Growin' and Cheesin'

On the way home from Georgia after our visit with Noah, we needed to kill a couple of hours in Charlotte so I could pick up my car out of the parking deck for free...so, instead of giving the parking attendant $50, we decided to spend it at Chuck.E.Cheese instead!  After riding in the car for 4+ hours, the girls seemed to think this was a GREAT idea!  They had so much fun, and Gary and I thoroughly enjoyed our delicious meal ;) and a long game of skeeball.  What else would we be able to do to get enough tickets to buy...junk!?

Today, the girls went for their 15 month checkup...and those wonderful things we call...shots.  As usual, it was pitiful, and we felt horrible holding them down to be tortured, but we left knowing that once again, we had extremely healthy and normal babies!  Temper tantrums and all!  :)

Here are the stats:

Makayla - Weight - 21 lbs 14 oz - (~25th percentile)

                 Height - 32 inches (~90th percentile)

                 Head Circ - 47.5 cm (~90th percentile)

Macy -     Weight - 22 lbs 11 oz - (~40-50th percentile)

                Height - 32 inches (~90th percentile - she caught up with her sister!)

                Head Circ - 49 cm (>98th percentile - still big, but "leveling off" on the curve, which made the doctor very happy!)

We're very blessed!

Baby Noah

We made yet another QUICK trip to Cumming, GA last night to see our new nephew/cousin, Noah Reed Lichtenberg!  Noah was born at 3:19am on Monday, November 15, and, although Sabrina didn't have the easiest delivery, he's a perfect little boy!  The family is doing well, and Haley is a proud big sister!!

Gary and the girls picked me up from work early on Monday and we took off.  We were able to drop the girls off to spend some quality time with Mimi and Haley, and Gary and I headed to the hospital for a visit.  The girls also got to hang out with their cousin and Mimi for a while this morning, and Haley is already quite the little sitter/helper!

Today, we went to the hospital for one more quick peek at the little guy, grabbed lunch with Haley and Mimi, and are on our way home now.  Unfortunately, the girls didn't get to meet their cousin yet, but we look forward to getting all of the kids together for Christmas next month! 

Welcome to the family, Noah!

DPK

The girls and I finally got a chance to check out the brand new “Discovery Place Kids” museum that opened a few weeks ago right here in Huntersville. The museum is targeted for ages 1 through 2nd grade, and, I must say, they covered the spectrum pretty well! I’ve been SO excited about this, and bought a year’s membership for the family without even checking out the place. Today, we made it by for a visit, and it was AWESOME! (Unfortunately, my pictures are pretty bad, since “Uncle Todd” borrowed our good camera for the weekend to go watch Leigh kick butt at an IRONMAN…GO LEIGH!! I’m in so much awe of that girl!!) We’ll have plenty of opportunities to get better ones…

Anyway, as usual, my shy little munchkins were a bit unsure of all of the craziness at first. We went in the first little area, designed especially for those under 3, and just sat in the floor together so that they could take a look around. Macy was pretty quick to get moving, but Makayla took a little bit longer…however, before too long, they were both checking everything out on their own!

There were SO MANY things to see and play with, it’s going to take SEVERAL trips before we really cover it all, but there were play houses, water tables, riding toys, an airport, a bank, a firetruck, a gym area, a barnyard area – complete with a “milkable” cow, a tractor, silos and chickens, a pretend (and very well stocked) grocery store, a pretend deli, an “Under the Sea” exploration area, an art center, a stage where they have regular story time and puppet shows, a huge slide/jungle gym for the older kids, and quite a few other things we didn’t even cover! It’s pretty unbelievable! Since it’s all so new, it’s all so CLEAN too…what mom doesn’t LOVE that!?!?

Anyway, we timed it perfectly, arriving at about 9:30, right after they opened at 9, and the crowd was fairly small. We played until we couldn’t play anymore, and left at about 11:30. By that point, the crowds had begun to pile in…I was kind of glad we were leaving, but there’s so much to do, even with all of the craziness, it still wasn’t too bad! The girls were adequately pooped, so we came home, grabbed lunch, and now they’re sleeping peacefully! I’m probably as exhausted as they are, but it was so much fun for all 3 of us! We missed having Daddy along for the ride, since he’s away in Phoenix for the weekend, but we will take him back soon, and will DEFINITELY make good use of our membership this winter!

In general, I had an awesome realization this weekend…something I’ve been aware of for a while, but haven’t really processed…life with 15 month old twins is…FUN!!! Having twins has always had some element of fun, but that’s been mixed with a tremendous amount of stress, a dose of exhaustion, a touch of frustration, and an amazing amount of ANXIETY. I’m not saying that all of those other things have completely disappeared, either, but what I AM saying is, I’ve had a darned good weekend with my little ladies! Of course I hate it when Gary is gone, and I wish he didn’t have to leave for days at a time…but a year ago at this time, I was living in the most stressful few weeks of my entire life, and every trip almost made me throw up due to anxiety, stress, and hormones. I believe we’ve been blessed with pretty “good” babies, but even the best baby is a lot of work at such a tiny age, and double the babies meant double the work…now, the girls are so interactive with us and each other, and watching them kiss, hug, and pat each other gives me a sense of pride like I never knew existed! They’re even learning to share (sometimes less eagerly than others), and tell each other please, sorry, and thank you. It’s so awesome! I feel like I just need to put every ounce of energy into soaking up this fantastically fun stage in life!

A Bunch of Wild Animals!

Recently, Makayla has developed a serious interest in ANIMALS, and LOVES for you to walk her through her “inventory” so she can "name them" and tell you what each animal says. She also LOVES reading her various animal books and being tested on her knowledge for every animal that she finds…ironically enough, one of her favorite places to pick them out is in their Bible…Noah’s Ark provides a lot of good material, and the Manger scene always has a good cow, at least, and that is her running favorite! :)

Off the top of my head, she’s quickest with:  Cows, Pigs, Sheep, Horses, Ducks, Lions, and Cats.  She also has a version of the word "Turtle" that cracks us up every time!

Macy knows Ducks and Cows, but is still just not ready to talk to us all that much. You can see in her eyes that she’s thinking about it all…I’m sure she’ll tell us more than we need to know once she’s ready! :)

Both girls definitely recognize dogs, too, but usually, instead of barking, they just wave and say “Hi”, since they love saying Hi to Marley!

Anyway, to embrace this newfound interest in animals, we started the day on Saturday with a trip to Chic-fil-a, where the girls love the chicken nuggets, and we were SURE Makayla would love a visit from the cow…unfortunately, we were WRONG! We learned that she loves cows from a DISTANCE, but don’t let one stand on 2 legs and walk up to her, whatever you do! :)

After lunch, we took a trip to the “Lazy 5 Ranch” so that the girls could get a REAL first-hand look at all of these things we keep talking about! It was a cold day, but the ranch is set up so that you drive through the animals in your car, and it was perfect! We cranked up the heat and started our journey!

I was a little bit freaked out, especially at first, because, believe me, these animals are NOT afraid to stick their heads in your car to find food. Unfortunately, to keep them from getting too close, I used up our entire container of food in a few short minutes, but I was happy to be rid of the mess and to be a little less alluring to those dirty llamas! :)  Makayla was a little bit intimidated at first too, but ended up hanging out the window waving "Hi" to anything she could lay eyes on!

Gary was probably as amazed as the girls…where else can you find Llamas, Zebra, Deer, Ducks, Goats, Bulls, Water Buffalo, Sheep, Horses, Cows, Pigs, AND a GIRAFFE, and a RHINOCEROUS…without leaving Mooresville!!  It really is a cool place!

After our trip, the girls were POOPED, so we turned on their favorite “Old MacDonald” Baby Einstein DVD and let them catch a quick nap on the way home!  What a fun day on the farm!

Happy [LATE] Birthday, Haley!

I skipped a very important post for a very important little girl, but I thought it made sense to get Halloween pictures out pretty close to the actual Halloween Holiday!  Anyway, again, let's rewind a bit...

Two weeks ago, we made a WHIRLWIND trip to ATL to celebrate Haley's THIRD Birthday!  It's so hard to believe the little princess herself is 3 years old!!  Aunt Sabrina threw an awesome party for Haley and her friends and family at the gym where Haley takes gymnastics class, and it was quite an impressive little place!  Haley and her friends had SO MUCH fun, and it was so cute watching them play together on all of the awesome gym equipment...I just couldn't stop thinking about how much I would have loved a place like that when I was her age!!

Due to crazy schedules, we had to make our trip far too brief, but we were very glad that we were able to make it, even for a second!  Thanks to Gary's various modes of transportation, this trip was expedited through the use of the 210 (another trip in the small prop plane), and we left in the morning, had lunch with the family, attended the party, and then flew home!  What a day...and it just happened to be the same day as the Iredell County Balloon Rally, which is held just steps away from the GBI hangar, so we were able to catch part of the morning ballon launch before our trip! 

The girls both LOVED watching the balloons, even on the chilly morning that it was, and Makayla could not stop pointing and showing us all of the "Boons".  Such a smart girl!  One even ended up landing right across the taxiway from the hangar just before we took off!  You can't get more up close and personal than that!

After the balloon excitement, the girls caught a quick nap on the way to GA, and were thrilled to see Mimi when we landed!  We went to lunch and met up with Aunt Miss, Aunt Sabrina, Haley, Uncle Clayton, and Grandpa!  After that, we headed to Aunt Sabrina and Uncle Clayton's house to get ready for the party!  We were so excited to take the girls to play at the gym, but we KNEW they needed a nap in order to sustain...of course the trip to the gym lasted about 10 minutes, and that meant about a 5 minute nap.  We decided to let them keep sleeping for a few minutes, but when the party was officially half over, we decided we should wake them up, thinking that their quick catnap might do the trick...boy were we WRONG!  The poor little things woke up in the worst mood, and just didn't have the energy for the crazy party that awaited them!  We did our best to convince them that it would be a good time, and Makayla finally got into a little bit of the action with Aunt Sheryl and Mimi, but Macy would really have no part.  Once the group headed in for cupcakes, treat bags, and gifts, and we finally got the girls settled with some of Aunt Sheryl's yummy chocolate cupcakes, and they finally started to turn the corner.  We were able to play with bubbles and balloons, watch all of the other kids, and enjoy the company of family for just a little while before it was time to leave! 

We made one more stop by Aunt Sabrina and Uncle Clayton's, said our goodbyes, and were back at our house by 10pm!  WHAT A DAY!!  It was GREAT seeing everyone, and it seemed like Haley had an awesome 3rd Birthday!  We look forward to another trip VERY SOON where we'll welcome our new nephew/cousin NOAH!!

Ghosts, Goblins, and...

PINK M&Ms!!  The girls celebrated their second Halloween in appropriate chocolate sweetness as they dressed up like PINK M&Ms to emblematize their blog!  :)  I figured this was the last year when we'd have full say in what they wore, and we might as well make it cute!

I had a great time making their costumes, and was proud that I actually figured out how to maneuver a sewing machine enough to make a usable final result...until I realized that the glue I used to attach the "M" wasn't the least bit toddler-proof...especially for toddlers throwing a fit while the costume is being put on...and later I learned that it's a known fact that FABRIC glue DOESN'T work on FELT!!  How SILLY of me to assume such a thing!!!  I guess what I continue to learn, time and time again is that, no matter how hard I try, I'm never going to be that Martha Stewart mom who can build a cozy cottage out of a few sticks and some Elmers. Oh well, the girls still looked cute, and at least they have 4 creative and crafty aunts to fill in where I lack!!

Anyway, we started the evening by heading down to our clubhouse where our neighborhood produced a little "carnival" complete with kid's games and a pizza dinner before sending the herd into the neighborhood for trick-or-treating.  The girls enjoyed a game or two, a couple of little prizes, people watching, some pizza, and mostly enjoyed taking over their friend Brennen's car while we were at the party.  They had a great time! 

Just before the party ended, we headed home so that we'd be there in plenty of time to catch the masses as they descended across Crown Harbor.  (Last year, we made the mistake of hanging out at the clubhouse just a minute too long, and ended the night with WAY more candy than we could ever dream of eating!)  We had a slew of trick-or-treaters in a very short amount of time, and the girls had a blast watching the crazy costumed visitors file in and out of our driveway! 

It was pretty entertaining for us watching them make good use of the candy...they had no idea what was inside the pretty little packages, but they LOVED moving treats from cauldron to pumpkin to pumpkin to cauldron...and Macy had us cracking up when she realized that she wasn't the only one pulling treats from the pile...she gave a death stare to more than one group of trick-or-treaters!  :)

After hanging out serving candy for a while, we decided it was time for the girls to hit a few houses of their own, so we set out...unfortunately, they'd loaded their little pumpkins down so heavily that they could hardly carry them down the sidewalk, but they wouldn't hear of putting any of the candy back, and were determined to teeter the pumpkins along on their journey...Makayla decided to just sit down in the street to rest several times, but after a few restarts, we made it as far as we were going to get.

After about 3 houses, they were getting pretty pooped, and it was getting pretty dark and cold, so we headed home.  We thought the night was winding down, only to have the full cast of Alice in Wonderland, as well as Snow White, a Nascar driver, and one of the evil characters that I should know, but don't (and I rest easy knowing that I'll have plenty of opportunity to learn about her and others over the next few years), as well as a random baseball player to show up at our door.  This group of hooligans was actually 2 of my friends from work and their brood, and we were very happy to welcome them in...not only did they bring us trick-or-treat fun, but they brought their own pinata and we watched as the girls (theirs, not ours) took lots of swings and finally knocked it down in the kitchen!  Our girls were utterly amazed, entertained, and confused about all of the excitement, and it was definitely a great way to finish off the festivities of the night!

We ended the night with an unusual "bedtime snack" when Daddy gave the girls a sucker before putting them to bed.  I think he felt like we needed to let them try some sort of candy so that we didn't deprive them of enjoying the final details of Halloween...and, thankfully, they didn't really like it anyway, and they were so exhausted that even a quick dose of sugar didn't deter them from catching some zzz's!! 

Friends and Family

I'm slowly closing in on my October "backlog", but it's pretty obvious October has been a BUSY month!! When we went to St Louis the first weekend in October, the girls got to meet their Grandpa Ken and Great Grandpa Don for the first time! We had a very quick visit with them after our long flight, so the girls weren't too much fun, but fortunately, "the Grandpas" made a trip through North Carolina several weeks ago, so the girls had a chance to really "bond" with them.

Makayla really seemed to take up with Don, and enjoyed "reading" him her books! Macy was a little less interested in "cuddling", but did warm up to the guys pretty well.

 It was a quick trip, but hopefully we won't wait another year and 2 months before seeing them again!

The following weekend, Gary and I went out of town for some "grown up" fun in Boone. We had an awesome time renting a cabin with a group of friends and finally catching our only ASU Game of the season...fortunately, WE WON, but it wasn't even that exciting of a game...but no one's complaining about that! Thankfully, Grandma and Papaw were here to hang with the girls, as usual, so we could go and enjoy ourselves and our little break.

We came home EARLY Sunday for a whirlwind day...Aunt Lauren had come up to help decorate, and we had a shower to throw for cousin Hillary and her husband Matt at 1pm!  We were, of course, very anxious to see our girls, too, so there was a lot to do!  Thanks to Lauren, Shawnna, and Grandma and Papaw's help, we pulled it all off, and I think Hillary and Matt ended up with a great shower!  The girls got to get all dressed up and to show off their "one-shoe fettish" :) and it was a great chance to see those from the opposite side of the family, and to get excited about the upcoming arrival of our new cousin Myles!