Our 2nd Christmas

Koh: Just Grandma visited for Christmas this year and the weather was frightful ...but we sure had a fun time helping Mom shovel the deck, running around naked and then tearing open these new toys on Christmas morning. We got our first trikes and a basketball hoop and some BATS and CARS and BOOKS and more.

Mom and Dad keep hiding them but our LOUDEST new toy is this cool drum and 2-man band set from Grandma - click this 22-second movie to hear us play!
Click here for 20 more pics like this.

Snowzilla!

Abe: Check me out walking on the top of 10" of snow in my yard! Dad says this is the biggest snowstorm in 40 years in Portland, so we don't have to go to the mountain for snow any more. It's been snowing for more than a week and more is coming. We sled, we try to walk in it, and we get cold.

It's gonna be the whitest Christmas ever here says the guy inside the radio.

911, Epipen & a Firetruck... Oh MY!

Abraham: Things were moving a little slow around the house last night, so I spiced them up. While eating dinner, my face got red and hives started popping up around my mouth. Then my lips started swelling. You should have seen Mommy & Daddy running around. First it was for Benedryl and then when that didn't do anything they got out the Epipen. Then I made a few gagging noise and that sent them over the edge. Mommy called 911 and Daddy jabbed the Epipen into my leg - Yaooowww. Then a fire truck and ambulance came. There must have been seven men in the house paying real close attention to me, even putting things on my toes and arms and legs. I told everyone I was fine and made my lips start shrinking and so they left. Maybe things are better when they are a little slow around the house.

Snow Day

Abraham:  It snowed this morning, which it has done before but I don't remember that.  Watch our video to see all the fun we had.  Mommy even made snow ice cream for dessert tonight.  

Today I learned to CATCH

Koh: Dad taught me to CATCH today, something he always does but not me. He gave me the FUN-da-MENTALs... keep my hands together, palms up, watch the ball.... more more, daddy!

I've been able to THROW for a long time, so now I'm an all-purpose baseball player.

Twin toddler tree trimming

I Told You So

Koh: Mommy doesn't say it very often, but I heard it the other day when she was telling Daddy about our afternoon. Abe and me didn't want to take a nap. We were bored and since we can get out of bed whenever we want now, we did. And we thought all of our clothes in the dresser should be able to get out too... all over the room. It was great fun rolling around on them. Mommy didn't think it was great fun folding all the clothes and putting them away with us trying to help.

Big Boy Beds!

Abe: What a great Thanksgiving this year. Ya ya lots of food, Ethan and Aiden's family were here, party lights, grandma and grog. Koh even fell asleep at the table this year while everyone watched.

But the best part was getting to escape from life in the crib jail and sleep in our NEW BIG BOY BEDS! Now this is cool. I think Daddy didn't like us climbing the walls of those baby jails.

No, we're not identical

Koh: Just 'cause we're twins and both 32" tall doesn't mean we're the same. For example, I'm Momma's boy and...

• I have blue eyes, blonde hair, detached earlobes, big toes are my longest
• I'm a picky eater
• I'm 27 pounds and a bit squishier
  
• I'm calm and quieter, and think a lot
• I notice very small bugs
• I like books and cars
• I'm quick to dance
• I walk fast, with purpose, and can keep going a loooooooong way
• Need my blankey more which I carry around in my mouth like a dog, but I don't use a binky

Abe: I hang out more with Daddy ...he's my hero. I love KohKoh but I'm not like him:

• I have hazel eyes, reddish blonde hair, attached earlobes and my second toes are really long
• I eat everything
• I'm a 25 pound hardbody ...lean and ripped
• I'm gonna be a gymnast someday, already practicing
• I'm a spaz and am very noisy when needed, which is often
• I'm quick to smile
• The tattoo
• I like gadgets, tools, digital button things
• I dawdle when I walk, and I get tired faster
• Sleep with a binky
  

National Geo Shuffle

Koh: Daddy loves his 40+ year National Geographic collection and so do we. Today he left us in the library to do some research and we looked and looked but just couldn't find that one map of Chile that we wanted to rip up. It was OK, 'cause it was fun sliding around on the little mountain we made.

He and mom wanted to be mad at us for this mess, but we could see them smilin'.

Postscript: 5 minutes to make, 2 hours to unmake this mess ...grrrr

Dad, stuck in tree

Abe: Mommy - will you please get Daddy down from that tree? He makes me nervous.

Sally showed us how...

... to do our first Columbia Gorge hike ON OUR OWN FEET.

Koh: Sally is one of our favorite neighbors because she comes over all the time and plays plus she likes to be outdoors so we all went on this hike to Angels Rest that Mom & Dad always carried us on before. But today we escaped out of the backpacks and walked A LOT down this LONG TRAIL that kept on going and going and we finally got tired.

We saw a big newt, some dogs and BIG SLUGS and some waterfalls and lots of pretty yellow leaves. Did you know Abe and me can say YELLOW? 28 more pics here.

Boo !

Abe: Today we had our first Halloween since we learned to walk. We all dressed up at school, we played trickertreat around the classrooms and then walked to the store and then some more on our street. It was all day then till dark! Then mom and dad took our bags away but we didn't care 'cause we got some cool new hotwheels to play with.

I was an elephant and Koh was such a dog. See more pics here.

Spokane Road Trip

Abraham: I have a new hero. Sorry Daddy, you're still my favorite, but I met a new boy that really taught me a lot of stuff. He's Tyler Reighard. We visited him during our eastern Washington road trip last weekend. His mommy is my mommy's friend from college. He's older than me but he read books to me, tried to carry me around, showed me how to ride a tractor, had awesome toys and showed me other cool stuff that I'll be imitating with Koh now.

It was real cold there but sunny. We went to the apple farm and ate this sticky caramel apple and played in a real big box of peas!

Koh: That 888-mile road trip was a lot of fun. I liked staying in the motel and playing in the leaves nearby. The Grand Coulee dam was pretty cool. My favorite was our picnic lunch at Mt. Rainier. No my favorite was all the cars that Zack, Tyler's brother, let me play with. He even let me keep one!

Click here for more pictures of our road trip.

Life ...in a Barrel of Monkeys

Abe: I'm the best at monkeying around, just ask my Mom or Dad or Koh. Or check out this movie where Koh keeps chasing me around the barrel:

Pumpkins!

Abe:  We got little pumpkins.  Did you know they talk to you if you listen really closely?

Happy Birthday Dad

Abe: For his 44th birthday we gave Dad a rugby shirt and a 3-day weekend vacation on the Oregon coast. Even better was he got to take me and Koh ...and off we drove to historic Fort Stevens. Boy what a fun time that was with a lot of firsts for us and maybe Mom + Dad, too.

Do you know WE LEARNED TO DRIVE THE CAR ?!(WOW), plus we ran into the ocean and lake water lots of times, played on this really big beach with a rusty shipwreck, climbed up and jumped down the REALLY BIG SAND DUNES, saw racoons and bugs real close, fixed some fires and played with the water spigot, rode + slept in the bike trailer, fired a real cannon (ok, not really), even kept Mom and Dad up almost all night while we got them to sleep with us on a real bed in the yurt. Click here for the 8-min feature film of our weekend.

We ate stuff like never before since it was camping ...like chocolate milk, and these marshmellow drippy things they named after our friends that moved away (SAMORES), and mac+cheese and wild huckleberries and other stuff we found on the ground when they weren't looking. 13 more photos here.

This was so fun we didn't want to sleep, so we didn't. I mean we can sleep at home, right?

Love Letter from Dad #6

Boys - You continue to make my fatherhood dream come true ...every day quite literally. We open up at dreaming hour 5:30 in darkness these days and have been rambling around outside just before sunrise. Sometimes you take me on laps around the house ...and we always pause for backyard activities.

This week I relived two of my earliest childhood memories: painting big rocks (my dad paid me 5 cents per rock, my first job!) and watching the sun move around the sky and rise up from behind the hills to the east. Maybe you're little nature boys like me since you've been pointing at the moon for a long time ...isn't every kid a nature kid? It's been fun sitting on the patio watching the big orange ball sunrise. Can we do this over and over? I love you boys.

Fruitcicle fight

Koh: Abe and me ate fruitcicles today, then he started to mess with me. If you think I look bad...

Ahhhmmmmm

Koh:  Our life is go go go.  Sometimes I just gotta slow down and relax.

Mommy, can we have a dog?

Koh: Mom, Aunt Angela has this really nice hound dog that she says we can have. We all went for a hike and see how well he likes us? I mean, come on, all we have are these old indoor cats. We promise to take good care of it ...PLEASE?????

All 30 dog walk pics here.

We just LOVE berries!

Abe: ...so we'll go far and wide to find 'em. Today we hiked above the treeline on Mt Hood until we found some wild huckleberries. Boy were they good! 15 adventure pics.

Slot Canyon + Nude Beach day

Koh: We love the Columbia River gorge 'cause we can do so many fun outdoors things in one day. Today we did this hike into the Oneonta slot canyon where the trail IS THE CREEK ..there is no trail. Which means we walk in cold water up to 3 feet deep over these BIG ROCKS and LOGJAMs until we get to the WATERFALL and yummy lunchtime. We faked like we were tired so Mom and Dad carried us in the cold deep parts.

Then we went to the BIG NUDE BEACH at Rooster Rock state park, where people are naked but nobody cares. We just like the BIG SANDBOX and water, water, water and Mom chasing us around. Here are 17 pics of our day.

Summer Beach Vacation 2008

Abe: We love sandboxes and water, so Mom & Dad took us to the BIGGEST SAND and WATER PLACE we've EVER SEEN: Atlantic Beach, NC. It was a great 'cause we got to stay for a whole week just playing in the pool, the ocean and this really big sandbox every day. Uncle Greg was getting really old - 50 years - and we wanted to visit before he gets stuck in the wheelchair or falls down like a tree. Plus we visited Jillian and our cousins and got to sleep in a real bed instead of those crib jails. We learned to jump into the pool (click), play with hoses and got to run around naked in the courtyard.

Then we road tripped over bridges and tunnels and ferries to visit Nana Jo and Susan in this fun place Ocean City, MD. We saw things we never saw before like wild horses on the beach, scary cicadas and these crazy arcade rides that scared me but Koh liked. We want to go back.

Look at all our fun photos here (click).