my grandfather had gentle hands

Wallace A. Allred, Jr. was born on October 7, 1917 in Preston, Idaho and died August 4, 2009 in Escondido, CA.

new floors

We had new hardwood floors installed in our living and dinning rooms. I think they look great, the color adds a lot to the rooms and they are easier to keep clean that our old carpet. We had a new ceiling fan installed too.





We also had our wetbar/ wine rack turned into an entertainment center, which much more useful in our house.

If you live in Katy and are looking to have some remodel work done we would recommend using Atkin Remodel. Chris did a great job on our house.

The only near disaster that came from all this work in a home with two babies was Maya opening a cupboard and pouring out a pint of paint onto the carpet. I would have gotten a photo but we were worried she would also start eating the paint. Thankfully we were able to get it all cleaned up before too much damage was caused.

fan club meeting

Our sweet babies are pretty popular. It helps that there are two of them which means that there is always a baby that need or wants to be held. They are also quite friendly and will approach people and ask to be picked up.

Our friends Ashley and Rachel, who attend church with us, have been super friendly and nice to us since the babies were newborns. When Max and Maya were only a couple months old the girls came over and offered me some much needed help. Not only did they help feed the babies back during the time that it would take almost 45 mins to bottle feed them less than 3oz of milk, but they even helped me clean the house.

The girls came over again last week and played with the babies while I made dinner. The babies were thrilled to have so much attention and I was able to fix a nice dinner. Thank you so much Rachel and Ashley!

The babies find out one of the best things about tweens: cellphones!

backyard fun

The red-head twins' favorite activity these days in exploring the back yard. They like to pick up rock and grass and see what fits in their mouths. Unfortunatly we live in Houston were the weather is hot and humid most of the day. Even at 7am it is often over 80 degrees and by midday over 100 so we don't stay out too long.

beach babes

We drove down to Galveston on Saturday to give the babies their first trip to the beach. They loved it. The water was warm, and the waves and sand were soft. We didn't get to stay long because a thunder storm blew up.

cowgirl and cow-twins

Please vote for our babies on the Chick-fil-a cow photo contest: VOTE HERE!!! Hopefully we will win more free chicken. :)

Yes, we all dress up like cows, along with our friends the Cosbys, just to get free lunch at Chick-fil-a. It was pretty fun. Almost the entire restaurant was dressed up and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The babies didn't seem to bugged by their cow ears, tail and noses. Maya even wore her sunglasses almost the entire meal (maybe she was hoping that no one would recognize her). I only have a short while before the babies start asserting their Independence and making wardrobe choices of their own. I've got to take advantage of the cute factor while I still can.

ranch house

We had a wonderful weekend at a beautiful ranch house in Blanco, Texas with some of Lonnie's friends from his BYU days. It was so nice to have adult conversation with some wonderful people while the babies slept. Although it was very hot it was also very nice to leave behind the humidity of Houston. Saturday morning we sat out on the back porch and the babies loved being able to hang out outside. I should have taken more photos.....

king and queen of the hill

The babies are learning how to climb and they are thrilled about it. Thankfully they are also learning how to get down from their conquests. They are both getting pretty good at climbing down the stairs on their bellies and they even know how to get the off the bed after they breastfeed in the morning.

slideshow of max and maya's first year

Click here to expand

how to give a toddler a hair cut

I gave Max his first real hair cut today. His hair was getting a little out of control and with the heat it ended up getting all sweaty and gross at times.

Pre hair cut photo:

Supplies:
Scissors, comb, cardboard box and some sort of entertainment.

Sit baby in the cardboard box with some sort of entertainment to distract them. I used the laptop with youtube.
Maya kept trying to take the scissors away from me so I put her in the box with Max. (It is going to be a while before Maya gets her first hair cut.

All the hair left in the box

The finished product: