Splish splash takin' a bath

hot night + stinky babies = bath in the back yard baby pool

who knew sucking on a wash cloth could bring such pure joy?

9 months!!!

On August 24th, Ryan and Kate turned 9 months old. Hard to believe they are this big and a year seems just around the corner. Where did my babies go??? As you can see from the pictures, getting them to hold still and take a picture is getting pretty tough these days... getting a smiling picture is even harder!

9 month milestones:

"talking" up a storm

mimicking our actions

enjoying eating baby food and "puffs"

holding their own bottles

using toys "properly" (calling on phone, etc.)

grasping toys and waving them around

wrestling/fighting/stealing toys

crawling/pulling up/cruising (Kate)

rocking/scooting/rolling (Ryan)

Boatin' Babies

This weekend we packed up and headed out to Lake Keystone. My family has been going there every summer since I was about 6, so it was really fun to take Kate and Ryan for the first time this summer. When I was growing up, we would stay a week and spend 10 hours a day out on the lake. Of course, as we've gotten older and now having a new generation of little ones, our time actually on the water has diminished significantly, but we still have a great time.

It was so HOT this year that the only time we could get out on the boat with the babies was before breakfast...surprisingly the lake is darn near empty at 7:30 in the morning!

our future boat captain

Per tradition, we enjoyed lunch at the Pier 51 Cafe. This place has had a hundred different names over the years and everything from the menu to the restaurant itself has changed, but we always have fun eating there. The babies slept pretty well for being away from home, so it was a great trip overall. I look forward to continuing the tradition with my own kids...see ya next summer Lake Keystone!

one proud mama

Oh this is a sweet day for a mama of twins...both holding their own bottles!

Now if we can just get them to take the bottles into the kitchen and wash them out,

we will be in great shape!

Wacky wedding weekend!

Kate trying to figure out how Cousin Jaime got her red hair...

hangin' at the "cool table"

Yeah...we know we look good!

On Saturday my cousin Drew and his new wife, Liz, got married in Tulsa. The wedding was really beautiful and they had a nursery, so Matt and I actually got to enjoy the ceremony. Ryan and Kate had a good time, checking out all of the action at the reception (although we didn't get to stay for cake...so sad) and hanging out with Grammy and Papa. We were supposed to stay the night in Tulsa, but the babies had other ideas, so sadly we had to pack up and leave the hotel at 1:30 in the morning because they kept waking each other up. I guess that is the one down side to always sleeping in separate rooms, when there's not a second place to go, you are stuck. I was definitely bummed to miss out on breakfast with the extended family on Sunday morning, but this is the life of multiples that people with singletons just haven't experienced. There are MANY blessings of having two babies, and I am really a blessed mama, but there are times it is definitely a hard road. I am grateful that we got to be there for the wedding (and that is the most important part, for sure) and that Katie and Ryan did really well, all things considered. I am also glad that we got to have lunch with some really good friends on Saturday as well. It was the babies' first trip to Casa Bonita (a time honored Mills Family tradition) and they seemed to enjoy it. We even rode the quarter machines in the arcade after lunch. And since we got to have sopapillas after lunch, how can anyone complain about that???

The ladies' man

all you need is a little hair gel and confidence!