Holidays 2012 Wrap Up Part II and a BIG announcement

Here are a few additional pictures/stories from the days around Christmas. 

Puzzles were a HUGE hit with Jack this year.  Here he is with two of his new favorites.  

 Hope and Granddad checking out the holiday train exhibit at a local museum.

 Our happy girl on Christmas morning

 YUM!

Jack must have wanted to get to the presents under the tree and that is why he is not sharing in our holiday joy in this shot. 

Here's Jack watching the Grinch.  We didn't do such a good job with selling Santa Claus and all the presents he'd be brining, but we were all about the Christmas music, movies, and books.  Jack's favorite songs were Frosty the Snowman, The Twelve Days of Christmas, a version of Sleigh Ride sung by Sesame Street characters, and the Little Drummer Boy.  I can't count the number of mornings he wanted to watch the Christmas Thomas the Train and Mickey Mouse Club House episodes, as well as the above mentioned Grinch movie and book.  I've packed away the books so he's stopped asking to read them, but I can't seem to get him over the music.  Most nights while I am making dinner, he begs me to pull out the laptop so he can hear "Ernie" (Sleigh Ride) and the "First Day of Christmas" (12 days).  We have a book from my childhood called "The Christmas Tree that Stayed Up All Year."  Well, I think we may be the family who listens to Christmas music all year.  :-)

 

 I think I took this picture of Hope the day after Christmas.  She's become a bit of a climber and I found her sitting in the blocks. Getting out wasn't as easy for her as getting in, but I was impressed.

 

 One of Hope's gifts was balls to turn a laundry basket into a ball pit.  Jack is also a huge fan though we learned quickly that it only takes him seconds before all of the balls are out of the basket and spread across our entire down stairs.

 Jack also got a rolly Thomas backpack from my brother which he loves pulling around.  We tried it out on his back, but it made him look like too much of a big boy for me! Such a sweet photo with his dad though.

Here he is snuggling with said back pack in the car on our way home from my brother's.

Unfortunately for Kevin and the rest of ND nation, cute photos in ND t-shirts did not help the Irish on game night!  Sorry Daddy, but we did our part.  :(

Last Thursday was a big day for Hope and the rest of us.  Here is a video with her physical therapist taking some of her first few steps on her own! 

As if all of that wasn't enough, now . . . on to the big announcement!  Change is coming to our family.  Here's how Hope and Jack reacted to the news . .

Actually I don't think they have a clue that they are going to have a baby sister or brother arriving by the end of June.  It will be enough of an adjustment for both of them at that point, there is no need to start the panic just yet.  :-)  For now, they can just look cute in their t-shirts.

 So, yup, our family is expanding by one.  Kevin and I are pretty excited and things are so far so good.  I am in the midst of my 2nd trimester and happily feeling great.  The beginning was rather rough, in part, I think because I wasn't able to sleep away all hours not at work.  Hope and Jack still wake up the same time every morning and are waiting at the door when I get home from work ready for puzzle building, mommy hugs and of course, dinner.  It's taken us awhile to spread the news and I apologize for not having the time, energy, and motivation to call everyone personally.   I wanted to make sure my few loyal blog readers got the news as early as most. 

Holidays 2012 Part 1

The holidays have past, its been a couple months since my last update, and here we are welcoming in 2013.  It's a quiet night for our family and that is fine by me.  Both kids are asleep, there is a fire in our fireplace, and Kevin and I are watching Return of the Jedi for what may be the thousandth time.  It seems like a good time to get organized and finally share some pictures and stories.

As I may have complained here in the past, it is very hard to capture a good picture of both Hope and Jack at the same time.  They are both so busy and on the move and one of them is always reaching for the camera or my phone whenever I try to get them to smile simultaneously.  Mid November, we turned to a professional with the hope of some good Xmas card photos and an updated Hope/Jack duo shot for the grandparents' Xmas gifts.

Here are some of my favorites.  Jack was a handful that afternoon.  A lot of the shots are of him running away from us and the camera . . . so I was very pleased with the outcome.  Many thanks Bonnie!

 This one (below) was my second choice for the back of our Xmas card.  If you click on the picture, it will get larger and you can see how cute Hopie is.  Not that all the other pictures don't give off that impression as well . . . while Jack was running around like the crazy two year old he is, Hope decided she really liked our photographer Bonnie and was a smiling little princess.

From this, you would think it would be easy to get the two of them to sit nicely next to each other on a park bench.  Trust me . . . it's not!

 Classic Jack

 This might be the only time he smiled upon our request the entire shoot.  It's the best smile ever so totally worth it!

 This was our pick for the grandparents shot. 

The month of December started off with a bit of traveling for me.  I attended my first Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics Gala in Chicago.  One of my Colby BFFs Hillary met me there from Seattle to act as be my date.  We had an awesome weekend in my old city and a lot of fun getting to meet some other Angelman parents from all over the country.  Deep dish pizza, brunch at Nookies, Wildfire steaks, and so much more -- the perfect start to the holiday season!

Here we are all dolled up for the gala.

 Here's Hill after a successful night at the silent auction.  Who doesn't need a Kate Spade tennis racquet bag?  Especially if its benefiting a good cause and everything!!!  Thanks Hill!

We found a Santa at the NICU reunion party and opted for a quick photo.  Kevin decided we not traumatize Hope like last year (click here) so I joined the picture to keep things calm.  Jack didn't know what was going on, but does look awfully cute. Next year, we'll work on teaching him that this guy in the red suit is the one who brings all the gifts under the tree . . .

Just a cute candid of my clan after the NICU party

My annual tradition of Xmas PJs . . . drinking their milk = only time they are both sitting still.

Keep your eyes out for Holidays 2011 Part # which I hope to get up later this week.  I have a few additional pictures and stories from our actual Xmas celebrations to share.

Hurricane Sandy update and some Halloween pics

A five day weekend is as good of an excuse as any to get caught up on my blog updates.  As many of you know, the greater Philadelphia area was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Sandy so Kevin and I have had a few days off and home with Hope & Jack.  We were very fortunate to only lose power for an hour or so on Monday and just have a few tree branches to deal with in our yard.  That is quite a contrast from our beloved Jersey Shore and many of our friends in the greater NJ/NYC area so we are very grateful.  Kevin will return to LM today though his students get another day off.  I'm off again as J&J is still putting things back together.  Their headquarters are in North Jersey so I'm not surprised that most facilities do not have power and the overall network is a mess.  SEPTA is back running so I'm hoping that our nanny makes it to Havertown today so I can hide and get some more stuff accomplished. 

I posted these photos to facebook earlier today and wanted to get them on the blog too as I know many of you are not facebook users.  We had them taken a couple weeks ago by a mom from my multiples club who is an aspiring photographer and was offering mini-photo sessions in costumes at a local park.  I think Halloween has not been postponed in Havertown so maybe the twins will make it back into these outfits tonight, but at least I have the photos!!!  Neither one really knows what Halloween is yet and they don't get much exposure to candy so I'm not sure they'll notice if we don't trick or treat???  Does that make us bad parents???  Jack is most recently OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse Club House and has been watching the Halloween episode daily, but I don't think he's made the connection with the day in the park and his Elmo suit. Could Hopie be a more adorable lady bug?

Some of our fall adventures

Here are a few recent photos from our adventures at the end of summer and early fall.  I started this post weeks ago, but never finished it or got it uploaded, so here it is now.  

These were taken at a local park.  Kevin was at a basketball tournament so the kids and I went to park.  I chose a new one kinda far from our house hoping to get in a work out while pushing them in our Bob.  Jack insisted on riding in the wagon instead so my workout was all about the arms.  Totally worth it though as we had the fenced in tot lot all to ourselves and I got some great shots!

A new addition to our driveway so that Jack can get some early practice in - thanks Uncle Jim. He made this shot!!!

We were able to trial a loaner iPAD to use with Hope's communication therapy.  Guess who was a HUGE fan?  When she could get access to it, Hope was also a fan. 

 We were lucky to get a visit from my old friends Bridget and Dave and their new addition Aaron.  Here's the best photo I got of all the kids together.  No photos of the adults as usual . . .

While they were here, we visited the hippos at the aquarium who were in a posing mode. 

We also said hi to the sharks . . .

 

And took cute photos with Daddy.

 

Who's ready for football season, I am???

One of Hope's new pull up spots.  :-)

 Just a normal dinner at our house . . .

 Remember our bed photos from the past (click here, here, and here) . . . look at my babies now!!!

 Attempt #9987 for a cute shot of both of the twins.  Thank you Jack. 

 A recent visit to the Please Touch Museum with my friend Gaby really highlighted to me all the progress Hope is making as she was able to interact and enjoy so much more of the exhibits on this visit compared to our last one 3 months prior.

Standing and playing at the water table

Both kids happily riding the carousel

 Driving the construction vehicle with Mommy

 Driving a scooter

 Pushing a shopping cart

 Driving the Septa bus

I've talked a bit about my farm share veggie box.  One week in August, I decided to add to my share with 25 lbs of roma tomatoes . . .

which I turned into these. 

My thought process was that I would have tomatoes to cook with all winter, but honestly I've been going through my jarred tomatoes so fast that I'm almost out and I think I may have to can 50 lbs next year.  It was really easy to can them despite the time commitment.  If anyone wants a link to the recipe, let me know.