ABC's - Twin Style

Tonight on the way to church, Joshua and Abby Kate sang their ABC's. A lot! After awhile, they got a little bored with the traditional ABC's and decided to mix it up a bit. They came up with a lot of different ways to sing or say their ABC's. Jackson loved chiming in on the letter E with each new style.

*ABC's like a mouse

*ABC's only to the letter G

*ABC's mom style

*ABC's tool style

*ABC's to the letter X

*ABC's like Space Dog (I think that the kids saw this at PNO and yes, Joshua "barked" the ABC's)

*ABC's giant size

*ABC's teacher style

*ABC's super fast

*ABC's I say AB, you say CD, I say EFGH, you say IJKLM, etc.

*ABC's very slow

They came up with these on their own. I love their imagination.

From Our Chair To Yours

The Start of the Season

I love baseball! I grew up an Atlanta Braves girl, but after a few years of dating Jason I quickly fell in love with the St. Louis Cardinals. I can't even begin to count the number of trips that we have made to St. Louis. I hope to do a post on all of the other parks that we visited before we started having babies. Our trips have definitely slowed down these past 5 years, but we always put forth an effort to make it to a game or two each year. We either catch the Cardinals in St. Louis, or in Atlanta. In honor of "Opening Day", I wanted to share a few pictures from our past 5 years. Jason and I love sharing the love of this game with our children. Let the games begin...

August 15, 2004
Celebrating our 5 Year Anniversary
Turner Field

October 5, 2004
2004 Division League Series
Game 1
Busch Stadium

October 27, 2004
National League Championship Series
Game 7
Busch Stadium

Going to the World Series!
Busch Stadium

April 29, 2005
Joshua and Abby Kate's First Cardinals Game
Turner Field

September 5, 2005
Joshua and Abby Kate's First Cardinals Game in St. Louis
Busch Stadium

April 24, 2006
First Cardinals Game at the new stadium
Busch Stadium

Busch Stadium

May 2, 2006
Angel Stadium

July 3, 2006
Turner Field

July 20, 2007
Just the boys!
Turner Field

July 31, 2008
Jack's First Cardinals Game
Turner Field

If I May...

Each night before bed, Jason and I have been reading a Bible story (or two) to the kids. They look forward to this time of evening more than anything else during the day. I wanted to share a few of the Bible story books that we have used because we all have really enjoyed them.

I picked up My First Message while we were out at the bookstore one day. The first thing that drew me to this Bible story book were the colorful pages and the length of the stories. Typically most Bible devotional stories are one to two pages. In this devotional book, the stories are several pages long. The text from the stories is used from The Message; it is not just a simple retelling of the story. The only dislike of this devotional book is that the story of Abraham is not shared. My First Message is for ages 4 to 8.






Joshua and Abby Kate received 100 Bible Heroes 100 Bible Songs as a Christmas gift from their friends, Lawson and Jordan. This Bible story book tells the story of 100 Bible Heroes. It also gives a Bible verse and a characteristic of a true hero with each Bible Hero. Jason and I have enjoyed reading about the great men and women of the Bible and sharing their stories with our kids. Abby Kate especially enjoyed learning about all of the people of the Bible. She can look at the pictures on the page and remember the hero and retell their story.





Recently, Jason and I took the kids to LifeWay and I ran across the My Every Day Bible Story Collections series. This series of Daily Bible Stories is a newer release. They are planning on this series containing 12 books. We got each of ours on sale for about $5 each. The kids have really enjoyed reading the stories in the Ruth & Friends book. We are looking forward to the stories in the Noah & Friends and the Elijah & Friends books. The stories in this book are much shorter, so on some nights we might read two or three. I'm very excited about this collection and am looking forward to adding to it this year. Each book also comes with a DVD that features the stories from each book and about 30 songs. These books are recommended for ages 3-7.

All Girl

Abby Kate loves having her toenails and fingernails painted. What girl doesn't? For the past two years, I have painted her nails every week or every other week. She can become quite obsessed with having her nails done and so I've had to limit our nail polish usage to the seasons of Spring and Summer. She has had a countdown going since last Fall, which totally cracks me up.

Today was the first day that I actually found the time to treat her to her first manicure and pedicure of Spring. I get so tickled with how much she turns into a little princess when I paint her nails. She loves all things girly and pink! Abby Kate especially loves being treated to her very own manicures and pedicures!

Who Needs A Gym When You Have....

...85 pounds of adorable kids.

All Things Jackson

I really think that I could write a book on "All Things Jackson". He loves to cuddle, read books, dance, play and explore. He also loves to climb. He has always been fascinated with door knobs, keys and cellphones. He has no fear, he will "work" with something until he gets it right, he never gives up and he never backs down. Jackson is his own little man!

Today, Jackson and I had a great day together. We ate breakfast, we sat down and read books together, he got out his shoes and socks to put on, he picked out his snack, he carried his own bag and his very own set of keys when we walked to the restaurant to meet Jason for lunch.

Jackson also pulled his rocking chair into the kitchen, climbed on top of my kitchen cabinets and got the "sweets" basket off of the TOP of the refrigerator!!!!

He also pulled down the kids' art basket, full of all kinds of craft projects.

He also found his way outside because someone forgot to lock the door. We found him playing in the neighbors' driveway. Fortunately we were close behind!

And, Jackson took the entire (new) roll of toilet paper and stuffed it into the toilet! At least he didn't flush!

Huv Oo

Tonight I found myself rocking Jackson to sleep. I had laid him down only a few minutes earlier and heard his little cry. I scooped Jackson up in my arms and we rocked and rocked. I rubbed his back and kept on rocking. He held my hand and played with my necklace while we continued to rock. His hands found their way into my hair and he ran his fingers through my hair. I rocked him for a long time and I didn't want to stop. I looked at his big eyes and told him how much I loved him. I thanked God for his life. And I told him again that I loved him. Over and over again. And in his sweet little voice behind his pacy, I heard, "Huv Oo". Over and over again.

I'm Calling In Sick

I need a personal day! Jackson exhausts me physically and Joshua and Abby Kate exhaust me mentally. If only I could call in sick...

On Tuesday, Jackson threw his plate of Beefaroni on the floor. Beefaroni went all over my beige carpets, the kitchen walls and the tile floor in the kitchen. I don't know if I will give him any food that is red anytime soon. Yesterday morning while I was getting ready, Jackson threw my hairbrush in the toilet. This morning, Jackson decided to also throw the container of wipes in the toilet. I guess that I need to find a safety lock for our toilets. There is no telling what else will end up in there. AND, he is working on his 2 year molars! Oh happy day!!!

I don't know what stage we are entering with Joshua and Abby Kate, but I am not liking it one bit. They are driving me (and each other) crazy by constantly nagging each other. They have also been fighting with each other non-stop. Normally they are the best of friends, but these past few days have been torture for me. The other day I made them sit down together and hold hands until they were happy and giggling and nice to each other. I don't know if I should constantly break up their fights or if I should let them work it out. Right now, I'm doing a little of both. I get in the middle of it when it goes a little too far, but I also try to let them work things out on their own if they can.

I love my babies with all of my heart, but I need a time out! Its just been that kind of a week around here. At least tomorrow, Jason and I will get to go out for lunch with Jackson. I'm thinking Olive Garden! And tomorrow night, we have Parents' Night Out at church, so we get to go out on a date! Woo Hoo!

The Tide Has Turned

After Jason and I returned home from our honeymoon, we stopped off to visit with our families before moving 4 hours away. We had so much fun sharing our videos from San Diego and Los Angeles with our families. Because of the time difference it never really worked out for us to call home. We learned towards the end of our honeymoon that my parents had placed their home on the market and they had 3 offers above their asking price within a couple of days. On day 3, they sold the home that they had built when I was in the fourth grade. I was very shocked and a little sad that my childhood home would no longer be ours, but I was happy for my parents nonetheless.

I was able to spend one final night in my bedroom (with my husband of a week - talk about weird!) before we moved on to our new apartment. Jason returned to the Hendersonville Church that night where the youth ministry was having one final goodbye for all of the summer interns. I stayed home with my parents packing those last minute things to load into our cars.

My parents had the best going away gift waiting for us (as if they hadn't done enough already) . While we were away on our honeymoon, my parents had gone to Sam's Club and loaded us up with all the essentials. I'm talking shampoo, toliet paper, paper towels, a laundry basket, Tide, Downy, bandaids, toothpaste, toothbrushes and loads more. I absolutely LOVED this gift from them (I'm just a simple girl like that).

That box of Tide lasted us six months easily, but every six months I returned to Sam's Club to buy more Tide. Five years later, our laundry doubled with the addition of our twins. Jason and I frequented Sam's more often during those early years buying plenty of diapers and Tide. Then we added another baby to our party and the amount of laundry has reached the level of insanity! I don't know what it is about our party of five, but there is never an end in sight with the laundry! If I don't do at least one load every day, before I turn around I will have four loads piled high waiting to be washed.

Gone are the days of a massive box of laundry detergent lasting me half a year. My wonderful $27.85 box of Tide now lasts me two months tops!

Our Trip to the Aquarium

On Saturday, we visited the Chattanooga Aquarium with my parents. PawPaw and Nana had never been to the Aquarium in Chattanooga and the last time that we visited, Jackson was only 4 weeks old. The kids loved getting to spend the day with their PawPaw and Nana. They had so much fun looking at all of the fish. Abby Kate loved the sting rays, but more importantly she loved watching her Daddy feed a shark in the sting ray tank. I think that she told everyone at church today about her Daddy feeding a shark! Even though the shark had no teeth, she is one proud little girl. Joshua's favorite was the penguins and Jackson loved watching the baby turtles. We all had such a fun time together!

Warning: Lots of pictures below!

Guys' Night Out

Jason and I have had the best time spending one on one time with Joshua and Abby Kate. A few weeks ago, Abby Kate and I enjoyed our Girls' Night Out to the circus and on Tuesday night Jason and Joshua enjoyed their Guys' Night Out to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I asked Jason to write this entry for me so that I could have it for my blog book. I am so glad that we have made the time to spend with each child one on one. We all truly treasure those times and we've made some great memories along the way.


Joshua and I had a blast at the Harlem Globetrotters game Tuesday night. Or, as Joshua would say, the "Chlobetrotters". I guess "Harlem Globetrotters" is a mouthful to try and say!

We loaded up and made our way to the VBC for the big game. Joshua was really interested in the "other" team that the Globetrotters would be playing against. "Who are they? What are their names?" When we pulled into the parking lot, he said, "Wow, Dad! There's like 50,000 people here!"

As we were standing in line, we ran into our friends Allen and Katie. Joshua and Allen are big buddies and they enjoyed talking before the game. We entered the arena and quickly realized our seats were at the very top...the next to last row! The steps were so steep and there was no handrail, so I had to carry Joshua all the way up to the top. But we could still see the action from where we were, so we were pleasantly surprised.

Our favorite part of the night was probably watching the teams warm up. The Globetrotters did all kinds of trick shots and fancy dribbling moves. One of the players (a tall forward nicknamed "Highrise") put on quite a show by dunking the ball, hanging on the rim, and then lifting his legs up over his head until he was dangling upside down. Joshua thought that was really cool! We rooted and cheered for the Globetrotters as they defeated their enemies, the Washington Generals.

Best part of the night: On our way into the game, he turned to me and said, "Dad, I love you for taking me to see the Harlem Chlobetrotters."




Jackson's outing is coming up soon.

Our Day at the Zoo

Last year, we took a trip to the Birmingham Zoo during Spring Break. Today we continued our Spring Break tradition of visiting the animals. I think that all of Alabama decided to visit the zoo today as well. Every Tuesday, you can get in to the zoo for 1/2 price. With a family of 5, we love 1/2 off days. Jackson is really fascinated with animals right now, so I was really looking forward to this visit to the zoo with him. The weather was perfect and we had such a great time with our friends. Here are some pictures from our day at the zoo.

Joshua and Jackson getting ready to see the animals.

Jackson

Joshua

Petting a goat

Abby Kate and Jason

Such fun times together

Jason and the boys

Enjoying the sea lion show with Joshua
(The sun was just a bit on the bright side).