Trenton's ABC's

He's getting better and better at these!  He's also recognizing letters when I point them out and telling me what they are and what sound they make.

Way to go Buddy!!!!

The Big Birthday Boy!

It's hard to believe it's already been 2 years since this little guy was born!

These were taken in the hospital the day after he was born.  

2 years later and growing like a weed!  Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! Just look at that happy face!

I decided that instead of ordering a cake this year, I'd make one from scratch, icing and all.  Wasn't sure if I could do it, but I certainly surprised myself.  I was so pleased.  It tasted amazing and matched his Hot Wheels party theme perfectly!

Trenton sat there so sweetly as we sang to him and then he blew out the candles.  I even found race car candles :)

Love this picture.  After he opened all his presents, he was saying thank you to everyone.  I kept pointing to different areas of the room and he kept repeating it.  What a cutie!

Bright-eyed Madison!  She's growing up too fast as well...

We got him a 6 lane speedway for Hot Wheels and he got other track sets that attach to it.  We've been having races every day.  I don't know who's more excited over racing cars.... the kids or Daddy!

We also got him his Britax big boy carseat/booster seat like Brooklyn has.  I don't know why we spend money on presents... they just like the boxes better anyway.  This has been their washing machine, dishwasher, house, etc.  Such imaginations!

Since he had his party early, we had to celebrate his actual birthday today.  Kurt is sick so we couldn't go out anywhere.  I made his day special at home instead.

We made sock puppets

And they put on a puppet show.

I made them happy cakes for lunch (smiley face pancakes)

We played cars

Madison had some tummy time while we watched the Cars movie.

And we made a batch of granola bars.  They love granola bars, but I don't like feeding them high fructose corn syrup which is found in the ones at the store...  They are so easy to make!  Oats, nuts, dried fruit, coconut, flax seed, handful of chocolate chips...  Yumm!

 I'd say he had a pretty good day!  Happy Birthday Trenton!  We love you!

Vocabularies

This little girl has found her voice and absolutely LOVES to use it.  She is such a sweet talker.  I could listen to her for hours.  She has the cutest little squeak and she talks as if everyone can understand her.  She loves to tell me stories and her face just lights up when she's talking.  Now only if I knew what she was saying!

She actually loves tummy time too.  The others hated it when they were small.  She thinks she's pretty cool when she can lift her head and talk directly to her animal friends on the play mat.  And she's pretty strong too.  She'll hold this for quite a while before getting tired.  

And last week she rolled over for the first time.  She was on her tummy and rolled to her back.  Way to go Madison!  She was a little startled at first, but I flipped her back and she rolled over again with a big smile.  

This silly boy has really increased his vocabulary over the past couple months.  It is so nice for him to be able to tell me what he wants/needs instead of just whining about everything while I try to figure it out!  Brooklyn was talking way more at this age, but he's finally getting the hang of it!   He's started to put small sentences together and I'm understanding most of what he's talking about these days.  He can count to 10 all by himself without skipping any numbers and he's getting better at his ABC's.  Those still need some work, but he can recognize a lot of letters I point out and gets them right about 2/3 of the time.  He gets so proud of himself when we practice and asks for a high five when he's doing good :)  He's also singing nursery rhymes all day and gets most the words right even when the songs aren't playing in the background!  

I love being able to communicate with him!

And this little chatterbox never stops!  She has an answer for everything.  She sings songs all day, some of which I don't even know (she learns them from the preschool website she uses on the computer).  She loves to read books.  I love to hear the stories she comes up with by looking at the pictures.  She's even started to sound out letters and put them together into words.  She's not too sure about that yet and struggles a bit, but she's gotten some small words like dog, cat, bird, etc.  I'm so proud of her!   She has taken on a "teacher" role with Trenton.  When he doesn't say a word correctly, she breaks it into syllables and has him repeat her.  It's so cute!   

As you can imagine, it's not very quiet around here these days.  We are having so much fun though.  I love watching them grow... sometimes it's just a little too fast for this momma.  They won't stay small for long!

Bowling

The kids got to go bowling for the first time today at a friend's birthday party.  They thought it was pretty neat.

Brooklyn had to use her strong muscles to carry the ball.

They were having a hard time getting it all the way down the lane so one of the guys that worked there brought out this cool ramp for them to use.

Trenton even got to join in on the fun.  He was having a great time!

I don't know how well they scored because they didn't actually finish a whole game.  They got side tracked with pizza and cake!  :)  It sure was a fun afternoon though!  

And I was proud of myself for making it through the day... Kurt had to work so I took 3 kids to a crazy busy public place all by myself.... And survived.  Yeay!  :)

Starving???

Does this baby look like she's starving for attention?

I think not!!!  Her brother and sister still cannot keep their hands (or kisses) off. 

She's also not starving in the food department either.  She's chunking up quite nicely.  I just want to squish her cheeks all day :)

New babies come with a lot of work, but they sure are worth it.  I am just loving her to pieces! 

Swim Time

All ready to swim at Grammy's!  They sure are cute!

Too bad swimming got cut short since a big storm came through.  We'll have to try it again soon! Trenton thought the arm floaties were pretty cool.

My twins!  I LOVE their matching swim suits :)  Brooklyn will be teaching Madison how to shake that tutu in no time!