Ahhh....quiet

This post has a hodge-podge of pictures on it, so you'll have to bear with me.:) It seems like we've been on the go a lot lately. Last week and the week before Luke & Reagan had swimming lessons every evening. They had a great time and didn't even mind swimming when it was so cold those nights. Last week Luke attended Vacation Bible School at our church. He loved it! He looked forward to going every morning and it was fun to see him branch out a little more. We've also had visits with friends, trips to the park, and gotten a little bit of painting done. This week the oldest two are camping in Michigan with my parents and sister and some other family. At the moment the two sets of twins are both napping, so I thought I'd better take the opportunity to update the blog, since it's been awhile!

Drew & Lauren have been having fun on the riding toys lately.

Last Sunday evening we went to Raccoon River Park for a bike ride and play time. The kids had a great time. They're hoping we can go back and go to the beach next time.

Lucas and Reagan posing on the overlook.

All of our kiddos (minus Hillary, Drew & Lauren)

Our good friends Scott & Stephanie Paulson moved to Florida about a year and a half ago. We hadn't had a chance to see them since they moved. We were so excited when they came to visit last Sunday, along with our friends Sara & Barry We had a great time catching up. The kids played awesome together, which gave us time to relax and visit.

Sara, Stephanie & myself

We decided to let Drew & Lauren try eating corn on the cob for the first time. Lauren would only eat it from the ends and Drew kept dropping his, so I helped him out. Lauren wanted to do it herself, so I don't think she actually ate any corn off of hers.

We're growing!

1 year old Lauren is weighing in at 17.45 pounds and is 28 1/2 inches long. She has jumped up to the 5th percentile and her Dr. was very impressed with her verbal and physical abilities!

Drew continues to be the "big" brother. He still tops Lauren by 2 pounds with 19.4 pounds. He's almost ready to have his car seat turned around, but I think I'll wait a while longer so that Lauren doesn't feel bad.:) He's now in the 25th percentile for all areas and is 29 inches tall.
Below is a video of Lauren walking. She is really getting pretty good. She still used crawling as her primary means of transportation, but she is beginning to walk to more and more things on her own. I also posted a video of them playing with the ball popper. I just thought it was funny how excited they get when the toy starts. They do this every time. Lauren does quite a bit of "talking" about it also. Have a great week everybody!

A Day in the Life....x2

Drew & Lauren love hanging out by the stairs. They also drool a colossal amount of saliva during the day!

Lauren thinks she is big stuff when she sits on the stairs.:)

They are very good at making messes. At the same time, Lauren was throwing all the books out (see above) and Drew was throwing DVDs and CDs on the floor (see below)

They are both fast at climbing up the stairs and head straight for it if the gate is not up. Drew now learned how to climb under the gate, so I had to improvise and stuff pillows under there. Luke & Reagan were bragging that they had taught him that. Such helpful siblings!

Lauren was helping me fold clothes.

They have figured out how to open up the kitchen cupboards and drawers and love to throw everything out.

Ahhh...life with one year old twins. People always say that once you get past the first year things with twins get easier. I beg to differ. My twins were easy the first year because they couldn't really go anywhere and they were easy babies. As one year olds, they are lots of fun, but they are also a lot of work! They are curious about everything and getting into everything. If I pull one away, the other one usually starts in on it. They definitely keep me busy during the day. Their personalities are so funny though. They are really starting to copy things we do and become their own little people. Life with twins is fun...but boy am I tired by the end of the day!:)

We're going to the Zoo

It seems like our zoo pictures are the same every year...riding the train. We just add more kids!

This was Drew & Lauren's first time at the zoo. They seemed to enjoy themselves.

They all have gross chocolate mouths from their snack, but at least they're all looking at the camera.

Drew's ready to go on safari.:)

Feeding the goat.