Tuesday, July 29, 2008

On the road again

In a few hours I will throw the children and everything but the kitchen sink into the mini van once again and head South this time to the beautiful blue-green water and sugar white sands of Destin, Florida! Hooray! Jon will come down this evening after he gets off work. Pre-planning started yesterday and the kids come on Friday but his boss was kind enough to let him take 2 days for the beach!
This year will be totally different from years gone by. This year I will not leisurely lay by the pool for most of the day soaking up all those cancerous rays reading People ( 'cause you know laying by the pool is no good unless you catch up on Brad and Angelina!) and dipping in the pool from time to time to cool off.
Jon wont try to coax me to come out past the break with him or beg me to "just get on the surf board"! I wont be the only one on a float out in the ocean this year and I probably wont be on the beach for more than 30 minutes at a time either.




No more staying up late playing Nerts or watching some of Will's crazy movies! No more ALL DAY shopping excursions at one of the best outlet malls in the South. Don't worry though, I WILL go shopping. Just not all day!


Nope instead this year I will have the distinct pleasure and honor of pulling around two little munchkins in the pool instead of tanning. I will get to see the wonder on my little angels faces as they see the ocean for the first time.

Instead of slathering myself in sunscreen, I will be wrestling two monkeys to get sunscreen on their little bodies so they won't get fried and I wont get called a negligent mother! I will be thinking about naps and bottles and meal time and bath time and bed time and not much else. It wont be a vacation like all the ones that have gone before. It will be so much better because our children are finally here to share it with us!
Be back Saturday. Hope everyone has a good week!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Just a few favorites

I bought a blow up pool for the twins a couple days ago and finally got it blown up and took them out to play one morning. They loved it! We have well water here and it was really cold and I was afraid they wouldn't like it but it didn't seem to bother them. I did let it warm up for about 15 minutes before I put them in, but even still, it was pretty cold. I figured I'd better put a "happy" video on here just to let everyone know that we do have good days around here and I wouldn't want to be any where else in the world but here with my darlings. The "Over the rainbow" days definitely make up for the"Oh for cryin out loud" days!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Twins any one?

When Jon got home last night I ran to the door and begged him not to go back to work next week. I insisted that we could live on my famous mud pies(although I haven't made them in a few years!)and what ever wild game he could kill in the woods behind our house. I said we could ride our bicycles once our van gave out, the kids would love it! I told him I didn't mind living in our little, rented house for ever. We could totally make it work, no problem. "Oh please don't go back, Please don't go back, pleeeeeeeese."

Monday, July 21, 2008

The only thing that stays the same is
that everything changes

It is amazing how fast children grow up. One minute they are teeny tiny babies that can't do anything but cry, eat, poop and sleep. The next minute they are crawling, dancing, cutting teeth, pitching fits and having to have their cribs lowered to the last notch.


During the 2nd weekend of this month Audrey cut her first tooth and finally balanced on her knees long enough to crawl a few steps. And like I thought, once she got a taste of it she hasn't stopped. The same weekend she started clapping her hands sporadically and would twist her arms in a dance like manner whenever one of her toys would make music. All that happened in a couple days. Unbelievable.

With each passing day in Hattiesburg she just got faster and faster with the crawling and the new things wont stop coming. She dances to the muffin man when you sing it and will clap on command now. She can feed herself peach puffs and push my hands away when she doesn't want me to do something. She can pull up on her knees and last night for a fleeting moment she pulled up on her little feet. If she was animated before I don't know what to call it now. She chatters away and so many times it seems like she is trying to tell us stuff. She simply adores her brother and her daddy. And I think she likes me pretty well! I started calling her Normanette last week, you know, after Norman from Psycho! You have to of seen that movie to get why that is funny!

James is still just hanging loose and I am glad for that! He can take as long as he wants to sit up and crawl and do big boy things; mama needs a baby around for a little while longer! And if Audrey is Normanette then you better believe James is Norman. I'm not complaining, not yet any way! But poor James has the pink eye. He does not feel good and thinks he must be in my lap at all times so today has been rather challenging being here by myself. Especially after coming off a week long high of always having 6 extra pair of hands!


We had a great time in Hattiesburg. They had their first swim in a pool and just as their parents predicted Audrey took to it like a fish and James had to adjust before he liked it. Right away Audrey was splashing and kicking and laughing. James immediately leaned back with his arms at his sides and didn't move or hardly breath for about 10 minutes. Jon put a toy in the float with him and that got him interested enough to lean up. Once he relaxed he started splashing and kicking and the next day when he saw the pool he got very excited and started screeching at it!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine:
But a Broken Spirit Drieth The Bones
Proverbs 17:22
Dana and Michael Hataway are 2 of our dearest friends in the world. They came for a visit this weekend and our hearts were truly made merry! When we lived in Gray we lived right around the corner from each other and got together quite often for suppers, game nights and not to mention seeing them twice a week at church! So over the years we formed a good friendship but since moving to South Georgia we've only seen them once and have deeply missed their company!
They have 2 year old Allie and baby Joshua due in about 6 weeks. It was so much fun to watch Allie play with the twins and imagine that next year at this time the twins will be almost as big as Allie and Joshua will be crawling (or running) around behind them!


We grilled hamburgers, laughed at the children, listened to Allie's sweet little voice sing her self to sleep, told jokes until midnight and laughed harder than we'd laughed in a long time. Jon almost came out of his chair after one that Michael told! We talked about church matters and scriptures and shared lots of memories of good meetings and dear members that have since gone on to be with the Lord. I gave Dana some of my maternity clothes to finish out her last trimester with and got all sentimental while I was going through them and said "Oh, this makes me want to have another baby." Jon immediately turned around and said "Be quiet woman"! I reckon that means the clothes didn't make him sentimental. Uh, go figure!If you tilt your heads side ways you will be able to see that Allie was trying to put shoes on James' feet! She tried to put Audrey's on but Audrey was too fast for Allie and scooted away.

Despite the wide eyed, blank looks on our children's faces in all the pictures, they really had a fun time playing together. The twins were so distracted they didn't get too cranked up around bed time for once. Guys, we had a great time and miss you already. We love you!

We are heading out for the Pine Belt tomorrow so once again we will be MIA for awhile!






























Thursday, July 10, 2008

Learning New Things

Audrey Grace fed herself a bottle this morning while I was feeding her brother. I had put her down on the floor so I could feed James and she scooted over to an old bottle(from the night before)and started drinking what was left. Of course I freaked out and jumped up to grab it from her imagining in my mind what kind of diseases she was going to come down with from that old, nasty, bacteria infested milk!(I think she is gonna be just fine by the way!) Well, she looked like such a pro feeding herself I decided to give her a fresh bottle and see what she'd do with it. After a few minutes of playing with the nipple and chasing it around on the floor, she started drinking and drank 5 whole ounces by herself! If she can keep this up my job has just been cut in half!

As promised I've got pictures from New Orleans. We had a great time out there as always and me and Jon got lots of rest thanks to SuSu and PaPaw!


Aunt Mary Lou and James


We went shopping, ate TONS of delicious food (of course) played Catch Phrase a few times where some people got accused of going too slow so that the buzzer would go off on their opponent(I wont name names boys!) and we woke up the babies a few times with our shouting. If you have ever played that game, you know that it just isn't fun unless you are really loud!

Becky and Audrey


Will, Jon, and Mickey

The twins got their first view from a levee at MaMaw's house and got caught in their first thunderstorm (and got wet, which they didn't particularly enjoy) while meeting MaMaw for lunch. Uncle Will found out that James loves to look at himself in the mirror! They got to meet 2 cousins that they hadn't met before, they got to go to their daddy's home church for the first time and meet everyone there and they stayed up way past their bed time quite a few nights! All in all we had a wonderful time, made lots of memories and are looking forward to the next visit!


Jon, Will, James, Ryan
Emily, Isabella, Harrison, Amanda and Audrey

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

More Excitement


Our Summer just keeps getting busier and busier. What was supposed to be a relaxing-get-lots-of-stuff-done-enjoy-lazy-Summer-evenings in the South has turned into a constantly-on-the-go-one-thing-after-another event. My plan at the beginning of the Summer was to be gone so much that by the time Jon has to start back to school, we will be so burned out that I will be GLAD to be at home for a few months with out leaving my house except for church and the occasional trip to the grocery. Well, in less than a month my goal will have been reached! Now don't get me wrong, please. We have and will continue to totally enjoy all time spent with both our families! No regrets. Honest. Just exhaustion and lots of happy memories. Well, most of them happy. I wasn't too happy to find out what age Buddy's Wii said I was. Don't ask because I will never tell!!!

Hannah, Eric and Audrey

We got home last Wednesday night after cutting our trip to Mississippi short only to be home for 1 day before getting the call that one of my daddy's sisters had passed away and the funeral would be on Sunday at Cool Springs. So Saturday after a funeral here, we loaded up and headed north. Only to be at my sisters for 1 day before getting the call that a church member's wife had died. So we came back yesterday evening in time for Jon to make it to the visitation. We are beginning to think that for the safety and well-being of the rest of the church, maybe we should cancel all future trips! (just kidding y'all!)

Zach and James

Even though we were only in Middle Georgia for a short time and even though it was under such circumstances, we had a good time and I was overjoyed to see some of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in years! Everyone was so excited to see us and our "infamous" children that they had only heard stories about from Uncle Franklin! And let me tell you, James and Audrey really showed out for every one. They were on their best behavior which meant that they charmed everyone in the building! They got passed around to so many people that I was afraid they would eventually start breaking down but they were so happy you could tell they were totally in their element.

Matthew Audrey riding Matthew's spiderman carWe are supposed to be here the rest of the week and into the weekend. I promise that next time I will have stories and pictures from our trip to New Orleans so stay tuned!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

2 Funerals and a Preacher

In September Jon and I will have been married 5 years. Within those 5 years we have made a countless number of trips to New Orleans and Mississippi to visit family and have been blessed to never have been called to come home due to circumstances within the church. Until yesterday

Tuesday evening we got a call that a dear member had passed away somewhat suddenly and since Friday is the 4th the family wanted to go ahead and have the service on Thursday. Jon decided he wanted to leave me and the kids in Mississippi, come home for the funeral and see about the family, and then come back to Mississippi to spend the 4th and get us. Will, being the kindhearted person that he is, offered to go with Jon and drive for him. Wednesday morning we got up and headed to Mississippi so Jon could see everyone for a little while before they needed to leave. Well, as soon as we got to Emily's we got a call that another dear member had passed away. Again, somewhat suddenly. The family had not yet made arrangements so we went back and forth for awhile about whether or not we should all just go home and plan to come back in a couple weeks or if Jon should just go on by himself and come back on Sunday after church to get us. After several other scenarios like poor Harrison saying "I know, just forget about it and stay here. I don't want to have to wait that long"! Poor baby, he didn't know why we were leaving. All he knew was that he had waited for weeks for the twins to come to his house and now he hears us talking about leaving 30 minutes after we get there. Now if that doesn't make life hard I don't know what does!
As you have probably already figured out, we decided it was best that we all come home and try it again in a couple weeks. Ah well, such is the life of a pastor and his family. You just have to roll with the punches! We did get to have a wonderful in time in New Orleans though and I'll have more about that later.

Our trip home yesterday was not the best. Not only were we feeling kinda blue about having to leave Harrison and his pitiful face, we were all tired, especially James and Audrey. Time change and all the activities that go along with vacations can wear little munchkins out. Needless to say they were slightly crabby and didn't mind letting us know. We ended up stopping 6 times and the closer we got to the house, the more things started to break down. How glad we were to see the sun go down, stop for the last bottle, put their pj's on and hear Audrey give her famous "last yelp" before falling asleep! We arrived home about 11 p.m. last night and successfully transferred the youngins to their beds without their little heads popping up! And boy were they excited when they woke up this morning in their own beds! They missed their house and are currently rolling around like maniacs on the floor behind me!