Fun Visitors

On Friday morning our dear friends Jennifer and Josh along with their little girl Abigail came through Augusta on their way to Fripp Island. This was a great treat for us because we had never met Abigail, and Jen and Josh had never met the boys. We met at Panera and got to hang out a little before they had to get back on the road. It was an exciting start to our weekend.

Attempting a group shot with Jennifer and Abigail

Abigail and Josh sharing a bagel...

What a cute family!

My Aunt Pat and Aunt Corinne also came to visit this weekend. Saturday we went over to my parents to hang out with everyone. It was a great treat to see everyone, and we did manage to get a picture of the aunts with the boys. It is becoming more challenging to get a good picture of the boys, but we can usually bribe them with a cell phone.

Katherine and Thomas

Aunt Becky supervising Atticus on the chair...Isaiah looks like he needs some supervision as well....

These chairs came from a set that belonged to my cousin Ted, Aunt Pat's son, I think the chairs are at least 3o years old....talk about durability

Aunt Pat, Aunt Corinne and Mom

Aunt Pat with Isaiah, Aunt Corinne with Atticus

iBerts for the Boys!

You'll probably think our kids are pretty spoiled by this point and you might be right. I wanted to let everyone know about another great gift they got for their birthday. This is the official gift from Carrie and I. We researched bike seats in hopes of taking some nice bike rides with the boys this fall.

My wonderful wife found these innovative seats called iBerts. The name is trendy with the whole "i" thing but the seats are really cool. They attach with only one bracket to the handle bar shaft. This is nice because it allows our kids to see everything instead of them having to look around our "you know whats" to see stuff. The seat has a shoulder strap and a plastic lap bar.

We've already been on two rides on the Greeneway. The most recent ride was last night, a nice 7 mile trek on the Greeneway to the river and back. Isaiah hated his helmet and took it off three times during the first ride. But he has gotten used to it now. Atticus likes to put his hands on the handle bars and push my hands off. He wants to be in full control. A boy after my own heart. This is a great way for me to keep Carrie in shape, I mean uh... for the two of us to stay in shape.

Here' a short video my parents took while they were here for the birthday bash weekend.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Today is Atticus and Isaiah's 1st Birthday! We have been doing a lot of reflecting upon what things were like for us this time last year and what has occurred throughout the year. We feel so blessed to have two healthy, happy boys. Here are just a few things that have been a great testimony to God's faithfulness to our family this past year.

- The boys arrived at 37 weeks, term for twins, after 7 weeks of bed rest.

-I did not have to have a c-section.

-They did not have to spend any time in the NICU, they came home with us from the hospital.

-With the exception of one ear infection, a runny nose or two, and some strange rash they had for a month, the boys have been in very good health.

-They are good sleepers and nap takers.

-I have been able to stay home from work to be with them.

-Dan continues to have a job despite the economy around us.

-We have not had to buy diapers for our boys.

-We still have gift cards that we can use to buy things for the boys as needs arise.

-I was able to nurse them for 11 1/2 months.

Here are some pictures from the past year, it's amazing how fast they have grown!

Atticus and Isaiah

September 10, 2008

Little Pumpkins

Isaiah and Atticus

October 2008

Snoozing

Atticus and Isaiah

November 2008

Merry Christmas

Atticus and Isaiah

December 2008

After their Baptism

Isaiah and Atticus

January 2009

Tennis time

Atticus and Isaiah

February 2009

Visiting Richmond

Atticus and Isaiah

March 2009

Loving each other

Atticus and Isaiah

April 2009

Sitting up at the beach

Isaiah and Atticus

May 2009

Isaiah and Atticus

June 2009

Pulling up

July 2009

Crazy Hair

August 2009

Happy 1st Birthday Atticus!

September 10, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday Isaiah!

September 10, 2009

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.

Isaiah 25:1

We like to Party!

This weekend we celebrated Atticus and Isaiah's 1st birthday along with Katherine and Thomas's birthday. We did this because their birthday's are all within 18 days of each other. My brother Tim and his wife Leia came over from Birmingham with their little girl Claire. My cousin Amber and her husband Mike and their two kids Payton and Nolan were also able to make it for the big birthday weekend. Aunt Allie came over from Hilton Head for the day and Dan's parents came from Richmond for the weekend. My wonderful mother-in-law made the birthday cakes. I say cakes because she made a big cake with a fire engine (we had a firefighter theme) on it and also individual cupcakes with everyone's name on it. She transported the cakes from Virginia- and they all made it here safely.

It was the first time that all of my parent's grandchildren were all together, so we took the opportunity to take some pictures of the gang on Saturday. Taking pictures of two kids is pretty challenging, it was almost impossible with five kids and two adults that like to talk....these are the best shots that I got of that photo shoot.

The Grandparents and the Grandchildren

The five grandkids together for the first time

Aunt Becky and Claire

After the photo shoot we had a cookout, opened presents, and then had cake and ice cream. We sang Happy Birthday four times, because I don't think it is fair to try to lump everyones name in one song. Atticus and Isaiah both tried to grab their lit birthday candles...which was disturbing. They were two hours overdue for their afternoon nap by the time that they got their little cakes, but they seemed to really like the icing. Atticus kept trying to stick his face in his cake, but the highchair kept him from being able to do a complete face plant.

The super awesome Birthday cake

Katherine, Nolan, Amber and Payton

Aunt Allie and Katherine

Ryan, Thomas and Becky

Mike and Atticus

Tim, Claire and Mike

Opening presents

The boys and the cakes

Claire at the party

Leia and Claire

Sunday we spent the day hanging out with Dan's parents since they were going back early Monday morning. We had a great time hanging out and showing the boys their new toys.

Granddaddy and Atticus playing piano

Atticus and Grandmother playing the drums

Isaiah climbing the couch

On Monday we went to Mom and Dad's lake place...I remembered my camera this time which was great since we took the boys on the boat for the first time. I had bought them lifejacket's for next summer, but we felt like they were finally old enough to go on the boat. They really enjoyed the boat and did not mind their lifejackets too much. Wearing a lifejacket did make them incredibly top heavy so if you set them down they would topple over. It was great to be able to spend some extra time with Claire since she was going back to Birmingham the next day.

Claire chillin in her swing

Isaiah on the boat

Our family on the boat

Atticus driving the boat with Papa

Ryan and Katherine tubing

Early Birthday Presents

Yesterday my mom and dad gave the boys early birthday gifts. My mom says that everyone should get a present to open before their actual birthday. It took the boys forever to open the presents, they kept getting side tracked with the wrapping paper. But they are now the proud owners of Tonka Dump trucks. They really love them and have enjoyed pushing them everywhere. They have tried to sit in them numerous times, but they keep getting dumped out. :)

Racing trucks in the kitchen

Isaiah getting in his truck

Atticus getting in his truck

Atticus pushing his truck

Isaiah pushing his truck

Taking a break

Delight

Like most parents I take great delight in the simplest and smallest things that my boys are learning to do. They are the best entertainment in town. Here are some of the latest adventures in the lives of Atticus and Isaiah.

Isaiah has learned not only to play the piano, but to play it with a tennis ball- what a talent!

Atticus has found that if he gives Isaiah the "Are you crazy?"stare long enough he will eventually leave him alone.

Isaiah has learned how to imitate a cat, he swats at the tennis ball and then crawls after it...this game can go on for a long time.

Atticus is learning how to say ball....at least I think it sounds like ball, and that is all that matters.

They are learning that I will make the craziest sounds to get them both to look at the camera at the same time....I love Atticus's expression.