Fun Day at the Zoo

Finally the weather has warmed up! Thank goodness!! So, today we took all of the kiddos to the zoo to get some much needed fresh air. Here are as many of the kids as we could capture in one picture with the elephants:

Avery, Brax, Jay, Drew, Ben (yes, he managed to get out of the seat belt, the stinker!), Daily, Maisey, and Paisley and Xander were off to the side somewhere. Quite the Baby Brigade today!
We got sooooo close to the giraffes. Or, I should say the giraffes got so close to us. They must have been feeling brave. Honestly, Drew didn't stop clapping his little hands and squealing with excitement the whole time. It was just so precious!
And then - ambitious mommies that we are - we decided to let all the babies experience the merry go round for the first time together. Needless to say, it was a HIT! Ben loved it as long as I was holding him (a universal truth for all new experiences he encounters), and Drew was just happy to be riding his little leopard (or cheetah or whatever it is)....
...until I stepped away from him to get this picture. Then, he got a little nervous. It's only understandable when surrounded by so many giant moving animals.

Before we called it a day, we headed to the play area to run around a little while, and let me tell you, Drew and Ben could have stayed there all day long, and been fine. They had a great time. Hopefully the warm weather will be here to stay for a while, and we can do it again soon!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

we sure hope everyone had as great of a day yesterday as we did! first, the boys made michael a valentine's day card and left it out for him to see when he came downstairs to get his coffee before work. he just loved the litle handprints and the great job of coloring they did (all by themselves!)

then, as we were getting ready to leave for the day, these beautiful gerber daisies (my very favorite) showed up at our door! they are so pretty, and it really made my day! so the boys and i headed to the library in nashville to watch the puppet show and storytime with a few of our buddies. my good friend courtney introduced us to this weekly event when the boys were only 6 or 7 months, and they have always enjoyed going. they danced and sang and squealed in excitement at the puppets. and here they are afterwards playing at the toddler computers. they love playing on those since we leave the office doors shut at home. so we headed home and aunt britt (who they've started calling bih bih) surprised michael and i and shooed us out of the house so that we could have a dinner all by ourselves. such a great surprise!!! it was so nice to not have to inhale our dinner while cutting up chicken nuggets and picking the mess up off the floors. thanks, britt! you bless us more than you know, and we love you!

we hope that you all had a great day celebrating with the ones you love!

Lately...

...we have been having so much fun! with all the cold weather, my friends and i have had to be creative as to how to keep these energetic kiddos happy. so, we've played at each other's houses, visited chick-fil-a more times than i can count, and the picture here is of all of us mommies meeting at the play area in the mall. everyone had a great time, including us mommies who were so glad to see our babies having fun with each other. ben and drew are so blessed to have such a wonderful church family!with all this cold weather, the boys and i have also had our fair share of pajama days. this is a great picture i took of them loving on each other. they really do have such a special bond, and i love watching it grow.
and this picture is representative of what is now a very common occurance at our house these days: climbing. i'm here to tell ya, these boys are climbing on everything. to them, toys are no longer just toys to play with. no sir! rather, they are items to be pulled, pushed or carried to another location in the house to climb up to whatever they are trying to reach. they are learning so many new things every day. just the other night, drew was playing with michael on the floor, and found his bellybutton. he said "drew, where's your belly button?" and drew pointed right to it! i was amazed since i hadn't taught him that yet. it's crazy to think about all the things they are picking up on that i don't realize! currently, they like to tell me what the duck says: "cah, cah", what the dog says: "oof, oof", what the cow says: "mmmmmmm", what the sheep says: "baa", and what the lion says: "rrrrrrrraah". they love learning new things, but they still seem to have an easier time learning a new sign than they do speaking a new word...it's a work in progress and so much fun!

that's about all that's going on with us around here for now. but before i sign off, i just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRITT!!! you are an amazing sister and friend to me, and you are my hero in so many ways. you are beautiful, kind, a great teacher, and and example of the kind of person i want to be. i love watching you with my children, and i am so blessed to have you in my life!!! i know God has so many great things in store for you, and i can't wait to see what this next year holds! thanks for letting us tag along in your journey!!! i love you and i hope your birthday has been a happy one!!!

Let It Snow!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful 2 inches of snow! So, I bundled the boys up in their snowsuits (that they've had since birth, and never had a chance to wear) and let them experience the fluffy white stuff for the first time. Drew was a little cautious at first, but once I took one of his hands out of the mittens so he could feel the cold, he gained his adventurous spirit and decided he liked it.Here is Ben on the front porch. He acted like he didn't know what he was supposed to do. But with a little help from mommy he ventured off into the front yard.Here they both are slowly gaining their confidence about such a new experience. Once they realized that they liked the snow, they both took off and had fun feeling it and playing in it.....until this happened: once Ben lost his balance and fell down, the adventure was over and we quickly headed back into the warm house to eat a big warm bowl of oatmeal.
Our OTHER child (we refer to her as our teenager) loves the snow. She doesn't even notice the cold. So, she ran and ran and ran in it. After several hours of kicking up the powder, she finally decided to come in too. When I went to wipe off her paws, she actually had ice hanging off the back of her fur!

It has been a good memory-warm-fuzzy-feeling-snuggly-kind of morning at our house. The only way it could have possibly been any better is if Michael had been here with us. I miss you hunny, and we're so ready to see you soon!!!