Experiencing Wild Life Raising Twins!

2007-05-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!

A friend at work gave me this great grill for the kids to play with. I brought it out for the first time today and the kids had a ball. I brought it out because with the holiday it made me think of cooking out which reminded me that we had it.

2007-05-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Rally for Chesapeake's American Idol Finalist! Chris Richardson!

After Chris got voted off American Idol a rally was held in his honor at his old stomping grounds. They had the rally at Great Bridge High Stadium where Chris played football. There were a lot of people mostly of the female persuasion to show love to him.

He arrived to the stage by way of a local radio station van led by the GBHS drum line and cheerleaders.

Then our Mayor Dalton Edge presented him with a key to the city and a plaque commemorating the event.

Then Chris thanked everyone for their support and did a short Q&A. He got a marriage proposal and people asked him silly questions. He use to work at Hooter's on Battlefield across from Chesapeake General and someone asked him what his favorite strength of hot wings is.
Anyway we had fun going. It was Me, Gloria and the boys who met our friend Michelle, her sis-in-law and her 2 nieces at the stadium. What is kind cool is Michelle lives down the street from Chris!

2007-04-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

A Tisket a Tasket 4 Cousins in a Basket!!!

Gloria and the boys came over to play today. The kids emptied the toy basket and decided to climb in. Well all the kids but Lucas so.....

we added him in to the basket!!!!

They look very close in there!

I think they are trying to figure out how they can get out!

Children are so funny! As you can see the floor is covered with really great fun toys and they would rather play with the toy basket! Oh well as long as they are having fun and not getting hurt!

2007-04-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Their First Haircuts!!!

As you can see Lucas is very excited to get his first haircut! I think it helps that his Aunt G was doing it!

He sat so nice and still for her. I think it helped that he really knew the person doing it and the Twins are used to going to the shop with Mommy to get her hair done.

"Don't buzz me Man!"

And now the Princess gets her hair done!

Lily and Aunt G discussing what look Lily is going for!

What a cutie patootie!

Lily got the look she wanted! Look at the way her hair is stacked in the back!

Well that was a great experience! I was really nervous about how the kids would act while getting their hair cut because Gloria has told me some stories about kids acting terrible and the parents making it worse!

2007-04-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

This is Lily in her beautiful dress that she got for her birthday from Aaron, Elisabeth and their gang.

This is Lucas wearing an outfit from them also. (I think he looks a bit like his Uncle Redmond wearing this plaid shirt!)

We always go to my grandparents for Easter Lunch and then the kids have an Easter Egg Hunt. Since we had that crazy weather yesterday the ground was really damp. So we did a little egg hunt for the Twins in the sun room.

Lucas kept wanting to carry around the same egg and not pick up some of the others. Maybe next year they will have a better handle on what to do!

Our Little Family

The Egg Hunt continues....

This is most of the Great Grand Kids.

2007-04-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's the day before Easter and it's snowing because....

Redmond, Karen and Sadie are coming in town. I always tease them that they bring the snow. We have had next to no snow this winter and it snows the day before Easter! Oh well!
Our shed in the backyard with snow flurries.
Later in the day when the snow stopped we went for a walk. This is Lily in Sadie's Pink car. She is a very serious driver!
Lucas and Sadie riding in the twins wagon.
Sadie looks a little cold so she has her hands in her jacket sleeves.

I promise that these children did have adults with them. We just forgot to photograph them but if you look closely in some of the pictures you can see their shoes and parts of their legs!

We had a great visit with them but it was too short as they always are.

2007-04-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

A Surprise Shower for Michelle!

My friend Michelle who is also my Creative Memories Upline is pregnant her due date is August 15th. I hope she has Gretchen Avery a day early so we will have the same birthday! Michelle is a hard one to surprise but I managed to do it anyway. We had a Unit Meeting scheduled for tonight and I got all the girls in our group to bring finger foods, wear pink or purple and to bring gifts of baby never outs. Baby never outs are diapers, wipes, baby wash, lotion well you get the picture. We have all our meetings at Michelle's so we brought the party to her and she never saw it coming. I'm sure she thought someone was going to do something for her but not 4 months before her due date!
Michelle showing off her baby bump with Marcy in the background. Marcy brought the cookie cake.
Heather setting up her veggie tray.
Opening her gifts.

We all had a great time and what was really neat is Mike was there and so he was able to be apart of her first shower. While we were eating we were telling funny and somewhat scary baby stories. I hope we didn't scare Mike too much.

2007-04-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

Trying something new for breakfast!

I know that I get tried of having the same thing all the time so I thought I would see what the twins think of waffles.
"Um... excuse me have you seen our waitress because we have been waiting on our food forever"
Lucas seems to like them.
Lily seems to like them too.

Having a discussion of whether they like them or not and deciding if they should leave a tip or not.

Well it looks like we have found a new thing to have for breakfast.

2007-03-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

The Twins first Easter Egg Hunt!

White's Nursery had a Egg Hunt all day so we decided to take the kids. We being Gloria, Robyn and myself with the boys God-Parents and my parents in tow.

Cool shades Shawn with quite a few eggs!
The Easter Bunny himself!
Lucas is upset and we were disappointed that the egg hunt was in amongst the plants in the gravel so he couldn't participate because he isn't walking yet. The rest of the kids in our group shared their eggs with him though.

Gloria and the Boys with Becky and Chris
Lily, Lucas and Shawn
Lily found some eggs already!

They had the prettiest hydrangea!
Robyn, Me, Dad, Lily and Lauren

Lily likes her red egg

I thought it would be a great idea to get icecream before we all headed home. Becky and Chris had to head back home but everyone else went with us.

Andrew willing to share his icecream cone with sprinkles.

I gave the twins cheerios but then I decided to let them try my icecream.

Lily seemed to like my mint chocolate chip icecream.

Everyone enjoyed their icecream and it was a nice end to our outing.

2007-03-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

First time using their birthday present.

We gave the kids this wagon for their birthday. Since their birthday is in the Winter we had not had a chance to take them for a ride until today. Robert put this together yesterday because I had seen that the weather was going to be nice today and wanted to take them for a walk.
They really seemed to enjoy it and they did pretty good keeping their hats on. We did however lose a paci but thats ok we have lots at home. Gloria and the boys went with us but I forgot to take a picture of them! :(

2007-03-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

Robert's Birthday

To celebrate Robert and I went to Carrabba's for an early dinner and to run some errands. I know it sounds really exciting but when you have twins even the smallest of errands take longer to do. But we enjoyed our dinner and our time without the kids. Although we both commented several times that we felt weird without the kids. Oh my parents watched the twins so we could go out. My Mom took the above picture of Dad and the twins while we were gone.

2007-02-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

Grandpa's Birthday

Robert took the kids to Grandpa's birthday lunch by himself because I was sick. This was the first time Robert took the kids off by himself.

Robert and Lily
Lily and Andrew playing

Grandpa showing Shawn the picture we gave him for his present. Robert and Aaron talking
Shawn, Lucas and Andrew
Mom with Lucas all bundled up and ready to go.

2007-02-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

More Guests-

Austin and Noah

Aunt "G" with the camera around her neck and Great Aunt Phyllis
Granny Elks holding Shawn and talking to Sharon
Mom and Dad with the Boys

Left to Right: Penny, Casey holding Paige, Elisabeth and Kelsey in front of her.
Grandpa Elks is on the couch with the camera.
Casey is the one I borrowed the cake pan from.

Grandma "G" with the Birthday Girl

Grandma "G" and Susan
Miss Marlene and her daughter Sharon

I think I posted a picture of everyone that attended the party. (I hope)

2007-02-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

Party Guests

Robert's cousin Melissa and her 2 kids Bradley and Bridget
Bridget and Lucas
Bridget and Sharon Foster
Rachel and Lily with her green phone (Roland is in the background holding Lucas)
Rachel's Mom Kate- I taught Rachel and her brother Macon when they were 3. I also watched Rachel and Macon for 2 Summers. They were some of the first to know I was pregnant because I found out by a phone call I recieved at their house!

2007-02-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! IT'S TIME FOR CAKE!!!

We gave them each a cupcake.

At first they really didn't know what to do.
Then they started getting their hands in it.
Lucas slowly becoming a Smurf!

Lily had alot of icing on her but because it is pink you really can't see it all that well.

They both really enjoyed their first taste of cake!

2007-02-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

Lucas and Lily's 1st Birthday Party!

Michelle and Lily with Lea and Lucas

Robert helping Lily open some presents!

Lucas opening a present and Shawn is intently watching.
Lucas and Lily opening a present with help from Andrew and Shawn

Getting ready for cake! There sure were alot of people here. I think we had about 35 people here!

2007-02-16T23:39:00.000-08:00

I Think I am a Little Crazy!

When I started planning the Twin's 1st birthday party I decided I wanted to make the cake. I thought my Mom has done it a bunch of times so I can do it and if I need help I know she would be there for me. So I remembered that my friend Casey had a Blue's Clues cake mold so I will borrow that and make their cakes. I will make a Blue for Lucas and a Magenta for Lily so they will have a cake each. Then I found out the Blue has a little brother named Sprinkles and he is white with colored spots! So Sprinkle is gender neutral in color and I only have to make one cake!

This is me decorating Sprinkles. The hardest part was starting because I didn't want to make a mistake. Once I got going it was easy but time consuming.
Now I just have to do ALL the white areas and the yellow background! I had to take several breaks because the icing got too warm and was goopy so I couldn't decorate with it and had to put it in the fridge for a while.
The finished product. I also made cupcakes because we invited about 50 people and I wanted to make sure we had enough cake.
Then I thought if we have enough cupcakes to spell out "Happy Birthday Lucas & Lily" then we could put them around the cake.
So we did! I was exhausted after I finished the cake but it was all worth it because the first cake my kids tasted was made with love by their Mommy!

2007-02-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Andrew and Shawn's 2nd Birthday!

We are celebrating their birthday today but their actual birthday is Monday the 5th.

My Mom made the boys a Mickey Mouse cake for the party. My Mom made this same cake for Gloria when she was little.

Andrew blowing out his candles.

The boys with their God-Parents Chris and Becky

Present time! You would have thought it was Christmas again!
Shawn playing with the race track toy we gave them.

In 2 weeks we will be celebrating Lucas and Lily's birthday! Time sure does fly!

2007-01-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

Mommy leaving Daddy with the Twins for a Day and a half!

Oh I was so nervous about leaving Robert with the twins for the weekend to go to a Scrapbooking Retreat at the beach. Well neither one of us has been left alone for that amount of time straight with the kids. I know he is capable of doing it but the kids can be frustrating at times and when you are one person with 2 upset kids it isn't very easy sometimes. But reguardless I was excited to get away with my friends to really get some pages done in my scrapbooks but I didn't want to be away from the kids.

This was the night before I was to leave early in the . Oh I am going to miss these sweet babies Although I will be working on scrapbook pages of them so maybe it won't be so hard being away from them.

This is me, my friend Robyn and my Mom. Robyn and I are spending the night but Mom just came for the day. She and my Dad are going to see Robert and the kids this evening so he can have a little break and go pick up something good for dinner.

This is my Dad and Miss Lily is yawning. I guess it is getting close to bedtime.

Robert and Lucas playing on the floor. Robert looks like he has everything under control.

The kids playing on the floor. Are they wondering where Mommy is? Probably not because they are having fun with Daddy.

When I got home they excitedly greeted me at the door. I got alot of pages done (30) and had fun with friends but it was nice to be home again. I hope we get to do the retreat again next year.

2006-12-31T17:45:00.000-08:00

Lucas loves to wrestle Lily!

This is what is called the "Sneak Attack". He appears to be interested in the toy and then...
He attackes her!

She doesn't seem to mind because she was asleep. Watch out Lucas when she wakes up she is going to be pretty ticked!

2006-12-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

A Visit from Redmond, Karen and Sadie

Lily helping Sadie with her present from us.

More presents!

Aunt "G" came over for a while to visit.

2006-12-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

Things are sorta back to our normal schedule now that the holidays are over!

These pictures are just the kids hanging out at the house playing together, eating and etc.

By the way they are sporting the onesies they got for Christmas from Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Steve and Cousin Olivia.

2006-12-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

The Twins get to really play with their toys now that we are home alone!!!

Lucas loves the choo choo train he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

Lily knows that accessories are the key to a great outfit! As you notice her very festive bow.

Boy this train engine sure has a good flavor.

Nobody ever told me that monkey hand tasted this good.

Ok Lily get outta my way I want to play the piano!

2006-12-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

More Christmas Day Visitors

Gloria actually came over early and helped me get the kids dressed and fed while Robert cooked breakfast.

Pop-pop and Nanny
Uncle Jeff
Grandpa

2006-12-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day Visitors

Grandpa and Grandma "G" came over and had breakfast with us. We use to go over thier house for Christmas breakfast but we told them we have kids now so you have to come to our house. That way the kids stay home and play with their new toys.
Uncle Roland
Grandma
Katie
Aunt Rose

to be continued in next post.

2006-12-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning

We must have been really good because look what Santa left for us!

Ok hurry up and feed me I'm ready to play with my new toys!

2006-12-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

We are all ready for Santa!

Cookies and Milk left out for Santa.

Lucas is in his new Pj's, has his blue dog he got from Miss Lauren and is exhausted from the busy day. So he is so ready to go to bed.

Lily is in her new pj's, has her pinky dog from Miss Lauren and she looks a little tired.

Off to bed we go so we will be well rested for tomorrow!

2006-12-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Night at Mom and Dad's

Andrew making a basket with an assist from his Mom! We gave the boys the basketball set.

Mom and Dad holding the Twins with Andrew.

The 4 cousins playing near each other. They really get along great.

Lily with a present from Aunt "G' and the boys. The kids had a "Five little Monkeys" book that my best friend Robyn had given them because we call Lucas Monkey. Well one day the boys were over playing and Shawn ripped the cover off the book so we had to throw it away. I was a little upset because it was a special book but kids will be kids. Without me knowing Gloria took the cover with her, she went to Barnes & Noble showed them the cover and told them I need this book! So she gave the Twins the replacement book as part of their present from them.

Present time is almost over! We have all had a long day. I wonder what Santa will bring the Twin's? I guess we will find out tomorrow morning!

2006-12-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

More Christmas Eve with the Elks Family.

This my Gandparents with their 3 daughters.
Left to Right: Phyllis, Sondra and Rose

This is Rose and Jeff with their daughter Katie. I think Katie is soo over having her picture taken by the look on her face!

The Nix's: Jules, Phyllis, Austin, Aaron, Noah, Elisabeth and Paige

Katie showing Lucas how to dress her American Girl Doll!

Next Stop Mom and Dad's House!

2006-12-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve with the Elks Family

We went to my Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Jules' to celebrate Christmas Eve for Lunch and to exchange gifts. This was the first time that my Uncle Jeff from California had met the Twins. Aunt Rose and Cousin Katie came in the Summer and met the Twins then. Let's see our celebration was attended by 22 people and 8 of that are kids. Oh my present time was a free for all with the older kids! We had to really watch the little ones that they didn't get stepped on or lost in the mass of wrapping paper and gift boxes! I tell you the holidays are so much better when you have children to share them with. I almost makes you feel like a kid again yourself no matter what your age is.

Our family of 4!
My Family!
Front row left to right: Lucas, Shawn, Andrew and Lily
2nd row: Robert, Gloria and me
back row: Dad and Mom

Gloria and the boys. Shawn is doing his best fish face!

Present Time!!!
My Uncle Jeff and Aunt Rose

2006-12-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Good News Delivered!!!!

Before we went to my Aunt Phyllis' to celebrate Christmas with the Elks Family we had a special visit. My friend Michelle and her Mom Sandy came over. I thought Michelle just needed to finish up some Creative Memories business with me but I was wrong. She came over to tell me that she is pregnant!!!!!! Well I cried like a baby out of sheer joy for her and Mike. She is going to be a SUPER Mom!!!!!

This is Sandy the Grandma to be holding Lucas.

This is Michelle with the bun in the oven with Lily. They are looking at my Mom's Christmas gift that Gloria and I made. It's a scrapbook of all 4 of her grandkids from birth to now.

2006-12-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Presents for us

These are the first presents the twins have opened on their own. I think they like the flavor of the paper and bows that were used in the wrapping of their gifts. These gifts are from Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Steve and Cousin Olivia. They gave the kids these adorable twin onesies that say I was here first and no I was here first.

Then Robert and I got the twins new Pj's for Christmas. Lucas' are monkey ones and Lily's are frog ones.

2006-12-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

We met Santa today and we didn't cry!!!!

We took the kids to MacArthur Mall to see Santa. The little picture is the one that Santa's Helper took. I can't enlarge it because it becomes grainy and you can't make the kids out. We were not allowed to take pic's of Santa and the kids ourselves. But I was really nervous that they would cry but they were great with him.

These pictures are of us waiting to see the Big Guy and the other is a picture of them in front of our tree.

2006-12-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

I have 3 teeth!
One day there was one coming in and 2 days later he had 3 teeth. Lily has one just barely coming in.

2006-11-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

Look at me...I'm standing on my own 2 feet!

Lily stood up first on October 25 and then Lucas did it on November 7. It's funny they take turns being the first for the milestones.

2006-10-31T16:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!!

We didn't take the kids out trick or treating because they are too little. But I had these cute outfits that were my nephews so we tried them on them and it just happend to
be halloween.

2006-10-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall Ya'll!
8 months old

I took the twins to the pumpkin patch today. My Mom's class had a field trip so we met them there. It was a pretty fall day and I couldn't resist taking the kids pictures with the pumpkins and fall flowers. Lily seemed into it but I don't think Lucas knew what to think about all this stuff around him.

2006-10-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sitting Pretty & Handsome!

Lucas sat up on October 6th and Lily sat up on October 9th.

2006-08-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

2 Happy Babies!

A friend gave us this Jump-A-Roo and the kids love it as you can see. You put them in it and they just go crazy.

2006-06-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Pool Time

My Mom and I had fun getting these pictures. No I did not photo shop this picture. My kids are actually laying in these rafts. What you don't see is my Mom just a step or two away ready to be back at their side after I take the picture.

I think they are waiting for the cabana boy to bring them their bottles! haha

2006-05-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Got formula?

Today the twins are 3 months old.

I couldn't resist doing the got formula thing. I got this idea a while back and thought it would make a cute scrapbook layout.

2006-04-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

They are 2 months old today.

2006-03-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

We are 1 month old now!

Robert and I still can't believe we are parent let alone parents to twins! We look at them in disbelief everyday. It is a little challenging with 2 but we wouldn't change it for the world.

2006-03-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome! This blog will be the story of our life as new parents to boy/girl twins which were born on February 16, 2006(6weeks pre-mature). Let me take this opportunity to clairify that they are not identical because one is a boy and one is a girl. Our life since Lucas and Lily were born has been a wonderful ride and I can't wait to see what lies on the road ahead.

Here is a link to Redmond and Karen's blog .

This picture was taken on March 6th the day we brought Lucas home from the level 2 nursery.

We are now a family of 4 under one roof.