We're 6 Months Old

Today we had our 6 month check-up at the doctor. 

 Good news: we are growing just perfectly! 

Bad news: we are so sad to leave our pediatrician!

 Here are our new stats:

Elyse Isabelle: 13 lbs 5 oz (10% of growth percentile)

25 inches long (25% of growth percentile)

Felicity Claire: 14 lbs. 7 oz. (25%)

25 1/2 inches long (40%)

The Dog Days of Summer

We are in the throes of a VERY hot summer in Denver.  Today we tied the record for 18 consecutive days over 90 degrees (mostly in the upper 90s).  It is HOT.  So we stay at home, or go to the mall, drowning our heat sorrows in air conditioned places.  Some days are fun, some are boring.  Today was kind of boring at home: we're holed up in our air conditioning, pre-move just playing with the same old toys (because all of our new cool toys are packed away for the move), and no swimming allowed (now that we found out Elyse has eczema--no chlorine for her!). B-O-R-I-N-G.  To curb our boredom, Mom decided to take pictures.  We kind of liked it. And yes, because of the heat, we are desperate. 

Elyse

Felicity

Tomorrow is our 6-month check-up.  Anyone want to guess what we're going to weigh tomorrow?

Here we are in March with the same bears that we took pics with today.  Can you believe how tiny we were?

Look How We've Grown

Just in case you forgot how tiny we once were and how big we are getting, here's a little walk down memory lane.  This picture is from February:

Wow!  What a difference! This picture is from just a few days ago:

We'll be crawling soon!

We are both working on our core strength so we can move closer to crawling.  Now that we can both roll over, we have also learned to hold our heads up for longer periods of time.  Mostly, we hate being on our tummies these days (we used to love it) and that is no fun for Mom as we LOVE to roll over, but hate what happens once we get there.  

Here we are, hanging out together, enjoying a few minutes of tummy-time before we realize we actually hate it:

Before you know it, we'll be crawling!

Packing up

Elyse: Even though we have a company that is helping us pack and move, Mom and Dad are trying to get things organized for the movers to come in just a few short weeks.  Here I am helping Mom put some of her clothes in storage.  My Bumbo seat helped me sit up so I could help Mom with the tough decisions of what clothes to give away and what ones to keep.

Yes, Mom, keep this purple sweatshirt, I think it's a great color on you!

Our Last Visitors

We have had LOTS of visitors lately and have enjoyed seeing our friends and family.  This past weekend we had the pleasure of meeting our mom's friend from graduate school and her husband.  Lynnea and Erik are from MN and are officially our last visitors until we move to DC.  Thanks for the visit, Lynnea and Erik, we had a lot of fun meeting you!

Swimming Sistas

For our last adventure with our cousins, we went swimming.  It was over 90 degrees and we really liked getting cooled off!

Elyse: Olivia and I shared a chair while lounging in the summer sun.  Daddy thinks I look a little like Olivia.  What do you think?  

Thanks for visiting Auntie Kim, Emma, Grace, Olivia, Sophie, Evelyn, and Grandma!  We had so much fun seeing you and will miss you until we see you again!  Lots of Love!

Colorado Adventures

Grandma and Mom drove us up into the mountains for a scenic drive and a little shopping in Dillon.  We tried sitting in our stroller for the first time without our infant seats in it and we really loved it!  What fun it is to see the world!

After our trip to the mountains, we went to Casa Bonita for dinner.  It is a Mexican restaurant with all kinds of cool things like cliff diving inside of the restaurant, mines, cowboys, pirates, and all kinds of things that were fun to look at.  Mom and Dad say the food is mediocre, but for us the entertainment was superb!  Here we are with Mom, Dad, and our cousins:

Emma, Grandma, and Felicity:

Emma and Mommy:

Going into the mountains and eating dinner at Casa Bonita are two very Coloradan things to do.  We guess it's a good thing we did them now before we move out East!

Zany at the Zoo

We went to the Denver Zoo with our cousins, aunt, and Grandma Beck and had such a great time.  It was very hot (almost 100 degrees), but we loved seeing all of the animals.  We got to be in the front carriers with Mom and Grandma, sporting our shades, and taking in the sights.  

This is our Aunt Kim and all of our cousins.  The two little girls are our twin cousins Sophie and Evelyn.  We are looking forward to playing with them at Christmas!

We thought this was a cool sculpture outside of the zoo (here we are with Grandma and Mom).  Mom bought us cute giraffes at the zoo to remind us of the beautiful giraffes at the Denver Zoo.  This zoo trip made us so excited to go to the San Diego Zoo in September!

The cute giraffes Mom found for us at the gift shop:

Let's Have a Sleepover!

This week our cousins from MN came to visit us.  We had so much fun with them!  Emma, Grace, and Olivia slept over at our house and all slept in the living room.  Here they are after we had a fun afternoon of swimming:

Grace, Olivia, Emma

Felicity: I just love my cousin Emma!  She can make me smile all the time.  I think it's because she is an expert big sister (she has 4 younger sisters!).

Elyse: While Felicity was hanging out with Emma, I played with Olivia and Grace on Mom's bed.  We were being very silly and I was showing off how much I like to stick out my tongue.

Here we are just hanging out, enjoying the morning before our BIG trip to the zoo:

Afternoon Fun

Elyse: This is our ExerSaucer.  We are just learning to hang out in it, but we're a little small still, so Mom has to put blankets around us so we don't flop over.  I like all of the noises and sounds the toys on it make.  What fun!

Felicity: This is a special seat that helps us learn how to sit up.  It is such an improvement from lying on the floor to play!  As you can see, I just love my new vantage point to see the world!

Happy Birthday America!

We have just returned from a spectacular July 4th celebration in Wisconsin (whenever we go to WI, Mommy likes to refer to it as going "behind the Cheddar Curtain").  So like we were saying, we just returned from behind the Cheddar Curtain and had a marvelous time hanging out with lots of family. We got to meet our cousins and hang out with our aunts and uncles and attempt to learn the ways of the farm (which means knowing how to get cool when it is HOTTER than Hades and the house has no AC...oh the trials of us city girls in the country!)

Here we are with our Great Grandma and Grandpa Butcher on the farm.  The Butcher family is the only family to ever have lived on their land.  What a heritage we are a part of!

Felicity: Daddy and I are just chillin' before we make the grand entrance at the 4th of July picnic.  Mom, is that you trying to snap a pic of my stylish outfit?

Elyse: Mom and I were quite pleased with our wardrobe selection for the picnic.  Everything was very patriotic: the sandals, the glasses, the outfit...oh I just love being coordinated!

Felicity: Saturday was beautiful so we spent most of the day outside in the shade taking in all that the Wisconsin countryside has to offer.

This is Daddy's cousin Travis and his family (wife Brenna and baby Jovie).  Jovie was just born about 5 weeks ago and we had lots of fun with her.  We can't wait to play in the pool with her at next year's picnic!

These were the comfortable, yet also patriotic, outfits we wore on the plane.  Our bibs said "Baby's first 4th" and our outfits appropriately said "American Sweetheart."  

Here we have our Aunt Amy and Aunt Kimberly.  You may remember them from their earlier visit to Colorado when we were little (okay, so we're still little, but not that little...we can now pack a powerful punch!).

During the picnic we had a nice dip in the pool:

 

Here he is, the big, the powerful, the great, Uncle Steve!  He may look big, he may look tough, but he's like putty in our hands:

Elyse: Grandpa Beck, you're looking so very GQ in those shades!  

Why, Grandpa, is that a flag on your shirt?  What a coincidence!  I have a flag on my shirt!  Stuff like that just doesn't happen every day!

We just loved seeing our Great Grandma and Grandpa Butcher!  They are so much fun!

Grandma and Grandpa Beck came to the picnic too and had a blast!  We were so lucky to be able to see all of our grandparents in one place!  

Great Grandma and Grandpa are sitting here with our other cousins (second cousins, we think).  From left to right we have: Brooklyn, Felicity, Jovie, Elyse, Riley

In our billionth red/white/blue ensemble of the weekend, we realized we had the same outfit as Jovie!  So here we are, pretending to be triplets!  (Good thing for Mom and Dad there are only two of us).

And for our last picture of the big weekend, but certainly not least, here we are with Grandpa and Grandma Butcher.  On Friday night when Mom and Dad went to fireworks, we got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and it was so much fun!  

Well folks, that was our big adventure!  As we've reflected on our time this past weekend, we'd like to end with an "Ode to the Cheddar Curtain":

It was a long flight and drive to the farm,

But once we arrived, we were taken by its charm. 

There are lots of crazies who live out that way,

But we're related to most of them, what can we say?

Oh, Wisconsin, your curds are the best!

We can't wait to eat them, we do not jest!

So even though we love the city lights,

We promise to return to your stars that shine bright.

Oh, Wisconsin, our Daddy's homeland,

We'll visit again as soon as we can,

But sorry to say, you must know this now,

 We will not be Packer fans (said with a very stern brow)!

DISCLAIMER: Mommy may have coerced us into writing the final line...or at least Daddy would like to think so.