Everyone Loves Santa

Classic.

Happy Thanksgiving

We went to Poopa's and Grandma Sue's for a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. Lots of love here.

Daddy and Brookers. This kid actually likes hats!

Maddie planting a holiday smooch on Brooke.

Uncle Scott reading books to Maddie and Brooke. Uncle Tom listening intently to the Dora book.

Maddie making cookies.

Smiley Max

Mom and Cameron making gingerbread cookies.

Cammers

CHEESE!

Lots of help making cookies.

Aunt Diann and Maddie

And now on to Christmas...

We started to decorate for Christmas. We are dancing to holiday tunes.

More Fun Fall Times

Well, I have been notified of my apparent slacking on the picture/blogging front. So here are some pics for you all.This is Cameron practicing her happy/sad face in boy clothes. Our friend, Charlie, left this shirt here in the summer. We really should return it...We joined our cousins, Max and Maddie, for a Fire Station open house. It was sooooo cold that day. This was in October when the temp suddenly dropped from 80 to 40 overnight. I was not prepared for the sudden cold. Such a lame statement from a career Minnesotan.Brooke enjoyed this for a few moments, then we went inside and got hot chocolate and cookies.This is our first snow! We all know it didn't last. But it got me to realize that Brooke's snowsuit is really just for looks b/c all the snow seeped right in. So I took off to buy some real snow pants, but they are pricey. So Brooke is not getting new snowpants. Better learn to walk Brookers or you will have permie wet butt. I set the timer and put the camera in the playset. I need to do that more.

Two girls happy to have snow. All Cameron says everytime we talk about the snow coming is that she gets to eat it. We are drilling into her that she can only eat WHITE snow...

Brookers getting wet butt. Right after this shot she fell forward, how I do not know or remember- but she got her first bloody lip... ahhhh poor Baby. She was not too happy to be in the suit in the first place b/c she can hardly move. Visions of 'Christmas Story'...

Notice her mittens full of snow and that the top of the playcar is scraped off. Make the connection.

Brookers attacking me. Sidenote: I didn't want to name her Brooke. I wanted Lily, Lila, Lauren, or Courtney. They all got vetoed, and Tim won. But she is a Brookers. She really fits her name.

This is a few days later when all the snow melts. You know what they say, "Don't like the weather? Wait 24 hours."

Brooke on the verge of tears b/c Cameron keeps putting the choke hold on her.

Lucky timing.

This is about right. Cameron thinks she is hugging her, but really she is choking her. We have to constantly pry her arm from around Brooke's neck. Poor girl. Even today she came up to me and said that daddy told her she is not allowed to touch Brooke. I was taken aback as that is a little strict. Then she amended that she is not allowed to HUG Brooke (please picture Cameron slumped shoulders and sad face while telling me this - with a few huffs and sighs as well). That made sense. Hugs equal squeeze of death in Cameron World.

Happy fall. Run Brooke. Faster.

I am the queen of selfies.

I can't remember what we told her to do. Dance maybe? Independent Cameron is now dressing herself.

Jammie shirt, tank, pants and shorts. None of them are from the same set. She must have the pants and the shorts for bedtime.

Happy Halloween! Cameron really wanted to be a pumpkin. They only costume I could find was a 24 months. I sqeezed her into it and it worked. Poopa, Grandma Sue and Grandma Tye all came over to help us celebrate.

Tim busted out the Dremmel and carved Ariel. I busted out an old steak knife and carved mine old skool. The name's Lantern, Jacko Lantern.

Tim also printed out a Mickey pattern off the internet and went to town on that one as well. We ignored the mushy rotting pumpkin. It was a rainy October. I don't remember having mold pumpkins before.

Patiently waiting for Trick or Treating. We practiced our lines before we went. She did get in one or two Happy Halloweens during the candy raid.

This is our chicken. She rode in the wagon and did pretty well for about 20 minutes. She was laughing and in a good mood as Tim pulled her along. I think she was pumped to be out and about at night.

I wish this was a better photo. I am usually pretty good at taking pictures.

Our beloved Poopa walked with Cameron to every house as she raked in the loot.

This is Cameron's buddy Erin. She lives down the street and they are the same age. We try to see them every week for a playdate. It's nice to have friends in the neighborhood.

Cameron was really good about sharing her candy. She has always been a good sharer (of snacks, not toys).

Our parting shot. Cameron likes to pretend to nap in the tub. She actually has her feet crossed too. I decided against the X rated picture. Some dignity required.

We have had a great fall. Brooke took her first steps on 11.10.09. She is currently working on multi-steps. I am sure she will walk by the time her birthday arrives. If not, she'll have a cold wet butt when the weather turns snowy. Perhaps it will be more incentive to walk. Speaking of butts, Brooke is a big fan of sitting hers right down on top of Cameron's toys or books. Cameron tries not to whack her, but it can be hard. I think Brooke knows what she is doing and just likes to mess with people. She had a rough few weeks as she went from 2 teeth to 8. Not kidding. Ouch. She was a crabby ball of fun.

We will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Eau Claire and we are so excited to see Aunt Diann, Uncle Tom and Great Grandma Helen. Apparently Tim is going to "take Great Grandma down" in the raspberry pie fight. No one stands between Tim and Aunt Diann's homemade raspberry pie.

Tim and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Jax Cafe where we had our groom's dinner. Tim was drooling all day thinking about the steak he was going to eat. It was a lovely night. What was almost better was that the kids were at Papa and Nana's house and we could sleep in and read the Sunday paper and have coffee in peace.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rogge's

Fall Fun

We went to the cabin over Labor Day and Cameron had the grandparents all to herself. She had so much fun. She even entertained Great Grandma with croquet.

Brooke sat around and smiled. It's what she does best.

Grandma took Cameron for nudie swim in the lake.

Strategically placed toy.

Always a hug for grandma.

One way to keep busy is to take the girls to the Children's Museum. Even Brooke gets worn out here. It's great.

Artist Cameron

We went to our church fall harvest and picked up a new sandbox. Brooke is working hard.

September was oddly hot. As I write this now, it is 45 degrees out. It seems so long ago that they undressed and ran around the house outside.

I took the girls and met up with Dad and Sharon for some camping fun. They have a luxury camper of course, but with 2 kids, 3 adults and 1 dog, it was close quarters.

It was not exactly hot out, but that stopped no one but me. I think I am wearing a sweatshirt and they are all swimming...

Papa took Cameron fishing and she did a lot of running with her "fast ponies" aka ponytails. She took off running down the lane in the campsite and Papa and Nana tried to catch her. They couldn't.

Brooke and Penny hanging out. No running for either of them.

The big girls went to town and Nana bought Cameron some paper dolls and coloring books.

Papa and his camper girls.

Ok. I had to take this photo. I am in blue and dad is red. Dad rarely looses at cards. Everyone knows that. I think I did win, but it was not by much. Out of our 8 games, I won twice and it was by one point, I luckily pegged out first. Dad creamed me the other times and I believe he even smelled a skunk a time or two...

Here we are playing in the morning. Same old, same old.

Cameron, the little helper. She got her new Home Depot apron at a kid's building workshop. They were all hammering and it looked a little too difficult so we asked for an apron. She loves the HD so this is pretty cool.

Apples and caramel

Cameron does a lot of entertaining of Brooke.

As you can tell.

Classy eater.

But always a happy eater.

As for the potty training, we are on a roll. I decided that enough is enough. She is in underwear all the time. She knows she can pee in a pull up so that was not working. She had 5 accidents the first day, but after that she was great. We go everywhere now in undies. Now I just have to get her to poo on the potty all the time. :)

Love the fall weather, but can do without the constant rain. Girls are great. Tim just had the best weekend ever. If you are a sports fan, then you know all about it. Good Luck TWINS!!!!!