Swingers

Hi All,
Okay, last post of the day! Drew and Bree received swings for their birthday from Oma and Opa. Opa came over and installed them recently. Boy do these guys love them! To see the joy in their faces as they fly through the air is truly a wonderful thing. I hope they never lose that sense of joy and excitement for the pure and simple things in life.

This Year's Maiden Voyage

Hi All,

Well we made our maiden voyage for the year on the pontoon tonight! I'm glad to report it all went well. It's funny to think back to Drew and Bree and their boat rides last year - so tiny in their life jackets, sitting and taking it all in, and taking an occasional snooze when they felt the urge. Fast forward to this year - running all over the boat and strongly resisting those pesky life jackets. It didn't take them long to get their sea legs! The good thing is, I think they're going to like the boat and the lake as much as Jim and I do. I look at myself in this picture and all I can think is I really need a shower! (I guess two 14 month olds can have that effect on their momma.) Perhaps I should've abandoned ship for a quick bath. :)

"Hmmm, what trouble can I get in here???"

"Just catching my breath before I go for another jog up and down the boat!"

Captain Drew

And Bree at the helm...

Safely ashore again!

Lil' Puddin'

Hi All,
When my brother Darren was born, my sister and I loved him to pieces, but really wanted a baby sister whose hair we could style. Since it was a few more years before Sarah came along, we "practiced" on Darren from time to time. We would get whatever bows we could in his hair and call him our "lil' puddin'".

Drew should not have had too much to worry about on this front, having a twin sister and all. But, the problem is Bree has been adamantly rejecting wearing anything in or around her hair as of late.  So, alas another "lil' puddin' " is born! I was so tired of trying to get a hair tie into Bree's hair, I turned to Drew, who seemed more than a little enthusiastic to give it a try - what a good sport he was! (Perhaps it was the novelty of it all!)

My very own lil' puddin'.

Isn't he precious?!?

Of course Bree was more than happy to assist in the removal of the hairband.

"Seriously Drew, why do you let Mom do this to you???"

And I must say, he was left with some very good '80s hair!

"Long live the '80s!"

Twinplay

Hi All,
Drew and Bree really love to play together, and their style is getting much more physical. I like to remind Drew that Bree is a little petunia, our delicate little flower that is not to be stomped on! Bree is holding her own here. But, I cut out the end when Drew got a little too physical for Bree's liking. At any rate, I love to hear their laughs in this video.

Pet "Nice" and Monkey in the Box

Hi All,
Drew and Bree are quite fascinated with our pets. In fact, they get downright excited when any of the pets will let them "pet" them. I've taken to telling them to "pet nice", with emphasis on "nice" when they are petting the cats. Being cats, they don't always appreciate enthusiastic petting. Well, based on all the times I have told them to pet nice, Bree has added the word "nice" to her vocabulary. Here is Bree telling us how she pets the cats.....

"Pet Nice!"

In other news, Drew has gotten clever with the "monkey in a box" toy. If you are wondering what a "monkey in the box" is, it's the same as a "jack in the box", only with a monkey. He has figured out he does not need to turn the crank to get the monkey to pop out. In fact, he's much less amused with that standard technique.....

Drew's "Monkey in the Box" technique



And lastly, Oma and Opa were over for a visit. We managed to get one picture of Oma and Drew during all the fun!

Land of the Lost Toys

Hi All,
Lately I feel like I spend my days chasing down toys. (And you would never know it by the looks of my house!) I don't know why I feel so compelled to do so, but every so often I need to "inventory" the toys. It must be the accountant in me. I like to have all things accounted for. And when you are dealing with toys that are hauled everywhere by two 14 month olds, you are asking for a bit of insanity.
Anyway, I mostly like to have the toys that come in sets accounted for. If the shape sorter came with ten shapes, I should still be able to account for ten shapes, right? Wrong!
I suppose the biggest challenge to keeping track of the toys is when they leave the house. You go somewhere and sometimes the main objective is to leave before a major disruption (or further disruption) takes place. Accounting for toys is not the priority. But, even when the kids are confined to the house, we lose toys. Drew loves to lift the floor vents and store toys there. (We have recently remedied this by screwing down the vents.) Both Drew and Bree love to throw toys down the stairs to an eager Riley, who loves to snack on toys.
We recently had a meltdown waiting to happen, when Bree's green Santa went missing. She had to go to bed without him for a night (thank goodness for red Santa!). Upon further investigation, we found Santa down the street, surely dropped from the stroller on the previous day's ride.
I try to remember what my aunt told me when discussing the toy situation, which was "What does it really matter, anyway?" I know this to be true, but I will still count toys and go a little crazy every time! Thank goodness for the little victories. Just this week, I found a toy (while looking for another) that had gone missing around the New Years Eve and I had written off a long time ago. Some will be found and others will remain lost forever. But, in the meantime, I'll keep counting!

14 Months

Hi All,
Well we've safely arrived at 14 months.  And the dual picture taking is not getting any easier! But the good news is Drew and Bree are happy and healthy 14 month olds. What more could we ask for? :)

Here, Drew decided it was time for the beach toys to come out. Although summer is not quite here yet, he is ready!

"Summer, come on already!"

And lastly, our unofficial weigh-in say Drew and Bree are both holding steady at 21.5 lbs. for Bree and 25.5 lbs for Drew.

Teeth, Teeth Everywhere

Hi All,
We returned from from our weekend trip to find another tooth poking through in Drew's mouth. This is # 8, and it's the lower right later incisor. I'm guessing it was pretty painless for him, as he hasn't shown any signs of discomfort. In fact, the biggest downside to Drew's teeth coming in has been some bad episodes of biting - ugh! Bree and I are his usual victims, probably because we see him the most. It's not a big deal when he bites me, although I can attest to how much it hurts. It's very upsetting to me (and her) when he bites Bree though. It's been difficult to address, because I think in his mind, he is just playing most of the time. By most of the time, I mean I've also seen him in bite mode when he and Bree are fighting over a toy. We're trying a few correctional tactics with some success.

Here are a few more pictures from this evening that were taken upon our return from Chicago...

The latest family pic

And Bree with Daddy

Road trip

Hi All,
Jim and I had an enjoyable weekend in the Chicago area. We visited the Giacomelli's to attend Connor's first communion. We also took a road trip up to Milwaukee to tour the brewery and catch the Cubs - Brewers game. The Miller brewery was quite impressive, and was highlighted with free samples at the end! Miller Park was equally impressive. I thought I dressed weather appropriate until we got there, and I realized it is a dome which was not retracted for the game. I wish I had more pictures of the weekend, but when I went to take my first picture with our new camera, it signaled "battery exhausted". (And this is the kind of battery that you can not readily buy; it must be recharged.)  Seriously?!? I was able to procure the picture below from Doug. Needless to say, Connor did great at communion and we had a good visit with the Giacomelli's.

Doug, Jim and Connor on the Miller brewery tour

Meanwhile, Drew and Bree were holding down the fort at home with Gramps and Gram, and surely having all sorts of fun. At least that's what the pictures indicate.....

Our girl on the go

The grandpa cage

Posing pretty

"Grandma, this one's for you."

Toofy Goofys

Hi All,
Drew and Bree sometimes get a case of "the goofys", and here are some pictures to prove it. :)  Their toothbrushes have been a big hit. Okay, so they mostly like to chew on them. But Drew is putting on a pretty good act here! The good news is they don't mind Jim and I brushing their teeth for them. They sometimes like to reciprocate and help us brush ours, too. If you've never had your teeth brushed by a 13 month old (or better, yet - two of them), I highly recommend it! :)

Brush your teeth

Round and round

Circle small, gums and all

Got that, everyone?!?

Dad Tickles

Hi All,
Are "Daddy Tickles" the best or what? Drew and Bree seem to think so!

Shiner

Hi All,
The twins spent some quality time with Grandpa this morning. They really enjoy books these days, so they wouldn't pass up a chance to sit on Gramp's lap and be read to!

Story time with Gramps

And Bree (accompanied by Santa) joins in......

In other news, the deck is NOT Drew's friend this week! We spent some authorized time on the deck today.  Even so, Drew managed to bump his eye on a deck chair as he climbed up into it. And lo and behold, our first shiner. He tolerated it well and only cried for a second. It wasn't severe, and I thought maybe, just maybe, no one else would even notice. But Jim got home and asked where Drew got the black eye. And here you can see him posing this evening, quite happily I might add, with his new shiner. I'm sure it's the first of many bumps and bruises. But it still makes me want to hold him close and never let go. But how long would it take before he got sick of that?!?

And, is it just me, or is Drew acquiring his dad's smile?

Toothless No More!

Hi All,
Well, it finally happened. Bree has a tooth! Today we noticed the pearly white peeking out - bottom left central incisor. While we never really doubted they were there, it's nice to see some proof!

And, on a more serious note, Drew gave me a huge scare this morning. After breakfast, I got the kids out of their high chairs and proceeded to the sink to wash off their trays. Bree was nearby and fussing a bit. So, I was watching her as I cleaned. As I finished with the trays and picked up Bree, I scanned the room for Drew, who was nowhere to be seen. But then, to my horror, I saw the sliding glass door was pushed open. (I had left it shut, but unlocked, as the animals frequently want in and out.) I very abruptly set Bree down and ran to the door to see Drew's bottom pointing downwards ready to descend the steep deck stairs. I don't think I've ever been this scared in Drew and Bree's short lifetime. I shudder to think what could have been, had I not shown up when I did. We haven't done much practice on stairs, and these were wet and steep. For whatever reason, I can't stop playing the scenario over and over in my head and imagining him tumbling to the cement landing below; it just makes me feel awful! Lesson learned. We are now officially in lock down mode around the house. Jim came home and was able to rig up a baby gate at the deck stairwell for added security.

Switching gears back to a lighter topic, we got the kids outside for a bit tonight. The warm weather made for a pleasant evening. And, based on the last story, are you surprised we set up the baby jail?!? Jim's brother and sister-in-law passed this along from their baby days, and it works great! Well, at least Jim and I think so. Not sure the little Mannings agree. :)

"Perhaps I can scale the walls..."

"Bree, don't worry, I'll find a way to spring us from this joint."

Franken-Bree and Doorman Drew

Hi All,
We have a few videos to share of the kiddo's and their early days of walking. We think their walking style resembles Frankenstein, with the stiff leg movements and all.  And I love how they propel themselves back up by lifting their bottoms first. So watching Drew and Bree in action makes for good entertainment for us these days.
Here is "Franken-Bree", proving she can walk and brush her teeth gums at the same time. That girl's got talent!



And here is Drew, showing off a little talent of his own. His latest skill is opening the door (or at least attempting to, in the event we left it unlocked). Oh boy!

Random

Hi All,
Here are a few random recent shots of us and the kiddos....

This first one I love, because Jim happened to capture one of my favorite "Bree-isms".  She enjoys being held a lot, and sometimes she will nuzzle right into you, like in the picture. It just warms my heart!

Next, this is a shot Jim took while experimenting with the camera and tripod. I can't remember what the feature is called, but we have ten consecutive shots of this pose, thanks to this feature. Ten shots and all, I don't think Drew and Bree quite got the concept that their picture was being taken by the camera / tripod duo. This is the last of the bunch, and we kind of got a smile of out Bree. Drew still looks a bit skeptical.

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Hi All,
We had a beautiful spring day! My dad was visiting, so we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the zoo. It was Drew and Bree's first trip. I'm not sure they quite knew what to make of it all, but I'm quite certain any day in the stroller is a good one.

Drew and Grandpa penguin watching

The bear "bathtub"

Monkeys at play

And me and my little monkeys

Play Ball!

Hi All,
Jim had to make sure Drew was ready for baseball season. So he has some new Tigers gear.

Here he is sporting his new warm up suit. Don't you love the bold orange pants?!?

This is Drew in his new Justin Verlander t shirt. While Bree is allowed to borrow Drew's Tigers gear, on this day she wanted us to know she is the little princess. Of course, we already knew that!

Unofficial Haircut, Part Two

Hi All,
While my mom specifically told me we could not consider this Drew's first haircut (because he wasn't in a chair, cape, or anything official). So, we'll just call it the "unofficial" cut, and it was too funny to not share. Drew was in dire need of a trim, but would have nothing to do with sitting still for even a second - not in his high chair, or anywhere for that matter! My mom had to chase him around the house and get a snip here, a snip there when he allowed for it. We went from the end table to the sliding glass door, and I think Drew was snickering the whole way. We tried this back in March, too, with similar results (one non-compliant subject). So it seems in the haircut arena, the score remains Drew 2 - Haircutting Team - 0.

To the end table we go

"Is there a problem here?"

And on to the sliding glass door.....

"I'm going to make you guys work for this!"

Haircuts aside, we did have fun the day Grandma visited. Unlike the haircut, Drew was quite pleased with the horsey leg rides........

Girlie Hair

Hi All,
Bree has been sporting a new look, courtesy of her hair accessories. We are attempting to grow out her hair, and without accessories, it's all over her face. We call this look the "Pebbles" (you know, from the Flintstones). Her dad thinks it's comical. I think it's downright cute!

"Yabba Dabba Doo!"

Jumperdrew - The Swan Song

Hi All,
The time has come for Drew to retire the jumperoo.  Drew was so fond of the jumper, that we renamed it the jumperdrew. It provided countless hours of entertainment for the twins and allowed me to get a few other things done around the house. But I suppose all good things must come to an end, and this is no exception. Drew is closing in on 26 lbs. now (and getting taller, too), which exceeds the 25 lb. weight limit. But, of course, we needed a final performance before Drew hung up his jumping shoes. And Drew, we hate to tell you, but Bree can still legally use the jumperoo!

Here is Drew jumping, back in his "prime" :



And, the last hurrah. "Goodbye jumperdrew, I'll miss you!"  :

Eggstra Fun Easter

Hi All,

We had a nice Easter celebration. We hit the road and started out at Oma and Opa's house. We had a nice dinner there and got to play with our cousins. Then, Oma brought out lots and lots of eggs filled with goodies for us! The big kids did an egg hunt outside. We also got to celebrate our cousin Carter's birthday - 7 years old! As if that wasn't enough fun, we then jumped back in the car and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had supper there and got to visit with our Auntie and Uncles. Oh, and more Easter goodies from Grandma and Grandpa! Then we were in for some real fun outside on the swing set. We both got to swing and even try out the slide. When everyone was tired pushing us on the swing, we didn't want to leave! We sure love being outside - hope the warm weather comes back soon!

Drew and Bree

"Where to start? How about with this big one?"

CPA in training?

Ready, set go!

Happy birthday Carter!

"Did someone say cake?!?"

"Enough pictures, show us the goods!"

"I just love the breeze in my hair!"

"If you push me higher, there's some Easter candy in it for you, Grandpa"

"I could go faster if Mom wasn't holding me."

"Grandma's pretty tulips - I'd like a closer look!"