Boo!

In the background is "Boo." He's pretty much all the twins can think or talk about lately 😂. They want to be out playing by him ALL THE TIME (Avery will only get within about 10 feet of him because he's "scarewee", but she still can't stop talking about him). He was in the front yard but that wasn't working too well with two of them and only one of me - I would end up chasing them in opposite directions, finally catching them and carrying both inside under my arms kicking and screaming to avoid runaway babies down the middle of the street 🙈. So over the weekend Cory came up with the brilliant idea to move Boo in the backyard (why didn't I think of that?). Now they can be out by Boo all they want. They get pretty upset when he has to go to "sleep" at night (aka deflate) but we make up for it with the excitement of inflating him the next morning 🤗. It's so funny the unexpected things kids become obsessed with!

"Sash!"

Asher doesn't call Avery anything yet, but Avery calls Asher "Sash". We call him Ash for short, and also call him "Smash" or "Smasher" sometimes (because he loves to throw and smash things) so for some reason it turned into Sash for her. I love hearing her running around the house yelling "Sash!" 

Sometimes when she's following me around the house and I need her to be distracted for a minute so I can do something like open a cupboard or do something I don't want her to get into ill ask her, "where's Sash?" She'll get this concerned and determined look in her eyes and then turn on her little feet and go running full speed down the hall or wherever (she runs like a little bird) yelling, "Sash! Sash!" And then she'll go get him. It's the cutest thing. 

They have gotten so cute to where they laugh at each other and will entertain each other for so long sometimes after waking up. They'll sit and babble and laugh back and forth to each other while sitting in their cribs. Some mornings it's so nice when they do that because I can hurry and fit in a shower or something before getting them out! 

19 months!

can't believe the twins are 19 months old. They are now closer to two years old than one! Ah, this makes my mama heart hurt a little. They are still my "babies" as I constantly call them, even though they are growing so fast. Too fast!

I love how blonde Asher has gotten this summer. He's such a chill, good-natured little guy. My favorite is having babble conversations with him. He babbles and babbles and is so serious in his little babble conversations. Asher says, 

"Ou-si, ou-si, ou-si" for outside. He loves going outside! Everytime I put him down to sleep he pats his head because he knows I will smooth his hair down while I say goodnight to him and I think he is "reminding" me to do that. I think it's so cute that he loves his nightly little pat. So sweet. Asher still loves balls and has quite the arm! He sure can throw the ball! His sweet little eyes and voice melt my heart. 

And Avery's our little firecracker, such a sweetheart and ALWAYS on the move. Asher will relax and watch Barney or another little show but Avery rarely gets distracted by TV, it's like she has too much to do to bother with it for too long. She also likes to be like Asher's second little mother and take care of him.  She will constantly take him things and calls for him and looks out for him. She is my little buddy and follows me all around the house no matter what I'm doing. Lately she really loves to try and get into my makeup and rubs it all over her face. She is such a sweet little thing and I just love seeing her sweet and spicy personality coming out. 

Today Halle did her hair, spiked it to maximize the height :). 

Two days of animal farm!

On Monday we went to the Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm and the kids loved it! It was the first time for the twins and they loved seeing all the animals. I loved hearing Avery say "oooooo!" and "ohhhhh!" so excitedly and pointing at each animal as she saw them. Her eyes light up and looks back and forth to the animals and me and smiles and laughs. 

Asher says "huhhhhh?" like it's always a question with the way his voice goes up at the end, and then babbles on and on with the most adorable little serious and concerned look on his face. His little baby babble is just the cutest thing in the world. 

Halle had a lot of fun with the animals and loved riding the horses. She wanted to do it again. She was cute and found a little grass to feed a baby cow and then Luke started doing it along with her. They were both such good helpers with the babies and I think they had fun seeing the babies get so excited to see the animals. The babies also liked watching the kids ride the horses. We went on the wagon ride and the kids were good helpers with the babies. 

We were in a hurry there on Monday because we had dentist appointments to get to and the kids really wanted to go back, so we went again today!

Here are pictures from Monday:

Today we went and it was a lot of fun, too. We packed lunches and had a little picnic. There were a lot of "ooooos" and "ohhhhhs!" from Avery again. I let the babies out of their stroller from the very does this time because it's a good place to let them walk around with it not being too big and surprisingly they did really well with it. Luke and Halle were great helpers and would help me with one baby if one was wandering off. 

A funny story with the twins - when we were waiting for the horse ride for the big kids and it was really funny because Asher kept wandering off onto the grassy area and I would say to Avery, "Avery, can you go get Asher?" and she would run toward his yelling "Sash!" and try to get him to come back toward us. She would point at me and look back at me, as he happily toddled along and ignored. At one point she held a water bottle up, trying to bribe him back to us with it. It was so funny. She is like a little mom to him always watching out for him. Their relationship is really cute and it's fun to see. 

Pictures from today:

Why was I blessed with twins?

I am a member of an online group of Mormon moms of multiples on Facebook where there are thousands of MMOMs (as they call it) and we share experiences, tips, etc. It's been an awesome resource to me to have so many experienced moms within close and easy reach if I have questions, and to learn from what others shared. Today one of the moms on there asked us to share why we think we were blessed with twins. After I wrote my response I thought I should included it in journals :). Here it is:

I'm not sure why I was blessed with twins, but I definitely feel I was meant to have them. Leading up to my pregnancy I had a feeling I was going to have twins for awhile so when I found out I was pregnant with them, although I was surprised, it wasn't a huge shock because I was almost expecting it. There have definitely been hard stages (bedrest pregnancy and newborn stage were challenging!) but I have still enjoyed them in the busiest of times. Even with all craziness that is now with toddler twins I'm so grateful everyday for them! They are such good babies and make it easy to love. They have truly made our family complete and have brought us so much peace and joy. We love our twins! 

Friendly girl!

I was loading groceries and Asher into the car and turned around to see Avery waving and saying "hi!" to every car passing by. I watched for a minute and it was so cute to see how excited she got when people would smile and wave back! Such a fun age! She's such a sweet, friendly girl! 

17 months old!

I can't believe my sweet babies are almost a year and a half years old! They are getting too big too fast! They are so much fun and we are enjoying them so much. It's so fun to see their little personalities coming out. Here's what they are up to at 17 months...

Avery is my sweet and a little bit sassy, always busy, always running, and smart little girl. She is babbling a lot lately and always trying to figure things out, like the way buckles work. She's always copying and mimicking what we do. And she loves animals, especially dogs. Her new thing is if she sees something she is interesting she gets an excited look on her face and says "oh!" so clearly and excitedly. She loves her binkie and I love how she gets her bunny binkie and lambie stuffed animal and cuddle up with them when she's tired or wants to relax. She loves to give kisses and when Cory or I ask for one she walks up and tilts her head up so cute to give a kiss. She is very tall and thin and petite but surprisingly has a very good appetite! Most meals she eats just as much if not more than Asher and he's always been a pound or two ahead of her in weight. She's such a smart little thing and I'm amazed at the things she understands, like when I sit down to change Asher's diaper and realize I need a diaper or wipers I can ask her to get them for me and she knows to go to the basket and get them and bring them back to me. The first time I asked her to do this was a  couple months ago and I was so surprised she actually knew to do this. She's a little second mom to Asher sometimes and will go get his bottle off the ground or his teddy bear and take it to him when he's watching Barney or something and she thinks he needs it. It's really cute. She knows where her head, nose, tummy, mouth, etc are and has been playing peek a boo with us for awhile. Her wave she has been doing for probably six months (she started waving really young) is so cute. She waves her hand with her hand perfectly rotating at the wrist, like a little parade wave. I've never seen a baby wave so gracefully. She loves her daddy and will say "dad!" very clearly, calling it out throughout the house. She's also got a little stubborn streak and has started throwing little tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants!

She is such a sweetheart and we couldn't love her more!  

Accidental crib switch

I just put Avery and Asher down to sleep in their cribs and after a minute of both of them looking at me with confused little expressions realized I had put them in the wrong cribs and given them the wrong favorite stuffed animals. And they weren't even dressed alike, Avery had pink pjs on and Asher had blue ones, yet I put her in the blue bed and him in the pink one. I haven't done that since they were newborns. I must be tired!

Once I got then situated in their right beds I snapped a picture of I snapped a picture of each of them, and the flash kind of surprised them. I love that look they have as they are laying there getting tired and sleepy, and I think it's so cute how they hold their bottles and stuffed animals. They won't have bottles much longer so I want to remember how they looked, my sweet little babies.

Love them both so much!

Good big brother & learning to color

The babies are learning to color! They both are interested in coloring and try to do it when they can get their hands on some markers or crayons. Avery is especially interested in it. Luke is such a good big brother and sat with her, helping her color this morning. He is so patient and sweet with her as is such a good helper!

Twinning

I came around the corner to find these two little sillies lounging in their chairs with big smiles on their faces. Such a cute sight! And yes, they love hanging out in their diapers! 

Thankful

After being super sick last week I'm so grateful to be outside with my kids enjoying the sun and just to be out and about driving today, picking up carpool and dropping books off to the library. It's the little things!

Asher's hair trim

Giving Asher his first little hair trim! I hate to say it but I feel like the trim took him from looking like a baby to a little boy. Every time I look at his cute little face I'm surprised how grown up he looks. I just love his dark brown little eyes, the way he raises his eyebrows up, and his inquisitive little look. He babbles a lot and a lot of what he says sounds like a question... "huh? "Duh?" Or "Zow" and "wow". He's such a little boy!

During his hair cut Avery kept patting her head like, "Mom, don't forget mine!" But, there's nothing there to trim! :) But I didn't want her to feel left out so I pretended to do a little trim to her too. She is so funny and doesn't miss a thing. She's very smart and wasn't about to miss out on anything, including a hair cut! 

Pillow pile!

Lazy Sunday mornings (and jumping off mom and dad's bed into piles of pillows and blankets) are the best! 

(Asher wasn't as excited about the pillow pile and would rather be throwing things down the stairs!) 

Happy St. Patty's Day!

The leprechaun visited our house and brought the kids their yearly lucky charms, turned our milk green, and all our toilet water green! We also made lucky charm Marshmellow treats, and the kids looked super cute in their green outfits. 

St. George weekend

We escaped the inversion in Salt Lake to sunny St. George for President's Day weekend. Scooter rides, picnics, and swimming in February...yes please! :) 

Luke's baptism

Yesterday Luke was baptized, what a special day. It was a neat day for our whole family!

Working the remote

She's learned your supposed to point this thing at the TV. Every time she does this it makes me laugh. 

Girls just wanna have fun!

Halle, Avery and I had a fun time posing for silly pictures at my cousin Rachel's wedding tonight. Halle is so much fun and always the life of the party! She's a delight and beams with happiness! Avery is following in her big sister's footsteps with that happy go lucky personality of hers and big, contagious smile. Love these girls of mine! I'm so blessed to have them!