Trains

Boots

Popcorn sumo

Oh dump it

Whipped cream

Readers

I win.

What helps a toddler feel calm? Putting away dishes. 

A day in the life

Today I went in to work later, to work later as a matter of fact, so I fed the boys breakfast- cheerios. Cold cereal is still a novelty, and I daresay they are not 100% successful yet at keeping that spoon level. Phin spilled at least half his cheerios on his pajamas before I taught them to lean over their bowls to eat. What a clever trick.

Sarah took them on a playdate, but they were crotchety so it wasn't the most fun ever.

Dinner tonight was all but rejected, so I countered with peanut butter and apples. They bit out the middle of the apple slices and ate the peanut butter off their fingers. We went to Target for a few things, and they were mostly whiny, but occasionally distracted by xmas light displays and the snow outside. At bedtime these days I read to them/change them into pj's, then give them horseback rides to bed. Andrew lurks until they're asleep.

We quit cloth diapers last week- they've just been outgrown. They were supposed to fit 8-35 pounds and they about did that... on to disposables a little while longer!

Andrew's last day of work is Friday, then he has two weeks off before starting his new local job.

July-October

Hi there. Here's a general Vogel update:

• July: Very travel-y. We went to Maryland for fourth of July. Lots of fun... not overly fond of the stress of flying with the boys, but they were troopers. It's just a bit obnoxious to haul the carseats and pay adult fare for them. Then Sarah went to Seattle with friends, then spent two weeks traveling from NYC to Florida with her parents, who had never been to the US. During that time, Andrew went to DC for work and dad was in Ohio. After they came back, mom and I returned the favor by going to a wedding of one of my close friends in Ohio. Whew.
• August: Went to our first Twins game with mom and dad (thanks Aunt Peggy and Uncle Lee), celebrated baby Berney at a baby shower, and went to the state fair. Laura had her first of several Summits this fall.
• September: Sarah went to San Diego for a class, and Andrew started his MS in Software Engineering program- in addition to working full time, he's also attending school one full day a week plus homework. The Vogels visited- Nancy, Brant and Sarah! Sarah started taking a sign language course. Laura had another Summit. Berney, Kurt and Anna Kitt's first, was born... hooray nephew and very first first cousin! 
• October: school continues. Laura has two Summits and several large events. Andrew and I celebrated our sixth anniversary. We went to the Minnesota Renaissance Fair. Aunt Anna and Uncle Aaron visited, and cousin Paul and Amy visited from New Jersey- got to meet Zachary for the first time, who's just three months older than the boys. 

Anecdotes about the boys:

• Trucks and trains are by far the most interesting things. When I have energy, I tell long, boring bedtime stories about a bobcat and the LOVE it. 
• Definitely know some colors, letters and numbers- green, blue, purple, black, yellow, orange, red, white, one, two, O and B. 
• They can now distinguish between pooping and farting.
• Just got them sized for new shoes yesterday- Phin is a 9 and Micah an 8.5. 
• Micah calls Trump, Crump. 
• The boys have been having a grandma and grandpa Saturday since Andrew started school, for the most part, and it's really going well. They nap there, have their own little table to eat at... this is really the first "daycare" experience for them. 
• We are leaning on tv shows more these days- some of their favorites are Chuggington, Sesame Street, Daniel the Tiger, and Dinotrux (can't tell who likes this one more, the boys or Andrew and Sarah)
• The boys have a huge pumpkin obsession right now, especially Phin. They have little pie pumpkins from TJ's, and Phin sleeps with his... should probably replace soon:-). 

Albums- years one, two and three

Hi all!

Working on some updates tonight- for now, here are links to three years of the boys:

Year one (April 7, 2014 - April 7, 2015)
Year two (April 8, 2015 - April 7, 2016)
Year three (April 8, 2016 - now)

Lazy pool

Happy Fourth!

This weekend we flew to Maryland to enjoy time with Andrew's family down at the beach. No internet access, but most likely we are swimming, playing with sand, grilling, eating ice cream, and having a pretty good time. Probably some memorable stories to come with the flying- I doubt the boys will behave the same as they did at 7 months!

Avocado toast

Afternoon sillies

Cool dudes

Big boys

We've moved on to a "toddler bed" from a crib... it's been going well. They got an elmo (Micah) and a cookie monster (Phin) to help with the transition.

Splish splash

Sarah and the boys found a local splash park... fun!

Popsicles

Sarah makes the boys fruit popsicles... spoiled!

Box spring slide

It's good when mom and dad get rid of old box springs. Makes a good slide down the stairs.

Our life lately, pu pu platter style

• The past few weeks they've been sleeping with just a guard on one side of their cribs- aka toddler bed style. Going pretty well.
• Last week Phin cried because he put his foot in a tissue box and couldn't get it out.
• This week I have forgotten tissues and wiped child noses with my shirt numerous times. 
• Today, if they concentrated really hard, they were able to drink out of lidless cups.
• Also today, mom and I tried to cut their hair outside- she was cutting, I was alternately shoving brownie in their gobs and immobilizing their heads and arms. Super fun.
• I think we're really close to growing out of our cloth diapers. Sad day.

Reasons why my children are crying #5.

Everything. Just everything. At least for Micah, when it's time to sleep- nap or bedtime. Terrified shrieking that doesn't stop until we pick him up and rock him to sleep or put him in our bed. For three days. One time he was set off by the regular alarm that goes off in town- usually they both just point out the window, nod enthusiastically, and say "vroom vroom". Another time we let them watch some Winne the Pooh to settle down first, and I don't even know what happened, but Winne the Pooh terrified him that gosh darn bear. This evening he was fine until he heard a thud in the living room- Andrew was shifting our old mattress out of the house. He whimpered and pointed at the closed door.

Indoctrinated

So tonight we come in from the yard, Micah turns and looks at me, and says "Dawk-duh" in his very best dalek voice. Maybe I shouldn't have watched so much Doctor Who when they were newborns?

Anthropomorific

Definitely getting into some pretending here. I recently have been giving them my old Raggedy Ann and Andy to play with, and tonight they were sharing their water with them tonight. Also, Phin likes to "hop" a toy frog on his arm, and hop along with it.

Reasons why my children are laughing #1

I think laughing is nearly as frequent as crying in this house, which is nice.

Phin laughed the other day as he slapped my face with wilted dandelions repeatedly.

Reasons why my children are crying #4

Both boys sleep with knit blankets made by Aunt Anna (Kitt); Micah enjoys pulling out a strand of yarn to twine through his fingers while he falls asleep. He also uses those single strands to drag around the entire blanket like it's a dog. Needless to say, I have to work those back in fairly often to avoid choking hazards. Micah cries bitter tears every time he sees me with his blanket and a crochet hook, and tries to drag it away.

Playground

Water

Knee Biter

Reasons why my children are crying #3

The best yogurt was only in one of the two identical bowls with identical spoons.

At the Arb

Cool babies.

Reasons my children cry #2

On Monday Micah cried for 15 minutes because I took off his socks. Hello, terrible twos.

Running

Lincoln logs and log cabin syrup

Andrew is on the hunt for a great pancake place. Last Saturday's scored a 7 out of 10, best so far...

Reasons my children are crying: #1

The boys cry for many reasons: sleepiness, hunger, falling, fighting, etc. But we're starting to diversify and I'm going to do my best to document.

Today is relatively warm so I chose shorts for the boys. After putting Micah's on, he looked down and whimpered, and then tried to stretch the hem down to his feet. After discovering this would not work, he started bawling. He refused pants. At one point he thought he solved it by putting the other shorts on the lower half of his legs. After twenty minutes of tears, I finally distracted him from his naked calves with a cartoon.

Horsy.

Play and Learn Cafe

Sarah took the boys to this place recently- it's a hybrid cafe/indoor playground. She said the coffee and food was eh, but playground looks a lot bigger and more fun than a McDonald's, anyway...

Faces

Bedtime routine

Some favorite bedtime books

Almost every night.

They love finding matching things in these books. Thanks, Robins!

This baby is kind of weird looking, but highly requested. Thanks, Becky!

Another weird baby.

Their favorite page of "Tubby"

So classic illustrator. Love the looks of this one. Boys like books with babies in them.

But it's a countdown, in which a baby disappears on each page. CREEPY.