The Great Outdoors

Two of the girls with Christina, playing in the yard:

And two with Steve, by some lilacs that we walked by today during our "rain walk" (it sprinkled and then poured on us during the only 30 minutes all day today that it rained!).

Smiles

Outdoor Fun

The weather has been getting warmer and warmer, so we've enjoyed more picnics and playtime outside. We're getting to be pros at applying sunscreen, since Elena is the only one who will wear a hat:

Clara looks at us as if to say: "Hat? What hat?" She had cleverly thrown it off in the car so we couldn't find it to put on her once we got outside:

Today, Elena completely skipped her afternoon nap for the first time. She had a great time playing outside without her sister and getting her mom to herself, and she lasted seven hours until it was time to go to sleep for the night. Could this already be the end of the afternoon nap for good?

She may not have slept today, but both girls crashed out after a baby shower for a friend the other day. They were so exhausted they didn't wake up even after we had parked and opened their doors, so we had to get a picture. Such sleeping beauties.

Playtime for Sisters

As any sibling knows, your favorite toy is likely to be your brother's/sister's favorite toy, too - that goes double for twins at the exact same stage of development. Although Clara and Elena have separate toys that they enjoy, this alligator xylophone that some friends handed down to us is a hands-down favorite for both of them.

Curses to whomever decided it should come with only one stick - they fight over it all the time, grabbing it out of each other's hands often. This rarely comes to tears, but it is interesting to see them assert themselves. Sometimes we wonder how much they see eachother as independent beings and not just images/extensions of themselves.

When the xylophone stick isn't available, the base of the ring-stacking toy makes a nice substitute.

Clara hadn't gotten to wear this shirt yet- you may remember a previous post that had Elena in the shirt (without thinking we would ever be waiting for twins, we only have one shirt!). So, here is one that shows that Clara was worth the wait, too.

Random Fun

Sometimes it's easier than others to find a theme to the pictures of our days. Today, there's not much holding these together except for the fun we're having in each of these - enjoy.

This last picture is from Saturday, when we went to the first Farmer's Market of the season. We met up with another set of twin girls who we know. The one closest to Elena here (and closest to me) is another Elena!

Fun and Funny

We have some new fun in our house. Elena has taken to jumping all the time - she hates it when we try to sit her down for too long, and she just wants to be on her feet. So we ordered the girls this rainforest jumper:

It took most of today for the girls to figure out that it was not just like the exersaucer. Although both have fun toys, once they figured out that there were SPRINGS on the jumper that allowed them to hop at will, it was more fun than we've ever seen them have. So far, Elena prefers the jumper and Clara prefers the saucer, but like anything else with these two we are prepared for that to change at any time.

And now, here is the face of Elena having fun:

And the face of Clara being funny:


What is with this face??

She just loves sticking her tongue out when we pick up the camera! Such fun and funny girls.