A Visit To Daddy's Office

Today we went to visit Francis at the State's Attorney's Office. Evie and Gavin got to meet many of their loyal blog readers and get thoroughly fussed over. They were a little shy until they discovered all the neat things in Dad's cubicle!

Gavin tries to see what mischief he can get into on Dad's desk (yes, that is an Indiana Jones whip you see there; Gavin took it off of Francis' shelf of law books interspersed with action figures):







"Ooh-ooh, Gavin, pick that blue thing up!"




The blue thing turned out to be the head of Optimus Prime (from the Transformers). Gavin loved it!




"I command you to rise!" (Note all of Francis' clutter in the background.)






Evie steps into Francis' boss' office. "Hmm, there's no Star Wars stuff in here!"





Evie considers what kind of mischief she can get into:

Gavin's other favorite toy was a fabric replica of the whip from Indiana Jones, which made noises and played the theme song:

Wednesday Cuteness

This week Evie and Gavin have learned how to blow kisses (warning: cuteness alert!). I caught Evie on camera, but not Gavin yet!

Here is a typical silly scene at the Cermak house. The twins had just been fed after their nap, and they were in a great mood!

Gavin has learned how to put the connecting blocks together. He has been pulling them apart for awhile, a skill which Evie is currently working on.

Playdate!

Today our twin friends Emilia and Konrad and their mom Natalia came over for a play date. (Emilia and Konrad were born just three weeks after Gavin and Evie!) Gavin and Evie were really shy at first and just watched their friends play. But soon they jumped right into the action.

The kids were all so fascinated with the race track and cars that it was hard to catch any of them looking up. It was the most popular toy of the day!

A Visit With Keira

Today we had a play date with our friend Laura and her daughter, Keira. We had lots of fun playing indoors and outside, sharing snacks and toys. Keira is 12 months old and cute as a button!

We had been there about 5 minutes when Keira decided Gavin was quite a swell guy!

Outside, Gavin relaxed in Keira's swing:

"Hey, Keira, I'll trade you a puff for a cheddar goldfish!" Evie said.

Cars, Cars, Cars

This weekend was full of fun with cars. Auntie Clare picked out some books for the twins, and one of them has a steering wheel, a horn, and lots of buttons to push for car-related sounds. Both the kids love it!

Gavin holds the power of one thousand exploding suns in his hands. (Francis wanted to add this picture -both Evie and Gavin have learned to clench their fists and also make a face to go along with it - it is really funny!)



Then kids played outside with Nana & Grandpa Cermak and their big cars. Gavin checks to make sure he has enough gas, never letting go of his straw sippy cup held in his teeth!

Gavin checks under the hood of Evie's car. "Well, I found the problem Evie... your engine fell out!"

Mr. Innocent:

Grandpa and the kids:

Back inside, the kids enjoyed some new cars and a race track ramp:

Grandpa helped Gavin figure it out:

Evie Update

We went to see Evie's cardiologist this week, and she still has high pressure (pulmonary hypertension) in her left lung. Her doc feels that something should be done to address this sooner rather than later, to avoid long term damage to the lung. Evie's situation will be discussed this week at Hope Childrens Hospital when the cardiac team has their weekly meeting. After that, we will have a better idea of exactly what and when things will happen.

We thought we'd have a little more time before she had another procedure, and when we know more, we will update all of you. But overall, her cardiologist and nurse thought she looked great. She is walking really well now, and just needs to gain weight. She has been stuck at around 16 1/2 pounds since January!

Evie wears a new outfit from Grandma Cordes:





Gavin hugs Cookie...



...and wrestles with him, too!

Evie was in a great mood when she woke up from her nap the other day. She was giggling and playing peek-a-boo by her oxygen machine:

She thought it was so neat that she could stick her hand under the handle:

Back To The Bookstore

Francis had never seen the Barnes and Noble train table in person, so we went there over the weekend. Evie and Gavin were really into it for about 10 minutes:






Every time we go there, Gavin hugs and holds this Clifford back-pack. Then after about 5 minutes he tosses it on the floor and forgets about it!

Evie hugged this blue elephant, then she also tossed it aside:

Gavin's new favorite thing is this big bear:

Auntie Clare

This weekend Nana & Grandpa Cermak were here, and the kids got in some reading time with them.



Then Auntie Clare came over and the kids were very happy to see her. She travels a lot for her job and works on most weekends, so the twins were excited to spend time with her.

Gavin got a bath and then explained a computer program to his Auntie:

We're Hooked on the Zoo

We went back to the zoo this weekend with Uncle David. The weather was perfect! Since Gavin loved the carousel so much, we rode on it twice in a row:



Evie sat on an animal, but then changed her mind. She wanted Uncle David to hold her instead!


We also went back to the butterfly exhibit. This time they were a lot less active, and many of them were just sitting on the ground or on rocks. In case you can't see the one Evie is looking at below, Francis got some great close ups:

When we went over to see the tiger, it was stalking around its enclosure, roaring. Gavin didn't like that one bit.

A metal tiger was much better!

Lunch break - pizza!