Swimming with Grandpa

We went to Dallas during the long Fourth of July weekend. While we were there, the twins did some swimming with Grandpa and Daddy.

Grandpa helped Caroline swim all over the pool. She did a great job kicking for him.
Caroline loved flying out of the water with Grandpa.
I did the same with Caden.
And then with both kids.
Here is a picture of Caden working on his swimming technique. I was encouraging him to kick.
I love the smile on his face here. This large, open mouth smile was on his face almost the entire time we were in the pool. I'm sure Caden drank a lot of pool water.

Fire Truck

Last month, the family picked me up at work and we headed to lunch at one of our favorite places--Torchy's Tacos. Torchy's is next to a fire station which happened to have a fire engine parked out front. The kids thought it was cool and we walked inside to eat.

After lunch, the engine was still outside so I walked the kids over to get a closer look. Within seconds of walking up, a fireman came running outside to say hi. (Amy will need to make some cookies for them sometime.)
He offered to let the kids inside the fire truck and we took him up on the offer. I thought it was cool when he opened the door because several steps automatically came down to help you get in. The twins didn't care about that part. :)

Here is our little girl driving the fire truck. She was very proud and would have stayed in there all day if we let her.
Caroline didn't want to get out to give Caden a turn so we let both of them drive at the same time. There was plenty of space and they played nicely together.
While sitting in the truck, Caden did something I thought was funny. Every time a truck drove by, Caden would point and say, "truck, truck, truck." For some reason, he was more excited about the mail trucks, delivery trucks, and pickup trucks. I kept telling him he was in a far cooler truck but that didn't change anything. All trucks are equally cool to Caden.

No Sir!

Caroline has a new favorite phrase......"No Sir!" I guess it's true, kids do listen and mimic everything we say! She's heard me say "No Sir" to Caden more than once and now she's taken it upon herself to correct Caden when he's doing something she doesn't think he should with a boisterous "No sir, Caden, no sir!" She even has my tone of voice down perfectly. Perhaps I should come up with a new saying sometime soon!

Helping Mommy Make an Apple Pie

We couldn't make it to Dallas on Father's Day to celebrate with Grandpa so we decided to celebrate a few weeks later during the Fourth of July weekend. One of his gifts was going to be one of Amy's delicious apple pies. Amy makes by far the best apple pie I've ever had.

When Amy started making the pie, the twins decided they really wanted to help. Amy pulled a couple kitchen chairs over to the island so Caden and Caroline could help out. This is the first time they have ever helped make something in the kitchen. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Here is Mommy and her two helpers peeling/cutting an apple.
The twins were very interested in the slicer, peeler, cutter.
Here is Caroline giving it a try.
Caden wanted in on the action.
Caden didn't think he could wait for the apple pie to be finished. He decided to to try (aka: lick) an apple as Caroline turned it.Delicious!

Of course, if Caden does something, Caroline needs to also do it.
As you can see, Caroline managed to get a little bite.
It was so good, she went in for some more.
Here is a picture of the final product. It was delicious!Amy had a lot of fun baking with the twins. I'm sure this will be the first of many more kitchen helpers.

BBQ Sauce at Freebirds

I love BBQ sauce and am probably a BBQ sauce snob. I like trying all the sauces at the grocery store and any restaurant that serves them. When I use BBQ sauce, I use a lot of it. If you've ever been to Freebirds with me, you know that I completely SOAK my burritos with BBQ sauce. Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree...

A few weeks ago, we went to Freebirds for lunch. Caden decided the only thing he wanted for lunch was the Freebirds BBQ sauce. We gave him a cup of their sauce and he ate the entire thing with a spoon!
Just so you know, we did give and encourage him to eat other food. The BBQ sauce was the only thing he'd touch that day. :)

Right there!!!

Tonight, I watched the kids while Amy helped with a wedding at our church. Like usual, they did tons of funny things. Caroline did one worth sharing.

Caden, Caroline, and I were in the living room when Caroline started saying, "diaper, diaper, diaper." I was busy doing something and had recently changed their diapers so I did not immediately acknowledge her.

A couple seconds later she said, "poo poo...poo poo." And a few seconds after that, Caroline started saying, "diaper, diaper, right there, right there...poo poo, right there, right there." When I finally acknowledged Caroline, she was bringing me a diaper pointing at it saying "right there" over and over. I assumed it was a clean diaper she wanted put on, but it turned out to be her dirty diaper than she took off!

Thankfully, everything stayed in the diaper and Caroline did not point to close to anything. I guess this is more proof that we need to start thinking about potty training.

PS: I wish I had a sound bite of Caroline her saying "right there." It would make the story so much better. She says it all the time. It kinda sounds like "right dare".

Baby Locks? What Baby Locks?

This picture is from a couple months ago but I thought it was funny. We have a child safety lock on the cabinet that contains our dvd player, DVR, etc. As you can see, it doesn't do much good. Both kids take it off like it is nothing and plays inside.
The funny part is what Caroline does when they are done playing inside. She closes the door, puts the lock back on, and says, "Daddy." She knows that I am diligent about keeping the lock on the door.