Thanksgiving

Hannah stayed with us over the Thanksgiving break and it was so much fun.  Among other things, she got to read to her little brother and sister.

We went up to Alice's for Thanksgiving dinner.  I had to get a picture of the babies on Grandma's rocking pig.

 

Gathered with the family after dinner.

Friday night we had everyone over for a bonfire at our house and made baked apples over the fire.

 

Love the holidays!

Turkey Trot!

I'm just catching up a little (lot)
In preparation for the big day, the babies have been busy disguising themselves as turkeys.  Cutest turkeys ever!

We have been participating in Turkey Trots for years now with David's daughter, Dorothy, and this year was no exception.  Up bright and early Thanksgiving morning to register for the race is David, Dorothy's husband, John, and Dorothy (in the hat).

 

This year we went to a different turkey trot and they actually had a Turkey!

And the race begins.

Mid race.

Finish line.

The wierdest thing happened during the race.  I got a text from David updating me as to where on the course they were.  Then another, and another.  And I wasn't the only one he was texting during the race!  He's such a multi-tasker.  I wonder how many e-mails he answered? 

Then we went over to Dorothy's house for brunch.  The babies thought the dog crate was set up just for their entertainment.

Nope.  It was apparently for all our entertainment.  Hannah should know better than to dare her Dad to do anything.

Or Bryson.

Then we were off to David's Mom's house for a nice turkey dinner.

Slight Miscalculation...

So the babies are over 2 and it's time to start thinking about transitioning them to toddler beds, right?  They haven't tried climbing out of the cribs yet, luckily, and I don't want to wait until they can get out of their cribs and we don't have a choice but to make the switch.   So away we went.

Luckily the cribs I got on craigslist came with extra sides to turn the crib into a toddler bed; which is fantastic!  We installed them and the babies had a great time climbing in and out of each others' beds and marveling at being able to get in and out of their beds themselves.  They loved it.  

On to the bedtime routine, kisses, and good night.  It didn't take long before we heard rustling in the room.  We looked in and Austin was climbing into Kadence's bed.  Austin!  Back to bed, good night.  More rustling and giggling.  Austin again climbing from one bed to another.  After about an hour and a half, they finally settled down.  Night 2 wasn't much better.
What was I thinking?  It's a slumber party with their best friend!  After consulting google I realized how naive my expectations were.  Twin parent lesson #724: Don't even think about transitioning your twins out of their cribs until 3 years old.  If they start climbing out, it's a crib tent, separate rooms, or every bedtime is a nightmare for the next few months.  Lesson learned.  Just when I think I'm getting the hang of this twin parenting thing, they throw me a curve ball.  Luckily I hadn't taken apart their cribs and given them away, yet!
For now, Kadence is staying in her bed for the most part, so she gets the low rail.  Austin needs to stay confined, so he gets the regular crib rail.  Wish us luck!

It's not my fault!

For once.  

Dorothy (aka "Crash") has been in a fender bender and, for once, it wasn't her fault!  Don't fall off your chair in shock.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  And would you believe the person who clipped the side of Dorothy's almost brand new car just drove off?  So what did Dorothy (aka "Roadkill") do?  Chased her down, of course.  Followed her into a parking lot only to find out it was an elderly woman who had no idea she hit anything.  That's a little scary.  Everyone is fine and the repairs will be made and Dorothy (aka "Fast 'n Furious") will bask in the fact that it wasn't her fault...until next time.

'Twas the night before halloween...

And what were we doing?
Of course we were carving
Our pumpkins for viewing.

Austin got in on the action

And Kadence did for a few minutes, but only with a spoon.   (And while in her penquin pose for those of you that have seen the babies' penguin walk - hilarious!)

Then they watched Bryson masacre his pumpkin.

After some carving, then time for candles.

Austin was so excited.  Fire!

Then I was playing with the settings on my camera and the babies were fascinated by the fire in the pumpkins, and I ended up with some fantastic shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So fun spending the night carving memories, one pumpkin at a time.

Trunk-Or-Treat

Every year our church hosts a children's Trunk-or-Treat.  This year included a chili dinner, yum.

So I've been reading Halloween books to the babies so they would understand people dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating.  The church party was a great test drive for THE night.

There were carnival games inside.  Here Austin is at the fishing booth.

And this is what he got. (A glow-in-the-dark bracelet)

Kadence actually posed for me (ignore the healing mosquito bite right in the middle of her forehead).

In case you couldn't tell, they are Mr and Mrs Potato Head (Mia's idea).  The faces have velcro and can be rearranged.  Austin mostly just liked ripping them off entirely and seeing mom freak out and put them back on.  I mean really, Mr. Potato Head = cool.  Mr. Potato = boring.

 

Kadence loves all the smarties she got, while Austin sticks with the chocolatey treats.  At least in that way Kadence is like me and Austin's like David.

Fall Family Fun

 Ok, maybe raking the leaves isn't so much fun, but it can be.  Saturday we did a lot of yard clean up and prep for the pending hurricane Sandy.  Starting with getting the leaves picked up.

Of course, we had to take some breaks to use the tree swing for the last time this year.

 

 

 

The babies got a ride when Dad and Bryson were hauling the leaves away.

 

 

So much fall fun.  (Oh, and after Bryson got a day and a half off of school for the hurricane, we luckily dodged almost all the rain and wind.  Which was good, because we still have areas that haven't recovered from last year's hurricane.  Hurricane Irene hit our area hard.)