Our first "real" visit to the park!

Today was our first "real" visit to the park!  On previous visits to any park, we would carry the girls from the car to the swings and usually just swing them until they got tired and we would go home.  Today we decided to visit a nearby park since it was finally not raining and was in the mid 60's! This park has rubberized walkways around the equipment and we thought it would be perfect for our new little walkers.  Andrew, Jake, and Allie joined us and the girls had a blast!  They are getting so big!!

Anna

Kate

Kate kept trying to squeeze in between the bars and got so frustrated when she didn't fit!

Andrew and Jake are so sweet with the girls!

Blessed

We were beyond blessed by our friends and family before the girls were born (and continue to be blessed EVERY DAY).  At my shower in Homestead, so many people gave us extremely generous gifts in the form of gift cards to Babies R Us, Target, and Walmart.  Because I have awesome sisters and an awesome sister-in-law who are all done having children, I was given more clothes, toys, bottles, sippy cups, gadgets, etc than I knew what to do with!  I did know one thing though....I hardly had to buy anything!  

We were so blessed to be able to use most of the gift cards we were given to buy diapers and wipes!  The girls are almost 15 months old, and the gift card money JUST ran out and we bought diapers with our own money for the very first time.  We are so very thankful for this and cannot say thank you enough for the gift of diapers for an entire year (X2)!!!

Chilly

We have had some pretty crazy weather this winter!  For the past few weeks it has alternated between rainy and semi-warm and clear and chilly.  The girls love to be outside and because of the rain, they haven't gotten to spend as much time outside as they (or Phil) would prefer.  Anna often stands at the back door looking out at the swings and cries and points until you a) take her outside to play or b) divert her attention elsewhere.  Lately, we have just started bundling them up and taking them outside on the swings.

Kate 

Anna

Book Worms

The girls are totally into "reading" books right now.  They constantly bring you books to read to them as well as sit and "read" by themselves.  It is SOOOOO cute!  The other morning before I left for work, this is what I saw...

We're Walking

Today, both of the girls started walking!  How much fun is it that they started on the same day?!  I am so thankful that I not only was home from work when they took their first steps, but that I have tomorrow off too!

Lovin' Some Peas

The girls absolutely LOVE veggies.  I know, I know...chances are they will grow out of this stage, but we are embracing it for now!  There can be meat, cheese, crackers, etc, and they always go straight for the veggies.  Everything from peas and carrots to black-eye peas and lima beans, they seriously inhale them.  (The only one we have tried that Kate won't eat is broccoli.)  I was cracking up tonight as Anna was so voraciously eating her peas!! (Not to mention how upset she was when they were all gone!)

Bye Bye Bottles

We have been slowly weaning the girls off of bottles since December.  Over Christmas break, we took away 2 of their 4 bottles and the girls did great!  As a parent, I think that for things like this, the anticipation is always worse than actually going through it.  Over the past month, we have been reducing the amount of ounces and they were only getting a bottle first thing in the morning and right before bed.  Yesterday, the girls slept until almost 7:00 and I decided to just skip their morning bottle and go straight to breakfast.  Later in the day, I figured since they did fine skipping their morning bottle, I would just skip their bedtime one too!  Of course, they did just fine and we have closed another chapter in the book of babyhood!  (Sniff, sniff!)