Two coolest Dudes EVER!

Any questions?

Play date with Andrew

With the first truly great spring day in DC greeting us, we were thrilled to head out to the park to meet up with Andrew and his parents Julie and Michael.  We had a great time at the park.  All three boys had a ball riding the Space Shuttle while Michael made it rock back and forth.

Catching up...Easter

Yes, I know it was a few weeks ago -- life with twins is often like that.  We had a wonderful Easter Sunday, even though it was insanely cold.  I'm happy to say that the Dudes behaved exceptionally well during Mass.  (The one exception being when they found the cache of cookies in the diaper bag.  Oh well...)  Later, we went to Grandpa and GC's for Easter dinner, where the boys got to try Peeps for the first time.

Cherry Blossoms

On what was a glorious Sunday afternoon, we took a trip down to see the cherry blossoms.  We had a great time strolling around and got some great pics.  We also walked through the FDR memorial.  I think the Dudes enjoyed seeing and meeting all of the dogs the most.  (Just don't tell Boris and Natasha!)  One thing we are hoping to do is to go down to the cherry blossoms every year and take a picture of the boys -- kind of a way to chart their growth, etc.  Though I know we'll have a hell of a time getting them to go when they're teenagers, so we're doing our best to enjoy it now.

We were sick. Now we're better.

Whew!  It's nice to be back.  Somewhere along the line, Aidan or Brendan (I can't even remember who) caught a bug.  He gave it to me.  I gave it back to him.  Then Brendan picked it up.  Well, you know how this one goes.  The capstone of it all came when Aidan got an ear infection, Brendan was sick, AND both Christine and I were sick all at the same time.  That was really the first time since the days right after the Dudes were born that I really thought all the wheels were going to come off of the wagon.

Thankfully, everyone is healthy again and life is back to normal.  At least it is back to what qualifies for normal around here.  Indeed, we were healthy enough to venture out to the Kite Festival on the Mall this weekend with our friends Julie and Michael and their little boy, Andrew.

New playroom in the basement

After spending two days cleaning out the basement (huge props to Grammy Lenore, without whose help this would have never gotten done) to get it into shape for the Dudes to use as a playroom, we finally let them loose.  So far they have loved it.  There are new things to explore and new pieces of furniture to climb on.  The Legos made the move downstairs, and when Brendan hasn't been building towers (pretty impressive for 19 months, no?) he's been cramming them into the CD tray of the stereo.  I had no idea THAT many Legos could fit!  And Aidan?  Well, he discovered Pops' movie collection.  You can see the results of that discovery here:

Yoga and bathtime

Sometimes before the Dudes hop in the bath they like to chill with a little yoga.  Downward dog seems to be their favorite position.

Follow the bouncing balls

Among the presents the Dudes received from Grandpa and G.C. was a huge package of plastic balls, like the ones you see in the ball pit at Ikea or someplace like that.  On a personal note, we're especially grateful that G.C. volunteered to keep them (fyi, the full package contains 175 balls) at her house.  The important thing, though, is that the Dudes just love them.  Take a look...

Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day

As if the hi-jinks of tearing open presents weren't enough, the fun continued with Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day. Big props to Cousin Robb for providing some wonderful pictures and for being Aidan and Brendan's favorite older cousin to play with. Don't think this gets you off the hook, Robb, for teaching them all about the volume knob on the stereo!

(By the way, included in the slideshow is one picture taken by Brendan.  Can you spot which one?)

Christmas!

Officially, it was the Dudes's second Christmas and Hannukah.  However, I'm not sure they really knew what was going on much beyond the simple joy of tearing wrapping paper off of really big packages or dumping over big tubs of Legos onto the floor.  But then again, isn't that what it's all about? 

Time for a haircut?

Lately, both of the Dudes have been sporting pretty prolific heads of hair, which leaves me in something of a quandary.  On one hand, I'd like to let their hair grow out for a while and get a real haircut for them right around the time they turn two.  (For what it's worth, there's suppose to be some huge superstition about cutting their hair before a child is two.)  But over the past while a few people have started to mistake the Dudes, Brendan especially, for girls.  I don't particularly mind or care -- goodness knows I've made the same mistake more than a few times.  But it wasn't until Brendan and I were playing in the gym at the JCC after swimming one day and someone commented, "Look out, Princess!" as a ball rolled toward him.  That was pretty much the last straw for me.

What do you think?

Decorating the Christmas tree/Hanukkah bush

Breaking from previous years, we decided not to get a full-size tree this year.  I think we are still a little traumatized by the time the cats managed to get the lights off the tree and stretch them across the living room in a straight line.  True story.

More to the point, Aidan and Brendan have reached a stage where everything must be explored and, if possible, climbed.  So a large tree this year seemed like a very bad idea.  Instead, we got a much smaller, table-top tree.  But large or small, our two little elves wanted to be in on the decorating action.

Meeting Santa

They say that it is pretty rare that a toddler is all smiles and laughs the first time he/she meets Santa.  So the attached photo really shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

(I suppose on some level, we should feel bad about broadcasting photos like this, but there is something sort of endearing about it, no?)

Play date with Holden

We first got to know Holden and his parents, Felicia and Lou, from swimming class at the JCC.  (Can I just note how many parents from Glover Park take their little ones for swimming lessons there?  It's kind of nice.  We'll see parents over at the park who look familiar but we just can't place them.  Funny how tough it can be to recognize someone when they're not in their bathing suit...)

[Side note: their last name is Kolodner. Those of you reading this who are on the Maloy side of the family will instantly recognize the name.  We haven't fully checked into it, but we're pretty certain that they're a distant relation.  After all, how many Kolodners are there?  It's not like everyone's last name is Smith or Jones.]

Back to our story...so Holden and Felicia came over for a playdate because Lou (who is a first year law student) had to study.  We had a fun time handing out, talking and laughing, and the boys all had a great time playing together.

Playing catch up

As previously noted, I've fallen way behind in posting pics and other news about us and the Dudes.  So brace yourselves for a long string of photos, posts, and other stuff.

Aidan and Brendan are very typical brothers already: they often grab stuff from one another, provoking tears on the part of the grabee.  Every once in a while, Aidan will bite Brendan.  Stuff like that.  But they also exhibit wonderful sweetness to each other, bringing each other a pacifier, sharing books, etc.  So I just wanted to post this photo because it is a great example of just how loving to each other Aidan and Brendan can be.