Hangin' Out in Flo-Town

Here are a few pictures from our KY trip....

My parents have a HUGE deck on the back of the house and the boys were all over it on Friday after we got in town.

Here's a few pictures of my nephew Benjamin! He's 9 months younger than the boys

He was SO passed out on this baby quilt...how sweet!
Mom and Dad's air conditioning went KAPUT!! That's why the kids are in just diapers in a lot of these pictures.

Ann uses this wrap with Benjamin a lot. She wanted to try a few different positions out on the boys...





My blog readers ask for a picture of ME a lot...so here ya go! A bunch of us went to the Reds game and mom stayed home with the boys. We got home around 9 and the boys were still awake and ready to see me!

On Sunday, we took the kids to the Florence Mall to play in the indoor play area. Brandon is totally fearless! I'm going to have to keep my eyes on him!

On Sunday, we had a little cookout. Brandon was flirting BIG TIME with Bridget's friend Jen. He was laughing so hard at her and mimicking whatever she was doing. Connor was mimicking too and making a lot of us cry with laughter.

Here's Connor! He looks like an old man after his BIG dinner! They ate a cheeseburger, 1/2 avocado, about 6 brussel sprouts, milk, and Brandon ate some grilled onions on top of that. Connor started playing with his brussels, but left most of them on his belly...what a goof!

Here are some family shots! My parents with all four grandsons

Here's the same shot with the three girls added. What a nice 3 generation photo!

Gettin' Lucky...

in Kentucky??? Yep...I'm in KY! I decided to drive out here since both of my sisters are in town. I felt left out :( The boys and I packed up and headed out at 5 this morning. We pulled into my parent's driveway at 4! NOT BAD!!! They are awesome travelers. Brandon is having a hard time falling asleep, but that's normal. New place, new smells, pack n play...tend to make one of them a little uneasy. We'll be here for about a week or so. Have a great week everyone!

Memorial Day

We hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day filled with family, friends, and FOOD!

Brandon has some crazy hair, so I decided to spike it last night with some gel. He wouldn't let me take a picture of him from behind, but you get the idea of what his hair looked like!


I'm going to start getting into the habit of going outside to play right after breakfast. The weather here gets really hot in the afternoon, but my kiddos LOVE to be outside. Now that Connor is walking pretty well, I'm trying to spend more time out there. I stole my neighbor's slide for a few minutes and let the boys play with it. Brandon spent his entire morning trying to eat dirt. Yum.


Connor is saying, Mommy...I have grass stains on my shorts!


Brandon looks like a yard worker! I can picture him digging in Eric's parent's garden when we visit them later this fall. He, once again, tried to eat the dirt.
It wasn't long before they discovered the road, so I packed them up and took them on a walk. We made it home just in time for their morning nap, and I headed outside to clean up the fence line, pull weeds, weed-whack, and earn a few cuts on my hands...good times. After lunch I put a blanket over their slide to create a fort. They loved it! This was one of the things I loved to do when I was little. Bridget and I would make a fort in the basement under the stairs and pretend to run away...haha



Connor hasn't stopped playing with this slide since Friday. He has bruises up and down his arms and legs from falling off of it, climbing on it, sliding down it, etc.

Here's a little video of them playing together in Fort Danko. I must apologize for the little snort I make while I was laughing at them. If you watch, you can see Connor holding the blanket up for Brandon so he can get under it with him...so sweet. I love my boys!



Brandon stood without holding onto anything for a few seconds today and was VERY excited about it. Hopefully he'll be walking within the next couple of weeks. I'm working with him a lot more than I did with Connor. We're also working on body parts and more words. Connor says a lot of words...in his own language like doggie, bye bye, rock, bath, ball, papaya, more, mama, dada, Beine (my neighbor's dog's name). I think that's pretty good. He looks at the dogs and says "daga" I know that means doggie. Bath and ball sound a lot alike, but I can point to the ball and say, what is that, and he'll answer BA. I'll say it's time for our bath and he crawls to the bathroom and says BA. We're working on it. Brandon is making this new sound and it's really funny. It sounds like he's saying deedle deedle deedle. They're a constant work in progress.

After dinner we went for another walk with my friend Melissa and her 2 daughters. They live just a few neighborhoods over from us. It was nice to have some adult conversation. We came home and tackled some much needed baths before reading some books. Before I could let the dogs in to eat dinner, the boys were down for the count. We had another busy day, but it was a really nice one.

Guess the Danko...#5...I think

You know the drill. I think this is a super easy one!!!

Long Day = Long Post

We were out the door by 830 this morning! The boys went to Mother's Day Out, and I ran a ton of errands. Those errands included a lot of SPOILING of my boys, but they really need things to do inside the house. This is them totally passed out after I picked them up from MDO. It was a really nice day out, so I put the windows down and let them sleep in the car a little while I took my purchases inside. They stayed in the car for about 20 minutes until I woke them up.

They were in for a BIG surprise when they walked (crawled) in the door. I found one of these little club house thingys at the used store and couldn't pass it up. I've been watching craigs list for something like this, but most of them have been used outside and aren't in very good condition. Plus, they wanted the same amount that I paid for this one and it looks brand new! The lady at the consignment store said it came from a lady who ran an in home day care. It was a GREAT buy for me!!!
This look on Brandon's face is what giving them special gifts is all about. They played with this slide all day long...and I mean it...all day!

I attached Mr. Giraffe to the slide so they could slide into a tunnel...Connor loved it! Brandon is laughing in this picture...that's not a crying face!!
Connor just pushed his way by Brandon..exCUSE me brother!



The boys enjoyed PB & J and some fresh papaya for lunch. I kept saying papaya when I put more on their tray, and Connor kept getting closer and closer to saying it. He uses really convincing inflection in his voice when he talks. Even B came really close to saying it...




The OT suggested I start introducing the boys to markers, crayons, etc. Theresa gave me some of the Crayola markers for babies, and I bought them the Crayola Stampers at Wally World today. They didn't quite understand the idea, and Connor was more interested in ripping the paper off his tray, but I bet Picasso did the same thing!


This picture...which is blurry...sorry...was a stamp that Connor made ALL BY HIMSELF! GO BUDDY! It's amazing what I think is a HUGE accomplishment. Now I can add "budding artist" to that list!
You can see his little stamp mark again on this page. I should have saved the paper ( and I'm surprised I didn't) but it's long gone under dirty diapers and raw chicken wrapping :(
I think Brandon looks like a man in this picture and not a baby! :( They are growing up SO fast.
B is getting some teeth...BIG TIME! His top front teeth have broken through and the side ones are almost there! The easiest way to get a picture of their mouth is to TICKLE TICKLE TICKLE!!!

The other purchase I made today was this SPIDERMAN couch! They both loved the Disney Princess one that Katie and Angelica had, and I thought this would be something they would use. Brandon didn't waste any time sitting on it, laying on it, and standing on it. He told me he's looking for Daddy out in the backyard...
and so is Connor!

Brinks came out and added a sensor to the new sliding door today so our house is now fully secure again. The boys took a nap, and I snuck in a 45 minute snooze. Then I grilled Bettina and I some BBQ chicken and a piece of honey mustard chicken for the kids along with some squash, zucchini, and onions for dinner. Then we all headed to Kmart to return some sandals, Lowes to pick up a swatch of paint for Ryan to come and touch up some bad spots, picked up the Explorer from Ford and headed back home. The boys played so well tonight that I let them stay up an extra 20 minutes. I hope they sleep in tomorrow!!! I did 3 loads of laundry, mopped all the hard floors, and cleaned up the kitchen. I'm totally pooped today! The boys kept me on my feet all day, but I loved every minute of it! We don't have any plans tomorrow and I don't plan on going anywhere...so sleeping in would be awesome. The joggling stroller is in the back of the Explorer, so I haven't been able to get out with the boys. I'm hoping to go for a nice long run/walk tomorrow morning.

I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend, and congratulations to my cousins Lisa and Renae for graduating from high school. They are both having parties this weekend and I wish I could be there :(

Playdate Day

Hanging out on the box!



We had a play date today with another set of twin girls who are 13 months old. The father of the girls was the JAG officer that helped Eric settle some issues we had with Ford a year ago. I ran into him and the girls at Target a few weeks ago and we exchanged numbers. His wife, Alexa, called me yesterday and invited me to a swim play date! There are 3 other kids that come, and they were all born within a few months of each other. It was so nice to have some adult conversation and let the boys play with other kids their age.

Since it was a pool party, I pulled out their swim trunks and shirts! They look like surfer dudes!





Here are all the kids...Brandon, Connor, Ivette, Angelica, and Katie. The twin girls are fraternal, but I can't tell them apart at all!!!

FUN TIME IN THE POOL!!!


The other good thing about going to someone else's house is to check out their toys and see what the boys may like to play with. Brandon was totally enthralled with the Disney Princess futon couch. He sat on it with his arm over the back and chilled. All he needed was a remote control, a bowl of popcorn and a beer and he's ready to go!!!!
Connor really liked this little dinosaur. He would put the balls in the different holes and wait for them to come out!
They both really liked the kitchen set. They opened and closed all the doors, ran the blender, and removed the sink...many times!

A big thanks to Alexa for hosting a play date. It was nice to meet everyone and share stories about what our kids are doing developmentally and to share little secrets!

Goofy Kids

The boys still amaze me every time they either learn something new, or do something for the first time. I normally have my tupperware cabinet closed, but I gave in and let them play with the bowls while I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen. I don't like it when they are under my feet and throwing the bowls around, but I really needed to get the kitchen cleaned and the only way to accomplish that was to let them do something I normally don't!

Brandon wasted NO time emptying the cabinet...then he tried to sit his little booty in it!
Connor's new obsessions are the dog dishes. They are electric dog feeders...and are AWESOME! We bought these so we could leave for a day or 2 (pre-kids) and not have to board the dogs. Connor likes to push the buttons to make it dispense food at midnight...not sure how he figured that out! He's also started putting his little booty in the actual dish part. He's really big on "sitting" in or on things now.



B & C interact more and more everyday. They are almost becoming inseparable! They tend to like each other TOO much at nap time, so I had to rearrange their room. There was too much pacie stealing, blanket swiping, arm pulling, giggling, and teddy bear throwing going on when it was time for them to SLEEP. There's nothing I love more than NAP TIME so I can get some things done. I'm going to be very sad when I have to go down to 1 nap per day :( Here's what their room looks like now and then a few pics of them with bed head!




Connor is walking almost all the time now. Brandon has started doing the elephant crawl..where he crawls on his hands and feet instead of hands and knees. I bet he'll start walking in the next month or so.

Brandon likes to push the walking toy backwards
Baby squat...SO CUTE! He has mastered the art of bending over to pick up a toy and then standing back up, squatting, and going from a sitting position to standing position without pulling himself up. He'll be running before long.