Twins at 21 months

Even though the annoy each other sometimes, they still love each other...



October 2011

Wow, what a busy month!  Its been a while since the last post, so we have a lot of pictures to share.

At the beginning of October, we went to visit the pumpkin patch.  We went last year and it was cold and wet.  This year was perfect weather, and the kids had a blast!

Thats a small pumpkin!

Chillin' in the cart

This is fun!

A kiss...

Do you see it grandpa?

Look at all these big pumpkins!

Pull us dad, we're getting tired.

See the horsey?!

Havin' fun with our cousin Amelia.

We even tried to play in the leaves.  After all, it IS fall!  Unfortunately, they were a little freaked out...

We don't like the leaves!

We even got them scary pjs!  They glow in the dark, which is so funny to see them running around.



Our skeleton pjs

Scary!

There was even a lot of late nights watching the Cardinals win it all!  Way to go David Freese!

Go Cardinals!  11 in '11

It was also our neice, Abigail's first birthday. You can see she loved the cake!

Face full of cake!

Halloween was even more fun!  Heather had the best idea for their costumes.  It took the kids a while to understand the whole treak-or-treating thing.  Kennedy kept trying to put the candy back into the bowls as the neighbors were trying to place the candy into their baskets.  After a while, they got the hang of it and loved it!

Jelly...

Peanut butter...

Sandwich!

I'm ready!

Me too!

Happy Halloween!

Squeaky Shoes and 18 months old

Mom bought the babies some squeaky shoes.  Do you know what quiet sounds like?  We don't remember...

Oh yeah, the babies turned 18 months old last week.  Can you believe it?  They are getting so big and are catching up on their growth charts.  They are in the 40% range for height but less than 10% on weight.  They must have their daddy's metabolism ;)   Here are some pics of them playing in their new booster seats.

Dancin'

The babies love dancing to the music.  We've put together a short video with their favorite song.  It's on tv a lot in the mornings when we are getting ready for the day.



Our Visit With Jill and Kinley (A much overdue blog post!)

Once a year we head to the airport to pick up Aunt Jilly for her Annual St. Louis Trip to the Horstmann's.  It's a huge event for us ;)  This year (in July), Jill brought Kinley Rae with her!  Kinley will be 1 year in a week or so, it's great that they're all pretty close in age.  Kennedy and Graham were SO excited to have a friend to play with! 

our sweet little ones sharing a snack, literally.  Everyone drank each others juice and ate each other's goldfish.  It's all in the family, right? 

Graham and Kinley taking time to pose for the camera. 

Three of my favorite girls- Kinley, Jilly and Kennedy!

The first night they all needed a bath, so into the tub they went.  It was like they've done it every night of their lives.  Aunt Jilly and Aunt Heather had so much fun playing in the suds with these cuties!

We take a time-out from our regularly scheduled program... the Friday night that Jill and Kinley were visiting, Tim took K and G to a family wedding.  Kennedy is showing off her sassy outfit!  She looks ready to salsa :)

Graham looks as handsome as ever.  I think he's saying "Oh Dad, let's get this over with"

Saturday the girls all went out shopping- we hit our old stomping ground, Chesterfield Mall and shopped 'til we dropped. (I stole this picture from Jill's blog- thanks girl!) We had the girls dressed in matching pillowcase dresses. They were so cute! All day long, we were asked if they were twins. We finally just told people they were cousins. I mean, they might as well be!

 

The last night Jill and Kinley were in town the little ones had a great time playing together and sharing Puffs, a favorite bedtime snack. 

Kinley and Aunt Jilly being silly girls.  They made us laugh all weekend, and we had so much fun!  We already can't wait until next year!  Love you, girls!

Our First Cardinal Game

It's been a long time coming, we finally got to go to our first Cardinals game!  We got the kids dressed up in their Cards shirts, loaded up our bags with juice and Cracker Jacks (okay, well grapes and goldfish) and headed for the ballpark.  Graham and Kennedy were so excited!  They were a little more enthralled with all the stuff going on around them than the game, but it's a start :)  Maybe next time we'll try some cotton candy and nachos! 

I'm ready for the game to start!

Sitting with mommy

Go Pujols!

When can we get some cotton candy?

What a great day.  Go Cards!

Our first trip to the zoo

Last Tuesday, Tim took the day off so we all could go to the zoo for the first time.  Of course, we picked the hottest day of the week where temperatures were forecasted to be over 100.  We were there when it opened at 8, so it wasn't very crowded at all.  The petting zoo and carousel were free until 9, which was another bonus. 

The kids loved it!  They were watching all the animals and pointing and laughing. 

We'll add pictures later.  Kennedy didn't care for the penguin house too much, so we rushed through it.  We think their favorite part was seeing the JoJo's (translation: giraffes).  We can't wait to go back again next year and see more animals! 

At the playground with friends

When Graham and Kennedy were born, many of our friends were having babies also.  Last weekened we got together with a few of Tim's friends from college (Rolla).  We all met at a playground for the kids to run around.  Then, when it got too hot, we all headed over to Red Robin for some dinner.  They were very accomodating, considering there were 10 adults and 6 kids under the age of two.

The oldest "baby" is two, and the youngest just turned a year, with a few more babies on the way!

We had a great time with everyone- the kids all had fun playing and being silly, and the adults all loved catching up with each other.  It was decided all the kids are going to Rolla, and maybe we'll make a few matches ;)  We'll have to plan another get-together when everyone is headed back to St. Louis!



In the pool

The babies love the pool, much better than bath time.

Child proof locks?

No match for this 15 month old...

Fathers Day and New pics

What a fantastic day!  Tim came home from a week-long business trip to India, it was Father's Day, and we had family pictures... Tim was just in time to join us for a few shots. 

Kennedy poses for her picture!

the Horstmann men with their babies :)  Three generations!  What a cool pic for Father's day! 

(by the way, Kennedy is imitating her Aunt Lucy, who is doing jumping jacks)

cousin Abby is trying to love on Graham!

Pretty girl, Kennedy

the Horstmann cousins!

Graham in a calm moment

What sweet babies!  Well, not really babies anymore...they're 15 months old!

Thank you Aunt Lucy for coming to St. Louis to do the family pictures, they turned out fantastic!  

Estes Park Video

Here's a very short video of our trip.



Our vacation to Estes Park

The day that school let out for the summer, we left to drive out to Estes Park, Colorado.  Heather had been with her parents and the babies last July, and they all loved it so much we decided to all go back this year!  Tim was worried about the drive out there, but Kennedy and Graham were fantastic!  (we did have a little help from Mickey Mouse and his friends... Hot Dog!)

Our first full day out there- Sunday- Tim and Grandpa Don went to Coors Field in Denver to watch the Cardinals beat the Rockies.  Woohoo!  The weather was fantastic, and it was neat to see the Cards play in a different stadium. 

Monday the weather was a lot cooler.  We all drove up into Rocky Mountain National Park, and the views were breath-taking.  Well, so was the wind actually.  It was COLD, and SNOWING in the mountains!  We still got out of the car for a few photo ops...

Mommy and Kennedy smiling for the camera :)

we're ready to go rock climbing!

Tim looking out on a valley.  You can see in the background the mountains look like they're covered in fog- that is actually snow!  Even though the day was clear, we were still getting some snow blow where we were standing!  Cold, but gorgeous!  Below Tim, there were a TON of elk grazing in the valley. 



One of the days, Tim and Heather got to go to the infamous Stanely Hotel.  Does that ring a bell?  F.O. Stanley, known for his part in designing the Stanley Steam car, built this "little guest house" for his wife.  Now it is a hotel, that is said to be haunted!  We took a ghost tour, and learned a lot about the Stanleys, the property, and the ghosts that haunt the hotel. Steven King stayed in room 217 and had experiences that inspired the Shining.  Very cool- we want to go back and do a night ghost adventure :)

We rented these very cool kiddie backpacks and were able to hike with the kids on our backs.  Tim and Graham got ready to hike around Bear Lake in the National Park...

Grandpa Don got to hike with Kennedy-

well, at least that was the plan until we walked to the lake only to discover it was covered in ice and snow!  The rangers we met along our hike told us there was about 5 feet of snow on top of the lake!  (by the way, the picture Heather took was across the lake- all that snow is on top of the water!)  So we ended up hiking over snow around part of the lake, and then we turned around to go back to the warm car! 

Doesn't that just make you want to make some snowmen?  ;)

We just wore Graham right out! 

Then next day we decided to try again, and went to Lily Lake, which was at a  lower elevation (no snow).  The kids really enjoyed it.  Actually, we all did!

Mommy got to hike with Graham this time :)  He was a great companion!

When we got back to the cabin  from our hike, we really needed a nap.  Graham was game, Kennedy... not so much

We enjoyed the hike so much we decided to go back and try it again, this time hiking up a trail carved into the hillside.  It was amazing!  We hiked the trails around Lily Lake, then went across the highway to attempt the hike up Twin Peaks Trail.  We got about half way up before we hit a lot of snow on the switchbacks (trail) and decided that was enough for the day.  We can't wait to go back again and make it all the way to the top! 

Our vacation was also the babies first experience in a pool!  Isn't Kennedy precious in her little bikini?  Love this picture, she looks like such a diva-girl! 

Here's Graham, monkeying around!

They really loved being in the water- as long as Mommy and Daddy were holding them :)  Look at Kennedy's face- she's having a BLAST!  This is one of my favorite pictures. 



We really did have a fantastic time, just the right combination of relaxation and adventure.  It was a great way to start off the summer!