Spring Flings

We've been SOOO busy over the last several weeks, and I'm SO far behind!  Where to begin...

Several weeks ago, I accomplished the unthinkable and managed to pack up a lot of  the girls' "baby stuff" to sell at my Mothers of Multiples group consignment sale...it was one of those strange phenomenons where I was so happy to get rid of the clutter, but found myself crying these strange and mysterious tears of motherly nostalgia!  Teeny-tiny little clothes, swings, gliders, etc that we will never need again!  Fortunately, I brought home some major booty from the sale myself...2 little rocker toys that the girls can't get enough of!  Unfortunately, they rock so hard that they throw themselves over the front occassionally, but so far no missing teeth! :) The girls really got into the cowgirl action by trying on their pink cowgirl boots that Mamaw and Papaw gave them at their baby shower!  On another note of nostalgia, I remember thinking it would be AGES before they were able to wear those things!!  My how time flies!

The following weekend, Mimi and Papa came to town and the girls enjoyed some quality time with them.  We had a great time hanging out, and spent several hours on swings and slides at the park!  We also attended the first birthday party for our friend Coleman who lives down the street.  The girls were obsessed with the "new" toys that Coleman and his big sister Anna have, and mommy and daddy were able to relax a little bit with friends!

Later that week, the girls got yet another package from Great Grandma and Grandpa Wibbenmeyer!  We were quite surprised, since they had JUST gotten another card and piggy money a couple week or so before!  These guys are so good to us!!  THANK YOU, Ma and John!  The girls LOVED their Easter gifts, and were so excited to open the package and the cards!  It's so fun to watch them get into the action!

The weekend after that, we took a trip to Georgia so that we could see all of the cousins!  We started out by meeting the group at dinner, where the girls got to see Haley, Noah, Aunt Sabrina, Uncle Clayton, and Mimi and Papa!  They were thrilled to hang out with everyone after such a long drive!  The next day, we were able to sneak in lunch with Emmy Cate, Uncle Nathan, and Aunt Lauren, but, unfortunately, had to cut the visit shorter than we'd have liked.  Luckily, we get to see these guys again this weekend, so we're really looking forward to that!

After that, we met up with one of Aunt Sabrina's friends, Corey, who is practicing photography and took a few shots of the girls...unfortunately, they were a bit tired from all of the excitement and weren't the best posers, but Corey still did a great job! 

 

We finished the night at Mimi's for dinner, and were able to spend more time with Haley and Noah the following day.

This past weekend we were able to start off spending some time with Aunt Melissa and Uncle Whit, followed by another visit from Mimi and Papa.  The adults started the weekend at the Jimmy Buffett concert while the girls hung out at home with Mamaw and Papaw...The next day, the girls were overwhelmed by being able to hang out with Mimi, Papa, Aunt Miss, Uncle Whit, AND Mamaw and Papaw all at the same time!!   Daddy, Papa, and Papaw spent 2 days putting together the girls' new swingset...it's not quite done, due to the rain, but very close...they have NO IDEA what is coming!!   They are currently OBSESSED with "sings" and "sides", so I can't wait for them to realize that they have their own!!  The guys also FINALLY put together the girls' play house (from Christmas, for crying out loud - thanks, Mamaw and Papaw) and the girls were able to play with their toy car from Nathan, Lauren, and Emmy!  We've been "hanging onto" these things mostly due to cold weather, then the fact that we decided to just wait until we moved the items to the new house for them to play...and boy were they pleased!!  We felt a little guilty, but it sure was nice for all of us to have such awesome NEW gifts!

The rest of our Easter adventures deserves their own post, so more to come!

Randomness

We haven't done anything all that extraordinary over the last couple of weeks, but we've had a good time doing it!  :)  The girls are at an all-time high for silliness (which I expect to continue to increase as they get older) and we are LOVING it!

A few random pictures of our  latest mis-adventures...

• Here's a pic with "the other" grandparents...since I did a whole post with Mimi, and usually don't remember to take pics with Mamaw and Papaw, I did snap a cute one last week, and wanted to give them their fair share of PR...

• One of my favorite things is when the girls sit on the counter by me while I cook dinner...WHEN they're willing to enjoy it.  Some evenings they're just too hungry/tired/impatient, and it's disastrous...other nights, they really get into "helping" me cook, and I love being able to provide a good meal for the family and not sacrifice precious quality time with them after work!  Here, Macy is preparing a little treat of her own while I whip up something for the main course...she seasoned and stirred while I cooked an entire meal!

• Right now both girls (ESPECIALLY Makayla) are obsessed with airplanes.  They LOVE pointing them out in the sky, seeing them on TV, and looking at pictures.  The other night after dinner Gary was looking at an airplane and helicopter magazine and Makayla sat in his lap.  She looked at every picture in the magazine, I think, and sat there for at least a half hour doing it!  Even Gary was "over it" at that point...and if he stayed on the same page for too long, she'd say "other one" until he flipped the page!  It was so funny!  Macy joined in on the fun for a little bit, but she was quickly bored like her mother!

• On a recent trip to Lowes (of which, we make MANY these days!), Makayla picked up a bag of flower seeds and Gary decided to buy them and let the girls have a little plant project.  They LOVED filling the planters with dirt, sprinkling in the seeds, and watering them!  Gary and I just have to remember to let them water the seeds each night so they'll get a final result that's worth their time!

• The girls got sweet cards from Great-Grandma and Grandpa Wibbenmeyer, complete with the usual assortment of Mickey and Minnie stickers and piggy money. The girls loved sporting their stickers to daycare, and don't even realize yet how full their piggies are getting from their Ma!  THANK YOU GUYS!!

• In addition to the most recent loot, the girls also got PJs from Ma and John as part of their Valentine's surprise.  I didn't get pics when they opened the presents, but it was finally warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirt to bed (which they were thrilled about in and of itself!) They LOVED their Disney jammies and were happy to strike a couple of silly poses to show them off!

HAPPY SPRING!  We couldn't be more thrilled about its arrival!

Fun with Mimi and Aunt Miss

The girls got the pleasure of a visit with Mimi and Aunt Miss this weekend, and boy did they LOVE it!!  Unfortunately, I didn't get ANY pictures with Aunt Miss, but I did manage to get some cute shots of playtime with Mimi and their "cool dudes" (that's what they call sunglasses! :) before she left this morning!   

Thanks for the visit, and extra thanks to Mimi for babysitting last night so that we could attend our friend Ashley's awesome 40th birthday party!  Good times for all!

SO much fun, why would we need to sleep??

Gary lucked out this weekend and got a very unusual weekend off right when race season is just starting to pick up, so we took advantage of the free time and our "free" boat (Gary takes care of Greg's boat so that we can use it when he's not able to) in Charleston and took the girls for a little weekend adventure! 

Last summer, we used the boat's proximity for several quick "adults only" trips to the fun city, but we decided we needed to "orient" the girls to life at sea, and it was time to bring them along!  Unfortunatley, Gary is going back down this week to take the boat up to NC so that Greg can do some fishing in a couple of weeks, so it was our last chance to "do Charleston" from our "floating accomodations"!

After a fairly quick trip down..some screaming, but some decent naps and lots of Elmo along the way...we made it to the boat around 4 on Friday, and the girls were rested and ready to play!  They're at the age, right now, where few things allure them as much as climbing "structures" and eventful "walks", so a trip down the docks and onto "Little Loose" at City Marina did the trick!  Mommy entertained while Daddy took care of a few things on the boat.  We wondered around the docks, clowned around dancing and testing out the fishing gear on the boat, then we headed downtown for dinner.  After dinner, we made a quick stop at The Candy Kitchen before heading back and "attempting to" settle in for the night.  The girls LOVED sharing a chocolate covered pretzel with me, then Gary treated them to a caramel apple just before bed...which MAY have had something to do with their reluctance to go to sleep...just maybe...

In reality, there was just too much fun to be had, and there was such a high risk that they'd miss something, plus, this was the first real "sleepover" that the girls have had in the same bed since they were about 2 months old...so the attitude was "party down" way before "settle down".  Gary and I spent our share of time in the bed trying to get them to relax, and Macy finally gave in, but Makayla took quite a while and put up quite a fight!  Poor baby was exhausted and finally literally screamed herself to sleep...even with me lying right beside her!  Despite the previous night's rumble, the next morning everyone woke up in good spirits and we went to our usual Marina Restaurant for breakfast. 

The weather was PERFECT, and after wondering around on the docks for a while, as usual, I'm up for some quality exercise.  I'm DRAGGING (literally) Gary with me and a big group of friends to run the Cooper River Bridge 10k in April, so we decided to give the bridge a shot.  Let me tell you, that puppy is STEEP!  As planned, we cut the distance in half and only attempted 3 miles (WITH stroller) which consisted of running straight up, then straight back down...what a WORKOUT!  Stubborn me insisted on pushing the stroller the whole way, and I had to summon God for some extra oxygen at the top :), but we took a quick photo op and the run down was cake!  I was so excited by the fact that we survived, but I'm still pretty intimidated by doing that (sans stroller, of course) and packing in 3 more miles in just a few short weeks.  Gary's got every bar along the route mapped out, and I will not be at all surprised if I loose him during the race to find him at one of those.  He's a good sport but is the first to admit his lack of love for running.

After our run, we stopped and had a PB&J picnic in the car for the girls, headed back to the boat for showers, and then planned to hit the aquarium or downtown...unfortunately, we ended up with some VERY TIRED little ladies, and our expectation of a quick nap in the car was not met, so we went to eat a late lunch and at the end of that, the girls kind of melted down...luckily it was already around 5, so we made a couple of quick stops and headed back to the boat.  After another unsuccessful attempt at a quick nap, we finally packed up the car and headed to get the girls a quick bite of dinner...the poor things were asleep before we made it to Mickie D's, so they missed their first-ever chance at a Happy Meal (you know it was an "usual" circumstance if Mommy is willing to resort to that!).  We came back to the boat, and after only a short protest, they were sleeping peacefully!  Luckily, the chaos was fairly short-lived so Gary and I were able to grab take out and enjoy a movie and a couple of glasses of wine before we all caught a good night's sleep!

This morning has been fairly low key...we went for more breakfast...(Reading this it seems like ALL we've done is eat, which is about right, but we've had lots of nice walks around the boats and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other's company in between!) We were going to take the girls out on the beach on the way out, but the beach was still fogged in, so now we're headed home.  We did manage to find a great little Chuck-E-Cheese-like place to grab lunch in Columbia, and the girls were happy to "stretch their legs" and practice their driving skills.  We were happy that their food was a million times better than Chuck's. 

We've had our moody moments, but over all, we've had PERFECT weather and just enjoyed a wonderful trip.  The girls have been great sports and seem to grab onto at least a little bit of our love of the water and boats.  We're looking forward to many water-bound adventures ahead!

Healthy Toddlers

Today was a tough day, since Gary had to fly at the last minute, and I had to take the girls to their 18 month doctor visit myself...but, with a few bandaids and battle scars, we all survived.  Here are our stats...

Makayla
Length = 33.75 inches - 95th percentile
Weight = 23 lbs, 8 oz - 25-50th percentile
Head Circumference = 48 cm - 75-90th percentile
 
Macy
Length = 32.75 inches -75th percentile
Weight = 25 lbs, 1 oz - 50 - 75th percentile
Head Circumference = 50 cm - < 95th percentile

After all of the standard questions, measures, and shots, the girls left with an excellent health report again...and the good news is, this is our LAST round of shots until they're FOUR YEARS OLD!  That makes me SO HAPPY!  I HATE those things!

Daddy's Funny Valentines!

The girls had a fun day at school yesterday, and I was able to pick them up a little bit early so we could all meet Daddy back at home, where he surprised us with flowers, candy, balloons and stuffed animals!! 

The girls got to taste their first dark chocolate (Mommy's treat, which Makayla loved, but Macy did not!) and their Valentine peeps from Ma and John (which they BOTH loved!) 

They girls received cute pajamas from Ma and John as well (which we failed to get pics of when Makayla opened the box the other day and immediately made us put them on OVER her clothes) and cards and piggy money from Aunt Sally and Mamaw and Papaw!  Thanks to everyone for the gifts!!!

Later that evening, Gary and I were fortunate to have Mamaw and Papaw come over to babysit so that we could sneak in a special Valentine's dinner...hope everyone was able to enjoy the day as much as we did! 

18 Months and Hitting the Gym

I took the opportunity to take a couple of closeups of the girls this afternoon to mark their official 18 month milestone!  They had an extremely silly day today, and showed a little of that for the camera!  I missed posting on the official date (yesterday) because our camera had mysteriously disappeared, but luckily I was able to dig it out of the hole daddy had stashed it in this evening, and was able to steal a couple of (very informal...and a little bit snotty) shots.  It is UNREAL to believe it has been 18 whole months!  I CAN NOT imagine life without these 2 silly girls!  :)

This morning the girls and I took an adventure to The Gym Company in Mooresville for a "social event" for our Mothers of Multiples group.  I put that in quotes because, at our age, there's not a whole lot of "socializing", but instead, a lot of "synchronized playing" instead!  I do enjoy the chance to interact with other twin moms, though, so it's not completely a wasted social cause.  (Sorry for the blurry phone pics...this morning I was still missing the camera!)

I was a little bit hesitant to bother with this one, given the failure of our previous trip to the "big kid" gym for Haley's birthday in October.  However, I figured we had a few more months under our belt, and this was a much more optimal time (before naps, instead of right in the middle of a "car version" of an otherwise missed nap).  It took a few minutes for the girls to get comfortable, but before long, they were crawling, sliding, jumping, rolling around, and just having a GREAT time!  The girls were even more thrilled when Mamaw met them at the gym!  By the end, they were hungry and POOPED, so we packed it up and headed to Chick-fil-a for a quick visit with the cow, (who Makayla waved at and let get close to her for the first time ever!) some nuggets, fries, and ice cream, and headed home to crash!

This afternoon, after a nice long nap, the girls and I met our friend Leigh at the park for a nice walk.  It was a beautiful day!  A little colder than I thought, and the girls ended up with "frost-bitten" hands, but luckily we were able to quickly warm them up with the technique daddy has taught us...

What a fun "Girls' Day"!