let's go swimming

Greetings folks,

My home computer is almost running again so I'm looking forward to getting back into my normal blogging routine soon. I upgraded the processor so hopefully my picture and video editing will be faster. The living room (my office) is still a wreck and Kendra is being extra patient with me.

The past few days have included swimming every day since we are experiencing near-record hot temperatures here in the valley of the sun. There's nothing like walking to the mailbox at 10:00 PM in shorts and flip flops while the temperature is still 100 degrees! The silver lining to the hot, hot days is that our pool is getting up to 85 degrees quickly. Kendra read somewhere that babies are most comfortable in pool water between 82 and 86 degrees. Easton and Layla LOVE the water, but they only last about 15 minutes before the pouty bottom lips show up to say, "enough water already!" We get in the pool after 5 to avoid sun. I say that so you don't think we're cooking our babies in the hot, mid-day sun. When we float them around the pool their legs kick instinctively and that is amazing to see the built-in reflex. Here is one other picture from the pool fun at our house the other day. You can see how excited Easton and Layla are to be in the water and how proud Oma and Opa are to hold these two babies:



I'm very glad to have Oma and Opa Burgess around. I've talked with coworkers and friends about their visit this summer. Many of them are horrified at the thought of in-laws living with them for 6 weeks. I, on the other hand, have been looking forward to this for a couple of months now and am enjoying their visit. They are very considerate of our wishes and boundaries. Also very helpful around the house and with the twins. With Kendra and I alone it is impossible to each hold a baby and get anything else done around the house. I don't feel so bad leaving every day for work as Kendra would balance Layla AND Easton on a single boppy as she paid attention to both of them at once. We both gladly and gratefully let Oma and Opa hold and cuddle and laugh as much as they want!

Last night Kendra and I went to Best Buy to get the movie Groundhog Day (Bill Murray). It's one of our top 10 all time favorite movies and we decided to buy instead of rent it over and over again. Many times we feel just like our lives are in the same repeating day as Groundhog Day. Every morning at 6:30 AM Layla wakes up and starting talking... loudly... Kendra wakes Easton from his hibernation-like sleep and she feed them both. Then we spend every day trying to improve ourselves as we do better and better with the twins. Anyway, it was so nice for Kendra to say, "let's go to Best Buy!", then we stand up from the couch, then we walk out the door and drive away. I love our babies, but really miss the spontaneous moments where we would just leave like that.

Yesterday morning as I slept in a little I heard Opa and Easton having fun together and giggling. He was helping Easton with strength training like a good coach should. :) I'm glad he is helping him figure out the balance / standing / coordination aspects... Luckily Oma caught it on video:

(I'll post the video here later tonight)

Easton smiles all the time and looks at everyone with anticipation as if to say, "Look at me so we can smile at each other and have fun!" Hearing him giggle with happiness is unbelievably emotional for me. It's one of those things only a parent can relate to and appreciate. I wish I could explain that feeling better, but there is no other feeling I can even relate it to... I could listen to him do that for hours and never get tired of it. Maybe I feel that way now because they are not old enough to run around the house laughing and screaming like a pack of wild hyenas all day, every day? I'll enjoy it while the feeling lasts.

I'm not sure what to say about this humorous picture of Easton. :) When Opa went in to wake the little guy from a nap, Easton was laying there awake with the hammer in his mouth. I just can't help but hum the tune of "if i had a hammmer, i'd hammer in the morning..." There is a foam/rubber hammer in his crib and apparently when he found it he decided to suck on it instead of use it to hit things. If only I had the picture back on May 27th when I posted THIS quote: Give a small boy a hammer and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. -- Abraham Kaplan

Both Easton and Layla are getting very good at holding their heads up and here are a couple of pictures of them individually showing off their talents of strength:


And here's Layla Rae in her extremely cute dress-onsie-thingy:


Apparently I have not worn out the Phil Wickham song (see my previous post) yet because it's still on repeat in my iPod today. Not sure exactly what it is about the song that I like to so much. I think it is the simplicity of the instruments and words, the forgiveness I relate to, and the sincerity of how he sings it. The good news is he will be in Phoenix in concert next month! Guess who's going to see Mercy Me and Phil Wickham live in concert??? ME!

Saturday night swing dancing was tons of fun! Oma and Opa did really well. Kendra and I knew two moves before Saturday and now we know a total of three. Well, at least that is progress! here's one picture of us from this past weekend



and one here from last month when we went with our friends Scott and Marisue.


And a final closing thought. The Lakers won on Sunday. Whoopity Doooo. NO TEAM has ever won game 6 and 7 of the finals at the opposing team's court. Will the Lakers lose Tuesday or Thursday? That is the only question to answer. I'm so confident in the Celtics ability that if the Lakers win the title this year I'll print off this page and eat it... Yeah, I am that certain.

Tuesday is the most productive day of the week, so have a great productive day because it's downhill from here!