Our Second Thanksgiving...Oh My How We've Changed!

The boys celebrated their second Thanksgiving today, and, oh my, how they've changed since their first Thanksgiving last year!  Just for fun, we reenacted last year's pose of the boys sitting in a clothes hamper while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade...except last year, the hamper actually served a purpose since the boys weren't able to sit up on their own yet!

And, last year, they certainly weren't able to do this!

The parade fascinated them at 4 months old...

And, it fascinated them even more at 16 months!

 But, this time, they found the clothes hamper to be even more fascinating...

Bryce thought if he dragged the hamper to the other side of the room, he'd have it to himself...but Ben wasn't giving it up!

Ben got back at his brother by using Bryce's head to brace himself while climbing into the hamper...

Bryce is looking at me as if he's saying, "Did you see what Ben just did to me?"

I guess they decided to share...

They're so silly!

We started the day with a late lunch at Uncle Eric and Aunt Alisha's house, then moved on to Uncle Peter and Aunt Lizzy's house for dinner. But, on the way to Aunt Lizzy's, we decided to drive around for an hour so the boys could take a much needed nap...

(Unfortunately, not only did I forget to bring a camera with me to Eric's, but I also failed to take even one picture while we were there! So, the rest of these pictures were taken with just my phone...shame on me!)

Here we are at Lizzy's playing with Oma, Opa, Claire, and Will before dinner...

Bryce found Will to be quite entertaining...

And, so did Ben...

Me and my sweet Benjamin...

My three boys playing after dinner...

Bryce playing with Will's dinosaur...

Finally, I was able to get one closeup picture of them together!  Mission accomplished!

Bye Bye, Bottles!

I kept a promise that I made to myself a couple of months ago...to stop giving the boys bottles when they turn 16 months! The doctor suggests 15 months, but I figured they deserved an extra month since they were born one month early :) The boys turned 16 months this past Monday, so, unbeknownst to them, that bottle they happily drank at breakfast was their very last!  And, tonight, I had a bittersweet moment as I boxed up all their bottles and the dozens of parts that go with them...wow, looking at this picture sure brings back memories of those unbearable 3 hour feedings!

Perhaps we'll meet again one day...

That tape will keep us from cheating the next time the boys get sick and keep us up all night...since a nice warm bottle of milk usually help to put them back to sleep!

And, of course, this blog post would be way too boring without at least one picture of the boys!  Here they are at just one day shy of turning 16 months (since I've been slacking with my monthly birthday photos)...

Must Wear Shoes!

The time has come...no matter how much they despise it, the boys must wear shoes!  Unfortunately, the only pair of shoes that I can find that they can't/won't pull off their feet are these soft soled baby booties!  So, for now, even though the boys are too old for them, these booties will just have to do.  But, at least they're cute and will keep their feet warm until we can upgrade to the more appropriate "early walker" shoes!  But, by then, they probably won't be early walkers anymore!

I ordered these shoes (ummm, I mean, booties) online, and the day they arrived, I fought the boys to get them on their feet.  Then, I made the boys wear them all day so they would get used to walking in shoes. 

They started off slow and a little wobbly...

But then quickly picked up speed...

They were even able to bend down in them :)

And hide in corners...

And even walk in straight lines! :)

And through gates...

Well, maybe not...ouch, that hurt!

Action shot!  I think they're pros in shoes now...

They had to wear them during dinner, too!

Two Babies, One Swing

When there are two babies but only one swing, we have to get creative!  I don't think we'll be able to do this for much longer though!

Family Photos by Carissa

These are some family photos taken by Carissa Byers, a sweet photographer we've used twice to photograph both sides of our family before Evan and I were even married. This was a mini session that was supposed to last 20 minutes, but the boys were so uncooperative that we stopped half way through! The boys were 15 months old in these pics... and those baby booties were the only shoes they allowed us to put on their feet at that age!

They refused to sit...

And were more interested in playing with the equipment...

This one became our Christmas card... the only one where they're both looking at the camera and looked somewhat happy!

We were all sweating by the time we left the studio!