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.

Kinda Crazy Attempts at a Grandpa's Birthday Blog Post

Hello All... we just got back from a week in Tucson with Grandpa and Grandma... it was wonderful. While down there, M & V made great strides in saying "grandpa and grandma"... hence my attempts at the following videos to celebrate Gpa's birthday, which is today.

M&V are also making high marks at "Mama"... they really crack us up however when they say "Dada"... and point to themselves! Eoin practiced saying Dada and pointing to himself so often, the girls seem to think Dada is a word used to refer to oneself!

Here goes...these videos will probably only be interesting to the die hards. You know who you are....

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).