Our Halloween Night

We had a fun Halloween night. When I got home from work, I changed Olivia & Violet into their costumes. It was quite chaotic. They did not particularly want to be changed at that time of day, since it was out of their normal routine. They were squirming all over the place! I felt like I was in a wrestling match. :) I finally managed to get Olivia into her Supergirl costume and Violet into her Wonder Woman costume, but I had clothes strewn all over. Jamie got home from work shortly after that, so we carried the girls to about four of our neighbors' houses to hand out treats to their kids. After that, we went over to Jamie's cousin Kraig's house. Kraig & his wife Nicole fed us pizza (yum!). The girls pigged out. Kraig & Nicole's daughter Athena dressed as Belle from Beauty & the Beast. We took a few pictures and then we loaded up the kids to go trick-or-treating. Athena rode in a wagon and our girls rode in their double stroller. We had quite a crew, so it was a lot of fun to walk around in a group. Kraig's parents Debbie & Al and Nicole's Mom Diane came with us. It was such a beautiful night. The girls didn't collect any candy, but we had fun bringing them up to the door and saying "Happy Halloween" to people. They waved to people a few times, which was cute. Olivia even got to ride on her Papa's shoulders for awhile. She loved it! She was smiling and laughing the whole time. The girls behaved pretty well, even though we had them up about an hour past their normal bedtime.

Olivia & Violet in the Halloween shirts they wore to daycare (thanks Auntie Jill!):

Violet giving Olivia a hug:

Violet (Wonder Woman) & Olivia (Supergirl):

Violet, Athena & Olivia:

Walking to our first trick-or-treating house:

Ringing the doorbell to trick-or-treat:

Papa & Olivia:

Happy Halloween!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

One Step Closer

We have been having so much fun with the girls this week. They both have been in such a good mood all week. On Monday, Olivia began to stand on her own for a few seconds at a time (see video below). We think she will be walking soon. Violet discovered an interest in the stairs the past few days. She has become pretty quick at getting up them, but she still needs help going back down. Tonight I was upstairs in the girls' bedroom getting pajamas, and all of a sudden Violet came crawling in. Go figure!

The girls spent last weekend at Grandma & Grandpa Suchy's house. Jamie went up there to go bow hunting, and by his own generous will he offered to bring them up with him so I could stay home and have a weekend to myself. It was wonderful! Don't get me wrong, I love my family to pieces, but it was nice to have some time to do whatever I wanted to do (which mainly included doing laundry and cleaning). The best part was waking up in the morning and knowing that I could just lay in bed and not have to get up with the girls!!

The girls also received a special package in the mail the other day. Our friends from Germany sent them a traditional German Christmas calendar. Beginning December 1st, we open a flap for each day until Christmas. Behind each door is a special treat. Thank you Esther & family!!

The girls are such a blessing. Jamie & I are both exhausted pretty much every night, but it's worth every second. Their simple smiles make it all worthwhile. I was playing with the girls outside on the swingset this evening, and I was thinking to myself that I just can't remember what life was like before they were born. Olivia has such a zest in her that makes us laugh. She is our spunky girl that will keep our lives interesting. Violet is such a sweetheart and loves to pass out hugs and kisses. Violet's daily daycare report today said "Violet was chasing her friends to give them kisses today!" That's our Violet. It's amazing how they can have different personalities, but you love them both equally just how they are.

Here is a video of Olivia standing. It also shows our bottle collection...prepare to be amazed!

Party Hardy

We had a fun weekend...the girls were able to party hardy! On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for Jamie's cousin's daughter that turned 3. The party was at the Maple Grove Community Center, which has a pool, so the girls were able to wear swimsuits and go "swimming" for the first time. Violet loved it, Olivia wasn't quite sure about it. It took them awhile to warm up to all the other kids in the pool and all the splashing that was going on. I think they were pretty overwhelmed at first and just wanted to take it all in!

After the party, we drove up to my sister Rhonda's house. We cracked up because our girls were in bed at 7:30 and went to sleep without making a peep while Rhonda's three-year-old daughter (our niece) Emma was still running around and looking for things to do at 9:30 p.m. when us adults were all ready for bed! Emma has pretty much always been a night owl. We had Emma's third birthday party the next day. The kids were able to wear costumes if they wanted to, since her birthday is so close to Halloween. Olivia dressed as Supergirl & Violet dressed as Wonder Woman. They looked pretty cute! Emma, the birthday girl, looked adorable in a ladybug costume. Rhonda did a great job planning the party - there were a lot of fun things to do! They had a scavenger hunt, a drawing contest, bobbing for apples, a pinata, and pumpkin decorating. Our girls were too young to participate, but it was fun to watch our other nieces and nephews join in the fun.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Olivia (pink swimsuit) & Violet (red swimsuit):

Olivia (Big Sister) & Violet (Little Sister):

Supergirl (Olivia) & Wonder Woman (Violet):

Olivia & Violet with Grandma Thronson:

Hello!

Here is a video of the girls waving hello and acting goofy, filmed on October 1st.

Long Weekend

Unfortunately our weekend was about one day too long. Saturday was pretty uneventful, we took the girls on a shopping trip to Costco. Woo-hoo! They did really well. It is still funny how many people stop to comment on the girls being twins. The weather was so nice that we spent some time outside. Jamie was able to clean out the garage so we were able to get our truck parked in there. We are having our roof reshingled this week because of the damage from a hail storm we had a few months back, and we had to get our truck out of the driveway to make room for the rolloff dumpster.

Sunday ended up being a long day. Olivia was extremely crabby, and in the afternoon her temperature spiked up to 104. We gave her some Tylenol and her fever came down, but she still wasn't quite herself. I gave her a lukewarm bath in the evening and she seemed to feel better, and she had been eating fine, so we weren't too concerned. She was up a few times during the night, and around 4:00 am she started crying frantically. I picked her up, and she was just burning up. Her temp was back up to 104. I gave her some Tylenol and about an hour later, I got her to fall back asleep.

Jamie stayed home with her all day today, and she seemed to do a little better. Her temp spiked up again, but so far her doctor doesn't see a need for her to come in. So we will see how tonight goes. She doesn't have any other symptoms at this point.

On the happier side...

Olivia has a new favorite thing to do. She loves to stand at the wicker basket where we keep her toys and pick out what she wants to play with. She will pull out several things before she will make a decision. Usually she picks out a book. She likes to flip through the pages, but she also likes to chew on them. Nice!

Violet has been acting so funny and goofy lately. Tonight for supper she had venison sausage that Jamie helped make, and afterward she was this crazy maniac. She was making all these funny faces and crawling all over. We thought maybe the sausage had something to do with it!! She also loves to crawl for a short distance, and then she collapses on the floor and lays her head on the ground like she's exhausted. It is so cute. She loves to give hugs and she will crawl up to you and give you a cuddle. She was giving a ton of kisses and hugs to her stuffed puppy tonight.

Violet, collapsing on the floor in exhaustion:

Olivia digging in the toy chest:

Violet & Olivia, looking for Daddy who went outside:

Violet kissing Olivia, Olivia laughing at Daddy:

Daddy tickling Violet:

Olivia on a rocking horse from cousin Emma:

What did you put on my feet?

The girls wore shoes for pretty much the first time yesterday. They were totally confused about what was on their feet, and they kept taking their shoes off. Here are some pictures before we left for daycare yesterday morning:

Olivia:

Violet:

Family Pictures

Here are some pictures from the family photo shoot we had at my parent's farm on August 23rd.

Jamie & his girls:

Family Pictures:

Olivia (Thing 1) & Violet (Thing 2):

Grandma, Grandpa, Olivia & Violet:

My Mom, Dad, my three sisters & me:

The whole Thronson family:

My three sisters and me:

My Mom & Dad, and their six grandchildren:

Travel Weekend

The girls and I traveled up to my parent's on Friday evening. Jamie went over to his parent's so he could go duck hunting on Saturday morning. My sister Rhonda was also out at my parent's with her husband Jeff and their daughter Emma, so the girls were able to spend some time with their cousin. Emma is such a sweetie. She helped a lot with the girls and played really well with them. On Saturday, Grandma Thronson took all three of them for a ride in the wagon, which she pulls behind the lawn mower. She did such a good job that all three girls fell asleep. They also spent a lot of time outside on the swingset. Olivia & Violet both love to swing.

We headed over to the Suchy farm at about 4:00. We found out that Jamie & his brother Joey got five ducks that morning. Jamie spent the rest of the day making smoked sausage with his Dad and his nephew Nicholas. The girls were so tired that they were in bed about a half hour earlier than usual. All of the activity must have worn them out!

Jamie went duck hunting again on Sunday morning. He got three more ducks. So it was a successful hunting weekend for him! Jamie's whole family was out at the farm for dinner, so Jamie's mom made a big meal. It was quite delicious. The girls received a Halloween gift from their Auntie Jill and cousins Nicholas & Chelsey. They got some really cute Halloween t-shirts, some clothes for next summer, and a talking doll that makes animal sounds....the most important sound being an elephant, of course! It is really cute and the girls really like it! They both still make their own elephant sounds by spitting all over. We got home at about 4:00. It was a nice weekend!

Violet's rash is much better. She had an allergic reaction to the medicine she was on for her strep throat, and she had a rash from head to toe for about three days. It never really seemed to bother her much, but she is pretty good natured. It is still funny to watch her & Olivia interact. It usually consists of toy stealing and hair pulling, although Violet loves to give Olivia kisses.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Having breakfast with cousin Emma:

Having breakfast with Grandpa & Grandma Thronson:

Violet & Emma asleep in the wagon, courtesy of Grandma Thronson:
Violet with her car keys:

Olivia waving "bye-bye":

How playing works for Olivia & Violet...stealing toys and pulling hair:

OK - we'll be nice:
Opening a Halloween gift from the Klimek's: