Fun Family Photos

Happy Valentine's Day.....from the two sweetest sweathearts

What a wonderful couple of months we have had since our last blog. The boys are growing more and more each day and every day they surprise us with something. They had a Valentine's Day party at school and had way too much candy and sugar. They were hyper when we picked them up. They did a pinata and sang songs. Austin and Colby gave their teacher a box of candy and as soon as Austin gave it to her, he asked for a piece of it. So she sat all the kids down and opened her box and shared it with the kids. Our boys really like her. Colby tells her everyday when he is leaving "don't cry teacher, I be back tomorrow".

If you are wondering what 2 year olds are saying these days let me share:

I was eating dinner the other night and Colby wanted some potatoes but would not touch my green beans. I ate my last green bean and Colby said "good job Mom, high five".

A conversation between Pat and Austin:

Pat "Austin come here"

Austin "No"

Pat "Austin come see me"

Austin "No"

Pat "Why not?"

Austin "Cause you suck" (needless to say we had a chat with Natalie about using certain words around the boys).

Conversation between Austin and Alexa

Alexa "Austin would you like to take a bath:

Austin "Yes"

Alexa "Do you want to take it in Mommy's tub"

Austin "Yes, and we don't toot in the water"

Alexa "Who toots in the water?"

Austin "Shrek toots in the water and it's funny"

They both call poptarts..pimtarts

In church and school they are learning new songs, stories and believe it or not Austin's behavior is improving. He is still very dominant in class but I don't think he is visiting time out quite as much.

Sean is playing basketball and doing very well. He is the point guard and has the potential to be a really good one as he grows up. Pat is the coach and probably not at all what the kids are use too. They have been doing quite a bit of conditioning and he's even had boys crying because they have to run. He plays every Friday night and they have won most of their games. He is also starting indoor football as well. Pat is also coaching indoor football. He'll play when he is with us but probably not much when with Jennifer because she doesn't feel it is fair to their family if he plays. This is the same team he played with in the fall and will continue to play with next fall and the upcoming years. The coaches hope to really work on the conditioning and basics so they are ready this fall.

We are all doing well and staying healthy for the most part. They boys thank goodness have not brought all the germs home from school. We are looking forward to being off from work tomorrow and the boys will be out of school. We are due another big snow storm tomorrow so I don't think we will be going out.

Hope you are all doing well and Welcome home Jerry...I am sure it's so nice to be back in your home with your own stuff. The boys pray for you every night.

A Wild Crazy Christmas with Two Year OId Twin Boys

They put their hats on by themselves.....how appropriate.

I am not sure I know where to even begin. These past two weeks have been filled with a lot of fun and a lot of energy. Colby and Austin had their school program and they did a great job. They sang one song with all the kids in the school then their class (2yr olds) were going to perform a dance but it turned into a open free style dance. All the kids were doing their own dance. Austin initially was doing the correct steps but once he saw Colby break dancing he started doing his own thing as well as all the kids. It was very funny and all parents got a huge kick out of it. I'm just glad we got it on video. Austin also let everyone know his Mommy and Daddy were there because when he first went out on stage and saw us he started yelling and I do mean yelling..."hi Daddy, hi Mommy".

As we prepped for Christmas morning and Pat started prepping days in advance because there was so much to put together. The train table and train set took him a several hours alone. I worked until around noon on Christmas Eve and my dad, Grandpa, flew in that day from Arkansas as well. The boys were very excited to see him as they had been anticipating his arrival as well as Santa's. Pat, the boys and I took cookies up to the NBICU for all the families and staff. We made over 60 individual bags for each family and two large platters for the staff. It was nice to go visit and know we got to leave. The boys were very concerned about the babies that were there with the doctors. They still ask if the babies are in the hospital. It was a reminder of what little miracles we do have and how blessed we are to have them.

That evening we decided to go out to eat which we did to a nice steak place and then back home to bake cookies for Santa. Colby was responsible for pouring the milk and Austin was responsible for putting the cookies on the plate. After they read the Christmas story with Pat we tucked them in bed and finished putting the pirate ship and race car track together.

Christmas morning they were up by 4:30AM but we managed to get them to lay back down in our bed for about an hour or so. It was so exciting to see them come down the stairs Christmas morning. I thought Austin might hyperventilate when he saw his train. We let the boys have all their Santa gifts that morning and then we spent most of the day just watching them play. That evening we let them open a few more gifts from family members. We just didn't want to overwhelm them too much. They were quite upset that Santa actually ate the cookies and dranke the milk. They kept saying all morning, "but those were my cookies". The only solution was to make more cookies...so we did.


On the 26th Natalie and Sean came around noon. We had a very nice Christmas lunch and then once the boys went down for their nap we opened gifts with them. It all worked out great because each child got their own special attention and time with us.
We were very glad my dad came to visit because he has not seen the kids since this past June in Cancun and as you know they change a lot over 6 months. I think they may have worn him out though because they never sit down and rest. They are always on the go.

We got a huge snow storm on Christmas day and Pat spent more than 2 hrs out with his snow blower cleaning our driveway and sidewalk.

We hope you each had a great Christmas and we wish you all the best in 2009.

Tis the Season...

What a busy couple of months it has been for us. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with our friends, the Fontenots and Pat even arranged a Turkey Bowl that morning. The boys had their Thanksgiving Feast at their school. We've decorated our house inside and out. Decorating our tree this year was quite an unique experience. The boys wanted to touch and hold each ornament. Needless to say all the breakables are at the top and all the sturdy ones are at the bottom. They are SO excited for Christmas and we have loved experiencing Christmas through their eyes. They announce every Santa or Frosty they see regardless of where we are, they sing Christmas songs all day and night and we watch Polar Express at least once a day. We took the boys on the Polar Express Train Ride. It was so much fun. We boarded the train with our tickets just like in the book. We took a 45 min ride to the North Pole and along the way we had cookies and hot chocolate served by Santa's Helpers. Mrs. Claus made her way through the train handing our her cookie recipe. The conductor read the Polar Express book and led all the Christmas songs. Once at the North Pole we picked up Santa and he made his way around to each child to see if they were being nice and to give each one a silver bell. The boys loved the train and I'm sure we'll do it again next year.

They've seen Santa twice but have refused to sit on his lap. In fact when we told them they had to sit on his lap to tell him they want a train, they both started yelling from the jogger, "Santa, I want a train and race car". We are going to attempt one more time and hopefully get a photo.

The boys have their Montessori School program this Friday and we are very excited to see them perform. They are both doing well in school and thankfully Austin's day of biting only lasted one day. Yep, he bit 4 kids in one day and he was separated from the rest of the kids for a couple of days. He is doing much better.

We've had our first big snow storm move through and we got at least 10 inches of snow. Pat got to use his new toy...a snowblower. We got Austin and Colby all dressed up to go out and make their first snowman but they were not interested in the snow. Colby fell face first and he was ready to come back inside. Austin stayed out for a few mintues but the snow was not good enough for a snowman.

We are very excited to have my Dad coming out next Wed. for a few days. The boys are very excited and tell everyone they see.

I'll post the pics from their school performance later....we loved it and we laughed so hard. All the kids were so happy.

Arrrrrgh...Happy Halloween

Well our family had a fun and busy Halloween. The boys really seemed to enjoy it this year. Our first Halloween fun was with Stones family where the boys spent a few hours visiting and making Haunted Houses. Mrs. Jenn is so sweet and very brave to do those houses with 4 kids, ages 3 and under. They loved their houses and were so proud to show everyone that has come over. I don't think I am even brave enough to tackle that fun project with just Colby and Austin.

Friday the boys had a parade at school where the whole school walked down to main street and the stores were all waiting for them to trick or treat. Pat went along because I wanted to make sure he was keeping an eye on the boys. He actually got stuck pushing the 8 kid stroller. He said he was the only daddy there so it was up to him. He was carrying our video camera, click camera, two buckets of candy and pushing the stroller. What a trooper. This was the first day I hated being at work. I did make Halloween cookies for the class. After that Pat asked if I wanted him to come up for lunch which I jumped at because I do miss having lunch with him. Well we decided to meet at the mall because he had to get back to pick Natalie and Sean up so he didn't have time to come on base. Well what a surprise for me when he pulled in and rolled down the back windows and there were the two cutest pirates ever. I loved seeing my boys, all three of them and having lunch. It did make going back to work very very hard. The boys came home with Pat and took a good nap. Once I got home we headed to our church for the fall festival. We just decided it was better than pulling them in the wagon up and down the mountain that we live on. They had a great time eating and playing some of the games. Natalie tagged along with us prior to going to her party. Sean stayed to trick or treat with friends. He was an Army Soldier this year and Natalie went to her party as a 80's dancer.

That day and part of the night was great until about 2:00am when Austin started throwing up. I was doing all his linen and PJ laundry at that time. He then moved to our bed and at 3:00 I was doing our linen laundry. Poor little guy was so sick. He managed to sleep from about 4-6 then around 7:00 he threw up all over me so more puke laundry to do. I told Pat today I have done 6 loads of laundry and have not touched ours yet. We aren't sure what hit Austin because they didn't have any candy and Colby wasn't quite himself either. Today they are both feeling better.

It was fun to see the boys enjoying the holiday. Now we are just looking forward to Thanksgiving. By the way we do already have our Christmas lights up on the house. With snow moving in this week the company has been making their rounds to get as many houses done as possible. Most of our street is done and ready for the holidays.