Veronica and Madeleine want to take over the blog!

It has been a long time since we have used this, but when I showed it to M and V recently they wanted to take over! So without further ado here are your new bloggers.

V here!  I think that this blog needs some videos so we are bringing  "video.com" to life, if you don't know what "video.com" is (because we keep it pretty quiet). It is educational videos about nature,  writing, and maths, reading, and more. Our next one will be about maths, because we have only ever made videos about nature, because of that our 2nd video is going to be about writing then reading. We will post a video as soon as we can.  I'll hand it over to M now. 😋 Bye


Hi guys M here. I would love to share my idea with you. I thought that we could make one video a week which is not educational but super funny instead 😋. You will love it, I promise.

                                yippee!

(As a poster emeritus, I can't guarantee that the new blogmasters will be more regular posters than I was, but I can tell you that they are excited right now.)

Relaxing at Watab in July

Fourth of July weekend at Lake Watab

Relaxing by the lake.

Playing in the water.

Heading back in.

Maddie taking a break from the sun.

Veronica getting things swinging.

Giving a concert (they decided that the canoe is the stage)

S'mores!

On a ride at the St Joe's festival

Pirates in the Watab Lake Boat Parade

A Couple Ditties / M&V's Favorite Songa

They love the Birthday Song... almost as much as chocolate!

And the wheels on the bus, well, you can never have too much of it...

It is a whole new ballgame

After lunch today Veronica, Madeleine and I went through our normal routine. New diapers... talking about how it was time to walk to night-night... rounding up their blankets... going to their room and then tucking them in to their cribs for naptime.

I then left and went to eat my lunch. During which I could hear a lot of chatter and playing coming from their room, which is not unusual as they like to talk to each other before they sleep.

But when I was cleaning up the kitchen after my lunch there was an unusual occurrence. Two little Chihuly* heads sauntered in to the kitchen and announced "I woke up"

Veronica and Madeleine have figured out how to climb out of their cribs!

Thankfully I was able to get them to go back into their cribs to take their naps (otherwise I may have not retained my sanity). But later tonight we got them to show us how they got out of their cribs. Enjoy the video.

As impressed as we are by the athleticism of V and M, we couldn't let this continue so while Heidi was giving the girls their bath tonight I converted their cribs to toddler beds so they can climb in and out of them at will (and more importantly... safely).

It is a whole new world, which begs a few questions:

- Will they stay in bed when they are supposed to sleep?

- Will this change the morning routine? (I suspect this should be stated "How will this...)

- How often will we find them sleeping in the same bed?

Tonight they got out of bed once and wandered around... but seem to be staying in bed after the second round of tucking them in. I am very happy that this is happening on a weekend when we are both here to establish the ground rules for the new game.

* If you are unsure why I call them Chihuly heads... it is because their hair often reminds me of the blown glass sculpture in the lobby of the MIA by Dale Chihuly... you can see an image of it here:

http://www.chihuly.com/installations/public/Art/sunburstB.html

Looking Forward to Christmas

Enjoying the first snow of the year.

Going with Mama and Papa to see "A Day in the Life of an Elf" at Macy's (Still thought of as Dayton's by many).

When we got back in the car... both V and M said "more shopping"

Not sure whether this is a good thing or not... but it was cute.

Exploring the Christmas Tree

Fun with Mama and Papa

Just a few random shots... tomorrow there will be some pictures of anticipation of Christmas.

Enjoying a meal on the new patio.

Hiding with Papa (Mama found us!)

Snacking on the kitchen floor.

St. Paul Conservatory

A fun day a the St Paul Conservatory with Mama and Theresa.

Halloween

Veronica and Madeleine had a lot of fun at Halloween. They got to get dressed up as a lion and tiger (roar). They got go to a party. They got to go trick or treating. One fun fact is that as much as they enjoyed going door to door, saying "trick or treat", and getting something in return... it wasn't until the end of the night that they knew that the things that they were collecting were candy. Needless to say, this was an exciting revelation.

In the Bathroom

The only thing that can be said here is that the bathroom may be the funnest room in the house.

(Pictures of potty training and making T.P confetti were purposely left out... but are also fun in the bathroom)

Summer Fun

There was a lot to do this summer

Eating out at the Tin Fish

Swinging by Lake Calhoun

Hiking in Wirth Park

Walking with Papa.

At the State Fair

V and M had a lot of fun seeing the animals and going on the rides at the State Fair.

Toddler Talk

Videos!

They certainly need a bath. But do they want a bath?



They like to do the Chicken Dance. Should we be taking them out to Polka Nights?




Here is why they need their baths. Did you notice that they even got food on the wall?



Does it get any better than sisterly affection?




I probably should have led with this video. You are here to see them walking aren't you?

No longer babies... not quite toddlers... Boddlers!

Madeleine and Veronica would like you to know that you should call them by their full names because they are so grown up.

They talk on the phone (or at least pretend to).



They want to sit in the big chairs for dinner.



They can eat with forks.



They like to read books ('read' does mean flip the pages and chew on the cover, right?).





They want to have a beer... on second thought, maybe they can stay Maddie and Ronica for a bit longer.

Back in March, we all went out to Tucson, Arizona for spring break. Though I have to say we were exhausted at the end of the week, it was a great trip and everyone had a good time.

Our first outing was to the Desert Museum and the Saguaro National Park where we got a good introduction to the fauna and flora of the area. Veronica enjoyed playing with the bronze Javelina while Maddie practiced standing with Grandpa.





Everyone enjoyed playing in Kid's Corner at the visitors center of Saguaro National Park.





Heidi and I enjoyed the extra eyes and hands to help with V&M so we could have some time to scurry about among the Saguaro and look at some petroglyphs.





To keep Maddie and Veronica safe Mama and Grandma were sure to keep them well lathered in sunscreen.



Ronica and Maddie enjoyed these matching little trucks. They liked riding them, pushing them from behind, and especially pushing each other around in them.





Walking in Sabino Canyon, we got creative trying to keep Maddie and Veronica out of the sun.



Maddie and Veronica seemed to enjoy their first trip with front facing car seats (and Heidi is happy that they finally fell asleep).



To beat the heat (not that we would complain as we were escaping Minnesota) Maddie and Veronica enjoyed ice at the street fair.




Another way to enjoy the heat was to swim... whether it was in an inflatable pool in the backyard:



or in the bigger pool with their parents and Grandma.







Michael and Beth came down from Tempe to enjoy some time by the pool deck (we also got out on a hike the next morning and went and looked at a Hohokam site).



Veronica and Maddie were looking for two more to play bridge at their little table.


It's a little fuzzy... but this is a moment of sisterly love at a mexican restaurant. They like showing affection by touching foreheads (with each other, their parents, anyone they like).


Veronica is enjoying taking a bath in the kitchen sink.



Now just because Heidi and I were on vacation from our jobs... Veronica and Madeleine still put in full days exploring everything and anything... from the pots and cable outlets to the cabinets in the kitchen.










As all good things must come to an end... at the end of the week we were back at the airport looking forward to heading home. Little did we know that neither of them would sleep a wink on the flight, Veronica would overflow her diaper onto Heidi's lap, and Madeleine would crawl under the seat to visit the people in the row in front of us.

A good trip I must say.