Fashionistas

These days the fashion world is all abuzz with talk of the Oscars (like our fabulous fancy friend). Although we don't have fabulous evening gowns to model, we thought we could still contribute our own fashion statement: We're pretty sure this look knocks Hollywood out of the water!

Seriously, these hats are the best! If you'd like to have one for your fancy little self, then just head right over here.

A Bag Full of Babies

What was that we were saying about "operation wrap Daddy around our little finger"? We sure love to play with him!

Besides the valuable use of IKEA reusable bags for trips to Costco, they are also useful for carrying littles like us around!
(Disclaimer: Manufacturer does not recommend use of bags for carrying little kids).Elyse: Peek-a-boo! I see you Mommy!

Elyse: Imagine this: there's a bag, it's blue, it's calling my name...What's a girl to do? Climb in it of course! I can't just walk away from a perfectly good, crinkly bag!

Felicity: AHHHH!!! Who thought this was a good idea?

Elyse: Oh, Felicity! You may be walking, but I am definitely more of a daredevil. Don't be a scaredy cat! Let's go Daddy, swing us again!

Twins of the Square Table

We are excited to have a new table and set of chairs to complete our playroom (from IKEA). We plan on using it to plot devious schemes and secret plans! We are going to call ourselves "Twins of the Square Table."

Our first encounters with the new table:

Felicity: What do we have here? A pretty rainbow chair? I like it!
Felicity: Mom, this is not a laughing matter. How do you expect me to sit in a chair that falls over? I'm pretty sure I can't plot to take over the world with a faulty chair.

Hmpph! If the chair is not going to cooperate, then I'm going to have to stand at the table. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the chairs? I don't really think this is funny Mom!

Elyse: Let's see here, Felicity. Maybe I can help you pick this chair up so we can use it. I'll lift this part of the chair if you lift this other part over here...try not to get distracted by the farm animals, Felicity! Focus! This is a big job!

Elyse: Felicity? Work with me here! I'm trying to call this meeting to order! No one listens to me around this place!

Oh, Elyse! Just because you were born 14 measly minutes before me you think you get to be in charge! We'll have to see about that!

Felicity: In order to be successful in our secret plans, we've got to work together! Our first mission will start this evening by working to wrap Daddy around our little finger...then on to bigger plans!

Elyse: Great plan, Felicity! Sounds like the perfect covert operation! But now we must run because Mommy might hear...we didn't have this meeting and you never saw me! Until the next meeting of "Twins at the Square Table"...

A beautiful day!

After our tours of the National Gallery and the American History museums, we spent a little time of the afternoon playing on the Mall. You might notice that our coats are a little big for us, but that did not stop us from exploring and chasing squirrels!Having a snack with Grandma:

Enjoying the view from the middle of the Mall:

Felicity: Elyse, you've really got to get a hang of this walking thing. It's so much better than crawling!

Thanks for all of the fun, Grandma! We had so much fun while you were here! Come again soon!

Art makes us Smart

One of our favorite museums to go to in the District (there are LOTS of museums!) is the National Gallery of Art. If you haven't been there, you are really missing out! Grandma loves it too, so we decided to go to the National Mall for a little adventure.

In the rotunda of the National Gallery there is a beautiful fountain and they change the flowers all year round. This time, the flowers were pink, hot pink, red, and white for Valentine's Day. So far, this was our favorite flower display by the fountain!This is our new jogging stroller that Mommy has been waiting to get for a LONG time. We are so excited for our new wheels!! Now, Mommy can go jogging and on long walks in the neighborhood and in the District. Even though it is very big, we love the new smooth ride!
And clearly the reflectors work well (look at that shine just from the camera flash! It will help to keep us safe when we go on a jog!).

This is one of our favorite pictures in the Gallery. It is Monet's "The Cradle" and we think the baby in the cradle looks like Elyse when she was little. How cultured we are!

Here's the baby in the picture:

We love how calm and quiet the museum is and enjoyed our day in our new ride. And for your information, Art definitely makes us Smart!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whew! Where has the past week gone? We have been busy, busy, busy! This weekend, our grandma came to visit and we had a great time playing and gallivanting across town!

Below is our Valentine's celebration. We had so much fun enjoying the day (how can you go wrong with a holiday that is all about lots of love and pink hearts and decorations? Bring on the pink, we say!). We woke up to this pretty table (and presents for us on our high chairs!):And Mommy made these heart-shaped coffee cakes (we got to taste them too and LOVED them! The blueberry one was especially delicious!):

It was a lazy Saturday brunch in pjs enjoying all of our very special Valentines!

We had such a difficult decision trying to pick out what to wear to celebrate heart day. We have plenty of pink and heart-themed clothing, so we hemmed and hawed and decided to wear our multi-colored heart decorated fleece hoodies (good thing, because Mommy did buy them just for this occasion). We were warm, cozy, and had a fun day of playing at home!

Thank you to everyone who sent us special Valentine's cards! This year we waited to send out "we love you" cards until our portraits came in--now they're here and we're going to send them out soon!

Portrait Gallery

We recently got our 1-year portraits taken and would like to share a sampling with you. What do you think?

This time we even had a wardrobe change! Our Mommy was very brave to even consider it!
If you'd like to see more of the pictures we took, you can access them here:
www.thesmilestation.com
Username: Amy Butcher
Access Code: LTTT0832100992TAR
Enjoy!

Pint-Sized Seating

As we are so grown up these days, being one and all, it was time we found a nice chair just our size. The days of being relegated to the floor while Mom and Dad hang out on the couch are over! We have chairs for our sun-loving days on the deck, but we were lost in the living room department. Thankfully, Mom found this little number at our local IKEA. It's the smaller version of a fabulous chair Mommy and Daddy have for our family room and living room (yes, they have 2 of these!). (And who can't love something from a Swedish store? Just channeling our Scandinavian roots folks).

Elyse: I could get used to this! You just play over there, Felicity. I'll supervise from here...The perfect place to plan our mischief...muahahahahahaha (scheming laugh here)

This is okay for now, but we'll definitely have to get a second one as we won't fit in this together for very long.

Felicity: Woo hoo! Who knew how fabulous it was to have your own chair! I could get used to this being a grown-up one year old!

One Year and Growing Strong

We had our one-year check-up just a few days ago and here are our new growth statistics:

Elyse: 18 lbs. 8 oz / 28 inches long
Felicity: 18 lbs. 14 oz / 28 1/2 inches long

The doctor reports that we are growing strong and healthy and doing everything we should be for the average one year old. It's crazy to think that we were so tiny just one year ago!

Very Serious Business

We have had so much fun with our grandpa while he's been here on business. Two weeks with Grandpa? Sign us up! Of course it's been nothing but serious business. That's us--all serious, no fun. No, none at all!

Felicity: Hey old grandpa-man! I'm talking to you! Watch me walk all over the house--this is very serious business! Elyse: I love cuddling with Grandpa! It is so fun to have him come home from work to play with us...or I mean, conduct very serious business! We will sure miss him when he leaves!

Felicity: Grandpa, I love you, but I'm really more into walking right now rather than sitting on your lap! Someone has to get some serious business done around this place!

Thanks for all of the fun and of course serious business, Grandpa! We just loved having you visit!

Our First Superbowl

Last year at this time we were hanging out in our own isolettes in the NICU, but this year we were so excited to rock it out during the big game. If you're wondering, we were cheering for the Cardinals, but we had no Cardinal gear, so we decided to don our Packer cheerleading outfits. Mommy let us wear these because it is the last good football game of the season and Daddy was sad about that, so our Packer gear cheered him right up! (Grandpa was not happy about our Packer gear, but he couldn't help but think we looked cute!)

Elyse: Rah, rah, rah! GOOOO CARDINALS!

Hanging out on the couch watching the game. Just a quick picture, Mom, we've got to pay close attention or we might miss a big play! What's that you say? We have to go to bed at half-time? The injustice of it all!!!

Felicity: We found out Monday that the Cardinals lost. Sniff, sniff...so sad! But throughout the evening we were happy to cheer on Kurt Warner and the Cardinals! Go team!

P.S.--Our favorite commercial was the eTrade baby. What a smart kid!