My Girls are 3 !!!

August 31st at 12:35pm Claire Elizabeth was born and 12:39pm Carlie Rae arrived!

I cant believe my girls are 3! The years have really gone by way too fast. I absolutely love being a mother to these sweet little girls. I love them both dearly, and they are my world! Heres a little about each of them.

Claire is bossy, controlling, demanding, athletic, brave, protective of her sister, shy at first, gives big hugs and kisses, can catch a ball, and ride her tricycle, is really sweet when she wants to be, silly, loud, and she is a total daddys girl.

Carlie is more affectionate, nurturing, passive, puts things in order, a little more out going, shares really well, always wants to know whats going on, has so many facial expressions (just her face can tell you how she is feeling.) loves little babies. Carlie is a mommas girl.

They both love to color, love being outside, love animals, sing really well, and of course love anything that has to do with a Princess!

Claire and Carlie love food! (cheese, carrots, tomatoes, pasta, grapes, apples, raisins, cereal, yogurt, beef, oatmeal, applesauce, milk, nutri-grain bars, Carlie really likes red onions)

The girls love singing along with Laurie Berkner and The Backyardigans.

And here are just a few pictures of them through the years.

Claire and Aaron.

Carlie.

Claire and Carlie sharing a bassinet in the NICU.

Claire on her FIRST Birthday! Carlie, 1st Birthday.
Both the girls right before they turned 2
2nd Birthday

And now! Claire on 4th of July
Claire

Claire riding her bike. Check out those BOOTS!

Carlie: Just look at that face! I love her cheeks!
Carlie: she never likes to look at the camera.
Carlie

Going Private

I think im gonna go private. Im sure you all understand... On my sitemeter, I noticed someone had found me just from a google search. Uh, thats kinda scary. So, to all my blogging friends, and those who just check out my blog (dont worry, im a total blog hopper too!) send me an email at hvalentine623@aol.com .

Splash Pad

This morning before lunch, we took the girls to the Splash Pad by our house. We went last year and the girls HATED it. Screamed pretty much the entire time. This year, they didnt love it, but they didnt mind being there, as long as they werent getting splashed by water. (Um, hello kids, this is what happens at a SPLASH pad. you're gonna get wet!) So we played in some shallow puddles. They spent most of the time running away from the water, and hanging out on the hot concrete. Maybe we'll try again next year.
below: Claire yelling at me, because she was getting wet.

(below: the girls pretty much begging to go play on the slides)

Carlie was so mad, she wouldnt even smile for me!

And Claire. Safe and sound in her towel. Not getting wet.

Olds Family Reunion

Saturday we headed to Duck Creek, for the OLDS Family reunion! (Aarons moms side of the family) They reserved at large camp site, and invited everyone to either stay all weekend or come up for a lunch Saturday. We just went for lunch! The girls really enjoyed themselves!

Someone caught some little baby Horny Toads! The girls were so fascinated with them! They didnt want to hold or touch them, but they totally loved looking at them!
The girls also enjoyed playing with this dog (I think its name was Tippy ...) Anyway, the girls played fetch with him for a good 30 minutes!

This picture below has a little funny story ... We were sitting on the bench behind the tree, and we notice Claire is on the other side of it just hanging out. I walked over to her, and asked what she was doing, and she informed me that she was MAD! I asked her what happened, and she just kept saying that she was mad! It was seriously, the funniest thing I have seen her do! I finally got her to say what she was mad about, and she said that she didnt want to play any games. (I think her grandma told her to stop doing something, and to go play games!) And no, I didnt tell her to stand like this. This is how I found her, and she stayed that way until she was done being mad.
This was one of the activities for the kids to do up at the reunion. The girls thought it was pretty fun!

After the reunion, we headed up to the house in Parowan, got dinner from the Pizza Barn, and had dinner with Aarons mom in Cedar City, where she was staying.

Sunday we got up got the girls dressed, and went for a ride. Claire asked to have her hair put up in "Bunny Ears" a.k.a. "pig tails". Below, the girls with their Bunny ears!

Carlie and Aaron

We drove down to Penguitch Lake, and walked around for a little bit. We got out by a stream, and the girls enjoyed throwing some rocks. Claire is the one in the sunglasses, and the purse. (which she calls her backpack) Such a little diva!

Claire was making sure it was ok to throw that rock in the stream!

After we got back from the lake, we picked some corn, tomatoes and bell peppers for dinner! This is Claire, holding her ear of corn (she ate the entire thing)

And here is Carlie holding up hers!
After dinner we took a long walk around the block, (it was more like a mile and a half walk around 3 blocks!) The girls usually do really well on walks, and walk the entire way, but Claire wanted to have a piggy back ride, (I gave in, and carried her) then Carlie stepped in some mud, and got her flip flop and foot dirty, so I had to carry her until we could get it wiped off (she's heavy!) Then once Carlie was all situated, Claire needed another piggy back ride, and almost fell asleep on my back! We were ALL exhausted after our long walk!

The garden that Aarons dad and grandpa planted is HUGE. there are 4 big rows of corn, 4 rows of tomatoes, some squash, zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, onions, eggplant and some winter squash. The girls call it "Moms Garden" and they love to see how much it has grown each time we go. We found a few tomatoes that were ripe, but there are still TONS that arent quite ready to be picked yet! Hopefully we'll be able to make another trip up there when everything is ripe.

Monday morning we cleaned up, and headed home.

You are NOT 16!

He Kexin (above) doesnt look a day older than 14. I think there are some shady things going on in Gymnastic scoring ...

Dont worry Nastia, your Gold medal will be shipped to you in the mail, when they figure out He Kexins real age.

How To Tell Who is Who!

A lot of people ask me how they can figure out who is who! So here ya go!

If they are in a picture that is posed, Claire will always be on the left, and Carlie is always on the right.

If the girls are wearing two different colors, Claire is usually in PINK. Carlie is usually in PURPLE.

If the girls are in the SAME color outfit, you can look for Carlies birthmark that is on the right side of her face, by her ear.

Claire is a little shorter, and weighs less than Carlie, but Claire has longer hair.

I hope this helps!

This morning as I was reading some email, Claire come up to me and I didnt really pay attention to her at first. So, she started tapping on my shoulder and said "Mommy .... yoohoo!"
It had me laughing!

Content

This evening while I was doing a few things in my room, I let the girls watch TV on my bed. They sat like this, for a good 30 minutes! I love these cuties!

Identical?

When the twins were born, all the tests that were able to be done, came back inconclusive ... We don't know if the are identical or fraternal. Today, as I was looking through some pictures, I came across this one, thought "Gee, they MUST be identical!"

taken Feb 2006

A Quick Trip to Parowan.

Saturday morning, we packed up and headed to Parowan for the weekend. We knew it was going to be a short trip, and we didnt have anything planned, but it was nice to get out of Vegas for a few days. Saturday, we just hung out, played in the front yard, and took a walk. Sunday morning, I finished reading Breaking Dawn, and we went up to Duck Creek. We stopped at the Creek, and took a little hike. (it was probably a mile, now that I think about it!) The girls walked almost the entire way! They were such little troopers. I forgot to bring their socks, so they were walking in their tennis shoes, sockless ... Carlie got a blister on each of her heeels, fell down twice, and didnt complain a single bit! It is REALLY hard to get a picture with the girls looking at the camera at the SAME time these days ... but here are a few of the very few pictures that were taken.

The girls and I stopped to take a rest on some rocks. We saw a few little squirels running around!
Aaron and I. Duh.
After our little hike, we had Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, and headed back to Parowan. The girls napped in the car, and when we got back to the house, we took another little walk around the block. Monday morning, we packed up and headed back home. We stopped in St. George to have lunch, and to walk around the Temple. The girls LOVE smelling flowers, so I had to get a picture!

The weekend went way too fast! I love being able to use Aarons Grandparents house at any time. The girls love going up the the 'Yellow House'! They have their own room, and they always sleep really well, which makes life a lot easier! I cant wait to make another trip up there soon!