Curtain Climbers

If there was a contest where someone claimed to have the most baby-proofed house in the America, I'd enter these two little ya-hoos. And I'm certain they would be able to find trouble. Lots of trouble. And at a measly 16 months old - it only gets worse from here!! I guess you know what that means - stay tuned for more stories!

Strawberry Patch Kids

On Saturday we visited a strawberry patch in Champlin. The boys (as you can see) loved it. Ben, Noi and I picked approximately 40 pounds of strawberries! The boys helped by taste testing just to make sure we were getting some good ones. I did my best to remove the stems of the many berries that made it in to their mouths but I'm certain I missed a few. Oh well.

I'm curious to see how long 40 pounds of strawberries last us. We froze most of them but at the rate that these boys eat fruit, they definitely won't last us until next season.

The red shirts and red faces drew quite a bit of attention from the fellow berry pickers. Before leaving the patch I tried to pay a few extra dollars for all of the berries the boys ate (they didn't exactly look innocent). One of the workers said we should have just weighed the boys on the way in and the way out! Ha! Lucky for us the eaten berries were on the house. These pictures were taken once we got back home - and you can see they were still eating! They went immediately into the tub after these pictures were taken!

Happy Father's Day!

The Great Des Moines Black-Out of 2010

Last weekend we celebrated Tyler and Meaghan's wedding in Des Moines. For those of you that don't know, Tyler is Ben's first cousin. Tyler was the best man in our wedding and Ben was able to return the favor by being the best man in Tyler's wedding. It's one of those weddings that you just knew would be a fantastic time. And guess what!? It was! Here's why:

• The wedding was on Friday night. Let's face it. Some of us needed that extra day to recover!
• No kids! We all left our kids at home and it was such a great idea!
• Groom karoke! Yes, that's right! The DJ was actually a DJ/live performer. He brought a keyboard and a guitar and so there was a great mix of live music and ipod music. It created a "piano bar-ish environment". The greatest part was when the groom grabbed the microphone and sang "Come Sail Away" by Styx. Every single person in attendance was listening and signing along. It was great. Tyler - you should start touring!! 
• Great crowd! Everyone was there for one reason and one reason only! To have a good time!
• Vodka...and Red Bull...and 7-up...and Lemonade...and Cranberry Juice...and more vodka!
• 5 Hour Energy (necessary for some folks)
• A DD! (Thanks Gina!)
  

T and Ben at the head table minutes before the official "speech"

Here we are with the Bride and Groom - Cheers!

B&K

The Schultes siblings (minus Jacob): Gina-Ang-Ben

Gina-Jason-Kristin-Ben-Ang-Brent

(with no kiddos - yippee!)

Groom karoke! Tyler - you rocked!!

Brent & Angie

15-16 Months

M/P chasing bubbles

The boys had their 15 Month appointment last month....and they already 16 months old!

The amount of time I find to write in this journal seems to be inversely related to the curiosity and busyness of these two little boys. They amaze me every single day. The busier and more curious they become the less time I have!

The boys have officially learned that the doctor's office = crazy ladies with needles. They started crying at the first sight of a nurse. Good news is that all looked well. They are are maintaining their same pace on the growth curve, so that's the most important thing. No one believes me when I tell them the boys are only in the 10th percentile for weight. They do not look hungry and I have the grocery bills to prove it! 

P's 15 Month Stats:

Height: 31" (50%)

Head: 47.7 cm (50%)

Weight: 21# 4 oz (10%)

M's 15 Month Stats:

Height: 31 1/4" (50%)

Head: 48.2 cm (75%)

Weight: 21# 7 oz (10%)

Let's see...what's new. They are very fast. Running is preferred to walking. They know exactly what the word "no" means but choose to ignore it 99% of the time. And by "ignore", I mean smile really big and laugh when they hear it all while continuing to do exactly what they were asked not to do. This is all regardless of the tone or volume used to deliver the word "no". (It is impossible not to laugh at this point!)

They are getting taller every day. Note to self: never put the 'handle' style door knobs on doors. They're entirely too easy to open, even if you are only 2 feet tall. And thank goodness for the "lock" function on the fridge water/ice machine. If it wasn't for that we'd have a small lake in our kitchen. And the counters - oh the counters. They use to be safe. Not any more. The boys get up on their tippy toes, reach with their long little arms and stretch out their long little fingers and can reach just about anything. They find things that I would have sworn were safe/harmless and made them dangerous. If my life were a book right now, the title would be "Babyproofing: Redefined".

The fun continues!!!

PRIOR	Birth	4 Mo.	6 Mo.	9 Mo.	12 Mo.
Weight	5 lb 2 oz	13 lb 10 oz	16 lb 1 oz	18 lb 1 oz	19 lb 8.5 oz
Height	18”	25”	27 7/8”	28”	30”
Head		42 cm	44 cm	46 cm	47 cm

MASON	Birth	4 Mo.	6 Mo.	9 Mo.	12 Mo.
Weight	5 lb 3 oz	13 lb 4 oz	16 lb 0 oz	18 lb 1 oz	19 lb 8.5 oz
Height	18.5"	25”	27 1/2”	28”	30 1/8”
Head		42 cm	44 cm	46 cm	47 cm

The boys were in for their 1 year check-up this week. There were 10 needles involved – 5 each. I thought they might run out of band-aids after all of those needles. Mason did well with the shots – he cried but just a little. Prior was furious. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him that upset. He went first and after his round of shots he did not take his eyes off the nurse for even a second. He even chimed in with some sympathy cries while his brother was being poked. Both boys were more than willing to show off their new “buh-bye” wave when the nurse left the room.

Thankfully Noi was able to go with me to the doctor. I’m not sure it would physically be possible to take twins to the doctor by myself!

Other than the needles it went well. The boys are about to break the 20# mark!

Here are just a few of the many things they are up to at 1 year. It is so cool to watch them learn new things every day.

• walking



• saying words that resemble: “mama, dadda, puppy, buh-bye, no-no”.



• how to give hugs and kisses when asked



• they love to drink out of real cups (with assistance of course). Once they take a drink they are extremely proud of themselves!



• give “five”



• “so big”



• they know how to “check for fuzz” (some of you know what that means!!)



• Their naps now usually includes several minutes of them each standing in the corners of their crib closest to each other and "talking" to each other before settling down and going to sleep.



• signing "more"

Puppy PJ's

P&M - June 2010

(there is not a shutter speed fast enough to capture both boys sitting at the same time!)

Mason - June 2010, "Chillin"

M&P - June 2010

Mase - March 2009

Prior - March 2009

M&P - March 2009

When the boys were just innocent little five pounders, one of my favorite outfits they received were their Carter's puppy pj's from our friend Beans. Size: "newborn".

Just think: they have gone from size "preemie" to "newborn" to "0-3" to "3-6" to "6-9" to "9-12" and now to "12-18" months. They have been busy boys! (Haven't we all...)

So when we stopped at the Carter's outlet on the way back from Iowa last month and I saw that same puppy print in a slightly larger size, I just had to pick them up. (If I could have bought them in every size from "18 month" to "18 years" I probably would have, but I limited myself to the "18 month" size (times 2 of course).

And I must say - they look just as cute in the 18 month size as they did in the newborn size. My how they have changed!

Funny story: One of the animals the boys recognize at this point are puppies. I put these jammies on the boys for the first time and it was hilarious. They both looked at each other at the exact same time, pointed to one of the puppies on the others' pj's and said "puppy". It was so funny!

"Ha Ha" Falls

P/M

P

M

Mason in the car on the way home - can you say hat hair!?

This weekend we made a field trip to Minnihaha Falls. The boys were saying "ha ha" all afternoon - it was pretty funny. They also waved "hi" to just about every stranger we saw. (As if we don't get enough attention anyway!) The boys loved being able to run around and Noi took some great pictures. The big Bobber Dualie stroller didn't exactly fit down the stairs to the falls so we had to get our views from above. We left just before the rain came!

Have a good week everyone!

Road Trip

No, we are not taking a Schultes family road trip. Not for a very very very long time!

But auntie Cara is! Tonight she's jumping in the Mazda 6 and heading north. All the way from Phoenix to Minne"snow"ta!!

We are sooooooooo excited to have her move home, so we made her these signs.

Drive safe, auntie Cara!

**UPDATE: Cara and Cory arrived SAFELY in Rochester early this morning, approximately 30 hours later! 

Tubby Time

The boys are quite the entertainers! I was able to catch them showcasing some of their talents on video. When you read the list you won't think they would normally be funny talents but I promise they are!

• washing their hair
• dancing
• playing peek-a-boo

(sorry the video is so long)

Tubby Time - 15.5 Months from K Schultes on Vimeo.

Our Camo Shorts

These are for you, uncle Jason!!

Our uncle Jason loves his camo shorts. We wanted to be just like him! We've been looking everywhere for two Miller High Life onesies to go with our camo shorts but we can't seem to find them in our size.

P/M

M

P

Our sweet new summer sandals!

Jason: now all you need are some cool sandals like this and a super sweet mullet and we can be triplets!