Grandma & Grandpa Visit

Shortly after the calendar turned to April, we had the special treat of having Grandpa and Grandma visit our home. The boys wanted to give their grandparents a warm welcome by coloring a special sign for them.

Grandpa and Grandma did such a wonderful job of jumping into our daily routine and helping out in any way they could. On their first morning, Grandpa read our daily snacktime devotions to the boys.

They loved seeing all of Grandpa's actions!

Grandma, too, joined in on devotions another day. This seasoned teacher did a wonderful job of sharing "extras" about the Bible stories.

Cody and Jaden willingly sat on their grandparents' cozy laps for stories before naptimes, too.

Finally, there's the daily job of entertaining the boys while meals are being prepared. (For our hungry boys who get quite impatient at mealtimes, this is a VERY important job!) Grandma listened to the boys "read" a bit and then read to them some more, as well.

Later in the week, we were able to include Grandma and Grandpa in our regular family game nights. Here, Daddy makes up a game of ball-throwing into a laundry basket. The boys were big fans of this one. :)

Then, of course, no family game night is complete without the hidden stuffed animal game! Grandpa and Grandma were great helpers for this event.

Cody and Jaden got a bit sidetracked when they saw the frog wearing the baseball hat...

(By the way, we LOVE our new PJs from Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth! Aren't they just adorable? The boys giggle at the doggie pictures every time we put on their PJs. Thanks for the great gift!)

While they were here, Grandpa and Grandma introduced the boys to a few new routines of their own. Cody and Jaden were VERY interested in watching Grandpa shave in the mornings. They were even MORE excited when Grandpa let them wear a bit of shaving cream on their cheeks!

Then, Grandpa taught the boys all about daily stretching and exercise.

Jaden and Cody learned to do sit-ups with Grandpa...

...and even tried jumping alongside of him during this workout routine. Grandpa was such a fun teacher!

Aside from all of these daily routines, our primary activity during Grandpa and Grandma's visit was PLAYTIME! It was such a treat for the boys to get pushed around in their Cozy Coupes at the same time.

Then, we were blessed with our first full week of glorious spring-like weather, so we were able to spend a lot of playtime outside. One of the boys' favorite places to play outside is on our hill. They love to throw balls down the hill,

climb (or crawl) up the hill,

and run down the hill at top speed into someone's waiting arms!

Cody and Jaden showed Grandma all of the new rocks we got with our landscaping last fall.

And then Grandma played some baseball with the boys.

Finally, Cody and Jaden showed Grandma and Grandpa their favorite place to play peek-a-boo. What a joy to be able to spend so much time outside again-- and, of course, to have some wonderful extra playmates to join us outside!

Inside, Grandpa helped the boys push their cars back and forth along the ground.

Grandpa was great at reinforcing the sharing concept!

Grandma took advantage of a calm, cozy afternoon to read to her twin grandsons. The boys LOVE this Highlights Hello magazine that Grandma ordered for them. They sat still for quite sometime listening to Grandma read.

What a blessing it is to have such fun & loving grandparents! We thoroughly enjoyed all of the help, the playtime, and the many adventures (more pics still to come!). Thanks so much for making the effort to come and see us, Grandma and Grandpa. Our family of 4 loves you very much!

22 Months Old

So here we are. Two months away from reaching the two year milestone. Whether these twos are really the "terrible twos" or the "terrific twos" still remains to be seen for our family.

Unfortunately, we've been catching more glimpses of the "terrible twos" side of the coin recently. This past month was a bit more of a challenge in terms of temperament for one of our little guys in particular. Daddy and Mommy had to continually remind themselves that screams and tantrums (and growls?) are merely a part of growing up. We frequently pray for wisdom and patience and we help our little guys work through their developing emotions. It IS all just a passing stage, right?? :)

Cody & Jaden -- 22 months old!

Cody, Jaden-- giggling as they poke their homemade playdough

Jaden & Cody-- not sure if they want to pose for this pic

Jaden, Cody-- getting ready to run!

 Most of our challenges this month revolved around toy battles. When a toy is first stolen, the brother victim will angrily point at the brother thief with a firm growl. Then, if the problem is not quickly resolved by a nearby adult, the growl soon becomes a full out scream, cry, or stomping fit. Mommy and Daddy are getting very used to the mediator role! Other reasons for tantrums this month have also included not wanting to go inside, not wanting to leave playtime to get a diaper change, not getting one's way, and not wanting to change out of a favorite set of PJs.

Another challenge of the month has been surrounding naps and bedtime. No longer do our little toddlers fall asleep like a charm (we had been so spoiled!). Now, instead,  Jaden swats at the door handle (and has even figured out how to open the door by reaching out of his crib!) while Cody stands up in his crib and whimpers. They're often up for anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, making these noises, but thankfully eventually end up falling asleep. We are glad that their naps are still a good length, even with the rocky beginning. We're taking these sleep battles as a sign that we need to push back bedtime a bit, so we'll see how that goes for a while...

Thankfully, amidst these challenges, every day has many moments of laughter, mischief, learning, and play, too. The boys have made us laugh with the "trouble" they've gotten themselves into this past month. They've enjoyed hanging out in Mommy's closet so they can toss all of her shoes into the hamper. Another day, Mommy caught them attempting to squeeze all of their socks into the diaper genie. Oh, my.

We've also loved hearing the boys' language continue to develop. This month's new favorite words include bye-bye, off, on, hot, and cheese (chhhh). They also like making a few new animal sounds-- baa (for a sheep), bvooo (for a cow), and meee (for a cat). Both boys are very willing to say hi and bye-bye to people that we meet. Cody has recently started to use the word "Mamy" (pronounced like Amy, just with an M) to refer to Mommy.

At mealtimes, Jaden and Cody have gotten quite proficient at fork-spearing. They LOVE using their forks and will often eat twice as much food (particularly veggies!) after receiving a fork. They've also recently discovered the joy of hearing a loud crunch when biting into raw carrots.

It's been a big blessing to play outside more again this month. The boys have enjoyed pushing their mowers EVERYWHERE, having their mowers filled with bubbles, trying out sidewalk chalk on our driveway, and digging, pouring, and dumping sand in their sandbox. Inside the house, Cody and Jaden enjoy pushing around their car transporter and their bus, putting together basic peg puzzles, and using their Dot Painters. 

The most simple things will make our boys excited. They are both completely fascinated with the printer and will watch it in amazement. As soon as the print job is done, they'll eagerly rush the finished paper to Daddy or Mommy. They also have come to love the song "Love Take Me Over" by Steven Curtis Chapman and will start dancing like crazy whenever that song comes on the radio.

CODY

enjoys giving his doggie a taste of whatever's in his sippy cup

first taste of a Girl Scout cookie!

VERY into Duplo blocks this month-- will
spend up to 10 minutes putting together
and taking apart the same 4-5 blocks

a BIG fan of playdough

JADEN

Jaden's first taste of Thin Mints

Learning how to reverse

Up to no good in the sock drawer!

Poking, molding, and throwing playdough

We're figuring that since God gave us the taste of the "terrible twos" this month, next month is our turn to try out the "terrific twos," right? 

Either way, like the children's book says, we love our boys "through and through" including their "happy side" AND their "mad side." We're thankful that God has entrusted us with this challenging and yet still joy-filled role of parenting!

March Playdates

In March, Mommy and the boys were glad to have another couple playdates with our friends. Our first playdate was actually on St. Patrick's Day, so of course we had to have green-themed activities. Jenn was our creative planner for this playdate. First, she set out green fingerpaint that she had made from pistachio pudding. The kiddos were excited to jump right in!

This was Cody and Jaden's first experience with fingerpainting, so they didn't exactly know what to do at first.

The older kids showed our boys just what to do...

...and even demonstrated that the fingerpaint was safe to eat. Yum! :)

After a tasty snack of apples and homemade green fruit dip, Jenn told us the story of St. Patrick. She told the kids how St. Patrick's goal was to spread the love of Jesus to many other people. The craft that we did was based on this story-- a shamrock made from 3 hearts, to remind us of the love of our triune God.

We loved hearing about the reminder of God's great love for us through Jesus. Thanks, Jenn, for planning such a wonderful & creative green morning!

For our next playdate, we centered our activities around spring. While it may not look like spring outside quite yet (We're still getting occasional snow flurries and finally reached the 100 in. mark of snow for the season!), the official calendar tells us that it IS spring. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on our part! :)

Before starting our spring activities, the boys loved exploring all the new toys at Jenna's house. They enjoyed playing with new blocks and pretend food, giggled like crazy while playing with a mini-jackhammer, and constantly dumped out these fun magnetic letters.

Best of all, though, Kody and Ryder own a rocking horse! Cody and Jaden pretty much monopolized this toy whenever we were downstairs. :)

Cody got the hang of the cowboy "thang" pretty quickly. Is he a little Montana boy or what? :)

Ride 'em, cowboy!

Jaden, too, loved bouncing wildly on the horse...

...although he wasn't quite sure what to do with the hat.

For our snack, I had put together some butterfly snacks that I found on Pinterest. I ran out of time to add the pipe cleaner antennae, but I still think they came out pretty cute.

For our first activity, Ruth got super adventurous on us and decided to have the kids plant flowers. This is definitely not an idea I would have attempted on my own with the boys at this age, but it was so great doing the activity with other mommy friends! (In addition to our regular playdate mommies, my good friend Janese was also back in town from Thailand. It was so fun to see her at this playdate AND to have her extra helping hands! Thanks so much for joining us, Janese!) After getting the table all set and the kids organized, Ruth explained the planting process to all the kiddos.

Cody and Jaden listened very carefully (or something like that) to her directions.

Then, we all dug in to the potting soil and filled up our pots.

Of course, in the brief moment I was helping Jaden fill his pot, Cody thought the large clod of dirt looked delicious to eat! He soon found out that looks and reality don't always line up...

Poor Cody-boy! He was such a good sport (no real tears, just a lot of whimpering and spitting!). And he certainly learned his lesson-- he didn't want anything to do with the dirt after THAT experience.

Next step was digging a hole for our seeds and dropping them in the soil.

Mommy held out the seeds for Jaden to place in the pot... and, yep you guessed it, the seed went right into his mouth! It wouldn't have been so bad except that Jaden tried to bite right into the super-hard seed. Either out of surprise or pain, this little boy DID start to wail. Poor Jaden-man! Thankfully, we had no morning glories coming out of his ears later that week. :)

The planting experience was certainly an adventure, especially for the apparently very hungry Schleicher boys. :) Having a team of other women around to help and laugh right along with us kept it a fun experience. I was happy the boys could have their first lesson in planting! And, just a few days ago, our seeds started sprouting through the soil. What a joy to have green growth inside our home while the snow is swirling outside! Thanks for the perfect spring activity, Ruth!

Our final spring activity was making coffee filter butterflies. The kids started by coloring with marker on their coffee filters.

Then, we sprayed the filters with water to allow the colors to spread and added our butterfly antennae when dry. Tah-dah!

I'm certainly enjoying having regular playdates with these other fun & creative mommies. It gives us a good excuse to plan special activities for our kids and provides a perfect outlet for playtime and socializing!