Memorial Day

Everyone loves playing in the new ball tent

Grandma and Grandpa came to town for Memorial Day. Here's Grandpa reading to Ella

Helen likes to relax on the couch with a good book

Grandma, Grandpa, Alex, Helen, and Ella

Eating on the back porch at our Memorial Day cook out

Alex enjoying his food (as always)

Everyone is digging into to Daddy's yummy BBQ chicken

Helen is using her fork like a pro

Go Gators!! Helen and Ella are doing their elephant imitation - hey, whatever gets them to sit still for a picture!

Alex

Helen

Ella

Mommy, Daddy, Indi and three very wiggly babies

Alex loves sweeping the front porch

Our First Haircuts

Helen getting her first hair cut

After they got their hair cut, the girls also got little pony tails and their hair sprayed with glitter (Cecil was a little less than thrilled with the idea of his two daughters in halter tops and jean shorts with pony tails and glitter - but they were so darn cute!)

Ella plays in the bean bags after her hair cut

Helen with her stylish new 'do

Alex is looking pretty clean cut and handsome too (although this is really his second hair cut - he was as unenthusiastic about this one as he was the last one)

Swim lessons

Alex is learning to reach for the wall

Helen is trying to make it to the wall

Helen is not excited about her swim lesson

I think Ella's look says it all - "Why are you doing this to me? And don't think I will ever forget this!"

Ella reaching for the wall

Alex going for the wall

Cecil and I decided to put the kids in an infant water surival class. It does not teach them how to swim but it does teach them how to survive if they ever fall into water. The first few weeks are just about teaching them to get to the wall. Eventually they will learn how to flip onto their back to breathe, then flip back over to kick to the wall. Needless to say, the kids are not thrilled about these lessons but we know it is important for them to do them. All last week they got rained out and we are sure that it is because Ella was doing the rain dance every night in her crib. They are slowly but surely learning it. Alex is doing the best with kicking his feet and moving his arms to get to the wall. The girls are still floating face down instead of trying to get to the wall. I think Alex is going to be our little fish!

Long Time No Post

Ella loves snuggling up with her doggies - here she is with Jule

And here she is petting Indi

20 minutes to clean up at night, less than 5 minutes to destroy in the morning

One morning Ella got into my gym bag and found my goggles. I did not realize it until she came walking into me with the goggles on her head like this. I don't know that she has ever seen goggles before or how she knew that they go on your head.

Alex is not enjoying his time out

Helen is kicking back in her favorite chair with a good book and her sippy cup

Alex likes to sit on all the books

Ella is having a blast riding horsey on daddy's leg

Ella and Alex are going night night in their frog tent

Whew! I is amazing how fast time goes. I did not realize how far behind I was with postings until I downloaded pictures and realized it had been a month. So sorry! But we are all doing great. The kids are growing much too fast. We've been to the doctor for a check up and everyone has a clean bill of health. Ella is barely 20 pounds and Alex is almost 25 pounds. Helen is the tallest of the bunch but only beats out Alex by 1/2 an inch.

The kids are talking more - both with sign language and with words. Helen's newest word is "baby." They are really getting into their animal sounds too. Ella can make sounds for a lion, a sheep, an elephant, and a frog (for the frog, she cannot actually ribbit but she does jump up and down because she knows a frog jumps). Their receptive language is amazing. They seem to undertand everything we say. For example, it is really handy when I am changing a baby and I can ask another one to go get me a diaper - and they do it! Thank goodness they are still in the phase when it is fun to help mommy.

Ella is going through a kissing phase where she loves to give everyone kisses. Granted they are open mouth sloppy kisses but they are adorable and I love every one. She'll stop in the middle of whatever she is doing just to come over and give a kiss. So precious!

Their 18 month birthday is tomorrow - a year and a half old! So hard to believe. It goes by much too fast.

We are now in the construction phase instead of destruction - we can build towers with our blocks!

We went away for a couple of nights for our anniversary - April was a lifesaver and came to watch the kids for us. Here's Helen being coy with April.

Ella thinks she can wear April's shoes

Alex is combing his hair

Helen feeding herself yogurt - a big milestone!

Alex quickly figured out that if he can master the spoon thing, he gets a lot more in his mouth for each effort

Ella is still a little confused about which end of the spoon to use

Eating outside - after a fun afternoon of playing in the pool, it was easier to eat outside than get cleaned up to come inside. I did not think they would actually sit at the table but they did

Outside is a great place to eat pudding too

A weekend in Charleston

Last weekend we went to Charleston for a wedding. It was about a 4 hour drive so we headed up on Friday afternoon. Thankfully nap time fell during the drive. Here's Helen sacked out in the car. Notice she is clutching her lovey even in her sleep.

Ella is fighting hard to stay awake but she fell asleep shortly after this. When they woke up, the discovered a great new invention - DVD player in the minivan. This is the first road trip we've taken since we've turned their car seats around so they had a great time watching Baby Einstein, Barney (not Daddy's favorite), and the Little People.

On Saturday there was a big farmers market across the street from our hotel. So we headed over to check everything out. They even had bouncy houses. Since they were empty when we got there, we had one all to ourselves. Helen is not too excited about the idea of bouncing around though.

This is Ella and Alex trying on their "Bouncy Feet". Ella was fearless and crashing into everything and Alex was just glad to be next to his mother

Here we are in the back pew of the Citadel Chapel where the wedding was held for Cecil's cousin. The kids were definitely the "Pre-Game Entertainment" since we let them loose inside the chapel before the ceremony started. I don't know what was more entertaining: The kids running up and down the aisles or us chasing them.

Needless to say, the kids were all dressed up and they looked adorable. Here is a shot of Ella pouring on the charm with Uncle Jerry and somehow getting him completely wrapped around her little finger.

Ella and Uncle Jerry hanging out together before they walk down the aisle. I believe this is right before Ella starts to show everyone where her belly button is.

Alex being extremely happy in Mommy's arms.

Helen playing with her one of her favorite toys: the cup and spoon. Needless to say, she is doing pretty good now that we are letting them feed themselves with utensils during mealtimes. She can clean out a bowl of pudding before Alex and Ella can get out of their starting blocks.

Ella trying to talk Cecil into letting her go so she can go and investigate whats happening in the front of the Church during the ceremony. Looks like Daddy is on the little finger now.

The kids did good on the night of the ceremony and stayed up until 8:00pm. Now they are getting ready for bedtime. Cecil went to the reception and I stayed with the kids. I still got cake and dinner though.

Helen and Alex on Cecil's birthday. We went to a fancy restaurant called "High Cotton" located along Battery Park for a Birthday Brunch. The restaurant was kid friendly and the kids did fine although they were still tired. Luckily, they slept on the way home.