Happy Halloween!!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween!! On Friday we went to Grandma Susan's work to visit and then to Aaron's work to visit and trick-or-treat some of the businesses in Palo Cedro. Aaron dressed up for as Clark Kent/Superman for Halloween (pictures to come later). He took Hailey around to the participating businesses and I followed with Chris and Maddie. Hailey had a blast!! On Saturday we went to Trunk or Treat at our ward building. All of the kids loved being around all of the people and Hailey loved getting candy!

Maddie in her pre-trick or treat outfit!!

Chris in his pre-trick or treat outfit!!

Minne Mouse - It was very hard to get her so pose for any picture.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 - Maddie hated to wear her hair.

On the way home from trunk or treat.

Catching up

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Life has been pretty busy! Here are some highlights of what has been going on with us. Some of the more fun stuff I'll post more about later.

First, we got a new vehicle!! We traded in my Camry for a '08 Dodge Grand Caravan. We love it!! We love the Camry too but with the kids getting bigger everyday it was getting a little cramped. White wouldn't of been our first choice, but it had most everything else we wanted.

It has stow and go seating which we love. I can have the seat down in the storage compartment, which gives me plenty of room to get Chris and Maddie in and out of the back seat. With the other seat up for Hailey to sit in I have lots of room to put stuff in the compartment it goes in.

This is one of my favorite things, with the push of a button I can open the doors. Since Chris and Maddie are not in their carrier seats any more I have my hands full. I just push the button and Hailey can get in the van instead of waiting in in the parking lot or wherever we might be she can get in the van and wait for me to buckle her in. So much safer!!!!

Next, we took a vacation!! Aaron took a week off of work and we first went to Vancouver, WA to see some amazing friends for 4 days. Thanks, Higham and Harris families!!!! The rest of the week we spent on the California coast. There are beautiful little cabins you can rent that are just south of the Oregon border. These cabins backyard is the beach. We've been here before and love it!!! (More about the vacation later. To much to tell about now).

Each family has a 2 year-old - Cater, Kylee and Hailey

All of our kids first time at the ocean

Next to last, Chris and Maddie turned 1 on October 21st!!

We now have 1 2yr-old and 2 1yr-olds! Life can be a little crazy but always entertaining.

Last, we had a birthday party for Chris and Maddie on the 24th. It was so much fun and they loved it even though they didn't really know what was going on.

(More about the party later)

Oh, and in there somewhere Aaron and I both had a birthday! He is now really old and I'm not!

Learning to walk - kind of

Looking back

The last few days I have started to plan Chris and Maddie's birthday party. I can't believe they are almost 1 year old. While trying to find and decide on birthday invitations for boy-girl twins (harder that you might think unless you want to spend a lot on them. I'd rather spend the money on the party and not the invitations) I was looking through my pictures and saw these...

27 weeks pregnant

35 weeks pregnant

38 weeks pregnant
Picture taken just before heading to the hospital! I still can't believe how big I was and the fact I had to be induced.

And about 6 hours later we went from a family of 3 to a family of 5!!!

Random Cuteness

Typical morning at our house.

One of the many beautiful flowers at the Sacramento Temple

The serious face.

Smiley Girl!

He sure has his Daddy's eyes.

Since Maddie's hair seems to only be growing in the middle this was really easy to do with her hair.

Papa Pirate (aka: Papa DeVon)

I get comments on her hair all of the time. I love and hate her hair all at the same time.

I love this picture so I had to post it!

Chris' month full of firsts

August has been a very full month for Chris. He has had a LOT of firsts this month and the month isn't even over yet.

1. He got his first tooth. That cute toothless grin is gone. It's still a very cute and most of the time mischievous grin, but now there are teeth.

2. He took his first bath in the big bath tub. First I tried giving them separate baths, but soon realized that it was faster and easier for me if I give them baths at the same time and they like it better when they're together.

3. He got his first hair cut. The hair cut was a little need for looks but mostly needed to save him from pain. Maddie would grab handfuls and pull. Since they are about the same height (she is a little taller) it was hard to continually stop her.

~Before~

~After~

This face is his latest trick.

4. He got his first black eye. While in the bath tub he tried to climb over Maddie to get a toy and fell. He hit his head, right on the cheek bone, on the side of the tub. Poor boy his first shiner at 10 months old.

Getting older and bigger

Chris and Maddie are now 10 months old. It seems like it took forever to get to 6 months and now time is flying by. I didn't even realize that they were 10 months old until someone asked me, the other day how old they were. Both are still crawling and pulling themselves up on the furniture. But, both are much braver about holding on to stuff and walking around. Maddie still only has 6 teeth, but Chris is catching up, as of this morning he has 3. Maddie will hold on to the push toys and crawl on her knees. I don't think it will be long before she walks around while pushing them. Then the fun starts again, because when she is faster than Chris she can keep and take whatever toys she wants. This is what motivated him to move from the military crawl to a regular crawl. Once they are walking might life will be easier and crazier all at the same time.

Hailey loves to play with them and gets very frustrated by them all at the same time. Poor girl, she's out numbered. She'll move a toy so that one of the babies can't get it and the other one will be right there trying to get it. Both of the babies adore her, some day she'll appreciate that. I hope.

Hailey wants to be...

In the car tonight while we were driving home from swim lessons (post to follow later) I told Hailey that tomorrow we are going to take Papa DeVon to his doctor's to get some papers and then to Papa's work to deliver them (DeVon had eye surgery and has to be off work for 2 weeks). She said that she needed to go to her doctor too, because she has the hiccups. She loves going to the doctor and thinks she need to go often.

I asked her if she wanted to be a doctor when she grows up she said "No."

So I asked the obvious question "Then what do you want to be when you grow up?"

With out missing a beat she said " I want to be a Mommy." That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I must be doing something right if she wants to be like me when she grows up. Then after a minute or so she said "Brother and Sister can be doctors though." I'm not quite sure what that means.

Caged Animals

Because Chris and Maddie are now crawling and pulling themselves up to stand they get into everything so I put up the gate to keep them in the play/family room.

Maddie didn't like it, but doesn't mind now.

Chris is so easy going that he doesn't care.

We're 9 months old!!!

Chris and Maddie turned 9 months old on the 21st. I'm a little late with this post, but I wanted to wait until their 9 months check-up to give you all of their stats.

Chris is 28" tall and weights 17lbs 11oz. He still does the Army crawl, but recently started to pull himself up to a standing position and while holding on to something he will take a few steps. He eats like a horse and sleeps very well. Most nights he sleeps for 11 to 12 hours, but once he wakes up he's up and won't go back to sleep for a while. Lucky for us he is content to be put in a swing and watch Baby Einstein until we all get up. He loves to cuddle and has no teeth.

Maddie is 28 1/4" tall and weights 18lbs 12oz. She crawls and pushes herself to the sitting up position. She also pulls herself to the standing position and while holding on to something will take a few steps. She doesn't eat nearly as much as Chris and sleeps good. She is a light sleeper and at night sleeps for 9 to 10 hours, but she'll drink a bottle and go back to bed for a couple of hours. She recently learned to clap and is very proud of herself when she does. As of today she has 6 teeth. Her hair is also long enough to put a clip in.

They love to play with each other and hate it at the same time. They fight over everything and both love to watch and play with their big sister. Who love it sometimes and hates it others. I love to see the differences and similarities between them.