Airplanes

Back when Paul and I found out we were having twins, I always had visions of 1 boy and 1 girl.  In fact, even when we were just talking about having kids, I sort of always assumed we'd have 1 of each.  A couple little mini-me's, if you will.  I didn't think too much about the future for the baby girl, figuring I'd be OK with a tomboy or a girly girl or anything in between.  But for the baby boy, I had a pretty clear picture in my head of what life would be like.  A little Paul Jr Jr playing with race cars and airplanes and acting just like his Daddy.  I don't know why, but I never really contemplated having anything but a boy and girl.  And then we found out we were having 2 girls...  What??!!??  That wasn't part of my plan...  It took most of the rest of that day to shift my focus to 100% girls.  And the more I thought about 2 girls, the more excited I got.  Two little sweethearts who would be sisters and playmates and best friends.  Oh what fun!  :)  At the same time though, Paul and I were pretty set on having just 2 children so a little piece of me was sad to think there would be no baby boy for us.  No little man for Paul to fly airplanes with.  Or to take to the Air Force museum. Or to Indy to watch the 500.  Little did I realize, the whole "boy/girl thing" just doesn't matter in our family.  Paul gets a "mini me" regardless.  The video below is proof!  These 2 girls are clearly Daddy's girls.  And that just makes my heart smile!



Airplanes from April & Paul on Vimeo.


 (Try to look past the playroom mess -  we tend to only clean up the room at the end of the weekend.)

Thinking ahead

While the weather was still quite Summer-like last week, I've been thinking ahead to Fall.  I've always loved that time of year - the cool mornings, the changing leaves, the crisp (humidity free!) air...  And now I love it even more as it brings fun activities for the girls.  Last weekend we did some apple picking at a local farm and while Amelia and Penelope weren't the best at actually picking anything off the trees, they were super cute running around eating their apples.  :D  Not to mention they LOVED my homemade applesauce.  For October, I hope to do something pumpkin/hayride/harvest related.  Then there's Halloween next month too.  This year we're doing homemade costumes (courtesy of Grandma Reinke) and if it all comes together, they will be Salt and Pepper.  Should be a sight!  :)  And of course, we can't forget their birthday!  I really cannot believe that in less than 2 months, my "babies" will be TWO!  Last year I did a lot of last minute birthday party prep.  But not this year...  I've had my eye on a particular theme for quite some time now and last weekend, when I saw the free shipping and the $20 off coupon in the mail, I decided to go ahead and get the supplies.  I got my package a couple days ago and everything is as cute as I expected.  Now I just need to find pretty birthday dresses and get a few of the basics (napkins, cups, streamers and balloons) and we are good to go.  Anyway, I thought I would share a sneak peak of the theme.  I'm pretty sure there are some people out there that do good detective work (Brooke??) who will have it figured out in no time at all.  :) 

And for those that can't see the picture that Paul posted here a few days ago, check out our Smug Mug picture site (http://www.acandpc.smugmug.com/ OR http://www.usandourkids.com/) while I work on fixing the problem in the blog.  Paul has been hard at work with our photos, trying to get Smug Mug up to date and that picture of toys being tossed over the gate is in there.  He even managed to scan in all of our Honeymoon in Hawaii pictures!  What a nice surprise that was for me! 

Until next time...  Happy Fall!!

Daddy's Superwide Lens & Impatient Babies

So earlier this summer, Daddy finally, after years of wanting one, bought a used super wide angle lens. Anxious to try it out, the babies were more than happy to give me something to shoot. Sometimes, when the mood strikes them, they focus their combined baby energy into throwing all of their toys over the gate from their play room. If you let them go long enough, it doesn't matter how big the toy, it is getting thrown. I am not sure exactly what the message is other than that they are having a good time, which is really all that matters. Here's a sample of the destruction...



One Year Ago Today - September 15, 2009

One year ago today, here are two very active 10 month olds enjoying their sippies in their high chairs. Enjoy.


09-15-10 from April & Paul on Vimeo.