Credle Family: The Rest of August....

Do you recognize these cute lil' faces?!

Besides dress-up, another favorite this month has been this Elmo puzzle. It's a little hard for them to do by themselves, but they love putting the pieces together, even if they don't put them where they belong! After they attach a few pieces, they proudly bring it to me and exclaim, "Look!" Here's Daddy helping them put it together correctly; and, alas, there's Elmo! One of the things I love about this picture, besides that it's of my favorite 3 people in this world, is that Daniel is dressed like his Daddy- he loves wearing athletic shorts, and the Adidas shirt he's wearing is a favorite- when he picks it out he says, "like Daddy." He also has shirts he calls, "PaPa's shirts" (these shirts have collars!).

Toot Toot (Wiggles) has always been Daniel's favorite program (but not Mommy or Daddy's favorite for him to watch). Now that they are older, we are trying to expand their repertoire of appropriate shows (not that they sit around and watch TV all day- one or two 20 minute shows at the most). It is often difficult for them to agree on what to watch. Anabella's favorite is Blues Clues. Daniel's favorite is still probably Toot Toot, but Little Einsteins is a close second (and since Mommy and Daddy prefer this one, it's what he chooses most often). A new favorite for them both- Bubble Guppies and, of course, they both like Sesame Street, too. They say a picture is worth a thousand words - two details I want to remember from this one- Daniel holding his matchbox cars (Anabella has a few in front of her) and Anabella's band-aid (Daniel probably has one in the same spot- somewhere on his arm!) We went through a lot of band aids this month. Many covered boo boos; others acted more as stickers.

Cheeeeeeessssseeee!!!

Solomon and Shilee spent a few weeks in August with PaPa and MaMa for their summer vacation, where they were lavished daily with plenty of sweet affection, a variety of gourmet treats and lots of leisurely walks. Solomon is known in Port Warwick as King Solomon. Here they are back at home longing for....just a walk around the block, please?!!

Meanwhile, Daniel and Anabella got plenty of exercise of their own in August! In their 2.5 years, they have probably been to about 50 parks (playgrounds really but they call them parks- once we were walking through Costco and they had a jungle gym for sale- the babies kept yelling, "park, park"). Here are some pictures from one of our neighborhood schools. This "park" was cool because there was plenty to climb!

In the late afternoon on the same day we visited this neighborhood park, we set out for another excursion, this time to Burke Lake Park, just around the corner from the townhouse where we used to live. It's a beautiful park with a train, carousel, mini-golf, picnic grounds and several playgrounds. Chip and I have made many good memories there as we used to take Ryan and Hayden there when they would come visit. Also, before I got married, my friend Mary and I would go there after school and walk the 5 mile trail around the lake. (I can't remember the last time I walked 5 miles at one time, but it was probably around Burke Lake and was most definitely pre-pregnancy).

The train ride was great, but our little ones couldn't wait to get to the playground!

After trying out the playground by the train, we headed to the picnic grounds and then to another playground where we used to take the boys.

Daniel talks about his PaPa all the time. This video is a good example- he is driving to PaPa's house!

After playing for a while at the playground, we headed to the lake.

And then in the lake...just a little....then, back to the playground....

These next pictures are ones I borrowed from the Credles.

Here's PaPa about to make a smoothie with some help from his favorite lil' people. The twins enjoyed his Blendtec so much, he got them (us) our own. Now whenever they want a smoothie, they say they "want a PaPa shake." "I push the button....My push the button...."