Ditch Digging

So here is the latest chapter in the shop saga.....Nobody knows how to have like James but hopefully thanks to all of his hard work we'll finally have electricity in the shop soon. The power company decided that they wanted to use a power pole on the northeast corner of our property so this meant that James needed to dig a ditch all the way there so that the lines could be ran underground. The first weekend he went at it with a ditch witch but quickly realized that he needed something bigger. Weekend number two he attacked the yard with a small back hoe which made the job much easier (especially in the area that he had to drop down about eight feet). Unfortunately the back hoe couldn't fit between the retaining wall and the side of the shop so for the past two weekends James has been carving a ditch through solid rock by hand. This ditch is a good four feet deep right here and I'm not kidding when I say it's solid rock. The good news is that he's burning all those Mountain Dew calories that he's drinking in the morning. Personally I prefer to save my back and hit the treadmill.

9 1/2 Months Pictures

We had a couple of new pictures taken last weekend. The boys are 9 1/2 months old! Brock is on the left and Mason is on the right.

9 1/2 Months

It's amazing how much they can change in only one month. Just look at how big Brock looks when I'm holding him now!

Mason has really gotten good at this army crawling business. He's a pretty fast cruiser and he can even go down the stair into the living room. (We haven't let him take a spin at the bigger stairs yet but its not for lack of trying on his part.) He can also pull himself up on the furniture now which makes him feel pretty cool.

Brock has finally decided to start army crawling just yesterday. We got all excited and he just looks at you like you're the dumb one because he's known how to do it all along. He doesn't really pull himself up on stuff yet but he loves to play standing up when you help him. (He's just not real motivated.)

Mason has finally gotten his second tooth (which is a top one, yeah this looks real cool one on top and one on bottom) and he can now grind them together making an absolutely awful noise. He is also working on teeth number three and four, while Brock is just starting to get his third tooth. Mason also ate his first bug the other day. A nice big black one that I discovered when he barfed later :)

Brock is on the left and Mason is on the right in the above pictures.

The boys latest discovery is....drum roll please....each other. They just figured out that there is someone sleeping in the crib next to them. They like to pull down their bumpers and peak through the bars at each other. They think that this is so funny that they just laugh and laugh. Mason has also taken to talking to Brock and trying to wake him up when he gets up first. In fact just this morning he pulled himself up and stood staring down at Brock sleeping. He also loves to get into the entertainment center and pull everything out. We now have childproof locks on these doors as of yesterday. Now James just has to do the rest of the house.

Army Crawlin'

The day after my last post Mason decided to start army crawling. He still gets up on his knees and rocks but if he wants to go forward he drags himself with his forearms. All you need to do for a demo is put something he's not suppose to have (a screwdriver works well) in front of him and he takes off scooting. Brock just kind of stares at him like he can't believe how undignified this looks so we'll see what Brock has in store for the future.

Peanuts No More

The boys are now 8 1/2 months old and they're getting so big that I don't think we can call them our little peanuts anymore. They still aren't crawling (which is okay by me) but they are sooo close. They get on their knee and rock, they just don't go anywhere. They've been doing this for a long time now but they seem to be happier just rolling and wiggling to get where they need to go. Brock still just has the two lower teeth and finally got his first tooth right at eight months. They're starting to interact more with each other but I think they still see each other as a toy instead of a person. Last weekend Mason discovered the kitchen and continues to be delighted by his own intelligence. Mason is now 18.5 lbs and Brock is 19 lbs (yes Brock has passed up his "big" brother in size so Mason is now the smaller one). We had the boys picture taken with their cousin Kiley who is 2 months old. Grandma Dodge really wanted to get a picture taken in their Beaver outfits. Being a duck fan James was really excited about this :)

Twins Jan/Feb 2009

More 7 month pics

Just a couple more of the boys 7 month pictures