waking up happy... finally!

A typical morning, formerly

Bethany: Yay, morning! I greet you with giggles and babbles and smiles!

Isaac: I am going to open this mouth and will not close it or stop screaming until you insert food! Wah!

And now...

Thanks, B, for teaching your brother the ropes. Oh man, it's the best.

how to photograph 8 1/2 month-old twins in 10 easy steps

Step 1: pick location

Step 2: place one baby in location

Step 3: place other baby in location

Step 4: grab camera

Step 5: put down camera, grab moving baby(ies)

Step 6: repeat Steps 2-5

Step 7: repeat Step 6, repeatedly

Step 8: get help

Step 9: give up and just start shooting

Step 10: laugh

The story: today we wanted to get a quick shot of the kids in these cute sweaters they received as a gift. What ensued is pretty typical. For every decent photograph there are about 20 like this.

bryant park babies

Over Labor Day weekend Isaac & Bethany entertained some friends from out of town (hey, we're well aware of who it is people come to see now). One day while our friends shopped in midtown, the babies & I escaped to Bryant Park. I used to work just a couple blocks away from the park and had forgotten how much I love it there. It was fun to see my little buddies get excited about it too.

First thing's first: lunch by the Carousel.

I love that they're learning to feed themselves! One step closer to their independence/my freedom...

Nice people stopped by to say hi to the twins and offered to take our picture. Actually, 3 different groups of random people came to see the babies up close. Thanks, nice people.

Okay, so it's not ALL smiles ALL the time. Did you really think that?? Don't be silly!

Penny love!

The obligatory "I've been to Times Square" shot (since we had to walk through there anyway).

The kids are already over it. Such New Yorkers.

still figuring this out

I'm pretty new to blogging, but that's a lame excuse for not proof-reading all that well. In some earlier posts I had done a couple collages and then copied them in, not realizing until now that it totally doesn't work that way (but it should!). So, I'm throwing them in now. Because I love them. Booyah.

Celebrating August Dixon birthdays in Utah.

Flying to Californ-i-YAY!

(Yesss, fixed it. I know, this doesn't change the fact that I'm a nerd.)

Lees squeeze.

Also, if you have any Picasa or picture-posting or blogging tips that you think I could use (aka you've noticed I do it the hard or wrong way) I would love to hear them.

Is it just me or is Blogger a little clunky? ("Just me" can be the answer, I don't mind...)

fashion's night out: proof that i do other things too

...as in, things other than take pictures of my babies, and then look at them, and comment on them, and then force you to look at them, and comment on them. But oh, you've been such good sports about it! Thanks for playing along.

My so-much-better-at-blogging (and everything else especially having amazing hair) friend Abbie wrapped it up so nicely, right here. Fashion's Night Out, while I know absolutely nothing about fashion, just seemed like a fun New Yorky thing to do. What do you know, I was right! It was also the most unexpected, random string of events, and just a really great night with friends.

entertained and - most importantly - contained

You know, I never thought that at 8 months post-birth we'd still have the main number one goal that we had 8 months pre-birth: don't die. (Ah, I wish I were kidding.) These days my little monkeys are over and under everything, exploring every corner of our teensy apartment. When I'm lucky, the kids combine containment with entertainment. And what do I do with my free hands? Grab the camera!

basket babies!

Exersaucers! Completely worth the cost in real estate.

(Yep, that's a good 1/3 of our front room.)

Babies can't be contained when Daddy gets home!

Is Jared wearing an ascot? No, the tie's just tucked in, but that would be awesome if he was. :)

Happy weekend!

caliFUNia

Haha, does that title even work? Maybe not as well as UTAHwesome (kinda proud of that one-- Marissa's right, we need to make t-shirts), but anyway we did also hit up California in August. And it was fun.

Here are some of the highlights, and while (if) you read you can listen to the song that gets in my head when I think about good times in Cali.

Flight #2

...As in, our second flight with children. I'd like to say we're getting good at this. I really would.

I think we've just lucked out and our kids handled flying well. I have learned a few tricks, though, mostly from asking friends and reading advice online, and a bit from our (now 3) flights worth of experience. Perhaps another post for another time... (BTW, don't you love how as soon as I barely survive something I think I'm the expert?)

Massive amounts of family time

Two very lucky greatgrandtwins got to meet two wonderful greatgrandmothers! I mean seriously, greatgrandmothers-- how cool is that? It was really special seeing both of Jared's grandmas in CA and introducing them to not even their newest greatgrandbabies-- a few more have since been born in both the Taylor and Lee families.

With Greatgrandma Dot & cousin Jennifer

Wait, which two are twins?

The only time Scotty cried the entire week! I'm sure it was nothing personal.

Betcha didn't know (although you probably figured it out from the photos above) that the babies have a triplet... Scotty was born just a month before Isaac & Bethany. If you count his sister Anna who's not even a year and a half older, we've got some Irish quads here. We moms had fun playing twinsies dress-up and the kids loved swimming as much as possible!

Favorite!

Anna turns 2! Aren't these the cutest mom and babies ever? We love them.

Getting as much pool time as we possibly can.

The babies got squeezed (or is it squozen, haha) by their Grandma & Grandpa Lee yet again. This is the 4th time they've met, and we love that they've been spoiled with so much grandparent time, considering they live on opposite coasts.

The DSC

A couple of Jared's days were spent at the annual Desert Soul Classic. My brothers, cousin, husband and two friends invented this mancation and have done it for the past 5 or 6 years. It's usually in Palm Springs, but they've also done Vegas-- it really doesn't matter as long as it's somewhere that's too insanely hot for any rational people to play golf so they can get good deals and fit in as many holes as possible. It's 100% insane.

So, while they're gone, the girls get together for our very own DSC-- the Deserted Souls Classic. Usually it involves dining out and mani/pedis, but with all the baby-having that's been going around this year, we just relaxed and let our babies roll around on the floor at my aunt's place in Irvine.

Dixon cousin babies (and future babies) of 2010

BFFs: the next generation

Kids, no need to worry about making friends or finding soul mates. We've covered that for you. In CA we got to introduce a few.

Cameron's mom has been my BFFAEAE since before forever and ever (FAE?). We wore the heart necklace and all. I love that we get to see her every time we're in Southern Cal, and last October Jared & I got to hold a just-weeks-old teeny little Cameron girl, with my two still in the womb (I like to pronounce the "b" when I say womb, otherwise it's just too weird of a word). I'll never forget that. It's been awesome going through yet another adventure together.

I could write a bazillion amazing things about the Kakitas. They're basically our models for how to do everything-- their boy/girl twins are 2 years older than ours, and not only have they given us a buuuunch of their stuff, but also lent their wisdom from experience. And, no exaggeration, they throw us a party with my old work friends every time we come into town. We're so not worthy! I didn't get enough pictures of everyone that night, but here are our 4 adorable kids!

Double double

California say that you love me! (You can listen again if you need to. I did.)