Eloise's space in our house keeps expanding. She told me that her new house is in the guest room. Her writing room (she's writing a book) is Phil and my room.

Drake is climbing up the ladder to the fort now. Makes my heart race every time I watch, but he's so proud of himself when he gets up there!

Eloise is setting up for her wedding. The decorating includes spreading out all the toys in various displays throughout the house.

When I got to the boys' Sunday school class after church, Drake got to me first. When I picked him up, he turned, and called for Brody. It was so cute. Drake calls Brody "Bro-Bro," and Brody calls Drake, "Gakey." Love seeing these boys interact with each other.

When Phil was gone last week, Drake would walk throughout the house (throughout the whole day!), and look for Phil. "Daddy, where are you?" He is definitely a daddy's-boy!

It's so interesting to watch the boys develop. Until recently, Brody has consistently been 4-6 weeks ahead of Drake developmentally across the board (teething, crawling, eating, walking). But Drake's speech has been developing leaps and bounds and he has been able to communicate so well, and has so many new words. He also has a few tunes he's mastered, that I hear him singing regularly: "Twinkle Twinkle, " "Come Thou Fount," and the "VeggieTales" theme song. :) Pretty well-rounded, if you ask me. :)

Summer, we're ready for you!!!

Eloise's Gold Nuggets for the Day

Eloise: How's school, Daddy?
Phil: It's going good. Thanks for asking.
Eloise: Don't forget to raise your hand, okay?

Ligaya: Can you think of one good thing God gave you?
Eloise: ... Strawberries
Ligaya: Okay. Yup, that's a good one.
Eloise: And animal crackers!

Eloise: Do you know I love being Daddy's sweetheart?... Do you like being Daddy's sweetheart too, Mama?

Every now and again, I think about starting to blog again. Today is one of those days. What the kids are doing these days:

 Eloise loves all things girly: pink, princesses, shopping, purses, fancy clothes. She regularly asks me, "Is this fancy, Mama?" (courtesy of Fancy Nancy) She will sit and color or play with stickers for a long long time.

 Brody is fast. He travels quickly, and he goes through toys quickly.

 Drake is often found playing on his own. He has a favorite spot to sit-a space in between Brody's crib and the wall. He brings whatever he wants to play with, and just sits and does his own thing.

 Brody and Drake love each other. If one of them is still sleeping when the other is done with the nap, I'll bring the awake boy out. And if I'm not watching, the awake boy will run down the hall and bang on the door til the other boy wakes up. When one of the boys has a time out, the time out boy will cry in his crib, and the other boy will sit just outside the door and cry for his brother.

 The boys love their sister. I find them all playing with their own babies, carrying the baby doll over their shoulders, patting the back and saying "shhhh." When the boys get up, Eloise will sometimes greet them with her arms outstretched saying, "Come to Sissy? Want to play with Sissy?"

 We love our kids. It's crazy and busy and wonderful and hilarious.

Growing Up

Can't believe how big these boys are getting! :) Loving every minute of it.

Easter Family Pictures

Attempted some family pictures. I realize what a victory it would be if everyone was looking and smiling at the camera. At least Phil and I got it! :)

Eloise, the Frog, Part 2

Those googley eyes were sticky!

Eloise, the Frog

While I was figuring out how to put the craft together, Eloise had different ideas of how to assemble the frog. (Listen for her "ribbit" at the end)

Brothers

This is one of my newest favorite pictures. While Phil and I were talking about it, Phil said that he thought they looked like they even posed for the picture. Love these boys! (Drake & Brody, almost 7 months!)

Giggles

Next time, I'll put Brody in the middle so he can see what's going on better. :)

Our Boys

Brody is rolling. Drake is not.

Drake is very interested and successful at eating rice cereal and other vegetables. Brody winces when I put a spoon in his mouth.

Brody yells. Drake squeals.

Drake sleeps flat on his back. Brody sleeps on his belly.

Both boys have smiles that melt my heart.

Both boys watch Phil intently as he gets ready for work.

Both boys laugh when Eloise makes faces at them.

Both boys are very ticklish.

Loving life with these two boys, and thankful for every day we have with them. Their brotherhood is so sweet to watch. They hold hands (which sometimes looks like they're arm wrestling) and look each other in the eyes as they play. And they smile at each other when they are reunited after their diaper changes.

I don't know if it will ever feel normal to have twins, but I do know that it will always be a joy.

A Pirate Says Arrr

Eloise's impersonation of a pirate.

Amazing to me.

With a little coordination, all of my kids can eat lunch at the same time.

Twinners

Just thought it was time to get back into blogging about the family. :) Here are some of our latest pictures of the boys. They are getting so big!-6 months on March 2nd!

We went to the children's museum the other day. Phil's mom, Fran, gave us a year membership. Eloise enjoyed her time (as always), and the boys and I walked the hallways. They'll enjoy it more when they're crawling. :) In the meantime, we had tons of fun exploring on our own. Here they are in their stroller.
A sweet pic of them on the recliner after they woke up from naps.
We recently have had to separate the boys. When they were first born, they slept in the same crib. When they were more active, I put a little divider in between them that was made to separate a crib for twins. For a while, Brody would rotate sideways, and kick the divider into Drake, until Drake's side was just big enough for him. He didn't seem to mind, but the other day, Drake fought back, and they spent a good chunk of their "nap time" kicking the divider back and forth between the two of them. I wondered how they would do if they slept together in the crib without the divider. This is how I found them when they woke up. :)

The Results Are In

The tests came back, and our boys are FRATERNAL! :) It's so fun to know! Thanks to all that threw in their guess on the poll!

Drake & Brody

So we will be finding out if these boys are identical or fraternal soon. Take a moment to place your bet on the poll to your right! Do you see more differences or similarities?... Identical or fraternal?...And are the differences you see because of the big weight difference?... Oh all the possibilities...