The Beach- A Big Sandbox

When we were little Mom and Dad recorded us, yes with a cassette tape. This was long before the days of video cameras readily available and CDs. We enjoyed listening to them as we were growing up and Dad always threatened us with embarrassment by playing them for our friends. In one of the recordings, we had gone to the public beach at Milford (for those of you that don't know it is not much of a beach, but it was big to us). Dad asked Greg where we had gone that day and Greg referred to the beach as a "a big sandbox." That saying stuck in our family and anytime we talk about a beach we would then say a big sandbox.

The boys and I (all 3 of them) went to Cannon Beach, Oregon this weekend. It was the boys' first trip to the ocean and first time playing in any sand. I think they were a little over whelmed-at first. Drew loved the sand and the water and we had a hard time keeping him out of both. Gavin was not so sure he would just stand there and cry after he was in it for a while he would warm up to it but I had to be right there with him. He didn't like that he could not walk very well in it. The water he hated, but so did I because it was freezing! That did not stop Drew and Andrew. Andrew actually body surfed. I guess Drew did too but not on purpose.

This one of Drew was right before he got drenched. If you click on it to enlarge he is making his
mad face. He was not happy we were trying to keep him out of the waves. The other one of the three of us was typical of our beach time. Me holding Gavin and drew playing in the sand. At one point he was making sand angels face down. I guess that is one way to learn not to eat sand. Especially when you have a running nose. What a mess!


Isn't this a great picture of Gavin? That rock is called Haystack rock behind him. We had a great view of it from our hotel.

We had a great time and the boys were great despite all the sand and snot. Did I mention it was cold? We got a lot of great pictures that you may see some day in your mailbox, and a lot of others that I will have to hang on our wall. It helps when you have cute little models and a beautiful backdrop.

I started with a story about Greg so I will dedicate this picture to Greg. Yes, Uncle Greg I am looking at an airplane. I don't know how he learned how to do this, but he does it every time he hears one. We never showed him one or anything but he points now and looks for it every time.

Where did last week go?

Tuesday was a long day for the Greenes. I had a tooth extraction in the morning and of course they were running late. Andrew had 2 fillings in the afternoon and of course they were running late. So, Andrew and I were in some discomfort and so Andrew decided to cut his hair and while he was at it Gavin's. Poor Gavin has been called a girl three times now and Andrew was having nothing to do with that, not to mention his hair was getting a little out of control on top. So, he shaved it . . .

Before

and after

Daddy and Gavin with matching hairdos!

I have to admit it was hard to see his beautiful red hair falling, but I saved it for his first hair cut in his baby book. He was strutting around as we were telling him how handsome he looked and I noticed that our new patio furniture had some sharp corners. I should have gone with my mommy intuition. Not even five minutes after I had that thought he tripped and hit the corner just under his eye. It was like the Brayden fiasco all over. (He fell on Darcy's coffee table while I was home visiting in May and cut his eye in the same place and had to get some stitches.) He bled and cried, but only for a little while-his new hair cut must have made him tough. So, we packed up to go to a clinic just down the road. This was about 7 o'clock and we new the place was open until 8. So, we get there and I am a mess thinking about my poor baby's face and the possible scar and they tell us they just took their last patient. It is 7:15 aren't you open until 8? Yes, but we take our last patient at 7:15. Can you not see he is bleeding? So, they tell us that the emergency room has this new program yada yada yada. We get back in the car and Andrew insists we just go to Walgreens and fix it up ourselves. I am on pain killers and have not eaten since the morning and I am upset about my baby's face. We get the stuff and I am still not convinced we don't need to go to the emergency room. When we get home we agree to see our neighbor who is a physician's assistant and see what she thinks. Well, she says she has everything we need because her 2 year old just did something similar a couple of weeks ago, so she had brought some stuff home from the office. She fixed him up with Andrew's help-I had to go play with the kids because I was feeling a little queasy and needed another pain killer. So here is the after, the next morning.

The moral of the story is trust your mommy instinct and now we know about the 8 o'clock closing at 7:15 at all the clinics in the area. Something I will have to take a note of as the mom of 2 boys because I am sure we will be back! Also, neighbors are great-we have definitely had some great ones!

You may ask what is Drew up to? Well, Drew is Drew and that will just have to be anther post!

Sorry it is a little blurry. We are all healing and doing fine and it is Wednesday already of the next week! Where has the week gone?

Lil Vols

We are back home after a great trip to Tennessee. Andrew is starting them early at Neyland Stadium (Home of the Vol's football team for those of you that are not from TN). I know Drew looks like a thug here with his hat and band aide. I leave him alone with Daddy for 2 days and look what happens. Actually they both have bumps and bruises from learning how to walk-that is all they want to do now!

We had a great time with friends and family. It was a great trip. We got home and I realized this was the only picture we (Andrew) took.

We are finally back into the swing of things now and back on this time zone. Now we are wondering what are we going to do now that the Olympics are over. Well, the boys have answered that. They are everywhere. Drew has figured out that he can climb up on the couch now and get into things that I didn't think he could reach. Gavin loves pushing things. I don't know how many times he has re-arranged the chairs and bar stools in the kitchen. He also loves to push the stroller, we got some great footage of this with Michelle at the park but it takes so much memory to put video on I could put it on if I get enough requests, but I won't if I don't.

Anyway, I hear Gavin stirring upstairs so I guess I better get him a snack after his nap. I will try to take some more recent pictures, it seems like they are changing everyday! Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa

We are walking! Well, kind of. We look like we have had a couple too many but we are doing it! We started on Grandpa Bean's birthday. Happy birthday, Grandpa. Wish we could show off in person but this will have to do. Thank you for watching. I will have to get some more footage of Gavin. They are walking just in time for our trip to TN!

Dog Days of Summer!

When Sandee (Grandma) was here a couple of weeks ago, we heard a strange noise upstairs while the boys were playing. I called for Harper and I heard a commotion and he would not come. I called again and I heard more noise, so I went up and investigated. This is what I found.

Needless to say he got caught in the "cookie jar". He loves paper towels and Kleenexes and apparently he got more than he bargained for. He was very confused because whenever he moved it would sway and he could not figure out how to get through the door.. Now that I think about it he has not tried to get anything out of that trashcan since this escapade.

Drew has had this fascination with getting in things lately. I have missed a couple of good photo opportunities of him getting in clothes baskets, laundry baskets, drawers, and boxes. One of his favorite places to get in is the drawer on the bottom of the oven. Well, he invited his buddy yesterday.

I don't know what it was yesterday, but they were everywhere together.

Yes, this is Gavin pushing his brother in the Hippo. Drew was sitting down and riding, but when I went to get the camera he stood up and rode it like a scooter.

Through the view finder of the camera I realized the gate was not up and they were playing with this right by the stairs. Rest assured the gate went up right after I snapped the photo. Their socks also came off for better traction.

I have two exciting pieces of news!

#1) The boys are walking or trying to walk. They love to hold on to our fingers and walk everywhere, but recently have let go. Drew has taken as many as 10 steps (well, running steps) and Gavin has decided he wants to learn to stand before he takes off. So he can get up without holding onto anything and then when he goes to take off he falls and then gets back up and does the whole routine again. So, I have a feeling they will be walking very soon and just in time for the other piece of news.

#2) The Greenes are heading to Tennessee! We will be arriving in Knoxville on Sat. the 9th of Aug. and driving to JC for a long weekend. So, we would love to see as many people as possible so email me if you would like to see us so we can set up a time and place. We are really excited to show off our handsome young men and see some friends we haven't seen the past year.

I think that about does it for now, if I figure out how to put videos on here, I will put on some great footage of the boys walking. Hope to hear from you soon!

Sleepless in Seattle

We made our first adventure to Seattle this past weekend. We had a really good time during the day, but two one year olds in a hotel room is not the most enjoyable in a getaway weekend. The boys were great during the day, they just didn't want to sleep because they were afraid they might miss something. It was sure nice to have Grandma with us for the extra set of hands.







I guess Gavin did a lot of sleeping when we were out and about so he ended up missing a lot. He slept at pretty much everywhere we went. So, most of our pictures are of Drew and then Gavin sleeping. Needless to say Drew has been pretty grumpy these past few days trying to catch up on sleep, but he got to see a lot. You can see the Space Needle in the background of the picture of Drew and I and the one of Andrew and I. We did get this one shot of Gavin awake and having fun with Daddy. This one is Drew practicing his walking with Grandma on the Pier. We were hoping the boys would start walking while she was here.

We walked a lot on Saturday. We walked along the waterfront. We walked to the Space Needle and then walked back and did some shopping along the way. We stopped at the Adidas store and the boys got a new soccer ball and I got a running skort. We headed back to the hotel for some swimming on the 26th story of our hotel, what a view!

On Sunday, we walked to the Pike Place Market and saw them throw some fish. The flowers were amazing! Drew liked the bronze pig that we took a picture with. He kept eyeing it every time we passed it. At least we did not have an Easter bunny incident. You can even see the fish in the background.Here is a picture of Andrew and the boys. Can you tell Gav just woke up? If you look closely you can see some of the beautiful bouquets.

We then went back to the hotel and packed up and drove to ride the Ducks. The boys and I had never been on one. It was a neat way to see the city and all that was on the water. Gavin slept, of course, but Drew had fun. We even saw the house that they filmed Sleepless in Seattle. It could be yours for only a couple million dollars, it just went on the market. This is another Duck we passed on the water.

- The Greenes, Grandma even got in this do-it-yourself photo. Of course Gavin is asleep. Drew just has his eyes closed.

We then went to a Trader Joe's and then headed home. I had to keep telling myself we live here- this is only 3 and a half hours away. It was a great weekend filled with a lot of memories.

Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who commented on the last post. It is so nice to know who is reading. It was nice to hear from people I had not heard from in a while and some that I had no idea were reading. Thank you for taking the time to check in on us because sometimes it can be pretty lonely out here and it is nice to hear from a familiar face.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys. They were so happy that day and we had so many good pictures to choose from. That is not usually the case for those of you that have ever tried to photograph twins. Thank goodness for digital photography! They are growing and learning so fast.

I was a bad mom and have no pictures from the 4th. We went to a church picnic and had a neighborhood party so I did not have time to grab a camera. Thankfully, Grandma was here so I was actually able to grab some food and talk to some people. We did find out that Drew does not like fireworks, but Gavin slept with them literally right outside his window.

Since I have no 4th pictures and still no pictures of the backyard, I will post some that I forgot on the last post. I guess I didn't really forget them, I finished the first one the day I blogged and the other I did forget and when I remembered the boys were asleep so I could not take a picture.

I love this verse and I love to have a reminder of it. I was sure using it when I was running the half marathon! Right now it is in our guest room eventually it will be in my craffice. (What is a craffice? It is a word I made up for my craft room/ office. I should wickepedia it see if I am the first.) I originally painted the canvas and Andrew thought it needed something so he tweaked it. It is the first thing he has painted for me since we have been married. (He used to paint and draw a lot and he is very talented.) I take it back he did a clock tower once in Charleston on the paper tablecloth while we were waiting in a restaurant. Which is a great reminder that I am still trying to figure out how to frame it. Okay, enough of that rabbit trail.

This other picture is of the canvases in the boys' room. The ones of the circles and stripes I did a long time ago and thought I would touch some places up. I should have left them alone because I had semi gloss paint this time-same color just a different finish. Whoops- I don't know how long it will be until I get to fix that mistake. The other canvas is a constant reminder of how blessed we are. I have people tell us all the time "double trouble" and I respond that we prefer to say, "doubly blessed."