Simplicity

Clothespins.  Who knew they would be a hit for 1.5 hours the other night?  I love simplicity and finding a new object that will occupy the time of my loves.  C & O love small "things".  Small pieces of chocolate candy to carrying around in their hot little hands, melting into blobs; small magnets to carry around with Mommy and Daddy hovering like hawks making sure none of them get ingested, small cars that get left on the floor to be stepped on.  So, when I brought clothespins home from school I knew they would be a hit-and they were.  I gave each boy several clothes pins and a empty can or cup.  They put them in the cup and dumped them out, over and over. They even went into the bathtub!

On top of the cuteness of watching C & O with the clothespins, was watching their behavior toward each other.  C & O love to be with each other.  They like knowing their brother is in the room.  They do not like their brother taking their things, however.  So, on the night of the clothespins, they wanted to play side by side.  They were not happy when brother tried to steal a clothespin and then there was screaming.  When one boy tried to run away to play alone, the other brother followed-needing to play side by side.  It's so cute.  They love to be next to each other and they hate it.

Showing Support

 Chase roots for his favorite team while watching the Super Bowl. 

Grandma and Grandpa Berger gave Chase and Owen these cool dogs that play music and dance. They LOVE them. They dance whenever they hear the music. They literally drop what they are doing, and dance. They love to press the button over and over to hear the music.

A Blast From the Past

I was looking through my pictures and came across these from August. I don't think I ever used them on a post.  I LOVE these pictures.  It's like seeing a mirror image in a mirror instead of through glass.  Chase and Owen were very into playing peek a boo around the glass doors to our office.  This day they were very into looking at each other and kissing through the glass. I love it that they are looking directly at each other, have their hands pressed up to each others' and are having the time of their lives.  They are precious. 

Owen looks at Chase through the class with sweet brotherly love.

  

Owen and Chasey kiss through the glass.

  

Another sweet kiss for brother.

  

Owen smashes his lips on the glass while Chase peers at him.

  

Chase thinks this whole deal is pretty funny. Check out those 2 little teeth poking up!  Only 2!

Fun in the Sink

I love making a mess and allowing the boys to "experience life" by making a mess.  My husband, on the other hand, does not like messes.  Therefore, I try to make messes only when he is not home.  This past week the boys and I were bored (o.k., they weren't really bored, but I thought they could use a new experience,) so I put some water and bubbles in the bathroom sink, pulled in the stools and let them go at it.  They were pretty good, only a little water ended up on the floor-which ended up being o.k. because the floor needed washing anyway.  Jeff didn't find out about it until he saw pictures of the evidence later that night.  Oops.

 

Owen thinks, "Is mom really letting  us do this?"

 

Can this be any cuter?

  

Chase is really enjoying himself and if I remember correctly he made some big splashes right around this time.

 

Cheese!

I took this picture of Jeff and Chase.  I was giving Jeff a hard time for his bland smile.  So, he posed for another picture-I'm sure you'll agree it's great! :) 

Sohpie's Birthday Party

We had such a fun time at Cousin Sophie's birthday party.  I had to share some pictures, even though it's been weeks.  We had fun eating dinner, wearing Elmo hats, getting our first fake tatoo (and never will there be a real tatoo), and eating cake. 

Chase shows off his Elmo tatoo

 

Owen got an Oscar the Grouch tatoo

Owen loved this ball and when he found out he could sit on it, he thought he was really cool.

Sophie and Chase wear their Elmo hats

Cousins!

3 Cousins in a row

Who do you think wants cake?

I love this picture of Chase and Owen still staring at the cake while it is being cut.

Sophie takes a deep breath and  . . . . blows out her candles.

Chase got a little messy eating his cake.  Doesn't he look like a big boy in this picture?

I never thought I would see my baby hold a baby.  Chase holds cousin Gavin.

Laughing Big

Chase and Owen have always been big smilers and big laughers.  These pictures show some of those laughs we were having one night last week as we played, once again, with the balls and the car.   

Owen laughs as he throws a ball to Jeff

 

Chase laughing

 

Chase laughs big at Daddy

Musicians

Jeff got his guitar out the other night and we had family music lessons.  Chase and Owen played the strings while Daddy played and sang. It was adorable.  We danced as Daddy played and had a great time. We're hoping the boys get a bit our love of music.  Jeff plays the guitar and sings.  I tried out for American Idol and made it, so we know I sing well-ha ha.  I played piano and flute and did sing, but not well.

It looks like we are going to hug or fight over the guitar.

 

Owen helps Daddy pluck the strings.

Chase tunes up the guitar for Daddy.

Chase REALLY wants to play the guitar.

Owen wants in on the action.

Owen tries to play but Daddy blocks him.

I LOVE this picture of Chase's reflection in the guitar.  He was playing along with Daddy.

Owen shows a bit of a smile with how much fun it is to play the strings while Daddy plays.

Two little future musicians.

It's an Elmo Potty Chair!

Congrats to Ann and Jenn, both of these great friends have their own little ones who they use potty chairs with.  They knew right away the picture I posted before this one was a potty chair.  Grandma Anderson had no clue and Grandma Berger said, "We don't have these in Florida!"  ha ha, I'm glad to hear they don't have one at their house-I would be worried!

This is our new Elmo Potty Chair. The boys fill it up with toy balls and like to high five Elmo.  Elmo says words of encouragement when you give him a high five.  It looks very classy in our downstairs bathroom.  Come on over and see!

What is it?

Can you guess what this is?

Fun with Balls

At our house, Owen and Chase love to play with balls.  Big balls, little ones, footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, you get the point.  Here are some pictures of recent fun times with balls.

Chase in the car with all his balls

Owen pushing Chase, Jeff holding the balls in the car.

Chase loves to be in the car with lots of balls.

Owen looks up at me from the ball pit

Owen kept throwing himself backward in the ball pit.  This was the day of his shots, which is why you can see a bandaid on his legs in the following photos.

This is one of Owen's funny faces!

Little cute boy staring up at Mommy with bandaids on his cute, skinny legs.

Blue Elmo

The other day I overheard Jeff talking to Owen and Chase.  He was talking about Red Elmo and "Blue Elmo". I had to chuckle to myself and peaked my head around the corner to ask Jeff what he was talking about!  Did he not watch Sesame Street when he was a kid?!  "Blue Elmo" is Cookie Monster! (Who I just learned may have been renamed Vegetable Monster?  Is that right?) 

I guess Cookie Monster does look a bit like Elmo.  :)

Grandma and Grandpa Berger Visit

G and G Berger came to visit last weekend.  They came over on Friday and Saturday and we took the boys out in the snow.  I love these pictures of Grandpa B helping Chase into Jeff's boots.  Chase just had to have the boots on. 

 We spent Sunday at Pat and Lindsay's watching the Vikings and more importantly celebrating Sophie's 2nd birthday.  It was lots of fun playing with cousins.  Grandma  B reads to Owen and Sophie

Jeff, Owen and Grandpa watching the Vikings.  Go Vikings!

Grandma and Chase playing.

G and G with the grandkids eating their cake.  Why are one of my kids always missing their pants?

Grandma and Gavin

Grandma and Sophie and Gavin

Grandma reading again

18 months

 

Chase

 

Owen

I've been meaning to write this post for weeks-3 exactly.  Chase and Owen are now 18 months old.  My babies are a year and a half! Amazing. They are transforming into little boys right before my eyes and it's precious. 

They had their 18 month appointment on Friday.  Ever since they were born Chase has always weighed a little more than Owen, but just by a few ounces.  This time, he weighed 1 lb. more!  That's a little when you are a little guy.  You can totally tell when you pick them up and compare their weight.  Chase is SOLID.  What is quite funny is that they are exactly the same length and their head sizes are exactly the same.  What's also funny is that their percentile ranks came out different-I think the nurse messed up on that one.  One kid can't be in the 45% percentile and the other in the 52nd.  They are exactly the same age-hello.  Both boys checked out great in the development department, minus the fact they are not talking that much.  I have seen growth this week alone, so I'm encouraged.  Of course we discussed sleep and got no new ideas . . . ahhh.  Oh well.

Chase and Owen each got 4 shots.  I cried at their first shots when they were 3 months old and I teared up this time too. It's hard to watch.  Owen cried so hard he burst some capillaires in his face and has little red dots all over.  Good news is, they don't have to have more shots until they are 5!  :)

Let's see, what's new . . . they love to say "Patty Cake".  Chase said "guk" for duck, but for book, says ball a lot and is imitating other new sounds. Owen is a little hesitant to make new sounds, he just likes to watch your mouth.  He is very good at saying "ahhh" after drinking his water.  He is a squeaker. He has a high pitched squeak that he uses when talking. It's pretty funny.

Big Shoes to Fill

Chase and Owen have always loved shoes.  Ever since they first started wearing them, they've loved putting them on, finding them, and now wearing our shoes.   Chase especially likes shoes and big boots.  He walked all the way from our mud room to the kitchen in Jeff's shoes.  It was pretty cute and he thought he was hot stuff. 

Chase in Jeff's shoes

Owen trying on Daddy's new shoes

Chase walking to the kitchen.

Tool Man

We love to play with our new tools and tool belt from G and G Anderson.  I have some future builders on my hands.

Hats

When my parents were here for Christmas Owen got a hold of my dad's hat and wore it for a while.  How cute is he?

JUMP!

When my friends the Bjorks were in town over Christmas, their 4 year old daughter, Ela, taught Chase how to jump.  Now he does it all the time and loves it. I happened to capture some of his jumping attempts on film.  Enjoy.

This is Chase in mid-jump.  Note the toes barely off the floor

 

Another jumping attempt, note the concentration on his face and bent knees

  

This is probably the best in the jump series-he's literally just taking off the ground-on tip toes.

 

He's so proud of himself!

Asking for more of something

                                                    Owen can never get enough blankies!

4:45 and a Fun Visit From Friends

The wake time of 6:00 and 6:30 was short lived.  The boys are now waking at 4:45 and crying until Jeff gets them.  It's fun at our house. Want to come over?

 

Susie, Owen, Chase, Ela, Addyson, Lindzy

We had visitors over Christmas.  My best friend, Lindzy, and her family came for a few days.  It was a great time watching the kids chase each other around the house and laugh with glee.

33

I'm going to see how many of my blog titles can be numbers! :)

I celebrated my 33rd birthday on the 8th.  It was a nice day with my husband and kids.  Jeff and I went out for sushi-my favorite!  We had red cake, another favorite.  It was nice to be out having an adult dinner. We had our first paid babysitter-ooohh, a big step for us. :)  Here are the boys and I before dinner.

300

Chase and Owen got 300 multi-colored plastic balls for Christmas AND a giant blowup jumper.  It's fun!  It can be flipped over to be a fort-which Jeff thinks is great

 

Chase likes all the balls to be in the ball pit.

Look Mama I have a blue ball!

  Chase loves footballs

 

Owen gets in on the fun

                                                         Chase prepares to throw his body into the balls

The 300 balls came in a rather large box-all out of their original packaging.  300 loose balls in a box.  That makes for a lot of fun for 2 little boys.  Boy-we should have just gotten them the balls.  They LOVE them and love playing in the box with all the balls.  These pictures are from before Christmas before we had given them the ball pit.

Chase 

Chase in the box with the balls

 

Owen loving the box

  

Where is Owen?

  

Both boys fit in the box!

  

O-Baby

 

Owen just loved it in the box with all the balls. He was in there for at least 30 minutes.

 

The Functions of Toilet Paper

Chase plays the TP drumbs

 

Chase builds towers with TP

 

Oooooh, will the TP stay on the tower?

We carry and hug the TP

6:30

I'm a little hesitant to write this, not that I'm superstitious, but you know . . . just in case . . .  

For about 1 week now the boys have been sleeping until 6 or 6:30 am.  PRAISE THE LORD!!! I'm not sure what is going on, maybe it's because they turned 18 months and feel they are more mature and should sleep longer.  I don't care what it it because the Mommy and Daddy Berger are HAPPY!!!!!!!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's

We celebrated Christmas at my parents' house this past weekend.  It was a lovely time with good food, fun times and family.  My sister and her husband flew in and we had fun seeing them.  Chase and Owen were spoiled, of course, and got tons of great gifts they just love.  It was very cold, like -10 one morning.  Burrrr.  We went to town one day and played in the school gym.  Chase and Owen were so cute running around the big gym floor throwing balls and having the time of their lives.  It was a great way to get rid of extra energy.

Chase looks at Cookie Monster

 

Chase and Owen open up new Sesame characters from Kate and Lane.

 

ELMO!!!!!!!

 

Chase and Owen's pretty Santa gift from G and G.

 

Chase wears the fuzzy ribbon but doesn't like it.

 Chase and Owen got some amazing instruments from G and G!  They love them.

  

Owen is in awe at the bells

 

Grandma helps Chase play the triangle, he's doing such a good job!

 

Owen plays the triangle. This is the look he gets when he is very proud of himself for doing something cool.

 

Owen shows Daddy his new elephant finger puppet.        

Chase holds his new basektball

  

Owen examines his new tool set and loves his drill on his tool belt.

Owen is a big worker with his work belt on! 

Chase pulls something out of his stocking. 

Grandma shows Owen the Jack-In-The-Box

  

Daddy helps Chase with his stocking and Owen looks on.

 

The aftermath of opening gifts.  Oh, what fun it is with little ones!

  

Something is going on here . . . why are 2 boys hiding in the kitchen?  I think they don't want Mommy to see them with the suckers. :)

  

Kate and Owen reading a book

 

Jeff and I on New Year's Day

 

Love the outfit Chase!

  

Owen squeals with glee.

 

Mom and Owen take a nap on the couch-this is their second nap of the weekend.  Love Owen's socked leg hanging over the egde. :)

Boys will be Boys

Daddy and Owen

All boys like to stare at the computer all day

Jeff can manage 2 boys and time on the computer!

My husband is a computer geek.  He loves the thing and fixing other people's computers.  It looks like my boys are going to take after their daddy.  They love to be around the computer.

Oh, The Weather Outside if Frightful . . .

 . . .but that didn't stop us from going out for Chase and Owen's first adventure in the snow!  Boy, their little size 5 boots looked so cute on them.  The little snow pants were equally cute. They didn't quite know what to think of being bundled up in the snow.  We pulled them on a sled, introduced them to the snow man and plopped them in the snow. 

A White Christmas

Boy we had a great, white Christmas!  My parents came up a day early to beat the snow that was coming and it's a good thing they did.  They ended up leaving 1 day later than planned too, because the roads on the way to SD were not good.  I think we got between 13-15 inches of snow.  Jeff was outside a lot snow blowing, shoveling and enjoying the elements. :)




Christmas Eve day we all went to church and enjoyed a great service.  We came home, fed the boys dinner, played and put them to bed. Then the adults enjoyed a fondue dinner and opened a few gifts.


Christmas day was great!  Chase and Owen were little angels and had so much fun tearing the paper on their gifts.  We had several shifts of opening.  They would open a few gifts, play, eat, nap, and then we'd open some more.  It was a nice way to do things.  They were very interested in pulling items out of their stockings, playing with their new train set, UFO, books, shoes, Leap Frog ABC game, and their "big" present, the blow up bouncer with 300 balls.  What a snuggly day it was in the house with the fire going, watching big flakes of snow fall from the sky with the ones we loved surrounding us.  What a great day to celebrate the birth of our Lord!

This blog post is especially for Mama Bergs. :)



Grandma and Chase-check out the snow outside!

Chase and Mommy on Christmas Eve

Grandpa and Owen

The Anderson side

 

Chase is asking for more raisins-looking very dapper 

I had to bribe the boys with food to sit down.  They wouldn't look at me.

Owen is asking Grandpa for help opening a gift

 

Jeff with his ornaments of Chase and Owen's finger prints

 

 

The UFO the boys got was really a gift for Jeff. It's remote controlled.  Jeff was flying it, wasn't good at flying it yet, and got it stuck in my mom's hair.  It took a bunch of her hair out!  Later that week he got it stuck in my dad's hair!

Reading

I just love to read to Chase and Owen.  After a nice bath, all warm and cozy in their pjs, we read together before bed.  I like this ritual.  I like all rituals.  Jeff teases me about this.  I like remembering the rituals from my childhood and reading was one of them.  Plus, all research shows that reading to your children is about the most beneficial thing you can do for them.

Chase and Owen's heads are literally squishing my cheeks together!  I love it!

Meet Santa and His Reindeer

This is our reindeer friend.  He is one of those clings that you put on the window.  Cute huh?

This is Santa.  Do you see him?  Do you see bits of him?  Poor Santa.

Chase and Owen had fun helping me put the clings on the windo.  I had a very cute Santa and Reindeer.  They got ahold of Santa and tore him to shreds taking him off the window and putting him back on.  They had a lot of fun doing it so that's all that matters.