The Big One

We celebrated Olivia & Violet's first birthday on Saturday, November 29th. We went to a hotel & waterpark in Maple Grove. They had a smaller pool for young kids that was only a few inches deep...I thought the girls would like it, but they absolutely loved it!! Olivia wasn't sure at first. She cried when we first put in her the water, but she changed in her mind pretty quickly and decided the water was pretty fun. Violet loved it as soon as we put her in the water. She dove right in. There were sprays of water that the girls had fun with. Violet kept putting her face right in it. Most of our families were able to join us, which was nice. Guests included Grandpa & Grandma Thronson; Grandpa & Grandma Suchy; Rhonda, Jeff & Emma; Nikki, Brian, Maya, Alex & Evan; Jill, Nicholas & Chelsey; and Janell. We went to the waterpark for a few hours, then ordered pizza for supper. The girls opened gifts...they were extremely spoiled by our generous families. Then we went back down to the waterpark for more! The girls did great, even though they were pretty off-schedule. It was a very fun birthday party. It is still hard for me to believe that they are one. The past year has been just a blur...hopefully they don't all go this fast!! We are so blessed with two spunky, smiley little girls.

Olivia & Violet with their Grandpa Thronson & cousins:

Saying "thank you" after opening presents:

Olivia (pink swimsuit) & Violet (red swimsuit) in the pool:

Olivia with Grandma Thronson by the water sprays:Olivia with her Auntie Jill:
Violet with Grandma Suchy, Olivia with Auntie Janell:

Thanksgiving Days

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their first Thanksgiving. We spent a very relaxing day at home. We made a traditional meal...turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, corn and cranberries. The girls both went for the cranberries (the only colorful thing on their plate) and loved them. They didn't want to eat anything else at first, but they both managed to clean their plates.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we brought the girls for their one-year checkups. They both are doing great. Violet weighed 21 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces and Olivia weighed 20 pounds, 3 1/2 ounces. They both were 29 1/4 inches long. We changed to their forward-facing car seats. The first time they rode in them was when we went to the doctor. They liked it...especially Olivia, who smiled the whole time.

Olivia with her Thanksgiving meal:

Violet with her Thanksgiving meal:
Olivia with her clean plate:
Violet with her clean plate:

Twins With Twins

The girls received a twin doll set from their cousin Maya for Christmas last year. Jamie & I assembled everything last weekend, and now they love to push their twin babies around in their double stroller. It is so cute. The set also came with a changing pad, bassinet, and swing/high chair....all double, of course!

Olivia pushing baby twins:

Violet pushing baby twins:

Go Olivia Go!

Look what Olivia can do! (Please disregard the mess of toys in the background....)

One Year Pictures

We had one year pictures taken of the girls this past Saturday. The morning didn't start out the greatest....Violet woke up with a half-swollen left eye from who knows what, and she had a scratch on her forehead from daycare a few days before. Olivia also had a scab on her chin. They are definitely into the very active stage! We went to a new photographer that works out of his house. The photographer was great...he was very patient and said he would spend as much time with us as we wanted. It was quite an escapade! The girls did not want to sit still. We spent half of the time chasing them across the room and the other half of the time trying to get them to quit crying. It sure made for some interesting pictures. They were both quite happy at the end when they were able to eat chocolate birthday cake. Jamie & I needed a nap after it was all over! The pictures can be viewed at www.KalinKauppila.com/SuchyTwins.

Growing Up!

The girls borrowed a walking toy from Grandma Thronson, and they love it!! They both cruise around pushing it with their short little chubby legs and feet taking steps. It's so cute. They both usually want to push it around, so we have them take turns. They are getting more steady on their feet each day. They aren't quite walking on their own yet, but they are becoming more brave.

They both love to hand us things. We have to say "thank you" and then hand it back. They also love to look at pictures. When we walk by a framed picture on the wall, they usually point at it so we stop and talk about who is in the picture....usually our family members.

They are now down to having one bottle per day, right before they go to bed. They are drinking their milk out of a sippy cup during the day. We are excited, but also kind of sad, to be almost done with bottles. I guess it's another step out of the baby stage. Our little girls are growing up. It's unbelievable how fast the past year has gone.

First Birthday Party...and Deer Hunting

We traveled up to Jamie's parent's farm on Friday for deer hunting. The weather was extremely chilly, I thought they were crazy for sitting outside in that weather! It was pretty exciting though because it was our nephew Nicholas's first time hunting. He was pretty excited, and showed up all prepared with hand warmers, a flashlight, layers of clothes and two thermoses of hot apple cider (just in case one ran out). He sat in a stand with his Grandpa Suchy (Jamie's Dad). Unfortunately he didn't get a chance to shoot at anything all weekend, but he said he wanted to keep trying so they are going out again next weekend. Jamie shot a doe on Saturday evening, which was the only deer his party got all weekend. Here is a picture of the hunters...Joey (Jamie's brother), Jamie, Nicholas & Paul (Jamie's Dad):


We also celebrated the girls' first birthday with Jamie's family. Their actual birthday is still three weeks away, but since we were all going to be together for deer hunting we thought we would celebrate a little early since we won't all be together on the day of their birthday. The girls were both extremely spoiled with presents from Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Pomeranz; Grandma & Grandpa Suchy; Auntie Jill and her two kids Nicholas and Chelsey; Uncle Joey; and Auntie Janell & Uncle Luke. Thank you to all for your generosity!! They were a little tentative with opening gifts, and didn't get into it too much. They started to rip the paper a little bit at the end, but it took them awhile to warm up to the idea. After we opened presents, we had dinner...followed by chocolate cake for the birthday girls. Olivia dove right in and had half the cake smeared all over her face within minutes. She couldn't shovel it in fast enough. Violet was a little more dainty and picked all the sprinkles off the top before dabbing at the frosting. She almost licked her fingers clean between each bite, while Olivia was smearing cake all over. They really enjoyed it though!! Here are some pictures.

Birthday girls Violet & Olivia:

Olivia in her birthday hat:
Violet in her birthday hat:
Violet & Olivia with their cakes:

Olivia diving into her cake:

Violet savoring her cake:

Busy Saturday

We had a fun and eventful Saturday. Olivia was up early (5:45 a.m.) but Violet decided to sleep in until 7:30. We had breakfast, and then we all played together. The girls were playing peek-a-boo with each other behind our curtains. One of them would hide behind the curtain, and then when she pulled the curtain away and showed her face, they would both crack up. It was so cute. Here is a short video.

We also let them play on the organ for the first time. Boy, did they make some beautiful music, ha ha! I turned on some of the preset musical beats, and they were both dancing while banging on the keys along to the preset music. It was pretty funny. Here is a short video.

After dinner, we decided to run some errands, so we all went to the mall. Jamie needed to get some new work clothes and shoes, and his patience for shopping lasts about 15 minutes, so it was a pretty quick mall trip. Then we stopped by Toys R Us to pick up a few things for the girls' birthday coming up. Man, we were overwhelmed with all of the choices. We managed to wander around for about 45 minutes and pick out a few small things for them.

It was such a beautiful day that we spent the rest of the afternoon outside. The girls were fascinated with the leaves on the ground. They loved to crawl around in them. We also pushed them on the swing for awhile. A couple of the neighbor's kids came over and played with them too. We had supper, and then we attempted to keep the girls up a little bit later than usual since we gain an hour of sleep tonight. They had fun playing with each other. They played peek-a-boo with a Tupperware container, and chased each other around the living room and under the coffee table. Violet got mad because we blocked the stairs, so she couldn't crawl up them. She has a fascination with the stairs lately. Both girls had only a brief afternoon snooze in the stroller while we were at the mall, so we are hoping that they sleep until at least the new 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. We hope they aren't up at 5:00 a.m., since one of them is usually up at 6:00 a.m. usual time. We shall see!

Olivia (in pink) & Violet (in brown) playing with leaves:

Olivia:

Violet:
Olivia & Violet by Papa's dogwood bushes:


Violet playing peek-a-boo with Tupperware (Olivia was laughing):

Violet & Olivia chasing each other through the living room coffee table: