As the year ends...

December 31st, 2007
December 30th, 2008

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. This time last year I was 20 weeks pregnant, and finally starting to show! Now here we are with two big happy healthy and beautiful babies! This year has been the best year of my life and I can't wait to see what 2009 holds for us! Hope you all have a safe happy and healthy new year!

Two teeth!

Jill has both her bottom teeth now! She wasn't as bad with the whole teething thing as Aaron was. She had a couple bad nights, but for the most part she did really well. She also hasn't drooled nearly as much as Aaron. They've also been eating the pasta dinners, which they seem to enjoy. Aaron hasn't showed any interest in crawling yet, well at least not while we are watching. Honestly I can walk out of the room for 10 seconds, come back in, and he's in a different spot! Scott said he caught a glimpse of what he's doing and he seems to be doing a combination of butt scooting and grabbing things to pull him over. He's always done things on his terms though so I'm not concerned. That's about it over here, we're going to try and take it easy today. I still am finishing the whole printing of my Christmas newsletters. Yes, I do realize New Years is this week, but my old printer didn't seem to want to print anything, sooooooooooo here we are! Hope all is well with you!

Champs Bowl

Me in front of Citrus Bowl
Scott in front of Citrus Bowl
Coach Bowden
The Noles
Chief Osceola and Renegade
Scott and Harley
Final score
The trophy
Scott, our friend Harley and I went to the Champs Bowl last night. It was awesome! We sat three rows up from the last "N" in Wisconsin. Both sets of parents said they saw Scott and Harley, I don't know where I was. It was an awesome game and is something I will always remember! So super duper thanks are owed to my in laws for getting us the tickets! Best present EVER! Oh and for all that are wondering the snake is gone! My father in law rigged the screen so it could finally get out, thank God! Hope all is well with you!

Snake update

Well we are still with snake and still have no idea how to remove him/her. We're debating whether or not to just break the screen and replace it, but I'm super paranoid and afraid the snake will somehow attack Scott. We can't get the screen off from the outside because the tabs are on the inside and well, I'm not opening my window anytime soon. So any suggestions would be most helpful! Oh and to clarify on a photo of Jill underneath, she does not have a pipe in her mouth it is a measuring cup. Hope you have a great day!

Playdates and a.......snake?

So let me start with the last two photos...I came home from our playdate today to find a 3 1/2 foot snake in between the screen and window. OH MY GOD! Scott has been trying to figure out how to get rid of it pretty much all day. We called animal control, they only get them if they are in the house (Um technically it is!), and fishing and game has the day off apparently and will only come if it's an emergency (Um, there's a snake kinda sorta maybe in my house, I think that qualifies!). So needless to say the snake is still there, maybe I'll have to name him/her or something? But in other news, we had a playdate today with the Lyons and Adams. It was nice to all get together and just hang out. We figured out it's been about a month and a half since we did that since all the kids had been sick. Jill is starting to get jealous though of other kids being around me, I'm hoping this is a short term thing. When we got home Scott had the exersaucer together for the kids. Aaron still likes the jumper better, but he was pretty tired when he tried the exersaucer. Tomorrow they are spending the day with their Mimi and PawPaw while Scott and I go to the FSU vs Wisconsin Bowl game. I'm super pumped! Scott's friend Harley is coming with us too, so it'll be good times! That's it over here, hope all is well with you!

Our first Christmas!

Well I hope everyone had a truly merry and blessed Christmas! I know we definitely did! Last year at this time I could barely imagine what this year would have been like! We had two really awesome days. Christmas Eve we went by my in laws and I made dinner (and it was super yummy, not to brag). We all went to Church afterwards and the kids did amazing especially considering that it was past bedtime and we were there an hour early to ensure a seat. The kids got to open one present on Christmas Eve and then went to bed. We did Christmas morning at our home and then went to my in laws for the rest of the day. It was good southern eating minus the collared greens (thankfully). The kids made out like bandits and I really want a volume control on the play room. I think every toy they got makes some kind of noise! After all the presents Scott and I just looked at each other and thought that maybe that addition to the back of the house wouldn't be such a bad idea after all! But like I said before I truly hope your Christmas was joyful and blessed, I know ours was. We have so much to be thankful for!

Let it snow let it snow let it snow!!!

We went to downtown Celebration last night to watch the fake snow and look at all the lights. We met up with Lani and family as well as April and family. It was funny all of the husbands were there too, that was a first! I think the kids really enjoyed it, well if you look at the photo Jill doesn't look thrilled, but that was the end of the night! We ran into a few people we knew, Tracy, her boyfriend Lee and her son Chase, as well as Bobbie and her daughter Haylee. Naturally we got a ton of dumb questions, and I have to say the best part is watching all the Dad's reactions! I had a lady say to me, "I didn't know they could have different color eyes?!" Scott about lost it! We also got to see April's son Hendrix run around, and honestly it is the cutest thing ever!!!
We ended up having a late night last night. For some reason neither Aaron or Jillian wanted to go to bed and didn't until almost 11! So yeah, I'm dragging a little today. It's amazing that no matter what time they go down once 7 am rolls around they pop right up! Well my coffee is ready, hope all is well with you!

Getting back to normal or some form of...

Things are finally starting to get back to normal around here, it's really nice! The kids are definitely glad to be home and were pretty excited to see all their toys. Jill is almost full on crawling, she's doing this cross between an army crawl and a regular crawl, it's pretty funny to watch! She's getting faster too which I was not ready for. Aaron is content just sitting on his butt and bouncing. He's so cute though because now if you say "bounce" he does it and laughs the whole time, he thinks it's the greatest thing ever! Aaron's two bottom teeth are pretty much all the way in and he still hasn't fully grasped that. He has bitten his fingers a few times. Jill's gums are pretty swollen so I'm hoping teeth pop through soon. I bought them trainer sippy cups yesterday so I think we're going to try and start that. They are the same brand that makes their bottles (Avent) so I don't think it will be a problem. They've been holding their own bottles when we feed them, not the entire time but a good chunk of the time. I think they're ready for it, but we'll see.
We're going to Celebration tonight with Lani and April and all the kids to see the lights and fake snow. That's the kind of snow I really like, the fake kind! That's all over here, hope all is well with you!

Doing the Charleston!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ahhh sweet sunny Florida

Family Christmas

At the Shedd Aquarium

Playing in the new jumper

Scott and Aaron in the snow

Jill and I in the snow
We are home in beautiful sunny warm Florida! Yahoo! The trip was good, we did a bunch of stuff so we are definitely tired. Family Christmas was on Sunday and there were like 30 people in my parents basement. The kids did really well though considering how many people were there. As an added bonus Scott and I got to eat food that was actually warm! Mom had a huge spread as always (I think the US Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and all others I missed could eat and we'd still have leftovers!) and it was so yummy! We made sangria too (or as my Mom calls it Shangra-la) which is always yummy. The kids got a ton of gifts (thank you all) which kept them busy for a while. I had to laugh though when my Mom was opening her gifts, of all the sweet and sentimental things she got she cried when she opened the ornament of a chicken playing the accordion. Yes those genes flow through me and my kids, it's awesome! The kids got a jumper from my parents, and let me just say, by far the coolest toy ever! They love it! Sometimes I wish it had a safety belt because when they really get going.....wow.... So what else did we do... We went to the John G. Shedd Aquarium (on the coldest day) which I haven't been to in years. Part of it was closed for refurb but it was still awesome. I think Scott had way more fun than anyone else there, and he was trying to convince me the entire time that we need a fish tank. I'm all for it, we just need this little thing called space. But like I said, the aquarium was cool. They added a reef area on the lower level with a floor to ceiling shark tank (SO COOL!). They also had an area with sting rays that swam under you which Jill thought was super cool. We also had dinner by my sister Cathy which was super yummy (watch out Bobby Flay and company!). The kids got a few more presents there too (thank you thank you!). The kids, and Scott, got to experience their first snow. Scott was so excited he even helped my dad snowblow the driveway. I've honestly never seen someone excited to go out in 10 degree weather to snowblow, ever. The flight home was good. I have to say the people that work security in Chicago are so much nicer than the people in Orlando! They took care of our carseats for us and even stacked them back on a cart after we went through, it was great! Plus the people that worked at Southwest in Chicago were way nicer than the people in Orlando! The flight attendant helped us on the plane and the guy loading the luggage collapsed our stroller for us, it was great! The kids slept pretty much the entire 2 hours which was like a little piece of heaven! So now it's back to the daily grind. I added some photos to my last post and have a ton more (on facebook of course), I'll add a link later. Hope all is well with you!

I'm sorry what did you say the temperature was?

Waiting at the airport

Jill on the plane

Aaron sleeping on the plane

Jill giving my Mom the evil eye while she ate her pizza

Well we made it to Chicago, and yes it is very very very cold. And let me forewarn you, if the blog makes no sense it's because I've been up since 3:30 am...anyway....so security wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, the only thing that threw me off was that they made me take off Aaron and Jill's shoes, I mean really what can fit in those? An M&M? Tic Tac? Boarding sucked...Southwest apparently does not believe in the family board, so Scott got stuck on the plane trying to put in two carseats and I was outside the plane just chillin'....the flight itself was pretty good, Jill got bored the last 45 minutes, so that was rough. Other than that it was good. Well I'm kind of blocked right now, I think it's the sheer lack of sleep, but hope all is well with you!

Murphy's Law?

So I did attempt to get some things together today but of course when you are trying to get a million things done your children will have "one of those days". Jill napped long enough for me to shower, and that's the only nap she took, seriously. Aaron was fine in the morning, but once the afternoon hit....yeah....So I'm still doing laundry, haven't even pulled out the suitcases yet, but have made a list of what is going in them (yes, I am one of those people). I did get the inside of my house decorated though, even though that helps me in no way right now.
The new stroller came today, I'm very excited! We got a Joovy Groove to use at the airport and then whenever else we need it. It'll be nice to push something that doesn't weigh 50lbs by itself. Still trying to figure out how we're going to push that, carry our carry-ons and two car seats through Orlando International with two 7 month olds. Yeah, any suggestions are welcome on that one. Supposedly they have a separate "family" line at security which will be nice, I think?
Well, I should go and pack or something like it, maybe I'll just pull out the suitcases? Hope all is well with you!

Is the list getting longer?

I really think it is...I'm not going to lie, my house looks like a hurricane came through followed by a tornado and some other natural disaster. I've got a pile of stuff to be mailed to Chicago, still not totally sure what's going in there...hmmm... A pile of Christmas decorations that I'm trying to get up before we go (cute, I know) and then a good mix of other crap that has accumulated around the house. I did manage to wrap our presents though, and do a couple loads of laundry, which by the way it seems like I haven't done laundry in five years or something. Who knew I had so many clothes???
Yesterday Lani, April and I went to Clermont's Christmas Parade/arts and craft fair...yeah that's all that really needs to be said. Ha ha...oooh Clermont....we had fun though and definitely got a workout, I think the entire town is built on a giant hill. It was good to see the girls and all the kids, it's be a while. Of course we got a whole bunch of dumb questions, but our photo was taken for Active Lake Magazine (I know sounds fake right?). I think the guy just really wanted the photo of the triplets but took a photo of Aaron and Jill to be polite.
Ok, well I guess I should do something productive...or continue watching Old School...hmmm tough call. Hope all is well with you!

Some unfortunate news

Our beloved pastor Father Steve Phillips passed away late last night from a heart attack. I cannot express in words the grief that has come over Scott and I. Father Steve was such an amazing priest, he brought me back into my faith and introduced my husband to the Catholic faith. I just feel honored that he was able to baptize our children and that he could be apart of their lives.

Making my list and checking it twice...

...I already know who's been naughty and nice :) So this week is going to be a little crazy, we are trying to get ready for our first big trip. We are flying to Chicago on Wednesday so trying to get everything in order has proven to be quite the challenge. I'm OCD as it is and have serious control issues, so this whole process is making me insane. Not to mention that all the original plans have been changed, so now it's back to square one with zero time (we were originally going to drive, but with the weather being crazy, you know how that goes). The good thing is I don't have to worry about the big items, my parents have taken care of finding high chairs and pack and plays (woo woo!). Plus they will have diapers and other necessities there, which really helps. I am a little miffed we are flying Southwest (every control freaks worst nightmare) but Airtran has decided to start charging for the first bag, so Airtran you officially suck! At least if the kids scream it will be expected.

In other news...Jill has started to do the army crawl and can push herself up into a sitting position. Aaron is Aaron, he'll do it when he pleases. Ok well, I should stop procrastinating and get down to business, hope all is well! Oh and the photos above are from their 6 month photos/Christmas photos.