Flashback, Flashforward

Today in the car, for the first time, we heard Clara and Elena giggling together in the back seat. First one would giggle, then the other, and then there would be outright laughter together. We couldn't tell what was so funny; the carseats are still rear-facing and we can't really see them from the front seats. When we parked the car they were still doing it, so we peeked over their carseats and saw that Clara would poke her head around the side of her carseat, and giggle, and then Elena would do the same, and when they both saw each other they would just laugh and laugh.

It was beautiful.

Everyone keeps saying how lucky they are to be twins, and how they will always be best friends. But they are pretty independent girls, and don't often play with each other. Seeing them interact like this makes us look back and see how far they've come from being tiny creatures who could barely see eachother (see flashback photo above!) and makes us look ahead to the kind of enjoyment that we hope the keep getting from one another in the future.

New Tricks

As the girls arrived at the ten month mark this week, they've learned some new tricks and figured out some new fun. First up, this summer has marked their first ride on a carousel, and they both adore it. In this picture, they aren't even interested in looking at Christina holding the camera, and instead want to stare at the horses:

They seem to like the feel of the wind in their hair (or faces).

We don't have a picture to go with this news, but Clara's first tooth is almost poked through her gum now. We have been thinking they were teething for months, and finally we see some sign. We'll get a picture as soon as she allows (she likes to stick her tongue out instead of having her gums photographed).

Now, in very-photographed big news, guess what Elena did today?

We were playing in the kitchen, and she crawled over to the stairs. She put her hands on the bottom step, and pushed up:

Here, for all we can tell, she is saying: "Are you ready Mom? Watch this!"

And then she went and did this:
ALL THE WAY UP THE STAIRS! And quickly, too, like she was in some kind of baby stair stepping training. She was so thrilled with herself - she'd say "Ah!" at each new step. Doesn't she look so proud?

Watch out, world. Time to fence the babies in.

Elena got a little bit more play here with her easily-photographed accomplishment, so here is a bonus Clara picture from a picnic we had with friends today. Who needs help with a bottle? Okay, Clara technically still does, but she likes to hold it by herself and gum on it (and with the tooth coming in, who can blame her?
For any crafty folks out there, if you're liking the dresses the girls are sporting in several of these pictures, they are from a super easy FREE pattern from a crafty woman named Rae, and can be found by clicking here.

Christina was able to finish two of them (with some alterations to make it a little bigger than the pattern for itty bitty infants) in just a night, and not because she's speedy, either. If you feel like sewing a little something, this is a great pattern to play with.

Wisconsin Wedding

So, we mentioned that we went to Wisconsin to see our good friends Jennifer and Karl married. Some of you have heard that while we were there, there was an amazing amount of rain and flooding, and the spots we were staying in were declared disaster areas. For us, the inconvenience was really difficult, but temporary. For Jen and Karl, it was more impactful, but they handled it beautifully. The people whose homes and vehicles were lost in the flooding are still on our minds, and we hope they are coping well.

As a result of the flooding, the furthest we could get most days was the truck stop across the street. The girls loved it, because here we introduced them to saltines - an instant favorite.

Jen and Karl moved their wedding to Jen's parents' house, which was close enough to our hotel that we could find a way to it. Here are the girls in their dresses for the rehearsal dinner (sadly, we have no pictures of them in their wedding finery!).

Here we are as a family up on the gorgeous spot where Jen's parents live:

And here are Jen and Karl the next day, getting married in an absolutely beautiful ceremony:

Luckily, this area was way up on a hill. Usually, the hill overlooks farmlands. On the weekend we were there, this was the view instead:

Jen, Karl, and their daughter Abby got all the kids presents. Here Clara and Elena look in wonder at some new toys and animal crackers ( a new treat).

When we got back from the wedding, we were lucky enough to have Steve's extended family in town, as we posted earlier. Here are two bonus shots from that time:

The family having a lovely June picnic:

Two girls sleeping away after said lovely picnic:

What a fun summer these girls are having.
Next up - a visit from Grandma (Christina's mom) in July!

What a fun week

We got back from a wedding in flooded Wisconsin (more on that later!) and were lucky enough to have Steve's parents (Nana Rose and GDaddy) and his grandparents (Nanny and Grandpa) out to visit for the week. The girls had such a wonderful time being doted on, these pictures don't do justice to the great time that was had.

Due to technical difficulties, these will show up in three posts - here's the first:

Standing practice

Four generations of women, all feeling lucky to have each other.

The best picture we got of the whole lot of us with the camera timer. The girls weren't loving posing and wanted to play instead.

Nanny introduced the girls to pretzels! They both loved them, but Elena especially. She turned into the incredible pink hulk when denied a second service!

A happy foursome, hanging out in the yard.

Nana Rose introduced Elena to spinach dip (can you tell two things - that we're letting the girls try a lot more foods lately, and also that Elena is our adventurous eater?) Elena LOVED this.

A sweet moment with Steve and Clara:

Here's a funny shot of Clara. She's turned into such a clown lately. She will do anything to entertain as soon as anyone pays attention to her. As an aside, she also learned to clap this week!

A moment with Christina and Elena, sharing some cheese.

Elena hanging with her Nanny and Grandpa - she was always so entertained by whatever face her Grandpa made.

Did I post this one already? Standing practice was just so fun!

Kiwi and Cheerios

Another lawn picnic - today the girls ate like crazy and including formula ate bagels with cream cheese, kiwis, cheerios, cheddar cheese cubes, and pasta with squash, apples, and carrots. And they ate a LOT of it, too! I guess this is how you phase off of formula: just get them really excited about other foods.

Here's a few shots of the kiwi and cheerio portion of the day:

Share, sister - share!

Silly Summertime

Clara is giving a little bit of a wave here, with an odd mohawk-type thing happening with her hair. Lately her hair has been starting to fluff, wave, and curl (Elena's remains straight) and so we're always interested to see what kind of hairstyle Clara will be sporting for the day. She has been waving for a while now (her Nana Rose taught her how at Easter) but both she and Elena need some work on the social aspect of the wave. They look at people, stone-faced, and lift their arm toward them. Here, Clara is showing a little smile as she waves:

Elena was smiling a lot while we were outside yesterday; she seems happy to be outside. We went to a park with sprinklers the other day, and Elena was especially happy to have her feet stuck in the spray, and to stand in the puddles (Clara didn't mind it either, but wasn't quite as excited as Elena).

While Christina was at work today, Steve got these shots of the girls - look at these silly monkeys! They move too fast lately to be in focus a lot of the time, but the picture was too cute not to share. They are so charmed by their own new tricks. Clara stands sometimes when we put her near something; Elena can pull herself to standing and cruise between objects.

And an in-focus shot where Clara is clearly a little shocked at her standing abilities!