We are home!

We left Bellingham at 11:30 am yesterday. We had a quick stop at brother Lances for hugs, met Alyssa at Northgate mall for lunch at the Red Robin and a long rest in Woodland, OR at a pretty neat McDonalds with a playplace. Plus a few stops here and there for gas and pee breaks but we finally pulled in at 4:45 am. Of course Sydney wouldnt go into her bed so she got a bottle and got to snuggle with us. Jon and I made a deal that I got up with the first kid while he gets to sleep for 2 more hours then I get to go take a two hour nap. Syd woke up at 8 and everybody is still asleep now so in an hour I get to go back to bed! It's good to be home but we miss Namy and Papa!

39 forever

Today is my birthday and I have been wanting to take Samantha to see "Enchanted" since it came out and since it was my day that's exactly what I did. It was so fun. We got popcorn and a soda, Sam even got some skittles. It was the first time that she watched a movie from beginning to end at a theater. We tried to take her to "Happy Feet" when I was pregnant w the twins and she had a huge blow out so we left and Auntie Leah took her to "Ratatouille" last summer. She watched the all the previews and when they were over she was ready to go much to Auntie Leahs surprise. We did have one quick trip to the bathroom in the middle but we ran so we didnt miss much. She loved the whole movie. Especially the part where the princess was singing and dancing. She even got up and danced which got the family behind us laughing. She was all dressed up in one of her princess dresses that she got for Christmas. It was so cute.

We had to run downtown after the show and she saw this "goatcart" which she had to play on!

Tonight Lance, Lex, Leah, Alexa Kay and Max came out for my traditional speghetti dinner that Jon made for us all. Mom and Samantha baked me a cake this after noon which was tasty tasty! It was great. I wonder what I will do for my next 39th birthday??

Costco hotdog

Sam ate the whole thing all by herself!

Hungry little monkey!

Cinderella's vanity

Auntie Leah and Uncle Lex bought Sam the Cinderella vanity. She has already spent hours making herself beautiful. She is such the girlie girl. Jon, the other day even said to me "I sure hope Courtney or Sydney turn out to be a tomboy, Sam is a lost cause"

Prime Rib Bone

Courtney at first was a little leery of the big bone (Sydney dug right in) but once she had her first taste she gnawed on it for a least a half an hour...

yummy!

Christmas Day

the Griswald family!

crazy fun Christmas morning

Santa brought the bestest gifts

the fun maracas

Cinderella's vanity

the coolest wagon/car

Christmas Eve Day

This mornign we went over to my cousin Sarah house for some fun. Sam loves playing with Wyatt and Dawson. We had a little present exchange and the kiddos got some great stuff. ( Jon and I got some good beer and Birch hats too) We then went for a walk down to Tony's Coffee for some coco for the kids and gingerbread lattes for the adults! Sam really loved the blow up train that we walked by!

Sydney and Courtney cant wait to be able to walk with their big sister and cousins.

simple things

Courtney played with an empty tissue box (she did empty it herself, probably with some help from her twin) and a dental floss container for a good 20 minutes this morning. Putting the floss in the tissue box, shaking it, taking it out, looking at it and then putting it in her mouth. She did this over and over again. She took this play very seriously...ahh the simple things!

Namy and Papa's Christmas tree and Nativity

The kids are really happy to be at Namy and Papa's house. They love the Christmas tree. The ornaments are slowly getting higher and higher on the tree as Sydney and Courtney remove one, we put it back on so they cant reach which doesnt make them too happy! The grandparents were smart though, there are no presents under the tree...yet!


Samantha loves to play with all the figurines of the Nativity that my mom bought when Lance was a baby way back in 1960. We loved playing with them as kids too...they are probably all painted with lead paint! The shepard that holds the sheep around his neck Sam thinks is an angel lady. I think next year I will be buying the fisher price little people set for them since she loves playing with it so much.

The drive north

After spending yesterday afternoon packing up the car, getting the kids fed, bathed and in the jammies we pulled out of the driveway at 6:27pm. Sydney and Sam promptly fell asleep. We had a quick little stop at Bevmo for my dads Crown Royal they woke up. Sam had been telling me all week that she wasnt going to sleep in the car until she got to Namy and Papas motorhome. She stayed up and watched Cinderella over and over. Finally fell asleep around 10:30. I think Syd stayed awake until 10:45 (its kind of all a blur) Jon and I switched off a couple times doing 2-3 hour stretches at a time. He did have to drive through the pass which wasnt all that bad he said. Oregon sucks driving through. The freeway is very curvey and they change the speed limit often from 50 to 60 to 65 to 70. No rhyme or reason to it all. Thankfully no tickets for us. I did see 2 others getting them though. I also saw the neatest truck at about 2:30 am. It was all lit up and it had a big ol Santa Sleigh on the back. There had to be at least 10,000 lights on it. I wish I had a camera handy but it was going south so it would have been hard to catch. Everybody else was sleeping too. It was a site! We reached my folks at 4:30 at a rest area near marker 281. We got in, hooked the tahoe up to their motor home and Dad drove us all the rest of the way. It was nice to crawl into bed and get some sleep. We got to Everson around 11:30. It's just been a relaxing day with more naps and lots of playing!

but it's fun!

Sam got a time today for yelling no to me. After the time out was over we always talk about why she had and she usually says she's sorry and gives me a hug. Not today she said "I'm sorry mom but it's fun!" ugh!!!

Fun zone

We went out to dinner tonight with the Hodges to Fresh Choice. Its a great place to go with the kids since they eat for free and it has a bunch of stuff they love to eat. Dominic ended up getting sick right when we were about to head over to the fun zone in the mall. Poor Julie got the brunt of that sickness...if ya know what I mean! We still went over to the play area and some fun was had but it would have been more fun with the Hodges kids!

Spaghetti sauce

Sydney loves to mush her food all over her face and especially in her left ear for some reason. Courtney is a pretty clean eater but I did have to change her shirt today because I forgot to pull the sleeves up. I really dont know how people with out dogs do it! Barley loves it when its time for the kids to eat!

Lights

After dinner tonight we got al the girls in the pjs and drove to San Ramon to look at this neighborhood, practicaly every house was lit up. One house even had a cherry picker that was up as high as it could go and over the street with a blow up snoopy flying on his dog house.

This house by far was the coolest. It's a whole pirate Christmas theme.

As you can see the twins really enjoyed it!

Sam thought it was really beautiful.

one year later

Then

and now

What a GROWIING year!

Sydney Elizabeth
at birth: 6 lbs 4 oz - 19 inches
one year later: 22 lbs 6 oz (75%) - 29 3/8 inches (75%)

THE MATH: 16 lbs 2 oz - 10 3/8 inches

Courtney Joy
at birth: 4 lbs 10 oz - 18 inches
one year later: 18 lbs 9 oz (15%) - 29 3/8 inches (75%)

THE MATH: 14 lbs 1 oz -11 3/8 inches

whites, darks, colors and PINKS

I'm talking laundry...Only in a house full of 4 girls (and a manly man) would there be enough of pink clothes to make a load!

We are 1

Today was the twins actual birthday. We made it through the first year, yippee!! Yesterday Sydney decided that walking is her preferred mode of transportation (she is still working on it but gets farther and farther with each step) It is really funny though because when she falls she lands on her knees and keeps walking on her knees instead of crawling. I have tried to capture it on video but every time I pick the camera up she stops doing it! This evening I found Cj trying to walk more then usual so I am about to have some "walkers"... if we had a boy Jon wanted to name him Walker! Thank goodness we had all girls!

I tried all evening to get a good birthday shot of the girls and these are the best...

I just thought this was the best of Sydney being Sydney!

Here's Courtney...

these would have been better if Syd didnt have her hands in her mouth...ooo teething!


Happy Birthday my Sweet Sweet Girls!