iPhone pictures

 So I only upload my pictures from my phone every few months, so here are a few shots of what I have taken on my phone lately:

Doug changed the oil in the van for the first time (I can't remember if I blogged about that or not), anyway the o-ring wasn't on right and all the oil ran out.  I was grateful that it happened while I was picking up something from a neighbors house and not at the store or somewhere else.  We just went home and Doug came back from work and fixed it the best he could - however it started leaking a little bit a few days later and he put on a new o-ring and hopefully it is fixed now.  -messy clean-ups

 Trips to the zoo - I like having a zoo membership.  It takes about 35-40 minutes to get to the zoo, so not too bad.  The girls really enjoyed the Tropical Discovery exhibit this last time.  You can't have strollers in there, so Jenna could walk pretty well and we tried to shepherd her in the right direction.  Kaylee wasn't very independent yet, so my friend and I took turns carrying her.  She has a set of twins a year older than mine.

 Jenna and Kaylee loved the fish, they can sign it and say it - and were very excited to see them.

 two sets of twins

 On Fridays the gymnastics place has open gym where kids under 8 can play around.  This was the first time for the girls since they have started walking.  They had a lot of fun on this tramp.

 Chris liked to jump into the pit and build towers.

 Another trip to the zoo with a different friend.  This time the bear stood up and scratched his back, then came right up front, sat down, and smiled for everyone.  It was pretty entertaining, see next photo.

 Back when t-ball was going on, the last practice they had a family friendly game for fun.  The dad's had to bat on their knees and on the opposite side.

 The library brought in some big truck for all the kids to get a hands-on experience.

 It was bright!

Colorado Flood of 2013

 So Monday, September 9th, it started to rain...and it rained...and it rained.  We woke up in the middle of night Wednesday hearing the rain pound on the house and windows.  Then we woke up at 4:45 with a phone recording from the school district saying that school was canceled for Thursday due to potential flooding and bad road conditions for the buses etc.

Thursday it continued to rain and rain.  Doug came home early because it looked like the bridge that he crosses to get home was going to be closed down - which it was later.  The roads in our neighborhood were covered in water, but the drainage system work fairly well and we could watch it all run down the road to the  gutter.  Many roads in Firestone were closing down as well.

Friday school was canceled as well as it continued to rain.  We started watching the news more and heard stories of places that were seriously flooded.  Boulder and Longmont were hit hard and homes near Boulder Creek, Big Thompson River, and South Platte River were covered in water.  Doug had already planned to have Friday off of work for the ward's father and sons camping trip (which of course was canceled). We all just chilled at home and Doug helped out at ward members houses who had had some flooding in their basements.

Saturday we saw a bit of sunshine, it was good to have a break from the rain and assess the damage.  Lots of homes had flooded basements near us and lots of roads were closed, but we were just grateful that we were staying dry.

Sunday it started to rain again - hard.  I had to drive home from church with the kids because Doug stayed for a meeting.  I had the wipers on the fastest they could go and I still had a hard time seeing because it was raining so hard.  The roads all had a layer of water on them so you couldn't tell where the deeper spots were.  I was very glad to get home.  We took some precautionary measures and put rocks and some of our #10 cans on our window well covers to help seal them better to keep the rain out.  Doug also siphoned the pool of water that was growing under our deck out to the street.  He also dug out some pathways in our flowerbeds and rocks to keep the water running down to the gutter.  It was crazy how much rain had fallen, the ground was so saturated - the lawn was so squishy and had pools of water in the low spots.

Monday it still rained a bit in the afternoon, but the storm was mostly over and Tuesday we finally had a clear day.  The results of this storm were devastating.  There were some deaths and so many people lost their homes - mostly in the cities 30 minutes from us and up the canyon.  So many roads are closed because they are still under water or washed away or damaged.  The main road to Longmont Hwy 119 is still closed - a week later and it has made many peoples commutes much longer.  We had to boil our water for 5-6 days because some of the water lines had been compromised.  School was canceled until Thursday - so five school days off total.

The clean up efforts are now in full swing.  Doug is there in Longmont now helping with the ward cleaning up.  It will be a long time before things get back to normal in the area.  Crazy how much destruction can come from just too much rain.

I feel our lives are almost back to normal, we just can't go to town very easily, but we can still go to our local grocery stores and other cities.  Doug can get to work fine which is a relief and his building was safe.  So grateful that we were protected and out of the worst of it.

Doug dug out the area by the downspout making sure it was connected so it wouldn't pool by the foundation.

I didn't take too many pictures, didn't want the camera to get wet.

Tooth number 3 for Tyler

Tyler lost his third tooth on the 12th.  He was eating an apple - which seemed funny to me.  The tooth bounced out and was lost for a minute or two, but Doug finally found it in the carpet. Our kids continue to grow up!

16 month update

 Here are some pictures of the girls, I hadn't taken any for awhile so I figured I needed to document what they have been doing.  They have learned to go down the stairs now, but I still watch them.  They have both fallen down - Kaylee hit pretty hard, but I was able to catch Jenna the other day.

Jenna - She is a walker and almost a runner. She can get along pretty quickly now.  She is a good eater most of the time and signs a lot.  She can do: eat, milk, more, crackers, please, thank you, car, plane, mom, dad, banana, cookie, cheese, book, boat, wash hands, fish, book, bath and probably some other I can't think of.  Most of the time she is just copying you, but she will come up to me and sign cracker when she wants one.  She uses the sign for milk more for "give me something."  Both girls really like "The Wheels on the Bus" song right now.  They like to do the hand actions.  Jenna will start flipping her fists for when the babies go wah wah wah, and I know she wants me to sing it.

Kaylee - She is getting better at walking - she starting wanting to take a few steps around the end of August and now she can go a few feet before falling.  She can stand up on her own and take a few steps too.  She just doesn't have the drive that Jenna had to really get going- she is pretty content to crawl and her pants show it.  She had now worn a hole in her new pajamas.  She had already worn a big hole in her old pajamas and in her capris which I cut off and sewed into shorts.  But she is a cutie and is so happy and smiley.  She tries to talk more than Jenna and doesn't sign as much, but will say thank you and please.  Kaylee went through a phase where she really liked to move her tongue from side to side outside of her mouth and say ahhh at the same time.  She thought that made a cool noise.  Kaylee likes to bug Jenna more - if she is grumpy in the stroller she will slap Jenna or try to grab her arm.  They both like to take out each other's bows or flowers - so doing hair is quite a challenge.

They are both such good girls, I love it when the both come up to me when I am sitting and give me hugs so I have one on each shoulders.  They give each other hugs sometimes- which to them is putting their head by the others head and saying mmmm - we need to work on the arm part.  They blow kisses to me when I put them down for naps and bedtime.  They still cry a bit when going down, but settle down pretty quickly.  We still let them have binkies sometimes - it's just different with two when you need them to not wake the other one up.

It is fun having twins, but hard too.  It is harder for them to takes turns being held by mom, or taking turns with a toy.  I am glad they will have each other to play with (and fight with) as they get older.

Enjoy the pictures:

long hair

They love to bounce on the couch

Jenna

Tried a new hair-do, probably won't do it again for awhile.  Jenna held still well, but Kaylee was terrible

Jenna

Kaylee

Kaylee had a big bruise on her chin from falling down the stairs

Jenna tried to say cheese

First steps - Kaylee

Chocolate Chip Cookies! yum! Jenna

Kaylee wasn't as messy

My friend is letting me borrow some clothes, these dresses were cute though Kaylee's face is not :)
The flowers did not last long.

Summer Miscellaneous

 Here a few random photos of things I want to remember:

The girls like to play with shoes now and try and put them on. This is Kaylee.

Damon and I went fishing for Cub Scouts.  He had a great time, he didn't catch anything while I was there but caught two Sun Fish with the Hubers after I left when he changed his hook and bait.

 Playing in the pool in the back: Kaylee didn't like it as much!

Jenna

Kaylee

 We have had fun with water balloons.

 Sometimes I make the girls only have one nap after lunch, Kaylee didn't quite make it. She started subconsciously sucking on her sandwich when I got her out to put her down.

 The boys like Harry Potter again -new Wii game sparked their interest.  Anyway, they like to make potions.  This one has sugar, salt, chopped up green beans, and cookie crumbs.  And yes they tried it - it was supposed to make them "strong".

First Day of School

 The boys had their first day of school on August 16th. They had a back-to-school night the previous day where we dropped off all of their school supplies and met their teacher.  Damon is in third grade and has Mrs. Hamblin.  Tyler is very excited for first grade and has Mrs. Zamudio.  The teachers both seem really nice and on the ball. (as a side note, Doug was in Texas this week, so I was on my own - Monday and Tuesday were pretty rough, but we got through the rest of the week okay).

It seemed cool in the morning, so the boys wanted their jackets, but it warmed up quickly.

Of course Chris wanted his picture taken too. 

It is good to be on a schedule again and get out the door by 8:45.  I like that they start late, not so busy in the morning, but they get out late too, 3:40.  Which makes it harder to do things in the afternoon.

Good luck with the school year boys, you will do great!  I am loving just having 3 at home with no Kindergarten break in the middle, a little bit of freedom with less fighting.

LEGO display at the Longmont Museum

We hadn't been to the local museum yet and we found out that they were having a LEGO display there during the summer.  We also found out that the second Saturday of every month is free, so you can guess where we went on August 10th.  They had a lot of cool things built with LEGOS, houses, pictures, a comic book cover, and a bicycle.  The boys thought they were all neat but really enjoyed the hands-on section.  They had different areas for building: free play, one with instructions, bridge building, decorating a house, and a ramp where you could race a car you had built.  Of course they could have stayed longer than we let them, but lunch and naps were calling.

We had a picnic outside on a picnic table.  The girls have moved on from baby food so now I have to get more creative with what to pack them.  Sometimes they do ok with a sandwich, but othertimes not.  They like cheese sticks, and ham/lunchmeat, so that's what they got this day.

The bike is rolling over cars - more eco-friendly statement