Kinsey Family Farm PreK Field Trip

 Today I accompanied the twins PreK class on a field trip to Kinsey Family Farm. It was a chilly day on the farm but it was beautiful with the sun trying to warm things up as the day progressed. The twins were so excited for field trip day. Gracie thought she was going to be able to milk a cow and then drink the milk....as she loves milk but that really was not the case as we were going to a tree farm. While at the farm we met joined with their other classmates. We started with learning about trees and the kids were able to help with planting one. Next the class went on a hay ride to a pond where we stopped to feed the fish. We also listened to a story about a farmer of pumpkins and we were able to feed the animals at the farm. The class ended the day with a picnic lunch. It was great to see the twins interact with all of their friends and teachers as they are quite the little socialites.

Pumpkins at Church

Mountain Lake Church Pumpkin Patch 2013

 

Our church has a Pumpkin Patch each year where the kiddos can enjoy playing in the pumpkins in between services. The church also has photographers who take family photos and post them to the church website. The court yard makes for a fun place to mingle with other church members while the kids enjoy the pumpkins. We are so blessed to be a member of a church who that really focuses on its members having fun at church while connecting with one another.

Farmer Day at Pre K

Gracie and Bailey's new school is wonderful and they have so many "special days" planned to make the year fun for the little ones. Their first special day was Farmer Day where they were able to dress like farmers. At school they enjoyed a true Farmers breakfast that was complete with pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit and all the fixings. The twins thought it was so funny that they were going to be able to eat breakfast at school. They had a great day talked about how much they enjoyed their pancakes.

 

Picture Day

Fall Picture Day is always so hard because the weather is so funny. I do the same thing every year and wait until the very last minute to plan the twins outfit and then the day before pictures I find myself running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I am not sure why I always procrastinate or even make such a big deal of the day but somehow the twins usually turn out looking adorable. This year they were all into looking handsome and pretty for their big day. I can't wait to see how their picture turns out but we had fun getting all dressed up in the process!

Fair with Mom

Preston was not able to make it home in time to take the twins to the fair and so I was flying solo in the task. I knew earlier in the day that it was just going to be me or that I could wait until we could all go together but the twins were "dying" to go and so I decided to be a brave momma and take them on my own. We stopped by the ATM on our way to get some cash as I knew we would need some as usually Daddy is our "money holder." After paying for parking, my ticket into the fair and for their ride bracelets I realized that I was already completely out of cash. I was already missing Preston because I knew that he would have projected how more accurately how much money we were going to need but luckily I found an ATM and we were covered with snack money for the night. The twins rode just about every ride that their height allowed them to ride. We stayed longer then I had expected as they were having so much fun. I called Preston and informed him that he was on his own for dinner as the twins and I decided that we would enjoy some yummy fair food for dinner. After dinner the the twins were allowed to chose a dessert. Gracie chose a rainbow snow cone and Bailey picked a funnel cake. We said and enjoyed our yummy desserts before ending our trip to the fair with a visit to the petting barn where we fed the animals. The twins were exhausted to say the least by the time that we arrived at the car but we made it home where Daddy was in the drive way to help with carrying our exhausted babies into the house. We missed Daddy while at the fair but I am glad that I decided to be a "brave Momma" and make some memories with my little loves.

Our New Home

We closed on our current house and on our new home all on the same day which was September 25th. Because we had to be out of our current house about a week before we closed due to the final walk through we ended up moving all of our belongings into Preston's parents basement. Yes, our entire house was moved into one basement. Preston and I worked every weekend for about four weeks and did a little bit each weekend and so the move really wasn't bad at all. On our big moving day we did have lots of family who came to help with the really big furniture and the final things that were lingering in our house. For one week, Preston's parents were very gracious and allowed us to live with them while also storing all of our belongings. The twins were in school so it was a pretty easy week as they were occupied with school each day. We closed on our homes on Thursday and on Friday we hired movers to move all of our big furniture into our new home. We still took lots of loads ourselves but somehow we along with the help of family were able to to get everything into our new home. I was overwhelmed by the number of boxes that were going to need unpacking but we were happy that we were finally in our new home.

 

New School

Before putting the house on the market I decided to move the twins to a new school for the following year. I liked the teachers and curriculum at their previous school but I was not happy with their class size and I had heard wonderful things about First Baptist Cumming Weekday. I registered them super early as I had also been told that is hard to get into the school and that if you do not register early that their is a huge waiting list on the first day of registration day. The school was about 15 minutes from our home so it was a little but further but I was willing to drive the distance to get the twins into an excellent preK. Right before school started we got the contract on our new home and I was so excited that it was only 3.9 miles from their new school. On open house day we met the family of a little boy in the twins class who only lives a couple doors down in our new neighborhood. The distance to the school from our new home and the little friends/neighbors confirmed that everything is falling in place beautifully. On Gracie and Bailey's first day of school we were in the middle of packing up our old house and things were once again hectic. Gracie fought to bring her baby in the car and I decided to "pick my battles" and so that is why her baby is in our first day of school picture.

Soccer!

Gracie and Bailey were so excited to begin playing soccer. I signed them up to play at a christian sports league which is at Creekside United Methodist in Cumming. I wanted so much to volunteer as their coach but I knew that I would be way over my head with the move and all so I decided to give myself permission to sit this season out. There are 10 kids on their team and they were given black and white uniforms and so the team voted on calling themselves "The Sharks." Soccer is Gracie and Bailey's very first team sport and they seem to be doing good. Bailey seems to be a little more aggressive and into the game then Gracie as he usually never misses an opportunity to play in the game. Some games Gracie is more or less interested depending on the day. She does love to give mom and dad a big thumbs up on the field any time she does something good. It has been a fun season watching Gracie and Bailey improve and unite with their friends on the field.

Officially Under Contract

We came home from the beach and Preston placed the "Under Contract" sign on our real estate sign in the front yard. We were blessed by only having the house on the market for two weeks but those two weeks seemed like forever. Keeping a house clean with two little ones is not the easiest task. We all worked together and things luckily fell into place!

Blurry Beach Trip

Our Beach Trip in August was pretty much a blur. We had great weather and fabulous company but our trip was hectic. We were very glad to make it through the car ride with two very anxious four year olds. Gracie and Bailey must have asked "are we at the beach yet" about a million times. The second day we were at the beach is when things got hectic...as we received an offer on our home. Thank goodness Preston's dad has a computer, printer and scanner at the beach house because they definitely were important. We had an offer to review and we decided to make a counter offer. The counter offer led to us having another day of waiting anxiously to see if they would accept the terms. We then had a signed contract on our home and we decided to put an offer on a home that we had luckily seen once the day before leaving to go out of town. Our drafted offer then led to several other days of anxiously waiting and checking emails. By the last day of the trip we had a signed contract for the purchase of our house and we had a signed contract for the purchase of our new home. In the midst of all of the reviewing, negotiating and signing we attempted to enjoy our vacation. The ocean and views have never provided as much peace as they did on this trip. I hardly took any pictures of the kiddos which they probably enjoyed because they can not stand when I am making them pause for a photo. The twins probably didn't have a clue about what was going on with our house but they had fun. They stayed on the beach ALL DAY LONG and played in the ocean and the sun until their little bodies were slap worn out. They had a wonderful time with their Gineris cousins; James, Justin and Jackson who we do not get to see enough. The boys were so sweet to the twins and they made them feel extra special by doing thoughtful things like making treasure hunts for them and taking them crabbing for their first time. At the end of our vacation we knew we were going home to lots of work but we had been somewhat replenished by the waves and the sun.

 Taking a break from the long car ride



 

Cousin reunion at the beach house

4 Year Old Stats

I did not look forward to taking my babies to their 4 year checkup. I had heard terror stories from other mom's that it was the "worst check up ever" due to all of the immunizations that they have to get. All of my friends told me "just send dad." Luckily Preston was able to meet us and he was good moral support. I decided to be truthful with the twins and I told them that they were going to have to get shots and that they would hurt but only for a minute. Well...my babies surprised me and they did AWESOME. They did not even shed a tear and they were so brave. The nurses commented on how well they did and stated that they did "exceptionally." I was so proud of my babies for making it through the shot part and I was also thankful for a great report from their pediatrician who stated that it was hard to believe that these were preemie babies because their stats were not reflective at all of their birth weights. They both passed their vision and hearing and they will not need another immunization until they are 7! I was very glad to have this appointment behind us! Their stats from the appointment are below:
Gracie: 37pds(67.2%) 41 3/8inches(83.77%); Bailey 37pd(60%) 40 7/8 inches (65%). True lil miracles!

4th Birthday Celebration

4th BIRTHDAY BASH CELEBRATION!

We celebrated Gracie and Bailey's 4th Birthday with a party at the Splash Pad at Old Atlanta Park. It is a pretty new park that has an awesome splash pad, a playground and a ropes course. We had a water/fish theme and it was alot of fun. We played in the sprinklers, enjoyed lunch and cupcakes and then moved to the playground and ropes course. The twins loved having all of their cousins and friends together in one place. My sister Laura, made an adorable shark that held the fruit. The party favors were super easy as I filled up sand buckets with summer toys and goodies. We were very blessed with a beautiful day to celebrate our two four year olds!

 

We are 4!

Trying to sell a house and planning a 4th Birthday party just about drove me over the edge! We had been working frantically on trying to get our house in order to sell it but on August 2nd I took a break and vowed to concentrate solely on my babies and to celebrate them turning 4! They awoke to a decorated bedroom door with streamers hanging down. When they ran down stairs they found Birthday presents and we of course celebrated with our traditional Birthday doughnuts. I took them to the Cumming aquatic center that day where we spent the day swimming in the lazy river and playing in the water. This Birthday was fun because their gifts reflected their true personalities. We had light up swords, cowboy boots, tiara's and kitty cats that walked and meowed! It was a wonderful day celebrating my babies turning 4!

 

 

 

Conversation of my life!

We came home from Macon and I was sitting on the sofa with Preston one night and he looked at me and said "can I put our house up for sale?" I looked and him and exclaimed "WHAT!" He replied that he had been studying the market as an agent on the side and that he had decided that now was the time to sell if we wanted to sell. I became a little frazzled and told him that it takes any woman some time to get a house in shape for people to walk through and inspect. He saw my point and said that I had a week to get things in tip, top shape. I do not think that I have ever worked as hard as I did that week. I literally cleaned every nook and cranny while taking load after load of excess to goodwill. I even cleaned all of our blinds which was a very daunting task. I have to be honest and say that my heart was not 100% invested in selling as I loved our home. It was our home where we first brought our babies home and where we had made so many memories. I loved our home but I also trusted my husband and decided to put my faith in him and his decision to sell!

 

Huge Water Slides

We had our very first water park experience while we were in Macon. I have to be honest and say that ever since I was little I have not been a fan of water parks. I dislike big open slides in that I have always had a fear of flying right off of them. As a child I can remember going to a water park as my skinny little self and my back bone would be so sore from being scratched while going down the slides. I decided to "chalk it up" for my babies and give it a try as everyone deserves one experience at a water park. This park was just north of Forsyth and was next to High Falls Park. It had two humongous water slides and I was shocked that my babies wanted to go down them and that they survived going down them. After their first time there was no stopping them as they wanted to go again and again and AGAIN! They loved it and had a blast with their big cousins, Molly Kay and Lauren. The twins even talked me into going down the slide once...and once was enough for me! We enjoyed lunch and snow cones at the park and all the little ones were tuckered out by the end of the day.

Summer Fun at GranMacon's

 

 

Unfortunately it rained on July 4th this year and so our trip to Helen, GA was cut short due to the icky weather. I was so relieved to see sunshine as we drove into Macon after we decided to cut our trip short. Preston ended up staying in Helen with his family since he had to return to work the next day so just the twins and I packed up and headed to GranMacon's. My sister Mary Ellen and her family were also in town in order to celebrate baby Bella turning one year old. The twins had a blast playing with Lauren. Addie Mae came down with a stomach virus and so we were not able to spend as much time at Granny's with the Cobbs until later in the week. We had a blast playing in the sprinkler, making snow cones and going to the movies. Bailey was so funny the day of Bella's party because he wanted to keep his party hat on all day. He looked like a little unicorn as you will see in the picture below. Since the 4th was rained out we decided to celebrate a late 4th by doing a couple sparklers which almost to of gave GranMacon a heart attack!

 

Our First Movie

In July we took advantage of the free movies and we attended our very first movie. The movie was Rio 2. I have to say that I was quite nervous to find out if the twins would be able to sit through the movie. They did pretty good all in all and we made it through the movie. We did make about 4 trips to the bathroom which was not very fun getting up, down and out in a dark theater but I can say we survived our very first movie!

Early Mornings and Late Nights

The days of Summer are long but we have lots of fun! It becomes so hot in the middle of the day that we try to stay inside during the hottest part of the day unless we are in the water. Sometimes we eat breakfast and head straight out to the playground in our pjs in order to beat the heat. Usually by 10 o'clock the sun is out in full force and we head in for a snack. This past weekend we were at Grammy and Daddy Bob's while celebrating family Birthdays and we were up a little late. While at the dinner table Gracie started jumping up an down and pointing to the lightning bugs outside. She could hardly wait to get her shoes on to capture the little flying friends. I wish I would have gotten her reaction to them on camera because it was priceless. I love that the little things in life can bring such joy to kids. It was their first time catching lightning bugs and we stayed out for about an hour while they chased them around Grammy's front yard. I was glad that we ended up staying up late since it turned into such a fun night.