It has been a while since our last update and not much has changed. The E&E are doing great and Aiden is doing very well (although he does have a couple of bad days). With summer heat out of the way, the boys have been spending much more time outdoors. As you can imagine, it is nice getting them out of the house!

Below are some images from the Dallas Arboretum and a few indoor pictures. Lately, Aiden has really taken to sports and loves playing with his baseball and bat.

Pumpkins everywhere!

Time to run

First attempt at group a pic

Trying to look pretty

Ethey is so cute!

Tim, Aleta and Kaelyn…easy to take pictures of

Us…not so easy!

Almost got a good one!

Scary!

Time…

…to…

eat!

He picked up stick and started to chew on it.

Then got mud on his face!

A caterpillar crawls up Aiden’s arm

He loves this!

Time to get messy

Boom!

Cheap shot

4 pumpkins on 4 pumpkins

Lion King is the new favorite (McQueen has been temporarily replaced)

Aiden loves playing baseball

Texas summers are brutal but the Fall is wonderful! Although there are still hot days, the evenings are much cooler and our air conditioning isn’t running all night!

Not too much to update other than everyone is doing well. Aiden is doing good overall altough he does have some ‘bad’ days where he vomits frequently. We look forward to getting out of the house a little more now that the weather is bearable. In fact, later today we are going to the Dallas Arboretum to let the kids run around and tire themselves out. Should be fun!

Below are some images from “Local Hero’s Day” at a local Chick-Fil-A restaurant. The boys got to see a police dog, firemen and jumped around in a ‘Bounce House.’

I should have turned the Flash off

They got to see a Police Dog

Aiden, you are supposed to throw it, not eat it.

Jumping in the Bounce House

Fun! Unfortunately, Aiden could not go in 🙁

But he found other things to do

Time to eat

Evan dropped his ice cream on the floor

So, Ethan fed him

Well decorated for a fast food restaurant

Time to go home

It has been a long time coming, but the boys are finally three years old! Three 3-year olds who think they are ready to drive, go to work and shop at Walmart (or Home Depot)! They had a fun (and quiet) birthday at home and got a special McQueen puzzle, some Thomas trains and delicious ice cream cake. This will probably be the last year where we can give them all one cake as they will probably be requesting individual cakes (and a party!) next year.

The weather was finally cool enough to go outdoors for a bit, so we took the boys to play basketball at the playground. It has been a long time since we did this and the boys loved it! Unfortunately, all three had sinus infections and were wheezing withing a short time, but they loved the time that we were able to spend outside.

This past Friday, Aiden started a new feeding program in Dallas which will run every Friday for 10 wks. We are praying that this will be more effective in helping him learn to eat by mouth, and that he will soon be able to do so! He has also started working with a new feeding therapist, and we are hopeful that this will help him make some progress in that direction.

Before cake and gifts, they want to play basketball (especially Evan)

There they go

Ready to shoot

Dribble!

Ethan, don’t hold it…shoot it!

He tries to give it to me

Evan loves his basketball!

Ethan is ready to go to the playground

There is #3

Time to swing

No oxygen cord…naughty boy!

Adorable

Happy Evan

Serious Evan

Silly Evan

“A challenge”–he tried hard to follow his brothers!

I figured he would end up behind bars one day!

The ‘escape’

Take turns

Crash

Back at it

True Aiden (no oxygen tube)

Love this one!

Going after ants

An ant’s perspective

Ready to take a nap

Three turned three

Time to open gifts

A weak attempt at hugging Uncle Tim and Kaelyn

Aiden wants more gifts

He loves his balloon

Don’t let go

Whoops…now its gone

Meme tries to keep the balloons attached

Uncle Curtis helps Ethan hang on to his balloon

The McQueen puzzle

Should have gotten a bigger cake

Time to blow out the candles

Don’t touch the fire!

Cake is yummy

More, please!

Aiden’s newest thing is making his toys crash into each other and yelling at them the entire time (see the video below). It is a lot of fun to watch and should be good blackmail material when he gets holder. Hopefully, he won’t be crashing real cars 🙂 In the video below, he also goes mowing with Curtis and really enjoyed himself.

Another of Aiden’s idiosyncrasies as of late is holding a pretzel and corn chip in his hands. He walks around with them and occasionally licks the salt off. Sometime, he even puts them in his mouth but it comes out a few seconds later. Additionally, he loves sitting Indian style and sometimes even falls asleep that way as you can see in the first image below.

The twins are getting smarter, strong and more cunning — which means more challenges for us! Fortunately, they are getting a little better at listening as well which helps quite a bit. Below are some images of the boys splashing around in the pool and posing in their McQueen underwear.

Hard to believe in less than a week they will be three years old!

Aiden asleep in the car (always sitting Indian style)

Don’t touch anything in the office!

Here comes Evan

In his swimming attire

Ethan too

Walking in his father’s shoes (only Manish does not share the same clothing style 🙂 )

We decided to keep diapers on Aiden while he was in the pool

Time to swim, splash and laugh

They love when daddy jumps in and does a super splash

Classic reaction from the Trips

A couple weeks ago, Hannah celebrated her birthday. The only thing was, she didn’t know about the secret celebration. Manish (and some very helpful friends) threw a little surprise birthday party for her. When she came home, she was very surprised! The boys enjoyed surprising her as well and sampled some of the goodies (of course)!

Below is a video of the surprise as well as some images. Additionally, in the second part of the video, the boys chase each other around as they play “Mr. Socko.” Evan puts his hand in a sock and brings “Mr. Socko” to life whose goal is to tickle little boys. Manish is usually the puppet master but Evan decided he would control Mr. Socko this time. 

Surprise!

Nicely decorated

Instead of cake…cupcakes

…and some yummies.