Happy Halloween

Mark and Ella had a GREAT Halloween. They dressed up as a bee and a flower, and I was shocked that Mark put his costume on. He even wore the hood the entire night. Ella of course loved to dress up. They enjoyed eating the candy after they went to each house, so there wasn't a big stash at the end of the night. And they were definitely ready for bed! Lots of fun.

Its been a while

The time has flown by recently (football season already?) and I realized I haven't updated the blog in a while. Mark and Ella have started up school again and its great. This year we are going 2 full days and Mark and Ella love it. No tears after day 2 from Mark and Ella never cried at all. In fact, when I came to pick her up the 2nd day, she crossed her arms over her chest and said "No!" when she saw me. How sweet! :)

The last picture is a silly one from one random afternoon (I don't know why it loaded sideways). Mark and Ella decided to completely hide in the tuperware cabinet. I walked in the kitchen, saw nothing, but heard giggles. Too funny!

Ella and Mark have really turned on the talking lately and it is hilarious. I need to start writing them down. Ella's most recent response after I asked if she had a dirty diaper was "NO!! (pause) not yet (smiling)"

Dance Class

I know there's probably not a lot of dancing going on during class (unfortunately they won't let the parents watch) but this is just too cute to resist!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Mark and Ella celebrated their 2nd birthday on Sunday and it was a lot of fun. We met some friends up at Gymboree for the party and it was great. Easy on mom and the kids loved it. We had a total of 3 sets of twins at the party, so that was fun. Lots of running around and burning off the sugar high from the cupcakes! Thanks to all our family and friends who helped celebrate such a fun day!

Mark and Ella went to the doc yesterday too for their 2 year visit (which ended up being a 2, yes 2, hour visit - lots of back to school physicals which I will take note of next year) they are both doing great. Ella is 50% across the board, as usual, and Mark is 50% for weight and 75% for height.

Just when I thought they couldn't get cuter......

.....they walk around the house like this (never mind that they were holding hands because Ella was leading Mark to open the door because she doesn't know how yet)!

Summer Fun

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks. Ella trying out her golf swing (she has the patience for the game, while Mark is easily distracted). Mark, Ella, and AJ playing on the splash pad Michelle brought over (super fun) and lunch at Chuy's. Our group was too funny so I had to document all the kids. 5 kids and 6 adults, at least we still have the majority!

Professional Pics

We had a lady from my Mother's of Multiples group come over last week to take some pictures of the kids and I thought they turned out great. Ella wouldn't smile until she felt comfortable and Mark would not stop moving, so things were pretty normal! The pictures were taken at our house, which was great for us. But I was sweating and exhausted by the end of our session.

Summertime!

Summer is officially here. No school, hot weather, swimming pools, and mom trying to keep everyone entertained. We tried our hand at finger painting, which went about as well as could be expected and the walls only got a little bit of paint. We've been spending a lot of time in the baby pool outside. We tried the neighborhood pool last weekend and that was a complete bust. Mark cannot be still for more than 2 seconds and he was more interested in running around the pool and grassy area than splashing. Looks like it will be backyard swimming for us!

Aunt Valerie and Uncle Steve

Aunt Valerie (Aunt "Bobbie-ba") and Uncle Steve (Uncle "Cheese") came to visit and Mark and Ella took about 30 seconds to completely warm up to them. They both got in Steve's lap after their nap and also got their 1st sprinkler experience. Ella freaked, but was totally into it after she saw Mark having fun. The camera couldn't capture the hilarious faces they made when the water sprayed them. Lots of fun!

April Pics

Here are a few pics from April. The month flew by and I completely forgot to post anything new. We have Ella driving blind (saying cheese inside the bucket because she heard the camera), Mark playing with his cell phone, Ella hunting all the Easter eggs while Mark digs up rocks, Mark pushing Ella (this happens all the time), and finally Ella's 1st goose egg (she was obviously not happy about it).

Curious Georges

Mark and Ella have been getting into everything lately. Shoes are a definite favorite for both of them (those are my tennis shoes he's wearing). They recently discovered a cabinet in the laundry room where I store old shopping bags, which Ella thoroughly enjoyed. And just today I had a case of water out that provided much more entertainment than I could have imagined. Mark supervised while Ella did all the heavy lifting.

Smiles, bellies, and shoes

I've been deliquent on posting new pictures, but I've been pretty bad about taking them. Here are a few I snapped of Mark and Ella just being goofy.

Being Cute

We haven't been up to a whole lot lately. Mark and Ella were healthy for almost the entire month of January, so that was a treat. They weren't feeling so great the other day and I caught a cute pic of the two of them watching tv on the couch with their puppies (their absolute favorite thing to lay on). The other two are just goofin' around the house.

Ouch!

We had a bit of an accident on Monday. Mark fell in the street and broke his tooth. We went to the dentist yesterday and there was no hope of saving the tooth, so Mark is toothless until the permanent one comes in.....in about 5 years! Poor guy. He was very brave and I really don't know how he wasn't in more pain since you could see the nerve in between the gap where his tooth split. But luckily all three pieces came out in one chunk so it was over as quickly as possible. Mark had a pretty rough day, but is doing great today and back to his normal happy self!

Here are the before (you can see the nerve if you enlarge the 1st pic) and after pics. And a really sweet one of Ella and Mark kissing! I think she knew her big brother needed some extra loving since that is a first for either of them. In my rush to get a pic, I didn't have time to center the photo, but at least I got something!