"Sand & S'mores" Obsession Day 5

We awoke much earlier then expected today because Gracie was ready to play at 4am. She was screaming and Aunt Paula came into our room to offer to help and Gracie immediately stopped crying, reached her arms out to Aunt Paula and started laughing. She obviously remembered that her cousins were here and she thought it was time to play! We decided to take Gracie and Bailey down to beach to spend time by the ocean today. Gracie seems to enjoy the water and waves a little more then Bailey. He is still kind of shy about the sounds of the waves crashing. Bailey skipped his morning nap this morning and so he played in the pool on the deck for about 3 hours. He was a great little sport and enjoyed lots of one on one time with mommy while his sister was sleeping. Gracie discovered animal crackers for the first time today and she loves them! She usually turns away from any type of solid food but today I was eating some and she grabbed one and kept wanting more and more. We enjoyed dinner in tonight as it was Laura and Ken's night to cook and they prepared a wonderful meal of summer salads with yummy s'mores for dessert. Preston made a fire on the beach and the kids and big kids had a great time by the fire.

Gracie and Bailey enjoying their little spot by the ocean.

Gracie and Bailey love their beach umbrella

I can't believe my sweet little one's can walk while holding on to mommy
So proud of my Bailey boy

Family fun in the ocean

Daddy and Gracie jumping in the waves

Mommy and Daddy enjoying the beach fire while the twins are sleeping!

"Family Pics" Obsession Day 4

We had a fun day today of playing on the beach and in the pools on the deck. Gracie waved by by for the very first time to aunt Mary. The twins are having so much fun with their cousins and I do not know what I am going to do when we get home to entertain them as they have gotten use to nonstop entertainment. Gracie woke up from her nap today to have all five of her cousins standing around her pack and play. They then took her out on the porch to enjoy the swing. Bailey missed the picture because he took an extra long nap with his granny snuggling by his side.


We love all of our hand-me down clothing and it is so much fun because so much of it is matching. Today Molly Kay and Gracie wore their matching anchor outfits. Gracie absolutely adores Molly Kay and loves hanging out with the big girls.

Cousins Andrew and Michael enjoyed their boat in the ocean.

Family picture day at the beach is always hectic to say the least. We usually try to do it on the the night that we decide to all go out to eat since everyone is getting showered and dressed already. Just to get us all outside at the same time is a big ordeal much less trying to snap a picture of 7 little ones but the pictures always seem to make the experience worthwhile.

We enjoyed going out to eat with the family at a local restaurant that we call the Marina, it is actually named Tacky Jacks but it is at a Marina. It is just about two miles from the beach house so the travel is great and it has a beautiful view of the sunset. Gracie and Bailey sat in highchairs at a restaurant for the very first time. My babies are getting so big! They looked so grown up sitting up in their highchairs. The seafood was delicious as usual.

"Zoo & Date" Obsession Day 3

We woke up today and the ocean was still which meant that it was going to be HOT and it was. We decided to skip the beach in the morning and take our cousins to one of our favorite places, the zoo. We had lots of fun looking at all of the animals and feeding the ones that we could. There was one monkey that Michael made faces at and he went a little crazy, it gave us all a good laugh. The twins were great sports even though it was extremely hot. Bailey enjoyed a snow cone with grandma to help cool him down. Bailey takes after his daddy and sweats alot! Gracie loved riding on the animals at the zoo and I think we will be hoping on a few before shopping because her smiles were priceless. We returned home and got ready for our date night. We all decided we will take turns babysitting and going on dates and tonight we joined Mary and Brian on a date at one of our favorite restaurants, The Oyster House. We met up with Laura and Ken at Lulu's after our date and enjoyed some good Jimmy Buffet style music. The twins had a good report when we returned home and enjoyed a night spent with cousins.

Bailey enjoying his snow cone at the zoo.

Mommy and Gracie checking out the grizzly bear

Gracie and Baily riding on the zebra
"there faces were priceless when daddy put 50cents in"

Gracie riding with her cousins Molly Kay

and AndrewMommy and Daddy before date night

Obsession arrival and Day 2 !

The bags were packed and waiting in the hallway when Preston arrived home on Friday afternoon. Our task looked mountainous...the get all of the bags to fit into the car or on top of the car. The task was also made more difficult by thunderstorms outside. We finally got the car packed and fed the twins their night time bottle and then pulled out of the driveway at about 8:30pm. We arrived at the beach house at 2:15am and we didn't hear a peep out of the twins the entire trip! Preston said that it was the best idea we ever had and that we will never again drive to the beach house during waking hours. The first day was spent unpacking bags and helping all of our family get situated into the house. The faimily includes, my parents, my oldest sister Laura and her husband Ken; Mary Ellen and Brian, and their children Lauren and Andrew; Paula and Chad and their three children: Michael, Molly Kay and Addie Mae. Including us and Gracie and Bailey we equal 10 adults and 7 children all together in one home for one week! We enjoyed the day by playing in the pools on the deck and had a fun night eating pizza. Gracie and Bailey were so excited to see their cousins and were entertained until they went to bed.

Day 2 started at 5:30am since the twins are still on Georgia time. We woke up, did our normal routine of washing bottles, making bottles, eating breakfast and then went on a walk before our morning nap. At 9:00 it was already steaming outside. Preston and I were able to enjoy a wonderful two hours soaking up the sun while the twins took their morning naps. Gracie and Bailey had so much fun playing in the pool with their cousins on the deck for hours. We then enjoyed watching the birds because Molly Kay and Michael decided to feed them spicy nacho doritos "poor birds they probably had tummy aches" but Gracie loved the flocks and giggled as they flew above our heads. Bailey enjoyed eating his very first popsicle with his cousins and he ate the entire thing and actually was fussy because he wanted more. We decided that each family would take a night to cook dinner and tonight Mary and Brian stuffed us with yummy Mexican. In the evening Gracie enjoyed watching her cousins hunt for crabs on the beach and Bailey was read lots of books by his aunt Paula. I have to say that my sweet babies looked adorable in their matching outfits that Aunt Mary brought them back from Hawaii. Gracie and Bailey both had red tired eyes by the end of the night and melted in our arms after a busy day of playing at the beach.

We started the day with Lauren feeding Gracie her breakfast of yogurt.

Gracie ate every bite for her cousin Lauren!

Bailey loved his new pool toys and Gracie and Addie Mae wore their matching swimsuits.

Bailey enjoyed teething on the mermaid's tail while he plays with Lauren
Gracie watching the birds in amazement

Grandma and Bailey enjoying some fun in the sun
Lauren and Gracie in their Hawaiian dresses

Most adorable twins ever!Mamma's boy and Daddy's girl !

Can't wait for our fun tomorrow!

Switchover and Crash !

I apologize for the delay in posts....I have been busy with what I call our "switchover." Our switchover is when I change all the twins clothing to the next size up. So it might sound easy but it is a very involved process and takes alot of time. I started with Gracie's clothes and first removed all of her 6-11 month clothing. After I pulled the clothes then I had to divide them into the right bins. We are very blessed with hand me downs and Gracie is spoiled to say the least with the amount of clothing that she has which means ALOT of work for mommy. I think Gracie had four tubs full of 12 month little girl clothing. I then sorted out the clothing to make sure it was in the right season, labeled the tags so we know who to return it to, washed it, folded it and finally placed it in her closet and dresser. Then I did it ALL OVER again for Bailey's clothing! It is about a 3 day process. I was all done and so excited to update my blog and was sitting at the computer when it flashed a lovely "your windows file is either corrupt or missing" which basically meant our computer was fried! Thank goodness the majority of our precious pics were backed up on our flash drive but for the ones that were not I had to copy individually off the Walmart website. We are finally at the beach with lots of help and I am excited that I will have the chance to update you all on our latest and greatest moments!
Some more of our "first moments" and Memorial Day will be posted when we return home!

Birthday, Strawberries & Doggie

My two precious presents!

We traveled to Macon this past weekend in order to celebrate my 29th Birthday with my family. I always love going to Macon because it means that Gracie and Bailey will be able to play with their cousins who they love so much. We drove into town late Friday night after the twins had already fell asleep. On Saturday we played outside and then our cousins arrived for lots of fun. The cousins including, Michael, Molly Kay, Andrew, Lauren and Addie Mae always provide nonstop entertainment for the twins. Saturday night we had a cookout and Birthday party. I loved being able to blow out my candles while holding my two most precious presents! On Sunday we visited a strawberry patch where we picked lots of yummy strawberries. At the strawberry patch they had a big picnic area, a huge playground and animals that we could feed. We let the twins taste their very first sample of ice cream and their faces told us that it may be a little too cold for their liking but as the Summer continues I am sure they will begin to like it a little more. While eating our ice cream, Gracie surprised us with her very first word, scroll down to find out what she said! I could not have asked for a more fun Birthday weekend celebrating with those that I love.

Enjoying Grandma's beautiful backyard.

The girl cousins!


Hanging out with our cousins, Michael, Molly Kay and Addie Mae.
Our first trip to the Strawberry Patch.
Grandma and her sweet little berries!



Bailey tasting ice cream for the first time!

Cousins Lauren and Andrew showed the twins how to pick strawberries.Gracie said her very first word...."Doggy"

Mama's Day

This Mother's Day I felt amazingly blessed to be a mother. It was very surreal to think about how last year I was able to celebrate that Gracie and Bailey were in my belly and this year that they are beautiful nine month old babies. I absolutely love everything about being a mommy.
I have to admit that I have always dreamed of the perfect Mothers Day that you see in the movies or on tv; you know the one where the mom wakes up to breakfast in bed, takes beautiful pictures with her babies at church where she wears a flower on her shoulder and then she gets whisked away to a spa for the day. Well my Mother's day looked a little different... I was up at 4am with a sick baby, up at 6:45 am feeding two babies, unloaded the dishwasher, prepared 10 bottles, restocked the changing table, did two loads of laundry, got peed on and puked on all before 9am. Unfortunately we were not able to attend church because Gracie and Bailey still had colds and we were worried about them possibly catching something else. I secretly wanted to be able to stand up so bad in church when they asked all the mommies to be recognized.
This is just what the Mother's Day of a mama with twins looks like! With all this being said, my day was perfect!
I left out of the above that I woke up to the baby monitor to hear my sweet Bailey saying "Mama" for the very first time. How awesome is that! Of course I ran to him and gave him a million kisses. Preston helped the twins surprise me by leaving matching "I love Mommy" picture frames and cards in the play room. We planned a picnic in order to celebrate the day and visited a new park to us called "Pooles Mill Park." The park was pretty and we had lots of fun. The day could not have been more beautiful. I loved that all the other moms greeted me with Happy Mother's Day, it was kind of like a secret society or something by the way we all felt united. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, took lots of fun pictures, watched the waterfalls and played on the playground. That evening we visited Preston's parents and the twins had fun playing with their Grammy who is an amazing mother and grandmother. We do not know what we would do without our Grammy. She is always so willing to help and loves her grand babies more then anyone I know.
I can't end my post without recognizing my own mom who is a terrific mom as well. I think this pretty much sums it up...who else would sleep on a hospital sofa bed for every Monday-Thursday night for 7 weeks so their baby didn't have to be alone, yes enough said! Besides that my mom has truly been a lifesaver this year when I have needed it the most. I am very blessed to have her in my life.

Mother's Day in the park.

Mommy and her sweet Gracie.
Watching the ducks from the beautiful bridge.
Doubly Blessed Mommy!

Swinging in the park.

His smile made my day perfect!

Mommy having fun with her babies!