Trunk or Treat!!

I've been planning the girls' Halloween costumes for awhile now. The twins were Thing 1 & Thing 2 last year. I wanted Abby to go as Cat in the Hat last year but I found a cute, NEW ladybug costume for $1 at a garage sale. Hmmm...new babies, awful c-section recovery, busybody 3 yr old...yup, purchased ladybug costume it was!!!

So this year, I was really hoping I could pull off all three characters. Thanks to the new PBS show, The Cat in the Hat Knows About That, Abby was a willing participant!! (Although, as Halloween drew closer, she frequently changed her costume requests. The most common requests were Ariel or Iron Man. Go figure.)

Last Friday, Zac and I went on a double date with our good buddies, the Bruces. After dinner, we hit Toys R Us and Target to do some no-kids-around Christmas shopping. At Toys R Us, they had Shrek ears on clearance. And our creative wheels started spinning. :)



Ha!! I made the babies' outfits from adult size thrift store t-shirts that I cut down, turned inside out and stitched up. Then I added white felt tummies. I followed the same method for Abby's t-shirt and then added black pants that she already had. I was SO PROUD of the twins' hats - I made yarn tassels and sewed them to Dollar Store knit hats. Too bad the babies weren't quite so proud of my work. :( It took four adult wranglers just to get the decent family picture!

Zac assisted the modeling/fitting of the Things hats.


I made a hat for Abby but it didn't fit right. So Zac tried a few ideas to fix it. The night before our church Trunk-or-Treat, I was about to have a melt down because "the stupid hat looks like crap!" So my amazing hubby called around and found one at Amelia's, a costume shop in Draper. Best $14 we ever spent!!!

We were quite the spectacle when we entered the church carnival with several requests for pictures!!! Aren't we so cute?!?



One of my BFFs (see aforementioned double date) turned her boys into Lego Blocks! They looked too cute!


I think this year Abby finally got the hang of trick-or-treat. She had fun going around to the cars, although she was a little shy and quiet. She's so funny because she is so outgoing around people she knows but has a tendency to clam up around not-so-familiar folks.

Our friend Jason has an old firetruck that is working on restoring. He dressed up as a scary firefighter and decorated his truck. It was definitely the hit of the night!!

Braces!!!

Oh, happy daaaaay!!!!! I got my braces off!!!! No more train tracks on my teeth!!

This morning.....

This afternoon!! (Evening actually - didn't get around to taking a picture earlier...)


In other news, the M&Ms won their soccer game tonight!! (That's Abby's team, just in case you were wondering - the Might Maroons = M&Ms) I had one of my little guys score for the other team but he made it up with a couple of goals in the right direction! Now if I can convince them not to tackle other kids and do somersaults on the field, we'll be making progress....

Sleeping girls

Isn't this the sweetest picture?!? Zac did the Daddy-Daycare thing both nights this weekend so that I could have a couple of crafty nights (thanks, Honey!). He loves his girls and I'm so glad that he also loves taking pictures of them! Emma and Abby were all knocked out, so he took their pictures and then played around with Cami for awhile. Such cute girls we have!!

Double the toddling...

Emma is now officially a toddler! On Sunday she took several steps at church (while I was out of the room, of course!) and has been taking longer strolls each day. Today she walked down the hall to her room. So we now have two walking baby girls. And a preschooler. Holy cow. ;)

Birthday pictures

Watch out, I did three posts at a time!!! Look at me catching up!

My fabulous friend Shauna took the girls' birthday pictures a few weeks ago and I LOVE the results! Now we just have to decide which ones to blow up and use to cover our walls. :)


Abby started off our photo session...

"A" for Attitude....

Cami was not entirely thrilled with the headband/clip in her hair.

By the end, Cami was D-O-N-E!!! We'll have to try for a group shot later. :)

Birthday bike!

I haven't gotten all the pictures from Abby's birthday party uploaded to the computer yet (they're on Zac's big camera) but I wanted to post some of her bike. It was funny when we gave her the bike - she didn't get too excited because I think she knew it was coming. She was excited to have it - but not surprised, I guess. She loooooves having it!! Our new apartment faces the courtyard and has a sidewalk going all the way around the grass. So Abby can ride the big circle as much as she wants and I can see her from inside the house. (Although she prefers for somebody to be out there watching her.) Here are some pictures of her riding...and some of Daddy riding with her.


Here she is, riding as soon as we got home from her party. She's wearing her swimsuit and coverup; she wouldn't even take the time to change clothes! :)


Zac doesn't usually ride bikes in his dress clothes (going for the missionary look, I guess. haha) but Abby didn't want to wait long after getting home from church to get back on her bike! She did change clothes this time - guess she's just faster than her Daddy. ;)



Here's what Abby wore to church on her birthday. She got the tutu from a friend for her birthday and we happened to have a cute, matching flower clip. New church shoes courtesy of Grams & Grampa. (NONE of her shoes that I bought at the beginning of the summer fit anymore, so these were very timely birthday gifts!)

Preschool!!

Today was Abby's first day of preschool! She was super excited to go - I had mixed emotions. :) Ever since she found out where she was going, she's brought up the subject of preschool everyday (it's been at least three months!). She goes Tues/Thurs afternoons for about 2.5 hours a day.

We had soccer practice this morning, then we got some lunch and changed Abby's clothes. I stopped at the far end of the school yard to get her picture with the sign. I told her to get back in the van so we could drive around to the drop off line (her teachers come to pick up the kids) and she wasn't happy about it. "Mom, I just want to walk over there and go to school!"

As we were driving, I had to make a left turn. In the middle of the turn, Abby grabbed my sleeve (I let her sit up front for the 200 yard drive) and wouldn't let go! And I kind of needed my arm right then! I asked her to let go and she said, "But Mommy, I need a kiss now!!" I love that girl!

So, we get to the drop off line and sit in the car to wait for the teachers. We ended up getting out a few minutes before they got there because a friend from church was there dropping off her little boy. The teacher saw and recognized Abby and told her to come join them. I talked for a few minutes, gave Abby a kiss and told her to be good and have fun. I got in the car and drove off....

....and cried a little. Not too much, I was proud of myself. But when my friend Leslie called, I told her not to talk about it or I would quickly turn into a basket case!!

I'm so excited for Abby to have this experience. She's a fabulous big sister but I know she gets tired of just me and the babies all the time. And, I admit, I am excited to only have two kids for a few hours a week. It's amazing how easy two seems (even if they are twins) when you're used to chasing three.

But it's sad for me to realize that my oldest child is really growing up. It's the most amazing thing to watch a (not-so) little person grow up.


In front of the school sign.


A close up of the cute pre-k girl. She picked out the shirt herself and bought with her very own birthday money from her great-grandparents. (Thanks, Meemaw & Pa!!) She picked it out because it has "an iPod like Daddy's!"

Sparkly, new kicks courtesy of Grams & Grampa for her birthday!

Baby update

The twins are growing! Cami, I think, officially qualifies as a toddler now. She doesn't always make it the whole way but she is all over the place with her walking. She regularly gets all the way across the living room! It's funny to watch her because her walk is very 'waddly' and she starts going really fast right before she falls...so cute!

Emma is getting into walking but still taking her time. She seems to have no use for walking, as crawling gets her where she needs to go. :) Checked her gums today and she is getting her two top teeth in; that explains the last few whiney, grumpy days that she has had.

Abby starts preschool and soccer tomorrow - two firsts in one day!! Keep an eye out for more pictures and info!

Walking....

Cami walked across the living room today (barely but she did make it) and Emma took 3-4 steps several times today. They're almost there.....

Teeth & Measurements

Did a tooth check today: Emma is still going strong with her two bottom teeth - and it's impressive how much and how quickly the girl can eat with just two teeth. Cami's fifth tooth just popped in and number six isn't going to be far behind. That will give her four on top and two on bottom. We've been calling her Billy Goat Cami because she is chewing on EVERYTHING these days!!

My growing girls! At checkups last week, Emma was 24 lbs, 13 oz and 32 1/4 inches tall!! She is so big and such a smiley girl. You can see that she is a little more reserved than Cami but she definitely likes people. She has her favorites and loves to laugh and smile for them!!

Cami, on the other hand, will smile at just about anybody! At the checkup, she came in at 22lbs, 15 oz and 31 inches tall. We call her our scrawny baby, though she's hardly small. She is always cracking us up with her funny faces and silly antics.

I promise to put up pictures soon. The last few days have been ridiculous around here and I haven't felt like myself. I'm getting to the pictures, I promise!! :)

GO, CAMI!!!

Cami took her first step!! Wooo hooo!!!!!

Happy birthday, Cami & Emma!!

I can't believe our babies are a year old!! Their birthday was Saturday, July 31. (It's also their great-grandma's birthday - she turned 75. Happy birthday, Meemaw!)

We had a fun little party with a few friends. Zac grilled hot dogs and we had chips, nachos, watermelon and homemade cupcakes to go along. Our friend, Celeste, was sweet enough to let us borrow her backyard, since we don't have one. :)

PS - My original goal was to post different pics on here than I did on Facebook. Not sure how well that worked, so if you are on both you may see repeat pictures. Good thing my kids are cute enough to look at twice. hahaha


The two 'smash' cakes for two babies....


Cute Zoe held Emma for about an hour while she slept. We found out Sunday that Emma has a really bad ear infection. She was not a happy camper on her birthday. So sad....


Cami, however, was all over the place during the party. She loved having so many little girls that were madly in love with her!!


Proud parents - aren't we cute wearing the party colors? :)


This girl cracks me up!! She makes the funniest little faces! And I love that she has the Houldridge/Hansen ears that so many of my siblings' kids have. Abby has them, too. Love it!


First potato chip....a day to remember. :)


Miss Emma - my poor baby didn't feel good at all. :(


"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...."


Those eyes can just pierce through your heart! So glad that one of my kids has big eyes - they sure didn't get them from me.


Stripped down for cake but had to open presents first. :) Most of their presents were in joint packaging (not complaining at ALL - just making note). These super cute tutus from the Chandlers were their individual gifts.


Cami loves to empty boxes and baskets, so she thought presents were totally awesome!


"Let them eat cake!"


The cake proved to be too much for Cami...




The dangers of being a baby with long hair...or long side burns, in Emma's case. ;)



Celeste was kind enough to let us borrow her laundry room sink for clean up!


Happy birthday to my sweet twins!! We were shocked to find out you were coming but I honestly cannot imagine our lives without you. Love all of my girls!!