My Girls: Twice The Fun: updates...

It has been a few weeks since I've had time to do a posting, so I'll do my best to give some updates. The past few weeks have been pretty busy ones for us. On Saturday, March 14th, I traveled up to Millerville for the day with a couple of Jamie's cousins for my sister-in-law Janell's baby shower. We had a great time! There was a wonderful turnout, and I enjoyed helping with all of the fun games and activities. Janell's due date is April 30th, so we are getting close to meeting baby! We are all very excited. Jamie stayed with the girls all day which went pretty well, except I think the day got a little long. He called me about three times during the last hour of our travels, wondering when I was going to be home. :)

Sunday, March 15th, was a beautiful day, so we spent a lot of time outside. The girls discovered every mud puddle in the driveway and loved every minute of it. We just let them have fun, get dirty, and be kids! We also went for a walk along the city trail near our house. The girls loved looking at the ducks (which they call "duh"), and they were thrilled that we met a few puppies along the way. We had to strip them down to their diapers before allowing them to come back in the house because they were so muddy.

My sister Terri & her husband Aaron came to visit on Tuesday, and stayed at our house until Friday. Terri was kind enough to babysit on Thursday night so Jamie & I could go out. I guess the girls had a lot of fun, and even spent 45 minutes in the bathtub!! Sometimes it's hard to get them to come out of the tub because they love baths so much. Thursday was also a day of remembrance for us, because it was the one-year anniversary of the loss of our brother-in-law (Jamie's sister's husband) to cancer. It was very difficult for us to believe that a year had passed, but at the same time it seemed like it happened so long ago.

On Friday, we headed up to my sister Nikki's house in Alexandria. It was the first time that we tried traveling during a time that the girls don't usually nap, and boy was that a mistake!! Both girls did not want to be in the car, so we had to endure a lot of crying. But we managed to make it there in one piece, even though Jamie threatened to get a vasectomy many times along the way. We were hosting a baby shower for my sister Terri at Nikki's house on Saturday morning, so we had fun decorating and setting up once we got there on Friday. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins. The shower on Saturday went well. There was a great turnout of aunts, cousins and friends. Terri's due date is May 3rd, so we are getting close to meeting her baby also!! After the shower, we took the girls to Jamie's sister Jill's house, and she kept them overnight. Since we had the night off from parenting, we went out to eat with my whole family to celebrate my sister Rhonda's milestone birthday (I won't say which one). :) We stayed overnight at Nikki's house, and then went out to Jill's on Sunday morning to pick up the girls. We went to church with Jamie's whole family because the service was being presented in Jim's memory. Then we headed back home, and the girls slept the whole way. Yes, we left during their nap time this time!!!

Olivia & Violet's latest thrill is to drop coins into their piggy banks. They think it is the best thing in the world. Olivia has also started saying "ow" and "uh-oh." She doesn't always know the proper context to use them in, but it is pretty funny anyway. Their current favorite book is "Eight Silly Monkeys." They pat their heads when we read the line "one fell off and bumped his head." They could listen to that book over and over and over. They are also already conspiring together. They have discovered that they can sit in their baby doll's stroller and push each other around, even though their feet pretty much drag on the floor. It was hilarious to watch them figure this out, we were laughing too hard to make them stop. And they thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

Violet pushing Olivia in their doll's stroller: