3 years old today

The twins are 3 years old today.  Dada finished building their twin clubhouse last night at 1:30am in the dark and rain.  It took two days, longer than expected.  But, he designed the cedar shake shingle roof, which took a lot of time and did not come with originally.  So far, the twins seem to like it.  3/4" gravel was put into the sandbox for dump-truck fun.  A slide & climbing wall will be added later on...

32 months old and Christmas video

News flash from the Martin household: The twins had TWO, not one, I repeat, TWO synchronized and successful tandem pee-pees in the potty this month! Gummie Bear reward treats all around!

Picked out a nice six foot scotch pine and set up our Christmas tree with the twins! Ornaments on the tree...off the tree. On the tree...off the tree. Kaia collects them like jewels and Braeden tosses them across the living room to watch Kaia gasp. Later, Braeden was witnessed swinging the Christmas lights over his head like a cowboy with a lasso.

The twins took a visit to Toys-R-Us to just get a feel for what kinds of toys they are into now. Braeden high-fived the Rent-A-Santa as we passed through the store. Braeden still favors trucks and tractors. Kaia still favors balls and train sets.

So on Christmas Eve, Braeden unwrapped the first present which was a green john deere tractor (even bigger than his old one). When offered his second present to open, he said "No thanks. I'm good". Kaia opened the rest of his presents for him!

Halloween 2010 and bike video

"The Force will be with you, always..."

Princess Leia didn't have a light saber, but whatever.

November 2010

The twins are playing in the leaves and "helping" Dada rake them up. It reminds Mama of her childhood in Wisconsin where she would jump into huge piles of leaves in her backyard. Remember that distinct leaf smell when you hid inside the piles?

Here are some more late summer pics taken by the twins' aunt Keren.

October 2010

It is fall in the pacific northwest which means cooler nights, harvesting apples, carving pumpkins from our garden and a few last visits to the coast before winter storms set in.

Braeden is counting all of the time...he points at things that have numerous repetitive objects on them (like a purse or picture) and with his finger, counts the objects...3...7,8,9,10! Or 1,2,3,6,8,9,10! He gets very excited. Kaia knows the alphabet and sings it all of the way through. LMNOP do get pretty slurred together at times. They try to read their books back to us, but so far it is mostly parts of their favorite sentences and the sound of what we say on each page. They are talking a lot and are connecting words with their feelings like "I'm scared", "Kaia's sad" and "how about a hug?"




Kaia is into balls (her favorite game to play) and she is also picking up riding the balance bike really well. Braeden loves to pretend to cook and has quite the imagination. Today, he crumpled up newspaper, put the wad in one of their little kitchen pots, brought it to me and said "Pasta!" Both love to draw and are into planes, trucks, cars, hats, shoes and music. They also love to play outside and go to the park. Supertots has started up again and they go once a week for an hour and a half of romping fun.

Twins are 2 1/2

The twins are 2 and 1/2 years old. They spent the last days of summer playing with their new swings and taking a few trips to the beach. A pail, shovel and arces of sand can provide hours of entertainment. Their parents even get to surf. Labor Day weekend was spent camping out at Nehalem Bay and romping with friends at Short Sands. The Oregon coastline is really one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Their aunt Keren came to visit this month and took lots of pictures. The twins also had a playdate with their friend Eli.

The twins are becoming better painters and artists. Braeden also loves to help dad fix stuff.

28 months - Mount Jefferson

The twins first backpacking trip to Mount Jefferson went well! It was also quite an endeavor for the parents. Kristen carried both twins (one in front, one in back - 57 pounds total) and Brad carried a heavy pack with everything else (six miles one way) into beautiful snow-capped mountain terrain complete with small lakes, wadding pools with tadpoles, tiny streams, fields full of red Indian Paintbrush flowers and sunny weather.

Jefferson Park also came with a small army of aggressive mosquitoes, but we all survived! The twins slept in the tent and Brad slept outside. They heard their first thunder and lightning storm and did fine. They are good for each other.

The video below shows the twins demonstrating good self care by applying liberal amounts of sunscreen - onto each other.