Welcome, Twins!

I just wanted to post a quick pic of the newest little cuties to enter this world,

Ashley Renee & Brianna Reese!
Born 6.1 & 5.1 lbs on Oct 29th

Double the love!!!!

<3>

Oh wait, I forget this isn't facebook.....

And a post-trick-or-treating video to share

Miss Personality

They say you blink and your kids grow up before you know it. That is such a "old person" thing to say I can't believe I am even writing it! Ha. But one thing I didn't expect to wax nostalgiac on was the leaving-the-crib phase. One night MJ was in the crib, the next day she was in the bed, and that was that. I didn't even have a moment to pause and say, "this is our baby's last time in the crib." Todd brought home a toddler bed from our friend Melissa, and as soon as Madison saw the frame, she said "big girl bed" and that was it! She slept in it that night and never looked back. We left the crib in her room, just in case, but it looks like we'll be taking it down. It's moments like this that make you realize how fleeting life is!

Here are some more pictures of our crazy little miss personality. Being a drama queen, a band geek, a snow bunny, and hiding behind a tree! She is excited about Halloween and thanks to her buddy Hannah, will be going as a cat. As soon as she saw her cat costume, she proceeded to name it "Kit Kat," wore it around all night, and tucked it in on her changing table, a.k.a. Kit Kat's bed. I'm sure we will be posting pictures of trick-or-treating!

And in other news, we've had a ton of snow here, work is continuing to go well, and I have joined a book club! The book club is with my neighbor and her friends who are young and have *no kids*! So maybe these girls will keep me feeling young. They can at least hopefully get me to refrain from using phrases like "back in my day" and "blink and your kids grow up!" Right now we are reading 'The Likeness' which I am completely wrapped up in. Much to Todd's delight I have been up past midnight every night reading it by lamplight. That's when you know it's a good book!

Babies Babies Everywhere

I swear I am getting Baby Fever with all these cute babies being born left & right!

I've been meaning to wish congratulations to all the recent babies & mamas & daddies in our lives!!!

Baby Julian

Baby Leah
Baby Juno

Baby Sadie

Baby Ethan

And also to the babies-to-be (and yes that is plural)!

Then and Now

Happy Fall to everyone! We are enjoying the chillier weather and T is enjoying football season, and we've been hanging out with friends and hitting up the pumpkin patches.

In some ways I can't believe Madison is already coming up on her *2nd* Halloween and *2nd* Winter, so I thought I'd reflect here- In some ways she has changed a lot, and in some ways not at all! In fact she still looks pretty much the same to me in that snow pic!

2008

2009

2008

2009

MJ's World

La la la la, la la la la, MJ's worllllllld....... [sung to the tune of Elmo's world, for those who have experienced it... ;) ]

Our little MJ has quite a busy world these days. After I got back from Vegas, which already threw Madison for a loop, I threw her for an even bigger loop by going back to work full time - ! (for the time being). Her Grandma Kennedy was here, followed by her Nana and Pawpaw from Indiana, so she's been spoiled by visitors, but even so, that's a lot of changes for one little elf. She has started going to day care three days a week and seems to really like it (except for the actual drop-off -- Mommy needs to work on that), and is in many ways acting like a Big Girl. She is making her mind known with an amazing vocabulary and even gives commands these days: "Daddy, sit down!" She loves climbing on things and did her first amateur rock climbing up in Rocky Mountain National Park. She hasn't yet started any type of tantrum-throwing or needing time-out (knock on wood for us right now!!), but I've seen many of her little friends going through these stages in our playgroups, and I'm sure it is probably right around the corner.... But in the meantime we are enjoying our sweet one-and-a-half year old and holding on to the last bit of summer/fall before the snow sets in!

Some pics from MJ's world:

18 Months and Vegas

Madison's 18-month birthday came and went, without so much as a peep on my blog about it!

But - we couldn't let this milestone slip by in real life, so we had a party. I think there must have been about 15 babies & kids (oh yeah and grown-ups) bouncing around our house. MJ had a blast!

A few of the kiddos at the party, post-cupcakes

And here are just a few other pictures of our big girl, growing up and getting LOTS bigger in personality!

Big girl Shy

Not shy!

Uh-oh, what happened?


And - in other news - I just got back from "Club" in Las Vegas! Here is a shot on the rooftop club at the Rio, overlooking the strip. We had a fabulous time and I loved the hotel Paris. It was funny tho, tonite the 'Atlantic City' episode of Sex & the City was on, and it totally reminded me of us! I guess we're not the most saavy gamblers. Or partyers. We were mostly happy just lounging at the pool all day. But- I did manage to play craps this time! And MJ did great with Grandma and Daddy for the long weekend. Yay for girls' trips!!!

"I Like Corn" and more videos

As we were eating dinner the other night, Todd asked Madison: "Do you like corn?" and she said "I like corn" very non-chalantly as if it were the obvious answer (she was eating corn on the cob). We looked at each other like, did she just say that?! It was her first sentence! Thus, going in the baby book! While her vocab has been growing for a while now, she has really only recently started combining words into phrases, like "big truck," "all wet," "dirty hands," etc. So this was a pretty exciting moment. We'll see if there is more to come! In the meantime, here are some more random short videos I had of recent summer fun. We had a playgroup over here the other day and I wish I had taken a video of that-- just imagine Madison + 8 or so more kiddos swarming our living room and then all crammed in the baby pool at once! It was mayhem!