'nana

After eating bananas every morning for at least eight months, buds said "nana"! This may not seem like a big deal, but he saw it in the fruit bowl and out of nowhere said "nana"! AND said it before Claire. She is my word queen and 99% of the time says a word first.



Such a big boy using his fork!



Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

17 Months!

It is unbelievable how fast time goes by.  Last night I was looking back at their six month post and it seems like such a blur...so glad I blog and able to go back and see what they were up to - I know I would not remember all that fun stuff on my own!
Our first few months at being a toddler have been exciting, fun, challenging, and tiring.  They are into everything and like to be busy all the time.  Such curious little people!  Their smiles and giggles are contagious.  They make us laugh every day.

Claire is a chatter box and her vocabulary has tripled in the past two months.  Too many words to list, but my favorite is "love you"  She hold up the sign (well, with one finger) for I love you and says "love you"  It is the sweetest!  She really listens to what you say and tries to repeat.... we need to work on what and how we say things.  The other night while giving her a bath, she stood up. I told her to sit down on her bottom and she just looked at me and smiled.  So I started counting, 1..2..  and she held up her finger saying one and copying me!  Justin had to leave the room bc he couldn't keep from laughing.  She has also learned "NO".
Max is also talking a lot, but his words aren't as clear.  It is fun to watch them communicate.  They talk in sentences to each other!

Sleep is getting a little better.  They usually go down around seven and sleep til 6:15.. we have gotten lucky twice this week with a 6:45!  They still take two good naps a day, usually lasting 1.5-2.5 hrs.

They are bottomless pits.  They would eat all day long if I let them.  BIG snackers and love to have "bites" of what everyone else is eating.  They stand right up on you saying "bite" and "please" over and over while you eat your food.  I have recently given them their own utensils and they love using them.  Max gets mad and will give you the stink eye if you try to help him.  They also tend to throw food on the floor if they don't like it or if they are "all done".  It's a lot of fun to clean up after each meal....

This sweet boy loves to cuddle, and give hugs and kisses.  He also likes to throw a tantrum. He can be all smiles one minute, and crying in the corner the next.  If you try to console him, he will swat at you or throw a toy.  NOT cool.  I went out and bought The Happiest Toddler and will be interested to see what it says.

We like to spend our days taking walks/runs, going to the park with our friends, singing and dancing, going to the Children's Museum, playing outside with our new little pool and water table and having fun with Mom and Dad

Toms

How cute are these?!?




Buds has already outgrown his first pair of Toms. We had planned on getting the bear a pair of pink ones, but I decided she had too many cute summer shoes- she could wait til the fall.

I finally did their 17 month photo shoot today (4 days late). I have been such a slacker recently and it's getting on my nerves. I have had zero motivation to do anything. Hoping that changes soon!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Busy bodies

Although it was a low key weekend for me and Justin, Max and Claire were busy,busy,busy!
We went to the park, pool, Costco and played in their little pool and water table.



Holding hands on our run!



Claire wandering how and why her brother took her bow!

Today, after their nap, I took them outside where Justin was working in the yard. They were in diapers and tshirts. They quickly made their way to the back yard - the pool!









You can imagine what their diaper looked like......



Bahahahaha!









Cooling off in their wagon with tr hose and Popsicles!

Justin and I grilled out kabobs last night and they were so good we did it again tonight!



This was also our first time grilling corn. It was pretty good!

And last but not least....our twins



Max found Claire's bows and wanted to put it on, so Claire wanted to wear one too! Silly Max :)

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Family Beach Trip

Last week was our first Payne/Fredrick family beach trip.  It was my Mom and Dad, my brother, his wife, 6 mo old twins, and four year old.  It was A LOT of fun, but also very tiring!  Justin was only there half the week.  Max and Claire were great most of the time.  They LOVED everything about the beach - the shells, the sand, the waves, the little "pools" in the sand, shovels, etc....  They played so hard every day.

Part of being tired was because my two angels decided they wanted to wake up at 5/5:15 every morning.  At home I would make them stay in their rooms until 6, but at the condo, I had to be respectful of the other sleeping families. Thankfully they have gone back to 6:15/6:30 since we have been back.

Their (mostly Max) tantrums have gotten worse.  And 90% of the time I change Max's diaper, he loses it.  It is like wrestling an alligator and has gotten ridiculous.  Today I'm going out to buy Toddlerwise and Happiest Toddler on the Block.  I read both of the baby versions of these books and really liked them.  Any other suggestions are welcome!

Max and Claire loved their "bebe" cousins.  They loved to hug and kiss on them and give them sweet pats!  Next year should be a lot of fun when they can all interact!

Taking a snack break.  These two are bottomless pits.  If they see someone eating, it's over!  They start saying and signing "more" "eat" and "please" until you give them food.  One would think I never fed them!

We also got a lot of great family photos!  I'm pretty happy how they all turned out!

Grandma with all the grand children

The whole gang!

Children and Grand children

My favorite picture!

Our little family!

My sister-in-law and Me with our twins!

My two favoritest babies in the world!

Parasail

Well, we stayed one extra day at the beach! AND my mom talked me into parasailing! I was so scared I would be eaten by sharks, but obviously I wasn't!




I didn't take my camera, but this is me and mom getting ready to get on the little boat to take us out. This was the scariest part for me! Little boat, big ocean!




Pulling the boat in the water. Turns out the boat ride out was the most thrilling and exciting part of our adventure.
Parasailing was peaceful, but really boring! We can check that off our list!




Mom painted Claire's little piggies!! Makes me smile every time I see them!!
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NO!

I've dreaded this day..... Claire is now saying "no" and I don't like it one bit! She is such a sassy pants. We were at the beach this morning and my jaw dropped when she said that to me!
They have worn me out this week. Justin left on Monday and they have been a handful. Mom is very helpful, but there is another set of twins and a four year old that need attention! We are looking forward to Justin coming back tomorrow!



This is max having one of his many tantrums. It has become ridiculous. He can be so happy and loving one second and out of nowhere he gets upset and has meltdown. He then proceeds to a corner to cry by himself. If you try to console him, he gets mad and pushes you away. Please tell me this will pass SOON!
Also, please tell me why they haven't slept past 5:30 this entire week????! I shouldn't leave out Max woke up at 4:58 this morning.
As much as I love the beach, I need routine and structure and an environment where they can be loud and one that is childproof!



They are a bottomless pit!



Claire loving in her cousin :)



Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Beach babes

Max and Claire are LOVING the beach and I'm loving watching them!!



Sand face!



Beautiful runs on the beach!



Loving their cousins!



Taking over our chairs!



Playing in the waves!






Digging in the sand with daddy

And today has rained ALL.DAY.LONG. Not so great when you are in a 3 bedroom condo with a four year old, 16 month old twins and six month ol twins... That's 5 kids in a small space! We made it to the beach for about 10 min before the bottom fell out. Then we moved to the bath tub!



I think tomorrow is supposed to be rainy too :(. Hopefully we can take them somewhere like the aquarium!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Climbers

For the past month or two Max and Claire have been climbing on chairs, but yesterday Max took it to a whole different level!
I was in the kitchen washing dishes and came in to check on them and found this:






Lol. He is so funny. He also knocked over the water table last week bc he was trying to climb in!

Fast forward to today and my adventurous baby had two falls, last one was him taking a tumble down a driveway :(. One of our friends is having a yard sale this weekend and asked if I wanted to come check it out. So I was going through tubs of toys and clothes and they were playing right in front if me and all the sudden Max starts pushing a push toy down the driveway. My friend started running after him and got him right after he took a little face dive :( my heart broke. He got a little skinned up but is ok!

This mama Is ready for the beach. We leave tomorrow for 1.5 weeks! Not sure how relaxing it will be with a four year old and two sets of twins one and six months!! But at least my toes will be in the sand :)



Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Beautiful Wedding

Memorial weekend my Aunt got married.  She has been waiting for this day for a long time!  The weather was perfect, smiles ear to ear, family, good food and lots of dancing!  I had the privilege to take most of her pictures.

 They got married at a beautiful Garden

The Bride

Newlyweds!

Me with my Mom and Dad

The bride with her sisters (minus Catherine ;( ) and her cousin

 My Aunt's girlfriends surprised her at the luncheon!

My two beautiful cousins that "gave" my aunt away

The reception was later in the evening and was a ton of fun.  

Me with my Aunt Margaret and Cousins

First dance

My husband loves having his picture taken....

see....

much better!

Lots of dancing!

It was an incredibly fun night and one to never be forgotten!