North Dakota ROAD TRIP highlights...

We stopped at a hotel on the way up to North Dakota... loading 2 children and luggage into a hotel by yourself is pretty challenging but as you can see I found a great solution! The kids had a great time riding the cart and everything made it out together : )

Aiden says, "Marinn I want to hold your hand!"

Marinn says, "You can hold my arm."

These are the expressions that followed the conversation.

Caleb says, "Uhh uhh blahh!"

Toto replies, "Uhh uhh blahh!"

This is how the week went with them... Toto would just copy what he was saying and they would smile and laugh at each other like they knew what they were talking about. She called him "bay-bee!"

We had grabbed some lunch and hit the road again and Marinn says, "Mommy look!"  I look back to see an awesome airplane made out of 2 fries and the box. She was flying it all around the back seat. She's so smart and creative I love it! (Sorry about the bad pic but I was blindly shooting into the back seat while I was driving hoping that I would get a good shot of her plane.)

This is usually what Taurin looks like when she is sleeping in the car. Glad I was able to capture it : )

We are driving through a curvy part of the road and I said to the girls, "Hold on!" Then about 10 min later Marinn says, "Mom do we still need to hold on?"  I check the rear view mirror to see Marinn and Toto holding on to each other. I was laughing out loud it was soo cute! They are such great girls.

Shaw isn't the biggest fan of the pacifier and sometimes if he doesn't want it he'll spit it out and it will fly half way across the van. So I tied a string to my seat and then to his pacifier.  Whenever he would spit it out I would just fish it out of the back seat and give it back to him. He did amazing on the drive waiting patiently for stops and keeping himself content.  Gold star for Shaw!

Cheeky

Taurin likes to rub her cheek. She'll just take her index finger and stroke it down her cheek. Don't quite know why she does this but all throughout the day you'll see her just stroking her face. It's cute and gentle and Toto.

My Neighbor

Yesterday I started singing the Mr. Rogers song "Won't You be My Neighbor"... Marinn had never heard this song before and she was a bit intrigued.  As I continued in the song Marinn joined in... it went something like this.
...would you be mine? (Marinn: Yeahhhh)
...could you be mine? (Marinn: Yeahhh)
...won't you be my neighbor? (Marinn: Yeahhh)
She would sing it soo sweet like she really wanted to be my neighbor.  It was the cutest thing.

Handsome Shaw

I love this boy.

I love him in this hat.

I love his cute grump face that reminds me of his daddy.

I love that he looks like an old man.

He loves the parade.

Those people are throwing candy!

After the Veteran's parade today Marinn and Taurin were checking out their huge stash of candy they had piled into Taurins bike helmet... I was lucky enough to captures Toto's hilarious face! She is such a goofball.
After she realized that if you waved at the cars they would throw you candy she was super excited.  She would see a car coming and she'd try to get as close as possible waving the entire time. (We had to pull her out of the road a few times).  When the candy would leave their hand she would take off running towards it soo fast that the candy would fly right by her. She'd spin around to get it with her little eyes sparkling with excitement and her face beaming.  She would turn and run so fast that she fell and slid I don't know how many times. That's why she looks so dirty... she was just covered in grime by the time the parade was over... knees, elbows, bumm, etc... Not to mention she busted out some yoga moves in the middle of the parade.  Hilarious, super fun day for a parade.

Flaggeriffic

Today we went to a Veteran's Day parade... Marinn picked up a small American flag and she was watching the flag girls with the band go by and she started to try and do the same movements as they were... here she is trying out a "behind the head" move.

Doggie Distraction

Shaw loves his Rainforest Jumperoo... He jumps full force and there isn't much that distracts him but the other day and just now he stopped mid bounce to watch the dogs playing with each other on the floor.  He stops and looks intently at them growling at wrestling with each other. In this picture he is actually watching them.
I guess every guy loves a good fight.... what a man!

I love it.