a day at the arboretum

One day my friend and I decided to take the kids and meet their friends at the National Arboretum. It's beautiful there, and there were going to be kiddos and bikes and picnicking...

To say getting C to pedal is a test of patience is an understatement.

To say that it required composure of the greatest kind would not reach far enough.....

We made it. I can't remember how we made it from the parking lot to the columns, but we did, and that's all that matters now. I refuse to take the trike out since, until I get a new pole to help push him along. Something happened to our other one and I think it had to do with the construction and the cleaning up, and the guy who wasn't so careful with the throwing out. grrr. Anyway. We had a lovely time. The day was beautiful. The twins did mostly okay but "lunching" on a blanket is fruitless. I always try, but they do better when strapped into their car seats.



Theron didn't venture too far. He didn't like getting far from the blanket.


Aldan's hair is extremely light and with the nice wind blowing...it ended up looking like George McFly from Back to the Future. Ha. Didn't know I could pull that out of my memory.

Here are the columns...and we can go play in them any time we want. We are lucky! (next time I'll park at the lot right behind them and walk the kids across...may save the whole day that way.)

And we went before they filled this fountain...it was filled with nasty water which the kids stayed out of, until they didn't. Now this fountain is all pretty and clean. too bad we were a little early.

I might as well

just keep going with the old posts...not even sure if I posted Easter at all, and I'm not willing to go back and check and risk never actually posting some of these memories.


After Aldan and Theron's birthday party on Saturday, Sunday was Easter! I didn't have enough time to plan through the two celebrations and our good friends invited us over.


We had a yummy brunch, the twins napped through, and C and A had an Easter egg hunt in the yard. It was so sweet watching them look together, I hope some of these things are memories that C keeps for a good while.

They made over a pound of bacon, and we ate it all! Yummy!

We are so happy to have the opportunity to celebrate these times with friends, who are generous in opening their home up to our family of 5!

There isn't anything C wouldn't do to spend time time with A. He wakes up most mornings asking to play with her. And although most days we don't have a plan with her, it usually comes around to that...

I love A and how kind and generous she is to my son. She loves to play similarly to him, and she'll even get him wrestling, and it's usually C who wants to stop first! The thing is A is so sweet, and girly...you'd never guess it running into her on the street. What a good match for C. I remember one of my first conversations with her mom at our mom's group through our church. I told her an easier way to get to the group from where she lived. Their family lived closer to me then some of the other families, and so I was excited to connect. But we were both hesitant at the time. It wasn't instantaneous. But it's awesome to see how it's all fit so nicely. Now they are expecting another, and I can't wait to meet the new babe at all! So lucky to get to share life with them!

We like to party!

Back in March when the twins turned one, we had I think 3 parties for them. One with Jon's parents, one with my family who came to visit (and get sick! :)), and one with their "friends"! Whew!

All the parties were so much fun, and I felt really excited too! It was certainly the best way to celebrate getting through that first year! I still can't believe we have twins! Aldan and Theron are such characters....all these boys will keep us busy for the rest of our lives! I think it's fun that they get to celebrate turning another year older with each other, how fun to have a partner in life like that for the rest of your life!

So for the party with their friends (read, Caed's friends with younger siblings :)) My family helped me prepare the details. My mom and sisters had been here the week earlier and were heading home be back for Easter- so it was great to have their help. I wouldn't have been able to have the nice finishing touches if it weren't for them, and what's a themed party without finishing touches?! It turned out to be the perfect day for celebrating and grilling outside too! What a blessing, because all those kids would not have fit inside our house!!

So it was a Monkey theme, Martha Stewart has some good ideas for the theme, and I went with some of my own.

The goodie bags- brown bags filled with a monkey washcloth, soap, barrel of monkeys key chain (not suitable for little kids at all), banana & banana cookies. Kik did the outside of the bag nice and simple- so glad to have had her input, I was starting on a much more complex design that would not have turned out so nicely!

My mom spent a decent amount of time putting these adorable cups together. She cut out and glued all these pieces onto the brown cups! Aren't they adorable? It looked like an army of monkeys when put together. And actually, I think they were a bit too cute. People didn't end up drinking out of them because you didn't want to ruin them of course!

My first ever attempt at a cake design other then rectangle! Did you know you could bake in a Pyrex bowl? I can't believe this thing turned out half as good as it did...I had low expectations.

and here are the birthday boys....we love you Aldan and Theron!

So at their birthday Aldan and Theron were not walking...Aldan was closest, and luckily Theron made it to crawling before his 1st birthday!

And their stats at 1-

Aldan: 25 lbs 13oz 31 1/4"

Theron: 26lbs 14.5oz 31 1/4"

two pounds difference and same length...now that's fluctuated of course, and when we were in the ER (yes...pneumonia two weeks ago) Aldan weighed more then Theron. So you just can't tell at this point...

I'll be playing a little catch up with more up to date things...man it's amazing how when the twins go down for only one nap a day it takes away the extra free time to blog!

College roomie vacay!

My college roommate, Janet, who I was placed with randomly our first year became my roomie all 4 years- on and off campus. We got together in williamsburg a month ago! We had a great time- They have two girls, and she's pregnant with a 3rd, which will be a surprise what it is until the birth. All the kids got along and we really had a great time. We did family stuff together, the guys golfed one day and we got pedicures. It really was so much fun. We even got to see another roomie of ours too! I miss them so much!

The Woof clan on the boat:


Jon and I had to take turns since we couldn't bring the stroller on board, so here's me with Caed:

Haley and Caed in the burned out boat:

fun jamestown stuff...

C in the gear!

holy gimoly!

I found this picture tonight. I usually blog from my netbook, and tonight I am working on some photos I recently took and so I'm on my desktop. I ran into this picture....38 weeks....wow. I thought I would have delivered by then.....but no. Delivered at 39 weeks, so here you have it...it doesn't help my shirt doesn't fit over my belly either...

Birthdays

Today is my dad's birthday- he would have been 68. I went and visited his "spot" with the three kids and took a picture, I did it because I know the rest of my family would have liked to do it if they could have. Tonight Caed asked why we didn't have a cake! We should have, next year I think we'll celebrate his birthday with cake, maybe small personal square cakes because my dad liked the corner pieces of cake! Yum, I'm hungry thinking about it! Here's to next year.

nearly 1 month ago my Nana turned 90!! I didn't do a post because I was in the middle of getting my computer returned and trying to catch up on all things with the hulabaloo around the twins turning 1! Although we couldn't make the celebration, we were celebrating in our hearts with her! (which hers is going strong, thankherverymuch!) I value all the conversations and time spent with my Nana. She holds a very special place in my heart of course! If I had to choose the most valuable quality about her, it would be her faith in God. Growing up we had the opportunity of living with my Nana and Grampy for a bit- in that time I really got to live her faith, experience it. She's an incredible woman and knows the Bible back and forth (right Nana?) and has read it through so many times! One of things I loved was looking through her clothespins and finding my name. she wrote people's names on the clothespins and would pray for them as she hung out her laundry. (and there was a lot of laundry to be hung then with all of us together!) I value her faith also because it's laid such important roots for me. I so valued living and growing up in a Christian home, and it's because of her continuation on in her faith that has me believing and living it as well.

Happy very Belated Birthday! And here's to at least 10 more!!

At Christmastime:(where is my flash?)

oh there it is- too much!! She's holding Theron and I love that it appears that he's looking up at her.

And for Mother's Day sake, My mom and Nana with my mom's grandkids and some of Nana's great grandchildren. (taken Aug. 2009)

zoo

i am going to skip ahead a little here, but I'll be going back. Just wanted to get these photos for family. I took the kids to the zoo all by myself and we had a great time, I even had time to take pictures! I napped the babies in the morning and got us all ready and then got them up changed them and put them in the car. We ate lunch there, and it was so cute to do together, they did really well! I didn't push it or have any expectations, and when I sensed reaching the end, we packed up and left. we'll be back!

One Year down and a lifetime to go!

I can't believe one year went by and no blog about it at all.

I was a little thrown off as my computer was sent to be fixed before the 1 year warranty ran out. (it was one of a couple of gifts for birthing the twins) We had family in town and then we've been going ever since. So let's see if I can catch myself up.

One year (+) ago...

Aldan Douglas

Theron David

Jon and Auntie April getting ready to come into the OR. You have to deliver twins in the OR in case you need an emergency c-section at any point. Luckily I delivered them both naturally (with epidural). My Dr. also let me deliver on the bed and not on the OR table, which is not what they normally do! Can you imagine? Whew!

I have valued this year so much. I've seen my family, good friends, and neighbors come around us and support us. I've found some deep hidden strength to make it through the days, weeks and months (with the generous support of those that came in to help those first 4 months!). Making it through this first year with twins has felt like such an accomplishment, I can't stop pinching myself that we made it. I know I've said it many times, but we've been so blessed by these boys. The twins, although lots of work, have been fun. I'll be real here too- there have been some really hard times. This winter they seemed to struggle with ear infections and teeth acquiring. We were really sick for about a week after Thanksgiving, and that was REALLY difficult too. Nursing although now ended, was great, but a welcome relief to make it to a year and be done. I just never saw myself as a mom of twins. I love human dynamics. Watching families and friends and all sorts of dynamics that we encounter in life. So having twins has really brought up some interesting family dynamic issues. Do we treat the twins the same? Do we force something between them and Caed? How does our first born get a fair share with the dynamic of three immediate kids? Are we running a daycare now? and lots more!!

All of these things pass through my mind, and although I could read to my hearts content, I am sure, I don't. I would prefer to love these kids without a pretense of why I may be doing one thing or another. I want them to know that we treat situations differently- things weren't 'even' with me and my sisters, so I am not concerned about fair or even, just loving them and helping them grow into the men that God has created them to be. I think that will look different in each of them as they grow into their personalities.

It's been an experience to go from one kid to three. Our life feels so full, and well, our home, and car do too. At the seams to be exact. We can't take anyone home with us in the car, and our house occasionally sees a friends of Caed's to nap, but we wouldn't be able to have another kid in this house. (if it were up for discussion, which it is not) We are so excited to see how our lives unfold with Aldan and Theron in it. We love them so much and we're so happy to have them as our sons. We have a wild ride ahead of us I am sure. Back to reading Bringing Up Boys!

(for some reason I can't get more photos uploaded, and I've waited long enough to try to get this post up, so I'll try to add a photo of Aldan later!!)

,

so proud!

My sister kik ran a 10k 3 weekends ago. This weekend my sister Heather did the biking part as part of a relay team in a duathalon (20 miles, super hilly!). (her husband did the whole thing today too)

so proud of them both. Kik is 40, Heather is 37. First races ever.

I "run" a 5K tomorrow if my tummy is feeling better. It won't be impressive, but it's a start. For me it's a mindset change to make health a priority. I don't care my weight number if I've got the energy and ability to chase these kids and my grandkids around one day.

Yay for sisters (working on April who's got asthma to do something too)!

(ps. I just got my computer back after being fixed, and I am so happy!)

funny kids

today we had two particularly funny incidents with the kids.

First was Caed. I was walking around on my hands and knees with him on my back (like a horse) and I crawled into the kitchen. My knees killed me on the tiles. I told Caed to hold on, "i am old". He said "yeah, I know, you're going to die soon." Wow. What an encourager he is! I can't tell you how shocked I was over that comment!!

Second was the babies. I went to Target at naptime and Jon told me the twins were talking and laughing the whole two hours I was gone. When I called him on my way home, he said they had settled down but one of them was fussing. I said okay, but leave them up there (they haven't been napping well and I'm trying to get Theron to actually lay down and nap!). When I got home Theron was still fussing. i let it go on for a bit, but then decided to go in and get him. I went in and he was without pants. I quickly looked at Aldan, who was sleeping, and he was pantless too. I thought I saw the pants in Aldan's crib. I quickly left, with Theron pantless, and brought him downstairs. I asked Jon if he put them to sleep without pants (thinking they were too warm?). But he didn't. So all their laughing and jolly good time up there without napping produced two babies without pants, and their pants in Aldan's bed. I wish I had a video monitor, and could have seen that! How did they get their pants off (especially Theron who is less coordinated) and then decide Aldan needed them in his bed? Man, this kids are getting organized!

I guess there will be more of this stuff in the future- and I can't wait!