2 Year Appt.

I cannot stand putting a new post up without pictures...it is really depressing...seriously...but, I am going to do it anyways since I am sitting at Panera with Shane's computer and with internet access... I mean, I have to take advantage of my opportunity...even without pictures.

So, we took the girls for their 2 YEAR APPOINTMENT (WHAT!?!?!) on Monday. I actually had to take the girls by myself at first and then after a while Shane was able to meet me there. The 20 minutes I was there without him was...ummmm...eventful, to say the least. They are officially out of control. I'm serious. Or the way Shane puts it...they are just "very active, very passionate, and very verbal". First of all, no one prepared me that they were going to weigh them/measure their height on the BIG SCALE! What? I was like totally getting prepared to plop them up onto the baby scale and the nurse told me "oh, no ma'am, they are big girls now, they go on the big scale". I started crying. I was totally unprepared. It was like... they went from infants to teenagers in like 2 seconds. It was crazy. I know the nurse thought I was crazy. Well, maybe because I am :). Anywhoo.....we get the passionate ones into the room and they proceed to destroy it in record time. It's really quite amazing to watch. The daddy got there right after they officially finished their destruction. The momma was very happy that the daddy had arrived. One-on-one is DEFINITELY easier than One-on-two. The doctor was very pleased with their development. Gabbie had an ear infection, which I had NO IDEA about. That's always a fun "make me feel like a great mom" discovery :). She also diagnosed her with asthma. We had been thinking that she might have it b/c she has been wheezing ALOT, coughing A TON, and can't run or jump or laugh without having trouble breathing. Needless to say, she had all the major symptoms of asthma. She is now on daily medicine for 6 weeks to see if that helps at all. I hope it does. Here are their stats:

Jocelyn: Weight - 28 1/2 pounds (75%)

Height - 34 1/2 inches (75%)

Gabbie: Weight - 28 pounds (60%)

Height - 34 inches (60%)

I am still hopeful that I can post some recent pics from the past few months really soon. I need like a whole day at Panera to get that done. Maybe one day.....

My Babies are 2....WHAT?!?!?

Jocelyn and Gabbie turned 2 yesterday. That is TOTALLY insane! I don't know where this past year as gone....the first year seemed like eternity, but I feel like I blinked and this year had passed...it's crazy. I'm so thankful for our two little (not so little anymore) miracles. They continue to be more and more different from each other every single day, which still amazes me. The past two years have been some of the hardest of my life, but also some of the most rewarding and joyous. I still can't believe the Lord has chosen to entrust them to us, but I'm so thankful that He has. We had an ELMO party for them yesterday and it was a blast. They are OBSESSED with Elmo so they loved every minute of it.  I have a ton of pics from the party (thanks Hay-Hay) as well as from the past two months and I hope to find some extra internet/computer access time in the next few days to be able to post some of them....hopefully!!  Happy 2nd Birthday sweet girls!! We love you SO much!!

No Internet PLUS No computer = No Blogging :(

I love blogs. I love reading all my friends' blogs (and people I don't even know) and I love updating ours. Well, two significant things have happened recently to put a major damper on my love of blog-reading/blogging...1. we got rid of our internet (to cut some monthly costs) and 2. my computer died. (I hope that it is just pretending to be dead and that someone that is way smarter than me can bring it back to life.) Thus, no new blog posts. It makes me super sad. You may ask how I am posting THIS post (so, I guess, technically I do have one new post :).....1. I have Shane's laptop (he is not home until late every night and by that time I have no energy to blog...I just want to go to bed) and 2. I am currently picking up one of my neighbor's (not sure who) wireless connection and I am SOOOOO happy about it!! So, while I had the small opportunity I wanted to share my sorrows about this no blogging season of my life. I hope to find time, a laptop that is not in use and random internet connections to be able to do some new posts soon....hopefully :)

My New Favorite Song

Tinkle, tinkle widdle tar...how i under wat u ah. Up ah dove da wurl so hi...wike ah di-un in da sky. Tinkle, tinkle widdle tar...how i under wat u ahhhhhh.
(repeat...over and over and over...)

There has officially been a transformation in Gabbie's "going to sleep" routine. For 21 months, she would cry/scream herself to sleep almost every nap and every night at bedtime. A few weeks ago she stopped crying/screaming and instead sings herself to sleep every nap and every night. Can someone give me a "hallelujah!!"?? Tinkle, Tinkle widdle tar is her fav and has now become my fav as well :) I've heard her humming/singing Jesus Loves Me and the Itsy Bitsy Spider as well so she may start mixing it up at bed-time soon! It is beyond precious to hear her singing. I think she may have gotten her daddy's gift :)

January Randomness

The girls sporting the hats Aunt Julia and Uncle Lance got them for Christmas. Too cute!

How many stuffed animals/babies must one have?? Obviously a zillion. They love for daddy to help them get their babies ready for nite-nite and help them go to the potty. Shane has lots of experience since he grew up with all boys :)

Journey now sleeps in the laundry room. Jocelyn still sleeps in our closet. We will put our kids anywhere if it helps them sleep. The girls thought it was so fun to play in Journey's bed in her new "room" :)

As I have mentioned before, Gabbie is obsessed with shoes. Her choice for this particular night...Jayden's cool green rain boots...they really completed her outfit :)

On Thursdays, me and two other twin moms from church get together at a park to let the kiddos play and then eat lunch together. Here are all 6 of them at the picnic table. My girls are in the pink. The two in the middle are identical and then the last two look as different as mine...blue eyes, blond curly hair and brown eyes, brown straight hair. (obviously it was a challenge to get all of them in one picture). It is definitely an adventure when we all get together!

Groupies

The kiddos ALWAYS want to play with whatever the other ones have or do whatever the other ones are doing. Many times this leads to lovely fights followed by spankings and/or timeouts. However, there are those rare moments when they all do get to do the same thing at the same time....usually when we have several of the same item(s) :)

Above: Group potty training

Below: Group sitting in booster chairs on floor and drawing pictures on doodle pros

Below: Group lunch in booster chairs on floor while Elmo video plays

Below: Attempted Group lounging time on couch with fuzzy blankets while Praise Baby video plays before all going to bed for the night. As one can see, Gabbie wasn't enjoying this group activity :) Random Side note...PRAISE JESUS for 7 pm bedtime for all kiddos in our house. The mamas would not make it otherwise.....

Below: Group puzzle time on swing located on back porch. This was a success for only a few short minutes...but a success non-the-less :)

Christmas Trip...Part 3 (better late than never :)

After we left Jay, we headed to Georgia to visit Shane's fam. To make the trip slightly more bearable, we stopped halfway in Montgomery to stay the night (thanks to the Smiths for letting us crash at your house :). We got to visit with our good friends, BK and Delta and their hilarious boys. They work for an inner-city ministry in Montgomery called Common Ground. They recently renovated this building in their neighborhood and made it into a community center. It was SO cool. Isn't this painting on the wall AMAZING? Love you guys! It was SO great to see ya'll!

The girls LOVED opening presents this year. Here they are with Uncle Lance (the very bearded one :) opening their first gifts in Georgia.

Cell phones! Yay! Exactly what they needed! Maybe they will leave my cell phone alone now :) Thanks Uncle Lance and Aunt Julia!

"Excuse me, can you PLEASE pipe down...Can't you see I'm on the phone!"

They loved the huge Doodle Pro Uncle B and Aunt Marcia Lynn got them. They are still fighting over it!

They also got babies from Aunt Julia and Uncle Lance. Gabbie is currently OBSESSED with shoes....as you can see from these two pics...

Trying on their new cool shoes...

Jocie's hair in a very cute ponytail...

Jocie's hair 2 minutes later after she takes the ponytail out.....

They are currently in LOVE with Elmo so Gran and HayHay got them each an Elmo baby that also had his own paci. And, of course, they needed baby carriers for their Elmo's as well :)

Second favorite gift from Gran and HayHay were these Walmart grocery buggies (ok, I know some of you "not country" people call them carts, but they will always be buggies to me :)

Aunt Marcia-Lynn and Gabbie enjoying a snack (or coffee) together. Too cute!

Jocelyn eating dinner with her baby attached to her tray. This has become a MUST. They will not eat unless their baby (or babies) are all piled up on their tray as well. It's insane.

Uncle B and Aunt Marcia-Lynn playing with the girls...

Our great friends, Justin and Leah stopped by the Sham for New Year's Eve. It was so great to see them! They have two girls as well. This was the best shot I could get of all four girls...

The girls playing with Gran...

Jocelyn and HayHay (and Elmo, of course)

Aunt Beth "gettin" Jocie. They have the EXACT same hair!

Daddy performing his nightly ritual :)

Mama and Jocie :)

We got to hang out with the Ak's while we were in GA. Here is Country Chris and Shane (posing, of course)

Their sweet new addition, Eli. How cute!!

Me and April

On New Year's Eve we hung out over at Chris and April's with Shane's brothers and some other good friends. It was the first time in YEARS (17, to be exact for Shane, 13 for me) that we weren't at the New Year's Conference. That's crazy! Here are all the boys...

New Year's Eve pic..

I know I have mentioned before that they girls travel HORRIBLY. This trip was no different. It was a nightmare, as usual. They literally screamed for 11 hours in the car as we drove from north GA back to Orlando. There was actually 4 minutes in the car when they weren't screaming. (yes, we timed it) I took a picture of them during this precious, very brief block of time. We called both of our families on the way back and told them we were never leaving Orlando again until we moved. Period. They are just THAT insane in the car! We even tried benedryl......didn't touch them. BUT, now that I have had a few weeks to recover, I'll probably reconsider the "I'm never leaving again" vow....we shall see. HOWEVER, despite our traveling woes, it was so fabulous to see our friends and family over the Christmas holidays!!!!