Monday, September 29, 2008

Trip to the Library

Earlier this month Hyrum asked me one day if we could go to the library and get some books. much convincing since I myself am a lover of books and hope to instill a love for learning in my children.

Our trip to the library wasn't our first one. The kids did pretty well. Hyrum was so cute, he wanted to make sure that not only he got some books, but that Ben and Emmy got some too. Hyrum also behaves really well in the library. He walks, whispers and doesn't touch the beautiful statues they have in the library (any more). He loves getting a big pile of books and sit down at the little table to read them.

I kept Ben and Emmy in their stroller. They are content for awhile to look at the new books we plan on checking out, but after awhile they would rather get out and explore the other books on the shelves. Hyrum and I have to pick our selection of books quickly. As we left the library, I took some pictures.
Last Friday, we took our books back to the library to get some new one. Ben was just devastated when we were putting the books down the shoot to return them. He was soon satisfied when I found him a cute board book on trains. Emily loves books with babies in them or animals. Hyrum and I found some fun Halloween books we can't wait to read. Also, there is this really cute book that I feel in love with during my children's literature class in college. The book is called Tops and Bottoms. Hyrum and I chuckled through the whole book. I think most of the time he was chuckling because I was.

The kids once again did really well at the library. The only time when they put up a fuss is when they wanted a new book to look at or we had to hand their books to the librarian to checkout.

As we were leaving, Hyrum wanted to get his picture taken again, but I didn't have my camera. I am so happy that we have a library close by, with good books for my children and I to enjoy!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

A post for Papa

I just wanted to take a moment and wish a Happy Birthday to my dad! He said he didn't want anything for his birthday except pictures from my kids. Well, he is not only getting pictures, but a video of them singing Happy Birthday to him. Well, at least two kids are in the video. Ben wanted to play with the ball instead of sitting on the couch and singing. Emmy on the other hand is singing her heart out.


Recently we went to the zoo and all Hyrum wanted to do was go and see the snakes and turtles. I told him that Papa isn't a big fan of snakes. He wondered why his papa didn't like snakes which are some of the coolest creatures. I told him that he could call his Papa when we got home and ask him why he doesn't like snakes. Hyrum thought that it would be fun to take some pictures by the snakes to scare Papa. Hyrum also said he wanted his Papa to come to his house and go to the Zoo with him so he could show him the snakes.

We hope you had a great birthday Papa! We love you! My dad really does have other shirts. This shirt must be his favorite.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Cute Twin Tidbits!

Ben and Emily are at such a fun age. It is very interesting and amusing to see them interact together and watch what their little minds will cook up together.

Today, while the therapist was here, they dumped the cars out of the buckets and wore them as hats. Ben discovered that the bucket would make a perfect silly hat and Emmy decided that she needed to join him. They ran around in the room with their buckets on their heads laughing and giggling for a good five minutes.

After walking around with their crazy hats, I think it was Emmy who decided that the bucket was a great thing to stand on to practice balancing. Ben then decided that he must try out and work on his balancing skills. They were so proud of themselves when they could balance for awhile. After they stood on the bucket for a few minutes, they would jump off and laugh and laugh and the game would begin again. They are so silly.

These too birds would rather talk to each other then take naps. They still need naps and do eventually take one, but it isn't until they have laughed and giggled and "talked" to each other in their own little language from their cribs.

The other day, while I was doing Emmy's hair, she and Ben were carrying on a conversation in their own little language for awhile. At the end of the conversation they came to an agreement and Ben went into the master closet and shut the door. It makes you wonder what they came into agreement to. I didn't let Ben stay in the closet by himself to find out.

They really not big T.V. fans. They like Baby Einstein, Baby Signing Time and some weird Fisher Price video we got for free. They would rather play with each other. Below is a rare picture of them watching T.V. together. Earlier this week, we were getting in the car to take Hyrum to school and Emmy fell down and hurt her knee( I don't know if I have mentioned it on the blogs, but most cement here has pebbles and small rocks in it. I think it must be for the look, but it is brutal to land on). After I cleaned her wound, I put some neosporin and band aid on it. To finish, I gave her owie a kiss and gave her a love. Ben watched me do this and came up to her and gave her a big kiss on her owie.

They do worry about each other and love to give each other hugs and kisses. The first thing they do when they wake-up from sleeping is look for the other one; especially Emmy.

Just an update about their development. They were recently tested again since their birthday is coming up and they are doing great. They both are still a little behind in communication, but sometimes I wonder if that is because they have their own lingo and Hyrum understands them much better then I do and helps them communicate. Ben is a little behind in his adaptive skills which are daily living skills like feeding themselves etc. The therapist said that could be due to the fact that he is a boy and doesn't consider those things to be important. Also, Ben is a little behind in his fine motor skills. The therapist mentioned that he scored a little lower is because he doesn't or want to color as much as Emmy and hasn't worked on those skills. Lets face it, he would rather be playing with balls or cars. In every other way, they are up to date. Also, their cognitive skills are very advanced, especially Ben's. When the babies were born the doctors said to give them two years to catch-up and they have. We feel very blessed to have them make so much progress.

I feel very blessed to be a mother of these to sweet babies. Their is something unique and special about every baby, but there is something very special about twins. I love these two very much and couldn't think of my life without them.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Homecoming!

This past weekend was Brandon's school homecoming week. Once again, the school threw a great party. She really wasn't sad, she gave a huge big smile after I took the picture. I think she was trying to tease us.

Dinner was great. They had BBQ Sandwiches. The South definitely knows how to do BBQ! It was delicious.

Mommy and Emmy doing silly facesAt the party, they had a big blow-up house for the kids to jump in. Hyrum has always been a big fan of those. He was having way too much fun to stop for a picture.
Ben and Emmy were dying to get into the blow-up house. We would put them down for just a second and they would run as fast as their little legs could carry them to the jump house. At first, we weren't going to let the Ben and Emmy go in the blow-up house since there were some older children jumping in there. However, after those kids left we decided to let Ben and Emmy hop on in. They were in heaven! Yes, they did bump into people a few times, but they were having too much fun to really notice.

Also at the party they brought back the balloon man from last year. The kids thought it was so awesome to get their balloons. While we were in line Emmy got scared of the pump the man used to blow-up his balloons. Brandon had to take her somewhere else while I stayed in line with the boys to get our balloons.

Hyrum decided that he wanted a black dragon. He thought the end result was awesome!

Ben was so opposite of Emmy. He was trying so hard to wait patiently for the anticipated balloon creation. He would hold still for a few minutes and then run a few circles around the man and then wait again. I told the balloon man that Ben would love a horse and he did.

The man was nice enough to make a balloon animal for Emmy even though she didn't wait in line the whole time. The man was nice enough to oblige He made her a duck.

All three loved their animals and have since been mad and disappointed when their animals deflated or popped a few days later.After jumping around for awhile we went to check out what else they had for excitement at the party.

We met up with another student and his family at the party. Hyrum and their daughter Katie were cute together. Once they decided that they were going to joust with each other they held hands for a good five minutes.
Hyrum and I had such a great time jousting with Katie and her mom. Hyrum was laughing the whole time. The stool they have you stand on shakes so it is really hard to keep your balance.. After the kids went, Julie and I decided to have a turn. We had a blast. I was laughing so hard it was difficult to focus on jousting and trying to keep from falling off.

We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Backyard Videos!

Below are clips from the kids playing in the backyard. I am sorry that they are sideways. I took the video with our picture camera . I think the movies are sideways since I was holding the camera that way when I was taking the video. Also, I haven't figured out a way which I can rotate the video like I normally would do a picture. As a result, a sideways video.

The first video is of our princess little Emmy! The second video is of Hyrum and his favorite thing to do in our backyard. The last video is of Ben and all he is focused on is the car cup he is holding.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sugar and Spice!

What is there not to love about our little girl ? Little Miss Emmy is full of spunk, love and is all girl. She loves shoes; especially shiny ones. She will wear the boys' shoes if she can not find any of hers to wear. She prefers to wear her shiny Sunday shoes. If you leave your shoes out at our house, you can bet that Miss Emmy will be wearing them before the day is through.

During our trip to Utah this summer Grandma B. got her some high heels. Emmy loves them! She is so cute. Below are pictures of her with her shoes the first morning she got them. I think it took her a little while to get used to them, but you should see her strut her stuff with her shoes and sunglasses. She is a hoot!

Also, earlier this month, I put sponge curlers in her hair. She looked so cute with them and the result after the curlers was adorable. I decided to put her hair in curlers again for Church and take pictures. Keep in mind that those pictures were taken after sleeping on them during the night. I figured during breakfast was the best time to take pictures since she was holding still. I will admit this last time the hair didn't turn out quiet as cute as before. She loves it when I put the curlers in hair. She holds really still and I can do most of her hair before she needs a break. She calls the curlers bows. Ben thinks that he needs to try the curlers too, but since his hair cut his hair is to short to keep them in.Emmy loves to come and watch me put on my make-up. She is in heaven when I put a little blush, lip gloss and a little bit of perfume from Bath and Body on her.

Emmy loves her Cabbage Patch Doll, Sophie, she got for Christmas last year. She is such a good little mom; except when she pick her up by her hair. I will try to get some pictures of her and Sophie.

Emmy is loved by everyone in our house. She loves getting snuggles from Daddy and Mommy still. The other night she was having a rough night, so I brought her in my bed to cuddle for awhile. She was so cute, she cuddled right up next to me and wrapped her arm around me.Hyrum and her have a very special bond. The other day when I was doing Emmy's hair in the bathroom she could hear Hyrum being silly in another part of the house. Hyrum would make a funny noise and Emmy would just sit there and chuckle to herself. They love to play together. One day Hyrum spent a good half hour pushing Emmy around in the house on her lion. Also, this next picture shows she her looking bugged, but she went and sat in Hyrum's lap herself.
She loves to sing. We have this CD of children songs that we listen to in the car when we go somewhere and she just sings her heart out. She loves ABC's, I am a Child of God, and Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam. She also loves doing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Most of the time she only makes it for head, toes and nose. She also loves Ring Around the Rosies and Hide-n-Seek.She says quiet a few more words Jesus, outside, car, eat, more, please, thank you, Papa, Hyrum, Dad, Mom, and tries to call Ben Ben-e-boo. She also says shoe, baby, socks, necklace, bracelet, mine, hair, bow (can you say girl?). I know she says a lot more then I give her credit for. Most of the time I can't understand her or everyone else is talking too. She can also sign please, more, all-done, shoe, socks, eat.

Emmy still loves to wear her necklaces and bracelets and bows. I think she doesn't feel fully dressed without them. She still is always in my trash taking things out and putting things in. She is definitely nosey.

She loves to talk on the phone and listen to what everyone is saying.

Emily also loves to color. She takes her coloring business very seriously and has already added artwork to Hyrum's bed and our walls. Thank goodness for magic eraser.

She worries about everyone; especially if they are sad. She still visits people in timeout. She is very sweet to share her treats with her brothers.

She is a beautiful girl with a sweet personality and a gorgeous smile. She has a cute little chuckle and is happy most of the time. Our family is lucky to have her in our life.