We made it!! The flight to Austin was a complete nightmare. Ethan decided to headbutt Mason and all three kiddoes screamed the last 30 minutes of the flight which seemed like an eternity. Carson finally crashed when we landed the plane of course. Eric decided that a vasectomy didn't seem like such a scary thing after all...

Ryan is a pro at telling the twins apart. It was great for him to be able to get to know them better. They love their cousins!

The queen of the castle. Could she be any cuter??

Dinner for two? Carson and Kaitlyn bonded over peas and anything else they could share.

My sister bought the twins a fire engine for two for their birthday. It is the cutest thing ever! It is only supposed to have one driver in front and one sits on the back but since they are still little, we can fit two of them in there at the same time. Plus, both of them want to drive anyway, so I don't think they would have it any other way. Ethan loves the car as well and always asks us to put one of the boys on the back so he take them on rides.

Ethan actually let the twins have a turn!

This is what most of our pictures look like when we're trying to capture all three. Someone is usually pushing someone else out of the way and at least one of them has their tongue sticking out.

Two happy drivers.

We had a great time celebrating Father's Day this year. Eric decided for his Father's Day celebration, he would like to just stay home and hang out with the boys instead of going through the hassle of loading everyone up in the car to go eat somewhere. It turned out to be a great decision and made for a very laid back day. Little did he know he would getting some spectacular gifts made by our one and only Ethan.

Come on, who doesn't love a great puff paint shirt? Besides the fact that I haven't worn one of those since elementary school, it was absolutely the sweetest gift. Eric actually wore it all day....even out in public! On the front it says 'My Daddy deserves a pat on the back' This is certainly true! I can't think of a more devoted and wonderful father! Thanks honey for all you do!

Here is his pat on the back. Cute little hands!

Ethan is really into painting right now. They paint at preschool almost every day that he is there. We set up his easel in the kitchen so he could paint away....while the twins were napping of course!

We're terrible at waiting to give gifts! My grandparents got Ethan a mini trampoline for his birthday next month. Since he has been jumping on the couch and basically everything in the house, we decided he needed a set place for him to get his energy out. This is the best decision we ever made! He absolutely loves it. Now if we can just figure out how to get the twins off of it...

Along with turning one comes many milestones, like the first haircut. Mason has no need for this yet since he is still bald. Carson, however, has had this ridiculous hairgrowth pattern. He has been pretty much bald on top with crazy hair on the sides and back of his head. I call this the "peepaw" look. Eric and Jason call him "Doc" from Back to the Future. I couldn't take the crazy hair anymore, so rather than have my one year old hop in his Delorean and head back to 1985, I decided to take the plunge and cut it. Eric voiced his opinion to keep it crazy, but by the time he got home from work the hair was gone.

This is Carson before the chop. Check out the picture below for the detail "peepaw" cut.

Do you see what I mean? Need I say more?

Okay so this may not be the best haircut ever but it sure beats the crazy do he had before.

This one is for the baby book. I was a bit sad in a way after I chopped it but now when I look at him I don't have to think, "We're going back...to the future."

Here are just some random photos we took of the boys this past week. Enjoy!

Ethan and "Mini-Ethan" (Carson) hanging out in the dog bed. Hey, at least someone is getting some use out of the millionth dog bed we have purchased with hopes that the weiner dogs would finally let us have our bed back. So far it's still not looking very promising.

One of Ethan's new buddies from Preschool, Andrew, had his birthday party at Bounce U this past weekend. Ethan has a fantastic time! It seems all he talks about lately when I pick him up from school is Andrew. We had fun seeing what a big boy he is becoming. It's bittersweet in a way to see him wanting to play with his friends instead of Mommy and Daddy. I guess they have to grow up sooner or later!

It's Christmas in June at the Payne house as "Santa" splashes in tub!

Santa and his elves.

I made the mistake of getting those long lasting balloons for the twins birthday party. They have been lingering around the house now for two weeks so Eric and I decided to have some fun with the helium. Note to all of those parents and future parents: don't suck on helium around your toddlers. You probably already knew not to do that but we thought it would be a fun production for our three year old to see mommy talk like a chipmunk. Although it wasn't the brightest idea we've had it was hilarious and we had fun with it. Enjoy!

I ended up making two monkey cakes for the twins (see next blog post for more pictures) when I realized one cake wouldn't be enough for everyone. As I've said before, I'm no Martha Stewart but I was actually really pleased with the cakes. Note: Mason's monkey cake has no hair since he's still pretty bald.

Ethan practiced for a couple of days singing the Happy Birthday song. His favorite part of the party was getting to blow the candle out!

This past Saturday, May 24th, the twins turned the big 1! It's so hard to believe it has been a year already. Where did it all go? It seems like yesterday that we got the call that they were ready to be discharged from the NICU. I can clearly remember scrambling around trying to get prepared at home because we didn't know they would be ready to come home so early. Although it has been an exhausting year, it has been such a great adventure full of many smiles and laughs.

Carson was a huge fan of his monkey cake. He wasted no time making a huge mess!

Fun facts about Carson (pictured above at 4 months):
-Baby Boy B (born one minute after Mason at 1:19 p.m.)
-Birth weight: 3 pounds 4 ounces
-The "vocal" one
-Likes: EVERY kind of food, playing with big brother Ethan, Happy Feet, finding any room with an open door
-Dislikes: Naps and bedtime, having his nose wiped
-Has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom)

Mason equally loved the monkey cake and he was incredibly neat about eating it.

Fun facts about Mason (pictured above at 4 months):
-Baby Boy A (Born one minute before Carson at 1:18 p.m.
-Birth weight: 3 pounds 1 ounce
- The "thinker"
- Likes: Naptime and bedtime, sucking his fingers, his toy snake, dragging around Ethan's doodle pro, playing with doorstoppers
-Dislikes: Spiral pasta
-Has 2 teeth on bottom

Eric and I have had this full length mirror in our bedroom for awhile now. I've been secretly wanting to get rid of it for the last year or so but the boys love being able to sit or stand in front of it and look at themselves. Ethan brushes up on his acting skills in front of it and the twins come and put their handprints and drool all over it. As much as I want to see it go, I just can't seem to part with it. I posted pictures of the boys with the mirror below:

Carson - 12 months old

Mason - 12 months old

Ethan - 8 months old

Rub a dub dub, three boys in a tub! We decided it's time to knock out bathtime all at once. It usually gets pretty wet and crazy but they have a blast together.

This is definitely a two person job!

It's a little hard to see them in the picture but Carson has three top teeth coming in at once. He looks so much older now!

May has been quite the busy month and it's not over yet! Eric's birthday, Mother's Day, and Carson and Mason's birthday all take place in May, so we have been celebrating with balloons, flowers, and best of all - cake! Eric turned 29 on May 10th, the day before Mother's Day. Ethan brought balloons to the front door for him after we went out to "run errands." He also had his favorite meal, fish and steak tacos from Zaba's, follwed by a mini bundt cake- a Payne birthday tradition!

Ethan was very eager to help his Dad finish his birthday cake!

The next day Ethan showed up on our doorstep again. This time he was carrying the beautiful flowers in the picture. It was a very special Mother's Day for me!

The term 'double trouble' has a lot of meaning in our house right now. Carson is usually the instigator and Mason is always right there to join in. They love getting into the refrigerator and pulling out whatever they can grab. It's kind of hard to stay frustrated when they look so cute!

Thank you to Eric for getting all of the locks put on the cabinets. One day it clicked to Carson that he could open them and pull everything out onto the floor. We were hoping we would get lucky and not have to do the full babyproofing. I don't know what we were thinking....especially with two curious boys!

Along with the great weather we have also had some nasty windstorms. Our tree in the front yard decided to topple over and the guys decided to salvage it. I couldn't help but laugh and take pictures as the "handymen" went to work.

Jason had the idea to tie a rope to his car and pull the tree back to an upright position. We were joking that this looked like a Ford ad. His bright idea actually worked!

Men at work!

Uncle Jason is a pro by now with the twins. I think he should just quit his day job and be our full time nanny! In all seriousness, we have been so happy to have him here in Vegas.

Here is Carson and his Mad Scientist hairdo. He loves the camera!

This past weekend we decided to head over to The District at Green Valley Ranch. They were celebrating the opening of their carousel with free rides all weekend. We took some dinner and met our friends there for a night of fun. The weather was perfect and Ethan loved running around with Danielle.

The twins love their chocolate pudding! It's absolutely impossible to feed them without it ending up all over their faces.

This goes to show that the twins have no idea what to make of the grass out here in the desert. We have turf in our backyard so this is one of the few times they have ever touched it. Needless to say, Carson was not a fan of it!

Carson's cry was infectious. Mason chimed in seconds later! It's a good thing they had their big brother Ethan there to comfort them.

We also brought Ethan's tricycle so he could ride around with Danielle. He loved getting to wear Doug's helmet!