Almost halfway there!

Dani is almost 20 weeks! At the doctor's visit 2 weeks ago, the doctor told Dani, "You're carrying almost 1 pound of baby right now." Yikes - that means there's another 10+ pounds of baby (hopefully) to go!!!Where is it all going to go???

I'm in Love

These two guys have my heart (and one little girl and two fetuses). I love them, lots! I love how much the little one adores the bigger one. I love how much the bigger one is obsessed with the little one. I love what a good Daddy he is. Jacob has been feeling under the weather and is even more cuddly than usual. This morning he climbed in my bed with me because I now have what they have had and he scratched my back and held my hand... I smiled and told him he is a good boy, he told me "you are a good mommy." My sweet husband has been getting up and doing a lot of what I do in the morning lately and never once complaining... he is a good husband, and a good Daddy... I am telling you, he is obsessed with our kids, they are so fun right now. (ps - notice how young Jared looks).

Interpretation needed

My kids had lost a number of toy bins over the past weeks because they hadn't been cleaning up well. Last night, I gave them back their animals. Tonight, I went into the playroom to clean up and saw all the animals gathered around an upside down alligator.I'll post what the story actually is in a couple days. In the meantime, feel free to leave your guess in the comments!

What I saw: Some sort of animal sacrifice! I was worried about my kids!

The Real Story: The alligator in the middle was actually an egg waiting to hatch, and all the other animals were waiting to see the alligator hatch. They stayed overnight waiting, and the next morning, the alligator hatched.

The Tummy

Ok, because I have had a few requests and because it is just a little bit funny, I am posting some of the belly pictures we have taken. I am so much bigger than I was last time, but I guess that means the babies are growing well. So, for a good laugh, here ya go!

10 weeks!
12 (almost 13) weeks!
14 weeks!
15 weeks!
16 weeks!

For the record, I don't wear most of these outfits out, Jared just has a habit of taking pictures as I am headed to bed.

Valentine's Day 2011

We continued our tradition of non-traditional Valentine's Day dates this year with our great friends Jim and Mel who are always up for a good time. We started our evening with dinner at a close-by Denny's to go with the theme of the evening.

After our bellies were full of Denny's we headed to "M-M-M-Monster Jam!" My first monster truck rally experience.
It was loud and hilarious and we had a great time.
We dressed for the occasion.
Thanks Jim and Mel for not being afraid to be a little silly. PS... both Mel and I did a pretty good job of squeezing our pregnant bellies into some regular clothes from the backs of our closets.

Cancun

We spent the week after Christmas in Mexico with Jared's family. We had such a great time and it was nice to be somewhere warm and soak up some sun. We were near Playa Del Carmen in a little resort. We spent a lot of time relaxing, building sand creation, eating and eating some more. Uncle Matt and Uncle Andrew were the main sand architects. Here is one of their creations.

Here is another (you could always count on Claire to be helping with the building).
Uncle Taylor was really trying to meet new people.
We visited Tulum and learned more about the Mayan ruins.

We also went to Xel Ha, but none of us got our cameras out while we were there. Jacob and Claire got really brave and actually played in the water (especially Jacob).
We found the perfect shirts to help us make our big announcement while shopping in Playa Del Carmen.

another sand creation.
Downtown Playa.

The best way to babysit kids on the beach. We all had our fair share of yummy drinks.
Yet another sand creation.
Uncle Matt.
We had a lot of delays and such on our trip, by the time we were about to board our last flight Claire was so exhausted that she fell asleep half standing. We celebrated New Years in the air (twice since we were changing time zones).

What a polite kiddo!

Jacob: "Mommy, did you make dinner?"

Dani: "Yes, Jacob."

Jacob: "Did Daddy make dinner?"

Dani: "No, Daddy didn't help tonight."

Jacob: "Why didn't Daddy help?"

Dani: "Because Mommy was done when Daddy got home."

Jacob: "Oh. Thanks for dinner Mommy!!!"

I love it!!!

Twincredible News!

Pretend King

You know those movie scenes depicting the king sitting on a big, comfortable chair, with servants fanning him and others bringing food to him? If I lived in the world of make-believe that my children were engrossed in this morning, that totally would've been me!

Claire was carrying that pitcher up and down the stairs bringing me candies. One of the great things about these candies - their wrappers were candy too, coated in sugar! She was sure to have one every time I had one... "I love candy!"

I was served my main course by Spiderman (who was Buzz Lightyear earlier). He brought me sandwiches, spaghetti, fruits, veggies ("Daddy, your carrot goes inside the hole in the celery, then you dip it in the Ranch"), and drinks, including a spicy pepper drink (?).

The whole meal began upstairs in the playroom on the rocker, and moved to the kitchen as I was preparing lunch. They probably did a dozen round trips up and down the stairs to keep me well fed! Everything was delicious!

I love this picture!

I saw Jacob leaning into the sink, with a helium balloon tied around him. I thought it looked so funny!

Christmas 2010!

After a couple busy weeks, it's finally time to give a report of our Christmas. John and Vicki came and joined us, spending their first Christmas away from home with us. We were thrilled to have them!

Before Christmas, John, kiddos and I went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. It's in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, there's pretty much nothing around it. But, the museum is awesome! It's the home of the Spruce Goose (seen behind Jacob). Kiddos and I went into a B-17 (Jacob is in the front gunner's area). It really was a cool place!

Claire and Jacob both got cameras from Santa. They were thrilled! I'm not sure how many great pictures we'll be getting from them - half of their pictures were of the floor, their forearms, the couch cushion, etc. Vicki got a kick of how excited Jacob and Claire were all day long.

Here's Grandpa John! He cooked us lots of yummy meals!
Claire got a doll from Nana. She was thrilled!

Jacob and Claire both got scooters. They've been riding them all around the front of the house. Claire was a little more timid at first, but has quickly caught on.
Claire also got princesses. She and Jacob have been playing 'shopping' many days of the week. We also often find them naked - that's because they're sleeping.
Here are the kids new Christmas pajamas!

Ugly Sweaters!

The Third Annual Ugly Sweater party was a success. We enjoyed a night of clam chowder, sausage tortellini soup, cider, numerous appetizers, and lots of sweets. We enjoyed everyone's ugly Christmas Sweaters... they were great and there was so much creativity. This year we did Sweater cookie decorating, Bling My Stocking, and Christmas Bunko! We had a lot of fun... here is a small sampling of the pictures.

Ugly Sweater Couples winner went to the Smiths who spent the entire night in a snowman hug.
Host and hostess.
Josh was trying to make the same face as his cats.
The winner of the contest this year was Carson with his not very Christmasy, but oh so complete look... he was very sparkly and tight and the hair and mustache were special for the occasion.