New niece!! (and Skylar is crawling!)

Yesterday morning Tim and Erika had their first baby, Olivia Sarah!! I got to visit them in the hospital in the late morning and she is beautiful with a lot of hair. She definitely looks like a Murray! Erika (and Tim) were very tired after a hard labor but were so happy to welcome Olivia who is a healthy little one. We can't wait for the twins to meet their first Murray cousin. It is especially neat because they are so close in age. With the Murray boys (and Jon) doing their annual fly fishing trips, I had been telling my mom that when Skylar is older and goes with them we needed to do a special trip with Elaina. My plan was for a weekend of shopping and girl fun in Chicago with a trip to the American Girl doll store. Now we have another girl to tag along and I couldn't be happier!! Welcome sweet Olivia...we love you!!

In the excitement of Olivia's birth, I don't think I posted that two days ago, Skylar started crawling FORWARD! Oh yeah, he has been moving for awhile but it has been backwards. Now he moves forward albeit slow and awkward but hey he is going in the right direction which is causing him to be less frustrated and to sleep for almost 12 hours now at night (yippee!!). Elaina is everywhere and moving fast. Her favorite thing to do is to chase the cats around the basement. Highly entertaining!

Today is Halloween and the babes will be penguins. Would be funnier if they were starting to walk. But as I have said before I think once they are I will break out the costumes again so Jon and I can get in some laughs! Yes, we use our kids for entertainment but when you have twins you can't get out much and you find it where you can!

Eckert's

Those of you who have know us for awhile know that Jon proposed to me at Eckert's apple orchard. We have made it a tradition since that day in October 2001 to head to Eckert's in Alton, IL once a year. We always looked forward to the day when we had children and could continue this tradition with them. So this year we have kids and what do we do? Wait until it is so late in the season that we are forced to drive an hour each way, with freezing temps and lots of wind, and on a day Jon is having problems with breathing due to his asmtha. Perfect!

Once we got to Eckert's we were the only people there. They were almost out of everything. The apples were really picked over. But we made it. We didn't stop the tradition and we have pictures and a good story to tell the kids about the first time they went to Eckert's. Oh and the apples were not very good to eat raw but I made the best applesauce with them. Jon and my mom swear it is the best they have ever had and I have to agree it is pretty good. Here is the link to the recipe I used (this is my new favorite website by the way!). Enjoy!
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-applesauce-recipe.html


Just in from the cold. The are in their puffer vests which are a little big and being pused up because we didn't loosen the straps on the stroller enough. Oh and you gotta love how the hats look!


We made it for the first year!!


Elaina and Daddy in the general store.


Skylar and Mommy *Notice all pictures are inside. As we pulled up I told Jon I wanted to pick our own apples. He said no way and I agreed once we stepped out of the car. The only thing that could have made this any better came true. Both babies had major poops and we had to change them in the car (gotta love the mini van) since they only had out houses here. Oh but we have stories!

Grandpa visits!

Grandpa Pat was in town this weekend and I just realized you wouldn't even know it by the pictures! He isn't in one of them. Reason was he was taking all of them. My dad has really gotten into pictures and we thought it would be fun for him to take some family ones. We all just forgot to get him with the kids!!! Good thing he will be back in about 6 weeks for their birthday:)

Here are the pictures we took at our favorite park, Long View. We just discovered this when we moved to our new house and we go there all the time. The twins did not smile once during all the pictures but of course did as soon as we left. They were very interested in everything around them!

We are family!!


Oops...Skylar did smile once when he met a new friend!


Skylar and Daddy


Checking out the sticks and leaves


Looking at the stream below was more fun for them.


Just me and Jon:)


Skylar and Mommy


Daddy and Elaina


Mommy and Laina


At Rombach's Pumpkin Farm in Chesterfield


They were sleeping most of the time we were there. We woke them to get pictures with the pumpkins.


Showing Grandpa all the cool toys they play with in our living room.

Elaina exercising

I have posted pictures of Elaina in her jumperoo but this video shows her in action. This was taped AFTER she had already been jumping for about 15-20 minutes. She goes and goes and seems to never run out of energy in it. She is now full on crawling rather than rolling everywhere or doing the belly scoot. I am hoping this will burn off some of the excess energy. It is endless and she doesn't even sleep that much, unlike her brother! Beware...the video may cause dizziness!!!

Videos

So Skylar has started doing this high pitched noise at the end of his laughs. I just happened to catch it on our camera when I was taking a few pictures. He was looking up at Cinco and as usual the animals make him laugh. His laugh is contagious and once he starts we start, which gets him going again! So funny!!



From a few weeks back but just posting... Both the babies love the Around You Go toy and have gotten pretty good at getting themselves going fast. Here was when Skylar was just figuring out how to do it. He goes much faster now. Oh, and Elaina was in a mood...the end frame of her sour face is classic crabby Elaina!!