Peanuts!

The kids were Peanuts characters for Halloween- I know, big surprise. I made Kate's Woodstock outfit, and MawMaw made Charlie's Charlie Brown getup. We went trick or treating in our friend's neighborhood (which amounted to walking around, drink in hand, and showing the kids the pretty lights). I don't think they got much out of it, but we sure enjoyed it! They were so cute!!! -And so well behaved! Kate was giddy to be up late, and Charlie really didn't complain much. He's kind of an old man in that he likes to be in bed at 7 and have his meals on time! Really though, they were great. Here's our little Peanuts crew:




Charlie kept tugging at Kate's bonnet- he thought she looked hysterical!


Kate and Daddy (as "MacDougal", the golfing Longhorn):

Mom and Charlie Brown:

We're (VERY) mobile!

So we're crawling now, and we're into everything! Kate has been climbing into chairs and dishwashers, and Charlie finds all the remote controls and phones. They really are cute at this stage, but they're also a lot of work. Enjoy the photos! I'll post more of Charlie later, since I realized I'm heavy on the little girl photos...

Kate's old mode of transportation... on her head.


Kate's first time to pull to a stand!


Charlie pulls up to stand for the first time! He's so proud!


Kate visits Eggos's statue:


She likes to be upside down:


We decided to try the swings at the park:




Charlie studies the swing... He's very studious.


We visit the youngest cousins:
Garrin, Kate, Charlie, Ariana


Charlie's foolin for the camera...


Kate gets my camera!


She's so cute!


Charlie and Super-Grandpa at Aunt Virgie's Anniversary party... notice the bruises on his cheek and forehead- battle scars from learning to pull up!


The kids in MaMaw's sink in Austin (no relevance, just cute!):


Queen Kate:


The kids were ready for a bath, and I was still preparing... I thought Kate was going to topple over the side of the tub!


I, alone, was attempting to put the kids to bed that night. I thought Kate would play quietly while I worked on Charlie. No such luck. Charlie decided to join in while I got the camera! She loves windows!

BUSTED!!!

Hurricane Recovery

The kids hardly missed a step in the days after old Hurricane Ike passed. Kate even got a little incisor tooth, which Charlie followed with his own, on exactly the opposite side! Their teeth always come in the same order, on opposite sides. Other firsts include: Charlie sat up on his own, and Kate learned to crawl. Now they're both crawling, although Kate is much more efficient -Charlie's arms tend to give out more. Kate has yet to sit up on her own. We're still working on that. Both kiddos have been seen attempting to pull up on the activity block that we bought for Brent's office and then brought home... so Brent lowered the mattresses in the cribs this weekend.
Oh yeah, they're 9 months old now, and I can't believe it!

Kate finally learned to feed herself toast!


I figured since the house was already a mess, I might as well let them feed themselves a bowl full of carrot puree.
They loved breaking the suction from the bottom of the bowl and pouring it down their onesies... super.
And Jimmy Dean had a yummy snack of carrot puree a la tile.




Everytime I turned around, the kids had extension chords wrapped around them or in their mouths! I don't miss that. Turns out that even babies miss electricity... no Sesame Street or Baby Einstein.




The babies love to play with the activity block. Kate plays peek-a-boo.




Katie crawls:


Charlie pulls up:


Kate and Jimmy take a nap.

I Don't Like Ike

So I don't really have anything to complain about, since a house didn't land on us or anything. We lost a 75 ft+ pine tree in the backyard, though. It just happened to blow down the opposite direction of the house at about 7am as the eye passed. Brent and my brother-in-law, Dennis, happened to be looking out the windows when the taproot snapped in the wind. If it had snapped before the eye passed, it would have most likely landed on the house. Instead, it fell into the crook of a Y-shaped pine, and it ended up costing us some money to get it removed. Oh well, the house was safe, and so were we. Amy, Dennis, the girls, Henry the Dog, and Salty the Cat came over to stay with us during the storm. They, too, have large trees in addition to an older home. It turned out that they had less damage and electricity sooner than we did! I ended up taking the kids to their house for a few days about a week later. The heat was just unbearable. A cold front that blew in right after the hurricane saved our behinds. We had cool weather for almost a week. Beyond that our generator was much appreciated. Do not live along the coast without one. I feel for those without. At least we had access to our dishwasher, washing machine, and most importantly, our portable a/c and fan. We missed our phones for a few days and our power until Friday, Sept 26th at 3pm. 2 weeks is a long time without power. Thank you, Centerpoint.

Waiting for the hurricane to come... it was many hours of anticipation, since Ike only traveled 8mph! The day of the hurricane was a beautiful blue-skies kind of day.


Things get just plain silly. Brent gets just plain silly.


After the Eye:










The tree looked ominous at night:


Our beloved generator and a/c vent:


Eating out of cans and bags (in the dark) gets old....

Summer Fun

We hope everyone is doing well. We've had an eventful summer so far. We were in a 4th of July parade with Sadler Clinic, we've been to Austin to visit the great grandparents, and we even drove to Dallas to meet up with our old friends, The Farmers.

The twins are almost 7 months old now, and I can hardly believe it! They've started solids, they're starting to sit up on their own, and Kate even said something that sounded a lot like "mama" today. The kids have become so much fun to play with. Kate likes to blow raspberries while she's eating or supposedly falling asleep, and she loves to arch her back and push off her legs when she's getting her diaper changed. She inhales at a high pitch when she laughs, and she LOVES Jimmy Dean. She's just the cutest little thing ever! And such a spaz, too. Charlie loves to smile and giggle at nonsense words, and his newest favorite thing is to grab the feet of his mobile animals until the mobile can no longer turn. He is so going to break that thing. Oh yeah, and he weighs about 2 pounds more than his sister now. He's about 15 lbs 10 oz. He's a cute little chunk of a boy with the most beautiful blue eyes. Can you tell we love them?

Here's some pictures from our summer of fun:

Kate Sees Jimmy Dean...


Charlie Likes His Jumperoo.


Daddy & Charlie on Father's Day:


I thought Charlie was awfully quiet...



We tried solids!!!
Green beans are good...



We like to hold hands when we can...


Our Visit with the Great-Grandparents:




The 4th of July parade:








On the Grapevine Historic Train in Dallas:




Kate put her glasses on her head like Mommy...

Kate in the hotel room: