The Gym

So....drum roll please....I have gone to the gym 3 times this week!!! YAY!!! I know I know....this is HUGE!! And let me tell you...I survived! That first time going boy...WOW....I can only express my feelings through Brian Regan...so here you go.

Fall Pictures of the Kids

Daddy's going to mainly do a picture post tonight because it's been a little while. I will leave the boys' first birthday celebration post to Mommy as she was the mastermind, conductor and party planner. These are mostly pictures of the kids doing fun stuff outside and enjoying the good fall weather that we've had. We've been soaking up all of it we can! The boys are starting to stand up and are very fast crawlers by now. The doctor has assigned them to the 3rd percentile in weight. They are healthy eaters and have no problems. As we all know, short and little are the most desirable physical qualities anyway. (For jockeys or gymnasts)
Little Bennett's first roll in the leaves. I think the kids are just enjoying being outside.

Carin's been trying to teach the boys to feed themselves-which they do very well for the most part with their hands but this was a breakthrough.

Taylor's getting prettier by the day. I love her in-between length hair that's always in her face and the curly hair that she loves her daddy to run his fingers through. She made my heart jump tonight when she came up to me and asked if I would teach her some stories about Jesus. Needless to say, we didn't make it to bed before bedtime.

Johnny's also enjoyed being outside in the yard. It's practically impossible to take them out there by yourself because they run/crawl in three different directions. Somehow Carin did it while I was at work though and captured these fun pics.

Our little/big family at Black Island Farms in Syracuse. I think this is probably as good as it gets. We can always count on Taylor for the consistent smile.

Taylor at Black Island Farms in their sand box made of corn kernels. Pretty fun!

Our little munchkins with attitudes. Bennett's in back. Johnny's up front pulling faces for the camera.

At Black Island farms, the kids all got to pick a pumpkin. Each tried their own method to eat it as soon as it was off the vine. The consensus was that pumpkins aren't good eatin'.

Please Join the Halloween Celebration

Carin and I have wanted to do something that would make a difference outside our little bubble world in which we live so comfortably. When we moved into our house four years ago, we started a fun tradition of making homemade donuts for Halloween and having that be our treat for trick-or-treaters. We even pulled it off 8 days after the twins were born with the help of family and friends. I know....I know...it goes against everything you try to teach your kids about not accepting homemade treats or anything unwrapped. The fact was we know most everyone that comes to our house and they know how hard it is to try and get a razor blade into a hot spudnut.... We were sick of the boys and girls that looked like they had just shaved their beards or had a boob job coming to collect their "welfare candy". We also thought it would be fun for the parents to look forward to on Halloween besides kids hopped up on pure cane sugar. It has been a success but we are going to add something new this year.

We have invited the North View Fire Department to come up to the house and "fill the boot" for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have a dear friend that I have known since childhood that suffers from the disease and we want to help in some way eradicate this nasty disease. Since we are not scientists, this is it. Plus I know the firefighters quite well...you see they visited my home quite frequently last year...a dangerous drop in blood pressure from Grandpa, a Carbon Monoxide scare from a bad water heater and me falling 10 feet off a ladder and landing on my back in the car port all within about 3 months of each other. We got acquainted quite well. Hopefully they will be able to bring up the fire truck for all the kids to see. I know there was nothing cooler than a fireman when I was a kid. We invite you to come and enjoy the evening with us with a donut and hot chocolate. We will have additional plates of donuts for sale and all the money will go to the boot.

If you are coming we ask you to RSVP so that we know how many donuts to make. Last year we did around 200 and they were gone by 7:30. Email me at chuggfamily@msn.com if you can come and for directions.

The most originally costumed family will get a full plate of donuts to take home!

PS. If you don't know us personally and you are reading this...first of all that's creepy and second of all please just send your check made payable to MDA. Thanks!

Fun Fall Days!

We got the old wagon out and pulled the kids around the yard...John was the only casualty, he fell out once.

John likes to try to take his clothes off and this is what we found after nap the other day. He thinks he's so sneaky!

They are starting to look like little boys instead of babies! I can't believe it! Look at Bennett on the left...he really looks like a big kid!

Update Time or What!

Here is an update on all the kiddos...cause it's been a while. We'll start with Miss Taylor. She started dance last week and silly Mommy forgot to take a picture at her first dance class. We'll get one next time. But she looks so dang cute in her little (and I mean little) leotard and leggings. In her class she is the youngest and by far the smallest (a whole head smaller!). But her teacher said that she is the best little listener and that she just does a great job. She is in a class with 4 and 5 year olds, and she loves it. This pic is when we went to the zoo last month. Taylor loved the gorillas the best...this is her best impression of a gorilla face.

In other news, we have entered the zone of major tantrum central! Whoever said "terrible twos" was DEAD WRONG! 3 is kicking my trash. For some reason sweet little Taylor can turn into a hysterical screamer at the drop of a hat. Don't get me wrong she can still be sweet little Taylor that obeys well most of the time, but when she's in one of her stink moods....WATCH OUT! This happened at Walmart the other day and I almost had to leave our cart and head to the car because she just wouldn't calm down. If any of you have any advice as to how survive this phase I would LOVE to hear it!

We went to Bear Lake last month with Kirk's family and had a great time. We did make it to the beach on the way home and the kids loved it. This is John crawling around in the sand. It was so funny because he was just crawling all over the place leaving this little slug like trail behind him...I wish you could see it better in the picture. He would stop every so often to chomp on a seashell...needless to say I stayed busy trying to keep them from choking to death.

John is getting ready for the world of walking. He took 2 steps by himself the other night...watch out world here he comes!

Bennett is just a funny kid. The other night at dinner he was talking "babamamababa" and blowing bubbles with his spit (one of his new favorite things to do), anyway he would say a couple things, stop, look up at the ceiling and laugh and laugh like he had just told the funniest joke. He did this probably 5 or 6 times. It was hilarious...he's going to be a little jokester I guess. We have also learned that Bennett doesn't like socks...he takes them off the first chance he gets and then snuggles them...Bennett is also the one that loves shoes...a bit of a foot fettish perhaps?