Splash Pad

 

Today the twins and I hit the jack pot with finding a wonderful new park. The name of the the park is Old Atlanta Park and it is about 7 miles from our home. The park has a "splash pad" that is full of sprinklers, water guns and buckets of water that dump out. It is only $2 for fun that lasts all day. The park also had a playground that is in a nice shady area and a rock climbing/ropes course area that the kids loved to climb on. We met my friend, Katie and her kids at the park. The kids had so much fun and we are looking forward to adding this park to our daily rotation of things to do this Summer. I love that our area has so many fun things for our kids to do and I feel very blessed that I am able to have these types of experiences with them each and every day!

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

 Memorial Day Cookout 2013

 

     This Memorial Day weekend we had so much fun spending time with family. We started off the weekend with attending Parker and Nicole's house warming for their new home. Preston was their agent so it was fun to see them enjoying their new home. On Sunday Preston and I hosted a cookout at our house for his family. I was a little rushed to get the house in tip top shape as Preston was in class all weekend but everything came together beautifully and we had a blast grilling out while all the kiddos bounced. On Monday Preston treated us to a homemade breakfast of french toast. The twins were outside at about 9:30 am and they discovered the sparklers that they fell asleep too early to do the night before so we did those and then enjoyed time in the backyard doing the sprinkler and pool. I am very thankful for all of the Veterans who have died while serving our county and this weekend we all realized just how blessed we are to live so close to all of our family.

 

Melt my heart...

I just have to share this story as I thought it was so sweet. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner as we were all waiting for Preston to get home. I told Bailey how proud I was of him for having a good day and Gracie said "are you proud of me momma, did I have a good day?" I went on to say yes and how I was very proud that she had not had any no no corners and that I was proud that she had eaten all of her lunch. Gracie just sat on the floor playing for about 10 more minutes and then she said "you know what momma," and I preceded to say "what." Then Gracie said "I am so proud of you for taking such good care of us today." Needless to say my heart just melted on the spot. It sounds silly to say that it felt good to have a compliment from a three year old but it really did make me happy that she was able to verbalize her appreciation. My Gracie has always been a "words of affirmation" girl but it really helped to remind me that my words make a definite impact on my little ones.

Waiting on the brown truck!

The brown truck is finally here!

I was on the fence on whether or not we wanted to get the twins a bouncy house as alot of their friends have them and they do love to bounce. We decided that the time spent bouncing this Summer would be worth it and so I began looking online. I found a great deal for half off on this little tikes one. I love that it has a climbing wall and slide that empties into the inside of the house so that they are not constantly tracking dirt in and out. We thought about holding it until their Birthday but it seemed kind of silly to let the Summer slip away while they could be enjoying it. We showed them pictures of it and I told them that we had to stay home in order to watch for the big brown truck that would be bringing it. We were playing out back when we heard the truck pull up and they began jumping up and down screaming "it is our bouncy house truck!" We all ran in the front yard and I am pretty sure that the UPS man was amused by his greeting of two very enthusiatic toddlers! Hopefully this will help to keep up entertained this Summer and it will be lots of fun to have our friends over to jump with us.

Last Day of School!

Last Day of 3 year old preschool.

Gracie and Bailey had their last day of school today and they were very excited that  it was water day. They have been quite exhausted as they have been having so much fun this week at school. Wednesday was Red, White and Blue day and they celebrated by having a bouncy house and popsicles at school. On Thursday one of the kids in their class had his grandpa bring his horses for all the kids to ride. They ended the week with water day today. I brought in a big cookie cake that said "Happy Summer" along with little cups of ice cream. Today was bittersweet as it was the last day for seeing their friends and teachers since they are going to attend another preschool next year. I know that they will miss their friends but hopefully we can have some fun play dates with them this Summer.

Gymnastics Jubilee 2013

My Little Gymnasts!

 

Tonight the twins had their Gymnastics Jubilee which is where they perform everything that they have learned from the year. We were very excited to watch them perform and the highlight of the night was when they were awarded with their medals. They both kept looking at their medals. We went out to eat to a Mexican restaurant after where they both had to wear their medals while they ate dinner. We are very proud of Gracie and Bailey for practicing so hard this year and we look forward to continuing classes with our new friends!

 

First Camping Trip

All Packed and Ready to Camp!

As you can see our car looked like we could have survived for a month while we were camping. We learned a good lesson about how you have to pack tons of stuff in order to camp and so next time we will definitely be staying more then one night in order to make the packing worth while. We met my sister, Mary Ellen and her family to camp at Shady Shores off Lake Lanier. We pulled  into our campsite and Preston could not believe that I had reserved such a nice spot right next to the lake for about $25. We quickly unpacked and I took the kids bike riding while Preston set up our tent and the campsite. Gracie and Bailey were very excited to see their cousins: Andy, Lauren and Bella arrive and they instantly started playing and did not stop until they crashed for the night at about 7:30. The camp ground had an amazing playground which helped to keep them entertained. We grilled out hot dogs and s'mores for dessert. Preston taught Bailey how to fish for his first time ever and it brought back many memories of me fishing with my grandpa Bereyso. When it was time to go to bed and the twins were all snuggled in the tent Gracie told us, "ok we can go home now." I do not think she was quite too sure about sleeping in the tent. We told Gracie that all of us: "Mommy, Daddy, Bailey, Gracie & Dixie" would all be in the tent together and she seemed to be ok as they were snoring in about 30 minutes. The scenery of the lake was beautiful and Preston and I enjoyed spending time with Mary Ellen and Brian while also having time to chat together by the fire. I will admit that it did get a little cold at night and I was ready to go home and shower in the morning but it was one of those things that I can say we crossed off our list of "family things to do together!" We are looking forward to going camping again this Summer and hopefully we can spend a couple nights.

 

 

Night at the Carnival

So when the carnival sets up in a parking lot that you have to go by every time you drive your kids to school then there is a pretty sure bet that you are going to have to take your kids there because they will beg until you do! We met Daddy on Friday night on the way home from his work and Gracie and Bailey couldn't wait to ride the rides. There was a big, well I would say huge ferris wheel that we asked them if they wanted to ride with Mommy and Daddy. At first Bailey said no but then when we told them that we would hold their hands they decided to give it a try. Bailey and I rode in one bucket while daddy and Gracie rode in another bucket. It was so great to see Bailey's expression as we were so high that we could see the whole town of Cumming from below. Next they giggled the entire time they rode the go carts together. By the end of the night they were tired and they could both hardly keep their eyes open as we went out to dinner. Every family should have at least one night at the carnival!

 

Chattanooga Choo Choo and Dinosaurs

This past weekend we were brave and in the midst of the rain storms we traveled to Chattanooga, TN. We visited the Chattanooga Children's Museum and also attended "A Day Out with Thomas the Train." I was glad that we decided to bring our twin stroller as when we parked on the top of the parking deck we discovered that the elevator was broken so down five flights of parking garage we strolled. We also brought our rain jacket for the stroller which was great in keeping the twins dry on the walk to the museum. Inside the museum we learned all about dinosaurs, musical instruments, science and more. After the museum we headed over to the train station to catch our ride on Thomas. I was SO glad that I had purchased us all rain coats and boots as we had to trudge through deep puddles of water and mud. Bailey was scared as the loud train zipped right beside us down the track. They were both amazed while on the train and they enjoyed looking out the window. After the train ride there was a petting zoo and what is more fun then feeding goats and donkeys in the pouring down rain? After purchasing a bag of cotton candy our day was done. On the way home we stopped half way at Cracker Barrel and with full tummies and warm pajamas the twins were both sleeping in the car before we arrived home. I do not think any of us will ever forget this rainy weekend of dinosaurs and trains.

 

 

 

 

 

Pirates and Princesses in the Park

This past weekend Gracie and Bailey were so excited to go to the park in order to meet Pirates and Princesses. The even was organized by a Christian Mom's group that I a member of and it is called "Birds on a Wire." Bailey is very into pirates and swords and he wears his sword now just about everywhere we go. As we were walking up to the event Gracie told me "Mom, I have never seen Pirates and Princesses come out of the tv before!" There was also a bouncy house, popcorn and snow cones at the the event which made for a fun day in the park. Our cousin, Mary Elizabeth was also at the event and she joined in on the princess fun. "Birds on a Wire" has been a great mentoring mom's group and I look forward to getting back into a group this Fall.

 

Twin Time Bowling

 I was very excited to get Preston's sister, Kara a job for this Summer with a twin family from my North Fulton Mothers of Multiples group. I honestly did not even think about her working with a set of twins our age but they just so happen to be a perfect match for Gracie and Bailey as they are just a couple months older. We usually hang out together at least once a week and they have all become the best of friends. It is like they just get each other since they are both brother and sisters who are twins. We have had so much fun playing together. This past week we took them all bowling and it was so cute to watch them in their tiny little bowling shoes. Kara and I died laughing at the fact that it took us about 2 hours to bowl one game because their bowling balls took about five minutes to make it to the pins as they could barely lift them much less roll them down the lanes. One game was enough for them and then we headed to the arcade where they had a blast playing games. We are going to miss Aunt Kara when she heads to the Medical College of Georgia this July but I think we have made some new best friends!