Fun-FIlled Weekend!

On Friday we celebrated Ariel's birthday! She is one of my dearest friends and we had a fantastic time hanging out with her and her hubby, John, along with a few other close friends.

Her cookie cake was SUPER yummy :)

Sean, Fallon, and precious Shelbia Drew!

Me and the birthday girl...love you, friend!!

On Saturday morning Shane and I, along with thousands of others, ran the Azalea Trail 10K. Despite it being crazy humid we had a blast. It was Shane's first ever race so it was a major accomplishment for him....SO proud of you, Shane!

Two of our great friends came over from Pensacola for the race. Seth and Leah were seniors at USA the first year that Shane and I were on staff way back in 1999. It is always SO great to see them. We met up for lunch at....none other than...Big Time Diner :) I mean, Shane and Seth basically kept them in business for years :)

Saturday afternoon I got to celebrate the wedding of our friends, Dathan and Mandy. It was such a sweet ceremony. It's so cool to see how the Lord has brought these two together. Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day!!

Love their cakes!

John and Ariel with the Bride and Groom...

Beautiful Bride!

My mom came over to keep the girls for us on Saturday while we ran the race and for me to go to the wedding. Shane had the USA spring football game to go to as well. The girls had a blast with MawMaw....THANK SO MUCH MOM!!

Teaching them hop-scotch....

They both caught on fast!

First Field Trip!

This past Friday my friend, Shay, and her two girls invited me and my girls to go on a field trip to Ft. Conde in downtown Mobile followed by a picnic lunch. The weather was gorgeous and I was pumped to have some variety in our typical very predictable daily grind. I know VERY little about history. It's really sad, actually. Shane was a history major in college and he is shocked by how ignorant I am when it comes to history. Anywhoo, I had no idea what Fort Conde was or that it even existed in downtown Mobile (yes, I have lived here for like 13 years and was completely clueless...thank goodness for friends like Shay who educate me on important things like the history of the city we live in, etc. etc. :) The girls were SO excited about going to a fort...even though they had no idea what a fort was :) We met up with Shay, Becca, and Ruby and started our field trip...

taking a juice break :)

Behind bars :)

We toured Fort Conde for about 20 minutes. That's about how long my girls would last there and not go completely nuts. It was cool learning about the history, etc. I felt SO much smarter when we were leaving :)

Afterwards we found a shady grassy area and had a fun little picnic. It was a fantastic first field trip...Great idea, Shay...can't wait for our next educational adventure!!

PS....During our entire outing the girls kept calling Becca and Ruby, Max and Ruby (from that cartoon on T.V.)...it was hilarious. No matter how many times I corrected them, they still said Max and Ruby. When we got in the car to come home they started singing the Max and Ruby theme song and said how much fun they had with them today. Too funny.

3 year check-up

The girls had there 3 year check-up a few days ago. I totally cannot believe they are 3!??!? It's crazy. They actually did VERY well at the doctor. I was shocked. Jocelyn usually TOTALLY freaks out and won't stand on the scale, get her temperature checked or anything but this time she was fine. I was very thankful :) They actually thought everything the doctor did to them was SO cool. I think it helped b/c they have a "doctor's" set at home that they use all the time to check their babies and stuffed animals so they were somewhat familiar with the doctor's tools :) It also helped that they had to get ZERO shots at this appointment (PRAISE JESUS). Their 4 year appt will require like 5 shots each....geeeeeez...glad that's a year away! So, it's been so crazy....throughout the last 3 years at every doctor's appointment the girls have weighed almost the same weight, if not the exact same. They have also always been right at the same height. It's crazy since they are fraternal twins and are SOOO different in every way. Well, here are their 3 year stats:
33 lbs

36 inches tall

Yep, that's right. They were EXACTLY the same height and weight. Isn't that nuts?!?!? The doctor said they looked great and were very healthy. Their weight was in the 65th percentile and their height was in the 70th percentile. I still can't believe they are doing so well on the growth chart considering how early and tiny they were when they were born. We are so thankful the Lord has allowed them to grow so well and be so healthy during the past 3 years. Gabbie is still on a daily asthma medicine and Jocelyn has to use the nebulizer on a semi-regular basis especially if she has a cold or allergy issues. The doctor said in a month or so we could try Gabbie off the daily medicine and see how she does. We are hoping and praying she will grow out of the asthma issues. Their doctor said that is possible. We shall see.

In honor of the breathing treatments, here are a couple of pics. They currently are loving random headgear... i.e.....sunglasses....

princess crowns.....

The following pics have nothing to do with their doctor's appointment...they were just cute, so I thought I'd share :)

Here they are having a picnic with their babies.

What's for lunch??? Sand, of course :)

They are hilarious.

We loooooove Mrs. Charweeeeen!!

Last week we met Mrs. Charlene (or as the girls say, Mrs. Charween:) at the park. The weather was AMAZING....just absolutely beautiful. She brought bread so the girls could feed the ducks. Gabbie LOVES to feed the ducks. Jocie does to as long as I am holding her so the "ducks no get me". She has this love/hate relationship with all animals.

Gabbie getting ready to launch a piece of bread to the duckies...

That's a wind-up for sure....

Taking a break....

Round 2....

Jocie's less dramatic wind-up :)

They currently LOVE pine cones :)

Mrs. Charlene also brought BUBBLES!!! yay!!

Then the grand-finale....birthday presents!!!!

Books and cupcake/cookie baking sets!! They were SO excited!

Thanks Mrs. Charween!!! We had so much fun playing with you!

We.Are.Old.

It's official. I am old. So is Shane. It's just reality. Shane and I both have played intramural co-rec basketball at USA ever since we came on staff back in 1999. It's always been SO much fun and I've never really felt THAT much older than the students that are playing with us and/or against us. Well, I haven't played in THREE years-obviously due to one year being preggo and then two years of living in Orlando. Before we moved to Orlando, we had played on our friend John's co-rec team for years. He asked us to play with him again this year. We were both pumped about playing bball again but WHOA did I feel extra old out there this time around :). We had 3 other girls on our team that are all current students at South...meaning, I am at least almost 15 years OLDER than they are!! GEEEEEEEZ. And Shane, well....you can add a few more years to that number :) John is several years younger than us....but he is still getting up there...ha! I do have to say, though, that we still can hang with the youngins on the court...it's just our bodies don't recover for DAYS!! We had a blast playing the past couple of months and even made it to the championship game....which we sadly lost by a measly 3 points :(......oh, well...the old ones will be back again next year :)

The elders.... haha...

A Look Back.....

I CANNOT believe the girls are 3-years-old!! It just doesn't seem possible. Here are some pics in honor of "looking back" over the past 3 years.....

March 13, 2008

Jocelyn Hope enters the world at 3:19pm weighing 4 lbs 6 oz...

One minute later, Gabrielle Grace, weighing in at 4 lbs 4 oz breathes her first breath and lets out a blood-curling scream....which was a beautiful thing to hear since they were 2 months early....

They were SO tiny. These pics make me cry every time I look at them. Having IV's in their heads was not what I had envisioned....thankfully, after 2 LONG weeks, we got to bring our precious gifts home with us.

The Paci is almost bigger than Gabbie :)

Sweet sisters. It's so funny that we had such a hard time in the beginning telling them apart....seeing how now they don't even look like they are from the same country :)

Daddy with his sweet little girlies....

One month old....

Sweet Jocie

Precious Gabbie

There was still so much extra room in their crib even with both of them in it :)

6 months....

Look at these CHUNKS!!

7 months....

ONE Year Old....

18 months....

Gabbie at 2 years....

and Jocie at 2....

2 1/2 years old....flower girls :)

Christmas 2010....

3 years old!!!! They look SO grown up!

What a 3 year journey it has been sweet girls! Here are a few things to know about you right now:

*You are POLAR opposites from one another in every way :)

*You talk constantly....to each other, to mommy & daddy, to your babies, to your toys, to anything!

*Jocie- you LOVE your polka dot fitted crib sheet. You can't live without your "banket".

*Gabbie- you still are completely attached to your pink moose baby (your "pinklebaby").

*Jocie your favorite foods are any kind of fruit, bread, waffles, cheese, and anything sweet-particularly chick-fil-a ice cream and cupcakes.

*Gabbie your favorite foods are eggs, cheese, and meat. You would eat ONLY these 3 things if we would let you :). You HATE all fruit. You LOVE chick-fil-a nuggets and ice cream. You are SUPER picky when it comes to eating and drinking pretty much anything....but we are working on it :)

*You LOVE playing together. You also LOVE fighting with each other :)

*You love singing songs and dancing. Your favorite songs right now are Away in a Manger, Jesus Loves Me, Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

*Jocie you love to give kisses but aren't a big hugger. You do like to be held when you are tired or upset.

*Gabbie you refuse to kiss anyone but give away the best hugs ever :)

*You LOVE playing with babies right now and everything and anything that comes along with that.

*You love dressing up and wearing your high-heels

*Potty training was a breeze with both of you (thank you JESUS). You both were potty trained a couple of months after you turned 2 which made mommy and daddy and the budget WAY happy :)

*If you could play outside on a playground with swings and slides every second of every day, you would.

*You love going to "school" two days a week. You can both say all your A,B,C's, can count to 20 and know your colors!

*You love to sing the blessing before we eat and you love to read your bibles and pray together before bedtime....it's precious.

*Books, puzzles, coloring, and flash cards are some of your favorite things to do right now.

*You LOVE your mommy and daddy so much and say their names at least a zillion times per day :)

*Gabbie you are still the more shy and reserved one but you definitely warm up to people and things A LOT faster than you used to....as long as it's on your terms :)

*Jocie you are still WIDE-OPEN and will attempt just about anything. You rarely meet a stranger.

*Gabbie you LOVE animals....you love to hold them, touch them, chase them, feed them...etc. etc. . Jocie you are fine with animals....as long as they are at a distance :)

*Gabbie there is not a day that goes by that you do not say "Mommy, I don't want to take a nap today". Jocie there is not a day that goes by that you do not say "Mommy, I'm tired. I need to take a nap."

*Gabbie you wake Jocie up way too early every single morning. She tells you to go back to sleep but you don't listen to her :)

*Jocie you are still an avid thumb-sucker...especially when you are tired or upset.

*A few of your favorite phrases right now are: "What's that?" "No, I say ME do it!" "I say wait for ME!"

*You both still LOVE bath-time....that is, "swimming" in the bathtub...not so much on the

"getting washed" part :)

*Your favorite cartoons right now are Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, and Veggie Tales.

*For the past several months you have been singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus (this started about a month before Christmas and perhaps was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life :)....However, the past two weeks it shifted to you singing "Happy Birthday" to each other since you knew your birthday was soon approaching....

I could go on and on.....but I'll end the list for now :) Bottom line is WE LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH. We love how very different and unique you are from each other. We thank God for entrusting you to us. There is definitely NEVER a dull moment in our lives right now but we are so grateful for this journey and look forward to another precious year with you both. This parenting thing is so very hard and we don't really have a clue about what we are doing, but we pray daily that the Lord will give us the grace and guidance to parent you well, even amidst all of our mistakes :) We love you sweet girls. We are blessed beyond words!!