Four and a half months

Our baby boys are four and a half months old. They are growing bigger and getting stronger every single day and it is just so fun to watch them!

They are starting to catch-up a little as far as percentiles go. They are both 25" long and in the 50th percentile and their weights are right around 15 lbs., which is in the 25th percentile. The doctors are so incredibly happy that they continue to grow at the same pace.

I was so bummed that Blake had to be in the hospital for as long as he was. I really, really, really wanted cute twin newborn pics of them all snuggly and stuff. The other day I got the next best thing. I was doing a project in Jenna's room and the boys fell asleep on her bed like this:

I know, right?! Super adorable! I can sense the twin bond between them all the time. It truly amazes me.

This was too precious. It's like they are always aware of where the other one is. Bowen was resting his hand on Blake's leg.

My sleepy boys.

Here's another thing they like to do: SMILE!! :) They are such happy babies and we are so very lucky. No matter how crazy things are around our house, I see those smiles and it is an instant mood lifter!

Bowen

Blake

Jenna and Bowen

Brody and Blake

Some of the things they are doing right now are:

1. Rolling over like crazy

2. Getting into crawl position (it's only a matter of time...)

3. Working on eating cereal

4. Just started playing in their exersaucer

5. Drooling. Lots of drooling.

6. Kicking/punching/wrestling with each other

Brody's First Race

A week ago last weekend there was a run east of town called Ethan's Tractor run. Long story short, it's in honor of a little boy who passed away and really loved tractors. The money raised goes towards scholarships for Marshall County students.

Saturday morning Aaron and Brody went with our friend, Jay, to the run. Jay's an avid runner and ran this race last year and had mentioned they had a kid's race. Brody wanted to do it, but Jenna was just too nervous about the whole dang thing.

Here's Brody with his bib on getting ready for the race.

According to Jay, they increased the distance by about 3 times compared to last year. The kids ended up running about a quarter mile. You can see Brody clear to the left in the picture. For not having anybody to run with and running so far he did great!

All the kids got a medal and Brody was SO PROUD!! Here he is with his medal posing with Jay, who got 4th overall (1st in his age division) in the 5K.

Because of Blake's dialysis, I wasn't able to go, but when Brody got home he said to me, "Those other kids beat me, but I still got the championship!" It was so cute!!

Ken's Photos

When my cousin Ken was down she brought her camera with her. She had it out a lot a took a ton of pictures and I really think she's a budding future photographer. I'm not a professional, but I really think she has a good eye when it comes to taking pictures. I thought I would share some of the pictures she took.

Kase at Grimes Farm...so pretty :)

Blakers taking a snooze. Love the perspective.

Blake in the swing, his eyes crack me up.

Bowen snuggling with his monkey

Love the light and of course his cute smile. :)

This obviously wasn't taken while Ken was in Iowa, but I stole it off her card. The lake. In Wisconsin. So pretty. Don't you just feel so calm now?!

Summer is Slippin' Away

Can you feel it? Summer is slippin' away from us. :( The countdown has begun at our house. Six days until Aaron has to go back, 10 days until Jenna starts kindergarten and 14 until Brody starts preschool. So sad.

The start of the school year means baseball season really is over, fall sports are ready to be covered by me at the paper, homecoming, etc. Until then, we're going to soak up every minute of the summer that we can.

We've been hanging out at the pool at one of our friend's house. The kids have so much fun! Don't you love it when people take cool pictures of your kids? Yep...me too! Our friend Jay took these pictures so enjoy some summer courtesy of Jenna. :)

Bowling

When the girls were down we went over to Perfect Games in Ames. Every Monday through Thursday they have free bowling from 11AM-2PM, so we decided to take advantage. I think this was the first time for Brody bowling and maybe the second time for Jenna. They did really good considering. What we learned is that Aaron was the best bowler (surprise, surprise) and Kasea, Ken and I are really bad! Oh well, we had fun!

Ken giving it her best shot

Daddy helping Brody

...Letting it fly

...and the LONG wait. I think we spent half our time just waiting for Jenna and Brody's ball to get to the end of the lane.

Jenna and Kasea cheesing it up

Don't look at this form! I'm pretty sure this is how it's NOT supposed to be done. :)

Jenna did pretty good. She even held it like a real bowler.

Ken, Kasea and Me

'Scony Cousins

My cousins from Wisconsin, Kasea and McKenzie ("Ken") came down last Friday, July 30th and stayed until Saturday, August 6th. Last year, they came and stayed with us for a week too. We had such a great time!! I (all of us actually) love those girls to pieces and we enjoy every minute we have together.

We did some craft projects after our trip to Hobby Lobby, my mom came to see us for a night, we took some senior pictures for Kasea, the girls helped me paint my kitchen, we went bowling, watched movies, went to a parade and went swimming. To say the week flew by is an understatement. In fact, the girls were supposed to leave Friday morning, but stayed an extra day.

These two are the best! They are so polite and helpful and don't complain. We really appreciated the extra sets of hands with the kids. I think both girls would tell you they came a long way in dealing with Blake and Bowen. When they came they didn't change diapers, feed the boys and Ken was even nervous to roll Bowen back over on his back. :) By the end of the week, they were rockstars! They were changing diapers, making bottles, helping me with dialysis stuff...

I miss the girls already and I wish we lived closer! We can't wait for next year!

Father-Daughter Dance

There's a group of gals in State Center that started a Father-Daughter Dance five years ago. This was Aaron and Jenna's first year attending and Jenna was so excited for it. She kept asking how many days away it was until the day of and then it was how many hours. Aaron was so great about it too! He suggested Jenna wear her flower girl dress and get a ribbon to match one of his shirts. They were the best looking duo there in my very bias opinion. :)

In addition, this year they asked our family to be the recipients of the free-will donation that is taken. We feel blessed that they thought of our family. We are truly grateful for their donations.

The fathers and their daughters got to be announced in a promenade and afterwards they got to dance. Jenna informed me they did the hokey-pokey twice and also got to limbo.

This was taken right after the promenade. There's just something special about being a daddy's girl. :)