I realized that I never posted to the blog last week. I'm not sure why and I'm quite perplexed as to why it didn't even dawn on me until this weekend. So - here are 2 weeks worth of posts...

Riley and Ryan celebrated their first week in their new room with a Valentine's party. So Gramma and I went to their classroom and sat with 9 very well behaved children as they ate all of the goodies the parents had sent in. (cheese puffs, cupcakes, fruit, cheese, etc. etc.) They weren't quite sure why we were there, but they were all very cute sitting around the table enjoying all the fun snacks. They all mind their teachers Ms. Nekosha and Ms. Tiffany very well and they run a tight ship. They wash their hands and brush their teeth 3 times per day (after each time they eat). We are very happy with this new class and have seen Riley and Ryan both blossom before our eyes in the 2 short weeks they've been in there. Ryan is a true walker now and is very proud to get from point A to point B without a fall!

On Valentine's Day we went to Gainesville, GA to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jim's house to meet my cousin, Hester's new son, Logan. He is such a beautiful baby and we never heard a peep out of him. It was nice to see my cousins, aunts and uncles and it was a great time to catch up. Riley and Ryan loved running around and playing with everyone - and again, enjoyed some more cupcakes, chips, etc. It took Ryan a bit to warm up, but he came out of his shell to a point. Below is a photo of my mom with her 2 sisters, Linda and Tricia and all 9 of their grandchildren.



We were able to snap a few shots before we headed out to church and I just had to include this one. I think it's my favorite photo so far of the 2 of them together. After snapping almost 10,000 photos since their birth, I realize just how hard it is to get them to both look at the camera and smile at the same time, but I think I did just that with this one!



We went up to the park in our neighborhood yesterday and they loved playing in the little house there. They were playing a bit of hide and seek and just squealed as they chased each other around. There were some new friends up there and we even met a little girl that was born the same week as Riley & Ryan. Hopefully we will have a fun time playing with all of the kids in the neighborhood once the weather warms up this Spring.




Ryan has started giving out the sweetest hugs and even hugs Riley. She's not so into hugging back at this point, but it sure is sweet to see them interacting so much. They are truly friends and love to make another laugh. They love playing chase and Riley even occasionally shares a toy with her brother. She was not herself today and was not feeling so well. Hopefully she will be ok in the morning, but I'm guessing we'll be making a trip to see Dr. Koenig at some point this week. Last week was Ryan (with wheezing), so it's only fitting that we go this week for Riley. :)

Web Albums Added: http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090213OAValentineSParty#

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090214RogersGatheringInGainesville#

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090215SundayBest#

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Posting Videos - Wipe It Off

We just got a new HD Digital Video Recorder and I'm trying to post my first video. So - if this works...Enjoy! If not, please bear with me while I try to figure out how to post these. :) This is Riley's latest trick that Daddy taught her a few weeks ago.

Rising Stars??

This weekend Riley and Ryan were asked to be in a video shoot for a music video for The Baby Grands. This is the kids CD our friend produced and wrote most of the songs for that was released a few months ago. It was fairly low key and they basically just filmed a bunch of kids playing and dancing. It was what I would call organized chaos. Riley and Ryan had a lot of fun and hopefully we will see them in their music video debut in the near future! :)

Yesterday morning at 9:51am, Ryan got my cell phone off the nightstand, disconnected the charger and dialed Aunt Heather & Uncle Brad using the speed dial. This happened in a split second and by the time I hit END, the damage was already done. They are in California, so it was 6:51am there...on Saturday morning. They returned the call a few hours later and all I could say was "it was Ryan". I felt really bad, but what can you do, but laugh. They have been really into phones lately, so I snapped quite a few shots of them playing with their cell phones (the ones we no longer use and they absolutely LOVE).

We've had great weather - almost 70 degrees each day, so we tried to take advantage and went outside to swing on their new swings. They were elated and squealed with excitement. They also got to ride in their wagon - another thing they love to do.

Now that Ryan is basically walking, they will be moved up to a new class at church next week! This will be just their second class since they started there so it should be a fun week. They are also starting in their Toddler 1 class at school tomorrow. They are growing like weeds and saying more words each day. This week Ryan repeated Mama, Dada, apple after me and attempted to say Riley. Today we told them they were going to have hot dogs for lunch and Ryan said something that sounded an awful lot like "hot dog". When we ask them "where is Ryan", Riley will point to him and vise versa. Last week I thought I would ask them to take their clothes to the basket and low and behold, they picked up their clothes, walked over to the basket and dropped them in! So now, after we change their clothes, they take them to the dirty clothes basket. We all cheer and it's very exciting! I'm just thankful that they are already starting to clean up after themselves...kinda. They are amazing me everyday with all they are learning. All in all it's been a great weekend. We plan to go to Gramma's for a spaghetti dinner once they wake up from their nap. Good thing we are planning to bathe them there before we head home.

Web Albums Added:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090207Swinging#

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090207TBGVideoShoot#

http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090208CellPhones#

Ryan's 3rd Hair Cut

We have spent the last 4-5 days dealing with some sort of stomach "something" in our house so I will spare you the details and you'll just know that it really "stunk" all weekend. Riley spent Friday at home with Gramma and we spent the rest of the weekend at home pushing fluids and eating bland foods...and that's all I'm going to say about that.

So the day finally came for Ryan's 3rd haircut. His hair wasn't really that long, just a bit shaggy. He just needed it "shaped-up". I've been talking about it for weeks and finally did it on Sunday morning. We weren't able to go to church since we didn't want to expose the other kids, but we badly needed some time out of the house, so we headed out to Great Clips. Ryan wasn't so fond of the whole experience, but we read lots of books to take his mind off of things and he even had his first sucker! It was strawberry and it tasted yummy. At first he wasn't so sure about the flavor, but let's just say I found an empty stick by the time we got home. So here are the photos (drum roll please)...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I know nothing dramatic, you say? If you don't see him every day, you probably don't even notice, but I sure do! I love the look of a clean cut and now he has one. I know nothing monumental for you, but it is for me, but please just indulge me and tell me how cute he looks!

Due to the illnesses this weekend, Riley and Ryan were not on their normal eating and napping schedules, so we had some 1-1 time with each of them. After taking Ryan for his hair cut, he and Dad went to the grocery store and Costco while I waited for sleeping beauty to awake. She was desperate to get outside after her nap, so we headed out to the front yard and it was unusually warm. We didn't even need our coats and I wondered why we had not been outside all day. Riley had lots of fun running in the grass and playing on her "bike". I even let her play on the stairs and she went up and down them all by herself several times. It made me nervous to watch her, but she did great and was so proud of herself. Here's a few of the highlights.

On Saturday, Gramma and Grandaddy let us sneak out for a date night. We were able to see a movie and go to dinner! It was a real treat. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire. As most of you know, I'm not a huge movie person, but I had heard this was a "must see". I knew nothing about it except it was set in India. I will tell you nothing more as well, but I will agree it is a "must see" and is probably best in the theater (rather than DVD). It is probably one of my top 5 movies of all time. It's just that good. Try to make the time to see this one. Have a great week!

Web Album Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20090201RyanHaircut