Last Week's Adventures

The girls, Aunt Katie and I took a trip to South Haven last week. Granny Smith came to visit and brought the girls cool, new books.

Great Grandma and Grandpa came to visit also. The girls loved seeing them and showed them all of their books and toys.

Riley loved boating. She fed the duckles bread from the dingy. The ducks swam right up to the boat for food and to get a great view of Sanna's stink-eye. Sanna mainly whined and pouted. Even the friendly ducks knew to steer clear of her.

Finally, a good shot of the girls. This was our Christmas miracle for the year. Don't expect another cute picture of the two of them for another 13 months.

The girls loved being goofy by the glass door. There were a lot of faces smooshed against grandpa's clean glass. I guess that he will have to haul out the window cleaning supplies again. The girls are becoming more considerate though. I think that they waited at least 5 minutes this time before they started smearing their dirty little mouths and hands all over papa's glass. Progress.

The girls went swimming at Larry and Kitty's pool. They loved splashing in the water and playing with the giant noodles that the Girards were nice enough to share.

The ladies suddenly decided that they love to wear their lifejackets, even when they were nowhere near a boat or water. The only problem was that the lifejackets acted much like sumo suits. Whenever the girls put them on, they awkwardly stumbled around until they ended up on their backs like stranded turtles. Once on their backs, there was no rolling over or getting back up without assistance. It was a rather humorous scene. Sanna finally just gave up. Game over.

Monkey Joe's

Aunt Katie and I took our monkeys to Monkey Joe's on Wednesday to waste some time. Monkey Joe's is basically a giant bounce house. The first 30 minutes were uneventful and mainly involved the girls sitting perfectly still and silently asking us, "Where are we, and why have you taken us here?".

However, have no fear because, as evidenced by the hair in this picture, Sanna ended up rolling, diving, flipping and flopping all over ever square inch of Monkey Joe's. Riley, on the other hand, was quite content to cling to Katie and just take it all in.

The Naner crawling through one of the many secret tunnels. She loved to crawl back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth, and ............ well, you get the idea.

Sanna and I at the bottom of a huge slide. If you were wondering, grown women do descend extremely fast down slippery slides. It worked out well though because Sanna seems to have a need for speed. She went down the toddler slides on her stomach, face first.

We finally got Riley comfortable enough to crawl through the tunnel, but it ended in crying after some contact from her sister.

Riley sat in the same spot on this alligator for what seemed like hours as Sanna crawled in circles around her. Sanna eventually did what she does best these days and stood up on top of the air-filled alligator before promptly falling off.

As always I was trying to capture just ONE decent picture of BOTH girls, but this is as close as I got. Is it really too much to ask to get one picture where both girls look cute and are smiling?

Sanna started to get the hang of bouncing, and Aunt Katie made it easier for her by bouncing next to her, sending her flying.

Surprise, surprise, Riley is STILL on the alligator:)

Sanna was having a great time and was pretty proud of herself. She would clap every time that she bounced and fell down.

Sanna assuming the position before Aunt Katie sent her hurling into the air and, subsequently, into her face-plant on the mat.

The girls told me that they had a great time at Monkey Joe's, but insisted that it would be way more fun if all of their grandparents took them next time:)

Time to Switch to Organic Milk

MEAT!!!!, and other fun things...

Last Saturday was the 2nd ever 'Cant Beat My Meat' extravaganza. It included sweet trophies, a cornhole tournament, and lots of meat. It was really a perfect day. Brooke (pictured below) flew all the way from Virginia for the event. She actually came for the state fair, but I was tying to protect her from being ridiculed for loving the fair.

My shirt can barely contain my biceps after all the curls I have been doing in the office. Guess which one is not like the others (not named Ryan)

Despite this cheesy goodness, my grilled philly cheesesteak sandwiches could only earn me runner-up status (no trophy):(

It was a pigtail explosion for Sanna. We finally found a way to hide her mullet. She is no longer afraid of the squeeze balls with the tentacles.

Riley's hair can only support the top pony. She is jealous. She did have the better shoes though.
Chasing each other and the dog through the tunnel has become a more frequent occurrence. Noone ever gets caught really. Just lots of squealing and giggling.

Katie had about enough of Nick's tales of Big Ten sports past,present, and future. At least she made it to the finals of the cornhole tournament (where she lost to Nick).

Burn After Reading

Despite the cuteness displayed in these pictures, our kids have turned into big dorks. They are obnoxiously obsessed with reading. Yesterday, Laurin probably read 50 books to the girls. When I say 50 books, I mean the same 5 books 10 times each. They are really into the farm books, the monkeys on the bed, Dr. Seuss's ABCs, and anything with Yo Gabba Gabba. I have already turned the girls off of vegetables, how can I get them to give up reading as well? Also, if anyone can help us to find Tooddee or Foofa costumes for 18mo olds, we would appreciate it. We will procure them, but I dont know where to find them and havent googled yet. We waited until the last second last year which resulted in a pea and a st. bernard. Cute, but not coordinated.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrttttttttyyyyyyyy!

The girl's first birthday party was a success. They loved eating cake, opening presents, playing with their friends, and being the center of attention.

The girls in their new ball pit.

Their birthday cake from Heavenly Sweets. This is the same place that Ryan and I got our wedding cake. I'll let you all in on a little secret ............ the cake was probably more for us adults than for the girls:) They did enjoy their smash cakes though.

Great Grandma and Grandpa really picked a winner with this talking Elmo. The girls just can't get enough of him, but mom and dad might have to remove his vocal chords soon:)

Even Erin was feeling festive. She seemed to enjoy her new Elmo hat. Don't worry, we didn't choke her with the elastic chin strap. No babies were harmed in the making of this blog, but they do do all of their own stunts:)

One of the many fun gifts that the girls received. It is now in their bedroom providing hours of entertainment for the girls and moments of peace and quiet for mom and dad.

Sanna loved sneaking peeks of people at the other end of the tunnel.

Riley thought that she was pretty cool sittin' by herself on the edge of the step.

Sanna had at least one ball in her hand all day.

Aunt Katie spent some big bucks to make the girls queens for the day.

Sanna directing her loyal servants.

They weren't quite sure why everyone was staring at them and singing. I think that the fire on the candles threw them off a little too.

As you all have seen in a previous post, Riley loves to get down and dirty.

Sanna prefers to smear the cake around on her tray.

Thank goodness this only happens once a year:) We will all rest up until next year:)

Trouble Ahead

Sanna is a climbing, exploring, trouble-making machine. Riley is really funny. You will see both 0f those facts in action in the video.

A Birthday Miracle

It only took a year, but we finally caught the girls in an act of sharing that didnt involve someone being bitten or crying.