Expanding the Band

Dash joined in with the "music" making. :)

Beating the Heat

The temperatures were around 100 this weekend, but Matthew, James, and Dash found some fun ways to beat the heat!

Tin Monkeys

The boys like to "make music" in the tub by banging their bowls together -- loudly!

James went back for another session of feeding therapy today, where she reminded us to go with purees and to keep up the reinforcement (fun stuff only happens if he's eating). He weighed in at 26 lbs, 4 oz, and was 88.5 cm tall. (These have him skating at or just below the bottom of the growth charts.)

Haircuts

 The boys got haircuts while I was gone!  (Matthew is smiling even though she didn't bring the orange comb this time.)

Also, before I left, we ran into the home health nurse who used to come do checkups (blood pressure and weight) on the boys when they first came home.  (She and her mother were at the grocery store at the same time as we were.)  It was really nice to see her again, and she was delighted to see how well the boys were doing and how big they've gotten!

Catching Up

 Grandpa was here for a quick visit right before we left for South Dakota -- here are a couple photos!

Home Again, Home Again

I'm back home after a long day of travel yesterday! Amsterdam was rainy and cool, so I'm extra happy for such nice weather on Saturday. (Even with the nice weather there, the heat and humidity of NC was a bit of a shock when I first stepped out of the airport!)

Mike and the boys came to pick me up -- it was so nice to be greeted with big hugs! And the boys were thrilled to go to the airport because they got to ride up and down the escalators and elevators by the baggage claim. :)

Saturday in Amsterdam

The conference ended yesterday, so I had a nice day of walking around Amsterdam today. The hotel is near the Flower Market, so I'd walked by that several times, but they seem to bring out nicer flowers for the weekend! I also stopped in a cheese shop which had samples of cheese and mustard -- yum!

I wandered around an outdoor market (Waterlooplein) which had everything from gas masks to clothes to hats to voodoo dolls. After that, I considered going a a museum, but my feet were getting tired, so I took a canal boat ride instead. And then for dinner a colleague and I went out for yummy Indonesian food (the "rice table").

So, all in all, a lovely day!  I'm looking forward to getting back home to the boys tomorrow.  

Happy Birthday grandma Barr !

The boys wanted to sing Happy Birthday to you.  Matthew appears to have forgotten the words about halfway through the song.

Pool Time!

Yesterday and today were really hot and humid.  And N's 2 kids are home from college, so they offered to bring James and Matthew over to the pool at their apartment complex.  The clouds rolled in shortly after we arrived, but that didn't stop the twins (and the girls) from enjoying the water.

Amsterdam Evening

I spent most of the day today in conference rooms, which was intellectually stimulating but not photogenic. :) My talk was the first one of the conference, which was a pleasure because now I can relax and just enjoy listening to others' presentations.

Traveling Mommy

I'm in Amsterdam for a few days for a conference while Mike holds down the fort at home. 

Matthew would love it here -- Holland's team color is orange, and there's lots of orange soccer gear around!  And there are sometimes people making tiny waffles on the street.  :)

Father's Day

 Mike and his boys!

Roy Lake

We only had time for a brief stop at Roy Lake, but the boys loved it! It was a nice warm afternoon, and the water was cool but not too cold. There was plenty of room for wading and splashing!