Yet Another Birthday Party

It seems we've attended a birthday party every week for the past several weeks. I can only imagine how it will be once the twins get started going to parties with their friends!! Halle had a fun time at Savannah's party which was at Simple Simon's Pizza. Several of her friends were there and they played lots of games. She was glad to see Maddie there who seems to be one of her best friends these days. That's who is in the picture with just her. It seems like every girl her age is into Hannah Montana which of course was the theme of the party. It is unbelievable how many things you can purchase with a Hannah logo on it. Trust me you can't go wrong buying for a girl this age.

On the way to church this morning Halle was playing with a play cell phone because much to her dismay she can't for the life of her figure out why we won't buy her a real cell phone!! Anyway she was pretending to talk to Maddie when she says, "Hang on I'm getting another call." She answers the other call and it is Kennedy, her other good friend. Then I hear her say, "Hold on I'm going to put you on 3 way." Her Uncle Brandon will love this because I know this is where she got this saying. It was so funny. I mean she is 6 years old can you imagine when she is a teenager. I'm afraid I may not survive!! :)

New Suits

Fourth game into the season and the new cheerleader suits finally are finished. The lady who makes them for us had a hard time getting the trim. Finally it arrived and the suits are complete and look so cute on the girls. Halle was too busy to have her picture made. I will try to get one next week. Sydney loves the football games. This week she was yelling, "Go defense." She even yelled this when we were playing offense. We had to correct her a few times but everyone around thought it was so cute. We won the game beating our rivals the Murfreesboro Rattlers, 35 to 0.

She says the funniest things lately. The other day I told her, "Come on honey lets go," to which she replied, "I'm not honey, daddy is honey." This is funny because I do seem to call Jeffrey honey all the time I've noticed. You can't call her anything but her name these days. If you call her sweetie, she'll say, "I'm not sweetie, I'm Sydney." Also you can ask her someones name and no matter who it is it's going to be their name plus Reese Mounts. I don't know what it is that makes her think this but Halle use to do the same thing except with Grace Mounts. She's at such a fun and cute age.

Tummy Time

Carlee and Kalee have really grown this past week. We've been putting them on their tummy as suggested by the peditrician. They like it for about 5 minutes then their done. They are smiling at us more each day and have even started cooing at us a little...so precious. Carlee has to go back for her heart next month for another check and we will actually see the doctor this time...Not much change with this last echo. We feel blessed that the murmur doesn't seem to be effecting her at all! We take them in a couple of weeks to start their RSV vaccinations. They will get a shot each month for 6 months to try to prevent them from getting RSV. We truly know how bad this can be since both Halle and Sydney have had it in the past. We pray the vaccination will work and our little ones won't get it. They will also be going soon for their 4 month check-up. I'm anxious to see how much they weigh. I can tell they have grown because we finally are wearing size 1 diapers. In the pictures Kalee is on the left and Carlee on the right. Poor Kalee is loosing her hair but I can still get a bow in it.

My Girls

This morning we actually got around early. Jeffrey and I even made it to class with the twins. Debbie has been taking the big girls for us. We even had time for a little photo shoot. Kalee was too tired to open her eyes. The twins are up to around 8 lbs now and are starting to smile at us some. Everyone has been trying to figure out who they look like.

Long Weekend

The girls played hard on Saturday. They have really been enjoying the nice weather. They jumped on the trampoline, played in the toy room, and played on the swing set non stop the whole day. At about 5 they went to watch cartoons. About 5 minutes later this is what I found. They woke up for about an hour around 9 and then went back to sleep for the rest of the night.

Carlee's ECHO

We took Carlee for her heart ECHO Thursday. She did great. It took about 45 minutes for the lady to get 7 pictures of her heart. She told us they always dread seeing a baby on the schedule but she said Carlee was a wonderful patient. She even slept through most of it. An ECHO is ultrasound of the heart. When we got in the room Jeffrey told the lady, "whatever you do don't tell me my wife is pregnant." The machine is just like the machine they use when you are having an ultrasound when you are pregnant. The lady didn't quite understand the humor because we only had Carlee with us. We should hear from the doctor tomorrow. The lady showed us the murmur so we know it's still there but the doctor will be able to tell us if it has gotten smaller. He's hoping that it will close up when she is about 6 months. While we were at Baptist we decided to go see the nurses in the NICU. The babies have finally out grown their preemie clothes so we decided to donate them to the NICU. All the nurses that took care of the girls loved seeing Carlee and really appreciated the clothes. They said we couldn't come back without Kalee next time. We were able to see several nurses but missed seeing a few that were off that day and wished we could see some of the night nurses.

Exercising Family

Jeffrey is going to run a half marathon this Saturday. He's been preparing since January. I've even got into running however I have no desire to run 12 miles. I think I will stick to my 2. The girls love getting in the floor doing stretches, crunches, and push-ups with him. It's so cute to see them immitate him.

Precious Memories

Memories I don't want to ever forget, I'm going to try to write down and look at 50 years from now and smile... Last night Halle and I were laying in her bed because no matter how hard we try she will not go to bed by herself. Anyway back to the story, every night when we get in her bed we talk about her day. We talk about who she played with at recess, who she set by at lunch, what boy chased her on the play ground, if she passed her book test that day, and what ever else she thinks to tell me so she doesn't have to go to sleep right away. This seems to be the best place and quietest for that matter for us to talk and for her to have me all to herself. Last night she told me that our conversations in her bed was her most favorite part of her day. Made me tear up as I'm doing now talking about it. Don't think I'm going to make her ever go to sleep by herself again because I love the time just as much as she does! I look forward to many more memories with Halle and each of my girls.

Poor Syd

Poor Syd...as if her week needed to get worse...She woke up this morning to her right ear draining. I'm talking the worst stuff you can imagine coming out of her ear. You know when you go to the doctor and they tell you that you have fluid build up on your ear thus you have an ear infection. Well that fliud is what comes out of your ears when you have tubes along with all the wax that's built up. Talk about gross. Remedy...put antibiotic drops in her ears twice a day for 7 days. Now ask me if she likes this. The last time her ear drained and we had to place drops she literally slept with her hands over her ears because she knew we were going to put them in while she was sleeping. She is very strong for a 2 year old. It took Jeffrey and I both holding her down. However, this morning when I put the drops in (luckily I had some left over) she did fine. Now I don't know if she had just forgotten how bad she disliked the drops or she was just being extra good this morning but she did fine with the first set. We did the whole lets put drops in Halle's ear and the babies' ears so she could see how easy it was. Anything it takes to get her to not scream. It worked like a charm this morning. We will see tonight how well she does. On top of all that, as if that wasn't enough, she cried wanting to stay with her nanna and not go to Ms. Jamie's for the first time this morning. I guess it was a combination of not feeling well and seeing the babies getting to stay with Nanna that didn't set well with her. I called Jeffrey and he said she didn't cry when he dropped her off so I did feel a little better. On a lighter note, she corrected me last night and told me she didn't have a black eye, she had a blue eye. Which bless her heart she is right. Her eye is blue and not black and if you really think about it all black eyes are blue not black so from now on we will call them blue eyes in our house, thanks to Syd. :)

Syd's First Black Eye

In case we had any doubts left, Sydney truly is her daddy's child. Last night she was sitting on top of her Cinderella vanity and it tipped over with her. She hit the corner of the cabinet in the toy room. I was doing my many loads of laundry and heard Halle screaming come quick and Sydney crying. I rounded the corner to find Sydney holding her eye with blood coming down her face. I admit panicked a bit. She wouldn't let me look wanting me to hold her with her face buried in my shirt. Halle ran to get pawpaw so he could help me see. I was afraid it was cut deep enough to need stitches which thankfully was not the case. She just has a terrible looking black eye and looks just pitiful. She did cry for a long time and needed lots of cuddling. She soon recovered and said,"It's ok momma." ... Very funny because those of you who know her well know this is her response to things when she has done something bad. I'm hoping her eye gets well soon and thankful she wasn't hurt any worse.

Getting Out the Door

Getting four girls ready in the mornings is quite an adventure. Thankfully I have an awesome husband who helps out tremendously. The routine is normally up at 5:30 through the week and 7 on Sundays. Jeffrey will feed the babies while I start getting ready. Once the babies are fed, we wake the girls. They have their cereal of choice and then it's bath time. Jeffrey gives them a bath and brushes their teeth while I pick out their clothes and iron what needs to be ironed. The two big girls dress themselves, and then I blow dry and fix hair to their liking. They are very opionated as to how their hair will be fixed each day. Once they are ready we bath the baby girls and get them dressed unless it's a day I work and on those days my wonderful mother-in-law gets the twins ready for the day. Somewhere in the midst of all this chaos we find time to get ourselves ready, pack bags, and pack lunches for the day. As you can tell I feel like I put in a full days work before I even go to work. However, we are truly blessed to have people that help us out so much. Notice the twins both sucking their same hand, too funny.

Weekend at River

We spent Saturday at the river with gran and papa Rick. The girls always have fun at the river riding the golf cart (which was broken this weekend) , cooking in their kitchen, walking on the bridge, and mainly getting to do whatever they want. We watched the Razorbacks win and enjoyed some good chili and potato soup. Gran made both because the girls don't like chili. Sydney loves Coal. She always has to give him a bone every time we go and sometimes she slips him an extra. He is always so good with the girls and lets them love on him.

Halle Lost a Tooth

Syd took this picture of Halle. She's getting good with the camera. I've been meaning to post that Halle lost her first tooth June 13th while I was spending my first night in the hospital. I was so sad because she had lost it without me there. She called me as soon as she lost the tooth. She told me that it finally came out when she was eating pizza. We had been trying to pull it for days. The tooth fairy did manage to find her and leave $5. Her first 6 year molar has finally broken through too. She's so excited.

Feeding Time

While I was feeding the twins the other day, they started holding hands while they were eating. I thought it was too cute.

My LIL Cheerleader

Sydney loves to play dress up and she thinks she is so big when she wears her cheerleader suit. Everyone talked about how grown up she looked. I think it's because we have the babies now that look so small but she is growing out of her baby phase and looking more and more like a little girl. She didn't like the horse much at the pep rally but warmed up to it at the game. Last year she would just hug it with no problem. I think she will warm up to it eventually. When the Outlaws win we always shoot off fire works,

Sydney loved them and kept saying how pretty they were. She is doing her version of a back bend in the top picture... so cute. Halle tries to help her but she says, "my do it my way." I'm sure she will learn soon enough. For now it's cute the way she does it.

Future Cheerleader

Ever since Halle was a baby she has enjoyed going to pep rallys and Outlaw ballgames. She loves to cheer with the cheerleaders. Since she has started school I go check her out so she can still attend the pep rally. Every Friday the cheerleaders sell tatoos. This week it said #1. Every week will be a different tatoo. Halle has poms poms and a megaphone this year just like the cheerleaders thanks to her Aunt Joy. I'll try to get pictures of megaphone next week. It is too cute. Halle carried it to the game and all her friends enjoyed playing with it. We played Fouke this week and won 34 to 6. Halle doesn't pay that much attention to the game but when it's over she always asks did we win. After the game she always has to go out on the field with the boys, cheerleaders, and fans. She loves Friday nights.

Carlee and Kalee Cheer Too

Carlee and Kalle enjoyed the pep rally Friday. They slept through most of it. They only jumped a few times when they were startled by a loud noise. All the teachers enjoyed finally getting to meet them. Everyone thought their shirts were so cute. You can't tell in the picture but their pants have horse shoes on them too. As we were loading them up to go, Debbie asked if it was worth all the trouble. I thought this is my life better get used to it...can't stay at home for the rest of my life. They did great and were really no trouble once we arrived. Once you get out of the house the rest is a breeze. It's the preparing to go that's the worst. I thought the bibs were so cute that mom and Brandon picked out for the girls. I'm sure double trouble is what I have to looked forward to.

Hold on Syd

The girls love these little powered cars. They have a Jeep and a Pontiac Soltice at home. They liked the 4-wheeler at Kim's.

Sydney Back to Ms. Jamie's

Today is Sydney's first day back to Ms. Jamie's. She has been staying with me and her nanna while I've been on maternity leave. She was so excited this morning. She kept talking about all the boys and girls she was going to play with today. Ms. Jamie is keeping two new little ones and I've been praying all day that she hasn't been too much of a helper. Caught her the other day carrying one of the twins....scary. She likes to squeeze a little too tight.

Twins ready for bed

The twins love their boppies. I thought they looked so cute all dressed for bed.

Sydney swimming

Sydney had a great time swimming too. She is getting so brave. She finally got the nerve to jump off the diving board. She was so excited however we asked her if she wanted to go again and she said, "not yet." She went back to just jumping off the side of the pool.

Halle diving

Halle learned to dive this summer. She is getting pretty good at it. We enjoyed time at Kim's pool yesterday.

Entertainment on the lake

The kids were so entertaining on the lake. Both girls tubed but unfortunately I wasn't on the boat when Syd went so the picture is of Halle. Halle is now old enough to tube alone but Syd went with her daddy. The tube was so deep she could barely see over it.

Halle and Sydney love to dance and in the top photo they were dancing to Kid Rock's latest... quite funny.

One of the boats had a bar for knee boarding purposes but the kids found their own way to make use of it. I'm not sure how long Halle and Will played on the bar just swinging back and forth trying to out do the other. Halle fell a few times but popped right back up being sure no one saw her cry.

The last photo is of her jumping off the barge. She tried to jump off on Saturday but chickened out but on Sunday she got her nerve up. Once she jumped once there was no stopping her. She jumped several times with me cringing every time!!

Lake for Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day we went to the lake. The girls love the water and had a great time both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday several of our friends enjoyed the day with us. I think we had 6 or 7 boats tied together, talk about a Red Neck Yacht Club... we had so much fun. We left the baby girls with Gran. Don't think they are quite ready for fun in the sun just yet.

2 Months

Carlee and Kalee are now 2 months. Carmen took some precious photos of them together. Most people have thought this is the way they were in my belly... can you imagine?!?

At their check up Carlee weighed in at 7 lbs 7.5ozs and Kalee weighed in at 7 lbs 3.5 ozs. This is the most difference their weight has ever been even when they were in my belly they were always within an oz of each other. Dr Busceme said they are doing great gaining but we are still having to mix their formula stronger at 24 calories to fatten them up a little more. Carlee was 19 1/2 inches long and Kalee was 19 3/4 inches long. All of their measurements put them in the less than 3% category for their age but Dr. Busceme said they would probably catch up around 6 months.

As far as development they are still acting like newborns. They mainly sleep and eat with not much interaction. We are expecting that to change in the next month or so. Both girls are on the same schedule. They are eating about 4 ozs every 3 to 4 hours. We feed both girls at the same time in order to keep them on a strict schedule and for my sanity. At night we put them to bed around 10:30 and they have been sleeping until between 6-7. Most people have a hard time believing this but honestly all my girls have been great sleepers and these are following suit. We co-sleep them so when one gets fussy in the night she gets to get in the bed with us so she doesn't wake her sister.

In picture Carlee is on top, Kalee is on bottom.

Carlee and Kalee go to church

The babies went to church for the first time 2 months after they were born. The big girls were excited that the babies finally got to come to church. This was the first time that most people were able to see the babies. Everyone thought they were beautiful. Both babies slept all through church and were perfect angles. Now if we can only get the big girls to be so good! In the picture Halle has Carlee and Sydney has Kalee.

Halle's first day of 1st grade

Halle started school August 18. She is really into Camp Rock this year which is kind of like High School Musical. It features the Jonas Brothers who she loves. Thus her back pack and lunch box is Camp Rock stuff.

Her teacher is Mrs Kesterson and she is really liking her. She tells me how nice she is nearly everyday. In 1st grade the focus is mainly on reading. Halle has to read a book nearly every night and the next day you have to pass a test which they take on a computer. So far she has passed 8 books and she will have to pass 50 by the end of the year. Of course our goal is much higher.

Halle is a good reader so she helps other kids take their book tests. We are looking forward to a good year.