Christmas Eve

"Hey, Torin. Look over here."
"No, Logan. Look this way."

"Ella, look at the camera."

"No, Ella. This way. Look at Mommy."

Good enough. Here are my parents with all of the grandkids on Christmas Eve. We spent the day opening presents and attended mass at the Cathedral (which is in the middle of restoration) that evening. It was a beautiful day.

Wheeler Fun

One of Torin's favorite things to do while in South Dakota is ride the 'wheeler' as he calls it.
He and Papa Pat were out riding as soon as the sun came up when we arrived Wednesday morning.

They even had to give Daddy a ride on the sled.

Which must have scared Torin since he refused to go on the sled at all the entire time we were home.

But he got some good rides in while Papa pulled all the girls on the sled.

He even got to ride Uncle Greg's new snowmobile. He thought that was awesome! And so did his Daddy since he got to drive it too.

Rubba-Dub-Dub...

now we can fit all three little ones in the tub.

random shots from the past week

Laundry

The laundry for a family of five is never-ending.
I do atleast one load every day.

But I always have a cute someone along for the ride to help me out!

So Proud

We have a small Christmas tree that we put up each year since we travel to South Dakota for the holidays. This year, Torin put all of the ornaments on himself. He admires his work MANY times a day. It is adorable.

Wrapping Paper

Torin and I were putting up Christmas decorations a few days ago and I had to take a break to change Logan's diaper. I take Logan to his room, hear ripping sounds from the living room and Torin giggling, and come out to my living room covered in wrapping paper.
Admittedly as a Mom, I normally would scold Torin for wasting paper, but he was already showing Ella how to tear the paper.

So I sat Logan down, washed my hands, and grabbed the camera.

They loved playing with the wrapping paper.

Torin even wrapped himself up and said he was a present for Daddy!

I never said they didn't try to eat it once or twice or MANY times.

It was the highlight of the afternoon.

And the best part as far as this Mommy is concerned...they all played together nicely for 30 minutes without a single cry, whine, complaint, etc. It was AMAZING! I love wrapping paper.

Passport to South Dakota

Paul and I just applied for our first passports this past week since we are headed to Mexico for Sean and Tracey's wedding this coming April. Torin asked what we were doing, and we said we needed pictures for our passports when we go on our trip.
Naturally he then needed his photo taken because he needs a passport for his trip to South Dakota. (He gets on our exercise bike and says he is riding to South Dakota about 10 times a day.) So, here are Torin's passport pictures for South Dakota.

6 Month Stats

We had the twins in today for their 6 month well-checks. We weren't able to give them shots as Ella has the flu and Logan is just finishing up antibiotics for an ear infection (yes, our house is a big ball of fun right now). Other than the recent illnesses attacking our house, they both are extremely healthy.

Ella - Weight - 15lbs 6.5oz - 45%ile
Height - 26" - 50%ile
Head Circ. - 16 1/2" - 50%ile

Logan - Weight - 19lbs 6oz - 77%ile
Height - 27 1/2" - 90%ile
Head Circ. - 17 1/2" - 75%ile

I decided to post the family's stats at 6 months since I was looking through all of our baby books today.

Torin - Weight - 18lbs 11oz
Height - 26 1/2"
Head Circ. - 18"

Paul - Weight - 18lbs 8oz
Height - 27 1/4"

Carrie - Weight - 18lbs 14oz
Height - 26"

The Butterfly House

I took the kids to The Butterfly House in Sioux Falls on Tuesday. There are thousands of butterflies in this space. They also have fish, lizards, spiders, etc. in other rooms of the building that Torin loved looking at.
This butterfly decided riding along with Logan would be fun.

They landed on everything, including us.

We were in awe looking at all of them.

We had to tell Logan and Ella about everything we were seeing. The butterflies were eating orange and watermelon slices.

It was a beautiful afternoon.

Bath Time at Grandma's

I decided to leave for South Dakota early this past weekend with the kids so they could spend extra time with our families. The twins are officially too big to share a tub time together until they can be sitting up.
My babies are 6 months old today. Time is going WAY too fast.

Mini-Vacation to Colorado Springs

Last week Tuesday and Wednesday Paul had to work down in Colorado Springs, so we decided to take a mini-vacation and stay overnight in a hotel for a couple of nights. The first night didn't go well. Torin unfortunately was sick with a high fever and the pool's (that had an awesome slide) temperature was just above freezing. The hotel in general was not very nice so we actually stayed somewhere else the second night.
I think this is what they term a 'family bed'. It ain't happening in this family that's for sure. I know it works for some families but Paul and I both enjoy sleeping without getting kicked, rolled on, and punched throughout the night.

Paul had to work during the day, so we hung out some of the time eating snacks, playing toys, and watching Mickey Mouse on tv!

We stayed at the Radisson the second night which was right next to the airport. We also were right next to this restaurant called 'The Airplane Restaurant' where you actually can eat inside of this airplane. Torin LOVED it!

We checked out how everything worked on the outside first before we went in to eat.

And after we ate, Torin was able to 'fly' the airplane in the cockpit for a while. He said he was just like Kurt!

This was probably the highlight of the trip for Torin. He didn't want to leave the restaurant and ironically enough, it was the best he had been in a restaurant in a LONG time. If only all restaurants were made out of airplanes.

This was the next best thing for Torin, swimming! The hotel the second night had a wonderful pool that was nice, warm and perfect for swimming.