Florida 2012 - Part 2

There's no question, William and Jack are very different boys despite being twins.

Florida provided the clearest example to date...the beach.

William did not like the sand, particularly walking on it. He wanted to be held or sit on a towel.

Jack, on the other hand, became 100% crazy as soon as he touched the sand. Non-stop running, pure happiness, bolting into the water, and even shoving his face directly into the sand.

Pure joy on Jack's face; apprehension on William's face.

On the positive side, it was nice just sitting and cuddling with William on the beach.

Jack hit the beach running. The only problem was he didn't stop. His favorite game was to run directly into the ocean, daring you not to grab him. And as soon as you put him back down, he turned around and did it again! Literally non-stop until it was time to go home.

The 3 boy cousins did great together. One of their favorite activities was climbing all over the stroller.

Photography Class

No exciting weekends or events in the Elenbaas house for awhile (besides my birthday weekend). For the most part we've stayed at home and taken care of a lot of little projects this winter.

Erin took a one day photography class last weekend. I have no doubt the quality of our pictures will improve. However, there isn't much you can do about the subject matter.

Typical Evelyn: charming, delightful, pleasant, cute, but something sinister going on in there

Typical Jack: Bloody (above his eye this time, several bloody noses lately), bruised, perpetual machine, and shoveling food in his mouth.

Typical boys: hooligans, destructive, naughty (notice the cell phone in Jack's hand - not a toy!)

Typical William: Neat, content, pleasant, but something very sinister going on in there (lately he picks his moments and then tackles and pins Jack without mercy)

The kids are getting excited for our upcoming Florida trip. We bought a plastic pool for the trip and they tested it out in the family room.

Twins are 1 year old

We did it! We survived the first year of twins. Looking back, it was pretty awful for 3 months and has gradually gotten easier since. Erin is a tremendous mother and carried a huge load very well.

Sadly, as 2nd and 3rd children their 1st birthday did not get much fanfare. We squeezed in birthday parties at other family gatherings and the boys missed most of the parties because they were napping or really crabby. On their actual birthday Erin worked all day and had a commitment at night, Jack was constipated, and we didn't do anything to celebrate.

We did make a train cake for their main party.

The boys were a crabby disaster all morning and slept through dinner, so their entire meal was birthday cake and ice cream. No complaints from them, though.

This is what happens when we try to have a photo session with them. Here was an attempt at 1 year old pictures.

First, mild compliance but not much time because they walk away almost instantly.
Next, distraction keeps them calm for another 10-20 seconds.
Then, the enforcer holds them down but things start getting out of control.
Finally, chaos.
And then the good child :)

Pumpkin Carving

Flash back to fall of 2008 and poor little Evelyn was subject to one of Erin's creative ideas.

In the end, Evelyn did not like being a pumpkin at all.

Three years later (last month) Evelyn had nothing to worry about and she happily picked her pumpkin at Papa and Nana's house.

This year William and Jack were subject to Erin's creativity. They actually didn't mind being stuck inside a pumpkin. It may look like they were trying to eat their way out, but really they just liked the taste of fresh pumpkin.

Family Hike

The hike was very pleasant.

The photo session started off well,
...then Jack wanted to eat rocks,
...and then it went downhill fast

Growing in double time

At a combined 40 lbs, a trip out with the boys is no easy task.

Erin has done a terrific job photographing their ages. It is amazing how fast they grow, yet how similar they look to their early photos.

End of Summer

And just like that, summer is gone. It was a great one.

We had torrential rain for about 15 minutes on Saturday. It rained hard enough to wash a significant amount of the beach into the lake.

Will and Jack hung out with their future cottage buddy Ethan. At half their age he's already bigger than them. I'm sure the trio will make many cottage memories.

Washing the boat.
Meal Time
The boys are standing and almost walking. Erin and I can just feel the destruction that is coming.
Princess Evelyn reminds us daily who really runs the house.
Did I mention that we can feel the destruction coming? I'm sure it has only just begun.