A Beautiful Easter Day

We celebrated Easter at our house this year, and it was such a beautiful day! The weather was warm and sunny (so different from recent years when the kids wore coats to hunt Easter eggs), and all of our children were here to celebrate! (Last year, the boys were still in the hospital on Easter, but they did get to come home two days later.) The grandparents Ross and Shoesmith were here as well. After church, we had a big lunch, and then the kids hunted eggs. Really, just the perfect day!

Happy 1st Birthday, Preston & Parker!!

The boys celebrated their 1st birthday on March 18th. Wow!! I can't believe they are already 1! The past year has flown by. It's amazing to watch the boys grow, learn, and discover new things every day. It has also been very special to see the bond between the two of them. We celebrated their birthday with a party at our house. They were such little troopers...first eating dinner, then opening presents, then eating A LOT of cake! Both boys enjoyed eating their cake, but Parker did make more of a mess...I was up very late cleaning high chairs and the kitchen floor. But it was worth it! Love you, Preston and Parker so, so much!!

First REAL Hair Cut

Preston & Parker before their hair cuts...
Preston cooperating pretty well!

Yea!! We're finished!

Parker started off pretty well...

...but he ended up on Daddy's lap!

Last Thursday, on the boys' 1st birthday, we took them to a local children's salon to get their first "official" haircuts. Boy, was that an experience! Overall, it didn't go too badly, considering they were only a year old, but I was exhausted when we left. Preston went first, and he just looked so cute sitting in the red car, wearing a tiny little cape. He actually sat pretty still for awhile, but his patience did wear out before the stylist was finished. She was a good sport; she had to assume many different positions to get that hair cut! Parker went next, and his good behavior didn't last quite as long as Preston's (maybe because he had to wait for Preston to get done...who knows?). Parker ended up sitting on the floor board of the car (instead of a regular beauty shop chair, they have a couple of cute little cars for the kids to sit in), and then he decided to start jumping up and down. I tried to hold him still, but that was a challenge, too. Finally we put him on David's lap (crying) and after a few minutes, we said it was "good enough." Poor lady, she deserved a bigger tip! :) The boys did look really cute when they were finished, and much more like "big boys!"

Happy 4th Birthday, Lauren!!

I know I'm a month late in posting this, but I am trying to get caught up. Lauren celebrated her 4th birthday on February 12th, and we had a party with her friends two weeks later at the ConocoPhillips Gymnastics Center. It was a lot of fun! She chose a "My Little Pony" theme, which is funny because we don't have many "My Little Ponies" (just the ones the girls got in some Happy Meals a few months ago), but it was cute! The kids had a lot of fun running, jumping, and falling into the "pit" (a big hole in the floor full of foam blocks). Happy birthday to my sweet, precious little Lauren!

First Hair Cut...Sort Of

Preston before...
...and Preston after!

Parker before...

...and Parker after!

Where has February gone? I didn't get many tidbits posted last month, so I'll try to do better in March! A few weeks ago I decided I was so tired of Preston and Parker's hair looking shaggy, so I got out the scissors and started snipping away. The pictures above show a "before" and "after" for each one. Although I am not a professional, I do think they looked better when I was finished than they did when I began! So mission accomplished! :) However, they do need to go to a "real" barber/stylist to get their hair evened up and cut a little straighter (that's a pretty lofty goal with a wiggly, squirmy, almost-one-year-old!). Maybe within the next couple of weeks??

Twins' First Snow

Although it has snowed a few times earlier this winter, the boys had their first encounter with it on February 1st. I bundled them up and set them on a blanket in the back yard. At first, they were kind of happy to be outside, but they weren't too excited about being all bundled up. After several pictures, their little faces started getting cold, and it was all downhill from there. When I tried to drop some snow on their hands so they could feel it, well, let's just say they weren't impressed with the cold, wet white stuff and they wanted to go INSIDE! Maybe next year they will want to build a snowman??

More Fun in the Snow

I am a couple of weeks late in posting these pictures (of course), but they were so cute I'm doing it anyway. David took the girls sledding when we had our last big snowfall, and they all had such a great time! It was the first time that the girls have gone sledding, and they had so much fun the first day that they wanted to go back again the next day. David was a great sport! We got lucky because our friend Andrea (a professional photographer) and her family also went sledding on the same days we did, and she snapped these great pictures for us.