Easter 2014 Pictures

Family pictures are challenging for us right now.  I sometimes wonder how people get the shots that they post on Facebook.  We have the perfect mix of an 11-week old who cannot move and 2-year-old twins who do nothing but move and explore and do not fall for cheap "look at me" tricks anymore.  Our kids are relatively well-behaved (almost every parent says that), but they have little interest in sitting or standing in one place for an extended period of time.  So, here are our best efforts at showing off our Easter outfits.

We started with some solo shots of Asa:

Then we moved on to Alden, who was pushing her baby around in her shopping cart:

Finally a few of young Arthur:

We tried to get a few of all three of them on the couch.  Each child had their own agenda.  These are the best we got out of the lot:

I had the idea that we should go take pictures by the window, but we needed a snack break first:

Then, we experimented with how the light and reflections from the window would turn out:

Finally, we settled on getting some more solo shots of each of the kids:

Bonus picture--there was some outfit mixing and matching during the shoot:

Roller Coaster!

Our sweet friend Cindy gave us the roller coaster that her now-grown grandbabies used to play with when they would come visit her.  Despite the stories of this toy being well-loved, it rolls as good as new, and we look forward to the day when we can pass it to the next group of parents.  Cindy wrote her grandchildren's names on the underside of one of the pieces, and we will keep the list going.

Asa and Alden love playing with this toy.  The set is made of heavy duty plastic and is essentially a contained ramp that looks a little like a cosine graph (or sine graph, depending on where you start).  The rider sits on the cart pictured above and just rolls down the ramp to be deposited on the ground, where the cart continues to roll subject to the laws of motion.

Our kids love riding, but they also love fetching the cart.

After getting their thrills, they simply enjoyed practicing walking up and down the ramp.  I think the practice was pretty good exercise for their learning to negotiate inclines and downhill.

Most of all, we continue to have a lot of fun.  Thanks, Ms. Cindy!

Gummy smiles

Arthur has shared his first smiles with me and Austin. I love the big gummy smiles!

Tummy Time Revisited

There has been a lot of tummy time in the Padgett household.  If you want pictures of the twins going through this ritual as babies, click here, or here, or here.  The tradition continues with Arthur.  We have had some snowy and messy days over the past few weeks and have all stayed inside.  When it comes to tummy time, the twins will make sure it goes off without a hitch.

Asa and Alden alternate overlooking Arthur as he struggles to build his neck strength.  They coach him, encourage him, rub his back, and give him kisses.  In full disclosure, Arthur has picked up his strength (and his body weight) very quickly.

And the twins also enjoy demonstrating the proper position.

After a while, the process turns into a pretty standard play session.

And when it appears as if it is sunny enough, the coats come out to account for the possibility that we could all go outside.  Soon enough, there will be a third little (or not-so-little) one jumping into the mix.  We will all make sure he has the neck strength to stand a chance.

The Turning Two Turnaround

Last year, I wrote an open letter to our two eldest kids to mark their first birthday.  In that letter, Anna and I resolved to, at the risk of sounding entirely hokey, "live in the now" as we raised you over the past year.  In this celebration comes a strange lament for your parents, a feeling that the rate that time moves has surpassed our ability to account for it all.  That sentiment is summed up in that letter, so I will not spend anymore time revisiting it.

Today is our twins' second birthday, and, at this point, they've filled the world with more joy and laughter than was due from them.  My hope for them is that this will always be true, that, in a world seemingly running great deficits of joy, our children will operate in the black, greeting each morning with the same grins I see when I open their door to wake them up.

The video above is a celebration of the past two years.  We thank all of our dear friends for being a part of our children's lives.  We hope they reciprocate the same friendship and love that you have showed them both to you and to others.

Hand in Hand

We have had some beautiful and warm days in Atlanta over the past week, and our children are starting to get some time in their new back yard, and everyone is enjoying getting outside in the fresh air.  On one of our afternoons outside, Asa and Alden joined hands and marched around the yard.  In addition to being an adorable act, the sun was at the "golden hour" position, and I had my camera on me.  The following pictures are the best of the memory captures: