Monday, December 28, 2009

Happy Birthday Dad!


Happy Birthday Dad! 

Thanks for being such a cool dad and for always making us laugh (Mom tells us we're pretty lucky!)

Remember when we were little 5 pounders?! We hadn't even left the hospital in this picture. You look kinda tired, Dad. How come?

Have fun next week in Miami at the Bowl game - Go Hawks!

Love, P & M

Sunday, December 27, 2009

An Instant Cure

Feeling a bit sad that the long holiday weekend is coming to an end?

Here's a short video guaranteed to make you smile.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Cube-n Cuisine

Before the boys were born I decided I wanted to try making their food. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much and get so serious about it. With the exception of rice/oatmeal cereal, I have made everything else. As of 10.5 months, the boys have never had a bite of food from a store-bought baby food jar (or formula). Here's the process - and a process it is.

Step 1: Purchase fresh produce, allow to ripen if necessary. This summer it was fun to visit the Minneapolis farmer's market on Saturday mornings. The boys got to ride along in their baby bjorns.


Step 2: Peel the fruits and vegetables. There are some that I do not peel, like apples.


Step 3: Cut and place into pan for cooking. I steam vegetables such as beets, sweet potatoes, yams, carrots, beans, and peas. I bake apples and squash. I do use some seasoning (but never sugar or salt). I add cinnamon to the apples and nutmeg to squash, carrots, and yams before I steam or bake.

steaming sweet potatoes

Step 4: Bake in a pan of water or steam until very soft (easily pierced with a fork). Baking typically takes 45 minutes to an hour and steaming takes 15-20 minutes depending on how small you cut up the fruit/vegetables.

apples in a pan with an inch of water, sprinkled with cinnamon

Step 5: Blend or mash. Pears are easy to mash. However, I blend apples because I leave the skin on them and the blender will puree the skins so you don't even notice them. I also blend squash because it gets a little stringy. The left over cooking water is good to add to the blender so the puree is nice and smooth. I did everything in the blender when the boys were younger and I have tried to do more mashing lately so the boys get used to different textures.

mashing pears

blending sweet potatoes

Step 6: Pour/spoon into ice cube trays. We have about 20 ice cube trays on hand and I try to make enough to fill all the trays when I am getting everything out and dirty.


Step 7: Cover the trays with press-n-seal and place in the freezer overnight. If your freezer looks anything like mine you'll need to do some rearranging to make room for the trays. Make sure to mark the trays so you know what is what. Otherwise peas look like beans and apples look like pears.


Step 8: Remove the frozen cubes from the tray and place in freezer baggies. I use a permanent marker to write what is in the bag and the date. Frozen food is only good for a few months but with these two hungry boys I have not had a problem with food getting old. 



When the boys first started out on solids I would spend 3-4 hours on a Saturday making food for them and it would last a few months. Now a batch of 20 trays will only last about 2 weeks! 

Here's a list of what I have tried:

  • Veggies: butternut squash, acorn squash, beets, carrots, beans (both fresh and frozen), peas (frozen)
  • Fruits: apples, pears

Other fruits and vegetables, such as avocado and banana, are also very yummy and fresh, so baking or cooking isn't necessary.

If you are interested in learning more, check out this website. It is an excellent resource and I have used it a lot.

Are you motivated to start cooking yet!?

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Santa's Helpers

Mason/Prior

Prior

Prior

Mason

Mason/Prior
Props were needed to get the boys to forget they were wearing hats.

Santa is very lucky this year - he has two of the cutest little helpers in the whole wide world. And I am also very lucky this year because I get to be P&M's momma. This is easily the best Christmas ever. 

I'll start with the hats. I would love to take credit for making these hats, but I can't. Just not enough hours in the day. I knew exactly what I wanted and was lucky enough to be able to find them on Etsy.

And then there are the pictures. Again, I knew what I wanted but haven't had time to learn enough about the various settings on my camera to get these effects. So our neighbor John took the pictures. John has a photography business but he takes pictures of really expensive homes - aerial and inside shots of the homes for sale. You know, things that don't move. It was hilarious - Prior and Mason would sit still still for about .2 seconds (and never at the same time). My favorite quote was when John said, "people do this for a living?!"

Thanks, John! I LOVE these pictures.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

New Ride

Prior testing out the new big-boy car seat.

Mason/Prior in the new stroller.

Prior

Mason

We officially retired the infant car-seats and the corresponding double snap-n-go stroller. A little sad for mom. We passed the stroller along to another mommy with twins so that made it easier.

We absolutely love our Bob Duallie stroller for walks but it is a little big for going to the mall or Target and it takes up a lot of room in the truck. So we went with the Macleran Twin Triumph for quick trips to the doctor or the mall. (Don't worry - these strollers were recalled but we have the piece that 'fixes' the recall).


Saturday, December 19, 2009

Bed Head


With twins, life is one constant comparison. We are constantly comparing the boys and noticing their every difference and every similarity. Knowing these boys were identical I must say that I have been amazed at how many more differences there are. Many more than I was expecting. I have heard stories of families that had to take their same-sex twins back to the hospital because they couldn't tell them apart. That is unbelievable to me. While P&M sometimes look alike - they are very different.

This is one example. 

Mason always, always wakes up with messy hair. There are no exceptions. It doesn't matter if he slept for 10 minutes or 2 hours. It's always crazy hair. (Prior's hair is almost never messy.)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Jumper-Saucer

For all of you baby-gear savvy readers, you know there is one very clear difference between an 'exersaucer' (featured in this video) and a 'jump-a-roo'. 

The jumping feature.

Next will be the bed, the couch, and other things that also aren't meant for jumping...


                            

Jumping in Exersaucers - 10 months from K Schultes on Vimeo.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Santa Claus is Coming...



Thank you Grandma Barb and Great Grandma Rupiper for the two newest additions to our Christmas stocking collection. (Sorry, Gus - we had to move your stocking.)

We are super excited for our very first Christmas. These little boys have been very good this year and I am confident this will pay off when Santa comes to town...

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Lip Smackin' Good

So Prior has this new thing - a noise he makes with his mouth.

In this video he displays this new noise, his two new teeth, and his love for his mom's applesauce.

                            

Prior @ 10 Months from K Schultes on Vimeo.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Now What, part 2

This gate was approved by some pediatric association, I'm sure. Who knew I should have checked with a zoological association to see if it was monkey proof.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Ten Months Old


Here's what's new with us: 
  • two bottom teeth and enough drool to guarantee several more are on the way
  • standing up along everything
  • walking along the furniture
  • standing without holding anything - prior for 1-2 seconds; mason for 5-10 seconds
  • climbing
  • opening cupboards
  • we even graduated to the big boy car-seats

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Now What?



This gate system was supposed to last until these boys went to college...

(Or at least until they started walking.)

Now what? 
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