North Shore

Last weekend we all went up to the North Shore (that is the north shore of Lake Superior for the non-minnesotans) with friends Brooke, Charla, and Elizabeth for a fun in the snow weekend. Veronica and Madeleine loved the ratio of five adults to two babies because they got a lot attention (Heidi and I loved it for all the help we got watching V&M).

Notice how this plays out at dinner the first night when everyone is focused on Veronica and Madeleine except for Heidi and me (behind the camera).





Just like home, Veronica and Madeleine like to supervise all the action in the kitchen. Veronica is trying to pet Elizabeth and Charla's dog Clementine (pictured in the snow below), who was easily the highlight of the weekend for V&M. It was a symbiotic relationship as Clementine took it upon herself to make sure that any food that was dropped on the floor was cleaned up. Well... almost all of the food. Clementine was not the biggest fan of fruit, which was ironic as a lot of clementine orange slices made their way to the floor.





Charla had the magic touch in getting Maddie to sleep. No I did not mix up my daughters... look a little closer at the shirt.



While Maddie took her nap Veronica enjoyed some only child time with her parents on the shore of Lake Superior.




Heidi and I got out skiing in the woods, but when we found ourselves missing Ronica and Maddie we gave each other a forehead kiss to tide us over.




Ronica and Maddie really enjoyed sitting in the sun.






They pooped out almost as soon as we were in the car and slept the whole way home.

Cute pics (or at least I think so)

Maddie has started trying to push our buttons. Whether she is at the table or in her highchair, she has taken to trying to stand in the chair. She will sometimes listen when you tell her "Chairs are for sitting." But only for a moment. Then she will start to edge up again, watching for your reaction the whole time.



Speaking of doing things to see a reaction. Veronica thought it was the height of humor to bite me on my toe to see what I would do.


Both M and V love books and will often fight over them (they did more damage to a page of my linear algebra book than a shredder), but Maddie has particularly taken to Brown Bear ('buh buh'... not to be confused with 'book book' or 'ball ball').


One of their favorite items these days is a little jar of Mentholatum. Not sure what Maddie is trying to do, but she sure was having fun.

Being Social

Veronica and Madeleine are very social and becoming more so every day. People watching while out and about makes their day. Seeing them wave goodbye and (even more importantly) being greeted with ear-to-ear grins when we come home is heart wrenching. It seems that their social needs are becoming more important as their language develops. Clearly "buhh" means 'ball' and "buht" means book. While it is sometimes difficult to discern, knowing which they want can be the difference between a happy baby... and a less happy baby.

Here are some recent pictures of them with socializing other people.

Heidi took them out to cheer on their Grandpa Tom and his friend Wally at the City of Lakes Loppet.



M and V hosted another set of twins and were quite generous with their string cheese.


Maddie seems to have been a bit overwhelmed by the sheer chaos of babydom when Heidi's new mothers came to celebrate having survived the first year. Everyone had a lot of fun (including Maddie).