Fun at the Hydro Fair

Last weekend, we joined Vince's family in Hydro, Oklahoma for the annual "Hydro Fair," a fun little family carnival that supports the town of Hydro. Vince's family is originally from Hydro, and since his Dad recently retired and moved back there, we went on Friday and Saturday, and took Owen and Emmaline.

I know it sounds corny, but I LOVE the Hydro Fair and look forward to it every year. It's so cute and friendly, exactly what you would imagine a small town carnival to be. As Vince put it "inflation has still not touched it," as cotton candy, snow cones and ice cream are all under $1. As is MY tradition, I ate my way through it, helping myself to funnel cakes, an Indian Taco and everything mentioned above.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law and her kids were taking my kids on the kiddie rides and helping them play the carnival games while I snapped pictures (and ate). Emmaline is quite the party girl (uh oh) and did every ride the first night at least twice, shared a cotton candy with Aunt Dorinda and stayed up until 10 pm. There was no stopping her! Owen conked out that night in the stroller, but stayed up a little later the second. We decided that Emmaline, unlike her Mother, is a "ride rider." :)

Getting thisclose to a calf with Daddy and Papa.

"People, I'm not so sure about this..."

"Big money, big money, big money..."



"I can stay at this table all night!"

"This pink one feels lucky!"

"I love the nightlife...and these leis!"

What happens at the Fair, stays at the Fair.

First Plane Trip!

Owen and Emmaline have had a lot of firsts and changes lately...first birthday, first time to drop a bottle, dropped a nap and a first plane trip!

We went to visit our friends in Tulsa two weeks ago, and had so much fun! So much fun, that I kept forgetting to keep my camera on me, so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked.

The plane trip went easier than expected, we rented a cart and Vince loaded up our luggage and both car seats. He pushed the cart and I pushed the stroller through the airport, we were quite a site for a weekend trip!

Waiting for Daddy to park the car.

While on the plane, we had lots of snacks and toys to keep them busy! We stayed with our friends Debra and Chris and their twins (only three weeks older than Owen and Emmaline!) Carson and Aubrey. We also visited with our other bestest friends, Nancy and Kevin and their baby girl Julianne. We enjoyed a yummy lunch at Hideaway Pizza that Saturday to visit with more friends (again, no pictures!). Since it was such a short trip, we were unable to see everyone, but hopefully we can stay longer and see everyone the next time!

We recently dropped their second nap and have consolidated both short naps to one long nap at noon. So, we now have "morning snack time" now to distract from our old 10 am nap time. Ella especially loves it, and waits patiently for something to drop out of a sticky baby hand!

Below are pictures of play time.

Who's there?

Our goal: pull all of these bins out and dump everything on the floor!

I see the dogs' water, I'm going for it!

Watching the rain.

Owen and Emmaline at One Year

Nearly two weeks have gone by since Owen and Emmaline turned one, and we're now off of post-party bliss and back to normal.

Emmaline has now started following me (or trying her best to) all over the house and is getting into everything, I really have to keep a closer eye on her now! She loves to walk with her new push toys and walk assisted whenever she has the chance, she's our little mover!

Owen is becoming a little more interested in moving around, but continues to enjoy sitting and figuring things out. They received some wonderful simple puzzles for their birthday, and he is already placing the puzzle pieces as close as he can to it's place. Plus, he gets such a fuss and round of applause from me, it cracks him up every time!

Their 12 month appointment was last Monday, and I had to accept the dreaded task of weaning them from the bottle, yuck!! Luckily, it's been pretty easy so far, they are completely off of bottles during the day now and only have one at night. Dropping the bedtime bottle is our next obstacle, so I'm hoping it will be just as easy. Below are pictures of their first post-nap "bottle"...without the bottle. Owen still reclined, which I thought was cute.

I always look forward to their check-ups (with the exception of the horrible shots) so we can see their growth progress. I can't believe how much they've grown, it's hard to think that they were about 5 pounds each when they were born!

Owen
Weight: 21 lbs, 1 oz (25th percentile) Length: 30 1/4 inches (70th percentile) Head: 18 3/8 inches (60th percentile)

Emmaline
Weight: 19 lbs, 5 oz (25th percentile) Length: 29 inches (50th percentile) Head: 17 3/4 inches (50th percentile)

Ella. Is. Over. It.

"Hmmmm, I wonder if my Stories are on the tube."

Owen having a serious read.

Owen is giving Emmaline is ride in the Radio Flyer.

Owen and Emmaline Turn One!

We did it, we made it through our first year with Owen and Emmaline, and everyone came out of it happy and healthy. As for me, I can finally admit it, I was extrememly naive when I was pregnant with twins. Now I know what all of the "you're going to have your hands full" fuss was about. ;)

So, the party was a huge success, and everyone had a great time! Our immediate family (parents, brothers, sisters, two nieces and nephew) attended with some of our friends and their kids. In all, we had about 35 people (not counting babies) in our home. And it worked! :) There were FOUR sets of twins including ours, so that made it extra special.

Thanks to everyone who took pictures and video! The view the slideshow, click below:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AZOHLJu2ZsbI

The Morning After: Emmaline is rocking her "after party" digs from Aunt Lisa - a green and lavender polka-dot tutu outfit!

Below is a video of Daddy giving Emmaline a ride in she and Owen's Radio Flyer walker from Uncle Matt. Woo hoo! We'll post a video of Owen taking a ride this weekend. :)

One Year Ago Today...

After almost seven weeks of bed rest, I took this picture a day before my surprise delivery at 35 weeks. Insane how huge I was! I just cannot believe that tomorrow my babies are one!

Yup, outgrowing the maternity clothes. Nice. :)

First Birthday Pictures

We had Owen and Emmaline's first birthday pictures taken last Sunday, and a few are below. We used the outfits they will wear at their party on Saturday with the white background (I had them made to go with the Turtles and Tutus theme), and they just look so serious in them! We finally got a few smiles after the outfit change. :) I love them, and have already started framing them around the house, replacing their six month photos. It is so hard to look at the changes between the six month and first year pictures!

The Countdown Begins!

I cannot believe it, Owen and Emmaline will be ONE next Friday! We have been through so much together this past year, and darnit, we deserve a party! :) The party planning is under way for next weekend, and I can't wait to post the pictures!

We spent July 4th weekend in Oklahoma, and visited our families in Norman and Hydro. My sister-in-law had a party at her house the night of the Fourth, complete with an impressive fireworks show put on by the guys. :) By that time, it was waaaay past Twin Bedtime. Owen was not a fan of the fireworks noises, so we kept him inside to play. Emmaline, however, was a hoot, and would reach out her hands to "touch" the fireworks and would yell and clap, even during the super loud booms. Unfortunately, I was so busy talking and running babies around, I never took any pictures!

Emmaline started walking with assistance about a month ago, and is cruising furniture. We're going to start a few light exercises with Owen to get his motivation going. The kid just doesn't' want to bother, but will take a few steps with assistance and will use furniture to balance.

Emmaline: "Strike a pose, there's nothing to it, VOGUE, vogue, vogue..."

At around 9 1/2 months, both dropped baby food altogether (and still didn't have any teeth!), and have been eating whatever we can cut into pieces fast enough! They are also drinking out of a sippy cup, though most of the time they have more fun shaking the water all over their tray than actually drinking it! They love fruit and grilled cheese sandwiches, but I'm still trying to warm them up to green vegetables.

Teething crankiness has come off an on. Owen has one bottom tooth and two top, and Emmaline has two on the bottom and her two top are poking through. Both still like to dance and clap to music, "read" out loud and yank toys away from each other.

Way to go Owen, another satisfied customer!