14 Months Old!

This week was full of play times, outdoor times, singing, reading books, and much love and fun. Here are the faces from this past week.

Claire lounging on their chair with her juice and blanket. Chloe sitting on her heels very intent on something

Ready for a walk. Chloe, all smiles.

Happy toddlers.

We notice how much the girls understand when you talk to them. In the following pictures, which aren't too clear, I told Claire to take Papa his diet coke. She promptly took the bottle and carried it into the other room stopping once to put it down and rest. She was very pleased with herself when that task was completed. Today I was in the church nursery for a little while with the girls, and it was interesting how Claire would put out her arms to try and catch a ball. They certainly mimic the adults that are around them. Makes us want to be very careful. :):)

Enjoy your week!

Life in the Toddler Lane

We experienced some beautiful weather this past week and on one of those days Claire, Chloe and Grandma took a walk to the University campus. It was spring break for the students so the grassy areas were available for Claire and Chloe to explore.

Later, at home, Chloe gave some extra love and kisses to her little doll. It is so precious to watch her smooch her little baby. Claire is shown "just passin' by" Grandma's camera.

Here they are sharing their chair, and the last little film clip shows them in their Hawaii t-shirts that Uncle Jon brought them. I thought they looked very cute. If I were to title the film, it might be called "Chloe Giveth and Chloe Taketh Away".

Babies Reading, Babies on the Move!

I just checked my email and this sweet picture was there for me, taken from Jon's IPhone. He visited Claire and Chloe today and I suspect, from the expressions, that they were being just a bit "coy" with him, using Mommy as their shield. Not unusual at all. He also reports they they wanted to play with the phone so they took additional pictures and downloaded some Elmo music. I'm sure Uncle Jon will enjoy that himself. :) Here is another shot of Claire.

Here is Uncle Jon with Chloe from last weekend. They are reading a book together.

This shot of Claire makes her look so grown up and so relaxed in her chair.

Next Chloe had a turn in the chair and spent quite a while looking at books.

If I have learned anything at all recently, it was that it is going to be harder to take pictures now that they are constantly on the move. The girls spent one day at our house this week. Great-Grandpa Ove was here as well and brought them beautiful engraved necklaces with their names and 1st birthday date on each. The girls will cherish these, I know. The bad news is that I didn't get a photo of them with him. They were both quite shy around him and besides they were very, very, busy investigating Grandma's house. I must do some additional baby-proofing! Here is one, not so good, picture of them playing in and around the porta crib/playpen that they used as little babies to sleep in when here. They were fascinated with it and wanted in and out of it several times. They had such fun.

We also played outside in our front yard but I learned from that experience that we must have "one on one" when we don't have a fenced yard. They moved so fast and explored things in opposite directions of course.

Enjoy your week. I am looking forward to the challenge of getting more and better pictures.

Goodbye to Hawaii, Hello to Home and Family!

Here are the sweet little faces we returned to in California.We were so happy to see them again. Even in one week they have grown and changed. Chloe's walking had improved so much and she is now officially a toddler! Here she is below.

Not long after this film was taken I put the girls' shoes on. They haven't worn them too many times and apparently are still getting used to the "feel". It is hilarious how they march around. Examples below, first Claire, and then Chloe joins in. I believe Chloe was saying, "march, march, march", don't you think so?

Chloe did a little experimenting with their toy grocery cart in this picture. It is a pretty small little space, but she managed to climb in.

They have a darling new little overstuffed chair of their very own. Here they each take a turn. Claire loves to play with blankets, putting them over her head and walking (stumbling) around. That is what she had been doing just before I sat her in the chair. Chloe gives her special smile as she takes her turn.

The girls love to stand on the couch and look out the window. They jump and squeal and get totally excited. I'm not sure what it is all about but they seem to both understand the fun.

I love it when we sometimes get to stay with the babies on Saturdays. Papa often comes along and Aunt Suzie almost always comes over. Today's outing was to McDonalds. Chloe ate like a trooper, chicken Mcnuggets, milk, and maybe a french fry or two. Claire nibbled some, but mostly just enjoyed the "goings on" around her. She loved to pick up a french fry and drop it on the floor. Here you see Papa and the girls. After lunch, Aunt Suzie, Claire and Chloe and Grandma took a walk.

Lovin' Hawaii, Missin' the Girls

Aloha, here we are in Kauai, Hawaii, enjoying this lovely view from our lanai.

Also with us is our son Jon and our nephew Peter. Their photo is an ongoing "cousins joke" that they have been taking part in for the past month as they toured the islands. They email a photo of Pete, very somber looking and holding this sign, to their cousin Tim every day or so, to show him what he is missing. The sign says "booyaah" which is another story in itself.

Below you can see Norm, feeding the chickens, as he always does, each time we drive to the Koke'e Lodge area. I swear they recognize him because when he went in to buy the food they headed to the steps to wait for him. :)

We spent time with the girls before we left and soaked in every minute, knowing we would be gone for a week. Here you see the girls with their "tippy cups". Neither one loves to use them, but they are tolerating them at this moment.

We did also do a little outing with Aunt Suzie and Papa on Saturday. Papa needed a couple of things from Walmart and so we took the girls along. While there, we did some trying on of hats.

Uncle Jon has requested that we refrain from taking them to Walmart again. :)

While at Walmart we also had a little McDonald's lunch. A new experience for us, and I think for them as well. It took the three of us to manage the two of them. Twins are sure fun! Can't wait to see them again!

Dolls, Balls, Frosty, and Strolling!

Claire and Chloe are seen here rocking their new "Love Bug Dolls" that Great Aunt Dode and Uncle Rog gave them for their birthday. Those little dolls got lots of hugs and kisses as we played this week.

We also had fun with a neat toy that Aunt Suzie gave them. The balls are popped up out of a cylinder by a gust of air and they bounce all over. All this is done while a catchy tune is playing. :)The girls have such a good time chasing them and putting them back in the tube.

Also this week, Chloe decided that walking might be fun after all. She hadn't shown much interest previously and was perfectly happy getting around by crawling and walking along furniture. In the following video clip she is pushing the little shopping cart and if you listen carefully she is making a "motor" sound with it. We sure laughed about that, we don't know where that came from!

As Papa and Chloe read books one day, Chloe decided to do the reading. Here she is with Papa showing him the book of nursery rhymes and telling him all about it.

Papa often brings a little surprise when he drops by. This time is was a Wendy's Frosty. Here you see Claire looking quite satisfied with the taste.

On Friday the girls had their 12 month checkup. As we already knew, they were pronounced perfect in every way. Other than the shot and finger poke that they each had to endure, they enjoyed their outing very much and both took a nice nap upon returning home.

Enjoying the 1 Year Old Girls!

Claire and Chloe continue to develop their individual and unique personalities and traits. They both, however, are very interested in books and when things start to get wild it always creates a quiet diversion for them.

Here Chloe is after we had read several books this week, a few of them over and over.

The two girls had a little adventure in the kitchen on my watch. Before I realized what was happening they had started helping their Mommy by cleaning out one of the bottom drawers. Chloe didn't stop until every item was out and on the floor. Fortunately it was a drawer with safe kitchen items, mostly baby related, so it was rather harmless.

The film clip below is of the girls having a "squeal-off", it sounds better to say "squeal" than to say "scream off". I can't remember what got them going but I know we had been reading books a bit earlier.

The last little video is of Claire parading around with the birthday balloons that were still around for their enjoyment. Normally they hang over the staircase out of reach but close enough for them to enjoy.