The Aquarium (In crappy iPhone pictures)

We made our second trip to the Aquarium on Saturday.

Connor &Chloe are really getting into fish and sharks and turtles lately so we thought it would be fun for them to see it again now that they are a little older.

They love to point out the "SHARK!" in their animal book and they almost sat through the whole Finding Nemo movie last week.

I didn't take a camera because I didn't want to take a stroller and a big bag. I wanted to walk around with the kids because I knew we would be lifting them up every 2 seconds to see something new and I didn't want anything extra. So I used my iPhone to try to get a few pictures. They are dark and grainy but oh well.

One of our favorite spots is the big fish tank that the kids can get right up to. We could tell Connor to touch the fish and he would put his hand up to the glass until a fish would swim right past him and he would jump back.

 

I told Chloe to let me take her picture in front of the turtles and she just kept inching closer and closer to me, so this is what I ended up with. At least she lets me take her picture. She looks so tired already!  And yes, we have to wear the bracelet everywhere.

 

Then we were off to see the sharks. Connor kept saying "Whoa!" and one time I told Chloe "that's cool!", so she kept saying "Cooool".

 

After checking out a few more fish, it was time for us to go. They woke up too early that morning and were already getting sleepy. Chloe didn't want to walk anymore and she insisted on me carrying her so she could lay her head down on my shoulder.

 

We picked up our cheesy family photo we had made when we first walked in and headed home.

I look orange, the kids look unimpressed with the squeaky octopus that the photographer was waving around, and David looks thrilled to be there, but I love everything about this picture.

Parallel Playing

When I talk to other twin moms, I always ask if their twins play together or just fight over toys and play on their own. It seems like Chloe and Connor don't really play together, but the play next to each other. They will be playing with their own toys but they will be sitting right next to each other and then the next time I look at them, they have moved to another spot in the room or to another toy but still next to each other. They will push their shopping carts around the house or ride their trains, and one is always following the other but still playing on their own.

Well one twin mom explained it perfectly to me. She called it parallel playing and it clicked with me as soon as she said it. Most of the time Connor and Chloe parallel play with each other. They play side by side without really playing with each other.

 

So it's very rare that I see things like this...

One of them had pushed the shopping cart full of cars and trucks up to the front of the house and dumped it all out. When I realized how quiet they were being, I found them playing TOGETHER on the floor.

They both had their tongues out too. Not sure what that was about.

 

Then Connor was showing me how an airplane flies.

I wish they were big enough to go watch the new movie Planes in the theatre. They get excited and shout "AIRPLANE!" every time the commercial for it comes on.

 

And yes, he has on mix-matched jammies because momma hadn't done laundry yet!  At least both pieces had monkeys on them!

Celebrating

I came home yesterday to the house decorated with balloons and a banner for my birthday!

My mom came over and we all went out to eat then came back to the house for some birthday cake. I ate so much yesterday that I feel like I don't have to eat for a week!

 

David took a few pictures with my phone. Connor was riding around the kitchen on his truck and wouldn't let me pick him up, so all my pictures are with Chloe, that has now become my clingy child.

That cake was probably the best cake I've ever had! It's white cake with whipped icing and has real strawberries in the middle.

31

I never blog about myself, anymore anyways, since the kids came along. This blog is about them and for them. I'm the memory keeper and I do all of this so they will have it to look back on. Kind of like an on going baby book.

At the end of last year, I turned a year's worth of blog posts into a book and I love it! It's over 200 pages and it documents every little thing that happened in their lives and our lives for their first year. I plan on doing this every year for as long as I can.

 

That being said, today is my birthday. So this is just a short little post about me for my babies.

 

This is me today, as I turn 31.

 

This morning, Chloe said "wuv you", for the first time and Connor gave me a BIG kiss bye bye as I left for work.

They are my world.

19 Months!

Connor and Chloe turned 19 months yesterday! I didn't even attempt to get a picture of them sitting together. My new strategy was to confine them in the swings! 

They are getting so big and have changed so much in just the past few weeks.

Connor has gone from being super attached to me and throwing temper tantrums every 5 minutes to playing more independently and just being a happy little boy. I think he just went through a phase where he didn't feel good for a while and was getting a lot of teeth.

He loves his "tractor" construction vehicle that says "Caterpillar Power!" every 2 seconds (this drives me crazy but it keeps him happy so I let it go).

He loves cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, and animals.

He tells us everything is "Hot!". The concrete is "Hot!" out in the sun. Dinner is "Hot!". And I even walked through the freezer section at the grocery store and he told me it was "Hot!". We're going to have to work on that one.

His crazy curls were getting out of control and I finally decided to trim them myself, just to tame them. I can't let him have a little man's hair cut just yet. I love the curls too much. He wakes up with wild hair every morning and when he gets hot the curls get tighter. I also can't believe how much his hair has lightened up this summer!

He now wraps his arms around us to give us hugs instead of just leaning his head in.

 He gives kisses, high fives, and fist and belly bumps.

He likes to "jump" and stand on his head and dance!

He loves pointing out what is on his jammies and shirts every day and especially likes if there are cars on them.

Right now he calls Chloe "CoClo".

 

I think Connor's fit throwing skills rubbed off on Chloe because she is now very into throwing one if she doesn't get her way. She does things a little differently though. Connor used to just throw his whole body on the floor and scream. She will squint her eyes up and say "No No NO!" and then go find a toy and just throw it across the room.

She is still very sweet though and gives lots of hugs and kisses and smiles.

She loves Minnie Mouse, shoes, bows, and jewelry. She is also starting to get a little more opinionated about what she wears every day.

  She likes to play dress up and feed her baby dolls. I caught her singing one of them to sleep the other day.

She has no fear and is a little monkey. She will climb on anything and jump down and she's quick so I feel like I have to always keep my eye on her. She has bruises all over her legs all the time from all of her stunts.

She repeats almost everything we say and has her own language that I'm constantly trying to figure out what she's saying because it sounds very important.

She loves to cuddle up on the couch and watch movies or cartoons.

When she sees herself in the mirror she points and says "Oey!" and she calls Connor "Cnnor".

Saying "Hi!" to Brutus.

Another trip to the Zoo

Friday was so nice and the kids' school was closed for a Staff Development day so David and I both took off work and we decided to go to the zoo.

Connor and Chloe LOVE animals. They love any book that has to do with animals. They love pointing out all of the animals and saying what noises they make and they like for you to point out the animals with them. They have really gotten more into all of this since our last trip to the zoo, so I was excited to see their reaction to all of the animals.

Showing me the elephants.

Waiting on the Sea Lion show to start.

He's not sure about the fake turtle. He kept saying "hot!" and it was. He says everything outside is hot though. I guess it's something they taught them at school...that the concrete might be hot in the sun because as soon as we get in the sun, everything is "Hot! Hot!"

Running to see the giraffes.

I think they are actually posing for a picture! I told them I wanted to get their pictures with the giraffes and this is what happened! There are no giraffes in the picture but at least I got the 2 of them together!

They did just what I thought they would. When they saw an animal they recognized, they would make the noise for that animal over and over. My favorite is the noise they make for an elephant. They raise one of their arms for the trunk and squeal really high.

Our weekend

We had a very low key weekend. Friday night, David mowed the yard while we played outside. Connor decided he wanted to ride the "tractor" with Daddy so Chloe and I watched on from the porch. Every time they would make a pass in front of us, Connor would wave to us and yell "HI!", so Chloe would run out there and wave back.

 

Saturday morning, I had a hair appointment so David took the kids to his parents' garage sale.

 They were supposed to nap when they got back home but Chloe was wired and would not lay down. So I wasn't sure how the rest of the day would go.

But we ended up getting out when Connor woke up. We tried out a new park. Some of the stuff is still a little too big for C&C, like the slides. We didn't find that out until we sent Chloe flying down one. It was a little scary! But they still had fun.

 

Then we went to our favorite, Chick-Fil-A, for dinner and then Cherry Berry for some yogurt that the kid wouldn't even try!

 

Sunday morning, David went and played golf so I decided that the kids and I would stay in our jammies.

  We played up in the playroom.

 

And watched movies.

After our nap, we went swimming for a little bit.

 

It was a pretty good low-key, busy, relaxing weekend.