Matt and his dad in a heated Wii tennis match


Smiley Will in the tub



Splish splash!




Haysie in the tub





He loves bathtime!






Hays attempting to stomp Will







Mason cuteness


How cute are the bathtime pictures? They are so funny in the bathtub. They both love to splash the water with their hands-especiallyWill- and they'll just laugh and laugh. I want to get some video of it if I ever remeber to grab the camera while we're heading to the tub.

We finally started planning the twins first birthday party! I can't believe they'll be one in less than a month. Of course, their adjusted age is only 9 months old, so they don't really seem like one year olds, but they will be. Lord, what a year it's been. So much has happened. Can y'all believe it's been an entire year since this roller coaster ride began? And so many of you have been along with us the entire ride. Thank you for caring about my family enough to keep up with or mundane lives! And feel free to leave comments. You don't have to have a blogger ID, you can sign in as annonymous. I get curious about who's out there sometimes, and I'd love to know who you are and how you found us. Or you can remain a silent observer to my struggles and triumphs as a mom to these three hooligans!

Aunt Bea buried under a pile of nephews!


3 days worth of laundry from the twins!


Today was a typical Monday. I spent most of it trying to clean house and catch up on laundry. You can see from the picture above, that we generate a lot of dirty clothes around here, so laundry gets away from me fast! My parents came over this morning to spend some time with the twins, so I was able to get a fair amount done. Then Paige came over this afternoon, so the boys got entertained by Aunt Bea!
Mason and his dad have been having a big time with the Wii. Mason can slaughter me in any game we play, and he can beat his dad a good bit of the time as well! He loves playing it, but he does get frustrated if he isn't instantly good at it, or if he doesn't win. It's giving us lots of opportunities to talk about good sportsmanship! That's going to be an important lesson since he's starting t-ball in a few weeks.

Wii has arrived

We have a Wii. I did not stand firm on my "no video games yet" rule, and Matt and Mason are now the proud owners of a Wii. Now, I have not played it yet, so I may change my mind, but I did kind of agonize about whether or not Mason was old enough. It just seems like such a big boy thing to do, and I'm not really ready for him to be a big boy! I don't want him to be the dorky kid who can't hold his own when it comes to video game prowess, but I don't want him to be the obnoxious kid who can kick everyone's butt at games when he's 4 1/2! I don't know.
I guess it's too late to worry about it now. It's here, and he's already kicked his dad's butt at bowling. So there you go. I guess I'd better go learn how to play this stuff so I can hold my own against a little kid!

Fighting over a toy, as usual


Unhappy Hays stuck under the couch



It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Supercat!!!!!




SpiderMason!!




Here are some fun pictures from the last few days. I love the one where Hays is stuck under the couch! He managed to get there with a combination of rolling and scooting backwards. Both of the twins have recently learned to roll to get to what they want, so I don't think crawling can be too terribly far behind. I'm not in any real hurry for them to crawl. Once they're mobile, imagine all the things they can get into!

Perhaps y'all have figured out by now that I'm kind of crafty, in a very amateurish way! This is my latest little project. I found the sign at TJ Maxx, and I loved what it said, but it had some stupid, tacky wreath with a cheesy wooden heart on it that I hated. I was going to let it pass by, but I was just really drawn to it. Upon further inspection, I realized that I could take the ugly decoration off and do my own thing, so I bought it. I printed a black and white picture of the boys and edged it in black grosgrain ribbon, then used the same ribbon to hang it. I think it turned out pretty cute, but I really like having a constant reminder to give thanks for all of the blessings we have been given.

I had a blessed moment this afternoon. I was in the kitchen with the boys. Mason was eating a snack, the twins were playing in their highchairs, and I was folding laundry. There was nothing particularly interesting or unusual about the moment. If anything, it was its sheer ordinary-ness that made it stand out. But I just felt so blessed and happy to be this mother, folding clean laundry in a cozy kitchen surrounded by her sweet, happy children. In that moment there was nowhere and no one else I would rather be. So if you haven't already, take a minute to remember how blessed you are, and to be thankful for the moments in your life when you feel exteremely lucky and fulfilled.

We're boring again. Hays has a cold. Actually, he's had a cold for over a week now, but it seems like it's gotten worse over the past few days. He hasn't wanted to eat the last couple of days, so I took him to the doctor today. He's got a yucky cold, but that's about it. We did get a little scare when the nurse was checking his vital signs. She checked his oxygen sats and it came up 87- which is like go to the hospital dangerous! I wasn't too worried because I know what a kid looks like at 87, slightly blue-ish, and Hays was pink and breathing fine. But the doctor kind of freaked out for a second there when she saw the numbers. Turns out the nurse had used an adult-sized monitor, and it didn't work properly on tiny baby fingers!
I watched a good bit of the inauguration coverage today, and I was glad that I got to see the swearing in while I was sitting at the doctor with Hays. I hope we're at the beginning of some great changes. I believe that Barack Obama is a good man, and I'm saying my prayers that he will be the kind of leader our country needs. I'm happy that I was a witness to a campaign, election and inauguration that made people truly excited and filled with hope. So, happy Obama day, everyone. Here's hoping that the next four years will be good ones.

Puttin' on the ritz!

The new and improved living room! (The walls are apple green-not lime!)


Our lovely new rug


So wait until you hear how fancy-pants we are now! We got new furniture last week, and today Matt's parents were kind enough to buy us a new rug. And it is fabulous!!!!!!!! I got to send a lovely afternoon with my mom and Matt's mom shopping for the perfect rug. Then my two style gurus were sweet enough to come back and help me re-arrange furniture, re-hang pictures and re-accessorize. The best part is that we've finally got the perfect arrangement of living room furniture- so thank you, thank you to the home decor divas and the old man!
And in other thrilling news, Hays has another top tooth. He is now the proud owner of front teeth!! So, way to go Hays! We're expecting Will's to come through any day now. Imagine the culinary options top teeth will bring!