The Russells (and then there were four): Trip to Lake Granbury

I hope this post finds everyone doing very well! Today is the first day of my week off and I am loving every minute of being home. We got to sleep in today and have enjoyed being lazy on this cold, rainy day. The twins are both doing very well. They are both talking up a storm and extremely active. They can say most of their ABCs, not always in order, and count to 10, most of the time in order. Tayden has started counting beyond 10 and loves the number 18. Brooklyn is still a hugger and loves on us often which is absolutely precious. She still sneaks up into the window and pushed the lamp off the end table last week. The lamp shattered into a zillion pieces! She is very dramatic! Tonight she tripped and said, "Whoa." I told her to be careful so she didn't fall and then she fell on purpose and pretended to cry. She loves to color and draw and has quite an attention span. Tayden still loves to sing and has added the "Cleanup Song," to his favorites. He helped me clean up the blocks tonight and sang with me and then said, "helper." He loves to stack blocks and can't make a pretty tall tower before Brooklyn knocks it down. He is still teething and can have some pretty miserable moments.

ECI came on Thursday and worked with both babies. They worked on puzzles and sorting colored rings onto sticks. We haven't worked with colors yet, so I was amazed when Brooklyn sorted all of the rings. They are both able to work puzzles, but don't always finish them. Both the therapist and the coordinator praised the twins and their continued development. They were blown away with how much Brooklyn is talking. They want us to start working on them feeding themselves with a spoon, so this afternoon I gave them both a bowl of yogurt and spoons. It got very messy, but they were able to get a lot in their mouths. They both ended up trying to lick the bowl clean.

This weekend we went to Lake Granbury and stayed in my best friend Lindsy's beautiful home right on the water. Saturday was warm so we were able to spend time outside playing on the deck. The twins loved having the extra space to roam and explore. Lauri and Malley came to visit for awhile - it was great to see them!! Sunday it got very chilly so our outside time was limited. We spent a lot of time in the game room coloring, reading books, and SueSue even built a fort with the twins. While the twins were napping we played SkipBo. We were trying to remember the last time we played games and it was at least a year ago! That is crazy considering we used to play games all of the time, but I guess we have been a little busy. On our way out of town we stopped at Ultimate Cupcake in Hudson Oaks and got a variety of cupcakes to try. Saturday night we had a "sampling session." I wanted SueSue and Tim to act like we were on Cupcake Wars and they played along. Our favorites were the black and white, egg nog, pumkin, and lemon poppyseed. On Saturday night we went to Stumpy's - a delicious waterfront restaurant. The twins were better than they have ever been and we discovered that the key is ketchup!!! I had given it to them once before and they didn't seem interested, but that has all changed. The LOVE it now and spent a great deal of time quietly dipping. Tayden loves to lick the ketchup off of whatever the item is, but doesn't always eat the item. It was such a treat to get out of town and spend some time just relaxing - a great way to kick-off my vacation week. The view was wonderful and the company was great. Thank you SueSue for coming with us and helping with the twins. We love spending time with you - it is always such fun!!!

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and I am sure I will have more pictures to share. Hope everyone has a great week!