Baby Maternity

I got out fall decorations today while A&E took an afternoon nap. They woke up, had a snack, and then discovered the decorations right away. They absolutely love the little doorknob monsters.

The pants they are wearing are from my least favorite store, Walmart. Thankfully I didn't have to go there to buy them as someone gave the to us. The waist band is supposed to fold down, but both of the girls spent all day long looking like they were wearing maternity pants. Maybe Walmart has tapped into a brand new market.

Chutes and Ladders

A&E figured out how to go up the ladder to our play set. Now they go up the ladder and down the slide on their own. They would happily go down the ladder, but they aren't safe on it yet, so I stay behind them and won't let them dome back down. If there was only one of them it would be different. Right now they plow each other over if they are trying to go opposite directions.

Food Steps for the Needy

They love to raid my cabinets. E's new favorite thing to take is a bag of lentils. A loves to grab tea, bite into the tea bags and nibble on the tea leaves. I need to get a pic of her doing that.


Instead of the tea pic, I have a pic of A trying to get into her high chair. She pushed a container of cat food to the chair to give herself a little step.

Trick and Treat

I put A&E down, facing me, and instantly started shooting. It's hard to get them to sit still long enough to get a picture of both toge

I won these Trick and Treat shirts off of Etsy last week. Of course I had to try them on the girls right away and make sure they fit.




I won these Trick and Treat shirts off of Etsy last week. Of course I had to try them on the girls right away and make sure they fit.

Brought to You By the Letters A&E

Sometimes we buy toys for the kids and we end up playing with them. The kids had a super long bath tonight because we brought out their letters and we played with them.

Lap Kids

We had all the kids again today. We kept them busy all day long, so it was tiring, but fun. At the end of the day I sat down to read to the kids. The three youngest all wanted to be on my lap and they figured out where they were most comfortable.

Chaos Brigade

A few weeks ago I volunteered to watch my sister's kids this weekend. Of course I completely messed up the dates and for some reason thought it was next weekend. I called her this week to see if she wanted to meet me at the zoo on Friday and that's when she reminded me I was taking the kids. I decided to go to the zoo any way. It's chaos at home or chaos if I'm out at about and the kids are much better behaved when they're out and aren't bored. I wore A, had E and my nephew in the double stroller and let my niece walk. After lunch, my niece refused to walk, so she and my nephew were in the stroller, I wore E and held A. Of course that's when I got to the biggest hill in the park.

Before we left for the zoo, the two weekend kids were both trying to put shoes on E. She was more than happy to sit and wait.

Scavenger Hunt

They finish a meal, tell me they are done, I get them out of the chairs, wash them up and then they both go back to the chairs and eat what's in the seat and on the floor.

Walk This Way

E showing off her new skill.

Cheese

I realized recently that I didn't have any decent pics of E without her helmet, so I took her helmet off today and got the camera out.

She's come to like her helmet and kept trying to put it back on.

Flower Power

We got an invite today for the girls first Halloween party. We have 3 costumes around the house and I wasn't sure if any of them would fit. I got one out of the basement while I was putting table leaves away. Arya wanted to try it on once she saw it. She's taken a step or two here and there, but took at lest 6 in a row walking toward me and the camera today.

Eiley on the other hand is really getting the hang of walking. She's still faster crawling than walking, but she's walking more every day.

Sunday Night Excursions

A&E were exhausted by the end of today. We had dinner with friends and there were 2 mini melt downs quickly after dinner was finished. Both kids crashed in the car on the way home. A opened her eyes long enough to see me snap the photo and then shut them again.

The Foot Book

E made me read her a book at least 20 times this morning. She'd hand it to me and sign more, I'd read it as she played around and as soon as I stopped she'd come back, hand it to me and sign more again. She's very into this book right now and didn't want any other book. This is the first time she's really shown an interest in reading a whole book. Usually she closes it after a page or two or wants to sit on it and look at it herself.

Pesto Face

We had pesto for dinner tonight. Both kids loved it and dug right in.


They continue to show us every day how much they like to climb. It wasn't long ago that they were trying to pull themselves up on this toy and were pulling it over instead.

Getting Into the Swing of Things

We have a little routine around here. After lunch, the girls go to the kitchen sliding door and beg to go outside. I let them out, they crawl to the swing set and they get to go swinging. I was sad today when I had to put coats on them so they would be warm enough in the swings. Winter is coming.

Incredible Hulk

Both kids love to move objects right now. Today, E was moving the laundry basket all around the first floor.

Do You Know the Muffin Man

A&E did tag team napping today. E helped me make muffins while A was taking her turn to sleep.

Later on, E decided her ball popper toy had to go in the tub. The kids love to throw things in the tub right now. I never know what I'm going to find in there at the end of the day. Usually it's cat toys. Today, I caught her in the act and took a picture of her hauling this up the stairs. As soon as I took the picture she knew she was caught and abandoned the toy. A got up from her nap a little while later, found the toy on the stairs and brought it the rest of the way up.

Pickin' A Berries

A&E were both helping themselves to a snack, pulling green tomatoes off the vine today. I let them play with the tomatoes until they both tried to shove the whole thing in their mouth. I was a little nervous about that, so the tomatoes got thrown back in the garden.

Their scavenging reminded me of myself as a child. I often grabbed things around the yard to snack on. I snacked on things that were meant to be eaten like raspberries, strawberries and apples. I also snacked on things that weren't really eatable, like the little red berries on some pine bushes.

Cats Are a Girls Best Friend

Both kiddos love the cats so much. E and I gave the kitties some treats today. Apparently one of the treats wasn't eaten. I found E climbing the stairs, fist holding tight onto a treat, chasing after one of the cats. She was determined to give that treat to the cat and wouldn't give it up to me. As soon as we got close enough, she dropped the treat and giggled.

Mount Bumbo

We had a get together at our house today with people from one of my moms groups along with the kids and some spouses. It was a great time. All of us, including the kids, had loads of fun. We tried to snap pictures of most of the kids on the couch. A couple had already left and E was napping. I love the picture because not one of the kids is cooperating. A is the oldest of the kids here and is just about the lightest.

A has mastered scaling Mount Bumbo. I got our bumbo out for one of the kids and A is obsessed with it. She has spent so much time climbing in and out of that thing. I think I've found my new distraction toy.

Full Hands

One comment I hear more than anything else while we are out is "You have your hands full." This is not usually said in a way which would make me think the person would like to switch places with me. Recently, another MoM gave me a great response for this. She always tells people "Better full than empty." I love the response as it's so truthful.

Multi Tasking and Thinking Out of the Box

I found E multi tasking today.


I also found A throwing things out of her toy box. I figure she used the speaker next to the toy box to climb in.

Tail Biter

Eiley was making herself so mad today. She was like a dog biting his own tail.

Barricade Blues

This is my failed attempt at a barricade in front of the baby gate to prevent the kids from going through. E was through it less than a minute after I walked away. She is nicely shutting the gate behind her.

Bed Rolls

E fell out of our camping bed this morning. She was happy, warm and asleep, so I left her. I did cover her with an extra blanket just to make sure she wouldn't cool off.

She wasn't quite as happy when I left the two of them in the tent to try to brush my teeth. There was a whole lot of yelling and pounding on the tent walls.

A Hard Day's Night

E had a really hard afternoon.

She revived enough to horse around and try to stay up really late.

Water For Elephants

We went camping this weekend with a bunch of family. My parents used to take my siblings and me camping all the time when we were kids. They started in tents and worked their way up to a trailer. They got rid of the trailer years ago and haven't been camping since. They joined us this weekend and brought this bute! It reminds me of the book Water for Elephants, probably because it's a little circus like. They have another tent that sleeps 8 people. It's probably note quite as huge as I remember, but I dubbed it "the Duggar's tent" because I remember it being absolutely enormous.

Mad Mad Madison

Only in Madison would you see a guy driving down the road on a moped, wearing a suite and with a bluetooth in his ear.