FOUR YEARS???

“There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared: Twins.” - Josh Billings

At twenty weeks, they surprised us by showing two faces in the ultrasound. And four years ago today, they surprised us with an early arrival.  Four years later, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Thank you Madison and Kennedy for all the chaos, laugher, and endless love you have brought to our family.  We are so blessed.  Happy, happy Birthday!

Snow Day

Well, it's wintertime in South Dakota, which means SNOW.  And we got lots of it yesterday.  The good news is that school and the legislature were closed today so we enjoyed an extra day of Daddy being home this weekend and we definitely enjoyed another day of hanging out at home today!  The sun came out this afternoon and we took advantage of the chance to go play outside and had a ball!

Rick (our contractor) helped clear snow from our driveway and made an awesome "mountain" for us to climb!

Kennedy made snow angels all over the yard....

 Reagan realized she had a snowsuit for her American Girl doll and so "Bitty" was able to join us for all the fun....

Slide still works!

Kennedy was determined to clear off the snow and get back to her favorite activity of swinging....

 It took a bit of work (not to clean off the swing itself but to clear a path below it so the swing could actually move back and forth), but they found success!  And, no, Kennedy did not fall off the swing in the background of this picture.  She was doing a forward facing snow angel so that she could eat snow!

It's still early enough into winter and snow that we aren't sick of it yet, but we sure hope the groundhog's prediction is true because we want to spend more time playing outside without the 20 minute warm up of getting into all that snowgear!!!!

Super Bowl

We came home from sledding at the shed and settled in to watch the Super Bowl.  We were pretty excited because Mom and Dad let us have a picnic supper in the living room!  (ignore the construction plastic in the background....we are slowly but surely getting the addition finished!).

We had decided to root for the 49ers (bad choice) but then Madison took a look at the team colors and quickly changed her mind (we should have listened).  She started chanting "Go Purple!  Go Purple!"  At this point, Kennedy of course joined in with her own "Go Pink" cheer....oh well, whether we  understand the game or not, we had fun watching the first half until bedtime!

Let's Go For a Ride!

It warmed up enough to go back outside after all the snow and wind and there was still enough snow left on the ground to pull out some sleds.  Papa and Grandma invited us out to the shed and hooked the sleds up to the Arctic Cat and we were off!  We had so much fun!  Madison and Kennedy at first decided to ride along in the back and watch but quickly decided it looked like fun and each took a turn riding on Reagan's lap.  Papa even convinced Mom to go for a ride.  It was a wonderful and fun day!  We even came inside and enjoyed some homemade ice cream sundaes at the end of it all.  Yum!

This picture is my favorite....If you look closely, Reagan and Harrison are both hysterically in tears.  Not because they were cold or tired or got thrown off any sleds or anything that might have justified tears, but because we pulled back up to the shed to get the girls inside where it was warm and they thought their rides were over for good.  The rest of us just laughed.  Don't worry...we aren't cruel...they got to go for another ride!

Have You Seen the Twins?

We are always attempting to get more organized and create storage solutions for the numerous toys, stuffed animals and other items that find themselves strewn around our home.  Mom found these great hampers at the store today and they even had the right colors for the twins.  Apparently, Madison and Kennedy found a better use for them though!

He Can't Sink My Battleship!

If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that Harrison developed quite a clever new strategy in his latest battle with Corey in Battleship.  You will notice at the top of his board that the final peg of his battleship appears to be off the chart, therefore making it impossible for dad to call out the coordinates to sink his ship.  Well played, son :)

Starting the Day Off Right

What's better than a delicious bowl of cereal for breakfast?  Wonderful dining companions!  We headed over to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's this morning for a visit and Great Grandpa was kind enough to share his cereal with us.  We ate two bowls each!  We really enjoyed visiting them and mom was so relieved that we were good, friendly and sweet (we are three year olds....apparently, that's not always the norm!).  We are so lucky to have so many generations of family so close to us....we really hope now that mom finds it easier to leave home with all of us that as the weather warms up that we can get out and enjoy them more often!

2013 - Off to a Fantastic Start

I was able to join Corey in Pierre as he was sworn in for his third term in the State Senate.  Even better was being there to listen to his friend and colleague, Russell Olson, give a very flattering speech to nominate Corey as President Pro Tempore and watch the entire Senate vote to elect him to the position. (The part I could have done without was where they called Corey AND ME (gasp) up to the front of the Senate for Corey to accept the position and take the oath.)  We are still waiting on copies of pictures from others who were there, but have one grainy one of him being sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Steven Zinter.  Quite an unforgettable day!

2013 - Off to A Good Start

Autumn (one of our superstar babysitters) came over today to play with the kids while Corey and I painted in the addition.  She was more than happy to gear up in her snow clothes and get all the kids bundled up as well to play outside.  They loved it!  Thank you Autumn!