Happy 31s Birthday Daddy!

We celebrated John's birthday this past weekend with friends and family.  We had a Mexican fiesta at our house and enjoyed the time spent with everyone!  Thanks for celebrating with us!

We started the day off with a yummy birthday breakfast.

Complete with a happy birthday cinnamon roll.

Make a wish!

Daddy opened his present from the family.

Then has some cuddle time with Clara.

Clara was a big help making cupcakes.

George supervised.

Until it was time to lick the beaters.

Then the goofballs licked the icing off each others faces!

Later that day some great friends came over to play!

Miss Addison

Grammy Quinn, Aunt Christina, Cousin Elyse

Sleepy Elyse.

The Ring Family

Everyone singing, "Happy Birthday Day To You!!!"

Make another wish Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!

Practice Makes Perfect

Next week George and Clara will start "school."  Really they are going to Mother's Day Out at the church where Grammy Quinn is a teacher for two days a week.  ("What will I ever do with myself for 10 childless hours per week?" she asks with a smile.)  We went to the cutest store in our town called Personalize It and got all the needed supplies...a nap mat, lunch box, and back pack.  George and Clara are in love with these new "toys" and frequently ask me if they can wear their "bap pak."  The other day I got them all geared up and they were goofing off in the house.  Then they just started walking around the house in a straight line.  Is this behavior innate? Little school kids.  Practice makes perfect!

 The gear

It makes me think that one day not too far off we will be doing this waiting for the bus to take us to real school...sniff.

Come on Clara!

All smiles!

Being goofy!

Mommy's Little Ducklings

Cupcake Making Fun

The twins enjoyed watching Mommy make cupcakes for a dinner with friends.  They were interested in helping until they were each given a beater coated with chocolate cupcake batter.  They were smitten!  Then they tried the beater covered in icing and loved that even more.  Growing up my brother and I used to stalk my Mom while she was baking.  There are a million photos of Jay and I licking the beaters after my Mom created a cake.  I wish I had a picture from back in the day I could share.  Maybe I will steal one from my parents and post it.  Ah, I digress...Finally the twins got to taste the finished product complete with a cold glass of milk.  Nothing better then that! 

Kindermusik Creature Camp

Every Wednesday morning this summer, George, Clara, and I would enter the world of music and animal exploration.  We would dance, sing, play musical instruments, listen to stories, make crafts, eat fun snacks, and play with new friends.  This camp was wonderful for the twins.  It was amazing to see their transformation over the 10 weeks.  From not really participating or following the teacher's directions to figuring out the structure of the class and loving every second of participating in it.  Their gross motor skills improved so much with all the fun movement activities.  It also made me more aware of their love for music and movement.  It also prompted me to try more crafts at home with them.  It was such a great experience and I know they loved it!  I look forward to next summer and what other adventures it may bring!

Sweet Faces

Fun slide!

About a month ago, I posted about this awesome ball pit that we got George and Clara from Walmart.  It was so fun to watch them play in it.  They even enjoyed it after Clara bit a hole in the side causing it to deflate every few hours.  Oops! Daddy patched it up and hopefully it will hold air the next time we blow it up.  For now it is in the closet all folded up because Grammy Quinn snagged us this awesome new slide...

One of her co-workers had it in their classroom and no longer wanted it.  She offered it to my Mom and we snatched it up.  George and Clara love it!  When it gets a little cooler outside, then it will live in the backyard.  For now it is yet another great way to burn off the never-ending toddler energy in the air conditioning!

Looks like Maggot and Dolly love the new slide too!  Fun for everyone! :)

The Maggot

All of our family and most good friends have met Maggot.  It is by far George's favorite thing in the entire world.  The Maggot may even top Mom and Dad.  This Maggot joined our family on Christmas Day 2009 compliments of Aunt Christina and Uncle Sayed.  It was a very thoughtful gift...two soft organic stuffed toys called Monsieur Tse-Tse...one for each of the twins.  In true little brother fashion, John had to make fun of his sister saying, "So you got our kids Maggots?"  You see the tsetse fly starts off as a maggot and this little stuffed toy sure looked like a Maggot.  Here is a look at Monsier Tse-Tse from the website where he is sold. Reminiscent of a Maggot, right?

Maggot lived in our stuffed animal basket until George was about 6 months old.  The school of thought is that this is the "safe" age to give the infant a "lovey" of some sort in the crib at night.  Many friends were adamant it helped their kiddos drift back to sleep on their own if they woke up in the middle of the night.  More sleep? I'm in!  So I dug through our stuffed animal basket looking for something that was soft without little buttons or eyes he could choke on and came upon Maggot.  Soft, no little pieces, and a bonus...made from organic materials...bingo!  So Maggot ended up in George's crib that night.  Clara ended up with a soft pink dolly.

 Here is Maggot in the early days in the back left corner of the crib with a sleeping George.

George was smitten!  Every time George went to sleep we would hand him his new friend and say, "Here is your Maggot."  He would smile so big, reach for Maggot, and settle down in his crib.  Fast forward 15 months and George still loves Maggot.  He chews his antennae, walks around with Maggot hanging from his mouth, and cuddles him every single nap time and bed time.  Maggot is loved, loved, loved!

 Here George is sleeping in a rather unusual position with Maggot under him.

You can see Maggot peeking out from under his belly by his hand.

I have no problem with George having a lovey.  In fact, it is kind of sweet.  My only regret...why didn't we call him Fred?  We sure get some strange looks from people who are over and haven't met Maggot when we turn to Georgey and say, "Find Maggot.  It's time for bed!"  Maybe I can start calling him Fred now....

 George today when I went to get him after nap. He is saying, "Here's Maggot!"

A very very loved Maggot.