The Kitchen

The girls love to come into the kitchen while we cooking, but we like to keep them as far away from the stove as possible.  Since they also love the stool that Grandpa made for them, last weekend we decided to try to use the stool to distract them while I made breakfast (banana pancakes!)  Fortunately, it worked.  The girls loved being able to stand on the stool and look over the island at me while I made the pancakes.

 

Making Quiche

Sunday morning the girls got up with Grandma and Grandpa to make the family breakfast.  My dad does quite a bit of woodworking, and he made the girls an adorable step stool for our house.  They got to try it out this weekend to make quiche, and it was a big hit.



I was still in bed, but I'm told they did an excellent job spreading the cheese:)

They also ate the quiche pretty well, but they weren't really fans of the crust.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on in the picture below.  This was probably taken at about the time I woke up to lots of yelling (on the part of Harper and Tannah).

We put the step stool in the bathroom so the girls can use it to wash their hands.  They still aren't quite tall enough to reach the water, but they love that step stool.  We keep it off to the side because it would block the door, but last night Harper pulled it over to the sink and climbed right up to wash her hands.

3K

One of our new neighbors has progeria, so this weekend Wei-Yand, the girls, and I participated in a 3K fun walk to help benefit research for progeria.  I thought the 5K seemed a little aggressive for a family walk, but the 3K was just our speed.  I pre-registered, but I managed to talk Wei-Yand into walking with us that morning.

 

The girls have been sleeping in until about 8:30, so they weren't overly thrilled when we pulled them out of bed at 6:50 am. We bundled them up and whisked them off to the race. Harper was a little feisty, but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich helped her calm down.

We watched the start of the 5K/10K, and then it was our turn to walk.  I just now realized that Wei-Yand and the girls matched:)

 



 

It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a walk, and there was a big turn-out so it was really fun.  After the walk, the carousel was giving free rides, and they had lots of other activities for kids that I'm sure our girls will love in the future.

 

Waiting for the Carousel

The girls are still a little afraid of the carousel, but the four of us rode it together, and they did all right.

 

I'm already looking forward to next year!

Weekends

I really like my job, but I love the weekends.  It's so much fun getting to spend all day as a family.  Since we now live in a town with limited shopping, we took the girls to the nearest big town and did a little shopping.  We played in the backyard when we got home, and it's clear that these girls love having a house with a yard.  They especially love that we have a swingset:)

 

 

17 Months!

Seventeen months!  My babies will be a year and a half next month.  They get sweeter and more beautiful every day.

 

 

 

 

At 17 months:

• The girls are little climbers.  They climb on furniture, the swingset, and their cribs.  Thankfully they haven't figured out how to climb out of their cribs yet.
• They love their stride and ride dinosaur, mega blocks, books, dirt, the slide, and their blankets.
• They wave and blow kisses at every person and car they see from a distance, but they get shy when confronted with new people up close.
• They love to point to dogs and birds and loudly proclaim, "da".  They can say "mama", "dada", "nana" (banana), and "quack".
• They know that ducks say "quack", cows say "moo", and tigers say "roar".
• We're still dealing with major tantrums on a regular basis.  We also have biting issues pretty frequently.  I'm looking forward to them having a few more words.
• They love macaroni and cheese, any pasta, and pretty much all fruit.  They also love Asian food, and they're getting better about eating meat.
• They drink about three sippy cups of milk per day.
• They wear size 12-18 month or 18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 5 shoes.
• They love to "help". They like to throw their diapers away, and we've been working with them to pick up their books and blocks.
• They love to dump their mega blocks on the floor.
• They love to stand on their chairs and look out the window.
• They give fantastic hugs and are getting better at closing their mouths for kisses.
• They sleep from around 7:30 or 8 until about 8:30 am. 
• As of last week, Harper no longer uses a pacifier.  The first bedtime and nap were a little rough, but we've had no problems since then.  Tannah sucks her fingers, and I have a feeling she might be doing that for a while.
 

Last Days of Summer

We may still have another week or two of summer-like weather, but I know that fall comes quickly in the Midwest.  We had gorgeous weather this weekend, so we decided to take advantage of it, and we went to the beach multiple times.  Wei-Yand and I took the girls twice.  Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls overnight on Saturday, and they took the girls to the beach on Sunday. 

One of my friends from college got married on Saturday, so two of my other friends and their family came in on Friday.  We went to the carousel and the fountain as well as the beach.

Wei-Yand and I spent the night away for the wedding on Saturday, and the girls had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa (lets just say that there was no crying when Wei-Yand and I left, but there were major meltdowns when Grandma and Grandpa left).

It was nice for us to have a night away together, and it's so nice having my parents close enough (and very willing) to watch the girls.  All in all, it was a fantastic weekend.