it, she was just laughing and joking with Noah, and when he left the room, she turned on the "I'm sick" whine.
Noah & Hannah have started to play the Wii since we set it up on the TV again. We have a game where you are riding a cow down a path, knocking over scarecrows. They love playing this game! They're still working on what the object of the game is, but they do know how to run forward and make the cow jump!
Hannah & Noah were very excited this weekend to go see their aunts, uncle, grandma, grandpa and cousins. We almost didn't bring Noah because he didn't feel well, but wanted him to be able to see his grandparents, aunts and cousins. Both Noah & Hannah were very thrilled when we got in the car, knowing we were going to Angie's house! They love Grandpa's car, and were excited to get to play in Grandpa's Mustang! (Though, they didn't get to ride in it this time.)
Have a great week!

We're trying to get back into our own routine.
Two weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa and our aunts & uncle and cousins came to see us. We got to go the fireman's museum with them and play with trains (they didn't have Thomas the train, but they had some of his friends for us to play with). We also got to go swimming. It was raining to we couldn't go to our city's pool, but we got to go to one at Lauren & Ben's hotel and that was fun! Sunday, we went to the Children's museum. We were only 1 the last time we went, but this time we enjoyed it even more! We could spend all day there and STILL not see everything. What fun! Then we went down to the river for a picnic and Grandma & Grandpa took us home for a whole week. We had fun seeing Grandma & Grandpa for a whole week. Dani, Lauren & Ben came to see us for a couple of days, then Grandma & Grandpa took us to the lake at the end of the week. We got to see Angie on Friday. It was chilly & rainy so we really didn't get to play in the lake, but we were so happy to see Mom and Dad and Cheyenne when they came to get us on Saturday night that it didn't matter!
We went back to daycare this past week. Wednesday was tie-dye day! Sue let us pick our own colors to tie-dye our t-shirts and we each picked ALMOST the same colors! Just a small dot in the center of our shirts are different colors. We're working on getting back on our schedule. We stayed home with Daddy on Friday, then we drove up to a friend of Mommy & Daddy's lake cabin. There were other kids up there so we had fun. We helped shuck corn, we read with the other kids, we saw a movie, went on a boat ride and got to sleep in our new sleeping bags. We spent today at home - it's been a busy couple of weeks! Tomorrow, Grandma is going to stay home with us. We were so excited to see Grandma when she came tonight - tomorrow will be a blast! Have a good week - we will!
N&H

You're so sweet!

Hannah & Noah were riding their bikes down the sidewalk toward each other, smiling at each other saying " Hi Mommy" and "Hi Daddy" to each other. They got close to each other (the bike's front wheels were almost touching) and I heard Hannah lean over and say "You're so sweet."

It's so fun to see Noah & Hannah's development.
They easily sing their ABCs and count to 20 (although, they often miss #14, 15 and 19...).
Noah will tell you "N O A H spells Noah!" Hannah doesn't spell her name out loud, but is learning to write her name. She has mastered the letter "H" and "A", but the rest of the letters blend in as a bunch of lines.
Last night, Hannah was starting to make jokes. In the past, the kids have made each other laugh by making a funny face, gesture or making a funny noise. They love to make each other laugh, and to make Mom & Dad laugh. Last night, Hannah got Mom's car keys and made the horn "toot" when she hit the lock button. She looked at mom and said "Mom, I made your car go toot!" and laughed. She continued to laugh as she hit the lock and said "Your car tooted!" Then, she moved to "It farted!" and laughed when she would hit the lock. It's not terribly sophisticated humor, but it's neat to see her sense of humor moving from funny faces to telling jokes.
Recently, Noah & Hannah have been playing with small tonka trucks & cars. They have a flatbed that they call "Mac", and they call the red car "lightning McQueen", the blue car "Sally Sports Car" and the orange truck "Mater". Obviously their favorite movie is Cars! Every time we make a long drive, they get to watch Cars, and with all the trips we've taken this summer, we've had plenty of opportunity to watch it, along with other movies.

It's been such a busy few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago, Grandma & Grandpa took us to Great Grandma's lake cabin. We got to see aunt Angie, swim in the lake, take a boat ride and go fishing with Mom & Dad. We helped catch a few fish! Grandpa took the fish off the hook and handed it to Hannah. She held it for just a second before it moved, she screamed, dropped the fish and cried! Noah held onto the fish for a few seconds before throwing it back. Hannah was very hesitant to get near a fish for the rest of the fishing trip, but Noah was excited to try to grab any fish he could.
This past weekend, we got to go to the lake again. We didn't get to go fishing because we were only there for a day, but we got to go on a boat ride. Our cousins were there, and a lot of Mommy's cousins were there, too, so we got to play with a bunch of kids! We were exhausted when we got home, then we got up and got to go to the zoo. We saw zebras, giraffes, seals, tortoise and monkeys! Those monkeys got really close to us - we could have touched some of them if there weren't glass between us. We also got to go into a butterfly garden. There were lots of butterflies and lots of flowers. They were very pretty, but kind of freaked us out. We didn't want them to touch us!
We got to go on carnival rides, too! We went on cars that went round in circles and a magic carpet ride that went up and down and around. It was fun!
Whew! We keep so busy. Mom and Dad said that our cousins plan on coming up to go to a museum and hopefully go swimming with us this weekend! We love to go swimming, and we have fun when we're with Lauren & Ben, so we're looking forward to our weekend.
Have a great day!
Noah & Hannah