PB&J Sandwiches

I served Caden and Caroline their first PB&J sandwiches a few weeks ago. Well, actually, the PB is sunflower seed butter. We have yet to have peanuts and will put it off for a little while. Cal, one of the cousins, had a peanut allergy (that he thankfully outgrew after a couple years).

Here is Caroline enjoying her sandwich which was shaped like a flower thanks to a cute sandwich cutter from her aunt Angie.
Here is a picture of Caden and his mostly untouched sandwich.
Delicious! Wish mom had thought to serve me Sunbutter a long time ago!

"Back Hug"

Recently, when I came home from work and bent down to give the kids hugs, Caroline did something funny. Instead of giving me a normal hug, Caroline backed into me and said, "back hug, back hug." I don't know where she came up with that but it made Amy and I laugh.

Every once in a while, Caroline still gives me back hugs.

Spaghetti

Amy has made spaghetti for the kids several times in the past and they were never interested. But when the cousins were here, both kids tried and liked spaghetti. Since then, Amy has served it a few times. The last time, Caden got it all over. We didn't mind at all since we are just happy if Caden eats anything.

Climbing: Part 3 of 3 -- JW Tumbles

Another place with lots of fun climbing spots is JW Tumbles. We went there the last two Saturdays with families from our small group. Caden was actually the more enthusiastic climber at JW Tumbles so this post is mostly about him.

Caden warmed up but going right up this metal ladder to the top of their playscape. It is probably about five feet in the air and Caden does it with ease.
Later, Caden was trying his skills on the obstacle course. I was surprised he was able to get on top of this. He really had to work hard for this one.
My favorite part about Caden climbing this obstacle wall was Caroline cheering him on from the sideline. As Caden climbed, Caroline squealing, "yay, Caden!!!" over and over. Then, when he came down, she ran over and hugged and kissed Caden! How sweet is that?

Caden's most impressive climbing feat was the 8+ foot ladder attached to the wall. If I reached up and stretched, I could barely touch the the bell you can see hanging at the top of each ladder.
Caden showed no fear and made it all the way to the top. He enthusiastically rang the bell and then tried to climb even higher. Before he pulled himself over the top bar, I was able to grab his leg and safely pull him down.

Here was Caden's victory celebration as I floated him down from the top of the ladder.

Climbing: Part 2 of 3 -- Play Kitchen

The Baker Five gave us their old play kitchen. One day, Amy brought it out of the playroom and into our living room. The twins loved it in there and play with it daily.

One way they play with it is by climbing on it. It seems like there is always at least one twin climbing on this thing.

Here is Caroline standing in the sink. The second she got up here, she started yelling, "Picture! Picture! Picture!" Of course, I obliged.
After posing for her first picture, she started going up further by climbing onto the microwave.
She found a nice picture spot.Caden loves climbing on the kitchen as well. Here, Caden is standing in the sink looking over to the grill side.Caden made it all the way to the top! You can see how proud he was to summit Mt Play Kitchen. Both twins have actually stood straight up on the part Caden is sitting on here. Can you believe, he can get up here in under ten seconds?
There favorite kitchen climbing activity would have to be climbing through the window. They will take turns going through over, and over, and over...
As you can see, they don't just look through the window. They go all the way through.Oh, in case you are wondering, I do not know why Caroline happened to be naked in this sequence.

Climbing: Part 1 of 3 -- The Swingset

The twins each have a lot of traits where we wonder the origin. Sometimes Amy or I try to take credit for a trait. Other times, we blame a trait on the other. One trait shared by our twins where there is no question of origin is their love of climbing. I was definitely a climber as a youngin', and even now, I sometimes, er often, think, "hey, I bet I could climb that."

The kids are getting better and better at climbing. We try keep a close eye on them, which is easier said than done. It has become a common occurrence for us to search for a kid only to find them on top of something. We often find them on the diaper changing table, the kitchen table, desk, indoor playscape, entertainment system, bed, etc, etc, etc. Both kids can scale these items in a mere matter of seconds.

A couple weeks ago, the kids found something outside made for climbing--the swingset! We have used the swingset many times over the last year for swinging. But now, the kids know they can climb the six foot ladder, play on the top, and go down the slide all by themselves. Their first time to do this was in front of a very worried Grandma and Aunt Angie.

Here is my little man heading on up the ladder
Caroline was literally right on his heels.
Now, it is Caroline's turn to go first.Grandma was close by to make sure Caden didn't fall.
Caden pulling himself up to the top.
You may have noticed our kids did not have pants on in these pictures. My bad. The next time we went out to climb, both kids were fully dressed.

Notice two fully dressed and proud kids.
Caroline even wanted to sport her Minnie Ears.
One thing both kids liked doing was grabbing onto the handle bars, standing close to the edge, and hanging out as far as their arms would let them. I didn't get a picture of them doing that because I was busy being ready to catch them in case they fell.
While Caden was doing this, he scared me by declaring, "fall!!!" Typically, when Caden says this, he intentionally falls off whatever he happens to be on. This normally entails him falling off the couch head first. He always finds it hilarious. This time, I explained how it would not be funny to fall from this height and that he would get hurt. I hope he understood. :)
Caroline preparing to go down the slide while Caden patiently waited for his turn.
Now, it's Caden's turn.
I look forward to years of watching the kids play on this swingset. I wonder how long it will be before one of them is on the roof top or walking down the swing crossbar as if it were a balance beam? And in case you are wondering, I think I could do it. :)

Photo Shoot with Cousins at Mayfield Park

When the Baker Five where in town, we had plans to head down to Mayfield Park to take some family pictures. We had matching outfits ready and a professional photographer all lined up. Sadly, at the last minute, the photographer had to cancel because of back problems. Despite loosing our pro, we decided to wake up early and head to Mayfield Park with the intent of taking our own pictures.

Mayfield Park is a great place for taking pictures and we've been there several times before. One cool thing about this park is they have quite a few peacocks running around. The kids were very interested in the peacocks. For some reason, after this trip to Mayfield Park, whenever we say peacock or play with the Little People peacock, the twins say, "no, no, no, peacock!" I'm not sure where that came from.

We managed to get a number of good pictures. By far, the stars of the day were the girls--Ella and Caroline. They did a much better job posing and smiling for the camera than any of the boys.

We first took some pictures on the porch. The lighting was pretty bad on the porch, so we didn't get much.
Here is big Will giving a big hug to his favorite cousin.We then headed over to another spot to take pictures. I'm not sure why Ella is carrying Caroline in this picture, but Caroline didn't mind in the least. Caroline will do any Ella wants her to do.This is my favorite one of all five kids. We got them to stand like this by telling them we were going to have a race.
Go, go, go!!! I love that Caroline is making eye contact with the camera with a giant smile on her face.
Caroline loved being our little model.
Caden, on the other hand, was way more into exploring than modeling.
The girls cousins.
Aren't they sweet?
I think this is a great picture of Ella.
This is my favorite picture of Will. This was just before he decided he was done posing for pictures.I like that the twins are in the background of this one.
The girl cousins checking the place out together.
They found something fun--a pond with koi fish.
For some reason, Caroline kept tasting the water. She would dip her hand in the water and then stick her finger in her mouth (as shown below). We thought there was a good chance we'd come home with a case of Montezuma's revenge. Thankfully, no one brought anything home.
Cal and Caden checking the ponds out together.
Will didn't know I was taking this picture. Like I said before, he was done. :)
Cal was still up for some pictures.
Poppa and his favorite granddaughters. This was towards the end of our photo shoot and Caroline and Ella were still going strong.
One last little bit of exploring before we left.I was happy with the pictures we ended up getting. We had some great little models. Amy and I need to make it a point to go take pictures like this more often.