8 Months Old

Alexis turned 8 months old yesterday! She is a busy girl. In the past month and a half, she has learned to sit up, pull herself to standing, and move to a sitting position by herself. She spends a lot of time doing the crawl-sit-examine sequence.

She also got her first tooth! And, unfortunately, her first ear infection. which turned into her second and third and fourth ear infection. She stopped sleeping through the night because of the pain, but it didn't slow here down during the day. She just kept playing like nothing was wrong.

Brayden and Makenzie even joined in on the fun. They have decided that baby toys are cool again and like to play with her.

And Lexi likes the big kid toys! She gets very excited whenever she jumps on the trampoline with her brother and sister!

The Pleaser, The Teaser and Caesar

They may be twins, but their personalities are as different as the color of their eyes.

Makenzie is the “Pleaser.” She wants nothing more than to make Mom and Dad happy. She does not like turmoil or chaos in her world—the sweet girl cries when Brayden pees on the carpet. We affectionately refer to her as “The Hall Monitor” because she is constantly telling us what her mischievous brother is up to: dumping shampoo on the floor, flushing an entire box of Kleenex down the toilet, hitting her in the face with a book, etc. This is not to say that she is perfect, by any means. But when she does something she knows she shouldn’t be doing, she gives herself away by frequently peeking around the corner checking on our whereabouts.

Brayden, on the other hand, is our own miniature “Caesar.” He seems to think that he is the emperor of the Rhodes’ Kingdom. He is a dictator; everything has to be on his terms. There are constant power struggles between Brayden and the true rulers of the kingdom, his parents. And the boy likes to start wars. For example, one day when I stepped away from the lunch table to tend to Lexi, he opened up his PBJ, smeared peanut butter all over his hands, grabbed his twin sister’s hair and started smearing and pulling.

Some days they play together so cute. On others, all they do is fight and I wonder if they really love each other. Just yesterday, Brayden wanted to hold hands with Makenzie as we were walking into the library, but she refused. (Very loudly, I might add.) I can’t remember why she was mad at him. Maybe it was because he got to use the green spoon at breakfast. Or maybe she was still holding a grudge because he put her beloved stuffed elephant, Ellie, in the sink the day before and got her all wet. All I know is that it made me sad.

And then, someone like Sasha comes along and restores my faith in their twinship bond. Sasha was the “Teaser” who sat next to Brayden at Story Time. For some reason, this little girl was enamored/obsessed with my little boy. She kept looking at him with her big, doe eyes and touching his arm, much to his dismay. He would pull away and whi-i-i-ine. That made her mad! So then she started hitting his arm instead. Her mother took her aside and talked to her, but as soon as Sasha sat back down she started touching him again. At that moment, Makenzie put her arm around Brayden from the other side, pulled him closer and gave him a kiss on the cheek. My mommy heart grew three sizes right then and there.

The rest of the afternoon the twins had so much fun playing together. And I was a happy "Ole Geezer."

Hiking Adventures

"Of all the paths you take in life,

may some of them be dirt."

As many of you may remember, that is our family motto. Although we haven't been able to do as much hiking as we would have liked this year, we still managed to get in quite a few despite a new baby and Andy's hectic summer schedule. The twins get sooo excited whenever we tell them we are going hiking. How many three-year-olds do you know that have their own trekking poles? Their little legs will carry them about two miles (with allotted breaks for snacks, throwing rocks in water, juice, and throwing more rocks in water). We started hiking in May with a couple of easy hikes in the Ogden foothills.

In June we hiked the Indian Trail with cousins from Colorado.

In July, we went with Grandma and Grandpa Rhodes to Snowbasin where we rode the tram and hiked to a ridge with spectacular views.

While camping at Ledgefork in August, we went on a short jaunt up one of our favorite trails.

Brayden found this rock and carried it for about a mile. When we got back to camp I asked him what he was going to do with it. His reply? "Throw it in the water." We also braved a longer hike (about 6.5 miles) to Lake Ibantic in the Uintas with Uncle Brad and Grandma Rhodes.

This chipmunk REALLY enjoyed the Rice Krispie Treat that Brayden dropped.

Have I mentioned that the twins LOVE throwing rocks in water?

I hope that we can get a few more hikes in during September. There is nothing better than the crisp Autumn air and the crunch of a fallen leaf underfoot!

Pictures!

Twins 3rd Birthday

It was a fiesta-filled weekend for the twins! The celebration started Friday night with a pizza party.

After dinner we played "Stick the Badge on Diego." The twins were excited to play, but quickly lost their enthusiasm when they were blindfolded.

The adults were good sports and still played even though the twins wouldn't.

Time for cake! I made a Backpack cake for Makenzie and Brayden got Map. Not the most beautiful things, but they jumped and cheered when they saw them.

They must've thought it tasted pretty good, because they each had THREE slices. One for each year I guess.Random birthday hugs!Next it was time for presents. They were spoiled by everyone! Here they are on the wiggle cars that Grandma and Grandpa Mildon gave them. They also got little laptops, Dora & Diego DVDs, the movie Cars (one of their faves!) a Toy Story Memory game, Tonka trucks, Fisher Price stamp and doodle thingees, a cash register, and some sandbox toys. It was 10 o'clock before they went to sleep. (Maybe three pieces of cake wasn't such a good idea.) They were still up bright and early Saturday morning, however, and ready to celebrate some more. We let them have cake for breakfast. Then they got to open their presents from us. Andy and I gave them a soccer goal and a t-ball stand.

Then we went outside and played with all the new toys.

Cousin Levi even came over and played for a little while before they left to go back to Texas.

After that we went to lunch at Arby's and headed to S & S Shortine Railroad in Farmington. It is a little hole-in-the-wall place in the middle of suburbia. The twins had a great time!

Little Miss Alexis got to go on a train ride too!

When we got home, everyone was ready for a nap. . .especially Mommy!