Thursday, July 30, 2009

Picture goldmine

Here's a truckload of pictures and stories from our recent play times. Sorry they are not in any semblance of chronological order. Not that it really matters now that I think about it.

There are several specific pictures I've been trying to stage or randomly capture. It is difficult to get a decent picture of Easton and Layla together where both of them are: 1. facing the camera 2. not moving and blurry 3. all eyes are open. 4. Layla not charging towards the camera.

That is a tall order, but today is my lucky day! I got two. :) In the first one you can see their relative height. They are very close. Since the moment they were born, Easton was 1 pound heavier than Layla. Even to this day they are still 1 pound difference.


The twins were playing before bath time tonight and found the joys of having a bag of blocks dumped all over them like a shower.


They thought it was hilarious, but now we have to keep the bag of blocks zipped up or else they automatically dump them out. Nice move, daddy...

I can't wait for the pacifier stage to be over because Layla's smile will be even more gorgeous when it's not hidden behind that big plastic thing?


And for some reason Layla climbs up into the double stroller and pretends talk on the phone.


I suppose she is practicing for the days ahead where she'll go up to her room and talk on the phone? This next picture of Easton shows how his looooong eyelashes are still very prominent.


One word: Blockhead!


That one of Easton in the blocks is one my favorite of the whole summer so far. What a good looking, happy boy. We went to the local pizza joint for dinner when Kendra's brother and his girl came into town. Kendra had her hands full trying to keep the twins from walking up to all the strangers and saying, "hi" while waving.


We went inside to sit and wait for the pizza to arrive and once the snacks we brought for the twins ran out, we got desperate. The natives were getting restless and we were already past bath time so Kendra resorted to shaking piles of parmesan cheese on the babies' dinner mat.


You'll have to click on the picture and view in full screen to see it all, but he has cheese crumbs all over this face and arms. I had the misfortune of bath time to wash off the gritty, sticky bits. i almost hosed him down in the back yard as a starter to make bath time more manageable.

Easton and Layla are both becoming more... what's the word??? Three dimensional, maybe? I'm not sure how to describe it, but now they crawl on all fours, walk, climb, and slither on their bellies. I get better opportunities to capture them in more various positions... such as these two.


you can see how long and lean Layla is, but she still has plenty of baby chunkiness to be healthy. She's well fed, but she can sure burn the calories! Easton is much thicker in the middle and feels more solid than Layla, but who knows what genetics these two will put on display as they grow.


I ran out of blogging time tonight before I ran out of pictures so i'll catch up fully in the next post. GG spent the day with us today and Easton and Layla are always happy to see her. She joined us at the pool, for dinner, and hang out time in the backyard as well. One final picture of the night. If Easton had the vocabulary to say what he's thinking, this picture might be titled, "hey punk! GG loves me and don't you forget it!"


See you soon.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Just a cracker

Greetings!

The contents of this blog post is as philosophical and reflective as I get so welcome to the deep end of the pool... Many people will see my thoughts and pondering as merely wading into the turtle pool, but there is nothing more core to who I am than the pursuit of happiness.

I'll start with this discovery: Babies are meant to show us what true happiness is.

I drifted away from "true" happiness back in high school (from what I can remember). Somewhere along the way the concept of happiness itself has morphed into something unattainable; something illusive that is usually instantaneous and then evaporates like mist from a spray bottle. Ok, enough introduction. Let me show you exhibit "A":



This is Easton. He is sitting on a 2-foot tall slide with a graham cracker just before bed time. Here is a close up of his face to zoom in on his bright eyes, wide smile, and drool (oh wait, the drool is from teething):


When is the last time you were THIS happy? I've looked at the picture many times over the past few days. Studying, reflecting, questioning.

I'm almost a little jealous of Easton. He laughed, smiled often, and nibbled on his cracker with genuine enjoyment! He doesn't search for happiness; He IS happiness. He displays it in simple things like dancing (which is really just bobbing up and down) or making a silly noise with his mouth. Even saying the word "naked" after bath time invokes a 5 minute giggle-fest and running around the bedroom repeatedly saying, "Nay-naaay" (Easton and Layla's word for naked).

There are many aspects of happiness I somehow lost along the way unintentionally. Imagination, contentment, simplicity, forgiveness, trust. Easton and Layla are FULL of these things and I love to watch them share those wonderful qualities through interactions with each other Kendra and I. If I listed my "expectations" of having children, the thought of my babies teaching ME about life would have been down at the bottom. I thought mostly of teaching them the details of life and social skills and God. Now I am finding I should focus on NOT transferring my materialist definition of happiness that has been reduced to a "threadbare simulacrum of shopping, buying and owning" (see footnote at the bottom for the reference).

There is a web page, really it is an ebook or long article, where the author explains happiness in a way that makes sense to me. Click here to be linked to the article and scroll waaaaaaay down to "Chapter Seventeen: The Structure of Happiness" at the bottom. My disclaimer is this: I don't know who this guy is and I don't support or agree with aspects of his doomsday Great Transformation so don't judge me based on his views, ok? Here's an excerpt of the section I found most intriguing:

-- An experience-based understanding of happiness is ontologically structured around the experiences of well-being, warmth and satisfaction offered by true friendship, accomplishment, generosity, romantic and spiritual love and the humility of worship. The acquisition of externalities and superficial markers has no place in this understanding.

In a parallel fashion, an independently constructed sense of self--what we term an individual's identity--grows from humility, self-knowledge and the strength of personal integrity, not from an illusory simulacrum [similarity] of identity conjured by pronouncements ("I am a member of...") and possessions.

Indeed, all that is truly valuable in one's self and identity can never be taken away or even diminished: integrity, experience, self-knowledge and humility.

Rather than accept the derealizing, dehumanizing reduction to passive consumer, the individual seeking internal and external liberation must renounce the impoverishment of "consumer" and embrace the power of a citizen's independently constructed sense of self. --


I understand my identity is fully based on principles from God, but we are IN this world and must function throughout life as we interact with it. There is so much for me to learn from Easton and Layla. My desire is to live more like them and still keep my job. :)

May you find happiness in a cracker.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

celebrate and clothing

Howdy folks,

NorCal is still treating us well and there are more reason's to stay here a while longer than there are to head back to AZ. During a previous trip to Babies 'R Us I bought Layla a dress. Just walking around that place I can feel the money falling out of my pockets like a trail of bread crumbs for Hansel and Gretel. No matter what prompts a visit there I inevitably walk by the clearance rack and just can't help but pilfer through the sale items. I found this dress and knew Layla would look like a little princess.


I've been waiting for the right event to show off her pretty dress and Opa's birthday seemed to be an occasion worthy of such a debut. All of us including GG went out for dinner and some Baskin Robbins.


Easton didn't quite get ALL 32 flavors on his shirt, but that is only because we didn't eat all 32 flavors. Layla managed to get chocolate all over her dress. It was destined to happen though given the situation so it's not like I was surprised. Layla, new clothes, chocolate ice cream... duh! I managed to get one decent picture of Layla with Daddy before bath time that evening and she really is my sweet princess.


Easton had on his GQ outfit for the night out on the town, but due to unforeseen circumstances, his pants were removed once we got home. He is becoming very efficient at stacking the cups and promptly knocking them down like a force of destruction. It's a race to see who will knock down the tower first, him or Layla.


Here is Layla in her white-trash pajamas. They are old, worn out, too small, and show her belly. Not to mention the too-small shorts that ride up when she walks. It's certainly time for new pajamas.



I was playing with Easton and Layla before dinner to give Oma and Opa some space to cook and prepare. The little foam mat squares also turn into boxes. Then they turn into "hats" because Easton and Layla do their best to tear them apart.

One word: blockheads


Layla was busy talking on the phone, but couldn't figure out how to wear the blockhead hat AND talk on the phone at the same time.


Daddy took Friday night off to hang with the boys. My local buddies Craig and Erik invited me along to go wakeboarding. What an absolute blast! I hadn't been on a boat since last time they invited me and that time was my first attempt at wakeboarding. This picture isn't a close up, but I promise that is me out there tearing it up. Looks cool, huh?


Then Erik decided to get a short video clip and I caught a face full of water at just the wrong moment.



How's that for timing? I can't remember the last time I had that much fun on a Friday night. Knowing Oma and Opa were at home helping Kendra put the twins to bed made it easy for me to feel ok about being away for an entire evening. There is a great deal of comfort in knowing she is not alone in the evening going through the difficult dinner-bath-bed part of the day.

I'm starting to work on a video for Easton to equal the one I did for Layla back in May. The reason I haven't started is because I can't seem to find a song to fit the picture slideshow of me with my son. Anyone have ideas for possible songs? I'm having a tough time finding a song about father-son relationships besides inappropriate ones like "Cat's in the Cradle". Help me out if you have an idea, ok?

Welcome to a new week and I hope you have a great Monday.

Friday, July 24, 2009

First "I love you"

Hello friends and family,

The 4 Webbs are still enjoying the NorCal environment although we are starting to miss life in AZ. We'll be here until Kendra's parents kick us out of their house or we decide we miss our bed and friends and life back in AZ. Whichever one comes first... :) Although if this picture is any indication, I bet Oma and Opa will keep their home open to us for a few more weeks easily.


I've seen a ton of picture of Opa over the past 9 years of knowing him, but not many of them show his genuine smile as much as this one. He must have inherited the "serious look" propensity from his dad because I see a lot of that with the Burgess clan. If anyone has other pictures of Opa smiling so intently, I'd love to have a copy of them through email to post a collage of those special moments. As you can tell, Layla has that same serious look in many of the pictures I take of her. However, her serious look is a result of her deep thoughts and how she soaks in everything happening in the surroundings.

That being said, she also has her moments of extreme expressions of happiness. She's my shooting star...


Yesterday layla found a way to melt people without using Superman laser vision. She simply says, "I love you, (place your name here)" She said this to uncle Casey, Oma, Opa and anyone else who talks her through the sentence one word at a time. Whether she knows what that means or not is up for debate. A parrot can repeat back the sentence without any feeling behind it, but even so, it sure sounds sweet coming from our lovely Layla.

I'll try to get that on video along with her amazing counting ability. she counts from 1 to 14, but gets stuck there for some reason. She says, "... tweeeelve, thirrrrrrteen, fourteen, fourteen, fourteen!"

And here are a few updates for our ongoing efforts:

Tabasco works! Easton has not bitten Layla in a long time and even though he thinks about it once and a while and his mouth opens up like JAWS, he reconsiders. Now he knows what Tabasco is and the mere mention of the name invokes caution for him. Hopefully this is a long-term shift in his thinking. If not, the Tabasco sauce is waiting in the fridge...

P90X: We are now in week 7 and continuing to follow the schedule and routines as much as possible. I found a group of coworkers here in NorCal who do the routines during lunch time right here at work! This is working out really well because now I don't have to go home and burn an hour of every evening while everyone else watches me. Kendra and her dad are still doing P90X at home when the twins take their nap in the afternoon. Opa completed his second week and is loving the workouts. Go team!

Time for the weekend and I'm making a promise now to take some pictures and videos (since I can't seem to rely on everyone else to do it regularly...)

See you soon.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

normal?

Hola!

Kendra's flight was scheduled to arrive late last night, but delayed by an hour more due to who-knows-what problems with the airlines. On my way to pick her up at the airport, which I've been to dozens of times, I missed my exit and drove around downtown Sacramento. Eventually I found the entrance to the highway and my way to the airport. Then I drove around looking for Kendra on the curb. That didn't work out so well as I circled around and called her cell phone over and over. I resorted to parking my car and wandering through the airport searching for her. After resisting the urge to involve the police officer who was standing on the corner, I walked around again by the curb and there was Kendra sitting, waiting, and smiling. I was really scared and worried something happened to her, but she just didn't hear her phone ring and didn't see me drive by.

Needless to say, my response to her was not one of my finer moments of showing compassion and grace. I plan to issue a full apology tonight and a retraction of anything I said that I shouldn't have. :(

Anyway, here's the rest of what happened over the past few days. For some reason I ended up with a ton of good pictures of Easton and not much of Layla. that's the way it goes sometimes.... We hung out with GG and uncle Casey at GG's house to escape the heat and give the twins some new surroundings. GG gave them ice cream and that was a big hit. Uncle Casey was kind enough to spoon it up for Layla.


Here is Easton saying "please" to get ice cream from GG. He does the sign language version by rubbing his chest and says, "peace! peace! peace!" I find it almost impossible to resist his request when he has such cute manners.


We went outside for a few minutes to play in GG's backyard, but it was too hot for us to stay long. As the twins played ring-around-the-bush I took a picture of them together from behind. You can see Easton's hair is long and thick in the back. His hair is lightening up more every day with blondish tones. I guess that's what being in the California sun does... Layla's hair is finally growing in and you can see her funny little tail of hair growing on the left side of the back of her head. That one little strand of hair is outpacing the rest of her hair for some reason.


Easton sure knows how to relax. He's swinging in the back porch swing with GG while sitting up like a big boy. Layla was too busy running around the bush to be bothered with resting in the afternoon shade.


After my Mr. Mom experience I could change Easton's name to "Don't Touch That". I said the phrase hundreds of times... He probably thinks that is his name already. No matter what safety devices are installed or how cautious a home owner is there will always be a few things at eye-level for the babies which they should not touch.

Another thing we learned is that Babies R' Us is a good way to wear out the twins AND get cheap clothes. I discovered that plain white socks with no rubberized words on the bottom are impossible to find. I had to choose from knit black socks, frilly green socks, long brown socks, but not a single pair of plain white ones could be found. Oh well, at least they had semi-normal pink and blue ones which worked for me. :) Easton was truckin' around the halls touching everything in site.


Layla was concentrating on running and screaming while keeping her pacifier firmly in place. That's quite a feat...


Water paraphernalia as toys:

Opa and I did our best to keep recycling the toys to keep them fresh, but at one point we resorted to putting the armband floaters on their legs. The twins burned at least 10 minutes running around like this:


Then we moved on to kendra's swim goggles. They laughed and thought they were sooooo cool with the goggles. These will be printed off for Oma and Opa's house...


Are these the happiest babies, I mean toddlers, you've ever seen or what?


Oma comes home tonight and we are ALL excited to get back to normal, whatever that is. I'll never forget the time Opa and I spent taking care of Easton and Layla all by our lonesome. From what people tell me it gets easier when the twins get to the point where they don't need constant supervision. However, their full and complete dependence on us was a special time to pour into their lives and spend some excellent quality time.

See you soon.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Haaaaaaalleluiah

I've never been so excited for an airplane to land in my life including the 13 hour flight I took from Osaka, Japan. Kendra's flight lands in 1 hour! Although I could (and would) continue to do the regimen from the past few days with the twins, I am happy for her to come home. Even if we had no twins i would still be looking forward to her arrival.

Opa and I experienced some serious bonding time. We had as much fun as Easton and Layla. I couldn't have asked for a better teammate than Opa. He forced me to be the decision maker more than I expected, but I know it was only because he wants me to step up and gain some confidence in my ability to take care of the babies.

We celebrated our successful Mr. Mom debut by going out for dinner at Red Robin with GG. Here is the proof:


I am certain Easton was this happy before Kendra left and since he is STILL as happy (possibly even happier) that proves we did our job! I didn't get a good picture of Layla because she looks way too serious while dipping french fries in her ketchup.

I'll post again tomorrow during my lunch break from work. There are several funny pictures of the twins and many more stories of the past couple of days that I don't have time to blog about right now.

As much as I absolutely cherished the past few days, bringing Kendra home from the airport is the highlight of the week.

See you tomorrow.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

I've learned...

2 days down and 2 days to go for team Opa and Daddy. We're hanging tough and soaking in the quality time with Easton and Layla. I've learned a few things about raising twins that I didn't know before this Mr. Mom experience.

One discovery is that I spend much more time in the kitchen than I anticipated. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, then repeat every single day for the next 17 years. Wow. The teamwork between Opa and I is zooming along like a well oiled machine, but it sure takes work. After breakfast we were wiping blueberries off the walls and picking oatmeal out of Layla's nose. I looked at Opa and asked, "What are we going to feed the twins for lunch? We both stared blankly like deer in headlights. We browsed through the pantry and fridge spouting off random possibilities until we came up with a game plan. Luckily Oma left us with plenty of choices of food, but even so it is still difficult to add enough variety to keep them interested. Also, they are developing individual tastes, which limits what we put on their high chair trays. Layla likes green beans, Easton doesn't. Easton likes grapes, Layla doesn't. you get the picture... Kendra continually says, "I'm NOT a short order cook!" and now I know what she means.

I've learned a few things about myself as well...

I'm boring at times, unable to improvise, and slow on my feet. I experienced an odd moment where Easton and Layla were wandering around the living room looking bored. I walked over to them and froze like a 7 year old at a piano recital. They looked up at me as if to say, "yes, dad? now is your big chance to us how much fun you are!" I choked. However, they gave me plenty of chances for redemption and we've bonded through some great play time during the past couple of days. Now they think I am truly funny. All I have to do is repeatedly turn around and look at them with a silly smile. They bust up laughing. Easton pipes up with his sweet voice saying, "more? more? more?" I captured one of these moments while we drove to dinner tonight.


By the way, I'm jamming out to my Phil Wickham station on Pandora's internet radio. Can't get enough of that guy...

I figured out there is a difference between natural fun and manufactured fun. An example of natural fun is seen in the video of Oma and Layla from the previous blog post. No props, no structure, no planning, just spontaneous interactions that flow as Oma and Layla giggle and laugh. An example of manufactured fun is what we did this morning at The Little Gym. I researched yesterday and discovered a class for Easton and Layla's age would occur this morning. We showed up on time and spent the next 45 minutes playing, interacting, and tumbling.

The twins did extremely well to meet the physical challenges presented and I am proud of them. Layla spent most of the "free play" time saying "hi" to other toddlers and climbing over every obstacle in her path.


Easton found his own forte of swinging on the high bar and walking across the balance beam. He takes his time in assuring his foot and hand placement is sturdy.


By the end of class Layla was doing pull ups on the high bar. I'm not being sarcastic either... She really did pullups while Opa held her steady!


I call this type of interaction manufactured fun because it is structured and relies on outside stimulus other than what you can do to engage and entertain the babies. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of The Little Gym play time as well as Opa and the twins. What they offer there blows away "lap sit" at the local library because they are building physical skills AND burning much more energy than if they just clap their hands at lap sit. There is absolutely nothing wrong with manufactured fun, but I believe Easton and Layla are much more fulfilled through natural fun. Just an observation and motivation for me to take some tips from how Oma, Opa, and Kendra interact with the twins.

We took a short drive up the road as an adventure to find a local splash pad. We did find it, but Easton only wanted to stomp his feet in the puddles and Layla only wanted to run up and down the grassy hill next to the park. We stopped long enough to catch a picture of us with the hills in the background.


We had a HUGE day of activities and play time so Easton and Layla were practically begging me to put them in their crib for bed time tonight. I told them to say, "good night, daddy" and they did so with a wave of their arm.


You might also notice Layla has one pacifier in her mouth and one in her hand.


Bedtime requires TWO pacifiers be in her crib because she inevitably throws one at Easton. If another one isn't handy, she cries until I go dig around and find the lost pacifier on the ground, which is no fun in the middle of the night.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel and that light is the headlamp on the airplane bringing my wife home. We all miss her very much!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Mr. and Mr. Mom

Greetings!

It’s been 24 hours since the ladies left Opa and I in charge of Easton and Layla. We’re having a great time and our teamwork is worthy of a medal. No one got injured, everyone ate well, and we are worn out like a pair of 10 year old socks.

Before Oma and Kendra left yesterday, Layla did her best to convince them to take her along for the women’s vacation. She's packed and ready to go!


No such luck though… She’s stuck with the boys. Here is a video clip of Oma playing peek-a-boo with Layla. Her laugh is contagious and I dare you to watch this without smiling. When she mimics Oma’s “blaaaaah” noise that is when it really gets funny.



Nobody does it like Oma… I’ve tried some of the same silly tricks and tactics she uses, but the twins just look at me blankly.

I'm sure everyone who keeps up with our blog has the same thought in reference to Kendra taking a vacation while Opa and I take care of the twins alone. some variation of: "He'll appreciate mommy more since he is experiencing what she does on a daily basis".

I hate to burst your collective bubble, but that isn't true at all. I FULLY appreciated the difficulties of being a stay-at-home-mom waaaaay before this week. Whether someone takes care of twins or more than one kid, my hat is off to those individuals and couples. My opinion is anyone with only one child has no idea how easy life is for them. Once in a blue moon one of our twins will awake early from a nap. We sit and watch the single baby play happily on the floor. Inevitably we look at each other and say, "wow, this is what it would be like to have one child?" I don't mean to belittle the work required to raise one child. Yes, it is difficult and I get that. However, twins or multiple children of ANY age are a whole new level of effort.

No idea where that came from, just random thoughts. Anyway, the BEST thing about Oma and Mommy being away is that Opa and I get ALL of Easton and Layla’s kisses and cuddles. Usually by the time I get home from work in the evening the twins are all loved out from spending the day with Mommy. I got more kisses and hugs from the twins in the past 24 hours than in the past 24 days combined!


Northern California has a few critters we don’t have in urban areas of Arizona so I took the opportunity to let Easton and Layla check out a toad. They were not as impressed as I expected, but I’d say they were intrigued… Every night there are many tiny, gumball-sized toads hopping around so maybe we’ll try to catch one again tonight.


One of the highlights of the day was taking a morning walk to Jamba Juice. Easton and Layla love strawberries wild with a protein boost, hey HEY!


I'm certain Kendra will look at these pictures and ask, "Why are they going out into public in their pajamas???" So let me preemptively explain. I'm lazy... that's it. Daddy is in charge and I left them in their PJs until AFTER the noon-time nap! Just be glad they weren't butt-naked trotting to Jamba Juice.

Layla is showing excellent signs of becoming America's next top runway model. "...and here is Layla wearing the latest sleepwear fashion as she displays the exciting kids-sized Jamba Juice."


If you click to enlarge that picture you can see the huge molar on the lower right side of her pretty smile. That must have hurt pushing through her gums. Glad THAT one is done! Only 16 more teeth to go. :( We'll have a little "caption" fun to finish out the post tonight. These pictures are from of Easton and Layla playing with our mobile phones today (hey, anything to keep them happy, right?)

"Mom, please tell these guys to give me some variety for dinner? I'm not sure I can handle apple sauce three days in a row..." OR maybe this is better: "Hello, Child Protection Services??? Is it a crime to force me to listen to Dad and Opa sing old school DC Talk songs?"


"Hey Layla, I'm texting Mom an emergency message. How do you spell HELP!"


I'm wiped out and tomorrow will be another full day of Mr. Mom. We miss Mommy and Oma very much. Not only for their abilities of taking care of the twins, but for all the other reasons why we love to be with them.

See you again soon!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

extended family

Greetings from Cali,

The 4 Webbs have overtaken Kendra's parent's house. The notable changes are shoes left out overnight, toys littering the entire first floor, and a trashcan filled with smoldering, stinky diapers. On the other hand, every morning Oma and Opa wake up hearing their names called from the twins down the hall and then all day long. Also, if Oma leaves the room, Easton furrows his brow and sometimes sheds a few tears until she comes back into the room. That's gotta count for something, right? At least Layla is doing her best to clean up after herself


Yesterday Easton was driving us crazy


Just kidding... Easton was well behaved as always. That just made for a good pun in the caption. Whenever Easton sees an airplane, he says the word "airplane", but then he says, "bye bye!" in his extra sweet voice because the airplane is usually quickly flying away from us. He finally found an airplane where he didn't have to say, "bye bye!".


On Sunday Kendra's family had a huge gathering with cousins and aunts and uncles. We had a mini-church service and then spent the rest of the day eating and swimming... and I mean the rest of the day. The BBQ was fired up and we made the most of it. Forget the idea of waiting 30 minutes between eating and swimming! Layla was covered in sunscreen with a hat and swimming gear so she didn't even get a little tan. We were all water logged with pruny hands, but had an excellent time with everyone.


Kendra and I were bad, bad examples and didn't put on sunscreen so we are scorched like lobsters. Who would have thought us Arizonian would travel to California and get sun burned? Anyway, Layla and Easton had an excellent time hanging with their cousins. Here's Layla with Alannah. She was somewhat unimpressed with the walrus blow-up raft because it didn't go fast enough!


Easton was more interested in cuddling with GG and the uncles.


The twins joined in the food-fest by eating and drinking everything we did including ice cream, chicken, and potato chips. Easton is mid bite as he sits comfortably in Aunt Judy's lap.


Easton calls here "Juju", which is close enough! We also caught a cute moment where Easton and Layla pulled off a double synchronized "cute face". It's tough enough to capture their cute face (when they tilt their head to the side and smile real big), but we got the Double Cute face!


Layla took a digger over the top of the slide (see previous post for pictures of the slide), but she appears to be doing great with no ill effects. She cried a little, but i think that was from the feeling of falling in conjunction with the tuck and roll at the end. She was attacking the slide again within minutes... What a trooper.

Please keep me and Opa in your prayers as we send off Kendra and Oma out of state for 5 days. They will be relaxing and laughing in unison along with her female cousins and aunts. Opa and I will be like Michael Keaton playing Mr. Mom in the old school comedy.


Luckily we will still be playing a one-on-one defense against the twins because there are two of us!

See you soon.