Little Social Butterflies

Jackson and Alex have been such little social butterflies lately. The first video is of the boys at Carson Smith's birthday. It was so fun in the bounce house and hanging out with all of their little friends.

The second video is of the Easter weekend with The Martins. The boys loved hanging out with their Uncle Tim and Aunt Jessica and their cousins Dylan and Kyle.

Things are going great here and I will post more this week.

RE Launch of the Blog site!

As everyone knows, THE BLOG has been severely neglected. This is among the many things that have been neglected , and I have paid homage to David Letterman in the list below detailing what it is like to have 2 VERY active 20 month old boys.

Top Ten signs that you have 20 month old twins

10. The DVR is our best friend. It allows us to see what real people are watching. While helpful in keeping us up to date with our TV shows, it creates anxiety when we haven't been able to watch the American Idol results show until THE DAY AFTER. We have to quarentine ourselves from all forms of media until we can see who was kicked off !

9. We are, however, excited when the DVR picks up a new "Sesame Street". What is that crazy Elmo up to now?

8. We have discussed "Sesame Street" episodes in length. We have also had discussions with our friends regarding Bert and Ernie's sexuality ( grown men living in a one bedroom apartment- hmmmmm).

7. Buzz is a character from "Toy Story", not the feeling you get after 2 glasses of wine.

6. Normal household items have new names courtesy of Jackson and Alex. We ask each other if we have the "foona" which is a spoon and if we need any "wawwer" which is water.

5. We could write a dictionary based on toddler gibberish. "Collio n the car" Translates to "Are we going in the car?"

4. We have to spell words like "park" or "outside" because saying them out loud is a recipe for disaster. Temper tantrums ensue if you don't deliver on either of the above mentioned words.

3. We have to change our clothes after bathtime, since splashing has become the thing to do in the tub.

2. Cheddar bunnies and goldfish crackers are new food groups.

1. Having to do a cheer EVERY time the boys eat a morsel of food that you made for them. It's either that or have them use the food you made as a ball or a hat.

So as you can see, life has been hectic but so much fun.

A SUPER Halloween

Halloween this year was hands down, the best Jason and I have ever had. It was that way because the boys really enjoyed it for the first time, and we hosted a really fun and successful halloween party for our friends. We had a blast!

The Halloween weekend festivities began with me hosting the first "Teeny Weenie Halloween" party for the boys and their little friends. It also helps that I am friends with the mommies too! We all had a blast, the kids were showing off their costumes, eating my baby trail mix, and playing.

Our party was so much fun. Jason and I dressed as american tourists, and we had so much fun decorating our house and co hosting the party with Kim and Brian Boschee. It is now a annual event here.

A guide to the pics

Pic #1 is Courtney and Jason dressed as Tiger and Elin Woods. Tiger is caught texting his "women" in this action shot.

Pic #2 is Jason and I as the tourists....love the yard glasses hanging from our necks. Yes, people wear this....

Pic #3 is a picture of the Jr. League members that I am friends with. I am also a member of the Las Vegas Jr. League and it has been so rewarding.

Pic #4 is Carson Smith at the party with his Superwhy costume on. Courtney will appreciate seeing this pic since getting him to wear the costume was sooooo much fun for her (sarcasm).

Pic #5 is Samantha as a ballet dancer. She walks like Frankenstein right now so it was adorable to see this little bowlegged ballerina toddle all over our house. She is adorable!

Pic #6 is Scotty Boschee as a baby vampire and his saying is "i vant to bite a cheese stick". He was so cute in that outfit. He is also a member of the August '09 baby club. My boys were born on Aug 8th and he was born on Aug 18th. The are all very close.

Pic #7 is ALEX AS SPIDERMAN!!

Pic #8 is JACKSON AS SUPERMAN!!

The rest is self explanatory

We spent halloween together and our neighborhood here in Vegas through a little party for all the kids. They had pizza and water down the street outside for all the neighbors and it was great fun to meet all of our neighbors and their kids. We didn't realize how MANY kids were in this neighborhood. It is definitely made up of professionals in their mid 30's to mid 40's with kids ranging in age from 3 months to 18 years old. The boys had a blast running up and down the street and we chased them. They were a huge hit, as everyone thought they were adorable. Or maybe they just thought we were crazy.... I guess we will never know!

Halloween night arrived, we put our kids to bed and then proceeded to pass out 6 1/2 POUNDS of candy. There is not a scrap left. We had a million little dinosaurs, superheroes, princesses, animals, and sports figures. They were all so cute. It was fun talking to their parents too, who all live right here.

Hope everyone had a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween and we will see you all soon!

Life as WE know it

Dear Faithful Blog Readers,

I have been away and blah blah blah.....sorry. I can't even pee without two VERY loud boys protesting that I have left the room. Not fun.

So much has changed. The boys started walking, which soon turned into running and is now following mom EVERYWHERE. I now have two very curious monkeys hanging from my legs while I do everything. Who ever thought that cleaning dishes would be so interesting to 14 month olds when there is a room full of toys right there? Not only do they love the kitchen and everything that is in it, including the dishwasher, they love the laundry room too! Never have my dishes sparkled so much (they turn the knob to "on" when I am not looking). They also love to push the buttons on the washer and dryer. Fun never ends!

I could look at it two different ways....I could be ticked off that they are turning machines on and off, or I could just go with it...and maybe teach them how to load the dishwasher and wash the clothes. Eventually. A girl can dream, right?

They are learning to help, though. If I want them to bring me their sippy cups all I have to say is "Bring mommy your cups" and they come over with a HUGE grin and a look of accomplishment when the trade off is made. Of course, they get a kiss and hug and a "Thank you" from mommy.

Daddy has been traveling a lot for work, but he has contributed to this chaos by teaching the boys how to make the touchdown call with their arms. All we have to say is "touchdown" and 4 arms go up into the air, regardless of what they are doing. Sometimes, if dinner is being eaten, the touchdown call causes some food -to -hair issues, especially on mac and cheese night!

The boys have reached a new, screeching level with their separation anxiety. I can't even leave the room that they are in before they are instantly screaming or crying. Its flattering that they want to be with me so much they cry ( a fact that I will remind them of when they are 16 and hate me) but it is also very challenging. Going to the bathroom is met with hysterical sobs. There are days when I play "how much can my bladder hold until naptime". Its a fun game, it requires alot of hopping around. Thankfully the boys like to watch mommy hop and find it funny. Everyone wins!!!

Their vocabulary has expanded as well. They speak so much gibberish, mixed in with various words, that it sounds like a drunk frat boy.

Examples

"sheshiehsic blah ahhhhhh HOT lishhhhh TWO wwwwaaaaaa MOM phhhhhhsssss"

This goes on all day, they have many opinions. I feel like I am the moderator at a debate. GOOD POINT, BOYS...

Life is great, it is fun and ever changing. Hope all is well with everyone else!

Behind the LENS!! An expose...

Taking pics of children is a BIG job and I always admire anyone who does this for a living. Trust me MILLIONS of pictures have to be taken in order to get a few that look decent. It takes a village of people making funny faces, singing funny songs, and holding up stupid looking puppets. What you also don't see off camera is the many people ducking to get out of the shot in case one of the little buggers tries to make a break for it or face plant off the couch.

Here are some pics that should show what it was really like, as well as the good ones too!! Enjoy!!

The pics on top are the crazy ones, the pics on the bottom are the ones we finally got right!!!

P.S. Happy Fathers Day to all the dad's. Our boys have great role models to look up to.

Oh Happy Days!!!

We have just gotten back from 3 fun filled weeks in Vegas with family and friends. We got to spend time with my Aunt Joanie, Uncle Carl and Christine for her 21st birthday and then we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Palermo.

It was really nice to have my mom around for her birthday and both my parents to share mothers day with. It was my first official mothers day and now I felt that I was part of the club!!! We had a nice day, sitting outside by the pool.

We also spent time with friends while we were there too. Although, one of my best friends Courtney was missing in action (she was back in Chicago) we did get to spend time with her husband Jason who was home holding down the fort for his family.

The boys love the Vegas house. They LOVE swimming in the pool, sitting outside, and the room they have to "drive" around in their little cars. It was a fun and relaxing couple of weeks for all of us.

Updates on the boys- both sit up on their own. Alex is crawling, and Jackson is on all fours rocking and hopping. He also army crawls. They both love to laugh and do so often. They are good sleepers, good eaters and good boys!! Jackson has his top two teeth and bottom two teeth. Alex has his bottom two teeth and is getting one top tooth right now. There is alot of drool in the Bickler household right now!!

There are more good times to come as summer begins!!

Mommarazzi

I couldn't resist taking some pics of the boys this week. I got in their face like the paparazzi... they eventually got annoyed!!

Alex will crawl like any minute now, Jackson has four teeth. It is crazy how much they are growing up, and SOOOO fast too!! Every day is an adventure.

We are off to Vegas for a few weeks. I will try to update again while I am there.

Love to you all!!