Just lookin' cute

Mommy was trying to get us to pose and smile big for these pictures-- doesn't she realize that we do NOT sit still these days?

Helping Mommy!

Every Sunday I help mommy put away my laundry (and Ryker's, too!) and clean the bedrooms. Ok, actually, she just takes me upstairs and lets me play... but I like to think I am a GREAT helper!

Milestone's

Just a quick update on Makaylin and Ryker's milestones. Makaylin is currently teething and her first tooth is breaking through the gums... it's a sharp little thing! She is also fully crawling and getting into EVERYTHING! She has also figured out how to sit up on her own-- she loves to crawl for a toy and then sit up for a bit and then crawl some more! She has started to pull herself up on things-- mostly Adam and I. :)

Ryker is not in a rush to grow up! :) He's moving around a bit more, but not fully crawling just yet. He's doing really well as we transition from baby foods to more "adult like" foods. I give both of them small pieces of fruits and veggies with their breakfast and lunch and he is doing so great!

Their 9 month check-up is a week from today. I'm anxious to see their stats!

Merry Christmas!

Santa visited our house and left us presents! This one was already set up for us and is SO much fun!

Daddy was very tired after all of that present opening. Mommy and Daddy had a big mess to clean up!

Christmas Eve

Getting ready to eat their very first sugar cookie!

M fell asleep right before we were going to open gifts from grandma's and grandpa's!

Tissue Paper

Mommy gave me this pretty silver tissue paper to play with. It makes fun noises and I like to crumple it up and bang it on my exersaucer. I love the holidays!

Dog Dish!

Makaylin got out of the playroom and found the dog dish while I was making their lunch today. I got to her just in time-- she had a handful of Ella's food that she was about to devour... or choke on. :) This girl is going to be trouble!

Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas

Yesterday was our very first St. Nick's day! We were so excited when we woke up-- there was a big christmas bag under the tree filled with all kinds of fun things!

Our favorite was the LeapFrog learning table-- we spent hours playing with it and even skipped our early afternoon nap!

Grandma Cindy mailed us presents that St. Nick dropped off at her house, and boy did he do a good job! He gave us a book called, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and it was Grandma Cindy's voice reading to us! We loved St. Nick day, and we cannot wait until Christmas!

Mommy and Daddy set up the Christmas tree and we LOVE the lights and ornaments. We are kind of mad because they blocked off the tree so we can't pull off the ornaments anymore. Darn!

8 Months!

Last week we turned 8 months old. Mommy can't believe how fast we are growing... we are just about 5 times our birth weight! We are starting to use our sippy cups for their intended purpose, eventhough we still need a little more practice (and it's fun to bang it around on our chairs). Solids are becoming much tastier than our bottles, so now mommy is trying to get us to eat them 3 times a day. We also get mashed up bananas with breakfast--yummy! We think mommy will start mashing up different foods soon.

On Friday our cousin, Riley, was born! Daddy says he is doing great and went home with Ryan and Hailey yesterday.

Here are a few pictures... enjoy!

Jumpin'!

This was taken the day after Thanksgiving. During that week, Makaylin learned how to jump in her exersaucer. We got a good laugh!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mommy was so busy cooking a big turkey dinner that she only got a few pictures... of ME! Ryker doesn't even have any Thanksgiving pictures and mommy said she feels bad. Oh well. I think she learned her lesson and there will definitely be A LOT of Christmas pictures!

We had a nice Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Hester and one of daddy's friends from work. It was fun to get so much attention! In the picture, I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... until the boys turned on football. Mommy says that next year we will watch the WHOLE parade!

Giggles!

Ryker loves it when you pay no attention to him, and then suddenly look at him and say "hey!". It makes him giggle every time!

Mischevious Makaylin

Mak was feeling mischevious the other night and decided to roll herself up into Ryker's blanket. Then, she proceeded to pull out the boppy and hang out underneath it. She just LOVES to get into everything. She's a very busy little girl when she's "let loose" in the playroom!

Park!

We went to the park yesterday! It was our 2nd time, but I (Makaylin) did not like it the first time... so this was our very first time in the swings! We only stayed for 20 minutes or so, but it was fun and our "mammarazzi" took all kinds of pictures!

7 Months!

We have been busy during the past month, as I'm sure you can tell from all of mommy's posts. We can both sit up and play and are working on the crawling thing. We have big plans to get our hands on some things around the house! We are eating stage 2 foods and just started eating our solids twice a day. So, we get cereal and fruit for breakfast and veggies for dinner-- yummy! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the day we turned 7 months old!

Table Time!

Mommy and Daddy bought us our own seats so we can sit at the kitchen table, too! It is so fun to be up high and see everything... and eat at the table. Don't we look so happy?

Laundry Time!

Mommy put me in the laundry basket-- she said something about multi-tasking. I didn't mind because it was CLEAN!

Happy Halloween!

This was our first Halloween! Mommy said that kids dress up in costumes and then go "trick-or-treat" for candy at other people's houses... but we are still too little to do that. We did get to wear these really cool glow-in-the-dark skeleton onsies from Grandma Cindy, though! We also had Halloween socks. Daddy laughed at Ryker because his looked funny!

Since we are too little to get candy, we got some small Halloween presents and our very own Halloween buckets! We got toys, pajamas, and Halloween books!

Picture Perfect!

Last weekend we went to Dana Point Harbor to get professional pictures taken by another Marine Wife. They turned out great--considering the twins didn't want to smile for the camera. Enjoy!

It was SO hard to get them to smile-- we tried songs, puppets, toys... the works!

Nonetheless, they are adorable smile or no smile. :)

Nap Time... for everyone!

Adam watched the kids while I went to an appointment. I came home to a quiet house and walked into the playroom to find them ALL napping on the floor!

Tuckered Out

This is what happens when I'm all tuckered out.