It's Fall!

My Fall Mantel

My favorite season is here... FALL. I love the refreshing cool breezes, apple cider, pumpkins, shorter days (my husband being home earlier), falling leaves, food, fall festivals, our anniversary, etc... Yes, our FIVE YEAR anniversary is this weekend! Crazy?! Tomorrow actually, the 23rd. I just can't believe it's been five years already, and it was nine years ago in the fall that we started dating... almost a decade! Ugh... that makes me sound old! We are headed out of town this weekend. For the first time since the boys were born. That would be 16 months since we have had an overnight getaway... alone. I am super excited, but also nervous. I have no reason to be... I just can't help it. The funny thing to me is that as much as I am excited to get out of town, alone with my husband, I am just that excited to come home already!! I was talking to my mom the other day and was telling her that... and I am just continually amazed at the gift of joy and contentment the boys have given me. Before I had them I would be dreading the end of the weekend before it ever started, and now... now I'm excited for everything... leaving, being there, and coming home to my boys! I am so thankful how God has filled me with contentment. I almost can't explain it... I remember hearing women say they had never been happier after they had a baby... and I never understood that feeling until now. My life really doesn't feel full without them...

Some updates on our lives...

- The boys are officially walking. EVERYWHERE! It's so fun to watch them toddle, like a couple of drunken sailors!

- Fortunately walking at this very moment in time is much slower than crawling... so they are still manageable. However, I know running is right around the corner... AH!

- The boys are trying, SO HARD, to say more words, other than mama and dada. Right now Luke has HOT down and Max can say MORE (of course, so he can get more food!) We almost have Uh-Oh down too.

- As of this weekend the boys will be officially done nursing. Weening has went well and rather easy. They were ready and so was I, kinda. They were more ready than me probably. I am just mourning my past metabolism. I could just about cry... for the past two years with being pregnant with twins and then nursing twins I was able to eat WHATEVER I wanted WHENEVER I wanted to... and now... not so much. I'm back to my old faithful (hurry-and-store-fat-just-in-case-you-get-stranded-in-the-Sahara-Dessert metabolism). I really think I can gain a pound just by looking at a Hershey's Kiss. Ok, I'm done...

- Other new things, Caleb is getting ready for his fall hunting trips and I am feeling so much better about all of that this year than last. The boys are much easier now, and best of all... they sleep at night! I am excited for Caleb to get some time to relax and have fun. He's had a crazy summer season!

- Max now has his one year molars coming in and is up to eight teeth (not counting them).

- Luke still just has two on top and two on bottom.

- The boys love kissing each other now and they hold hands while they sit next to each other in their high chairs. They also pass cheerios back and forth!

- The boys currently have their first colds of the season, and I HOPE their last. Sick kids is so not fun. I feel so bad for them... and they just really don't sleep well when they are all stuffed up. The doctor at the follow up clinic just really stressed how important it is for them to stay healthy this year also. She said that this year is very critical, just like last. More for their long term health than anything. So as much as being a germ-a-phobe sucks, I need to buckle down one last year so that I don't have to be like this for the rest of their lives! So this holiday season... pass the sanitizer!

My sweet boys in their diapers and socks... they are so cool! :)

Celebrating with Great-Grandma Martin for her birthday!!! She's an old pro - she had twin boys too!

At the Minnesota ZOO!!!

All the cousins...

Watching the monkeys.


Mmmmm... sharks teeth?


Splashing with Auntie Angie!

The boys loved the zoo. More than I ever thought they would have at this age. It was so fun because the fish swam right up to the glass and they were just mesmerized! It was awesome to watch their little faces light up!