Bright and early Saturday morning, Mommy woke up to get to the bi-annual Parents of Multiples sale. Since she had signed up to volunteer at the sale, Mommy got to take advantage of the early bird shopping...at 7 a.m. She had one hour to shop before her shift as a volunteer started, and she took full advantage of the great merchandise and low prices to stock up on a carful of goodies including an extra high chair for Miri and Opa's house, a Pack and Play for Nana and Poppy Jack's house, two booster seats, a few toys, and a large assortment of winter clothes. The find she was most excited about, however, was a costume for Ari that matched the costume lent to us by our neighbors for Alex (more on that below). Anyway, after that Mommy spent the entire morning and part of the early afternoon volunteering at the sale, which attracted hundreds of people eager to get deals on gently used infant and toddler goods.
By the time Mommy got home, it was time to get ready for Cousin Naomi's third birthday party. Alex and Ari enjoyed getting dressed up in new outfits Mommy bought at the sale and celebrating with their older cousin. Here is Ari in her new carseat (and new jacket and outfit) on the way to the party:
Today is Ari and Alex's seven month birthday! The day began again at the crack of dawn (which came one hour earlier thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time...thankfully that meant Mommy and Daddy had an extra hour of sleep!) when Miri arrived to take care of Alex and Ari while Mommy and Daddy ran the Marine Corps Marathon. For years, Mommy has been promising Daddy that she'd run a marathon with him (instead of ahead of him) and to help him run a marathon in his goal time of under four hours. She made good on both promises today: she and Daddy ran the entire marathon together, crossing the finish line holding hands in a time of 3:49:29, more than ten minutes faster than Daddy's goal time. It was a beautiful day to run a marathon, with temperatures reaching a high of around 60 degrees. There was a brisk wind out of the west, but it only felt bad heading into the wind and crossing the bridges in the race. Here are pictures of Mommy and Daddy before and after the race:
After the marathon, Mommy and Daddy ran (figuratively, not literally) home to pick up Alex and Ari from Miri and Opa's house (thank you Miri and Opa for being such great babysitters and allowing Mommy and Daddy to run this marathon!) Next up, a birthday party for the twins' friend Jeremy, who turned two today. An hour later, we were at twin friend Lilli and Gregory's house for a kiddie Halloween party. Because we were short on time, we had to skip the annual neighborhood Halloween parade, but we plan to attend next year when the kids can enjoy the parade.
Speaking of Halloween, even though it's a few days early, here is a sneak peek at Ari and Alex's Halloween costumes. Alex's was lent to us by our friends and neighbors, and then Mommy found a matching (hot pink) costume for Ari at the sale this weekend:
Finally, to cap off our eventful weekend we ventured out to Virginia (not far from the start of the marathon) to Daddy's boss' house for his annual Halloween party. Ari and Alex enjoyed spending time with Daddy's boss and his family...Ari especially took to Daddy's boss and even cried when we took her out of his arms when it was time to head home!
One final important milestone to note: Ari began cutting her first tooth this weekend! Luckily, she hasn't seemed any worse for the wear and remains her perpetually happy self.
It's been an exciting weekend, but we're all glad to be able to rest and recover this week. Hopefully November will be a calmer month than October!
Alex and Ari enjoyed spending time with their friends and are learning a lot about what they can expect when they are a little older.
Today we had our neighborhood play date, followed by a visit by GG and Nana. This evening GG took us all out to dinner at a local Asian restaurant. Alex and Ari were perfectly behaved angels the entire time and had a ball watching everything going on around them. We were so proud of them! Although they didn't get to enjoy sushi (one day, we promise!), they did have a dinner of squash and apple sauce (yummmmm...I think I'll stick with sushi). 
Following brunch, we took a trip to the local children's store to buy Alex and Ari their "big kid" car seats. Since Alex is only a half of an inch away from outgrowing his infant seat, we figured it was time to make the jump to the larger, permanent seats. We have enjoyed the convenience of using the portable seats, but it's getting harder and harder to carry the kids (OK, Alex!) in the infant seat anyway.
Next it was home for a quick nap and then out again to a second one-year birthday party for another neighbor friend. "Party on," Alex and Ari were heard shouting with excitement.
Second, here is GG with her daughter, granddaughters, great grandchildren, and great granddog:
All in all, a great, albeit busy, weekend. It was actually just a preview of next weekend, which consists of volunteering at our Parents of Multiples sale, soccer games, three birthday parties, three Halloween parties (including our big neighborhood Halloween parade)...and oh, yeah, a marathon for Mommy and Daddy. Guess we better rest up this week!
All three great grandmothers (for a combined total of 270 years!): 
The three great grandmothers with their great grandchildren (note this picture was taken right before Ari and Alex's bed time, not their prettiest moment as you can tell from the look on Ari's face):
The exciting week continued with the final baby sign language class on Tuesday...Alex and Ari's Certificates of Completion now adorn the fridge (the first, we're sure, of a lifetime of fridge postings!) and we have now learned the signs for play time, meal time, bed time, animals, and dressing. The class was more of an excuse for Mommy to hang out with other twin mommies, but we are using some of the signs we learned during class with the kids and have been told that by 8-9 months, they should be signing back to us.
Some of this week's milestones:
Here are some other random shots from this week: 
Ari checks out the cat that showed up on our doorstep:
Alex and Ozzie checking each other out:
Ari (gently) petting Ozzie:
Here is Ari modeling one of her new outfits (Mommy particularly likes this one): 
Today the sun came back out, so we took advantage of the beautiful day to attend a local Oktoberfest with Alex and Ari's best buds Alex and Sydney. Alex had some Bratwurst and Ari enjoyed some beer as we all listened to a Bavarian band. Just kidding, of course...but if Alex had teeth, he most definitely would have wanted some bratwurst. Here are the mommies with their sons:
Oma's arrival just happened to coincide with Opa's birthday. And what does a birthday mean? According to Cousin Naomi (who is very smart), a birthday means there must be cake! Here's a shot of the birthday boy with his grandson:
In other news this week, Ari and Alex added a new food to their repertoire: squash (Mommy just couldn't bring herself to serve green beans yet...) We're happy to report that the kids love the squash. We have a feeling they'll love anything that comes on a spoon (maybe even green beans?) Here is Ari enjoying a lunch of squash:
Alex and Ari had their first experiences in a restaurant high chair, and they seemed to enjoy the opportunity to sit with everyone at the table. They even had a little apple sauce and oatmeal for brunch: