After doing some looking and research, I finally picked a double stroller. My husband's co-workers gave him a very nice gift card to Babies R Us, with which we subsidized the purchase of this stroller! Isn't it pretty!? :-) It was lightweight (only 20 pounds) and easy to use (collapse, etc.) I hope it works out, since we can't afford another one! Ha!

I am hoping it works out to have the kids side by side... The tandem strollers were all really heavy and long, so I got one of these side by sides instead...

-Bridget

Photos for Grandma

My mom has an insatiable appetite for photos. These are for her--Dora wore a new outfit today. It's the dachsund overalls. I love the little dachsunds! My mom wanted photos and it's as easy to post them as email them.

First things first though... After the last blog, I took a few more photos of Dora in her BYU onesie. I got one where she has her finger up, as if to say BYU's football team might suck, but they are still number 1! (Yes, she is saying all that with a finger.)

Can I also just say, my mom bought her this pink bow that she's wearing in every single photo, and I will admit: she insisted on buying this bow. I told her I didn't need a pink one because I had a few already. THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE of all of them!! I am so glad she got it!! :-) I know it makes me spoiled, but I love it. I think it's the fluff that makes it so darn cute!

The rest of these photos are from tonight. As you can see, Eli had a great time posing with her. He really loves to hold her and when I asked if he wanted to sit next to his sister, he ran over and started climbing up on the sofa!

You will note for the record that I am in a lot of these photos. Whitney took them for me, and I am grateful because he thinks we take way too many photos! Also, these can be my before photos. I have almost 30 pounds to lose--egads!! So, just give me 4 months and I will hate that these were up when I was at my largest!

Eli photo shoot

Warning--This will be a long blog!! I said I had a few photos on my camera--these are from it. Most of these are from when the twins came to visit, but some are from today, when I put Eli in his western wear we bought last year but he can finally fit into--he looks so cute, and he posed for me!! Angela's twins always say "Cheese" and smile for photos. Eli now says that too! And then he grins.

So the first photo is of just after they arrived--my mom is holding Dora and even though she's not all dressed up, she is in my favorite sleeper... I love the purple one my grandma sent for her. Also, my mom needs some photos in here with Dora, because she stayed up with her EVERY SINGLE NIGHT SHE WAS HERE. You heard right, every single night my mom took Dora! HOLY CRAP she is awesome! Also, Dora started sleeping a little better at night, which was nice. Go Dora!

I put Eli in one of the new shirts my mom bought and he was lounging like he always does against the sofa... I thought he looked like a GQ model, so I snapped this shot.

On Sunday, we got Dora and Eli in matching outfits (since Dora won't be going to church until next week, I figured it was okay for her to be in pants.) I loved the little dachsund line at Gymboree--probably because growing up my grandma always had a dachsund, Lady. Anyway, I thought these came out okay... Eli really wanted to hold Dora again, and he keeps asking now. It's pretty cute--he was NOT posing for photos very well on Sunday though.

Eli was really not into posing on Sunday, but Dora did a little better. Here's a few, first of the two of them, and then of Dora alone. I love this big huge brown bow!! My mom bought me like 14 bows or something, but I think the brown one might be my favorite, even if it's a bit large right now...

Emma came over a lot to help and play with the babies. I got one cute shot of Jocelyn asleep on her. Cute, huh!?

Also, my mom (as previously mentioned) was awesome. She stayed home with Dora so I could go to church with Whit and Eli. That will be our last time as a family of 3 at church!! Thanks mom! These photos took place right after we came back from church.

Here is Ang with Jesse on Sunday night (right next to Emma with Jocelyn).

Now here are the shots from the "photo shoot" with Eli. I called it that because he NEVER poses for anything anymore--but today he did! He kept saying "cheese!" and smiling, thanks to watching Ang's kids. She has them trained! Plus we were on the stairs, in new clothes and the light is great there, so you can really see how blue his eyes are!

His undershirt says Wanted: Cowboy. Anyway, you can probably tell which smiles are real and which are fake, but in case you can't..

Fake:

Real:

And here is one last photo--Dora in her BYU onesie--GO COUGARS!! I also love the pink bow my mom got her!! The onesie is from Angela! Thanks Ang!

Twins Come to Hershey

Angela and the twins came to Hershey last Wednesday and we have been busy since then!! That's my excuse for not blogging recently. I will have to get my photos up in a series of blogs over the next few days--I have loaded my mom's photos, but I didn't take many myself because Angela's camera is so much cooler than mine!! She and I forgot to upload hers before she left so I am waiting on a CD of those photos and I will put them up later. She got photos of the trip to the Aquarium in Baltimore, the park, the Indian Echo Caverns and so on.

But a few other things happened while they were here that I do have a few photos from. They encountered a dog, which was very exciting. Eli loves dogs--the twins were not as excited. Jesse was interested in watching, not touching and Joc was not really interested in being near the dog at all! You can also see Nana (Auntie Em) came to play a lot, which was great. Eli LOVES his Nana.

We hit the outlets (OH NO!) Haha. Here's a photo of my mom, who spoiled us ALL rotten by buying way too much--did you know you can get Gymbucks at the Outlet now!? When we found that out, OF COURSE my mom had to get us some by buying us all some new clothes. Eli and the twins were great while we shopped.

We had a fun time playing with cousins, and bathing. Hugh and Lila gave us a fun bubble machine the kids loved in the bathtub and we had bath paints, too. Here's a bubble shot. Also, you can see I am holding Dora and Eli came over to snuggle. He has been doing that more now that I hold the baby a lot. It's cute! You can't see her but she's in the blanket.

We also went to Chocolateworld--and spent a lot of time playing at the house. They went on the Chocolateworld ride twice--I think the singing cows were their favorite part, although Joc liked the candy in the big piles at the end... and the free candy you get after the ride! Here are some shots of that. Angela put the twins in baskets the last time they came out and we went to chocolate world, so she did it again this time. Here's a shot of Eli in a basket. Angela is more creative about that stuff than I am! You can see Eli's eating his free candy treat...

My mom and dad had their 31st anniversary while she was here--and he sent her an amazing fruit basket we all enjoyed. Pretty! Eli really liked it, and Joc loved the chocolate covered strawberries.

On Saturday night the kiddos went to Chuck e Cheese. They had a great time--here are a few shots. It was Eli's first time so he took a while to warm up to it all.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Eli's shirt says, "Kiss me, I'm Cute." Auntie Em bought it for him!

VOTE!!

Isadora turns one month old today so we put her in some cute clothes and took photos. I bought two outfits before she was born to go with the baby announcements I made (yes, I made them in advance and just dropped in a box with the details! I know, sad!) Each of the outfits has lambs on them, but one is a dress and the other is a pants/top outfit. My mom went overboard and bought Dora LOTS of hairbows online (plus Cassidy sent me some cute ones!) so I used two different bows for the two outfits.

The point is, that I can't decide which photo to use for the baby announcement. I would like some input. Which do you prefer? Photo 1 (Dress):

Or Photo 2 (Pants):

I also took some other photos that were cute, which I will include...

I suppose you could vote for one of those photos if you liked them better--as a dark horse candidate or something! HA. I am sort of partial to that second one with the green bow--the close up. Of course, you can't see the lamb, which is the theme of the annoucement...

Also, a big shout out to Auntie Em, who came over the past few days and helped me with Eli every night!! YAY Auntie Em--best Aunt ever. She also finished Dora's afgan, which is SO cute--photos of that to come. Emma dyed her hair dark recently. I think it looks quite nice, at least for a fun change. She will probably go back in with highlights in a few months.

Dora's Room, Scrubs and Oreos

This will be a bit of a random post. I had some photos I took of various things on my camera and so I am putting them up.

First, here are some photos of Dora's nursery again. Lila (Whit's mom) painted the carebears I wanted over the crib while she was here, and I haven't had time to put up photos yet--shame on me! They came out cute, huh? Maybe I just think that because she painted exactly what I told her to!

Then I also finally made the shadowbox I have been planning. It has a little bib and booties my mom saved that were SO cute that I wore, and she wore. It also has a photo of my mom as a small child (no baby photos handy), a photo of me as a baby, and then a photo of Dora from her blessing--so three generations of women in our family as infants.

And I finally included a photo of the embroidery block my mom did with Isadora on it for her quilt. (You couldn't see it very well in the prior nursery photos).

Next up, we have a photo of Eli--Oreo anyone??

And a photo of Dora sleeping. She always puts her hand up--I hope she keeps posing when she gets older!

Finally, here are a few shots of Eli in the new scrubs my mom got him at the hospital gift shop when Dora was born... Cute huh!? And hey--he is finally starting to get some hair--like a little boy!!