I turn around for one second. . . .

Over the long weekend I gave the babies their dinner (stuffed bell peppers and green beans) and then loaded the dishwasher. When I turned back around, Henry looked very, very different than he had the last time I saw him. I still don't know how he managed to get this messy. . . .

Memorial Day . . . The Zoo . . . Pics with New Camera. . . .

Today, for Memorial Day, Nana and Papa drove down and we went to the zoo. We had a great time and really enjoyed the brief break in rain. The babies had a great time, and at some point wore themselves out and napped in the strollers.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to learn how to use my new camera and taking a few pictures here and there (mostly of the kids eating for some reason), but today I decided to just shoot some pictures at the zoo. I really love the camera and it feels quite comfortable, I just don't know how to use even a fraction of the settings it has yet. For today, I didn't use my separate flash and just used the automatic settings. I really am pleased (and a little surprised) with the quality of the photos, and I'm sure that once I really start learning how to use all the special settings that my photos will improve even more. Not all of the posts on the blog will be with the new camera just because sometimes the new camera is too bulky to carry along and sometimes when I'm trying to take a quick photo I just have to grab whatever is there! Anyway, enjoy, and I'm interested to see if you can tell the difference in cameras. . . .

Babies with Flying Knives and Spatulas

Today for lunch we took the babies to Sumo, a Japanese steakhouse not far from where we live. Again, the babies surprised us with how well they behaved. And they LOVED the food! The babies split an adult order of fillet mignon (well done, of course) and chicken, and there was no food left for us to take home.

Rosemary in particular loved the rice. She is our very neat and precise eater. She usually doesn't even need a bib and barely needs to be cleaned up after she eats. She will very carefully pick up her food and put it in her mouth. Then she carefully chews her food before she even considers putting another bite in her mouth. Well, this all changed as soon as she tasted the rice. Her first bite was her usual method -- and as soon as she got that first taste, she started two-fisting the rice and shoveling it in her mouth as fast as possible. She gave everyone at our table quite a laugh. . . .

The first picture is the babies watching the obligatory volcano. . . . The rest are just various snapshots from the lunch.

Who Needs a Playroom Full of Toys. . . .

. . . when you have a basket of bibs . . .



. . . and a container of wipes.




I am told that Piper is the one who pulled all the wipes out. But look at that grin on Henry's face!! I think he must have had something to do with it.

Gary's Birthday

Gary told me that the babies stole his American Express card to buy my Mother's Day presents. Well, that's not all they bought while they were out shopping! This past Thursday was Gary's birthday and he was really surprised when he saw that the babies had gifts for him. . . .









And, it looks like Piper did a little shopping for herself while they were out. . . . A baby can never have too many swimsuits!

They're Like Mikey. . . .

When we decided to make our own baby food, one reason was that it was supposed to make the transition to table food easier and hopefully prevent picky eaters. Well, I don't know if it was the homemade baby food or if we just have good eaters, but we are totally on table food now at just 10.5 months. The babies refuse anything pureed, and they refuse anything we serve them on a spoon. It must be food that they can feed themselves. For breakfast, the babies have cheesy scrambled egg yolks, served with sausage, avocados, bananas, or whatever else we have around. For lunch, they have sandwiches, fish fillets, etc. with fruit or whole grain goldfish, or whatever else is around. Then for dinner, the babies eat whatever we eat, before it is salted.

I can't help but to be amazed when the babies eat what we eat for dinner. There is almost nothing that they refuse to eat, and so far meatloaf appears to be their favorite meal. Here are some pictures of the babies eating salsa chicken over the weekend:






And just in case it wasn't clear that Piper is the messiest of the babies, here she is right before her bath:

Mexican Food . . . At a Restaurant!

Before we had the babies, Gary and I ate a lot of Mexican food. Our favorite restaurant is Amigo's Mexican Restaurant, which is not far from where we live. I remember eating there when I was about 17 weeks pregnant, and then again after we had the babies but before they came home from the hospital. On Sunday, Auntie Ann came over and we headed out to Amigo's again -- with the babies!

While we had chips, salsa, and queso, the babies started out their dinner with some flour tortillas.





For their main course, the babies had two cheese quesadillas. I had thought that surely two cheese quesadillas would be enough for three 10.5 month olds -- but we actually ran out! Next time we'll definitely have to get at least three quesadillas. Anyway, the babies LOVED their quesadillas. Piper enjoyed her quesadillas, but when she ran out of quesadillas, she not so politely slammed her hand down on her placemat until we gave her more. Henry ate slowly and savored every bite. But I think Rosemary loved the food the most. She smiled and ate and ate and ate, and then smiled some more. I don't think I've ever seen her eat that much. When I picked her up to leave, her little tummy was tight as a drum.







We were lucky to have our favorite waitress, and Rosemary liked her as much as Gary and I do. Rosemary couldn't take her eyes off of her whenever she was near.



Henry loved the food so much that he was actually eating his placemat once the quesadilla were gone. . . .



It was a great trip and a great time. The babies behaved perfectly, and we had a blast. We are definitely going to be heading out to Amigo's again soon.