Wedding bliss

Greetings friends and family,

Easton and Layla's evening routine is becoming more and more independent.  Hooray for progress!  All I do I turn on the bathtub water, dictate who is first in the tub, then lay their towels out on the floor of the bathroom.  They know to turn off the water when it reaches their belly button.  They know when one is in the tub, the other is cleaning their room.  they know to dry themselves off BEFORE walking between the bathroom and their bedroom  (assigning an order to the routine is essential).  They know to brush their teeth, and rinse with mouth wash.  They know to put on their pull-ups before PJs (again, order is important).  They even know how to get their own ice and water.

They do all of this with only the slightest bit of encouragement from the couch.  The night time routine is awesome.  When all of that is done we read books, then sing songs in bed and that's it.  Each day it seems I'm needed less and less, which is both a blessing of rest and a loss of feeling needed.  For almost 5 years Kendra and I gladly took care of the hands-on necessities, but there is a big shift in the winds of parenting around here.  It's probably not as noticeable for a parent with many kids of varying ages because the stages go in overlapping waves.  However, with two the same age and no other kids around, these shifts are highly magnified.

Layla's favorite toys right now are Barbies in the playhouse.  The house and barbies were given to us as a hand-me-down from our friends, which was a huge blessing.  Big play house and an entire plastic tub full of Barbies and accessories.

Easton's favorite toys are his Hot Wheels and airplanes.  Any car without the Hot Wheels logo on it goes straight back into the toy box.  This is a result of marketing geniuses who infiltrated the Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon.  When I give him 30 minutes of quality time to play whatever he wants, this is what he chooses.  Vroom, vrooom!

The last wedding we attended was Kendra's cousin's wedding 4 years ago.  We attended our friend's wedding and reception on Friday night knowing Easton and Layla were excited to experience the ceremony and party.  They were heavily coached on the ride over.  For the most part they were well behaved and loved it.

Layla will be the flower girl and Easton will be the ring bearer next year in Uncle Logan and Bree's wedding. This was a trial run to get them some exposure for what to expect.  I told them to watch the flower girl and ring bearer carefully so they know what to do.  The flower girls (three of them) showered the brides path with flowers and Layla is already locked in on what she will need to do next year.  Unfortunately for Easton there was no ring bearer so he didn't get to see how it's supposed to go down.  I'm confident he'll do great though.

We stopped by the reception for a short time.  The twins chowed down on the yummy food there.  The 4 Webbs were some of the first attendees to arrive so we were able to greet everyone coming through the food line as they walked by our table.  I felt a greater sense of community than ever before because of the parade of friends we talked with and sat by.  It's nice to have that and see Easton and Layla sharing in it.

The wedding party arrived and questions from the twins continued at a rapid fire pace as they processed and comprehended what was going on around them.  Kendra did a good job of putting things in terms they could understand.

Then the bride and her father danced.  by this time Easton and Layla were standing in front of me as I crouched down to converse with them.  After my explanation of what was happening Layla said, "Someday I'll dance with you like that, Daddy".  Oh snap.  Things just got real.

I can tell you very clearly I am not ready to even consider the idea that someday Layla will get married.  I'm not afraid of it, I'm just enjoying her so much that the thought of her moving off to a different state with her husband someday causes me to get a lump in my throat.  If she gets married at 26 then that gives me 21 more years to prepare.  Until it gets closer to the year 2033 I'll go on about my business of just being the Daddy of the here and now.

The blissful part of the wedding we attended was the memories it brought back for Kendra and I.  There is a supercharged spark in our relationship just by attending the wedding and realizing how wonderful it is to be married to each other.  We really are happy and it shows.

The twins and I took an evening walk around the block while Kendra did some work around the house.  The most interesting fun of our walk was watching our shadows follow us around from the street lights.  I got this random picture idea and captured our Peter Pan reenactment.

Easton and I went for some Daddy time to run errands and buy a toy.  We stopped by DQ to get an ice cream.  I told Easton we were going to do a tough guy face.  He looks more like Arnold from Different Strokes.  (What choo talkin' bout Willis?)

Our outing was cut short because Easton was bouncing around the booth and accidentally head-butted me in the mouth.  blood, napkins, throw away ice cream, and just go home.  I was very calm and responded well to the pain of being smashed in the face.  He's just getting to be a bigger boy with strong muscles and doesn't realize his own power yet.

I picked up Layla and took her out for our Daddy date to a pottery painting place.  She walked carefully by all of the paintable items and selected the Belle piggy bank as her choice to paint.  I watched and talked with her without interfering with her art work.  I added a few strokes here and there to get the 2nd and 3rd coats, but other than that I just watched her work.  She chose green for her eyes and red for the lips.  Unfortunately, Belle will turn out looking like the Joker from Batman, but I'm proud of her for giving it her best.  There were a few times when I was just looking at her with a loving smile.  She stopped painting and batted her eye lashes at me.  She said, "I love spending time with you, Daddy" and cuddled her face up to mine.  those are the most priceless moments that make it all worth while.

See you soon!