Just us Two!

We were blessed that Preston was able to take from Christmas Eve to the day after New Years off this year. It was SO nice having him with us for this time. Not only for the help as most people are probably thinking but just to have him with us to talk to and have fun with. As a stay at home mom sometimes it gets a little lonely when the only two people you see all day can't exactly have conversations with you. I loved the time that we were able to spend together reconnecting. My sister Paula and her husband Chad very graciously volunteered to keep the twins for a night so we could get away. This was our first time being apart from Gracie and Bailey. We decided to visit Savannah since it is close to Macon and Preston had never been before. Preston arranged for us to stay at the Hilton Desoto as his work is affiliated with the real estate loan and so he wanted to support one of their properties. It was BEAUTIFUL and we had a gorgeous view from our balcony of the cathedral. The hotel was about six blocks from River Street and I loved walking back and forth through all the squares as each one was unique. We enjoyed taking a trolley tour, an evening ghost pub tour, and loved dining at Rocks on the Roof. The most yummy part was enjoying warm Pralines. It was pretty chilly but with a quick purchase of a hat, mittens and a scarf we were able to enjoy the beauty of city. Of course I missed my babies like crazy but Paula said that they had so much fun and acted like big kids with their big cousins. It was reported that Gracie wouldn't have anything to do with anyone else except her cousin Molly Kay! Preston and I loved our visit and since it is such a quick trip from Macon we are looking forward to returning as a family of four in the Spring!

Preston grinning after I got suckered into letting a nice man make me a flower and serenade me, I thought I would just be paying him a $1 for a pic but little did I know Preston only had a $5 bill. He gave me strict instructions not to talk to anyone else!

Don't you just love these streets!

Pictures from our hotel balcony

Enjoying some yummy seafood with no crying babies!

Granny's Christmas Celebration

Okay, so I know you all are probably getting tired of these Christmas posts but I can't leave out any of our celebrations and yes I do have the most spoiled twins on the planet! After our breakfast on Christmas Day we traveled to Macon. The rest of the cousins and family arrived on Saturday and we celebrated Christmas at Granny and Grandpa's house. Since it was the third time celebrating the twins knew exactly what to expect and Bailey was banging on the presents before any of the other cousins. We had such a fun time celebrating with family and getting to see Gma and Gpa Grace. The twins as usual were swept away by their big cousins and we hardly saw them at all. The newest addition to the family, Lacey...Andy's Christmas puppy also joined us and the kids could not get enough of her. She looked pretty worn out by the end of the day and she could hardly keep her eyes open.

Christmas in Macon

Gracie found Granny's candy basket

Bailey playing with the polar bear ornament

Andy and his new puppy, Lacey

All the cousins anxiously awaiting to open presents!

Christmas Morning

After a late Christmas Eve night Preston and I came home and I took a look at our beautiful home all clean and ready for Christmas morning. I wished that I could somehow capture the beauty of all the Christmas decorations and presents that were wrapped and most of all the quietness and cleanliness of our home. I knew that after the twins discovered all the things that "Ho Ho" as they call Santa had left for them then our house would never be same. Last year Gracie and Bailey were too little at only 4 months to really understand anything but this year was so much fun and I believe that they really understood alot this year. We talked to them about Jesus birthday and they definitely understood the concept of Santa and presents. I was very impressed that they respected both of the Christmas trees and not a single ornament was broke this year. With one year old twins I debated whether or not to even put up one tree but they did great. Christmas morning we had Preston's family over to watch the twins open their Santa presents and we had a fabulous Christmas morning breakfast with mimosa's. We started the tradition last year and I love that we have already started making our own traditions with celebrating the holidays. The twins were a little in shock when they walked in the room to find all the family with cameras and video camera's but they quickly discovered all of their surprises. This Christmas could not have been any more perfect as my heart was filled with so much joy watching my sweet Gracie and Bailey enjoy the day.

The house all ready for Christmas morning

The twins loved their new big wheels that Santa brought

Gracie and Bailey quickly discovered their new table and books

Bailey loved his first Golf lesson with Daddy and played with his clubs all day long

A million new toys and he still chooses Aunt Kara's phone

Gracie couldn't get enough of her new rock, roll and ride bike

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Each year we celebrate Christmas Eve at Preston's parents home. We start the evening with reading from the book of Luke and then a Christian "Twas the Night before Christmas" poem is read. This year the family made the decision to only do gifts for the children which included our newest addition Mary Elizabeth who is due in about three months. It was so much fun to watch the spirit of Christmas in Bailey and Gracie's eyes. Grammy and Daddy Bob went "way over the top" and definitely spoiled the twins with so many presents. They opened a race car set first and I think they honestly would have been content with only that one gift because they became so excited over it. They received big wheels, movies, books, a play kitchen and lots of toys. Grammy made a wonderful dinner with lots of yummy treats that we enjoyed. It is almost indescribable to explain the joy that the twins had while celebrating with the family.

Gracie and Bailey all ready to celebrate Christmas Eve.

They loved their new singing school bus.

Enjoying Aunt Kara's yummy gingerbread cookies.

2010 McFarland Family Christmas Eve Celebration

Bailey's First Haircut

The day before Christmas Eve I decided that it was time for my sweet Bailey to have his first haircut. In the past couple weeks I have noticed some tiny little hairs growing over his ears and he starting scratching the back of his neck where his hair was getting a little longer. It was perfect timing to have him looking handsome just in time for Christmas. My baby boy looked so grown up sitting in the chair all by himself with the cape draped over him. We took him to a children's haircutting salon which was called "Halfpint Haircuts." It seemed to help that they had movies, bubbles and lollipops. He did great and smiled although he got scared at the end when she used the blow dryer. The stylist gave me his first lock of hair and he received a "My First Haircut" certificate. I was so very proud of my Bailey for being such a brave boy.

The before view of tiny little hairs growing over his ears.

Bailey was such a brave big boy!
After getting a little scared from the noise of the blow dryer.

Babyland General

At the beginning of this month we took a weekend getaway to Helen, GA where we stayed in Preston's parents time share. On the way we stopped at Babyland General in Cleveland, GA. They have moved locations and it is in a beautiful white colonial house set in the mountains. Preston and I both said "really" as we drove up to this beautiful location. It was a perfect place to visit while it was cold outside and a great plus was that the admission is free! As soon as we walked in we were surprised to see Santa. The twins pointed while yelling "Ho Ho" which is what we call our decorative Santa. We hadn't planned on doing pictures as we didn't even know we would get to see a Santa but since we had just come from church the twins were dressed for the occasion. I am so happy that I decided to get the picture because little did I know this would be our only picture with Santa as Gracie and Bailey now have developed a slight fear for our chubby, white haired friend. Gracie loves baby dolls and she has just recently really gotten into playing mommy with her dolls. She loves to feed them, change them and do just about anything to mimic me as a mommy. I was especially excited to see her reaction to the dolls. She ran right in and immediately was ready to play.

Gracie's first reaction and touch to the cabbage patch dolls.

We tried to explain that this doll might be a little too big for her!

She quickly found this doll carriage which she talked her Daddy into buying.

The twins are obsessed with school buses as we wave to 3 that pass our house each day and so this bus was a big hit. They really wanted to hop on for a ride.

Sweet Bailey finally found a puppy dog among all the babies.

Gracie is hanging out with her new friends and is not ready to leave.

Bailey decided to try out the stroller as his sister seemed to be having fun.

After Babyland General we enjoyed cuddling by the fire in the cabin and having a fun filled family weekend in the mountains. It has been a busy month as I haven't posted in a little while but more updates are coming soon!

Decking the Halls with Twins!

We were very thankful to have my parents up for the Thanksgiving weekend so they could help us with decorating the house. I was so excited to see Gracie and Bailey's reaction to all the decorations. This year we took a little extra time to show the twins all the decorations and to really let them be a part of the process and it was so much fun and worth every minute even though it did take a little longer. Their faces lit up when they saw the Christmas lights and they loved playing with them. Grandpa's job was to check every bulb since he is an electrical engineer and thank goodness we had him because after the twins were done playing with the lights their were lots of repairs to take place! They loved our stand up Santa in which they now refer to him as Ho Ho. The highlight of the day was playing in all the tupperware bins that I would empty the decorations out of. We took lots of breaks to pull Gracie and Bailey around the house in the tubs. I have been surprised at how good Gracie and Bailey have been with keeping the ornaments on the tree. Just as a safe guard I tried to put only unbreakable ornaments on the bottom. I have given them permission to play with a couple little bell ornaments but it is really like they understand that they don't play with them, I am still praying that I won't hear the tree fall over one of these days. Gracie loves all the Christmas bows around the house. She will point to them and then pat the top of her head and say "bow." She doesn't quite understand yet that all bows don't go in her hair. A big hit this year has been our Fischer Price Nativity play set that Granny got for the twins. They have had so much fun playing with it and it is a good way for us to begin teaching the twins about baby Jesus and the Christmas story. I have been trying my hardest to keep up with the pieces as the first night we lost one of the wise men. The next day when putting up dishes I found him in the bottom of the oven drawer.

Gracie seeing the lights for the first time.

Bailey ringing his Bell ornament while getting ready for a nap.

Gracie and Bailey made good use out of the empty decoration bins.

Watching Daddy hang lights outside.

Our play Nativity in which we love to feed all the animals and wise men cherios.

Thanksgiving Reminders

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year and so there was alot to do in order to prepare in addition to caring for the twins. I tried not to concentrate on the house being in perfect condition because it was just common since that you can't count on one year twins to keep a house in tidy condition. With preparing ahead of time, making all the food the night before and cleaning a little at a time we were able to have a stress free Thanksgiving day. I can't remember if it was the day before or that day...but I think God was trying to help me on realizing how truly thankful we are for our little blessings. Gracie has a baby doll and I have always hated her tacky little outfit and so I pulled out one of her preemie outfits and put it on the baby doll in which she takes everywhere with her. I sat and looked at this doll thinking about how it was the size of my sweet babies when they were born and I was brought back to a very humbled and thankful momma. Another subtle reminder was when I was out at Walmart buying sweet potatoes at around 10pm the night before and I ran into a couple with a new set of twins. The couple looked so tired and worn out and so I introduced myself and we talked for a little bit about how hard twins are in the beginning. I thought to myself about the very trying year we had the year before and how thankful I was that we are where we are today.
Since everything was all prepared for the big day we started it out with doing a little art project with Gracie and Bailey where I traced their hands which is posted above. I did let them play with the markers for a little bit but once they went running towards the walls and had markers all over their mouths I thought it was probably best that maybe we continue with our art on another day! We hosted Preston's side of the family and I was grateful that his mom cooked the turkey. We were surprised by my parents who were able to come early and enjoy dinner with us. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate Thanksgiving with our loved ones.

Twin's 2nd Turkey Day

Having fun in the backyard with Uncle Parker, Aunt Nicole and new cousin Mary Elizabeth.

Bounce !

Today we had a super Saturday that started off with a family breakfast date at IHOP. Gracie and Bailey did great and seemed to enjoy the meal. Bailey loved mommy's french toast and Gracie waved to everyone in the restaurant. They also had fun waving and saying bye bye whenever anyone around us when get up to leave. We were quite an attraction! After stuffing our bellies we decided to try our first trip to Monkey Joes which is an inflatable fun zone. The twins absolutely loved it. They wanted to do all the big slides over and over again. Preston and I talked about how we were ready for a nap on our way home. It was a great place for us to all play together while letting out some built up energy from these past cold days. We will definitely be visiting Monkey Joes again soon.

Thanksgiving in Macon

Our Thankful Family of Four

Each year my Mom hosts Thanksgiving the first week of November because she says it is more important to celebrate together as a family then to celebrate on any one specific day which works out nicely for my sisters and I since we all have husbands and extended families to celebrate with. Two days before our big day this year I got a phone call and my mom did not sound like her chipper excited self as she would normally be a couple days before all her babies are coming into town, she gave me the news that she had fallen and they she broke her right ankle. She was upset that she could not be the "hostess to the mostest" that she normally is but with four girls we all chipped in and the festivities were just and fun and yummy. The weekend included games of cornhole, sleepovers with cousins, a wine tasting, bunco tournament, the Christmas in the South craft show and of course Thanksgiving dinner. As usual Gracie and Bailey had endless hours of fun with their cousins. We were excited to have my Aunt Debby, cousin Shannon and her new sweet baby girl, Chloe to join us from Florida. My mom's early Thanksgiving always seems to confuse me a little as I return home ready for awesome sales and to start decorating for Christmas and then I always get reminded that the actual Thanksgiving day hasn't really happened yet. It is fun to stretch the holiday season out a little bit and to have extra time to reflect on all of our many blessings. I am a very thankful and blessed daughter, sister, wife and mother.

Gracie and Bailey having fun in Granny's garden.

Granny and her Gracie.
Bailey is having a cookie with Gma and Gpa Grace.
All the cousins minus Addie Mae who was napping.
"Bailey, Michael, Andrew, Lauren, Molly Kay and Gracie"

Four thankful sisters!