Life

Ok, it has been so long... this is going to be a long one.

So, our house passed inspection and we are closing on March 12th and renting it back until mid-May. It is still crazy to me how fast that happened.

Katie went to a friend's birthday party a little over a week ago. She loved every part of it. Since then she has been telling everyone "it is my birthday soon"--these next 6 months are going to be more fun then Mark getting to celebrate his b-day for the entire month of November.
There was a pinata at the party and Katie was so excited about the bag of candy that she gathered. She was even more excited that we let her eat it over the next week. As she was picking up the candy she kept looking at me to see if she was allowed to pick up more.


My little sister Bethany came to visit us last week. We went nuts going mission shopping and scored some awesome clothes. We found her a wool coat at Macy's for $17.99! She is going to be the best dressed missionary in Italy! We are going to miss her for the next 18 months.

Katie helping Bethany try on her new clothes/shoes-she said she was going with her to Italy

When Bethany left, Mark's cousin Megan came for the weekend with her husband who had a dental school interview. We had a lot of fun reminiscing.

I finally gave in and decided to be a good mom and start my babies on cereal. Marcus is always so hungry, but I have been putting it off because the thought of having to feed two babies 3 meals a day on top of their bottles is overwhelming. But, I gave in...

Addy wasn't interested.


Marcus didn't have to learn how to eat, he already knew how. He now eats big bowls of cereal 2x/day! (And he goes to sleep happy.)

We had a warm day in the midst of all this terrible weather so Katie and I took a trip to the park, where she found a fun stick. The stick later became a weapon to break up all the patches of ice, and then later it gave Katie her first black eye--she took it like a Sanofsky.


We just had to put these pictures of the twins in their church clothes on the blog--they are too cute!

I love craigslist!

Well, we are done!!!

I had the crazy of idea of putting our house on craigslist for a couple weeks before we listed it with an agent. We listed it on craigslist on Mon, by Sunday we had two offers. We accepted the higher one and had it under contract before the night was over. We were in such a whirlwind over the weekend. Now we just have to get through the inspection and we should be sitting pretty.

While we are really excited that this happened so fast it made me sad because I love this house, neighborhood and Pittsburgh. We know the move is going to be a good one, but we are so sad to leave.

Now for the real reason you look at the blog, the cuties...

The snow finally melted enough so that we could build a snowman. The sad thing is that most of it melted the same day we put it up, but it was big enough that the bottom ball is still sitting there.

(The other morning I woke up to Katie singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Mama"; it was a fun sound to wake up to, even better was that it wasn't until 8am that I heard it.)

Addy has gotten pretty good at sitting up

Marcus' new trick is blowing spit bubbles, if you look close you can see them

Marcus being cute

Mark let Katie push Marcus around, she was in heaven

Moving on

We have been crazy busy this past couple weeks. We are trying to get the house ready to sell and it is REALLY hard with 3 kids. We had some people come last weekend to look at it--it didn't work out but it forced us to get it done. I am now living in my dream house; it's clean without any clutter and very few children's toys. We packed up 1/2 of everything and moved it downstairs and put any toys that were left either Katie's room or in the play area. I think we are going to list it in 2 weeks.

I took Marcus and Addy to the doctor on Jan 6th; Marcus was 13lbs7oz and 24 3/4 ins, and Addy was 13lbs8oz and 23 3/4 ins. They got their first big set of shots (I like to wait until they are a little older before I start loading them with all the unknown substances) and Marcus reacted terribly, he woke up every night for the next week and is still having a really hard time napping.

I was talking to my "twin-friend" Heather on the 16th and mentioned that the twins weren't even close to rolling over. That evening we put Addy on her belly and she rolled over time after time. Today I sat her up and she stayed up by herself for about 20 secs. Marcus on the other hand is content to just cuddle, he does make more noise then Addy with both talking, cooing and yelling.

It has snowed a lot this week so Katie got to go out a couple of times when it wasn't below freezing. We tried to make a snowman both times but the snow wasn't right--I think it was too cold. We are hoping it will work soon because Katie is really excited about using a carrot for the nose.


This little hill is the perfect place for Katie to slide down on her little frisbee. I got a real sled and started up higher on the hill, I had to bribe Katie with 4 jelly beans to get her to go down with me. She did it one time and the snow got in her face and she wouldn't go again.
The week before school started Mark took Katie to campus to work on some Law Review stuff and buy books. She packed her laptop in her backpack with some hand sanitizer and had the time of her life. She did write in a couple of the Law Review books before Mark caught her, I'm sure the schools that get those will be entertained.
Katie ready to go

Mark's heaven; playing golf while watching football

Katie treating Marcus and Addy like her babydolls, she is wrapping Marcus up in Addy's blanket. Addy is leaning forward trying to get in on the action.

Marcus in his new hat

I was feeding Marcus and Katie didn't think I was going fast enough so she decided to feed Addy herself.

Marcus and Addy have started holding hands when they are next to each other. They have also started smiling at each other. (Marcus has been smiling at Addy for a while, but Addy finally decided she liked him enough to smile back.)

Yesterday to celebrate Martin Luther King Day we went to the only place you can go with 3 kids when it is freezing outside--the mall. Katie was in heaven with the food and play ground and then cookies at the end. Marcus and Addy were the normal angels they are and smiled until they fell asleep.

(see the bottom of my last post for the undated photos)

Beach trip

The day after Christmas we loaded up our car--where the car seats don't touch--and headed to my sister Jenn's house in Richmond. We spent the night there and then headed to the Outer Banks. We spent the next week at the beach with my crazy family. The weather was warm enough to go to the beach the first few days. Katie was really funny with the water, for some reason she would not go anywhere near it, as the waves came in she would run further up the beach even though she was very far away to begin with. She did have a lot of fun going on walks to collect shells.

Kaite with cousin's Madeline and Ella





My sister Scotia with Katie and me

Katie was in heaven having someone to play with at all times. New Year's morning we had a second Christmas and opened family gifts. Katie got a laptop from my parents so she thinks she is cool like Mommy and Daddy now.

Marcus and Addison were little angel babies the whole time. They had a blast, there was always someone to hold them. Addy has started giggling and they both laugh.

Bethany holding the twins

Cousin Carson pushing Addy in Katie's doll stroller

My sisters and mom and I got ourselves into quiet the project when we decided to make little outfits for our girls. They turned out really cute. I have to hide Katie's from her because she wants to wear it and won't take it off. I am hoping they will both fit great this spring.

Katie's

Addison's

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas started on the 23rd when we took all 3 kids to the mall for Christmas pictures. We love those professional pictures--so much so that this was Katie's second time in her whole life. I was smart enough to bring two outfits...don't try that when everyone involved is under 2yrs old. After that event we went to visit Santa. Last year Katie would not go anywhere near him, this year she waited over an hour in line to see him. We even tried to bribe her to get her to leave but she was having none of that. When we finally had our turn, Katie ran up to him and gave him a big hug (sorry we opted out of paying $14.99 to document it), and talked to him about what she wanted for Christmas--toys and candy--easy enough, right Santa? I was so proud of her, anyone who knows Katie knows that she doesn't go anywhere near strangers, I guess there is just something about Santa.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was pretty uneventful, we read "The Night Before Christmas" (this is a tradition of Mark's family that we decided to carry on) and 3 Nephi 1:12-14, and then set out milk and some of the cookies Katie and I had made. Then Mark and I stayed up all night and "helped Santa out."

The next morning I actually woke up before Katie, but when she did wake up she was in heaven. She spent the morning unwrapping gifts; her's and everyone else's.

The first thing Katie did after she unwrapped her kitchen was run to her toy basket and started grabbing things. We asked her what she was doing and she said she was getting stuff to put in the kitchen. We had to convince her to unwrap her gifts with promises of things to put on all the shelves. If you look closely you can see her car in the oven window.

Then we made a yummy breakfast, and hung out for the day. We read the Bible Christmas story before we ate dinner and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before desert.

After dinner we went to see 3.2 miles of Christmas lights. You turn off your car lights and drive slowly through a park full of different Christmas lights set to music--it took us almost an hour but it was pretty cool.

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Silly Katie

This past week has been BUSY. Mark and I had our nanny come all day last Friday and we went Christmas shopping. Then Saturday we drove to West Virginia to meet my brother to buy a car from him. We have all been crammed in my Jeep Cherokee--which I love, but it doesn't hold 3 car seats very well. Joey was selling his Yukon so we bought it from him. We had no idea what we had been missing-there is so much space! The car seats don't even touch each other! But my favorite feature is the heated seats.

In the name of being silly, again. Katie decided to put on some of Marcus' clothes. I tried not to laugh, because I'm sure these clothes will never fit Marcus again but I had to take some pictures.

Other then being silly, Katie's other favorite characteristic is that she a good sister. Here are some moments we caught during this past week.

Marcus and Addy were in their little seats and Katie decided to have story time. They are both actually paying attention!

Katie was playing with her baby doll in our bed. We laid Addy in there and she let Addy play too. Addy was so happy to be included in Katie's world.

We made Christmas cookies this week. Katie was in heaven.

Step 1. Eat the batter

Step 2. Lick the frosting

Step 3. Take them to the neighbors

I told everyone to eat at their own risk.

Getting ready

Katie and I decorated for Christmas this week, she loves the tree and the lights. Every morning when she gets up she asks to turn on the lights.

This will be the first Christmas that we are spending at our home so we are working on starting some Christmas traditions, but aren't quite sure what we want to do. We need to start with a bigger tree but can't agree on fake or real. I grew up cutting down our own in our forest and dragging it home, and Mark grew up with a fake one that made no mess and had no pretty smell. Needless to say we both think the way we were raised was right. And since we can't agree we are going one more year with our fake, tiny, we-don't-spend-Christmas-here tree.

We also need to go Christmas shopping but can't find time for us both to get out--Mark is in the middle of finals--so we are going to be a typical American family and shop the Saturday before Christmas.

On another note-Katie is silly and she likes to remind me. She decided that Mr. Potato Head's mouth looked better in her own, then when I started taking pictures she wanted me to have one of my own.