How lucky to have THREE darling valentines!

I know that Valentine's Day is not until Sunday, but I just had to share these pictures of the kids. We did a little photo shoot with the new equipment that Dave gave me for Christmas. The new backdrop and lighting help me to get some great shots!

The hardest part is getting any of these active kiddos to sit still or to look at the camera for two seconds. But they were pretty cooperative this time... could it have been the lollipops?

First, our gorgeous girl...


She liked hiding behind the backdrop.

Pucker up!

She was sliding down the front of the couch yelling, "I slide!"

This one is my favorite.

I decided to do some separate shots of the boys... I really only have pictures of them together. Jack is first because he is 'older.'

His pin-up pose

What it is like to try to take pictures of twins...

See his two bottom teeth? Ben is still waiting on his...

On Valentine's Day, you should be with the one you love... like, your blue blanket.

Now the baby- Ben.

He was actually the best of the three in terms of sitting still and posing for me.

Love those baby blues.

And some of the boys together. Jack on the left, Ben on the right.

Hey, did you get one of these lollipops, too?

As for things the kids love right now, Mairead is OBSESSED with Elmo and the rest of the gang on Sesame Street. She LOVES Elmo ever since Brian and Christin took her to see Elmo Live! She also loves running, and practices going "slow" and "fast." Mostly fast. She also loves peanut butter, lollipops, and arranging her 27 friends in her crib before she goes to bed.

Jack loves yogurt. He wants to eat it for every meal. He will sometimes refuse other foods until he gets some. And, if I don't offer it at a given meal, he whines when I clear his tray, telling me that the meal can't be over until he has his yogurt.

Ben loves food. Any food. Any time. He also loves stalking the cats and trying to get his hands on my lap top.

Both babies love Mairead and want to be wherever she is. Mairead does not love this. They also love each other- if I put one up to bed alone, he cries until the other comes up, too. They laugh hysterically at each other before going to sleep and then again when they wake up.

We have so much love for these kids- we are lucky to have them on Valentine's Day and every day! Happy Valentine's day to all of you!

Happy Birthdays!!

We have lots of birthday wishes to send out. Saturday was my sister, Katie's, birthday, and today is Dave's sister, Ryane's, birthday! Happy birthday to two of our favorite aunts! Our kids are lucky to have so many great aunts and uncles. They are especially lucky because birthdays mean cake!!!

Mairead is an old pro at eating cake. She uses a fork (most of the time) and everything.


Ben and Jack are new at it, and kept looking at us like, "are you sure we can eat this? No one is going to stop us?" They were a mess, but they had fun eating it! Surprisingly, Ben liked it enough, but didn't love it the way I thought he would. Jack, on the other hand, had HUGE fistfuls of it and cried when it was gone.

Ben

Ben

Jack

Jack

On an almost birthday note, the boys turned 11 months old on Saturday! That means that they have less than a month until they are one whole year old! I can't believe it- they have come so far and grown so much in the past year. It's crazy to think that they are reallly getting to be toddlers and not babies any more. I will say that I love the snuggly baby stage, and I will miss that. But, I am excited to see them doing new things and really showing their personalities.

My parents were nice enough to babysit on Saturday so that we could go out for Katie's birthday. They had their hands full with my three AND their new cousin, Lily. She is getting so big and is seriously cuter every time I see her.

Jack is fascinated by Lily. He babbles and coos to her whenever she comes over. Ben is not as interested, and is a little more jealous.

Christin's mom made this adorable little strawberry hat for Lily. How cute is that?

She is such a pretty baby- and so alert, too! I am not used to big, alert newborns. Lily weighs as much right now at about 7 weeks as my guys did at 12 weeks!

Everyone here is doing well. It seems that the boys are over their ear infections, though Ben still has a very runny nose. He is still waiting on some teeth, while Jack's bottom two are more visible every day.

Mairead is learning a ton of new words and is communicating more. We would still like to see her using more sentences and being a bit more conversational. We are hoping that her school helps with that, and we will see if she needs some extra help getting to where she needs to be.

We went to a playdate yesterday and everyone did pretty well with the other kids. We are a traveling circus going out in public, but it's worth the effort to get everyone out! I can't wait until the weather is warmer and we can play outside!

Let us out!!!

The boys are in to EVERYTHING lately, especially whatever it is that Mairead is doing. They want to be next to her all the time, even if she is just watching one of her dvds.

The other night, Jen and Mike came over for dinner and to play with the kids. The twins were in the den that we use as a playroom for them, and we closed the glass doors so the cats could not get in there. They wanted to come out and play with Jen!

They looked like they were in jail and they complained until we let them come out and have fun!

Belly up to the Bar

Grab a sippy cup and spend some time hanging out with your bro...

Ben

These pictures are out of order, so we interrupt to bring you our craft of the day- F is for flowers. We did do an E craft, but I don't know where she put it, so I will find it later. Anyway, she really liked this one because of all the sparkles. She kept telling me that it was boo-ful.

The babies are doing a great job using their sippy cups. They hang out at the (breakfast) bar with their drinks and spend some quality time together. I was pretty impressed with them for learning to use them so quickly. They are learning more new things all the time!

Ben is on the left in these.

Jack

Before I know it, they will be 1!

Play Date!

We had a pretty nice little Saturday yesterday when we took Mairead to a local indoor playground called Perpetual Motion (in Lowell). The best part was that our friends, Jaime, Joey, and Connor, came, too! Jack and Ben were too little for this trip, so they stayed home with Nana and Grampy and their new cousin, Lily.

The place is pretty cool. It is huge and has a side for little kids and one for big kids. The little kid side has a huge train play structure. Both Mairead and Connor spent a lot of time on that.


You could even drive the train! Mairead was running around making the motion of pulling a train whistle and yelling, "Choo, choo!" at the top of her little lungs.


The slide was her favorite part. She did that about a hundred times. There were no steps for this slide, only metal rungs. I mostly lifted her to the top, but a few times, she climbed up the rungs. I was impressed- I didn't know she could do that!

The train included a 'car' that was a ball pit. Some of the balls managed to escape, but not to worry- Mairead climbed under the train to retrieve them.

She was really good about playing with other kids and sharing in the sandbox.

Connor found this cool table for blocks. There was an opening in the center so that extra blocks could be stored there. Or, so that Connor could get IN the opening and hang out.

Connor had a lot of fun with his Mom on this little ride.

More fun in the sandbox. She stayed in there for quite a long time, actually. I guess we know where she will be spending some time this summer.

Connor liked the swings the best. Especially because he could sit in the swing AND use his mom's i-phone to watch Thomas. He knows how to scroll through the apps and find Thomas-- pretty amazing!

Mairead and Connor were mostly running in different directions, but it was fun for them to see each other for a bit, and the parents could hang out and talk, too.

After the kids were tired out, we dropped them off at their respective grandparents' houses so that the grown-ups could get some lunch. It was a really fun day! Thanks to all of the grandparents for babysitting, and thanks to the Estees for making the drive all the way up to visit us! We miss seeing you guys all the time!

In other news, Jack is crawling the 'right' way! I am so happy to see that he now has the strength and coordination to do it! He is pulling up to stand more and more now (getting down is still a problem), and Ben is cruising around like crazy! He thinks he can walk and seems to get disappointed when he realizes he can't. They are both improving their fine and gross motor skills and they haven't even started physical therapy yet! I think the PT will be pleasantly surprised when she sees them on Friday.

We have been working with Mairead to encourage her to use more full sentences and to verbalize more of what she wants. She can be stubborn sometimes (wonder where she gets that?) and sometimes will not answer you even though she knows the answer. She is not an 'on demand' child, that is for sure.

The boys seem to be feeling better despite their very runny noses. Hopefully everyone will be happy and healthy soon!