Picture day

Well they turned out cute in the end but, wow, what an ordeal! I thought some indoor photo shots would be cute to do before they got too much older. I should have learned my lesson by now not to take such small children to a photo studio. It's funny how they'll be so smiley and giggling one second, but the second you put them in front of the photographer and the lights they turn stone-faced or suddenly their feet are incredibly interesting (that was Tanner.) I'm speaking mostly of Tanner and Natalie. Sydney is past that stage and absolutely delighted to pose for a camera. She was the same way as the twins when I took her to get pictures done at their age, though. Anyways, it took a long time, but we eventually got a cute one of each of them so all's well that ends well!

Our TV

Saturday night Josh and I rented Transformers, which we had not seen yet. We were right in the intense fighting seen at the end when there was a huge crash outside, the lights flickered, and our tv went blank. We assume it was lightning but it sounded like a bomb. I think for a tenth of a second I thought maybe the movie had caused it. It really was amazing timing. We still haven't found out what it was exactly. But whatever happened it fried our tv, literally. We had it checked out today and it's a complete loss. The good news is it will be partially covered by our insurance. So, new tv for us!

Scarecrow Festival

October is a month of traditions for us. We always get go to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and check out the witches at Gardner Village. We've added a new tradition this year - the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We heard this was a lot of fun from my cousin Shannon. It was a blast! Sydney got a pony ride, a train ride, and all the jumping she could handle. They had over a dozen of those huge blow-up bouncy pads and slides all lined up on one end of the festival. And I must say, she is quite the dare-devil. I know I would have been scared to go down some of those slides but she had no fear. I think kids must be made of rubber. Some of them were bouncing all over the place on the way down. I'm just grateful Sydney slid down gracefully. Tanner and Natalie also had a good time. They love to get out and see new people and places. It was well worth the few bucks to get in!

Double the Cuteness

Well there are many things about having twins that are hard. But there is something extra cute about having two babies together and how they interact with eachother. Feeding times are especially cute. We try to have them always eat at the same time, whether it's nursing or baby food. I nurse them at the same time. I often feel like one of those mama pigs that just lays there (I sit though) and the little piglets gather around and find their spot. Maybe this is because my babies snort when they get worked up. Anyways, lately they hold hands while they're nursing. It's so sweet! I'd take a picture but, you know, not really appropriate. They are also very cute when we feed them baby food. For some reason I have no problem letting them share binkies and bottles, but when I feed them solids they have to have separate spoons. They look so cute sitting in their bumbos next to each other. As I've mentioned before, Tanner seems to be willing to eat at all times. So if he's laying next to Natalie and her hand or head gets near his mouth, he will try his hardest to eat her. She never seems to mind. One of these pictures looks like he's giving her a kiss, but he's just trying to latch on.

Explaining Why

We have been trying to teach our 3-year-old Sydney what the word "why" means. When we ask her "Why didn't you go potty in the potty seat?" or "Why did you fill up the toilet with baby wipes?" She just gives us this blank stare. Sometimes she answers the question like we're asking her where she did things. We've tried to get her to fill in the blank -- "I did this because..." I guess this is one of those things that they just have to catch on to naturally. Defining the word why just doesn't work too well. I don't even know how to do it without using bigger words that she also doesn't know. I'm sure once she figures it out she'll be asking me why all day long. I'd like to learn her reasoning on some of the random things she does though.