Love Bugs

Life has been so busy these days! So I am peeling my eyes away from my books to make a post! The boys are getting so big - I really think they are at least 20 lbs. You should see their little fat rolls and little piggy toes! So cute - you can't help but eat them up! Their favorite toys are anything that is stuffed. I'm sure stuffed animals aren't age appropriate, but they love them so much. And we keep an eye on them while they are playing.

We finally discovered a food that Zach will not eat - bananas! He flat out refused, which is pretty funny considering he usually keeps his mouth open for another bite even while he is chewing what is already in his mouth! So, bananas were a no-go. Jonah, however, loved them! We'll try again in another week with the Z-man.

Also, here is the Valentines layout I did for Jonathan. This was a Saturday play day with Dad. Maybe there will be another play day this Saturday while Mom goes to the Macy's at LaCantera for their one-day sale (which oddly enough lasts the whole weekend).

Last weekend, the Demings came to visit us, and the boys had so much fun! We had fun too, because we got to go out on a REAL date for Valentine's Day. Neither of us wanted to get dressed up, so we ran to our favorite taco place - Order Up - and chowed down. Then we went to Half Price Books and milled around for about 30 minutes. A perfect date! Thank you Nannie and Papooh for babysitting! We hope you guys got to eat dinner! Here are some fun pics of the weekend!

Layout Credits: Lovie Buggie mini kit by Kristin Aagard and template by Just 2 More Things Design.

Daddy Saturday

Zach is in the white and Jonah in the blue...
Daddy playtime on Saturday!!

Give Me a Hand!

Link List

Instead of copiously reading for my eschatology quiz today, I am going to leave a little post instead. Sounds reponsible? Not so much, but I thought you guys might like to know a little bit about our links we have posted on our blog. I added some new ones recently.

The Link Family - My friend Becky from Southeastern. She has two boys, Jackson and Samuel and a little girl, Mary. We share a profound addiction to coffee and being goofy in general.
Rob & Jess Dohner - My friend Jessica from UBC. She has two daughters, Brie and Briar. We share a profound addiction to ridiculously expense haircuts and overprocessed hair.
The Chandler Clan - My friend Jackie from UBC. She is the director of our WEE school at UBC and has two daughters Megan and Madison. She is also pretty good at Taekwondo - watch out!
The Daily Kick - my oldest sister, Heather's blog, who I constantly complain to because she hasn't updated her blog since my niece, Gwennie B., was born.
Douglass Casa - My friend Diana, who has two children, Ella and Beckett, with another cutie on the way. The Douglass' moved to CasaBlanca this year and we miss them so much. But they have been longtime friends and even came to see us in China! We are so proud of them for going and love to hear about their adventures!
Casey Chappell - My friend from Southeastern who is the most AMAZING photographer you've ever seen. She took our photos when we went home for Christmas. She recently adopted a little girl, Zoe Elizabeth, over Christmas.
Mathews 6 Pack - Our friends from Houston who have a son, Caden, and triplet girls (Emery, Addison, and Harper). They are longtime friends and Jonathan went to high school with Greg. We think Greg should go into stand-up comedy with all his jokes and stories about life with mutliples.
Team Huntley - the blog of friends from Austin, Rachael and Chris, who have the cutest little girl named Delilah. We call her Lilah. Chris and Jonathan are college buds, and although Rachael and I have never actually met, we've become great blog buddies. Hi Rach!
Stover Family - more longtime friends (Jonathan went to highschool with Ben) who live in Mission, TX. We all went to A&M together. They now have three boys (Tyler, Jake, & Luke) and just had their little girl, Katie Grace, who is currently in the NICU because she born early! Say a prayer for her!
Dear Charli Photography - An Austin photographer, Alecia, who took the boys birth announcement photos. She is very talented!
Grow Young w/ Karin - Jonathan's older sister, Karin, who sells Arbonne products. You can find everything and anything you need here! The Hopkins live in Conn. right now and are probably snowed in as we speak!
Village Schools Int'l - a missions group in Tanzania that teaches the local townspeople how to build their own schools while sharing the love of Christ and ministering to AIDS victims. This is the second year, our family (on the Deming side) has given to VSI instead of giving each other Christmas gifts.
Reap South - a group of International Mission Board missionaries who work in Peru to share the love of Christ. Our church is currently partnering with Reap South to plant churches in the Huarochiri Region, close to Lima.
UBC Peru Page - the website for UBC's church planting initiative in Huarochiri, Peru (a mountainous region with little no or no acess to Bibles, church services, etc). Jonathan and I were part of the first team to go to Peru - visiting 5 villages. It was an amazing time and the people were welcoming and extremely hospitable.
Philip Hayden Foundation - a group we worked with when we lived in Beijing. This is the parent organization for Lang Fang Orphanage. It is the largest, privately operated orphanage in China and they do amazing work with orphans - also giving medical aid. Their websites have beautiful calendars you can purchase to benefit the orphanage.

So - those are all our links! Enjoy!
Melissa

Playtime with Dad

7 Months

Running the risk that Jonah is going to KILL me when he is 16, I am going to post this layout I made today while I was supposed to be studying. The photo was taken during bathtime (while brother went to bed early due to an extreme case of the crankies). Here is a pic of the transfer from the changing table to the tub. What cute buns!

The boys are 7 months now and are becoming so much fun. Each day we can see their little personalities developing more and more. They are beginning to interact with Dad a lot - becoming a little testy when one gets bounced or played with a little more than the other. They love to be around people and like to be where they can see me in the house. If they are in the living room while I fix their meals, they are sure to complain about it.

They are growing like weeds. We bought some 9 mo. clothes this weekend at target and they are already snug at 7 mo. I think we're going to have some pretty big boys! They are rolling around like crazy. I can't keep their socks on them because they keep pulling them off and trying to eat them. They are reaching for things a lot, although they aren't very good at holding onto toys for very long. We are still working on sitting up, but they do great if supported in their bumbos or in a lap.

Foodwise, we've worked our way up to stage 2 foods. The parsnips didn't go over very well, but the spinach was a major hit! Zach is still the better eater right now (but I think that is because he is usually focused on the task at hand while Jonah is pretty personable and easily distracted at meal times.)

The next few months will be an adjustment. We are following doctor's orders and keeping the boys away from other kids and crowds during the rest of RSV season (feb. and mar). So we won't be doing any fun outings or going to church. It sounds crazy I know, but because the boys were born at 34 weeks, the results of contracting RSV are potentially fatal. Despite being very healthy and strong right now, the decision has to do with lung development and capacity at birth. We will only have to do this for this year, but we would appreciate your prayers for everyone in our family to stay healthy in the next few months.

Layout Credits: "Sk8 or Die Dude" kit by Stacey Towers/ "Urban" effect on photo by Coffeeshop actions