A few more pics from the pool

Wordless Wednesday

Yes...

Dylan is trying to fill up that little bucket with that large shovel!  Didn't work so well.

Foot Fives!

Carter and Oliver were doing foot fives, then Dylan thought that looked like fun too, so he had to do it too.

We had some visitors from Iowa!

Sarah and Adam thought it was time for Oliver's first trip to Minneapolis!  They came up Friday night to our house without power.  Overall, it was a pretty lazy weekend.  Saturday we took the all three boys to the pool and went to dinner at Axels.  I was hoping for a Saturday night fire, but it ended up raining all night.  Oliver is such a good baby, he barely made a peep the entire time he was here. 
The boys were pretty good with him, of course Sarah had to be on guard for flying toys.  They did take some interest in him, probably more than I have ever seen with any baby around.

This is when they first arrived, they were very curious about the baby daddy was holding.  I'm thinking a new baby wouldn't go over too well!

Of course by the end of the weekend, Carter did his famous, find the guest's lap to hang out on all day. A few more months and Oliver will be able to chase Carter and Dylan around.

We got out some of the boys' old toys and sent Oliver home with this walker.  The boys loved these.

Sarah, Oliver, Carter & me

Two funny stories about these two...

This morning within the first few minutes everyone woke up, we were sitting in our room and Keith was holding Carter.  It was funny because I caught Dylan look up at Carter, look down at his shirt, they made some sort of eye contact and he walked out of our room.  I said to Keith it seemed like they were saying something to each other.  Carter was wearing a bright orange shirt, Dylan in blue. 

Dylan walks back into our room without his shirt on, carrying an orange shirt.  There was a laundry basket of clean clothes in the living room, he went out there, dug through the basket and brought back his only orange shirt!  I guess he thought they should be wearing the same color. 

Notice Dylan sporting socks with his sandals, he wouldn't leave the house without them on (and they were also dirty).

Tonight I picked them up at daycare tonight and they were still playing outside.  Carter had a bunch of dirt and stuff on butt and Dylan went up to him and brushed it off for him.  He is such a big brother!

NO POWER

Friday was a stormy night!  The city sirens went off around 6ish, so we spent some time in the basement. Then the power went out!  Luckily I had lots of candles and it was still pretty bright outside.  I finally ended up going to bed around 10:00 and then after I was in bed for about 10 minutes, the power finally came back on.  Needless to say, we were more than happy to go to the basement for a while versus spending an hour stranded in a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

Yep, they can get in and out of the fridge already!  Luckily they really can't reach much.

Carter hanging out in the basement.  He had his blanket, so he was pretty happy.  We had fun playing with their old toys.

1 week in big boy beds!

I was very nervous about making this switch and couldn't be happier with how well it is going!  For the most part, they have been doing really well.  The first ten minutes they goof off a little, but usually settle down pretty quick and go to sleep.  The second night Carter was out for a while and found two outfits on the floor and ended up sleeping with both of them bunched up as a pillow.

Our biggest problem, which I had anticipated, was our first nap on Saturday.  I think Carter would have done fine, but Dylan was really fired up and did not want to go to sleep.  At first they were jumping off their beds, got into the closet, were running around, opening and closing the door and laughing at each other.  Keith went in a couple times to calm them down.  Carter finally stayed in bed and fell asleep.  Dylan cried by the gate for a while and then finally went to sleep. 

Overall, it has been going well. They have actually been sleeping a little longer too, until 7 on Sat and Sun!  Now the downside is they really can wake each other up now. Saturday morning Carter would have slept longer, but was suddenly woken up when Dylan climbed on top of him and tried to give him a pacifier. 

And our new favorite thing to do is spy on our sleeping or "not sleeping" boys!  We finally gave in and bought a video monitor, I LOVE it!  It's nice because once you close the door, you can't really go back in, so now we can see what they are up to!  I wish I would have bought it months ago.  We will have another child someday so we will get plenty of use out of it.

I think Dylan is still jealous of Carter's garden view!

Carter loves getting into his bed, I have found him laying in it several times now!

Grandma and Grandpa Bucklin.....

These two would like to wish you a happy 45 anniversary!!! Sorry we couldn't be there to help you celebrate, but we sure had a lot of fun with you last weekend!  Thanks for being such a great grandma and grandpa!

Mom and dad at their surprise 40th anniversary party!

20 months!

Our babies are 20 months now and I think it is safe to say there isn't a lot "baby" about them anymore.  They are two wild toddlers, we couldn't be more in love with.  We have definitely had some rocky months in the last 20, but I must say, I am really enjoying this stage!  We have our moments and are experiencing lots of toddler tantrums at times, but overall, they are a blast right now!  We are always laughing at them and are amazed at all the new things they are learning to do. 

They love playing with rocks right now (such boys, I know!).  This was actually a really good game, they would pile them up, then put them back, repeat, repeat!

{Dylan & Mom, Carter & Dad)

{Dylan left, Carter right}

Here's a little bit of what these two have been up to:

• They just love those chairs. In fact, last week when we went back to Iowa and we were packing toys I told Keith we should just bring the chairs, it seems like it's the only thing they play with these days.  Especially Carter!
• Even though it doesn't look like it, they are still picky eaters!  Monday they might like chicken, Tuesday they won't touch it!
• A few favorite foods:  rice, watermelon, bananas, cheerios, turkey, spaghetti, pretzels, most fruits, gold fish (I actually can't think of anything else they like right now)
• Foods they won't touch:  vegetables, breads, cheese, yogurt, really most things
• Carter is really into jumping, though he rarely gets his feet off the ground
• They are starting to talk so much more now, which is really fun.  They are repeating what we say quite a bit, which has reminded Keith to start watching what he says.
• Yes, they still like those pacifiers. We are trying to not let them have them too much outside of nap/bedtime.  Sometimes they are pretty entertaining with them watching them take them from each other or whenever you tell Carter it is time to eat, he will take his out, chuck it across the room and run straight for his chair. 
• They love going to Keith's truck, they fight me every time they get into their seats in my car. Probably b/c he has the DVD player.
• They love books and singing songs.
• They love watching Sprout, but we have been trying to limit TV, they are like zombies and won't pay a bit of attention to you when the TV is on and we barely see them enough the way it is to be ignored by them. 
• They love playing outside and climbing on the swing set.
• We have a lot of fun with them right now by putting fun stuff on them or giving them funny things and having them show Keith or me.
• In the morning they will sprint into our bedroom giggling and wake me up.
• Don't be surprised if you find they are just in diapers any time of the day- they hate getting dressed and are always taking their shirts off.
• Carter is so into shoes, he will bring me and Keith our shoes all the time, he is always trying to put his on or take them off.
• They love playing with doors (not my favorite), they are always opening and closing doors and saying "bye, bye".
• Whenever they wear their sandals, they have ridiculously stinky feet!  My dad about fell over from the odor. 
• They go to bed about 8:15ish and wake up around 6:30ish (usually earlier) and have one nap a day.
• They are such little boys!  They have been into playing with cars & trucks more and push them around, sometimes making car sounds. 

Rose Festival

Last week when we were in Iowa, we went to Rose Festival, Keith's hometowns' annual festival.  We hadn't been since 2003!  We took the boys in the morning to see the parade.  Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at home, had I not, you would have seen about 5 strollers lined up!  A lot of the people Keith went to school with have kids within a year of the boys.  Now only if we could have let them all out of the strollers and run around! 

It was pretty hot out, so we didn't stick around too long.  Plus the boys really are only good in their strollers for about 20 minutes these days.  Once we got back to my parents, Keith decided he wanted to go back and hang out with some of his friends for the afternoon.  Then later that evening after the boys went to bed, we went back for the street dance. So Keith made three trips to State Center.  We didn't stay too late at the dance because a big storm was about to hit State Center.  It was a lot of fun to get back and see everyone.  Hopefully we will see everyone again at Keith's 10 year class reunion in July and all the kids will have a chance to run around and play. 

Last weekend we went out two nights in a row without the boys! CRAZY!  Thanks Mom and Dad for watching them.

A funny story about these two...

When we were at my parents' house, the boys were sleeping in pack and plays with about a foot in between the two.  One morning Keith went in and secretly watched them for about 5 minutes laughing at the two because they were both standing up playing with each other.  One would squat down below the edge of the bed and pop up and say "boo", both would laugh hysterically, then the other would squat down and do the same and I guess they were just laughing their little hearts out, I wish I had seen them playing.