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!

Mickey and Minnie's Halloween

Celebrating Halloween was a blast with Gracie and Bailey this year. I was so excited to find their costumes a couple of months ago at my twin club's consignment sale. I purchased them both for under $12! Gracie and Bailey love Mickey Mouse and so their costumes brought lots of laughs. It was fun to watch them look at each other and giggle at one another in their costumes. We were able to enjoy our costumes at a couple of different events. Their first Halloween experience was at a Trunk or Treat festivity at our local park. We met up with some of our friends but after the twins discovered that people were putting candy in their bags then they wanted to do nothing else but sit and take the candy in and out of their bags. We enjoyed attending a party in my sister Mary Ellen's neighborhood and had fun visiting with our cousins, Lauren and Andy. On Halloween night we moved our fire pit to f the front yard and Grammy and Daddy Bob joined us in handing out candy. Gracie loved handing out the candy and she would shake in excitement when she saw kids coming down the street. She waved the candy and yelled "candy" as the kids walked up the driveway. We knocked on one neighbor's door so we could officially say that Gracie and Bailey went trick or treating. Bailey discovered what candy tasted like when he bit open a box of nerds and was distracted with yumminess for the rest of the night. Experiencing the "first holidays" through our little one's eyes is so much fun and brings a new meaning to each and every festivity.

Gracie and Bailey with cousins, Lauren and Andy.

Grammy and Daddy Bob with Mickey and Minnie on Halloween night.

Visiting with our friends Joshua and Elise at the Trunk or Treat.

Bailey discovering what was in his treat bag.

Gracie handing out candy to the trick or treaters.