Happy Birthday to Daddy!

We were so happy to see the sun on Friday. It was a gloomy week. We had fun at daycare, and were very good kids all week, but were very happy to get to play outside at daycare Friday. And, we were so excited that Ian came back Thursday! He got very sick in January, and wasn't able to come back until this week. Noah was so excited to find out that Ian was at daycare Thursday morning, that he ran to the basement to play with Ian and forgot to eat his breakfast first!
Friday was Daddy's birthday. On our way home from daycare, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up ingredients to bake him a cake! We went to our favorite grocery store - we get to push our own little carts. We came home, made cupcakes for Daddy, brought our regular kitchen table back to the kitchen (it was taken away last week when Daddy, Grandpa & Jason put in the new door), and made dinner just in time for daddy to come home and eat dinner with us. We made him cupcakes with sprinkles AND penguin cupcakes, then he opened his presents. We love Daddy!
Saturday, we got up and GRANDPA WAS AT OUR HOUSE! We were so excited though we were kind of confused that he showed up without Grandma. Mom said she had to stay home for a baby shower, and Angie was coming home to be with Grandma. Grandpa spent a lot of time helping Daddy work outside. They were making a lot of noise, but put up a bunch of wooden boards for a new deck. Dad said we missed the cool part when they dug really big holes and poured cement in them. Mom had taken us to a park to play Saturday morning. We were very good when she told us it was time to go, we got right in the car to go home.
We were very good helpers most of the weekend. We helped to bring things to Daddy & Grandpa when they needed stuff and we played nicely without getting into trouble or fighting with each other. We got to play with Grandpa today, and he showed us how to hammer a nail and take it out of the wood. He also showed us how to walk on boards on top of sawhorses - they were really high in the air! When we came in the house to eat, Hannah found a bug in her hair. It was a really little one, but she screamed and cried. She didn't like that little green worm in her hair!
We had fun playing on the deck boards that are up now - it will be really fun when Dad gets all the pieces up! We can't wait.
Noah & Hannah

Big weekend

We had quite a fun weekend.
Friday, Mom picked us up and we went home. She told us our uncle Jason came and put a big hole in our kitchen. When we got home, we noticed the window was gone and SO WAS OUR KITCHEN TABLE! That was the first thing we said: "Mom! Our table is gone!"
She showed us that she put it in the living room, so we were cool, then we helped Mom order pizza just in time for Grandma, Grandpa, Dani, Ben & Lauren to show up...Daddy & Uncle Jason brought the pizza home and we had a big picnic in our living room.
Daddy put plastic up in the doorway - he said it was to keep the dust in the kitchen, but we thought it was to keep the COLD AIR in the kitchen since there was no window. AND we had so much fun running from one room to the other and going through the plastic door. Ben & Noah did it so much that Grandma & Mom put up plastic on a different door for them to play with.
Hannah & Lauren had a fabulous time playing together - they played dress up, house and dolls. Hannah really enjoyed having a girl to play with. Noah had a harder time sharing his toys with Ben. They played with cars, trains and musical instruments but nothing lasted as long as the girls' role-play-games. At one point, all four of us were dressed up in costumes: Lauren in one of Mommy's dresses, Hannah in her Minnie Mouse dress, Ben as Lightning McQueen and Noah as Elmo. It got to be a tiring night - Daddy, Grandpa and Jason made lots of noise in the kitchen WAY past our bedtime, so we got to stay up and watch Sesame Street and SuperWhy in the basement with our cousins. We were exhausted by 10 o'clock when we finally got to bed.
We slept in until 7 on Saturday. It finally quit raining, but it was still too wet to play outside. We played Crayola Bingo and Wii games and got to see Daddy Grandpa & Jason put a big glass door in the hole they made in our house!
Unfortunately, Jason & Dani took Ben & Lauren home right after we ate dinner, but Grandma & Grandpa stayed with us for another day. We were still tired, so we took a long nap Saturday afternoon. Grandpa helped Daddy with the door and we went to Target with Grandma. We were very good for her and Mommy at Target!(Hannah LOVES Target!)
We made sure to tell Grandma and Mommy "Happy Mother's Day" right away this morning. We gave Grandma her gift that we made for her, and Mom the gift that Daddy bought for her AND the gifts we made at daycare. We even got out our hammers and helped Grandpa & Daddy work. It's cool to have a new door to the outside!
We're getting very good at spelling, too. We are learning more words every day - mom, dad, mad, mop, red...And Hannah still loves to draw!
It was a very cold and exhausting weekend. But, we had a blast! Grandma talked about riding a train, so hopefully the next time they come see us we get to go see a train! Yeah!
Happy Mother's Day!
Noah & Hannah

Noah made it through the night with no diaper last night!

We are VERY proud of him!!

Today our house is going to get a bit of a face lift. Uncle Jason, Grandpa Mark, Grandma Diane, Aunt Dani, and cousins Lauren and Ben are coming to help us install a sliding glass door in the dinning room. Once that is done then Dad can start on putting together the deck that was dropped off in our yard yesterday.

On the way home from day care I asked Hannah and Noah who should help me build the deck. They both raised their hands and said "ME!!"

What a help they will be,
Stephen

For the past couple of months, Noah has been doing something very cute - Hannah has picked up on it recently, too. At first, it started when we asked "Where's my hug?" and he would hug us and say "It's right here - here's your hug!" Now, he will hold his hands out in front of himself and say "here's your hug!", then slip his arms around our shoulders & give us a great big hug. It's so fun to ask "Noah - where's my hug?" Hannah sometimes will put her hands in front of her the same way, or just give us a big hug and say "Here's your hug!" It's so sweet to get such great hugs & kisses from such sweet kids.
Noah is also learning to read simple words. He's starting to understand to "sound out" simple words. He knows how to spell Mom and Dad, as well as No, his name and his sisters. Some of that may be memorization, but he's picking up on letter sounds. He has shown a little more interest in coloring and art projects at daycare, attempting to write his own name, but his art still "appreciates white space" and hasn't had the time invested in it as Hannah's art has.
Hannah seems a little interested in words, but really loves to draw and color. Her coloring pages are very colorful, and although she doesn't stay WITHIN the lines, she does a great job of keeping the color within the area of an object's bounds. She also has been drawing recognizable things - many people with long legs, short legs, long hair, knees...she really has variety in her drawings. Tonight she drew a tree, but when I asked where the green leaves were, she said she didn't know how to draw a leaf, so it was just a brown tree trunk. Oh, to understand what goes on in that creative little head would be fascinating...
It's been a routine week -work and daycare 5 days this week. We took the kids shopping for pirate costumes (for Mom & Dad) on Monday, and they behaved pretty well (we only had to take a couple of walks around the stores to quell tantrums...) and earned themselves a dinner out. How convenient that they asked for noodles in front of Noodles & Company!
We got to play outside many nights with the neighbors. The swings in our yard are definitely getting well used, as is the neighbor's castle playhouse.
Saturday, both kids decided they wanted to join Mom at a baby shower. Thankfully, the hostess has kids, so her house was beautiful but childproof. Though no other kids were there, Noah & Hannah were fairly well behaved and didn't destroy anything...Then we came home to play for a little while before getting Megan, their daycare provider's daughter, to come babysit while Mom & Dad attended a murder mystery party. Mom & Dad had fun and Noah & Hannah really enjoyed having Megan come to play and put them to bed.
Today was the last day of Sunday School. Noah & Hannah really enjoy Sunday School - Hannah asks to go to church & Sunday School often. (Honestly, we do to go Sunday School every week of class - though we don't attend church service quite as often.) We were a little bit late, so we missed the opportunity to sing "I wanna be a sheep" song that Noah & Hannah have been singing lately. (They sing that in large group before class starts) It's fun to hear them sing songs we hear often, although their interpretations of the words are often a little bit off. Next year, they'll be in the 3-yr old class! The past 2 years have been in the little lambs class with infants all the way up to them being the oldest. They've learned all about the bible stories, though, and talk about them even when we're at home. Next year will be fun to see what they learn when the class isn't in a nursery with lots of distracting toys.
Have a great week! We'll be busy this week getting ready for guests next weekend. Noah & Hannah will be so excited when their cousins Ben & Lauren come to stay the night and play with them!
Until next week...
Mom

Meet Spike!

We're excited to announce the newest member of our family!
Yesterday, Daddy took us to the pet store and we picked out a fish to bring home. We named him Spike.
We have enjoyed watching him swim, and it's fun to watch him eat! It was a rainy weekend, so it was a good weekend to get to know our new fish. Of course, we still do our daily chore of feeding Cheyenne. We love our cuddly dog.
When we were watching Spike swim yesterday afternoon, we saw Mommy come home from her Moms of Multiples garage sale - she put a teeter totter in the backyard! We were excited for our new toy, so we put our shoes & coats on and tried it out! Of course, we just tried it out for a minute or two...then we decided to swing since the rain finally stopped for a short time and we were able to swing. We enjoyed being outside for just a short time, but didn't get to play with our teeter totter much. When Noah wanted to teeter totter, Hannah wanted to swing. When Hannah decided to teeter totter, Noah wanted to swing.
That night, we went to the grocery store to buy some bananas and got a super cool cart! It was a car. It was almost as cool as the store that has little carts. (The store with little carts is our favorite because we get to push our own carts through the store)
After we "drove" around the store, we went to see our friends Trevor & Dylan. We played & watched movies with them until it was time for us to go home and go to bed. What a day! We were worn out!
The past week has been fun. We had a lot of nice days, so we got to play outside at daycare every day. We love getting outside to play!
Tuesday was even so nice that Mommy put on roller blades and took us out in the stroller. When we got back, she turned on the sprinkler and we ran through it. We were wet, but it was so much fun! Then, we went in the house to find Daddy made our favorite meal - MOSTACCIOLI!
Have a great week. We'll keep busy and enjoy our lives!
Noah & Hannah

We can't believe it - our babies have done preschool screening!
They're growing up so fast.
This morning, we woke up to a lot of thunder & lightning - enough to knock out power for a few hours. Luckily, Noah & Hannah slept through it despite the fact that Cheyenne paced the floor wanting to be outside and check out the big booms. When the kids woke up, we told them that we were going to get ready and go to school. (Preschool Screening was held at the school we took ECFE classes at last year, so Noah & Hannah associated that school with their classes.) They were so excited! When it was finally time to go, Noah appeared in the ktichen with backpacks for each of them, so they strapped on their little backpacks (full of a coloring book, crayons and a container of Lucky Charms) and got in the car. We went into the school and found our room, and that's when Noah decided he was shy. He stood outside the door and wouldn't come in for a while, but after a trip to the bathroom, he decided it was OK to take off his coat and go play with Hannah. After a short playtime, two teachers came to talk to Mom, then took Noah & Hannah back to their offices to test them. I could hear them shouting out answers and getting excited when they completed a task successfully. It didn't take long for them to be done, and while I talked to the screeners, the kids enjoyed the toys in the waiting area. They started with the dollhouse, but ended up sharing the kitchen and cooking up a big feast!
Hannah did very well - she excelled at her tasks in comparison with children her age. Noah also did quite well, but since boys develop later, his fine motor skills, balance and attention span need a little more time to develop to the point where they can approve him for kindergarten. We'll go back next year to check his progress, but it's good to know both kids are doing well for 3 year olds.
The kids had a fun weekend. Saturday, we played inside and outside, including having to hurry out of the house to search for our dog who had gotten out of the fence! Noah & Hannah were very worried about her, but were helpful in searching. We found her 3 doors down after driving around a few blocks. After we found Cheyenne, Daddy came to pick us up and take us out to eat! Noah & Hannah got to eat with Mom & Dad's volleyball friends - they thought they were so cool sitting at the big table with tall chairs. After an afternoon visit from Daddy's cousin & aunt, Noah & Hannah got to go to the park to fly their kites. It was a beautiful day and they'd been wanting to fly their kites ever since they got them from their cousins at Easter. Of course, kites were nothing compared to the allure of the playground, so Mom conceded after a short round of kite flying (and after Noah let go of Hannah's kite and had to carefully reel it back in from a fenced off city garage property). The kids really enjoyed all the slides & climbers in the playground, and were much more independent than our last visit last year. Noah really loves slides. Hannah likes slides, but is much more cautious especially when the slide takes a turn or twist. She liked the monkey rings though - although Mom helped her, she held most of her weight by herself. Both kids used their time at the park wisely, going from slide to climber to sandbox - they didn't waste their time swinging, since we have a swing set at home!
Sunday, the kids were excited to go back to Sunday School - it's been a couple of weeks with Easter & Palm Sunday festivities taking up the Sunday School time for two weeks. After Sunday School, we took them to Ron & Carol's Sandbox for some sand volleyball. Last year, we didn't have very good luck being on the court at the same time, since one of the kids usually needed our attention. It's nice that they're more independent now. We were both able to play volleyball while Noah & Hannah played with all the other kids there (out of 9 kids there, there were 3 sets of twins!) They played tag, in the hammock, in the sandbox and in the treehouse, but when the adults stepped off the court, all the kids swarmed the court! They just wanted to play on the volleyball court, so they had fun.
After such a nice week of getting out to play while at daycare and over the weekend, Noah & Hannah have slept well at night! I think they're already beginning to appreciate spring in Minnesota.
Have a great week!
Go Twins. :-)
Mom (Shari)

Happy Easter!

That Easter Bunny sure was busy this weekend, and so were we!
We had a fun week - Wednesday at daycare we got to spend all day watching the house next door get knocked down by BIG tractors. How cool! We are just excited to get outside and play, but this was a great bonus to see the house demolition. We are tired of being cooped up inside. We take every opportunity at home and daycare to be outside.
We got new swings over the winter, and we're LOVING the big kid swings at home.
Friday, we got to drive to Grandma's house. It was a LONG drive, but we were excited to see Grandma, Angie & Grandpa when we got there. Grandma & Grandpa still have just a little bit of snow left in ditches & shady spots, but the flooding around them is amazing to see. We don't live near any rivers, but we drove past several that are really full and spilling right out of their banks! Dani, Jason, Lauren & Ben came to Grandma's later so we got to see them, too.
Saturday, we went into town to the park where the Easter bunny had hidden a whole bunch of eggs - we helped him collect them and got candy for our efforts. Then, Mom & Dad let us play at the playground. After that, we went to Great Grandma's for dinner, then the Easter Bunny hid MORE eggs for us. YEAH!
After we opened all our eggs and got all the fun toys & candy out of them, Mom took us for a walk to look at tractors. Most of the tractors were different than what was in our neighborhood to fix our roads last year, but they were still HUGE and COOL! But, that wore Noah out because he fell asleep on Great Grandma's couch after that. There were so many people there, he was really tired to sleep through all that!
When we went back to Grandma's we opened more presents from our aunts, uncle and grandma & grandpa. And were so tired, we fell asleep right away when Mom & Dad put us to bed.
This morning, Mom and Dad told us they heard the Easter Bunny INSIDE Grandma & Grandpa's house last night - he filled our Easter Buckets with more eggs, a puzzle, cool new toothbrush and new umbrella for each of us. That tricky Easter Bunny HID our stuff from us so we had to look behind chairs and inside grandma's tent to get our stuff.
Great Grandma, Cathy & Jim came over to eat dinner at Grandma's today, so we got to see them today. After dinner, Daddy left on his motorcycle. We were ready to go home after he left. But, we had to make sure Mommy remembered Cheyenne! We think she was just kidding when she said she was going to leave our puppy at Grandma's, but we helped call Cheyenne and remind Mommy to let Cheyenne in the car. It was a long drive, but we were happy to get home and happy to fall asleep in our own beds tonight.
Happy Easter!
Noah & Hannah