Fourth of July and summer stuff

 The fourth of July was pretty hot this year.  We went to the parade in the morning and set up our shade, it helped for those sitting in the chairs, but the curb was still hot.  The parade was not that great, and most of the candy was gone - which was ok by me, but maybe next year we will pass.

After the parade we had a quick picnic then went to the booths that they had set up.  We discovered a play area with bouncy houses, a petting zoo, and pony rides.  The kids played for a bit, but we were all hot and tired so we went home for some quiet time.  We had hamburgers and ate outside then did our few fireworks in the evening.  The sparklers were a different brand and actually burned a couple of us while they were going off - we didn't light very many because of this.  The boys loved the snaps the best.  The tanks were fun, but weren't that impressive.

A few other things we have been doing this summer:

Jump City in Westminster - the boys had a lot of fun and were very sweaty.  Doug was really sore the next day - I guess it's a bit of a work out.

 The girls had a blast having some much space to crawl - they always went in opposite directions.  I swear they did this on purpose.

A walk to our nearby park for some playing catch and baseball.

 We are fixing up our backyard a bit.  We removed all the bark from the borders of the yard and now we filled it in with dirt.  It only took us 3 days to fill it all in.  Doug did most, but I did do a few loads myself.  I mostly spread the dirt out.

The boys had a lot of fun playing in it and were actually sad when it was all gone. 

 Before:  (I will have to get some after shots - we haven't planted any plants yet)

 Check out our garden - I picked 7 zucchini today!  And we ate a few peas.

 It's always fun to gang up on dad with water guns!

 Something to do, hmmm?  Fold our Star Wars paper airplanes!  They had fun throwing them and just role playing with them.

Saturday outing to the Golden Ponds.  We discovered a small dam that made a fun waterfall.  The trip ended on a sad note with Chris tripping and getting some pretty good scrapes on his palm and elbow.  

 I checked out a book called: Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day.  It was a fun recipe to try.  You mix it up and put the dough in the fridge - no kneading.  Then just round up a loaf and let it rise for 40 minutes and bake.  My first loaf was a bit tricky with the baking.  Some cornmeal spilled in the oven and made my fire alarm go off.  You also bake it with water in the oven for the steam effect.  It makes the crust really crisp and yummy.

14 month update

 Well it's been awhile since I put a blog about the girls, so here you go.  Jenna and Kaylee are now 14 months old.  I will hopefully go into the Dr. soon and see how much they weigh, I doubt they are up to 20 lbs yet, but maybe.

Food: They are eating a mix of real food and baby food.  They eat sandwiches, cheese, yogurt, applesauce, cheerios, crackers, bread, and blended up leftovers :)  They really like green beans.  They can drink by themselves with a sippy now so that is great, but they still like a bottle in the morning, after nap, and before bed.

Play: The both like to swing, Kaylee a bit more than Jenna.  Kaylee likes to kick in the tub and frequently splashes and kicks her sister. They both like it when we roll a ball to them and sing songs.  They can do the actions to "See the ball for baby."  So that is fun to watch.  

 Jenna started pulling up and standing to things the first part of June and now Kaylee is starting to a month later.  Jenna likes to be walked around and has balanced standing up for a few seconds on her own.  They both crawl super fast and bolt to the door to see if they can make it out side.  Kaylee will crawl anywhere, grass or cement and got the tops of her feet pretty sore from doing so.  Jenna is more careful and would walk Mogli style on her hands and feet to not hurt her knees.  She has however worn out the knees in her pajamas.

 We bought a bike trailer a month or so ago.  The girls do ok in it, they still slump a bit and bug each other by pulling hair etc.  The trick is to go when Chris is feeling energetic enough to ride his bike.  We have made it to the library and back twice now.

 We have done lots of picnics this summer, it was easier when the girls stayed on the blanket, but now they will go anywhere.  They really need to learn how to walk so they don't hurt their knees or wear out their clothes.

 The girls love playing with everyone's waterbottles.  I keep a bag with our water ready for park trips and t-ball practices.  They pull out all the bottles and try to drink them - I make sure they are closed or we would be doing a lot of mopping.

 I love our double stoller, it has great cup and snack holders and a great basket down below.  The girls spend a lot of time in it, so it is nice to have.  Trips to the store mean Tyler or Damon pushing the girls while I push the shopping cart.

 The girls are so much fun and I love how they are communicating now.  Jenna likes to say ma ma and Kaylee says da da.  They can parrot simple sounds pretty well - oh yeah, and mmmm.  Jenna signs milk now to ask for a drink and she signs please a lot too.  Kaylee signs thank you, more, and milk sometimes.  They can blow kisses and wave, play peek-a-boo and clap their hands and say yay!  They will say hi sometimes and give high-fives too.

I love the interaction.  I love to sit down on the floor and see both of them come crawling toward be with big smiles and have them crawl all over me for some attention and play time.  I wish I had more time to spend quality time with them.  I know I need to be reading more with them and helping them to practice walking, but I can only do some much in one day.  They are such good girls to just find toys to play with - cars and Star Wars figures a lot of the time.  We did get some Little People in our toy basket so they play with those too.

They love their brothers and Tyler loves to make funny faces at them.  Jenna will climb on Damon's stomach when he is laying down and bounce up and down on him.  The boys are good helpers and can help me carry the girls upstairs or keep them happy if I need them too.

We are so glad to have Jenna and Kaylee in our family.  We love you girls!

Utah trip #2

Thursday I got up early and went to the Logan temple, it had been awhile I'm sorry to say, so I was glad that I could go while mom watched the kids.  I stopped by Deseret Book and the DI on my way home and had a great time shopping.   I found some good things for the kids for Easter at D.B.  and some fun finds at the D.I. I love getting sunday shoes and board games there.  I found some black shoes for the girls; a dress, pants, and shoes for me; and some board games for the family.  We went home and played one called Splat.  It was missing a few things, but we made due.  The boys loved it because you get you 'splat' your bugs that you make out of play doh.  

Mom was great to watch all the kids while I was gone, thanks mom!

 Thursday afternoon was filled with a quick sudden decision to go canoeing  - I stayed home with the girls.

 Mom took Damon and Tyler to the Nibley Theatre play in the evening.  It was a busy day and Tyler was very tired by the time they got home. 

Friday we left for SLC.  We stopped by a park in Layton and met up with some more of my friends.  Cheri is my good friend from working in the bakery at Lee's and Taryn is my good friend from growing up.  It was fun to catch up and see them and their kids.  Thanks for taking our picture Damon.

 

We got to Eric and Dori's house in the afternoon - I almost got lost getting there, just took the wrong exit.  My boys love their cousin Alex.  He is getting older now and doesn't think playing with his younger cousins is very cool anymore, but they still had a good time.  They have a Star Wars game on the X box that they like to play.  

Dori handled all of my kids and hers and let me go pick up Doug from the airport and go out to dinner.   We met up with my cousin Jennifer and her new husband Shane.  It was a quick dinner since we needed to get back to help with kids and they had an appointment to look at a house, but it was good to see them and visit for a bit.  We went to a Greek place, it was good and fun to try something different than our normal chicken/steak and potatoes.  

The trick on the way home was fitting everything into the van.  I had bought stuff and then taken some of my old toys home to give to the girls and Dori gave us some of their Little People toys as well.  Doug worked some magic so we could fit everything. 

We left for home Saturday morning and made it back in Firestone around 6:00.  It took a bit longer going back - a few more stops.  The kids weren't as good - the girls were not very happy during some of the way, but we made it.  It was a fun trip and great to see so many friends and family members.  Good to be home.

Utah Trip #1

 So Doug has had some training meetings in Texas, near Dallas. For this trip I thought it would be fun to be in Utah with family while he was gone instead of at home by myself.  So Saturday June 15th we left around 9:00 and got to the Hall's around 5:00 pm.  The kids were pretty good in the car.  We watched two movies and listened to music and stories.  They also played on the iPad and Doug's phone.

The Hall's were great hosts and our kids love playing with their cousins.  Their dog Coco was a new experience for the girls, Jenna didn't mind the love kisses, but Kaylee didn't like it so much. 

 Sunday morning Doug left for Texas and I went to Church with the kids.  It was great having so much help, I didn't even have to hold one of the girls.

After lunch I drove to my mom's, she was hosting a Father's Day dinner there and we helped with that.  Here is great grandpa Datwyler:

 So Sunday through Thursday we stayed at my parents.  We of course did all the normal fun things we do there: games, legos, marbles, wagon rides, bikes, the hot tub was broken much to the dismay of my boys, but we had lots of other things to do. 

 

Tuesday we went to a splash park with a picnic then went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Petersen in the afternoon and had dinner with them.  We got to see their new house that they are building.  It will be fun to see it completed the next time we see visit.

 Wednesday I got to see some of my childhood friends at Willow Park.  It was great to see them and attempt to visit.  We mostly were all on 'mommy duty' taking care of sticky fingers, bathroom stops, and bark in sandals.  Thanks for coming everyone.

 We went through the zoo park quickly since I was getting my hair cut at Brenda's, but we did get to see a peacock strut his stuff.

Wednesday afternoon I got my hair cut (yay!)and the boys played at Karen and Evan's.  Then around 4:00 I had to wake up the girls to go over to Chad and Wendy's.  It was a busy day with all of our moving around.  Chris fell asleep on both trips to and from Mendon.  After a nice visit we had a quick dinner with Wendy in College Ward but had to leave in time to get the girls down for bed without them falling asleep on the drive out to Smithfield.  The boys are pretty good at keeping them awake in the back.   Chris was tired again, so we were thinking of different things that start with the letters of the alphabet - I think we got to the letter 'I.'

I guess I wanted to document me feeding the girls, they are still taking 3 bottles a day.  Mostly I feed them together, sometimes at night they take turns since they are sleepy and harder to feed at the same time.

 Jenna figured out going up mom's stairs pretty fast.  I don't think she managed her way down.  She hasn't gone up ours, they are pretty steep.  Kaylee didn't want to climb, content to stay where she was. 

 We could fit two pack 'n plays in the bathroom, so the girls could have their own space, nice.