And of course, we had to get matching bunk beds for their dolls. So far the beds, both big and small, have been very popular.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Bunk beds
I'm way behind on this one, but we (ok, Amber) finally decided it was time to get the girls some new beds after selling their old ones and having them sleep on mattresses on the floor for months. With the way their room is situated, it made the most sense to get bunk beds, despite Amber's distaste for them. After seeing these smiles, I think she's softening her stance a little.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Damon really crawling
It didn't take long for Damon to move on from army crawling to real crawling. He's not cruising all over just yet, but as you can see from this video from a week ago, he's getting the hang of it.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Christmas Break
Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, so I worked through Friday then combined work holidays with vacation to take the week after Christmas off and join with the New Year's Day holiday to get 10 days in a row of not going to work. Not bad for 3 vacation days.
I didn't have a big project for myself this year, so we kept busy with smaller activities and had a great time.
Our first trip was to the zoo. I only brought my long lens (i.e. permanent zoom) so I only took a few pictures of the family (when they were far enough away).
But I got lots of great shots of the animals, especially in the bird house, like the cardinal I posted on my photo blog, and this quetzal.
We had some leftover tokens from a previous trip, so on another day we went to Chuck E. Cheese.
The girls had a blast riding the rides and playing the games.
It was our lucky day for tickets as well. I was helping Carmen with one of the games and we hit it just right to get 125 tickets. Later we told one of the employees about a machine that wasn't giving out tickets and after he fixed it it spit out another 100+ tickets.
Why is it kids want to ride these rides so bad, then they have this expression the whole time?
As I mentioned in the Christmas post, Amber got me some bowling shoes. We rarely go bowling (which is what made the gift so great) but whenever we do I always complain that with the cost of rentals we might as well buy our own shoes since we'd make it up in only a few visits. Amber decided to take me up on that and figured she might as well do it right and get me the classic tacky bowling shoe.
Of course we had to try them out, so one of our day trips was to the local bowling alley.
We knew the shoes were a success when we found out the alley's shoes were nearly identical (velcro instead of laces).
We made it through two games. I started with a strike then tanked the rest of the first game, but, inspired by my shoes, I rallied in the second game to take the two-game total victory. It helped to have such adoring fans.
This is getting long, so I'll summarize the rest.
We spent some quality time with friends. I went to a guys meat and video game night, a 30th birthday party, and had a game/dessert night with some friends (while our kids joined with theirs making a mess of their playroom).
We spent many late nights playing Lego Harry Potter (5-7), including New Year's Eve when we were so engrossed I wondered why the frequency of fireworks went up so dramatically. Turned out it was midnight. We even forgot to drink the bubbly. The girls had a fun time staying up late watching fireworks out their window. They lasted until sometime a little after 11.
We also enjoyed some very nice weather. I , pulled all the seats out and deep-vacuumed both cars, took down the Christmas lights, raked pine needles, and watched a lot of bike riding and sidewalk chalking.
It was a very pleasant, relaxing vacation.
I didn't have a big project for myself this year, so we kept busy with smaller activities and had a great time.
Our first trip was to the zoo. I only brought my long lens (i.e. permanent zoom) so I only took a few pictures of the family (when they were far enough away).
But I got lots of great shots of the animals, especially in the bird house, like the cardinal I posted on my photo blog, and this quetzal.
We had some leftover tokens from a previous trip, so on another day we went to Chuck E. Cheese.
The girls had a blast riding the rides and playing the games.
It was our lucky day for tickets as well. I was helping Carmen with one of the games and we hit it just right to get 125 tickets. Later we told one of the employees about a machine that wasn't giving out tickets and after he fixed it it spit out another 100+ tickets.
Why is it kids want to ride these rides so bad, then they have this expression the whole time?
As I mentioned in the Christmas post, Amber got me some bowling shoes. We rarely go bowling (which is what made the gift so great) but whenever we do I always complain that with the cost of rentals we might as well buy our own shoes since we'd make it up in only a few visits. Amber decided to take me up on that and figured she might as well do it right and get me the classic tacky bowling shoe.
Of course we had to try them out, so one of our day trips was to the local bowling alley.
We knew the shoes were a success when we found out the alley's shoes were nearly identical (velcro instead of laces).
We made it through two games. I started with a strike then tanked the rest of the first game, but, inspired by my shoes, I rallied in the second game to take the two-game total victory. It helped to have such adoring fans.
This is getting long, so I'll summarize the rest.
We spent some quality time with friends. I went to a guys meat and video game night, a 30th birthday party, and had a game/dessert night with some friends (while our kids joined with theirs making a mess of their playroom).
We spent many late nights playing Lego Harry Potter (5-7), including New Year's Eve when we were so engrossed I wondered why the frequency of fireworks went up so dramatically. Turned out it was midnight. We even forgot to drink the bubbly. The girls had a fun time staying up late watching fireworks out their window. They lasted until sometime a little after 11.
We also enjoyed some very nice weather. I , pulled all the seats out and deep-vacuumed both cars, took down the Christmas lights, raked pine needles, and watched a lot of bike riding and sidewalk chalking.
It was a very pleasant, relaxing vacation.
Monday, January 02, 2012
New bikes
Santa knew he wanted to get Carmen a bike for Christmas, because he had to practically drag her out of Walmart when he let her ride one there a few months ago, but he wasn't quite sure about what to get for Olivia because she always said she didn't want a bike. In the end, he decided she was just being her usual wimpy self and got them both a bike because he knew she would warm up to it once she tried it out.
Santa was right as usual. Carmen loved her new bike and Olivia was just as excited once she realized she wouldn't fall over with the training wheels on. After some laps in the kitchen, they took to the streets the day after Christmas to give them a test ride.
Damon watched as the girls got the hang of their new bikes.
I think they like them.
And for you safety enthusiasts, Olivia has since gotten a helmet. It came with a bike bell that she loves to ring as she rides slowly down the street. As if she needed to get any cuter.
Santa was right as usual. Carmen loved her new bike and Olivia was just as excited once she realized she wouldn't fall over with the training wheels on. After some laps in the kitchen, they took to the streets the day after Christmas to give them a test ride.
Damon watched as the girls got the hang of their new bikes.
I think they like them.
And for you safety enthusiasts, Olivia has since gotten a helmet. It came with a bike bell that she loves to ring as she rides slowly down the street. As if she needed to get any cuter.
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