Table manners

Although we've had a lot of fun enjoying the beautiful weather this week - going to parks, having a cook-out, playing in the Miller Community Center fountain, finger painting with friends - you won't see any proof of it here. We've been so distracted by the warm weather and sunshine that we've forgotten to take our camera with us most days. We hope to do better this week. A big accomplishment for the kids has been their transition to using plates and bowls for eating. There's been less tossing of the plates than I expected but it does happen at least once in every meal. Both kids can feed themselves with spoons but Rose has a lot more stick-to-it-iveness about it. Augie soon resorts to trying to hold up the dishes so he can lick the food right off of them.
Here's Rose with her plate. The scratch on her nose, by the way, is the result of a climbing accident in our back yard. She's really getting good at scrambling around but learning can be pretty painful. This weekend Grandma Gloria arrived for another visit. One of the fun things about having Grandma here is getting out the inflatable mattress for her. We discovered that if we blow the mattress up with the vacuum cleaner both kids can sit on the mattress and get a ride up as it inflates. Ah, the little things in life...

Couch tots

Rose and August have now moved on from walking to working on climbing skills. They recently learned how to climb down from the couch - though Rose still dives off head first and hopes for the best some of the time - and now they love being on the couch. They love to read their books there or to just sit and babble when they've first woken up. Cute now, but I'm pretty sure their next task is to learn how to climb over the back of the couch...

Tot time!

Here are some more pictures of Rose and August enjoying Tot time at our nearby community center. We go just about every Tuesday morning and the kids love it. The gym is filled with toys and they race from one to the other stopping occasionally to watch the other kids. In the picture above, Augie is pushing the lawn mower off to the left. Augie and Rosie try to figure out how to free all the basketballs.
Rose pushes a huge physioball - one of her favorite things to do at the Tot Time. One of her other favorites is to be bounced on top of the ball.
Augie gives his sister a ride around the gym.

Enough pictures, they're off!

Aunt Juel visits

This weekend the babies had a ball visiting with their Aunt Juel who came up from Salem, OR. We all went to the Cheese Festival at Pike Place Market, but soon abandoned the crowds to wander around the lower levels of the market.

Juel snapped this picture of the four of us with our backpack carriers for the kids. They seem to like riding in them alot, in part because the have a pretty good view.

Kids with bright ideas

Lots of people warned us we would regret the day that our kids started walking because our lives would become so much more difficult. But now that both of them are accomplished walkers I'd have to say that it's not the walking that's complicated things. It's the ideas they get. Ideas like trying to turn the front door knob to get into the lobby or trying to throw Elmo in the toilet. Today after a long search for the cell phone I found it in their ball-popper toy. I didn't see who did it but that little guy in the second picture is suspect #1.

This afternoon we went to Volunteer Park - that was my (Becky) idea. Here's a photo of Rosie and Augie on the little kids' teeter-totter.

Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Yesterday we said good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa Yoder who visited for a few days both before and after their big road-trip around the western U.S. August and Rose loved being spoiled with all of the attention and were, appropriately, little hams most of the time.

Here Grandpa supervises August's mowing work at the Miller Community Center Tot time. Rose struggled to learn how to work the ride-on dragons, but so far has only learned how to wobble backwards.

Here we are after a relaxing ferry ride to and from Bainbridge Island. August had an especially good time walking around the deck with Grandpa following his every move.

It's never the toys...

Though August and Rose have more than enough toys to enjoy, it's never the toys that bring them to giggles. The other day it was their dad's old bicycle helmet which they found in the closet. (The closet door is another source of amusement.) They were excited to find it because they stop eating breakfast every morning to watch daddy put on his helmet in preparation for his ride to work. They think he looks pretty funny.


Rose tries to get the helmet on her head.




This morning the funny item was the clip-on highchair - not very popular when clipped to the chair for meals, but apparently very amusing when on the floor.