Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'm pooped

There are two kinds of people in the world; those who like the movie "Groundhog Day" and those who don't. Personally, I consider it the quintessential Bill Murray masterpiece and probably the last one of his movies I ever enjoyed. We found out our friends David and Tam share our enjoyment of the movie because we came home from date night to find them and their two kiddos watching it. Yet another thing we have in common with them. As if both of us having boy/girl twins and attending the same church wasn't enough to build a friendship?

Anyway, they were gracious enough to watch Easton and Layla while Kendra and I went out for a few hours alone. We ate pile of raw fish at Ra, our favorite sushi spot, then we went shopping. It's amazing how much ground you can cover when you're not getting stopped every 5 minutes by random people who want to see our twins. Don't get me wrong, I love the semi-celebrity status we receive when pushing Easton and Layla around town, but when it comes to shopping on a timeline, nothing beats going out as a plain ole' run of the mill couple. Anyway, I've spent a ton of playtime with the twins over the past week and loved every minute of it. Two specific pictures earned high marks for interpretation: I call these two "the bear and fonzi"

Layla The Bear:


She wasn't making a growling noise like a bear, but you can easily imagine her doing it. She's been testing out her vocal range with long, slow screams of joy while changing the tone of her voice up and down. Lately she's also developed the ability to make that clicking noise with her mouth. you know, the one where your tongue is pressed vacuum tight against the roof of your mouth and then you force it downward making the knocking or clicking noise. Yeah, she does that. Not only can she DO it, but she mimics us when we do that. At one point Kendra was doing it, I was doing it, Layla was doing it, and Easton was looking at the three of us like we were wackos.

Easton Fonzerelli: I couldn't get him to show the "thumbs up" sign and wave them back and forth as he says, "Aaaayyyyy!", but you can see he has that cool attitude just like the Fonz was known for. Too bad the Captain Morgan pose off contest is over. Layla would have been a clear winner:

If you didn't get the Captain Morgan reference, don't worry. That joke will only be funny to a few. :) Layla is starting to dance in her own little way now and then. She bobs her head to the side like the guys in the movie, "A Night at the Roxbury". When she does that we mimic her and say, "we're grooooovin"! Another thing she does is wave her arms and move up and down, which is as close to dancing as she can get at this age. Here's the dance video:



Everyone says Easton is cute. Everyone says he looks like me. Therefore, I am cute according to the mathematical transitive property of equality. OK, that may be bending the law a little, I know... Makes me feel good though so that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I completely agree he's a good looking boy.

The rumors are true! We're loading up the 4 Webbs and driving to the Sacramento area for a few weeks to spend lots of quality time with Kendra's side of the family over the holidays. Kendra is already starting to get the packing list together. It appears we may have to rent a 24 foot Uhaul truck to fit all the things necessary to keep the 4 Webbs afloat for that many weeks away from home (just kidding, the Honda Pilot will suffice).

Why I'm pooped ---> I changed THREE poopie diapers in one day yesterday. That's a record for me! One that I hope will not be met or exceeded for many months to come. Coincidently, I was close to throwing up three times today. Amazing how that works.

And last but not least I'd like to welcome my brother, BJ, to the information super-highway. He has a webcam, a computer, and skype (wild cheers and applause). We chatted online tonight and Skype worked out flawlessly! Now, if only my parents' computer would cooperate...

Have an excellent week and tons of fun Christmas shopping.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Guh and Tuh

Greetings friends and family,

Kendra and I are both amazed how fast this year has gone by and it's hard to believe the end of the year is just around the corner. My coworker correctly described exactly how raising babies impacts your reference of time: The days crawl by and the years fly by. That is completely true.

Oma and Opa headed back to Sacramento on Saturday morning and their visit was way to short in my opinion. The 6-week stay during last summer was about the right amount of time. :) Now we will spend a week alone as the 4 Webbs gear up for the holiday trip to Sacramento.

Thanksgiving was fun and exhausting at the same time. The 4 Webbs + Oma and Opa hosted the day-long event at my Aunt Mary's house. Her place is hugely comfortable to host such a party. The big back yard and huge green belt behind her house gave us plenty of pre-turkey exercise to work up an appetite for dinner. Just to show you there really IS grass in Arizona, here's a distant view of Casey and David throwing frisbee discs and kids running around wild.



Dinner worked out perfect and the bird was cooked just right. Easton and Layla ate a blended up mash of turkey, potatoes and probably some veggies. Kendra is feeding them on the floor because Daddy forgot to bring the bumbos (oops)!


The rest of us at the "grown up" table shared plenty of laughs and recipes and stories. After a full day of spending time together and the competitive game of Scrabble, the day seems to have been successful on many levels.


Easton and Layla are both still pushing those top two teeth down. Their attitudes are surprisingly happy considering the pain they must feel. I was able to capture Easton with a big, open-mouth smile to show you the progress of those teeth:


We spent our last evening with Oma and Opa out on the town. We went out for Chinese food and then some late-night shopping. The night was finally chilly enough to break out jackets for the twins. The hoods have a little bear face and ears on them.


We're starting to notice patterns in the noises Easton and Layla are forming. Layla uses a forceful voice and loudly proclaims, "Guh, guh, guh" whenever she is excited about seeing something such as a big water fountain or a friendly dog. Easton on the other hand says, "Tuh, tuh, tuh" repeatedly in his soft and calm voice when he sees something interesting. The twins are still watching the "Your Baby Can Read" videos every day, but after two weeks we haven't seen anything spectacular yet. Hopefully after two more weeks we'll start to see them express more of what they are comprehending.

Oma says the twins are even cuter and more fun in person than what I show here on the blog or through Skype. I agree. :) Opa generated lots of smiles and even comforting sighs from Easton as they watched college football together.


It's time to go do some holiday shopping and get the twins fed since it sounds like they are finished napping. Have a super weekend!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Oma and Opa Part 2

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Welcome to the turkey day edition of the 4 Webbs's blog. I am now officially off work through the weekend and it's time to have some fun family time. The rain and cloudy weather here today makes the mood a little more mellow than usual, but us native Phoenicians get excited about it because clouds and rain are so infrequent. Yesterday Kendra's dad and I had a great time golfing so I'm glad we snuck that in before the rain today. Maybe we'll get in another round on Friday... If he isn't already so embarrassed by my horrible swing that he can't bare to be seen on a public course with me. :)

Here's the crazy new toy the babies are climbing on and fiddling with endlessly:


They get a thrill from standing up against it and playing with the hanging toys and Layla also seems to like grabbing two of the plastic balls and banging them together.

If only it were this simple to get a baby delivered to us this way:


That kind of special delivery would be amazing especially if it could be similar to ordering pizza. "Yeah, uhhhh... I'll have a two pack of babies delivered to our house, please?" Layla thought it was entertaining to play "king of the diaper box" and do her best to keep Easton from standing up next to her using the box to prop himself up.

We all experienced a once (or maybe twice) in a lifetime event: double complete rainbows! The setting sun poked through the clouds after a long day of rain and brought us not one, but TWO full rainbows that stretched from horizon to horizon. The twins woke up just in time to come out and catch it as the top half faded away.


The inside, brighter rainbow is in the sky directly between the babies and the second is barely visible above Oma's head and the bushy tree. The brilliance of the colors aren't even close to the fullness we saw in person, but it's still cool, huh? The neighbors all came out with their kids to see the big event and were talking on their cell phones to tell others around the area to "go outside and look!" I guess this is the AZ version of a tornado... only much less destructive.

There is one other funny picture of uncle Casey holding little peanut. He's got the same hair cut as Layla, except for the massive beard. :)


Casey seems to be having a good time interacting with the twins and seeing what life is like around babies. I'm pumping Motown and funk music into the living room from the computer as we prepare food for tomorrows big feast. We're going to Party, Karamu, Fiesta, forever. Yea!

Eat some turkey and enjoy your day off.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Oma and Opa part 1

Hello friends and family,

Kendra's parents and her brother arrived on Saturday as scheduled! The twins have been wearing us out as usual and now Oma and Opa are also having a hard time keeping up with their high energy. We see them almost every day through Skype, but it's a whole new ball game since they can't just click the "hang up" button to regain peace and quiet. We are both very thankful they were willing to spend their week off from work with us here in AZ.

Easton and Layla are up to their same old tricks and have added several new advancements to their credit. Oma and Opa started helping Easton right away with his ability to stand while holding on to something. For whatever reason he was ok being upright on his knees, but when he would stand on his own it would end in tears and he needed help to get back down to crawling. All of that is over now and in two short days he's gone from scared and unsure to pulling the "one hand on, one hand off" trick.


Oma and Opa were brave enough to ride our bicycles and tow the twins in the Chariot while Kendra and I skated along side them in rollerblades. We exercised our way to the duck park and enjoyed the shade of a tree next to the pond. Our duck herding skills were terrible and we only enticed one lone mallard to come and eat our bread. However, the smiles were plentiful and we made the most of it.


While we were there I captured a video clip of Layla raking her sore gums across the lid of a water bottle for comfort. Yes, it's finally true... Layla and Easton are both teething! For real this time. No "boy who cried wolf". :) Layla has her first top tooth showing and one is visibly ready to poke through any day. If you have the volume up loud enough, you can here the ridges of the bottle as she runs it back and forth across her teeth. Be warned though! She talks VERY loudly and it will blow your ear drums out if you have the volume up too loud.



Last night we all went to watch Kendra play her last soccer game of the season and here's the whole Burgess clan minus younger brother Logan who is still in CA.


The night was chilly so we brought plenty of blankets and clothing to keep us all warm. Here you can see Easton smiling big and Layla getting cuddly with the covers.


I'll have to get some pictures of their new jungle gym play Oma bought for them today. It's like an exersaucer only instead of sitting in the middle, they just pull themselves up to play with the plastic toys hanging off it. Layla is still a few stages ahead of Easton (as we expect) when it comes to balance and core body strength. One of Layla's new tricks is called the "one-legged prarie dog".


I know that's a ridiculous name, but what else would you call that? She gets up on her knees with nothing around her, then kicks one leg out to the side and bounces up and down on the bent leg. I'm sure it will be a cool new dance some day...

Oma and Opa are having almost as much fun during bath time as the twins are. Even after a full day of teething, almost no napping, and playing all day Easton and Layla both seem to still have plenty of energy to splash around during bath time and give a big smile for the camera.


I'll be taking off some days from work to enjoy family time and hopefully have more time to blog than the past couple of days. We're so busy having a great time together that it is hard to find the free time to share the experiences. Don't worry... we all make time for what is important, including myself.

Have a happy day and stop by again soon.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Big Mirror, Big Fun

Hi everyone,

At this very moment Kendra's parents are driving across the CA-AZ state line and will be here to hang with the 4 Webbs in only a few short hours. This past week of house arrest for the babies and Kendra was very trying and tiring. She missed out on Marsha coming over, church, mommy and me, and a few other outings. I'm not sure if you've ever been stuck in a house with 2 sick babies for a week, but if so then you know how Kendra feels. The only saving grace was the "light at the end of the tunnel", which or her was the impending visit from Oma and Opa today. They'll be here for a week and we can't wait to spend time together.

Our latest form of entertainment for Easton and Layla is the full-length mirror in our master bathroom. We sit them on the floor facing the mirror and they intently try to figure out, "who is that baby in the mirror?" Here is Layla giving herself a Hi-5:


and Easton is looking inquisitively at himself and mumbling baby babble:


They both have a blast talking to themselves and seeing their reflection. Once again, the camera man gets hosed, but without the flash we just look like a big blur.


Keeping twins entertained is truly a two person job and I am amazed how well Kendra does it all by herself while i'm at work every day during the week.

Last night we packed up the 4 Webbs and trucked up to Fountain Hills (the Beverly Hills of Phoenix) to spend an evening with Kendra's mentor, Judi, and several couples. As a part of Kendra's plan for how to get the babies to sleep her and Judi gave the babies a bath at their house. You can see Judi in the shadows of the background smiling as the twins splashed around.


After that we placed them in the Pack-N-Plays (Thanks, Sarah for letting us borrow one!) and they went right to sleep without a single peep.

I noticed the video of Easton and Layla turning the pages of the book as I read was pretty dark, so here's a picture of them attentively following along in case you missed it:


We brought in a big, translucent plastic tub and they both immediately climbed their way up to the standing position. Easton's toothy grin and hiccup-sounding giggle is about the purest form of innocence and enjoyment that I've ever seen.


and if that weren't enough to melt your heart and make you want to go hug someone, how about this sweet action shot of our little Peanut crawling like a tiger with her whole face displaying her happiness like a billboard:


I'm considering throwing my camera away because I don't think it'll ever get any better than that for cuteness or photo opportunities. I'm just kidding... I love taking pictures of them too much for that. I will, however, take a trip to Best Buy so one of those camera geeks can show me how to get the red-eye reduction capability of the flash to work. :)

Time to go do some last-minute cleanup around the house and play daddy's least favorite game called, "who pooped"? When I walk in the room and smell something foul, I instinctively ask Kendra, "who pooped?" as if she's going to know the answer to that without doing a more investigative, close-up smell test to find the offender...

Bye bye!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Reading Skillz

Greetings from the 4 Webbs,

Mommy feels better and that best news of the day for all of us. I was holding my breath at the thought of caring for her and the twins while trying to juggle work. Layla's fever is gone and her rash is almost gone. Easton's fever is gone and he's just starting to get the rash. With any luck we'll all be healthy for the arrival of Kendra's parents on Saturday! Guess what the second best news of the day is?


A sale at Target, of course! Kendra bought a few toys and Layla didn't care how much money Mommy saved... She was excited about the free plastic bags. Don't worry, I know not to let children play with plastic bags, but I had to get a picture of her taking pleasure in the simple things of life such as a plastic bag.

Easton, on the other hand, was wisely using his free time to do pull ups on the jumperoo. Look at those biceps!


He was doing his best to pull himself up and is starting to stand once in a while. You'll notice many of the pictures lately have Layla standing and Easton upright on his knees, like this picture of our happy boy showing off his big smile.


One other rare picture I captured was of both babies sitting upright next to each other. It is rare because inevitably one or both of them lean forward and start wondering off somewhere else or towards the camera.


Now the story of their reading SKILLZ. I have no idea why people use a "z" instead of an s, but it sounds cooler when you say it that way. Anyhow, I discovered a new trick where the twins will turn the page of the book as I read! I'm not sure if 9 month old babies typically do that, but I was surprised to see it. Usually Layla will start turning the page and Easton on the other side of me will pull it over to complete the page turn. We read with them multiple times per day and it is exciting to see they are getting SOMETHING from all the effort. Even if they aren't saying the words yet, they at least understand the order of how to read a book. The video is dark, but you get the idea. Here are my page-turning twins:



We're glad to have volatility and fussiness replaced with big smiles and giggles since the fever is gone. Now we just need Easton and Layla to sleep through the night again. Kendra and I spent a good 5 minutes trying to convince the each other about who was the most tired. We were just joking and had smiles on our face, but it was a funny moment of enlightenment.

(Kendra) "Oh yeah? Well I woke up twice last night!"
(Bronson) "Oh yeah? well I went to bed later than you!"
etc., etc., etc.

Speaking of tired... It's bed time. :) See you again soon!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

3 out of 4 Webbs

Howdy folks,

3 out of 4 Webbs are not feeling well and since I'm well enough to blog, you can guess who the 3 are. I considered taking pictures over the past couple of days because blogs with pictures are much more interesting. Unfortunately, Easton and Layla possibly have roseola and are not in the photography mood. More importantly, Kendra is completely worn out from the last few days of doing her best to keep the twins from crying. The good news is at least we know what the twins are dealing with and we're watching the cycle the virus commonly follows: fever 3-4 days, rash 2-3 days, then return to health. Layla has the rash and is over the fever. We're hoping Easton will get through the fever in the next day or two.

The only picture I was able to take is one of Layla standing against a stool. She is constantly standing up on her own, then holding on with one hand, then letting go for a few seconds. Sometimes she puts her hand back on whatever she was holding herself against and sometimes she sits on her duff. At least she has that part figured out!



It kind of looks like she's doing a cartwheel, but I don't think she has the balance for that quite yet... We're working on it.

I know it's not too interesting or exciting, but such is life sometimes. If there were anything video or picture worthy, you know I would be excited to share with you. However, in times like these we are glad to have survived the day and pray for a quiet, peaceful sleep so we can be rejuvenated for tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday to you and I'm expecting the 4 Webbs to be back in action with fun adventures within the next couple of days. Kendra's parents will be here on Saturday so we're crossing our fingers everyone is well by the time they roll into town.

Good night!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Happy Birthday GG

Hello friends and family,

Another weekend flew by with lots of together time for the 4 Webbs. Unfortunately, Easton is hot blooded. We had to check it and see. He's got a fever of 103. Yes, I know that is a song from the 80's band Foreigner , and I've been waiting to use that line for years. The sad part is, Easton really doesn't feel good. Here's a picture of mommy providing sympathy via pouty lips.


He's even more mellow than normal, but still has a happy heart. The nurse said we should take him to the pediatrician on Monday so we'll take him in to see what the Doc has to say. Luckily Layla, who also had a fever, recovered at the same time Easton was starting to feel a little under the weather. Such is life with twins.

Tomorrow is Kendra's Grandma's birthday! She will be 82 years old and we were able to see her through Skype for a Happy Birthday wish. We call her "GG", which stands for Great Grandmother. Here are the twins wishing GG a Happy Birthday!


They both have their middle finger in their smiling mouths and as you can imagine there's no way I could have even planned that cuteness. We sure went through a lot of film. OK, not literal film, but we took lots of pictures to get one like this.

As for the Cheerios story, Kendra and I were working together to feed the twins and the menu of the day included waffles, apple butter, and Cheerios. For some reason Layla continually picks up the biggest hand full of food possible and squishes it between her fingers if it is at all squishable. When she pulverized the waffles and apple butter it made a big gooey mess and then the Cheerios stuck all over her hands and arms. When I took this picture she had her arm sticking out like an arm wrestler and the timing of the picture makes it look like she has a scowl.


So I put my arm up there and we wrestled for Cheerios... She won.

Have a good evening! See you again soon

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Costco rocks

Greetings from the 4 Webbs,

You have less than 6 weeks left to shop for Christmas, in case you didn't realize how incredibly close we are getting to the end of the year. The holidays this year have snuck up on me more than any previous year of my life. I'm sure it is easy to understand why considering the twins have literally taken all our resources for the whole year. Even after taking into consideration all the time, effort, insomnia, money, love, and every other aspect of raising twins (or any kid for that matter) I can tell you without hesitation... It's worth it. This one moment of holding my sweet baby Layla as she smiles and eeks out a happy squeal made the entire year worth it.


She is running a fever as well as Easton, but they are both doing very well and have a great attitude about our daily routine. We found both babies have a shorter fuse than normal, but overall we are very lucky they continue to be manageable even with the fever.

Speaking of daily routine... We love Costco. Not for the pillow case sized bags of doritos, but for the shopping carts!


You may have never noticed before, but Costco shopping carts have FOUR leg holes in the front to accommodate two babies. Simply perfect. Why can't every business adopt this philosophy? These two-seater shopping carts make it easy for Kendra to go out by herself with the twins and sometimes she goes just for fun with no intention of buying anything. I'm not aloud to shop without specific instructions else I arrive home with copious amounts of unneeded items.

Anyway, Easton and Layla are like celebrities in Costco and Kendra is continually stopped by random people who want to talk about and compliment the twins. I go for a hotdog and when I return she has about 5 women and an older gentleman all standing around smiling and soaking in the happiness radiating from the twins.

This morning Easton and Layla were playing with their diaper boxes (still) and talking to each other very loudly. It looked like this:


and sounded like this: "Aye yah yah yah yah!" in stereo at maximum volume. The big news for this week is Easton finally stood on his own! He pulled himself up to the couch and reached onto the seat cushion for a toy. Kendra and I clapped and cheered him on as if he just scored a touchdown in a high school football game.

I didn't catch that moment in a photo, but I did catch Easton stealing Layla's pacifier right out of her mouth and from the look on his face I'd say he is proud to have stolen it.


I've used up all my free time tonight since Kendra will be home soon from her trip to the store. I'll save Layla's "Cheerio Arm Wrestler" picture for tomorrow's blog post. I had no idea apple butter was so sticky...

Good night and we'll see you again soon for another installment of our adventures with twins.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Daddy's blog

Howdy folks,

I'm a DUDE and I proudly BLOG about my twins! In case you're not familiar with the 4 Webbs, I just wanted to clarify this is Daddy's blog.

I've been religiously following many other blogs about babies and twins. I never noticed until today I'm the only dedicated guy in cyberspace who has one focused on the fun adventures of twin babies. All others are written and maintained by loving mothers. The only exception is Kendra's cousin, Dustin. He and his wife take turns blogging and I'm a little jealous of their tag-team abilities. Kendra is just not a writer and I'm OK with that. This is my "thing" and I've loved doing it at least every other day for the past 9 months. Feel free to comment and provide links to any other cool "father of twins" blog. I'd enjoy reading other similar blogs if they exist!

Here's to me, Mr. Dude baby blogger. I had to go all the way back to September to find a decent picture of me. :)


About those baby shoes... Ah, the life of a Phoenician (that means people who live in Phoenix)! Easton and Layla are 9 months old and have never worn shoes, until tonight. Not because we are hill billy red necks (although there is nothing wrong with that), but because Phoenix has been so warm all of their mobile lives shoes are not needed. Our "spring" babies were inside for the first few months and never left home. Then summer rolled around and shoes don't mix well with 110 degree temperatures. Now it is finally fall so we decided to put shoes on the twins for our adventurous night out. Easton looks even less like a baby and more like a little man with shoes on.


The 4 webbs decided to rollerblade to the store for some necessities. Teakwoods, our favorite place for wings, is in the same parking lot as the store so we went to grab dinner while we were out. We loaded up the babies in the Chariot (with their shoes on) and were able to sit in the outdoor patio area for dinner. Afterwards it was already dark by the time we were on our way home. I caught an action photo of Kendra pushing our cute babies along the neighborhood streets.


I'm not exactly sure how to describe the next sensitive topic so I'll leave this section as obscure as possible. Easton and Layla are always in diapers except when they bathe. So now we have two babies in one bath tub every night. One boy and one girl. Yesterday they "noticed" Easton has something Layla doesn't. Now, if you've been paying attention to how Layla reacts when Easton has a toy you know that she reaches for and takes away whatever toy Easton has so she can play with. Well... Let's just say the events following this next picture left Easton crying and Layla empty handed.


That's all I have to say about that.

Anyways, the twins are starting to do there best to hold themselves up against various objects around the house. Easton cries when we stand him up even though he is completely stable and standing with his hands on whatever is close by. Layla is doing the "baby shuffle" where she stands up against the couch and shuffles her hands and feet in a sideways walking motion. Kendra stood Easton up beside a box of diapers and caught his short-lived smile before he realized, "Hey! I'm standing up!"


That's all the excitement I can remember over the past few days so I'll stop here for now and head to bed. Have a great Thursday and I'll blog again on Thursday or Friday!

Monday, November 10, 2008

self portrait

Hello friends and family!

Check out the new birthday counter for Easton and Layla at the top-right of the blog! It tells how old they are.

At some point in the past few days Kendra changed Layla's outfit in the living room and I saw our cute, little peanut on the floor in front of her. I ran to grab the camera to capture the rare occurrence of Layla lying down in just her diaper. This is rare because she is SO energetic that lying down is not something she does unless it is bed time normally. And the other rare part is that we have clothes on them all of the time so it's hard to get a real, true picture of how their bodies are developing underneath all those layers. OK, enough jabbering... Here's Layla with her hand doing the Vulcan sign like Spock from Star Trek:



I have lots of stories so I'll jump right in and start way back at Saturday evening. Our friends, David and Tam, are trading baby sitting nights with us so that we can each have a date night without the kids. They have 9 year old boy/girl twins, Ben and Trinity and we spent a little time getting our kids used to them and their kids used to us:


They went out for fondue... we hung out at home and played the night away. I thought ONE set of twin babies was tiring, but now after that fun experience I can say with confidence TWO sets of twins is pure craziness. We made cookies, hit the punching bag, and played pool. Actually, Kendra and Trinity made delicious cookies while Ben and I played pool.


Ben combined boxing with playing pool by wearing the bag gloves while shooting pool. Hey, it worked! We won the boys vs. girls pool game. :)


Kendra and I consider the night a success and we're hoping this trade off routine will become a monthly exchange. It's hard to imagine our two bambinos will be walking, talking children like Ben and Trinity. It was cool to see how twins interact and they really best friends. We're expecting our babies will turn out much the same, if we're lucky.

On Sunday we went to the church picnic and spent a few hours eating BBQ and hanging out with our friends, including Scott and Marisue, who Layla and Easton have always enjoyed as much as we do.



Some of you may be wondering why there aren't many pictures of me... Well, someone has to hold the camera, right? I decided to take matters into my own hands so after bath time last night I thought I would try the old mirror-self-portrait trick and here's how it turned out:



HA! How's that for flash placement... Don't they look sweet in their hoodie towels? Before attempting the self-portrait I caught Easton trying to get out of the tub. You may be wondering, "why would he want to get OUT of the tub? I thought he loves bath time?" Well, Layla is starting to crawl around in the tub and she gets a little aggressive with Easton from time to time with her high-pitched screams and desire to crawl over him. Easton has such a happy heart and cute smile:


One last milestone to mention is that Layla is doing her best to start walking soon. Kendra and I call this "prairie dogging" for lack of a better term:


She bounces up and down slightly on her heals and sits upright like that for several seconds at a time. Layla was showing off for Oma and Opa when we were video-chatting over Skype! Great timing, Layla!

I may as well throw in the obligatory "Easton might be teething" section of the blog. We've been talking about his top two teeth possibly coming in for literally months now. Our in-depth research shows: puffy gums, drool, insomnia, etc. That can mean many, many things, but Kendra is convinced his top two teeth are going to break through any day now.

Have a great week and stop by again soon, OK?

Bye bye.