My Top 10

Hello again!
I say that to my faithful following of 0, hahaha. I am keeping this up mostly for myself as a journal opportunity and hopefully to keep as a memento for the munchkins, so no big deal. I guess maybe if I told some people about it they might visit. Anyway, I love this picture! The boys are playing Peter Pan and Captain Hook with kitchen utensils, this is all the rage right now! The lock on that kitchen drawer is broken, so they get into it constantly and then always head outside because of course they have figured out the lock on the slider as well. I try to at least have them dressed, but other than that it is no big deal. Our yard is completely fenced and safe and I am either out there with them or watching from the kitchen with the door open. They love to run, I love them to get worn out and once in a while I get some stuff done in the kitchen at the same time. The twinship is just flourishing right now and I LOVE it! They still fight like you wouldn't believe, if we don't have 3 time-outs a day for biting what would we do?, but they are also really starting to play together and get their imaginations going together. The other day Davis was in time out for something other than biting (trying to play with the ice maker-AGAIN!) and Carter waited outside the door for him and patted him on the head when he came out and said, Sorry Dadis. They are actually very good with the Sorrys, and Excuse Mes, Please, Thank yous, etc. They call each other Tardy most of the time which I find kind of funny, I think of it as their version of Carter, but Carter calls Davis it as well. Funny boys. We have been busy as usual, if I am not at work I am playing with those boys! And when I am at work I am shopping online for them and getting their preschool lessons ready and relaxing (oh yeah, working some too :)). We went to Farm Country to see the baby cows again and Davis got to feed one, they are so darn cute. We fed the goats too and had a pony ride, all good fun. We went to the Dinosaur museum this week too and enjoyed the Monday activity night where we made dinosaur sand art. We are sure using that Thanksgiving Point membership to the max--wait until the gardens open. It was $100 for the year and in 2 months it has already paid for itself and that was before the peak season. I highly recommend it! We've been busy painting again, how they love to paint and how I hate cleaning it all up! Hate to pent their enthusiasm though. We have also spent as much time possible outside as the weather has been so nice. I am so spent by Friday from being on call all night and then getting up early with the boys but they were so sweet playing at the park today. They "cleaned up cleaned up" by throwing all the rocks away and followed each other all over repeating what the other was doing. While watching them I thought of the top 10 best things about nearly 2.5 year old twin boys (there is a worst list too, but who needs that!)
10. All the little outfits are just that much cuter on 2 kids
9. Seeing their different personalities develop like Davis who always likes to wear a hat
8. The endless giggling coming from their bedroom when they are supposed to be asleep
7. NEVER a dull moment
6. Keeping the washing machine and dishwasher well tuned through frequent use
5. Seeing them learn things together
4. 'Tome on Tardy' 'I'm toming'
3. Endless hugs and sticky kisses, it still can make me cry, they can be so sweet to their mama and each other
2. Watching them play with their Daddy, I have the 3 best boys in the world
1. Watching a lifelong best-friendship grow before my eyes.
Well, time to "work" again, until next time-
Carter and Davis' Mommy (or Heidi)

A day off=fun for Mommy!

So I have had a couple of days off, 2 I normally have off and one I took off as I did not have a sitter. My wonderful mother-in-law wrangles the boys every other Friday, but every 6 weeks she has to work so Lowell or I take the day off. Did I mention how wonderful she is with them? She brings them fruit every week and a Kid's Cuisine and plays with them until they are all exhausted. I am excited to say we got into the 2 year old preschool for the fall which will give grandma a little bit of a break while I am at work. But I digress . . .
Wednesday we went to the Farm Country and it was so cool if actually cold, we never seem to get out until the sun is setting and then the cold sets in fast. Anyway there was a 1 day old, 2 day old, and 4 day old calf at the farm and they were SO cute. They were feeding them when we came and the guy asked Lowell to help, so he got to feed a whole bottle. It cracked me up when he took the bottle away for a second to let some air in and the calf lunged at his groin searching for milk. Not gonna find it there. . .The boys loved feeding the goats corn and really had fun with the various chickens and turkeys. They imitated their noises and just laughed. Fun times.
Thursday I hit the outlet mall and got some good deals. Spent $50 on fall clothes for next year at OshKosh, saved $217 and spent $25 on very cute shirts at VanHeusen for me and saved $71. Got some ice cream on the way home and took some very cute pictures that night, see above. Every now and again the boys will just participate with photos and I get some great shots. Those are the things I will remember in years to come, so I take a lot. Any time my kids are smiling or hugging, I try to be there. They played find Daddy downstairs in the dark with their glow sticks and just had a really good time. Lowell is so good with the boys. He is a full-time hands on Dad as we switch off watching them--we both work full-time--and somehow he still finds time to get all the cleaning done. He is definitely SuperDad. The gals at his work have asked to borrow him but I have to say sorry, you just have to choose well in the beginning and I got so very very lucky.
So Friday was my bonus day at home and that was great because I had some fun preschool things planned. We painted the orange juice cartons we have been saving and made trains out of them. It was a good day although the boys seemed tired and cranky maybe they are getting their molars, I can never keep on top of all that. I had them in their Valentine outfits as I did not get pictures that day and somehow I had this crazy idea that I could keep them clean until Lowell got home and could get them to smile for my pictures. Well, it almost worked. Five minutes before naptime they found a nice juicy mud puddle outside and had a great time getting all dirty. What can you say, they are boys and they LOVE mud! So I took pictures of them in the mud, those will be my Valentine pictures this year :). We rounded out the night going to Jungle Jim's--it's like a glorified Chuck E Cheese and you don't have to buy the pizza. The funniest part was when the boys so badly wanted to ride the bumper cars but are too small. They said we could ride with them but the cars were too small for us. So Lowell and I dutifully drove our little men around with one leg sticking out of the car and pushing the pedal with one hand. The things we do for those boys!
Anyway, a good couple of days off but it is nice to be back at work and productive again. Or maybe I just needed to check my email and ebay bids . . .

Here we go marching 2 by 2 hoorah! Hoorah!

Okay, so it looks like the boys haven't been too good at keeping this blog up considering it has been nearly 2 years since the last post! I guess I better step in and help them out. Turns out I have abit of free time, but only at work! So I thought this may be a good way to keep a log of some of the things the boys are doing. You'd think maybe I would have kept a journal, but nope, always too busy running after those little stinkers! I do write about the boys in letters to my dad in California so I have been pulling little things out of those letters for posterity's sake. Anyway, so here we are and Carter and Davis are now 28 months old, on their way to being 2 and a half! That is so crazy to me. They are really becoming little boys right before my eyes. Just in the past couple of weeks they have given up their high chairs, strollers in favor of a wagon and cribs in exchange for big boy beds. And yes I fought every one of these transtitions, but the boys seem to need/want some control over their lives and Lowell and I are relinquishing it a little at a time. I have started at home preschool with them this week and it has been a lot of fun. I found curriculum for 2 year olds on adaycare.com and the lessons have been simple and fun. I would like them to learn some, but mostly play, they are after all only 2. This week's lessons have been transportation and today was cars. So we played a matching game where they matched the same colored cars. Then we did an art project involving glue--that was a hit! Next was a game of putting cars into a box and taking them out the other side, who knew this could be SO much fun. Finally we pretended to be various modes of transportation running through the house. They were happy and that is all that matters to me. Especially since I am usually so tired from being up all night at work and because they have not slept well the past couple of days. Next we spent some time at the park where the tube slide was a big hit. I was happy to see them enjoying that slide since they used to get bopped around on the inside and so have steered clear of it. We are going to put in a playset in the backyard with a tube slide this summer--so you can see why I am happy to see them over their fear. We all tried to surprise each other inside of the tube or on the way out and there was lots of laughing going on, the sweetest sound to a mother!
That was today, not sure how much to try and update from the past 2 years, it sure has been a roller coaster ride, but one Lowell and I wouldn't give up for anything, well most days anyway!

Saint Patrick's Day (2006!)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
We celebrated by wearing a little green and going to lunch with Daddy and his siblings. We got to play with Grandma and Grandpa P too. Saturday we mostly hung out at home except for a trip to Home Depot to get some flowers. Mommy and Daddy can't wait for Spring, little did they know that we would get a foot of snow overnight. Hahaha they are so silly. Sunday we got to go to church where everyone said we were so cute and we behaved ourselves for the most part. It isn't easy to sit still for 3 hours, but we did take a nap. Then Grandma D and Mommy's siblings came up for dinner and for a photo shoot. We wore our new Tommy V-neck sweater vests and looked SO dapper. You will all see soon. Carter had a great time with his feet and Davis enjoyed playing with his tongue. We both like to hold toys a lot now and especially to put them in our mouths. So fun. We had a little cereal too, Mommy learned not to feed us at the same time any more as Carter is too inpatient for his turn. Mommy just can't believe how big we are getting and how fast we have grown. Can't help you mom, we got places to go. Catch ya later all-

Introducing . . .us!

Welcome everyone to our website! Let us introduce ourselves, we are Carter and Davis Penrod, the fantastic duo! About a year ago our mommy and daddy were anxious to start their little family and were pleasantly surprised when the pregnancy test came up positive. They of course had no clue of the real surprise in store for them, that we were both busily growing away. Mother's Day 2005 Mommy's nurse friend Marnae did a quick ultrasound for her and surprise! there we both were, kicking away and healthy. Mommy and Daddy couldn't be more thrilled, nervous for the future of course, but so happy to be doubly blessed. We made Mommy plenty sick, but other than that we were good little tenants until Davis decided he had had it with the tight accomodations and broke his water on October 6, 2005 (about 6 weeks early). We had a rough couple of weeks as our lungs matured, we learned how to eat, and we gained some weight. The hardest part was being seperated, we missed each other so much. Above you can see when we were reunited, Carter's color improved almost immediately and we got to go home the next day. We have been growing like weeds ever since, passing most expectations for us we are developmentally on schedule and catching up fast with our size. We keep Mommy and Daddy very busy, but we can tell they love us too. We just have busy little minds and hands and want to learn about everything! Won't you join us in our explorations?