Big Kid Room!

On July 9th we decided to transition Gracie and Bailey's room into a big kid room. We already had the mattresses and bedding but we had been waiting until just the right time. We kept going back and forth on whether or not they were "ready" but we decided to cave in and just go ahead and do it. It was emotionally hard to say good bye to their nursery that I loved so much but I kept telling myself to concentrate on the positives and the blessing of having two healthy big kids now! We had prepared ourselves for the worst on the first night after hearing horror stories from other moms in my twin club but our babies "oops I mean big kids" surprised us and they did great. They both stayed in their beds all night and have done super ever since. Gracie just recently did discover that she can get out of her bed and help herself to books in the middle of the night but we are hoping that this will pass once her two year molar breaks through and doesn't wake her up at night. The big kid status has really seemed to help their self esteem and I am so proud that they are doing so good. Bailey has train sheets on his bed and Gracie has pink birdies on her sheets. They love to count their trains and birdies as they doze off to sleep. I am looking forward to adding some big kid decor to their room but with twins everything is doubly expensive so we have to do a little bit at time!

Celebrating the Fourth

We started celebrating the Fourth of July this year with the twins helping me to put up our flag decorations. As you can see, they were really into hanging the flag on the front door as they are fighting over it in the picture above! We also did a little art project one day where we made flags and colored them. This past Friday we headed up to Helen to celebrate the holiday with Preston's family. The twins had a great time playing with their cousin Mary Elizabeth and they loved swimming and visiting downtown Helen with their Grammy. Preston enjoyed playing golf with his dad and brothers and we were blessed to be able to enjoy a double date with Parker and Nicole while his parents watched all three little ones! We came home on Sunday and today we met our friends at the Steam Engine Parade in downtown Cumming. It was so much fun to watch the twins clap and cheer as we watched the parade. I think this was their first parade in which they have attended. Bailey especially loved watching the trains and different types of trucks that were a part of the parade. I love that Gracie and Bailey are at an age now where they are beginning to understand the different holidays and that they can join in our celebration.

Bailey and Gracie sharing baby Mary Elizabeth

Sweet Gracie and her baby doll!

Bailey cheering at his first Fourth of July Parade

Daddy and Gracie enjoying the Parade

A Mom's Dream

Following yesterday's post....We visited another new park today and it was "a mom's dream come true!" The park had a pavilion covered playground and at the top of the pavilion were large fans. The Georgia heat is something that can keep most people inside but when you have two energetic almost two year olds then there is no "keeping us inside!" If I could design a park then it would have been just like this one. In addition to the covered playground it had beautiful covered bridges that went over creeks, a gorgeous soccer field and lots of different walking paths. The name of this park is Gary Pirkle Park and it even has a community garden which I look forward to visiting with Gracie and Bailey once they get a little bit bigger. We had another fun day of playing and now we are off to pack for the mountains.

Juice and Ducks

This week seems to be the week of trying new things as I am sure you are all confused by the title! I started letting Gracie and Bailey drink out of big kid cups with no lids and they have been trying various kinds of juice which they have never had before. Until now they have only had milk and apple juice in sippy cups. This week we have tried fruit juice and orange juice in which they love. We had one little spill where a cup got knocked off the breakfast table but it was 100% worth the reaction of excitement that their faces had when they first sipped he juice. Gracie and Bailey are both so proud to be drinking out of big kid cups. We have also done something new each day this week as our usual parks and outings were getting a bit too familiar. On Tuesday we went to Suwanee Town Park and had a blast playing in the fountains and having a picnic lunch with our friends Zach and Katie. Today we found a new park called Sims Lake Park and it had a great toddler playground and then we walked to the Lake. The Lake was beautiful and it had a small man made cobblestone stream that flowed into it. I took the twins shoes off and they loved kicking and splashing in the creek. I wish I had my camera with me today to catch them having so much fun. We were able to watch the ducks swim and we fed them some of our snacks and I have never seen Bailey more excited then he was when the duck came swimming towards us. He clapped and started jumping up and down yelling "duck, duck." There was one lady sitting on the steps next to us and she was chuckling at Baileys reaction. I sat holding my two precious miracles while we had fun watching the ducks and thought to myself how blessed I am.

40 Years

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad

This past weekend we headed to Macon in order to attend a Laua Celebration in honor of my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. The party was held a church reception hall and 80 of their closest friends and family attended. I am so blessed to have parents who have worked hard to stay married and in good health for 40 years. They are not in the norm in today's society and I think it is not only a great example for their children but also for their grandchildren. It was great to get to spend time with family who traveled from out of town an to see friends who we haven't visited with in a while. The Celebration was a great tribute to a marriage that is blessed.

Ganny and Grandpa with all the grandkids.

My beautiful sisters Mary Ellen and Laura.
Our little Hawaiian Family

Uncle Mike and mischievous Molly Kay

On Grandpa's lap!

Gracie with her Gma and Gpa Grace.

INK Childrens Museum

Last week we enjoyed a fun Summer outing with our friends Zach and Katie at the INK Children's Museum in Gainesville. The Museum is set up with little rooms and each has a different theme where the children can learn and play. The kids seemed to have a fun time trying out new things and exploring a little world that was in their size!

We stopped by the post office to mail some letters.

We had a blast at the grocery store filling our buggy.

The music room was our favorite and we loved playing the piano.

Gracie was in charge while driving a real police car.

The boys picked out some good tunes in the diner.

Trying Travels

I apologize for not updating in awhile but we have been living out of our suitcases the last couple of weeks. We first went to the McFarland Family Reunion "see post below" and then came home and I worked for a week at the Hospice Inpatient Unit before we headed to the Beach House for a week. We are now home until Thursday when we will head to Macon to celebrate my parent's 40th Anniversary so as you can see we have done lots of packing and unpacking! I titled this post "trying travels" because our beach trip wasn't quite what we had hoped and we kind of felt like we were doomed during the trip as the story begins....The first full day Gracie ended up a stomach bug and a high fever. She pretty much just layed on the sofa all day and snuggled with her mommy. Two days later we were not surprised to see that Bailey had the same bug and fever. We thought all the sickness had gotten out of our system until the next day when Bailey woke up with a rash all over his body. The rash was one of the worst that I had ever seen so we headed to the pediatrics after hours. We found out he was allergic to something in the beach house and with a quick dose of Benadryl he was feeling better. We both took a sigh and I thought "what else could go wrong this trip." Well...just when the thought ran across my mind our car literally started shaking and the check engine light came on. We were in middle of no where with a car full of cold groceries, a sick baby and it was 101 degrees outside. We pulled over and had to call a tow truck in the fear of making the problem worse by driving the car. Thank goodness we had Preston's dad to come and rescue us and the help of the family with the twins when we were paying one more attention then the other because they were sick. I think honestly what was the most frustrating was that our babies behavior seemed to be horrible. It is very frustrating as a parent when you know that your children are not acting how the normally do and it presents to others like your family is out of control. Looking back we realized that they were completely sleep deprived with the time change and the lack of shade in the room to the bright early sun. We were SO happy to finally make it home that Preston and simply stood still in our house and thanked God for it's peacefulness and feeling of security. We are happy to report that since being home the twins are healthy,back to sleeping 12 hours a night, taking wonderful naps and behaving more like they typically do with respect. I do not want to sound like we were ungrateful for our vacation in any way. We certainly had good moments and we were so excited for the twins to meet their cousins; James, Justin and Jackson. It was wonderful to spend time together and with family. For now we will treasure our good memories and thank God that we all made it home safely and soundly.

This is the way we spent much of our vacation, letting sick babies snuggle

So happy to see our little ones feeling all better!

A precious game of hide and seek on the Beach

My Bailey Boy "love that smile"
Gracie enjoying the sand and waves

Yes, Bailey is eating a shell in our family pic!