The new keyboard is a bust!

The new keyboard actually works worse than the one with the spilled smoothie!  Yes, we are getting our money back and ordering something new.  In the meantime I will try to get new posts up...I just have to come up to the attic to do it (where the office is) and this computer is much slower and I can only get up here in the evenings.  Anyway, here are a few pictures to let you know that it is never boring around here... 

Triple the trouble, triple the fun...

I was just going to write "double the trouble, double the fun " for the twins...because with looks like these you know they are into something but then I realized that Isaac is into just as much as they are... :)

When Isaac realized they were in the bathroom he was there in a New York minute to "help" out.   "Helping" usually involves unrolling the toilet paper. :)

...but then with looks like these you forget about what they have just gotten into...

....and you just have to enjoy the sweetness...

...and have fun watching them do new things...

....and then sure enough it's on to something else....HA HA! :)

p.s we think the replacement keyboard for my laptop should be here tomorrow so I should be up and running (more consistently) again soon! :)

We are still here BUT...

...the smoothie drama continues!  About half the keys on my laptop are not working so we ordered a new keyboard...hopefully that will do the trick.  I will try to get some new pictures up tomorrow...the kids have been busy! :)

...and because it is more fun to have a post with a picture...here is one from Marc's phone.  We were out for a walk one day and these were some of the things Isaac was collecting.  Can you tell what's in Isaac's left hand?

Our Morning

Our mornings are pretty predictable. The 1st things all the kids want is milk and most of the time they are in a hurry to get it!  They also LOVE the dishwasher.  I had to open the dishwasher to get clean cups and guess who was by my side in about 2 seconds....ALL the kids! :)  Ava likes to bring me things and this morning it happened to be diapers so that is what is laying on the dishwasher door & floor (she always has one object in each hand).  We don't usually have our morning milk on the kitchen floor but it was one of "those" mornings.  Isaac wants to be doing whatever the girls are doing....so when he saw where they were he sat down right next to them! :)

Isaac was trying to get the girls to say "cheese"!  Oh, and Isabella is 100% on a sippy cup and Ava is not quite there yet...she really likes her bottle and has had hard time switching over. :)

Houston, we have a problem!

fruit smoothie + laptop = problem

Yep, an entire fruit smoothie fell on top of my laptop keyboard...opps!  I was putting together a tent for Isaac and it hit the smoothie on the table it fell onto my laptop.  Marc took apart my computer and cleaned it and now it is working again!!!  I am so excited!!!  Thanks sweetie!!! 

(although we are still having few problems...like the "a" key doesn't work so we have had to get creative...but I can't make caps with the "a"!)

So what have we been up to since the smoothie disater??  These things:

I came out of the bathroom the other day and Isabella was sitting at the table....looking grown up and cute!:)

ava loves to climb into this chair.

She climbed into the toy basket one day and had  grand time! 

Should we be potty training ava!?

She likes to hit the Elmo hand!

This is what we have been doing most of the week! Isaac had been running round the house half naked and loving it.  We have had some ups and downs but we are beginning to see real progress...Go Isaac!

Beach Trip

Our trip this last weekend actually began by visiting some friends in Belgium near Brussels.  I have known my friend Michelle for about 11 years but hadn't seen her in about that long either...I met her shortly before I moved away from Germany.  We have kept in touch through email and now FB.  She has a daughter about 5 and twin boys who are almost 2.  She is married to Mattias who is German and a Pastor.   It was so much fun to catch up with them and see what their life is like with 3 little ones.  It was fun to share twin stories. :)

Since we were already out and halfway to the beach.....and since this is summer after all...isn't it?  Although these clouds that we keep having everyday make me wonder! We decided to head to a beach town that we had actually been to before...like 12 years ago.  We went to Domburg in the Netherlands. We stayed at Hotel Restaurant de Boekanier in Vrouwenpolder (say that 3 times fast).  I am going to try to start listing where we stayed if we liked it so we can remember it!

Our first stop when we got into town was to eat!  For some unknown reason every time Marc sees a Mexican restaurant he wants to eat at it.  While I like Mexican food the Dutch version is not quite the same.  Marc is always hopeful that it may turn out OK but since we are NO WHERE close to Mexico  I am much less hopeful! :)  Anyway, the food was a little bit of a bust but the kid-friendliness of the restaurant was amazing!  They even had a playground in the restaurant for the kids...FUN!  They had great high chairs for the girls and Isaac played most of the meal.

The next morning we went out to the beach.  The weather forecast said 100% rain so we actually didn't think we would be on the beach that long...see those dark clouds back there!?

Isabella was very happy in the backpack.

Ava thought the beach was the BEST and loved playing in and EATING the sand.

 Isabella on the other hand was NOT a fan!  She didn't want to be on the sand at all and barely left the place we set her.

The weather ended up getting much nicer so Marc ran back to the car and got the swimsuits and towels.

Isabella was so happy to have a blanket to sit on because then she really didn't have to get close to the sand at all.  She loves these applesauce packets and she can suck it all out.  

The sun even came out...can I get a hallalulah?!

Isaac was loving the water.  Is that a shadow on the sand!?

We ended the day driving around the area so the girls could nap and then we stopped at the cute town and had ice cream...yummy!  We hope to go back and spend more time at the beach.

Hi ya!

So I had grand plans to get a post up today of our great little weekend trip but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  We are working on "potty training boot camp" (that's what I am calling it) over here and I am worn out.  This is tough work...wish me luck and say a prayer for us...  :)
This picture was from a little "Isaac and I" outing the other day and he was enjoying riding on this little tractor.   He is a great little guy and we had fun hanging out.

Where have we been??

We went to the beach...

and had a wonderful time....

and were even able to do a little of this!

We will be back soon with more stories and pictures.

The girls at 1 year...

We took the girls in for their one year well-baby check on Aug. 2nd...just a few weeks late. :)  The girls are doing great and are now:
Ava 20.9 lbs. & 29 3/4"
Isabella 20.2 lbs & 30 1/4"


Isabella was in 50th percentile for weight and 100th percentile for height 
(adjusted for being born at 32 weeks)
& then the computer went on the fritz so Ava must be close to that too! :)

Isabella always seems to be an 1/2" taller and a little lighter.  They are both right on track and doing great.  Ava now has 5 teeth and Isabella 4.  They both are standing and cruising along furniture.  They both say Momma and Dadda and Ava is really starting to say more words and repeat sounds.  They both clap and can do "so big" by placing their hands above their heads.  They are both fast and into everything.  They do a great job feeding themselves and eat pretty much anything these days.  They are still taking bottles but I plan on switching to sippy cups soon.  They do 2-3 bottles a day. Isabella can use a straw really well.  It's amazing how much they can eat!  Hopefully, they will be walking soon....they are over 40 lbs. together and are getting heavy when you carry them at the same time! :) 

They both have great personalities and are very different.  Isabella is definitely more serious and has deep brown eyes that are always assessing the situation.  Once she warms up to you she is soooo sweet and has the best laugh that radiates through her whole body.  Ava is always quick to smile and it lights up her whole face.  She loves to laugh too and can be pretty easy going...unless you have taken a toy away from her...watch out world!  :)  We are having so much fun with them.  


Check out a video of another yogurt eating episode...

   

Wild Animal Park

At the end of last week we went to a Wild animal park with some friends and had a lot of fun...all except for the bee sting I got from the "wild" bees...not so much fun!

We got a bag of food to feed the animals and Isaac was really enjoying it!

They had a playground with swings in the middle of the park and the girls were having a blast!  Isaac even got in on the fun! 

 This is our sweet friend, Gwen who LOVES the girls soooo much!  I am not kidding when I say she adores the girls!  Her and her Mom even came over last week and babysat the kids so that Marc and I could go out to dinner...Gwen was SOOOO excited to watch the girls.  She is going to make a good Momma one day.

Isaac was enjoying pushing Isabella on the swing....I am not sure what Isabella thought of it though?! :)

Ava ended up twisting herself to the other side of the swing.

 This was on our way out of the park and Isaac got to feed these sheep before we left. It was cute because he was REALLY digging feeding the animals. :)

Pool part 2 - the explanation

The girls did get out of the stroller for a bit and I put their feet in the water.  Mostly, they just watched Isaac play and both got a little wet from his splashes.

So the "scary slide experience" was that after Isaac had gone down the slide and was at the bottom another kid came right behind him and pushed him into the water... it wasn't deep but he just couldn't get his footing.  I was in that water in a heartbeat!!!  He was a little shaken up but I got him back in the water as fast as I could (after he recovered) because I don't want him to be scared of water...he ended up having fun but didn't want to go back on the slide again....understandably!

Aren't these suits from Grandma June adorable?!

After the pool we played at the park (it's connected) and Isabella was LOVING the swing.  There are aren't a lot of parks with these baby swings so it is always fun to find a park that has one.

Isabella is so happy!

This isn't at the park but later in the car.  It was a full afternoon because I had a chiropractor appt. after the pool/park and I was still wet! :)  We had picked up Daddy on our way to the appt. and went out to dinner afterwards. I love this picture of Ava laughing! Both girls are so cute and loving the new carseats!   

The Pool

When the sun peaked out from behind the clouds last week for a few hours I threw on the kids' swimsuits and we went to a local park that has a pool.  It was nice to actually be in the water and after a scary water slide experience where I had to jump in with all my clothes on to get Isaac we had a pleasant experience.  Isaac loves to splash around and the water was only about waist deep so it was perfect!

With just me (some friends met us later) the girls didn't get too much water time because the logistics of 3 little ones in the water is too much for 1 person! :)

The girls go with the flow and are usually happy campers.  

There's that slide!  It was crowded over in that area, which is what led to the scary experience.  Anyway,  I have a few more cute pics to share tomorrow from our pool/park fun....