you taste good!

I will often find the girls sucking on each others hands or arms. too funny.

story of my life

this is me bouncing the girls to get them to fall asleep during one of their cat naps in the mornings (more to come on their routine in their 4 month post coming up next week). they love being smothered with blankets and fuzzy lovies. we cover their eyes and it helps them crash. charlie is usually running around pushing his dump truck or playing cars or I am reading him books.

thanks nana!!!

this past week, bill was in chicago for 4 days for a conference so my mom volunteered to come help me. it was wonderful to have her around and it is such a joy to watch charlie soak up his nana time. ellie and claire were extra thankful nana was around because she was always reading to them, picking them up and showing them new things, etc. if you have ever met my mom you know she never stops moving, which is an extra plus with our crew these days. thanks mom for all your hard work. I loved spending time with you!!!

here is nana reading to ellie and claire. eleanore was really happy before this, but decided to freak when I started taking pictures. apparently she had had enough!

although charlie doesn’t have a smile on his face – he loves nana’s breakfast creations. this was a delicious waffle with peanut butter, syrup, strawberries and a bit of cool whip. mmm.

charlie is practicing taking pictures with nana’s phone. it is hysterical to watch him do this because he puts the phone up to his eye and then he still does his “smile” (which is really him closing his eyes really hard and forcing a ridiculous smile) over and over.

ellie and claire sitting up for a picture. nana and charlie were off running some errands.

we had torrential rains all day friday so we had to come up with some indoor activities. the girls love watching charlie do anything. here they are watching him play with his new curious george coloring/sticker books. he is definitely most interested in playing with the stickers than coloring.

finally a picture of me with two of my sweet children. I am reading to claire and charlie.

my loving mother knows my favorite thing to do is work out so she made sure I got out of the house each day. I was actually out running errands during this blow up, but either way I got a call that I should probably come home because the girls were losing it. here is how my mom managed them. when I walked in the door they were actually both quiet. then I started talking and they both lost it again. don’t worry – I fed them right after I snapped a few shots.

mom – you are a pro!

charlie was begging to go outside during the day with the crazy rain. it finally let up enough after nap that we could let him go outside to play in the rain (his new favorite thing). he was so happy to be out of the house and outside. this boy has a lot of energy!

yes – my son drinks the disgusting pool water. I have tried to stop him – it is not worth it.

 

we were trying to get one good picture with my mom and the girls. of course it couldn’t happen. in this one it is claire who is being a fussbudget! and ellie is munching on her hand.

bill came home around dinner time on saturday night and showed up with a curious george book and little george stuffed animal for charlie (he is obsessed with george right now!) and this ridiculously cute swim suit for the girls. they only had one at the store in their size, which is why he only bought one.

I {heart} ruffle butts.

ellie modeling.

the serious heat wave that we are now in started on saturday. so after my mom left we put the girls in their suits and sat on our deck.

bill is looking pretty rested after a few nights away from home.

claire (left) is not too sure what to think. this is the scowl look they give us sometimes. linds – is this her sassy look??? the camera actually fogged up a bit from coming outside. it is so stinkin’ hot! (heat indexes in the 100s!).

swoopin

on the weekends if the girls get up early (6:30ish) to eat. I will feed one and then put them with bill so I can feed the next one and we can both try to get a bit more sleep. this morning it worked for bill and ellie, but not for me and claire. at least I was able to snap this sweet picture of the bill and ellie swoopin.

4th of july

what another great 4th of july. we spent our holiday in hudson on the st croix. the beach was really just a sliver this year because of all the rain and flooding down south so the dams have kept the water levels really high. it was probably a good thing because with all of the new babies this year we spent most of our time in the house using the upper deck. still beautiful. we all still got out on the boat and charlie and bill went to the afton parade. charlie also had his first tubing experience. sadly I didn’t get to witness it, but apparently bill was with him and they were going in and out of the wake.

ellie and claire spent a lot of time in the bouncy chairs (normally – not together).

we were able to catch up with ryan, kate and their two girls – eva and elise. always fun to hang with them. although I have to say that this year I didn’t do much socializing with anyone. whenever we get in a new environment the girls get off of their little schedules and I spend most of the time on baby management duty. next year though we won’t be sitting at all with a 3 yr old and 3 – 1 yr olds running around (the girls and paul).

lynn with claire and ellie.

charlie catching up on some george after a busy busy day. ellie was not happy about it.

the girls chillin with paul. paul is a perfect angel!

bill’s uncle bill was there taking pictures. here is claire’s close up. gorgeous!

the girls both had their first measurements taken. ellie…

then claire…

then both…

sweet things

new age! our summer drink. it is carbonated chardonnay. go get some. now.

charlie said to me the other day…”me hold baby sister’s hand”. I turned around in the car and saw him holding ellie’s hand. so precious. (this also shows you how close together our car seats are.

growing girls. here is claire trying out the bumpo for the first time yesterday. she watched charlie get a bath.

 

charlie beginning to use the toilet. he will often ask now to go on the potty (usually #2) because he gets fruit snacks. i am not pushing a thing. i offer it as an option and sometimes he goes for it. a step in the right direction if you ask me.