A Final Weekend in June

We enjoyed some beautiful weather over the weekend in MN and had a nice weekend with the boys. The boys are nearly six months old and are really beginning to reach for things, figure out how to pull things off the table, and play with their toys. Luke particularly will eat virtually anything you put in his mouth. We will be making our first road trip with the boys next week to visit my family in Arkansas. This will be a trial run for our second trip in late July with John's family. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and showing them how much the boys have changed recently. They seem to make so much progress each week. I am posting a few random pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

Our Newest Running Partners

In each of the places that John and I have lived, we have had the opportunity to be a part of several running and/or biking groups. In Arkansas, we met to run with my dad and several others each Saturday followed by coffee and scones downtown at the River Market. In North Carolina, we trained with a few people from work, but were primarily each others partners as we trained for our first marathons while becoming more serious about biking. In New Jersey, we found some of our closest friends in our local bike group and spent many weekends on long rides throughout New Jersey. We also did some running with a sub 3 hour marathoner and top 50 finisher at the Boston Marathon who challenged both of us.

However, none of our previous training partners compare to our newest running partners which are by far the toughest and most precious we have ever had. These guys are hard core in that they expect to keep moving at all times-absolutely no stopping! This "no stopping rule" applies even with minimal sleep, food, and drink (no exceptions). Our newest partners are somewhat fairweather runners in that they are partial to early morning runs and don't care much for any hot or cold temps. They are kind of high maintenance because they require a full stomach before leaving and won't have it any other way. They typically bring their own "music" and make us listen to it the entire way if we are not in line with their expectations for that day or if we run longer than what they wanted to do. No amount of training in our previous groups could have prepared us for our newest training partners. In the end, though, our newest training partners have smiles that make us melt and four eyes that pierce right through you. They are adapting to our running preferences and we are doing our best to adapt to theirs! I am posting some pictures of our newest training partners before our weekend long run as we get dressed, fill our bellies, and stretch our legs!

Our New Chairs

Luke and Liam wanted to show off their new chairs. They have been promoted to eating at the table in their new high chairs rather than using the bumbo chairs. They are still a little small for the chairs, but they work nicely and have plenty of room for them to grow. Luke was o.k. with the chair as long as we were continuing to feed him. He loves to play with his bib and eat any food that drops off the spoon and onto his bib. As typical of Liam, he was more interested in the tray and bright colored chair padding than he was in eating any food. Liam also enjoys holding onto the spoon and your hand while you are trying to feed both he and his brother which makes the coordination of feeding two babies quite interesting for me. Despite being introduced to green vegetables before any fruits, the boys would still prefer bananas and pears over peas and who can blame them honestly? Thankfully, they love sweet potatoes and carrots. Liam will still eat just about anything, but Luke has developed the wonderful technique of spitting out and gagging at the foods he does not care for! I am posting a couple of pics of the boys in their new chairs. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Father's Day

Liam's Father's Day shirt-"My DaaDa is #1"

Luke's Shirt-"Cool Just like Daddy"

Getting Ready for the Run with Dad

Luke and Liam in the Stroller ready to Roll

Trying out the Pool for the First Time

John enjoyed a wonderful Father's Day weekend and the boys and I had fun celebrating with him. Other than celebrating our first Father's day for John, we also had several other "firsts" over the weekend. The boys went swimming for the first time in an inflatable pool that we put on the deck. They seemed to enjoy it, but maybe not as much as the dog. At least they were not fussing and it was a good way to clean up after eating sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots! John smoked some pork for the first time on our new deck and we had a very nice dinner last night. John took me on my longest run in about a year since I became pregnant and then gave birth to the boys. On Father's Day morning, we loaded up the boys, the dog, and ourselves for an 11 mile run. I would say we were quite the sight and received many comments and looks from people along the way. The MN summers are gorgeous and the temperature was ideal with sun and crisp air. The boys were wonderful and slept a little and looked around a lot. John and I are also both thankful for our own Fathers and the joy that it is to share our boys with them. They both taught us so much growing up and we look forward to passing down that legacy to our own children. Thank you Grandpa Carrithers and Grandpa Morse!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Liam enjoying the new deck

Luke finding his pacifier

Day One...January 11, 2008

June 18, 2007 at 6 weeks and 1 day

Luke and Liam turned 5 months old on the June 11th. It is hard for John and I to believe how much has changed in a year. I am posting an ultrasound picture dated June 18th, 2007 that was our first ultrasound of twins. Baby A (Luke) is on the left and Baby B (Liam) is on the right. Our first ultrasound showing that we were pregnant was ironically performed on June 11th, 2007; however, they later found there were TWINS on the 18th (we are certain Liam was probably hiding as that would be characteristic of his little mischievous personality). We are happy for the weekend to be here and without any home renovation projects. John will be celebrating Father's Day by trying out his smoker on the deck for the first time. The boys and I also have a few gifts for him, but I am trying to keep those a secret despite all of John's attempts to guess what he is receiving.

Happy Father's Day Weekend!

John, Hannah, Luke, and Liam

New Deck and other Updates

Minnesota Twins Liam and Luke!
mmmm....Sweet Potatoes
Where did that cracker thing go???
Ahh, the deck!

The deck is finally complete! We enjoyed pizza on the deck with the boys on Saturday night and ate outside last night as well though we fought off raindrops. John is really excited to test out the grill; however, we were preoccupied with our first true home renovation project (since the boys were born) over the weekend . We vowed not to move into a house that required extensive renovations after we gutted virtually every room in our New Jersey home. This weekend, however, we extended the hardwood flooring on the main floor of our house. Previously, we had hardwoods in all rooms except the family room, which is the room where we are probably hardest on the carpet. So, we pulled up the carpet over the weekend and John installed new flooring to match the existing hardwood. I think we were both a little nervous about tackling a project or anything above and beyond our normal busy lives caring for two babies, but it went smoothly overall. John worked very hard and completed the entire project over the weekend so we are back in business again.

In addition to a home renovation project, the boys continue to explore fruits, vegetables, and cereal. They are not too keen on cereal, but love virtually any fruit or vegetable so far. Luke particularly loves bananas. They also tried a finger food cracker type thing over the weekend. We were hoping it might provide entertainment so that we could enjoy a nice dinner. It was interesting, yet messy of course. Luke found the cracker in his mouth very quickly. Liam is great with using his hands, but was not too sure what to do with the cracker.

Cheers!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

After an idea from my sister, the boy's got some new t-shirts based on the "Thing 1 and Thing 2" characters in the Dr. Seuss books. The boys love to have books read to them. Even though they are so young, their eyes are glued on you as if they understand what is going on (and maybe they do?). Either way, it is really cute to watch.

Our deck is nearing completion and we hope to be able to use it over the weekend. We are really pleased with the way it looks and how it opens up the downstairs area of our house.

The boys continue to do well with cereal and some baby food. Luke, especially, gets very excited when he knows we are about to eat. Liam is a little calmer and somewhat easier to feed. Luke gets irritated if we don't move fast enough with the spoon! We are going to move up to highchairs pretty soon. I have been using our Bumbo chairs for the time being. One thing is for sure, the mess never ends when we work on the solid foods! We often have sweet potatoes, peas, and rice cereal from head to toe or at least it seems that way to me as I try to clean everyone (including myself).

Enjoy the pictures!