Twin Squash

Last week my mom and Katherine went to visit our Uncle Don and Aunt Corrine who live outside of Spartanburg, SC.  They have a really nice garden and gave my mom a lot of vegetables from their garden to bring back home.  Mom said that she and  Aunt Corrine were in the garden picking squash when Aunt Corrine spotted a twin squash.  She and mom wrote Atticus and Isaiah's names on them for fun.  Mom brought it over for us to laugh about and then to eat.  :)  Here are a few pictures of our twin squash.  I didn't tell the boys that we are going to cook the squash!  

The Twin Squash

Mom with Atticus, Isaiah and the twin squash

Father's Day/Mom's Birthday

Aunt Allie, Dan's sister came into town this weekend to visit.  Her visit was providential, she was so helpful to us.  Isaiah had a runny nose that started late Friday afternoon.   He ran a fever and woke up several time during the night, so we decided to take him to the Saturday clinic of our pediatric group.  Since Atticus was also starting to get the sniffles we took him as well.  Aunt Allie helped me take the boys to the doctor because Dan had not felt well all week.  At the appointment the doctor discovered that Isaiah had an ear infection in one of his ears and I honestly cannot remember which ear it was...isn't that terrible?  In my defense I will say that it is hard to keep up with four ears, especially when they kept turning their heads because they did not want to have their ears checked.  Isaiah got an antibiotic and we pulled out the humidifier to to try help them breath better at bedtime.  Thankfully they slept well Saturday night.  Since Dan and I were both very tried from our late night partying with Isaiah we were so thankful to have Allison there on Saturday to help entertain the kids.  

Playing at the gate

Playing in the pool

Playing in the tub

Sadly Aunt Allie had to go back to Hilton Head on Sunday, the time with her was so great.  My family came over for lunch on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day and my Mom's Birthday.  My dad surprised my mom with a Wii.  Never in my life did I think that my mom would get excited about a video game system!   My mom is not a t.v. person, nor does she like video games.  But she loves the Wii.  She has enjoyed using ours whenever she comes over, so my dad thought that it was time for her to have her own Wii.  Side note: My dad hooked up my mom's Wii to their T.V. at 5:30 am this morning.  He is an early riser...he said he didn't have anything else to do that early in the morning.

Mom with her Wii

I got Dan a bocce ball set for his Father's Day gift.  Atticus and Isaiah helped him open it up.  They loved playing with wrapping paper.  They look so solemn in the picture below because they did not feel very well.

Daddy with Isaiah and Atticus

They perked up once they got to play with the wrapping paper

I bought my dad a manual pencil sharpener.  What a great gift right?  My dad does a lot of carpentry work in his shed and always uses a pencil when he is measuring things...he had hinted around that he wanted a manual pencil sharpener at Christmas but I had already bought his present so I wanted until F-Day.  I actually didn't think that they made them anymore, but if you are ever in the market for a manual pencil sharpener they sell them at Office Depot.  After all the gifts were opened we managed to grab a group shot of all of the kids together with their dad's and papa.

Daniel, Atticus, Dad, Isaiah, Katherine, Ryan and Thomas

Spit Shine!

I'm hoping the boys will be neat freaks like me.  I think I can count on Isaiah because he was cleaning my cymbal stand with his slobber the other day.  A few weeks ago we allowed the boys to crawl over near my beloved drum set.  It's been a lot of places and seen a lot of battle so I'm not worried about the boys messing it up.  One day Isaiah made his way over to it and starting licking one of my cymbal stands.  I guess the cold metal felt good on his gums.  He had never licked anything with such intensity before.  I probably should have stopped him but I wanted to get some video to laugh at before ending his fun.   Don't worry we don't let them over near the drum set anymore unless I'm giving them a drum lesson.  

Miracles do happen!

If you are like me you lament when you have to find a bathing suit.  I have been looking for a while now and have not had much luck.  When you stop to analyze the bathing suit department its really frustrating- I am way past the string bikini stage but not quite ready for the skirted body shaper stage.  Where is the in between stage?  I shared my frustrations with my mom the other day, she is also looking for a new bathing suit for the summer.  On Friday my mom called me and said that she was out shopping for bathing suits and that she found one that she thought I might like.  My mom and I have a very long history of her buying clothes for me that I did not like...so I was very skeptical and not even remotely hopeful when she told me the news.  It has become kind of a joke with mom and I, in fact recently she said "Carrie I keep trying to figure out your clothing style...I just can't figure you out." I responded "Mom, please stop trying."  So I told her not to buy the bathing suit, that I would go back to the store later and look at what she found.  But being my mom she went ahead and bought it anyway and brought it over to my house.  To my surprise I did like the bathing suit on the hanger, but I thought it will never fit right.  I was even more surprised when I tried it on and liked how it fit.  Mom and I got a kick out of it- I mean my mom who has never been able to buy anything I like picks out a bathing suit that fits perfectly!  It's insanity!  So if you are having trouble picking out a bathing suit this summer try getting your mom to pick it out for you!

Today is my mom's birthday.  Atticus, Isaiah and I went over to spend the day with her to celebrate.  We are going to have a big party on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day and her birthday.  Here is mom yesterday with the boys:

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Lifeguard on Duty

Today was our second day in our inflatable pool out on our deck.  The first day was not even remotely successful.  Day one went something like this: Carrie puts the kids in the pool, the kids scream at the top of their lungs, Carrie takes the kids out of the pool.  So today with a little more help (my mom and niece Katherine were hanging out with us) a successful trip to the pool on the deck was accomplished.  My mom wisely added a little warm water to the pool and the kids got in and had a fantastic time.  The only downside is that I have not purchased swim diapers yet...so when they got out of the pool they weighed 30 pounds due to the huge diaper full of water.  :)  Now that I know the pool is a success I will invest in some of those!  Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the pool.

Isaiah with his cool hair style compliments of Katherine

Atticus splashing

Isaiah enjoying the water

Atticus was so happy

Katherine playing with Isaiah and Atticus 

Peek-a-boo fun

Dan and I have a door off of our bedroom that goes onto a porch. Two floor length brown curtains hang on a curtain rod above this door. Since the kids could first learn how to roll I have fed them on the floor in our bedroom. I was worried that if I fed them on our couch or on our bed they would eventually roll off in opposite directions and someone would wind up falling head first onto the floor. This has worked out well, especially now that they are more mobile. So now when they are done eating, they roll off the pillow, in opposite directions, onto the floor and crawl towards the curtains. They have discovered that they can play peek-a-boo under them, and this has become a favorite thing to do after meal time. They both like to hide in the curtains and then throw off the curtain and laugh at each other. Its too cute! Here are some pictures of their most recent game of peek-a-boo.

Atticus hiding under the curtain with Isaiah looking on


Peek-a-boo!



Atticus hiding


Isaiah trying to find Atticus

Our trip to Birmingham

My brother Tim and his wife Leia live in Birmingham, AL. They are expecting their first baby, a little girl at the beginning of July. They have nicknamed her Blueberry, because they will not tell us her real name until her birthday. Last weekend my mom, dad, Atticus, Isaiah and I went to go visit them. Dan had a bachelor party weekend to go to in Virginia, so he could not join us. The kids did amazing on the trip. We stopped at the Alabama welcome center to eat lunch and to let them stretch out for a little while.

Our picnic at the welcome center

We got to their house before Tim and Leia got home from their doctor's appointment, so we were able to get set up for a mini surprise baby shower for them. We ate dinner together, played a few shower games and then they opened presents.

Leia with the diaper cake I made for her

Dad had bought a pink camo onesie for Blueberry at a local sporting good store.

Tim and Dad with the onesie, it had a small pink bow on the butt

Tim tried on the bunny towel that we had bought for Blueberry to use at bath time.

Mom, Dad, Becky, Ryan, Dan and I pitched in and bought them their highchair, Tim put it together that night. He has become quite the baby equipment pro. 

Aren't they so cute?

The kids got to try out one of Blueberry's toys, a cool playmat/tunnel. I thought that they were going to tear it up before the weekend was over. They did manage to roll it a few times.

Isaiah contemplating his next move


Atticus enjoying the tunnel

They also enjoyed playing underneath the coffee table in their living room. Leia said that she used to play under that same coffee table as a baby, it used to be in her parents house.

The first few days that we were there the weather was really mild. We enjoyed sitting on their newly re-done covered porch. The kids really liked the swing they had on the porch.

Here they are chillin with Grandma

Tim has been sanding and repainting a changing table that they got for free. It has taken him a while, but it is looking great. He had rigged up a place on the back porch for it to hang while the painted dried.

Leia with the almost done changing table, drying on the porch

One of the days that we were there Isaiah did not want to take his afternoon nap. He cried for a few minutes and then all was quiet. When I went to check on him he had fallen fallen asleep sitting up. I didn't want to move him because I was afraid to wake him up. I managed to snap this picture right as he was starting to wake up. I have never seen anything like this before! Poor little guy!

We had a really great time with Tim and Leia. It's so hard to believe that my little niece will be arriving sometime within the next few weeks. I can't wait!

A Mischievous Twosome

Here are a few pictures of the latest antics that the boys have been up to.  A constant source of amusement for Atticus and Isaiah is rearranging the movies/video games that are on the lowest shelf of our entertainment center.  Dan has rearranged them several different ways, each time proclaiming, "There is no way they can get to them now..."  He underestimates their capabilities all the time.  

 

Atticus attempting to break in

Isaiah's new chew toy

They also love playing with things that are not toys like our laundry basket.  This has saved me several times on a rainy afternoon when they are bored with their toys.

Isaiah and Atticus

Finally their new favorite thing to do is wrestle with their bean bag dog.  They do really well playing together, this usually makes them both squeal with laughter.  Isaiah is crawling everywhere, so I have had to put up the baby gate.  Atticus is working on crawling, he will make a few crawling motions and then fall down.  So things are about to get very interesting!