More Walking

I am loving that the twins and ayla are starting to walk at the exact same time! It is so fun. Can't wait til we're all together again :) :) :)

 

Toddler Bites

Hi fam

Dad, Mom and Jenny are officially gone from my house and I am in mourning. But while mom was here she mentioned that maybe Jason or Heather were in need of some good ideas for feeding their little cutie patooties. So here are a list of my no fail go-to's when it comes to feeding my picky toddler.

1. Mixed Veggies. Strange I know but Addison will eat and entire bowl of mixed Veggies. Maybe it is because they are colorful or the perfect size for finger food but she thinks they are super yummy. So I buy this bag at Walmart in the frozen veggie isle for about 2 dollars. Then I steam them for about 20 minutes while I am getting dinner ready. I believe you can also just throw them in a bowl with a little water and microwave them covered. With a little salt they really are quite tasty and it is such a big bag they go a long way. I usually over steam some of the bag and then puree it into baby food for Brie.

2. This option isn't nearly as healthy but it is a favorite. Bread and cheese. I just take a piece of bread throw on a cheese single and microwave for about 10 seconds. Cut it into bite size pieces with the pizza cutter and WHALA! A quick easy meal.

3. Mac and cheese is always a kid favorite. If you over boil the noodles they mash up quite nicely with a fork, if you are worried about noodle size. However it is a great finger food if you don't mind your little ones getting a little messy!

4. Muffins! My kids are huge muffin fans. Banana, zucchini or bran. Muffins are easy to make and tasty! I usually bake a double batch and freeze what we won't eat that day then when I want a quick easy snack I pull out a muffin and microwave for 30 seconds. 

5. GREEN SMOOTHIES. Seriously the best way to sneak in all those extra vitamins from the spinach and kale. Addison has been drinking these since she was probably 10 mo. I usually buy the big bags of spinach and kale then I blend it all up with a little apple juice and pour into ice cube trays. Once they are frozen I put all the cubes into a big ziploc bag. That way they are ready and easy to add to any smoothie any time! The only drawback is they don't do well in bottles or sippie cups because of the pulp. Originally I bought a few cups from the dollar store that had a lid and straw. But the straws were always getting lost which led me to this discovery...

http://www.amazon.com/Yummi-Pouch-Set-of-6/dp/B00AJFHG8A/ref=sr_1_3?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1393429109&sr=1-3&keywords=reusable+squeeze+pouch

THEY. ARE. AWESOME!

They are reusable squeeze pouches, just like the baby food pouches in the store. They are perfect for a smoothie or applesauce or really any puree you make. They are easy to fill, easy to clean, and easy to use. 

The baby food pouches get expensive fast. My kids love the applesauce squeeze pouches, and could go through a box in 2 days. With these I can make my own pouches of applesauce or any other blended creation! They are especially awesome for taking on the go. You can fill them up and throw them in a diaper bag and not have to worry about spoons and bowls and all that mess! 

So there you have it. My list of no fail toddler treats. I am sure all kids like different things so all of these might not be your kids favorite but hopefully something helps!

LOVE YOU ALL! And if you bring me your babies I will feed them for you!

xoxo- Jill

Bennett is Getting Better

Bennett has been able to take a few steps for a few weeks now, but today we started seeing some big improvement. I think he was starting to feel the pressure from Ayla. Cooper also showed his first signs of walking today.

First Steps

Here is a little snippet of some of Ayla's first steps at 10.5 months old. She is picking it up quickly! ... Don't mind me in my baggy sweats.... Comfort trumps style right now ;)

California Trip!

Disneyland--

My favorite things were CarsLand (new area in California Adventure), the pirates ride, Space Mountain and the tower of terror. It was gorgeous weather. I also really enjoyed the parades. The cool thing was that Lena got two free hopper passes because she is an Editor for BYU and so she has a "press pass" that gets her all kinds of cool tickets. She also gets 4 free tickets to Sea World!

Saturday was beach day. It was a lovely time on the beach. We did lots of things, including a sea shell hunt, meditation, ballet, and karate. Then we ate at Ruby's on the Pier.

Do I look like a monkey in this picture? Good.

This is Balboa Island. We took the Ferry (2-3 minute ride) to get there. You can walk all the way around Balboa Island in about an hour. We stopped in the shops, and enjoyed the beach/water and the cute beach houses on the island. It's fairly quiet and peaceful.

California State Historical Citrus Park! This place was so cool. Groves and groves of orange trees. We also found some grapefruit trees. We had fun walking through the groves and smelling the oranges. :)

The Mission Inn: According to Lara, it was originally built for monks to live there and teach/tutor Native Americans. Now it's a fancy Hotel and lots of Celebrities and other important people stay there. I totally loved exploring this place! It was so awesome! The architecture was SO stunning, and I was amazed that they let visitors just wander around the place. I was truly amazed by it.

A perfect California Breakfast :)

Sad that vacations like this must always end. :( 

Quilts

As you may recall, Evan gave me a sewing machine for Christmas. 

Behold ... my first project!

Two little quilt (tops) for my two little girls! :) They are small and simple and skiwampus. But I'm hoping all the love that went into them will make up for their imperfections.

I spent about two weeks on the first one and two days on the second one. Haha. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I hadn't sewn much of anything since Home Ec. in 6th grade, so I worked on the first one pretty cautiously/slowly. Once I finished it and saw that it wasn't a TOTAL disaster, I whipped the second one out with much more confidence/speed ;) Thanks to YouTube for the sewing lessons!

AND! Devyn Olsen offered to quilt and bind them for me, bless her heart. So I am done! I just have to send them off and cross my fingers!

Ayla and Dad

Here are some giggles for ya :)

What's in a name?

After some thought and some convincing from Jill, we've decided to let you all in on our little secret and tell you the name we have chosen for Ayla's little sister. Yay!

Please keep in mind that we are telling you so that you will have some time to get used to it, NOT so that you will have a chance to try and talk us out of it ;)

So! without further ado...

Drumroll please...

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3<3


<3<3<3


<3<3


<3

Vera Belle DeLong!

(after her great, great grandmother Vera)

Yoga Baby

Finally caught a picture of Ayla in her favorite yoga position. She's been doing this for over a month along with randomly bear crawling. Silly girl!

Rub a dub dub

We love love tubby time around here. And there isn't anything much cuter than these three girlies in the bath together!

Days in May

Just FYI... it looks like we will be putting off little sisters arrival until closer to my actual due date , which is May 13th! I will let you all know when we have officially scheduled surgery. ALSO, Memorial Day is on May 26 if anyone wants to plan to spend their 3-day weekend in Boise!

Come Visit!

Virginia is lonely. And my ward is crazy, like seriously looney bin crazy. I need some familiar faces in my life. Come visit, or better yet... MOVE HERE! Just not into this crazy ward. I don't wish that on anyone.

House Coordinates

If any of you want to see where our house is being built you can copy/paste these coordinates into Google Maps:

43.566827,-116.361292

Families are Forever

Dear Family, 

I love you. I am so grateful for each of you. I was just looking through my pictures and wanted to share these with all of you! Sometimes I get lonely, but it's so nice to know that you are all just a phone call or FaceTime away. I'm grateful for your support and love. You mean the world to me.  I look forward to our next dance party in the basement!!!

Home Sweet Home

For our third anniversary this April we decided to go big or go home... or in this case, both.
In case you haven't already heard, we are building a home! The closing date is on our anniversary, April 22, which also happens to be just a couple weeks before little sisters arrival. We are pretty stinkin' excited!

Here's a pic of our little house, already framed!

I was totally giddy yesterday, walking through it for the first time :) To be honest, it's not much bigger than our apartment, but it does have a 2-car garage, shop space, and a third room. If a new baby wasn't enough, hopefully a new house will motivate you all to come visit us!