http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org Some happy people in the Pacific Northwest Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:44:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Annika recently discovered that Daddy's camera has a remote release. So, she tried her hand at some self-portraiture. Some day, her composition skills will catch up with her cuteness. http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2010/03/annikas-first-self-portraits/ [flashvideo filename=http://www.vancefamily.org/photos/temp/bouncingclara.flv /] http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2010/02/bouncing-baby-clara/ In Great Britain, it’s called “Boxing Day,” in Germany it’s the “Second Christmas Holiday,” but this year at the Vance house December 26th was “Independence Day.”  Yesterday marked the completion of Jenelle’s most ambitious project of 2009 (well, next to having twins): cleaning and organizing the entire house.  Jenelle calls ... http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/12/independence-day/ Vance Family Christmas Card 2009 (pdf) http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/12/merry-christmas-from-the-vances/ Building on a long tradition, everyone in the Vance family receives a new Christmas ornament each year.  Here's a picture of Jenelle's new ornament. As the mother of three kids under three, Jenelle thinks it's the perfect ornament for her life right now.  To better understand why, we should explain that ... http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/12/christmas-around-the-clock/ Jenelle and Jonathan, reluctant to let their three-kids-under-three status keep them from enjoying the Great Outdoors, decided to take their family camping.  Since this would be the first camping trip with newborn twins, they were reluctant to go certain places.  For example, they were reluctant to go anywhere that would ... http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/11/smoothly-roughing-it/ In November 2008, Jenelle found two infant monkey costumes on clearance at Target.  By this time, she and Jonathan knew that they were expecting twins, and they hatched their costume plans for 2009: the little girls would all be monkeys (i.e., Curious Georgias), Jonathan would be the man in the ... http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/11/they-were-good-little-monkeys-and-always-very-curious/ Here are some examples of what Annika regularly gathers into her arms before she deems herself ready to go off to bed.  Typical items include bears and blankets (both plural), a doll, and her bouncy ball. http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/09/bed-time-the-bare-essentials/ Women get a lot of hype about being "Supermoms", but I'm pretty sure I'm married to a "Superdad".  This is what I saw when I came back from cleaning up Annika's bath paraphernalia.  And yes, Jonathan was reading a story out loud to Annika, not just looking at the book ... http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/07/who-says-men-cant-multi-task/ Sometimes people ask how Annika is handling her new role as Munchkin-in-Chief.  The answer is, she has slowly become more comfortable.  A few days after the babies came home from the hospital, this conversation occurred: Jenelle: Annika, do you like the babies? Annika: No.  All done.  Babies go home. Since then, things have ... http://jonathanjenelle.vancefamily.org/2009/07/hail-to-the-chief/