June, July, and August

Hey, hey.... I'm back!!! I know it's not the first of the month (I'm only two days late)sorry. Three months flew by, and what a fun filled summer we had. I've got tons of pictures and lots of updates on the kids and our wonderful family.

This summer has been full of new babies, one each month to be exact. My cousin Aaron and his wife Jennnifer welcomed their first baby boy on June 17th, Kyler James. Keaton and Bronwyn absolutely love him to death and talk about him all the time. In July our friends Karen and Jarod welcomed their second child, Luke Johnson. And on August 1st, our good friends Marnie and Aaron brought little Joy Hutchason in to the world. Lots of babies, and more to come... One in September, and another in October. Fun times!

We ventured off to the circus in June with some of our friends... The Johnson's and the Parvainian's. Though the circus was almost a two hour show, the kids made it through the whole thing and really enjoyed it. We went early and saw all of the animals before the show. They loved the elephants and clowns.

In July we went down to San Diego to visit James, Molly, and Nathan. We took the kids to Sea World and the beach. They loved the Shamu show, but what they still talk about is Elmo land. They got to meet Elmo, give him hugs and kisses, and even take a picture with him. We saw a show with the Sesame Street characters that they really enjoyed too. When we went to the beach Keaton went right for the water, smiling the entire time. Bronwyn, who is not a big fan of sand, actually took her shoes off and ventured in to the water too. It was a quick weekend trip, but we had so much fun.

In August we went and checked out the new Sea Lion Cove at the Zoo, had a picnic lunch with family, and fed the giraffe's. Even though it was super hot, the kids had a blast. Having a Zoo membership is going to come in handy when the weather starts to get a little nicer.

We have done a lot of swimming in our pool this summer. Though they don't know how to swim yet (we'll tackle that next summer) they both really like the water. They enjoy taking rides on the raft, jumping off the side, playing on the step, and walking around in the spa.

Keaton and Bronwyn love playing with play doh. For their birthday the got a great set of various colors and tools to play with. They like making necklaces, rings, and bracelets with it. They will sit at their little table for a good 20-30 minutes playing and talking to eachother. If you ask either of them who their best friend is, their reply will always be bubba or sissy. It is so darn cute, and couldn't be more true. They are so close to one another, I can't imagine having it any other way. They love playing in forts that we'll build for them. They take books, pillows, stuffed animals, and play in there for a while. Hiding is something that they have been doing a lot of too. They will hide under blankets, giggle when you can't find them, and pop out at you, laughing and smiling the whole time.

We're getting close to potty training. Bronwyn is much more interested in it than Keaton. We have had lots of trips to the potty and successful outcomes. Now it's just a matter of really going for it 100%. I think in the next month or two we're going to go for it. Hopefully when I write the blog in December I will be telling you all that we have TWO kids out of diapers.

With the olympics happening this summer, we watched a ton of various sports. Keaton and Bronwyn both learned how to hit a ball like a volleyball player does. They can both catch a ball now too, most of the time. Bronwyn loved watching gymnastics. We would tape it at night and watch it the next day with her. She now pretends that she is Gabby, the all around gold medalist. She will jump and flip of the couch, swing on her slide, and somersault on the ground telling you that she is Gabby girl. I see a lot of me in her, I use to pretend just like that when I was younger.

We have done a lot of disciplining this summer as well. We are the parents of two, definitely two year olds. They are testing us daily, no... hourly. Bronwyn listens more than Keaton, but has a harder time with sharing. Keaton wants to see just how far he can go before he gets in trouble. With Keaton if we give him a warning and tell him that he will go on time out, he usually won't do it again. Speaking of time out, the kids are now putting their stuffed animals on time out. Winnie the Pooh goes on time out most often for some reason. Recently, they have been getting out one of their Olivia books, and in the book Olivia goes on a BIG time out for painting on the walls. I think the whole concept of time out is really sticking with them, wouldn't you?

Now I am going to brag about just how smart Keaton and Bronwyn both are. They can both sing their ABC's from beginning to end and count to 10. I am now working on letter recognition with them by doing little crafts and games each week, focusing on a new letter each week. I don't know how much or if they are really retaining any of it, but I figure they'll be familiar with letters when they start preschool next year. (Yes, we're already thinking about preschool!) Keaton and Brawny will both catch on to different songs that we sing too, and we'll hear them singing together sometimes. They talk ALL THE TIME, and really well too. It amazes me the vocabulary they both have. We read them at least two books every day, and many of the books that we read they remember various things that happened in the stories. As a former teacher I couldn't be more proud... they're two and already showing comprehension skills. I am one proud mama!

As you can see we have been very busy. Keaton and Bronwyn keep us on our toes and frustrate us at times, but no amount of frustration could ever compete with our smart, happy, vivacious, free spirited, hilarious twins who keep our family energized and smiling every day. Nate and I are so blessed to have them in our life. Our family is complete and full of love. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Well, I think that is about it for this quarter. Enjoy the many pictures and we'll see ya again in December. Thanks for checking in!!! Until next time...


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