Easter pictures

These pictures were taken about a month ago, but the occasion was for Easter so I waited until today for you all to see James and Kate looking adorable in their new Easter clothes. These are first professional photos since they were nine-months-old. It's taken this long for me to build up the energy to go the effort of getting pictures taken with twins (and then there is also the part about finding a time when neither child -- usually James -- has no scratches or bruises on the forehead from playing just a bit too fast/hard). I think they turned out great. Maybe I won't wait so long for the next photo session . . .

Easter bonanza

We've had a busy, but very fun Easter weekend. We spend Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa Judd's. There was lunch, and Easter egg hunt, some time at the park and then dinner. Sunday morning was at our home. Ben and I used Easter and an excuse to get Kate and James each a scooter they found on a Toys-R-Us trip a month or so ago. Our Easter Sunday church service was very nice. Then we spent the evening with the McAdams enjoying a nice dinner and another Easter egg hunt. I could have been more selective with the pictures, but it's late, I'm tired, and they are all just so darn cute! Hope you have a little bit of time to enjoy a few of them.

Coloring Easter Eggs

We introduced James and Kate to the Easter tradition of dying hard boiled eggs tonight. Kate loved the activity, but showed little patience in waiting for the eggs to saturate in the colored dyes. She excitedly yelled "It's done now!" a few seconds after she immersed each egg in the dye. James marveled in awe at each egg as he pulled it out of one of the dyes.

Here's some team work in the finishing touches of putting stickers on the eggs. And, notice the half-eaten egg -- a sampling of only one of the activity's casualties. For the record, Mom and Dad had fun too!

Little Ducks/Dinosaurs/Etc. All in a Row

Part of Kate's bath time ritual includes washing each toy in the incoming water and then placing it on the edge of the tub in a nice, orderly line. James, of course, tries to thwart Kate's routine constantly. After a frustrated and angry yell, she starts again. She did the same thing last week with about 15 Care Bears when we stopped at Toys-R-Us for a promised new toy. She lined up the Care Bear boxes across the store isle. Is this a child who likes to organized things or one with OCD?

Never has a DVD been so loved!

My mom owns the Care Bears Movie, but ever since Kate sat for the flick over a month ago, it has been in Kate's hands. She brought it home with her that day, slept with it that night and has every night since. She talks to it as she goes to sleep. She pets it. She carries it around with her ALL DAY, EVERY DAY! She opens the case every hour or so and spins the DVD around lovingly, sometimes with a giggle. She begs to watch it daily (and because my patience is lacking, she often gets her way). Some kids have a blanket, some a teddy bear; mine has a DVD (and two blankets, a few teddy bears, apparently her coat in bed with her tonight, and a plethora of other security items).

Ella turns 3!

Rachel, Bryant, and Ella, some dear friends from New York were in Utah last week and invited us to Ella's three-year-old birthday celebration. It was so great to see our friends and catch up a bit. James and Kate were excited to go to a birthday party and enjoyed picking out small presents for Ella and wrapping them in Care Bears' wrapping paper (Kate's obsession of the month -- see previous post). The party was at a mall with a fantastic carousel in the food court area. Both James and Kate decided the zebra was a best choice for the ride, but luckily, after one ride on the zebra we were able to convince James that the chicken (rooster?) was also really, really cool. For the remaining rides, Kate insisted on the zebra and James on the chicken. Luckily, there were plenty of other choices to keep the other kids happy too. Here are a couple of pictures of James and Kate and one of the beautiful Birthday Girl! (And, no it wasn't cold inside. Kate just refused to take her coat off for a very long time.)

Up close with Swoop at the gymnastics meet

Each time we go to a U of U sports event, Kate looks for "The Bird." At a basketball game last month Swoop came right into out section (which is saying a lot since we were only a few rows from the VERY BACK of the arena). I was standing up, holding Kate, making a total fool of myself trying to get him to come right to us. Swoop clearly signaled that he was coming. Unfortunately, Swoop was coming too close for James. James started crying/screaming and Swoop changed his mind about visiting Kate and her crazy mom. Kate was devastated.

Well, luckily, we had another chance. Last Thursday evening Ben and I took James and Kate to a gymnastics meet. They watched for a bit and seemed interested, but there was too much down time between rotations to keep them in their seats, so we headed out. On our way to the outer doors we ran right into Swoop! He was giving kids "five" (photo number one) and posing for pictures (hug and happy girl in photo number two). James stayed a comfortable 5 feet from Swoop at all times, but watched the scene with interest. A few minutes later, James was in line for a drink at a drinking fountain and didn't know that Swoop had come back. Suddenly, Swoop was right in front of James and, although pausing for a brief moment of panic, James put out his hand to give Swoop five. (Unfortunately, I missed the photo op.) (Note: Kate's relationship with Swoop began some months ago. See: here.)