Happy Halloween

I know these are old, but this has to be my favorite Halloween up until this year.

From 2005, enjoy:

Halloween Comes Early

Last night, we decided we couldn't wait even one more day to see the twins in their costumes. Sarah got them each a witch outfit, one white and one black. They're not supposed to be good or evil, just CUTE! :-) Here are a few pictures from last night.

More Words

As of this morning, Sherri started teaching them to wag their fingers and say uh-uh (as in no-no) when they do something they shouldn't. Emily has the hang of it, big time!

Robots and Autism

This is something interesting I stumbled upon while listening to a podcast about parenting in the digital age called Jumping Monkeys. They mentioned something on show 21 about robots being used to help autistic children. This one is called Keepon, and he specializes in relating to very young children. Apparently the researchers who built him decided to program a dance routine to a song called "I Turn My Camera On" by a musical group called spoon. Good for a laugh and totally clean.

More Planting and Other Updates

We planted all weekend, Sarah, Sherri, the twins, and I. Even though it is hard work, this is definitely the most excited I've ever been about plants. The girls had the most fun today, I think. They got to swing around in mama's and grandma's arms, played in the dirt, and got soaked by the hose.



Also, both girls have some molars popping through. And we're transitioning them from using signs into talking more. They vocalize a LOT, but they don't say a lot of words. So, starting yesterday, we're officially phasing out the signs and encouraging them to speak. They seem to have a good grasp of dog, Dada, Papa, Mama, and other sounds that could be words soon.

Planting Day 1

This afternoon we took some time to start planting our new backyard.

Ella's Poor Hand

Today was not good for Ella. Specifically, her left hand. She smashed it in a door TWICE before noon. Both times she was holding onto the hinge side of the door and either she or Emily pushed the door closed and it squished her hand. Fortunately, no permanent damage, but lots of tears, ice packs, holding, kissing, soothing, etc.

Grandpa Gary's Birthday

Tonight we went over to my brother-in-law's and his fiance's house, Chris and Layla. We were there to celebrate the 24th anniversary of Grandpa Gary's 40th birthday (in other words, his 64th). We had a wonderful time! Joe, Savannah, and Marilyn were all there. Layla prepared this awesome crock pot roast and baked potatoes with all the fixings. Sarah and I brought orzo pasta salad and potato salad. We had chips and dip, we had drinks, Layla bought everyone their own cake, it was great.

Joe and I spent some time trying to figure out the Rubik's Ice Cube (aka Mini Cube), which is supposed to be the easiest of the Rubik blocks to solve. It's only 2x2x2, but we couldn't work it out. We played a little Halo 2, which I did work out. :) Gary opened his cards and gifts. We gave him a digital photo frame that cycles through pictures, which you can load from a memory card or right from your own computer. Chris and Layla got him a really cool water fountain. I love the idea of having a fountain at our house, too, so we'll have to look for one sometime.

The day today was a little hectic leading up to dinner since I had a BUSY work day and we were trying to get things in order before going to the party, but boy was it a nice way to end the evening. It's great to get out with friends, which we don't do all that often, and to have a safe, kid-friendly place with other people who have young children and know how to help watch after them. Very nice time. I snapped a few photos.

Auburn Community Festival

This weekend, my Mom invited us to the Auburn Community Festival at ARD, which is really a fall celebration, with GIANT (1000+ pound) pumpkin weigh-ins and food, music, arts & crafts, etc. Unfortunately, we had car trouble in the morning and by the time we got there, my mom had left. We missed her by 2-3 minutes she said later. But we had a good time with the twins.

They had a costume contest, and it ended just as I walked up. I saw the little girl who won for her age group, she was dressed like a sugar plum fairy. She had a little white dress, hot pink wig, and a wand. She was cute, but our twins would have easily won if we'd dressed them up. We honestly didn't even know about the festival, much less the costume contest, until my mom called and told us about it. The girls loved dancing to the music (which was a bit too loud for comfort). We had several people comment on how cute the twins were. They got some balloons and we walked all around. It was a beautiful day.

More Teeth!

Last weekend, Sarah noticed that the twins were getting some more teeth. Now Ella is getting three more and Emily one or two.

Also, the twins are really saying words now - Dada, Mama, and even Ella (sort of). Emily I think is a little too hard still. But what's even cooler is that they are trying to say lots of other words and they are doing it without us prompting. Like today I was saying the word "dip" and they started repeating it. They've also been imitating animal sounds for the past several days. Cow, cat, dog.

What a Beautiful Day

Sunday was gorgeous! It also happened to be the first day we really got to enjoy our new backyard. My father-in-law, Gary, came up around 2pm for a couple hours and we spent 80% of the time in the backyard. We finished setting up the gazebo, rolled out the BBQ, and let the twins run around. It was awesome! I am so looking forward to using that space next year.

Zoo Pictures

These are some of the pictures from our trip to the Sacramento Zoo on 10/7.

Our little animals are behind bars!!

Checking out Mr. Orangutan

Ella really loved the flamingos.

Emily with Grandpa Bud.

Our Future Boxer

Yesterday I woke up with a start. My youngest daughter, Emily, punched me in my right eye. I went from dead asleep to dead shock! Sarah was awake and witnessed the whole thing. Emily was rolling over in between us and flung her arm in such a way that she connected squarely with my eye.

Sarah can tell you, I sat up with a start and quickly took on an air of such indignation that you'd think I thought she meant to do it. The look on my face was priceless, according to Sarah, and looking back on it, I can appreciate that. However, at the time, I was really upset. Saturday is Sarah's day to sleep in, but Sunday is mine, and I had just been woken up in a painful way. Sarah couldn't stop laughing, and I felt she was laughing at me, not with me. I decided to get even. :)

A few minutes after hoping out of bed, I went out to the truck to get something - I don't remember what now. Sarah was changing the girls. Just before I got back inside, I had a brilliant idea. I turned around and went back to the truck. I remembered how whenever the twins touch the car wheels, their fingers get black. So I started rubbing the chrome wheels on my truck, and sure enough, my fingertips were black. I rubbed that around my right eye, checking it out in the side view mirror. When it looked good enough, I headed back inside. I purposely looked at Sarah, just a quick glance, and she jokingly said that my eye looked dark. She thought it was a trick of the light, but when I walked closer, she got quite a look on her face! Her voice went up a couple octaves as she said, "Oh my god! It really is black. Emily gave you a black eye!" I hammed it up for a few more minutes, posing for pictures and playing the sympathy card. Then I said that my eye was stinging and I wanted to wash it. Sarah went to get my an ice pack and when I came out of the bathroom, my eye was miraculously healed! Oh, man, we laughed so hard over that together. It was great!

Some More Firsts

I think I'm ready to say that work should officially be a bit less hectic for me next week and my goal is three new posts a week.

This week, we had a couple more firsts. Ella has been using the sign for fish. We don't know how she learned it. I mean, we assume someone taught her as opposed to her just picking it up from seeing how fish swim. In any case, when she sees a fish in a book, she makes the sign. FYI, for anyone interested, this is the website Sarah and I visit when we want to learn a sign. http://commtechlab.msu.edu/SITES/ASLWEB/browser.htm

The other first was today - I swear Emily is saying "daddy" and "hi daddy." They sign so much now, which is AWESOME, so it's been a while since I've really heard a true new word sound from them. I'm going to try and list all the signs they know (go to the above website if you want to see some of them):
Mother
Father
Water
Milk
Eat
Apple
Banana
More
Please
Thank you
You're welcome
Hat
Change
Cat
Dog
Fish
Shh (as in be quiet)
Bed (we use this for going to sleep)

They know a ton of words, because they can understand when we say, "Take your sock to papa" or "Get a book, we'll read" or "Put the toy in the box." It's sooo cool.

Alright, that's it for tonight. Take care everyone.

Quick Update

Yesterday we went to the Sacramento Zoo. I will upload some pictures later.

Emily and Ella know so many signs, it's just amazing. It blows my mind seeing them learn and grow. This weekend I did something, I think I used my foot to press something down. One of the twins copied me. It happened so fast, it actually startled me, like "Oh man, if they copied me doing that, I am going to have to watch what I do more carefully from now on." :)