Idyllwild and more November fun!

This month we were introduced to Mama and Papa's favorite mountain getaway, Idyllwild.  It's a cool place with lots of nice trees, rocks, leaves on the ground, and all kinds of stuff to pick up and put in our mouths!  Mama and Papa have been going there for a few years with their friends Kelley and Dan (aka "Bob" but we'll get to that later).  This year they brought their son, our friend Wesley, who is a few months younger than us.
Here are some pictures of our trip.


Wesley, Celeste and Emilie in the woods. 
We are preparing to eat foliage.  Wesley is sticking to his hands for now...

 

Maybe Wesley wants to try this leaf? 
A little peer pressure from the older kids?!

Wesley has succumbed to the pressures of infant foliage consumption. 
Hopefully we will all kick this habit one day!

Here we are with our favorite Papa and Mama!

It's really hard to get 4 adults and 3 babies to all look at the camera at the same time!

Emilie: Do we really get to go in there?  No baby bath?

Zebras and Pumpkins and Bears, Oh My!

Hanging out on our walk!

Celeste: Dan is sometimes a silly guy.  He makes us giggle.  I kept looking at him and saying "Bob" or "Bap" all weekend.  Mama decided that I am trying to give Dan a new name and we should all call him Bob now!  I still ask for Bob.  One day Mama was playing the radio and a Bob Marley song came on.  I like that Bob, too!

"Bob," Kelley and Wesley  

Idyllwild was such a cool place that we did not want to sleep while we were there- neither at night nor during the day!  Hmmm, we are still babies, so all that waking up and crying and resisting sleep?  Well, Mama and Papa decided that something had to change.  Mama and Papa decided they needed to "sleep train" us.  The night after we came back from our trip, we were put to bed awake for the first time.  The first couple of nights were hard- we don't like changing the routine!  It has been almost 3 weeks, and we are waking up a lot less than before at night, and everyone is getting more rest. 

Now when we wake up, we like to stand up and talk to each other!

What other fun stuff have we done this month?  There were several trips to the park:

We went to the park and went on the swing together!  Whee!

Emilie: these seats are made for twins!

Papa borrowed an iPad and we got to play with it. 

Celeste: This is a fish, but I was looking for my favorite animal, a DOG!

One day Papa worked from home.  We wish he would do that more often, because we just love to help him work by getting under his feet!

Shortly after this, Papa said, "This is why I don't work from home!" 
Mama took us away.  :o(  Aww, it's not playtime?

We also went to the zoo.  Here we are sitting on the back of a bird (extinct giant eagle).

Celeste: Are you sure this bird is not going to eat me, Mama?

Celeste: This month I said my first word, which if you've noticed, is a special love of mine: DOG!  At the zoo, I decided that sheep, goats and ducks would also be called "Daw." 

Also, we met our new friend, Spencer. 

Mama loved holding Spencer.

Celeste: I was like, I have to share my Mama with ANOTHER baby? 
After a little cuddle, all was well again.

Happy November! 

Baby Bumblebees

Halloween is such a funny holiday.
First you go to your weekly playgroup and Mama puts you in a costume, and all your friends are dressing up, too.  And some of them are happier about it than others.  Us?  We were pretty zen about being bumblebees in the garden at Kai's house. 



Halloween Playgroup.  Aren't we scary?  Boo!

 Mama was our beekeeper that day.  She said she didn't need protective clothing because our little stingers were soft. 

"Picking Up A Baby Bumblebee" (or two!)

And then you go to Papa's work Halloween Party and you get to eat cookies shaped like animals.  Then you get to play in Papa's cublicle and pull on all kinds of printer cables. 

We Love HP!  They have cookies and cables and power cords all over the place.

  Then you get to go to a party where you hang out with your friend Wesley. 


Dinosaurs seem to make bumblebees anxious...

 Than after 3 days of festivities, there is all-day fun! 

Mama says we are her little pumpkins.  Here is Pumpkin Emilie:



Jack-O-Lantern Smile!



Seriously with the hat, Mama?

Smiley Pumpkin

Pumpkin Celeste:

I'm not too sure about this pumpkin business. 
I'm going to hop over and we are going to talk about it.

I feel much better about being a pumpkin when I'm with Mama!

Then our cousins came over.  Nick was Darth Vader and Abby was Thumbelina. 

Nick Vader and Abbylina

We didn't really recognize Nick when he was wearing that mask, so he took it off when we were taking pictures together.  Those are the pumpkins Mama and Papa carved.  Celeste's has 2 teeth, and Emilie's has 3 teeth, just like we had at Halloween! 

I wonder how many teeth Nick and Abby's pumpkins have?

Our pumpkins look happier than we do about taking this picture.

Here we are in our bumblebee costumes, ready for trick or treating!

Is this antenna attached?

Is it time for trick-or-treating yet?

Here we are at one house (FYI- we only went to friends' houses).

Celeste: This bumblebee is ready for a nap!

Emilie: Celebrity Baby Bumblebee

We had a great first Halloween, even if Mama and Papa didn't let us have any candy.  They gave it all away to the nearly 200 trick-or-treaters who came to our house before 7:45 p.m.  Maybe next year?

Trip to Illinois

In October, we went to visit Mama's relatives in Illinois.  We stayed with our Aunt Dianne and Uncle Terry, and we got to meet Mama's American side of the family (we already went to Germany to meet the German side!).  It was so much fun!

Emilie with Uncle Terry



Here we are with Aunt Dianne and our cousins Will and Hannah!



Emilie bonding with Will



There was a party where we got to meet a lot of the family!  Here are a few pics of the party.



Emilie: Uncle Danny and I are sharing a laugh!



Celeste: Uncle Danny and I are having a deep discussion. 
Do you have to photograph this?



We went to a pumpkin patch and petting zoo. 



Emilie: Do we get to make pumpkin pie later?



Celeste: so this is what Mama means when she calls us pumpkin.  I like it!



We love the animals.  There is even a baby!  Come here, baby!



Celeste: I really want to pet it.  Come here, Billy Goat!

We did go to our family farm, but we didn't get to play on the tractors there (the weather was not cooperating for a tour).  The pumpkin patch had some we could play on, though!

Too bad we didn't wear our overalls.  We could have driven the tractor if we were wearing them.



Honoring our family farming roots




A hopping contest!



We started crawling and moving around a lot more in October. Well, Emilie started crawling at the end of September when she was 8 months 3 weeks old, and Celeste quickly started moving, too. Her moves are a bit more non-traditional.
Celeste: I do a little hop on my bottom, and I scoot around that way! It's fun; you should try it! I have also started doing a three-legged crawl, where I use both hands and one foot to propel myself. I'm not as fast as my sister, but I am catching up!

Emilie: I have also been pulling up to stand a lot, and this month I have started cruising a little (taking steps while holding on and standing up).

Emilie: I am standing under the table!



Celeste getting some love from Aunt Dianne



Emilie: I wanted to get some cuddles, too!



Wearing Hannah's boots!  Aren't they cute on me?



Do these come in my size?



Celeste: This is Sammy, the best dog EVER!



Celeste: When I met Sammy the dog, I got really excited.  I giggled and jumped and started panting and wanted to pet him.  He was pretty excited, too, and licked my face and danced for me.  Now when I see dogs or people talk about dog ("woof woof!"), I bounce over to them or I pant like a dog.  Mama and Papa, can we have a dog??? 

Emilie: On the last day of our trip, we went out for breakfast with Aunt Thelma, Uncle Danny and Aunt Eileen, and Cousin Mike.  Here I am with Aunt Eileen.



Emilie: Aunt Eileen and I are having a very serious discussion about pancakes.  :o)

It was a fun trip, we got to meet lots of relatives, and we even got to fly again!  This time Mama and Papa had to let us crawl and hop on the airplane, otherwise there would have been trouble keeping us contained in our seats.  When is the next trip?!