Update

I haven’t updated for a long time so I will do some catch up. This is more for me but you can enjoy our last few months in the speed version. Zach finished up his soccer season. I am not sure how long this sport will last. He LOVES the idea of playing soccer but not so much the actual playing. We will see how the spring season goes before we sign him up for another year.

Early in October, Aaron and I got away for the weekend. We went to Lucas Oil Stadium to watch our Indianapolis Colts play. One of Aaron’s colleague’s is related to a coach for the Colts and was able to get us some incredible tickets. We were close enough to get great views of the team, including Austin Collie (ex-BYU player). It was a wonderful experience!

Zach learned to tie his shoes as part of his kindergarten homework. His motivation was the Mario poster he got for his room. I am definitely not opposed to bribery. It works so much better than nagging.

We also did Halloween. Carving pumpkins, our annual carving party with our friends, and of course trick or treating. This year they were Mario (of course), a puppy and a kitty. That was not the winner of the votes, however, I am sure Abby will pick a princess as soon as she can say the word so I decided to not make her one this year.

We had family pictures taken. It was a cold day and the twins did not take their proper morning nap. It wasn’t as successful as I would have liked but we got some good shots.

We had Thanksgiving and fished at Great Grandma’s pond.

We once again decorated a tree for Festival of Trees. It was the most popular tree because of the snow machine. But what matters most, the tree went to a family that needed a little extra holiday cheer and the money went toward Primary Children's Hospital.

We decorated for Christmas and tried to keep most decorations out of little hands reach. The good part is the twins don't like the tree and don't go to close to it.

We had our first encounter with Santa. Ian and Abby are in their stranger anxiety phase and so Santa is not a person they like.

Ian and Abby have learned a lot of new tricks. They crawl up and down the two little steps from our family room to the rest of our house. Down the stairs is the most entertaining because they go head first, sometimes it is controlled and other times they roll. Neither one phases them.

They both pull themselves up onto everything. Abby was first and would use that to put herself in jail. Instead of going to the stairs, she would crawl to where she could see me and just pull herself up and cry until I came to get her.

They both do their own version of crawling. Ian’s is a lot of upper body pulling and Abby’s is a more efficient army crawl. They will both attempt a real crawl but quickly go back to what gets them there the fastest. Just for fun, we have baby races. They are evenly matched but Abby gets distracted easily.

Abby also learned how to be a frog.

We also do baby wrestling.

Abby discovered how to open the cabinets and unload them. Ian was content to just play with the things she unloaded.

Ian still only has two teeth while Abby is working on #7 and #8. Teeth aren’t the most important thing. Neither is hair, which Ian has a lot more of.

And now just some other cute pictures that we have take.

Nine month stats:

Ian is 28.7 inches tall (75%)
22.2 pounds (75%)
head circ 18.4 inches (85%)

Abby is 29.6 inches tall (97%)
21.3 pounds (85%)
head circ 17.8 inches (80%)

More teeth

Ian is getting his teeth!! Just like Abby, he is starting with two teeth on the bottom. Abby is working on her fifth tooth. I will miss the toothless grin. (I know you can't see them very well in the picture, but they are there.)

Two teeth

Abby has two teeth. We just discovered them Sunday morning. She seems to be very proud of her teeth and smiles very often to show them off. Ian is still waiting for his teeth.

Voting

I am trying to decide what to dress the twins up as for Halloween. I know it is only mid-August but I feel like the last six months have flown by and if I don't decide soon then I will miss my chance. I have narrowed it down and put the poll on my sidebar. I know that I only have a few years that they will not give me an opinion so I can make them coordinate. I would like Zach to be in the theme but he won't make up his mind so that is not part of it right now.

Zach

This post will be all about Zach. He has been up to a lot lately.
He graduated from Preschool. They had a program where they sang some songs and each child recited a nursery rhyme of their choice. Zach chose Baa, Baa Black Sheep. He did a great job! He was ready to graduate and can’t wait for kindergarten, which he starts in a week.


Zach took swimming lessons in June. I was not sure this would work. He had a strange fear of water and would freak out if you got water on his face in the bath. So bad he has almost jumped out of the bathtub. Much to my surprise, he did great! He put his face in the water, floated, learned swimming strokes and even braved the slide. This gave me some very proud mom moments.



































On June 19th, he turned 5 years old. (sigh) I can’t believe he is that old. He had a swimming party with some of his cousins. And then he had a Super Mario Bros party with some neighborhood friends. They decorated mustaches, ran an obstacle course to save the Princess from Bowser, had a Yoshi relay race and then ate toadstool cupcakes. Then on his birthday evening he choose a tepanyaki style dinner and Toy Story 3.


























































One of his birthday presents was a trampoline. He loves to jump on it, especially with the sprinkler under it.






















Zach has been growing up a lot lately. We are amazed at how mature he is becoming. He has been trying new foods like trout, lamb, sushi, and more. This is a big step for a kid who could live off bacon, ramen, and tuna fish. He has recently decided that he wants to be a photographer when he grows up. He is a great big brother!! I can frequently find him trying to entertain the twins and they LOVE to see his face. They are usually much happier babies in the car when he is sitting in between them. As grown up as he is getting he can still find plenty of time to make us laugh. We are very lucky to have him!