instalife.

Here are some picture of our life in the last week as captured by Instagram.

(and at the request of a grandma, more labels of what is happening!)

cole in his bear jacket before going to school.

nana was in town for thanksgiving....that means riding all the money-sucking quarters-required rides at the sonic playground!

girls' first time to both sit in the seat of the shopping cart at the grocery store.  

this means the first time i have not worn a baby in the baby bjorn while grocery shopping in months!

elise and nana.

nana took us to our favorite breakfast place, cafe cappuccino! 

(that is actually a smile he is giving me if you can't tell)

loving the cold day that we had.  that's right, it lasted just one day.  

cole giving clara hugs.

in dillards getting nana new boots and these two got tired of shopping....

fortunately they found themselves stunning in the mirror and were entertained for another 10 minutes. 

this boy loves his pancakes, just like his mama.

making thanksgiving place cards with nana and aunt jenna.  

we made 23 turkey place cards! 

clara bug and little bit.

reading with my loves. 

clara watching the trash truck.  

my kids love the trash truck.

pile up on daddy.

brother colored on elise's face.  at least it was pink!

little bit trying to climb into my lap.  

she had been put down for approximately 2.3 seconds.  

i am a mean mama.

cole chose to spend the money he took from us his money from his wallet and buy a baylor cookie at the farmer's market.  at least he shared with us!

i will update with thanksgiving photos soon!  

9 months.

the girls turned 9 months old last week.  

i remember thinking that by nine months, things will be easier with the girls.  

 things are not going as planned. 

 while there are some aspects that are definitely easier, they still wear us out!
they are not sleeping through the night yet and i feed them around 4 am.  they have yet to be able to consistently find their pacifiers in their crib during the night which results in me having to put them back in their mouths usually several times.  each.

and they still want mama.
all.the.time.

 but since they are now very mobile, they are more content to play with their toys, play with brother (at their own risk) and play with each other.  

they love their brother's toys and books and drive him slightly crazy wanting to play with whatever he has.  something tells me it will be like this for a while.

but we love how their personalities are coming out more and more.  

clara is still more stubborn but adjusts to strangers better and is more content to sit and play.

elise is always on the go and is a more sensitive soul.  

 stats:

clara beth weighs in at 16 lb 3 oz which is in the 8th percentile and 26 3/4 inches in length, which is 20th percentile.

elise weighs in at 14 lb 3 oz which is still in the 1st percentile and is 26 inches, in the 4th percentile.   

clara has really gained in the last month and i think she gained more than elise because is always crawling and on the go.  i think little bit just burned more calories!  

they still only are saying mama and dada.

elise has no teeth but i expect them to come through any time. 

clara cut her first tooth last week.  

teething has been miserable with these girls!

we are also just now getting into more solid food. 

with no teeth and their aversion to new textures, we have been slow to a lot of foods.

i don't care.

they are growing well, eating solids they like with gusto and i got tired of having cheese and banana bits spit back out at me with force.  

times two.  

and besides, they are still nursing 6 times a day.  

yep, 6 times. 

but that is changing as of tomorrow.  i am going to drop down to 5 so hopefully that will go well for all of us.  

i would love to drop their 4 am feeding but it doesn't look like it is time for that yet.  

bummer.

but overall they are happy girls who love their brother, the dogs, taking baths, blankies, pacifiers, oatmeal, mangoes, apples, toy cars, and mickey mouse!

whats cookin.

i have been doing a lot of cooking this fall.  

i thought that i would share some of the yummy recipes.

all of these are really easy too, which is a must for me these days.

stuffed peppers and zucchini  

this was really good and we made it with ground beef instead of turkey because that is what i had on hand.  we will definitely make this again soon!

artichoke chicken

  this was pretty good.  i think i would increase the cheese and decrease the mayo a little. 

chicken nuggets

these were really good and all of us ate them up.  cole loves chicken tenders and i like that these are way healthier than what we can get if we go out somewhere.

crock pot beef stew

this was also really good and i liked how the biscuits baked right on top.

Pesto Salmon

this was so good!  it is my new favorite way to cook salmon and even cole ate it up!

mini mexican pizza

a great, kid-friendly and adult friendly mexican twist.  we all loved this and will make this a regular meal.  

crescent chicken

pretty good.  i typically don't use cream of chicken soups (or cream of anything if i can help it) but this looked good and easy.  we liked it and it would be a great meal to take to other people.  

i also have been making a ton of pumpkin recipes for the fall because i am obsessed with pumpkin!!!!

(the girls love pumpkin too and have been getting in their cereal a lot!)

pumpkin cream cheese muffins

these were pretty good.  we think that the cream cheese center needed to be a little sweeter.  

pumpkin creamer

this was also really good but kind of a lot of work for coffee creamer. i'm sure i will make it more in the future when i have more time.  

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

these were SO good!  brenner and i basically ate the whole dozen in 48 hours.  i tweaked the recipe and used half while wheat flour and splenda for baking instead of sugar to make it healthier and they were delicious!

pumpkin butter
i made this to give to cole's teachers at school.
(i really just wanted to try this recipe so i made up a reason to make it!)
it is just like apple butter, but a pumpkin version.
great description, right?
but it is good and so easy and will now by one of my go-to gifts for people during the fall and christmas seasons.

pumpkin chili
sorry no recipe to link to for this one since i got this recipe out of a magazine but it was really good!
i mean, who would have thought of adding pumpkin to chili?
i was slightly nervous to see what brenner would think of it (so i didn't tell him what i was making in advance) but when he walked in the kitchen i while i was making it he said, wow that smells amazing!
and it really was good.  it had a little mexican spin on it.
intrigued?  let me know if you want the recipe and i will email it to you.

easy pumpkin muffins
the easiest pumpkin muffin recipe ever???
one box of spice cake mix plus one can of pumpkin.  mix and bake according to cake box directions.
so easy.  so good.
i will be whipping up a batch of these next week when the family invades waco for thanksgiving.

i told you i am obsessed with pumpkin.

i feel blessed to be able to cook for my family each night and am fortunate i have a husband who likes to try new things and is patient when i became slightly obsessed with large orange squashes.
i am also grateful for the awesomeness that is pinterest.

Other news.

brenner got home tonight after being gone for 8 days for air force and a quick trip to oklahoma. we are glad to have him back but we had plenty of fun things to do while he was gone. we went to 3 birthday parties, one was at jump n' place, one was at a gymnastics place and one was pirate themed. so fun! 

 we had dinner several nights with friends, one of which was at Jason's deli which was wild and crazy with my cranky crew. 

 we had a house showing one morning so the girls and I went to target to sit in the eatery so I could feed then their breakfast. that was interesting as everybody who came through stopped to see us and talk to us. I must say they were adorable talking and laughing while eating their cereal with food all over their faces! twins cause quite a stir! 

the girls also tried puffs for the first time, which they like....and cole was very helpful trying to shove puffs in their mouths.  

 anyways, brenner got home just in time to celebrate his birthday tomorrow! 

 and just in time to fold all the laundry that i let pile up while he was gone....

daddy time.

almost nothing warms my heart more than seeing brenner spend time with the kids.  

he goes out of his way each and every day to spend time with them, playing, eating meals together, reading and just sitting with each of the kids.  

i am so grateful to have a husband that rearranges his life in order to spend time with his family!

every night he reads to cole a couple stories from the bible.  

right now, the favorite is david and goliath.

(you can see cole holding onto his new sword and shield from aunt jenna and uncle adam while reading about goliath)

flying baby!  

we have pictures of brenner's dad doing this with him around this age.  

elise was all smiles!!!

clara was actually laughing so hard that brenner could not even get her to stand up, she was buckling her knees so much!

daddy and his silly boy.  

he wanted a self portrait while wearing his underwear (clean!) on his head. 

you know how some days you sit back and just take in all the amazing blessings that god has given you and then you get on your knees and thank him a thousand times for them?  

today is one of those days!

8 months.

the girls are 8 months old.  

actually, they were 8 months old as of 3 weeks ago but i just got around to taking their photos.

hey, at least i got them.    

 and now for the outtakes....it is getting harder and harder to take their picture together!

 tto.....tummy ticking out.  

(a walton saying!)

i love my little angels!!!  

they are both crawling (elise has been for about 3 weeks and clara just started 2 days ago) and they are talking lots 

(i wonder where they get that from????)

they are happy girls and much happier now that they can get their own toys and follow their brother around.  

oh yeah, and follow their mother everywhere and try to climb up her legs so that she can no longer hide from them in the other room.  

but they are a joy and getting cuter everyday, ifidosaysomyself.

bu homecoming.

this weekend was baylor homecoming and while we didn't partake in all the activities due to the 3 little people, we did go to the parade and tailgated a little. and the best part of the weekend was hanging out with great friends!