Another love...

Those of you that know me, know that I have another love.

A developing love with photography.

I have absolutely no training, but I love to take and edit photos and thought I might be able to post some on my blog.

So tonight, for my blog entry, I've created a new page on my blog.  You'll find it right under the family photo at the top next to the word "Home."  It's entitled "My Photography."

These photos won't necessarily have anything to do with our family or the happenings, but just photos that I thought turned out pretty well.

The first few are from my Aunt and Uncle's backyard a few weeks ago.

Let me know what you think!

Swing away!

Our first video posted!  

Here we are at the park a few weeks ago where the twins got to swing for the very first time! 

You can see the boys found another perk of having a twin: you can go in the baby swing sooner than if you were by yourself as you wouldn't be able to quite sit-up and swing at the same time! 

(Thanks to Dache for the idea!)

Sorry about the quality of the video.  I took it on my phone.

Easter Eggstravaganza!

Whew! We had a jam-packed full o' fun Easter weekend.  

On Friday, we met a bunch of teacher friends and their kiddos at the park for a beautiful picnic (forgot my camera)

Then, later that day, we picked Aunt Shannon up at the airport. So fun to have her here for all the festivities! Most of these pictures were taken by her (unless they have her in them).

Saturday, we went to the Easter Egg Hunt at church where Seth cleaned up!

Hmmm...what's in this one?

Look at all those eggs!

Taking stock of his spoils:

Shannon takes the opportunity to snuggle a baby Ben:

Daddy thinks Seth is the sweetest of all his "Peeps"

Then, home to dye the eggs:

Seth's note to the Easter Bunny:

Dear Easter Bunny,

Happy Easter!

For my Easter basket I would like:

-Toy Story coloring book

-something little, like a dinosaur

-candy

-a chocolate bunny

-a yellow marshmallow chick

Please bring my brothers:

-baby food

-books

Love,

Seth

P.S. Have a yummy carrot!

Easter morning:

The Easter Bunny was very good to the boys this year.

Thanks Sandy, for the darling bibs.

"It's just what I always wanted!!" (Toy Story mini-coloring pages)

"A CHOCOLATE BUNNY!"

Ben in his Easter shirt, ready for church:

Parker in his Easter shirt:

That afternoon, after naps and another Easter egg hunt in the backyard, we went to G.G. and Boppa's house for a wonderful ham dinner with all the fixins'. Yummy!

Aunt Shannon reads the boys a story before she leaves. I think she really gets a kick out of holding both of the twins at the same time:

And that was our BORING Easter Weekend!

;)

"Cloth diaper update" or "the learning curve."

Hello.  Guest poster Scott here again.  I can see by the zero comments to my last post that no one has objected to my contributions so far, so here we go.

I can also see that yesterday's post advertised something about Easter Eggstravaganza.  I'm guessing that was supposed to involve the posting of some pictures.  Well, judging from the pile of dishes in the kitchen that need my attention, I'm not about to learn how to post any pictures, so we will have to have the Easter post at another time.

In the meantime, how about an awesome cloth diaper update?  Okay, suppose I were to tell you all the steps to how to change your own oil in your car.  I might even show you by pointing out some key items under your hood and showing you the equipment.  Suppose I then were to have you go ahead and change your oil some time when I wasn't around.  (For the sake of this example, assume you've never done this on your own before.)  So, it would probably be... imperfect.  It might be messy.  It might not be done "the right way."  And your disposal of the hazardous leftovers might not meet with all local regulations.

Well, the oil change is a metaphor.  You see, the oil change represents the cloth diaper change.  The car is the baby, I guess.  The "key items and equipment" are the outer diaper shell thingee, the liner, the thing that goes inside the other thing, and the thing that snaps into place (assuming you've got everything pointed in the right direction and not inside out.)  And the hazardous leftovers are the, well, I believe the correct term is "fecal matter."  (I use a different word for it when Seth isn't around.)

So, this is all a coyly-worded song-and-dance to divert blame away from myself regarding the dirty cloth diaper that may or may not have ended up in the dirty bin without first being properly, uh, swished.

Ah well.  Fecal matter happens.

Our Favorite Things at 8 Months Old!

It's hard to believe, but the twins are 8 months old today! Time flies when you're in survival mode! ;)

The boys are so much fun right now and we are really starting to get to see their personalities and differences, but here are some things that they both really love:

1. Our TOES!! We are getting really good at getting them in our mouths and it is great fun!
2. SETH! He is hilarious!
3. Ceiling fans.  I mean, come on, have you seen these things?
4. Our Jumparoo and Exersaucer.  We will literally jump until we fall asleep.

5. Being tickled by anyone
6. Jabbering "Dadadada, Mamamama, ahahahah"
7. Our seahorses (Fisher Price Soothe and Glow) which put us right to sleep
8. Peek-a-boo
9. Looking at each other
10. WIGGLING! So much so, that whomever is holding me gets quite a workout!

Tomorrow: Easter Eggstravaganza!

Things that make Scottieay happy

Hello, everybody.  Special guest Scott posting at you today.  Here we go, in no particular order....

- Spending time with any or all of the members of my family
- Superhero comics
- Playing with Seth
- Being funny
- Long naps/sleeping in
- Gaming (roleplaying, card games, board games, video games....)
- Watching TV that we both enjoy with the wife and then talking about it together
- Staying up late talking with friends
- Writing (in theory... haven't actually done this in forever)
- My favorite movies, shows, etc.  Listing these would be a whole 'nother post
- Keeping in touch with or catching up with old friends
- Listening to audio content (like podcasts or DVD commentaries) during drudge-work or commutes
- When one of my boys grows up a tiny bit more and does something I've never seen him do before
- Strawberries, pineapple, peaches, spicy food, my mom's macaroni recipe....  Oh, and a certain type of soda....

Tomorrow: The Twins!

10 Things That Make Seth Happy!

A few weeks back, I was invited to write up a list of 10 things that make me happy.

Then last week I noticed on another blog that a mom asked her kiddos and husband the same thing.

I thought it might be fun to hear what my family has to say!

I wondered if Seth would be able to understand the question and give genuine answers (not just "playing with this toy, and this toy, and this toy").

When I asked him, both Scott and I were really tickled by his answers.  I SWEAR I did NOT prompt him on these:

1. Tickling the babies (cheeky, cheeky)

2. My Cars movie

3. Playing with my trains

4. Swimming in Kimberly's pool

5. Being superheroes with daddy

6. Playing with my race cars

7. Going to Target to look at toys

8. Reading books 

9. Coloring and painting with G.G.

10. Going to the train station to look at trains with Boppa Mike and Grandpa Steve  

Tomorrow: 10 Things That Make Scottieay Happy

You're doing WHAT?

So, I know a lot of people might think we're a little bit crazy for even trying it, but Scott and I have decided to try cloth diapering on the twins and NO, this is NOT an April's fool joke.

I'd like to say it's because we've re-evaluated our carbon footprint and are finally doing our part to "go green" and while this is an added benefit, it would be mostly a lie.

Yes, I do cringe when we take out our two huge pails of diapers two or three times a week thinking of the amount of garbage we contribute on a weekly basis.

Yes, I do know that each of those diapers will take something like 500 years to decompose.

Yes, I do know that disposables have lots of chemicals in them, including chlorine, that could possibly poison my babies (although, I've never actually heard of that happening).

The main reason is cold. hard. cash.

Diapers are expensive.

We were so lucky to have two amazing diaper parties before the twins were born (thanks Georgia, Lori, and Karen, and Josh and Ruth for hosting).  Between those two parties and generous gifts from coworkers, church friends and visiting family members, we figure we must have received around 3,200 diapers.

Wanna know how long 3,200 diapers lasts a pair of twins (minus one box that are still too big)?

7 months, 1 week and 4 days
or
228 days.

That works out to approximately 14 diapers per day.

Now, granted, the babies used more diapers when they were newborns and less nowadays, but
we are still using about 10 - 12 diapers a day (depending on unexpected treats).

We sat down to do the math on how much this will cost us until the boys are potty trained and here is what we came up with:

If we potty train the boys at 32 months (2 yrs. 8 mos.) which is when Seth was potty trained, we are looking at two more years (or exactly 24 months) of diapering.

If we use 10 - 12 diapers a day, 31 days a month, for 24 months, that works out to be about 8,000 diapers.

Diapers, at Costco, cost (on sale) $0.17 apiece.

8,000 diapers at $0.17 is $1,360.

We can probably get a decent sized stash of good cloth diapers for somewhere between $300 - $500. (Right now we are trying the gDiapers with cloth inserts (bought a few) and BumGenius (borrowed from a friend)).

That's $1,000 difference!!

Hey, if it's good for the environment too, added bonus!

8,000 less diapers in the landfill has to count for something right?

Let the great adventure BEGIN!  {I'll let you know what happens!}

Splish splash

Look who's sitting up!

"We've been practicing sitting up.  

Can you tell?

It's not graceful or pretty when we fall over 

(hence the Boppies behind us), 

but we're getting pretty good at balancing. The tongues definitely help."

Ben is on the left and Parker is on the right.

Parker: "Look mom! I can even chew on my toy at the same time!"

Ben: "Whatcha doin' mommy?"

"This is GREAT!"

"Having Seth entertain us is even better!!"

"You are the funniest big brother ever!"