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

Breakfast one morning

Last week Hannah was feeling very ill. She was running a temp of 102 and Daddy had cleared his schedule so he could stay home with her. Dad was eating a plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese. Hannah was eating strawberry yogurt. Hannah wanted some bagel, and being sick, Daddy decided that anything she wanted to eat was okay for her today. Daddy gave her half of his bagel (the half he hadn't frosted with cream cheese yet). Hannah looked at her bagel...looked at Daddy's bagel....looked back at hers.

She then used her spoon to spread strawberry yogurt onto her bagel and said "just like Daddy!"

Sick as she was, she's still the cutest in daddy's eyes!

We've had a fun couple of weeks!
Last Thursday, Grandma Diane came over to spend the day with us. We had so much fun with her. Then she left to go see Grandpa, and the next day we got in the truck and drove to Iowa to visit our Grandpa Bob & Grandma Lois. We also got to see our cousins, Michael, Michelle and Alexander, our aunt Angela and a bunch of daddy's aunts, uncles and cousins. We had so much fun playing with new people, new toys and being in a new place. Our cousins played with us, and we also got to know Grandma & Grandpa, since we don't get to see them very often. This picture is us with Grandma & Grandpa and our cousins. The other picture is us sleeping. We stayed in a room where we shared a bed. The first night, Mommy put our pillows on opposite ends of the bed, but we cuddled up next to each other so we could sleep better. We stayed for 2 nights, then we packed up the truck and drove home again. We are very good on long drives since we get to watch movies on the drives. We watched our favorites, again: Lightning McQueen and Happy Feet!

Monday night, Aunt Angela came over to eat steak with us. She also brought our cousin Alex. We showed him our great toys and swing but we aren't very good at sharing our toys yet. Mommy thinks we need to work on that. I shared my swing with him, and he had fun playing with it.
Tuesday night, Mommy came home from work and I caught her changing into her swimming suit, so I had to go with her to the swimming pool. I wasn't feeling very good, but I didn't want to miss out if Mommy took Noah to the pool. So, all four of us went to the pool. I walked into the water twice, but just wanted to cuddle with Mommy. Noah got really wet playing in the pool with daddy. Maybe I'll swim more when I feel better.

Wednesday, I didn't even feel good enough to go to daycare. I stayed home and cuddled with daddy. I stayed home for a little while Thursday with Mommy, but I felt better and wanted to go to daycare (especially when I found out they were playing outside!)
This morning, on the way to daycare I told Mommy I feel better. She asked me if I wanted to go to daycare, but I told her "I don't like bananas at Sue's house". I never like bananas! Mommy told Sue what I said, and they both thought I was goofy!

Today, we came home and Aunt Angela was at our house again with Alex. I shared my swing with him (Mommy had to ask me really nicely to share), so he got to swing next to Noah while I played in the sandbox. I made a pretend birthday cake (with my sand bucket and shovel) and sang happy birthday to him because Mommy said his birthday is coming up soon!

Tomorrow, Daddy said we're going to go see his aunt and cousins for dinner. I hope we get to watch Lightning McQueen on our way there if they live far away!
-Hannah

Friday, I had a fun day at daycare. We got to play with water balloons. Hannah didn't like getting wet, but I loved it! Then, after Mommy got home from work, Mommy & Daddy took us to the swimming pool. Hannah got cold after a short time, but I didn't want to leave. I went to the 3 ft deep part and jumped from the pool deck into Mommy's arms in the pool. I had so much fun! Hannah did, too. She keeps asking if we can go to the pool. Last summer we had our own little pool in the backyard. I wonder if Mommy & Daddy saved that...
We were so worn out from Friday that we slept until almost 9 on Saturday morning! It was raining when we woke up, and when mommy came in our room to say good morning, I looked at Mommy and said "Daddy's taking a shower." Mommy said it was only rain, so it wasn't Daddy taking a shower. Hmm...it sure sounded like a shower.
We're looking forward to a long weekend. Grandma Diane is coming to see us on Thursday, then we're going to go see Grandma Lois and Grandpa Bob and a bunch of Daddy's family over the weekend. Boy, we always keep ourselves busy!
Have a happy fourth of July weekend!
Noah (and Hannah)