Concern for the Bear

Cade was concerned. So glad we got Mr. Bear's nakedness under control. Phew!

I Stand Corrected

Yesterday, I was wearing this necklace.

Here is the conversation I had yesterday with Cade.

Cade: Mommy, was dat? (pointing to the necklace)
Me: It's a necklace.
Cade: No Mommy, is a Y (as in, the Letter Y).

For Luke

Luke sent these 80's-Looking tourists T-shirts to the fam for Christmas. Lauren and I wore them all day on Christmas in honor of our D.C. missionary brother. This was taken Christmas morning...pretty HOT, huh?! What's with Lauren's hiked-up zebra pants, you ask? Well don't ask, because I don't know!We are missing Luke...lots. But he will be home before you know it. May is his month! And it is bittersweet for him to be nearing the end of his mission because he is such a great missionary. He's on fire and doing a wonderful work. I love reading about his experiences on a weekly basis. It's one of the highlights of my week. I will miss that. But that doesn't stop me from feeling ecstatic about seeing him and having him around again in 3 short months.

He had his nice bike stolen. And then the wheels were stolen from his replacement bike. What the heck?!

Such a good-lookin' kid.

Learning How to be Buddies

Things were going so well for these two...playing nicely. Too bad it had to end painfully for Carson. And don't worry, he recovered quickly!

Pound It!!!

Brotherly Love

Real Live Monkeys!

Sometimes when I look back at pictures, I can't help but think that they can be deceiving. Not that it's really a bad thing but most still-shots depict happy people & good times. Which is why we take them, right? But the reality is, a picture shows my toddlers appearing to stand still while looking cute, and as cute as they are, it's just not always accurate. This is why today you will see some live action. It still is only a snippet of our day but it's more accurate than a picture, I think. They love to play on the couches. And I love that they have fun doing it, and it is one of the few things that they love to do TOGETHER. I just hate thinking about the poor abused couch! But I've been told to pick your battles and this particular battle is not one I'm willing to fight right now. So, abused couches it is. Here are the diaper/speedo monkeys fresh from the tub. Speaking of battles, bathing. A necessary evil with these two. When we can (which isn't very often), we have started giving them baths separately. They are just too hard to tame when they are together sometimes. Alright, back to reality.

P.S. Grandma Tucker, does seeing this make you second guess your decision to have us invade your beautiful mission home in the near future?! :)

Genius

Doesn't every mother think her child is an absolute genius? Well, I think my boys are super smart but I know they aren't prodigies or anything. But like all mom's, I'm proud of their progression. Here's a little video of Carson's skills. He loves to count and usually doesn't need any prompts from me (from 1-20). When he's sad, you can always make him happy by asking him to count. He also loves the ABC's and has since he was an infant. My mother-in-law worked magic with Infant-Carson by singing the ABC's to him. His version is hilarious. You can make out A,B, L-M-N---, W, and YAY when he's finished. It's precious, really. Enjoy!

Look Mom, I'm a FROG!

Please excuse my mad ribbit-ing skills and focus on the cute little green frog. He just started doing this a couple of days ago. Carson got down on the floor last night along side him and they thought they were hilarious! I wish I would have captured it on camera.

For the record...

A couple of weeks ago, the twinners went in for their 2 year check-up. They were both extremely friendly with the nurses and doctor...so the doc got to witness their language skills first-hand. They are both doing well. They continue to grow & develop so differently for each other, which is expected. But it doesn't stop me from comparing them and thinking they should both be able to do everything like the other. Sometimes it really drives me crazy. I'm not a huge worry-wart in general but I can still make myself a little insane by comparing them...not to other kids necessarily...just to each other. Wow. Am I even making any sense?! Anyway, the appointment put me at ease with some of my concerns, mostly with Carson, and I'm just grateful they are both healthy and happy. Now to their physical growth. Have you seen this movie with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger? That might be where we are heading!

Carson just keeps growing like crazy. Every time we go in, he's jumped 2-3 growth curves, rather than just staying steady & consistent on his own curve. He is now pretty average in the height department in the 45th percentile. 6 months ago, he was in the 30th. If he stays on this path, he'll be average height as an adult...around 5'9" or so which seems crazy to me given our genes. He weighs 26 lbs. which lands him in the 22nd percentile. Way to go Carson-man!

Cade is staying steady on his own little curve, which is barely on the charts. But this is how he's always been, so we're not too worried about it. He's weighing in at 22.5 lbs. which puts him in the 3rd percentile!!! He's a skinny little dude. He's in the 20th percentile for height, which is awesome for him! We're pretty sure he'll be taller than both me and Shane which we're happy to celebrate. He may even reach 5'5"!!! Yay Caders!!!

I get giddy thinking about these two going to school together...with loads of differences! I can't help but to think that we'll feel funny even referring to them as twins. But they are nonetheless.
I just love 'em!
On a completely unrelated note, I just finished The Hunger Games & it's sequel Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Have you read them yet? If not, you really need to. I promise you won't regret it. I am anxious for the 3rd book, which sadly does not come out until summer.

We went sledding!

And it was fun! Getting there was a trial but things got better once we were there. The boys loved it and didn't want it to end (see video to come)! The whole hiking up the hill after a 5-second ride down the hill kicked our parent behinds! The snow was deep and hard to walk in, so we had to always carry the boys + the sleds. It wore us out and made us sweat!

Carson-Man is a little walking tornado! How he managed to lose his gloves and both boots every other second is beyond me. Cade didn't lose either the entire time. And like I mentioned in a previous snow-post, Carson won't touch the snow without gloves. So he would lose a glove, fall, cry, get up, lose a boot, and then would attempt to go down the hill on his own without a sled and bootless. Now repeat that process 100 times! But look at his happy face. Aside from touching snow bare-handed, he was in hog heaven!

Cade loved it too. He stayed with Daddy the whole time.

By the time we were ready to leave, we came up with the brilliant idea to put my mittens on Carson. And it actually worked...for those few moments. And he looked dang cute in them! Notice his boot looking awkward in this picture. It's about to fall off!
Here's a better picture of Carson's mittens.

All that work and this is the thanks we get! After our hour of fun, we decided that we want to go back to being the kids. Man, we had it good, didn't we?! We didn't do the work but got to have all the fun. Guess it's pay-back time! And, after seeing how much fun they had, it really was all worth it.

We are grateful for fun friends who get us to do these things!

Even baby Owen was a CHAMP! He's a little angel baby. Huszars, what would we do without you?!
Now all you get out there and go sledding!!!