Our family went to Texas for Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday with my family, stuck inside for the most part because of TONS of rain, but it was still a fun time. I always love seeing my parents and having them spend time with my kids. They don't see each other very often, so it's fun to just chill and be together.
Collin LOVES his cousins. They are his favorite people to be with, and I love that too!
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| Collin & Tinsley coloring together |
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| Sister girl being sleepy on PawPaw |
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| My grandpa was in from Illinois, which was a super special treat for everyone! |
Once we got back home from the Thanksgiving holiday, we started working on getting back into the swing of things around here and also celebrated the twins' FIRST BIRTHDAY!
Last Thanksgiving I looked like this:
And a week later, we had these guys:
The twins' birthday was on Wednesday, so they celebrated some at school that day. The main event, though, was our little cake smash at our house on that Saturday. Main event for Collin and I anyway. Because, CAKE!
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| The day before their birthday; their last day as 11 month olds! |
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| We survived our first year with twins!!! Happy 1st Birthday Atalie and Grady! |
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| Atalie weighs 20 lbs, has 8 teeth, is crawling and pulling up. She loves to stand on her tip-toes like a tiny ballerina. She waves hi, blows kisses, gives the best open-mouth kisses and is very sweet to her stuffed animals - hugging them and patting them on the back. She plays peek-a-boo, sometimes with just herself! She already has a thing for "dress up" and can often be found playing with a blanket on herself, a string of toys around her neck like a necklace, or someone's discarded shirt on her head. She LOVES to put things on her head, maybe because she knows she doesn't have any hair!! Her hair is starting to come in, SO SLOWLY, but it's still there. Soft as peach fuzz. She likes to give you toys and be praised for how sweet she is to share. She is sassy and spunky. She LOVES to eat and often puts even Collin to shame at the dinner table. She doesn't seem to be a picky eater. She just started taking a paci. She is an absolute JOY to us. |
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| Grady weighs 22 pounds, but it feels like 32! He has 4 teeth. He is crawling, pulling up on EVERYTHING, standing on his own (after he pulls up), walking all over the place (as long as he has something to hold on to) and talking constantly. He says hi and bye. No kisses yet :( He is a very picky eater and stubborn about food. He loves chicken nuggets and french fries, as well as most sweet things. He is loud. He loves to dance and will stop and bust a move to anything remotely musical. He LOVES Collin in a way that still surprises me. I expected them to have a bond, but not this soon. It is everything I could have hoped for the two of them and more. Grady is challenging for us. He is just so much harder than his siblings, but he has the most beautiful little face. His smile will make anyone blush, and when he is in a good mood, he lights up the whole place and melts hearts. |
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| It was just us, so we totally set the phone on the counter and let the self-timer do its thing :) Not the best picture, but it serves its purpose! |
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| YUMMY! |
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| They never even made it to the cake part, but the icing was thoroughly enjoyed! |
And a week and a half later, it was my turn. I definitely said something to Jarrod about turning 30 this year and he took way too much joy in telling me that I was 31! I was still recovering from a c-section last year and had TWO newborns to care for, so I basically don't remember my 30th birthday. Oh, well.
We went to dinner in Little Rock with an old friend and her husband, had one of the girls from the kids' daycare come and keep the kids and we were home and in bed by 8:45 pm. It's okay though, because the babies made sure to keep us up partying all night long!
Jarrod had final exams this week, and he took his last one yesterday! We are now officially in Christmas mode :) We are excited to see the twins' reaction to the holiday, and to spend time with Collin. This has been an insane year for our family. A LOT of ups and downs (as I type this, Grady has a raging fever, congestion and an ear infection), but we have three beautiful children and we prayed for so long for each of them. We are blessed!
We pray you and your family have a Merry Christmas, and that if you don't know the love of Jesus Christ that you might come to know Him.
