A Look Back . . .

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

What a difference a year makes!

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2008

Morgan & Madylin = M&Ms

Happy day-before-Halloween, everybody!  Here are some pictures of the girls in the costumes that I made.  Yes- my first sewing project completely by myself (no pattern and no help from my mother!)  They were really easy- it's not like I'm a pro.

                          2 smiles- FINALLY!

 Say CHOCOLATE!!                          

It's kinda hard to hug in these padded costumes, mom!

Here they are trick-or-treating door-to-door at church.  They had no idea what was going on!  They were completely silent and had no expressions whatsoever.  They just kept taking the candy, putting it in their buckets, and walking on.  It was kinda funny.

Wordless Wednesday (why?- because I can!)

The Pumpkin Patch

Well we finally made it to the pumpkin patch this weekend.  We had some fun and got some good pictures.  Here are the girls on the hay stacks when we first got there.  I don't think I got one picture of them smiling.  They really are happy girls, I promise ( :

Here we are- the whole fam . . .

When it comes down to picking pumpkins, I'll take THIS one . . .

                                                     and THIS one!

Grandpa and Grandma Kinser came with us, too!

Who doesn't love the pumpkin patch?  

The girls learned a new word- "pumpkin" (although it sounds more like "punky")

Which Twilight character are you?

Head over and take this quiz, all you Twilighters (which, I am sure, is like ALL of you!  Who doesn't love Twilight??)  And I am sure no one is surprised that I am "an Esme".  I saw it coming all along- I'm just so gosh darn boring and nice.  My old volleyball teammates and several friends used to refer to me as "the mom."  Let me know which character YOU are!

*Update*  I had Russell take the test and guess what- he's a Carlisle!  (Esme's match for non-Twilighters) How cute are we?!

 

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Wordless Wednesday

Leaves+family+football=FALL!!

Saturday morning my brother Matt came over to help my dad prune the big tree in the yard.  The girls put some little hoodies and sneakers on and headed out to join the fun and "help."  They actually did a good job picking up leaves and putting them in the trash can.  Oh and FYI- Morgan is in the gray and Madylin in the yellow (people always ask).

When the leaves were cleaned up they spent some time pointing out Poppa's nose and eyes for him (just in case he'd forgotten where they were)

And just in case it wasn't feeling like Fall already, they spent some time playing football with Uncle Matt.

Matt also put an ant on his hand and Madylin was fascinated while watching it crawl all over his hand.  She kept trying to pick it up by pinching it.

Weekend with the Hatches

My brother was visiting from Arizona with his wife and 3.5 kids (wife is expecting), so we went down to my parent's house to see them this weekend.  I will be posting some pictures from that visit over the next few days.  We typically only see Spencer and his family about twice a year, so it is always nice to see my nieces and nephew.  This was the first visit where Morgan and Madylin were big enough to actually play with their cousins and follow them around, so that was fun to see.

Friday night the 5 kids spent some time coloring with chalk all over Granna and Papa's driveway.

The next night the whole family went out to dinner.  Everyone was there except for my brother Steven, who is up at BYU-Idaho

I love hanging out with family and watching all the cousins play.  We are excited to see the girls play with their Kinser cousins this holiday season when Russell's brother and sister and their families will be here.  They have only seen Isaac once and none of us have ever met little Austin, so that will be fun!

Twins Tackling video

I wanted to put this video on the "WWF" post, but I couldn't figure it out.  I have now figured it out so enjoy.  Oh and don't worry- Morgan is squealing with delight, not crying! (until the end when she trips and then starts crying)

Prop 8 Video

I got this video from my friend Erin's blog.  It's really cute and does a great job in addressing how you can be accepting of a person and their life choices without condoning and affirming those  choices.

Book Lovers

Just a little milestone- but a fun one.  We took the girls to a book store for the first time and they sat down at the little table that was "for kids only"  and looked at books, including Dr. Seuss books which Russell is going to try to ram down their throats in the years to come, I can already tell.  (They were his favorite growing up and he wants to own all of them)  I don't really get it.  Anyhow they love books- whenever they are crying at me and I'm alone with them at home I ask them if they want to look at books and they immediately stop crying and point to the bookshelf.

Anyhow, we just thought it was so neat that they are big enough now to sit at the table by themselves and that they are actually interested in looking at books now.  They are getting too old!  I want my little twinfants back! (sorta . . . kinda . . . not really)

WWF

At night the girls get really silly and chase each other around the house.  It often turns into a sort of wrestling match.  Typically Madylin tackles Morgan to the floor and they both giggle until Madylin lets Morgan get up and then tackles her again.  Madylin will even grab Morgan's waist from behind and then pull her down on top of herself.

Russell and I find it quite entertaining.  We just have to make sure they don't hurt each other!

Beethoven 1 & 2

These girls sure love to play the piano and do so daily.  Hopefully they keep their interest because I plan on teaching them to play in a few years!

Serenading each other

Favorite Dress

We decided to have a little photo shoot in this teal and brown polka dot dress that the girls got from Grandma Kinser.  She bought it for them because she said it screamed "Katie".  She was totally right! I love polka dots and teal and brown together and anything for my girls that is not pink.  Pink is okay sometimes, I just get tired of it is all.  I am so bummed that Morgan has grown out of the dress so they can't wear it anymore (she has quite a belly on her!).

Holding Hands

The girls have been into holding hands lately and it is pretty dang cute, not to mention hilarious because the way they grasp each other's hands is usually awkward.

If one falls down, that's just too bad- you can't break your grip!

Here they are trying to get their grip right so they can walk together.

 

And they're off! walking alongside my niece, Sara.

First Boyfriend

Caiden and his mom, Christy live above us and we play with them almost everyday  (Christy is my gym buddy).  The kids act so silly when they are together.  Last night Caiden came over for a few minutes and he and the girls just ran around the house laughing.  They would run and then stop and look at each other and crack up.

The girls love to give kisses and hugs and sometimes Caiden will oblige.  If one of the girls gets a kiss from him though, the other one has to as well.  Here is Madylin sneaking a kiss while Morgan's back is turned.

We went swimming with Caiden a few times this summer and all the kids just loved it.  It's nice to have a friend around (especially for mommy!)

Now that CAN"T be comfortable!

Madylin was sick and acting very strange a couple of weeks ago and refused to lay down when I put her to bed.  She was so exhausted though, and when I checked on her a few minutes later, this is what I found.  The lights were off, I just used my flash to take the picture, and there she was- asleep while sitting up !

Gotta Get Away!

In August, Russell and I decided we needed a weekend getaway, so we left the girls with my parents and headed to a bed and breakfast in San Diego.  We had a fantastic romantic dinner and went to Sea World and to Oceanside Harbor beach.  It was a really great weekend, even though I missed the girls terribly.

Here we are at the Shamu "Believe" show.  It was pretty cheesy, but the animals were great.

 

Here are the dolphins. Their show was my favorite.

And here I am touching a Bat Ray (very slimy)

First Beach Trip!

In August the girls had their first trip to the beach.  They loved it!  They played in the sand and loved it and they thought the water was pretty cool once they got used to it.