October

Early October our friends Jeff and Renee came to visit. This picture was taken 10 minutes after they arrived. Some people are like magnets for kids.

Early October Hayden had mastered the army crawl and was working hard at belly-up crawling. By early November he was officially a crawler!

We visited the pumkin patch with the Coders. Can't believe I didn't get a picture of the boys with their adorable daughter, Kennady. (Though as you can see I'm lucky I got the shots I did!)

Papa Matteson came for a visit this month, too! He's about to retire and had some vacation to use, so he came and cut wood with Levi. This offically secured Everett's obsession with Papa. (This picture is of Levi and Papa, though. I think they colored the entire time he was here because he was so sweet and would color with them. Of course they loved it.)

Nana and her boys.

Later in the month Papa made the trip back, this time with Grammie. As always it was a great time and the boys got more than enough loving.

Our Halloween cowboys (and cow). Love my boys!

We might have to move to the couch.

Clips: Super gorgeous fall day, and Grammie reads to twins while Hayden shows us his moves.

September

In September we had a visit from my mom which is always wonderful. When she comes oftentimes her siblings will drive up from Albert Lea to see all of us. It's so great to see all of them and show off our babies! Everyone loves on them so much.

For one of our last "playgroup" dates we got out some fingerpaints for the kids. They were pretty excited about it, although Everett preferred to rub it all over his face. He wasn't even being silly--it's not like he knows what he's supposed to do with paint! He just loved the feel of it everywhere. It was a great morning, but PARENTS BEWARE: Just because it's fingerpaint does NOT mean it's washable.

This video of the twins is pretty long but it does a great job of showing the interaction between the boys.

Hayden being tickled.

August

The week of August 29th Hayden started sitting on his own, and the next day I noticed he got his first tooth! I don't know why that's so exciting, but it's just a shock I guess--I can't say I have a newborn anymore. Hayden is still super happy and seeminly very mellow. I started him on cereal once he turned 6 months, and he took to it right away. By the time he was 7 months he was on 3 meals a day. I can't remember how I dragged that transition out with the twins, but it's just easier to feed them all at the same time. On that note, we did invest in a third highchair (thanks again, Craigslist).

The twins have really started talking now, too. Especially Everett, though I think sometimes Levi's hesitation looks like shyness. It's so cute to watch them ask me questions or talk to each other even though it's totally indecipherable. I mean, I get "where go?" and things like that, but they are seriously trying to tell us something that we aren't getting. I do a lot of nodding and agreeing. When asked who the other twin is, each will say the other's name: "Ewett" from Levi, and "Ewi" from Everett. They both say the baby's name, though I think Ev says something like "Dayden." My favorites to remember: Levi makes a lot of "Sha shi shu" statements, and Everett is so particular about his language that instead of saying "duck," he says "du...K." That last "ck" sound comes a couple beats late and is unmistakeable. Priceless. Same with "truck," and similar to "tur...TLE." (Man, this is a paragraph only a mother could love.) The baby cracks up at the boys, and Levi is especially happy to have an audience in Hayden.

We loved our quick visit from the Lamppas. We wanted to keep Eli and Bryn as our nannies. (Drew pictured in pink :)

July - Visiting the Hobins

After our visit to the UP the boys and I made our way to visit my parents in Gladwin. We had lots of fun attending a local fair (where the boys took a 30 second train ride--they weren't too thrilled) and playing in the backyard, and the boys also took their first boatride of the season.

While we were there Ann, her mom and the girls made the trek and visited for an afternoon! It was to cool to see our babies all playing together!

The boys and I also made a quick trip to the Grand Rapid area and were able to visit some great friends.

July - Visiting the Mattesons

As always, we celebrated the 4th in the UP with Levi's family. The boys played in Bekkela's creek for the first time and visited Lake Superior in Eagle River. Levi and I, with Hayden in tow, made our annual visit to the Jam Pot, a bakery run by monks who live in a beautiful monastery nearby. On the 4th we celebrated with our relatives--Levi's aunt and uncle hosted a picnic at their house. It's fun to see the boys with their "cousins."