I heart valentines day

I had such a fun Valentines day this year. After eleven years of marriage I have mellowed and a day full of fun with my family is all I need to feel L-O-V-E-D!

A sweet breakfast for my sweet boys.

And then a basket of ALL my favorite sweet treats from my sweet boys!!

You'll notice the tweezers mixed in. Because nothing says, I love you like, a subtle hint to tame those brows and stray facial hairs.

Of course I had actually recently misplaced mine and Stacey gets points just for listening on that one! - Love you babe!
A little bedhead breakfast with a few valentines.
They boys and I made these for their class the night before. I thought it would be great to have them "help" me, which they eagerly did, but I think I aged 10 years during the stapling help alone.
Phew, and that was all before school started. Later I got to go to Wyatt's class party. I heart U too buddy.

Cutest little class ever!

Then it was onto party #2 in Stacey's class.

Lots of loot!

You better believe these two are TAKEN, by yours truly!!
When honey came home with a Valentine treat they were thrilled! It was actually so sweet, they were on the floor crying, as is about par around 5:oo every night, and Mom came through the door with treats and they just lit up. They were so proud of their very own valentine goody bag.

Honey gave the big boys a goodie bag with a special certificate for a date with Honey and GP to wherever their heart desires.

This was our best attempt at a group picture in their cute valentine shirts from Nannie. We tried. Thanks Nannie!!
After a delicious (and very romantic with all eight of us - HA!) dinner of steak, shrimp and twice baked potatoes prepared by Stacey and Dad (YUM-O), we took Stacey III and Wyatt on a little Valentine's scavenger hunt. All this month we've been discussing what love is and what love isn't according to 1 Corinthians 13. So, I thought it would be fun to take them to a few spots along our own little "Love Story." The first clue took us to FBC Woodway where we said "I DO!"

Then we headed to the Lee Lockwood Library and Museum, or Lions club, where we had our reception. "Kids, it was in this very tunnel that we almost choked to death on the smoke of our reception sparklers." ;)
And lastly, the place where we find ourselves almost 12 years later, our new home - a work in progress.

We set up a little table and chairs and had a sweet dessert.
I think that cake went straight to my chin! ;)

Yes, of course this was posed and not a spontaneous overflow of their love - but I'll take it!
Man, am I one lucky lady or what!!

Party of Fives

I was so excited to get to celebrate two of my favorite people, Katy and Ann, adding to their sweet families. Since they are both preggers with baby #3 making two families of 5. We decided 135 prime was the perfect spot for a girls night out.

Cracker Toffee Seven, minus one much missed Wendi. Hate that the middle east is so stinkin' far away. :(
Lauren made this precious cake.
One boy and one girl. It was as tasty as it was cute...seriously I want a piece right now!!
We followed up dinner with an old fashioned slumber party. Modeling some new baby gear, hope you don't mind the PJ pic girls. :)

six AND A HALF

III lost his first tooth! Followed a few days later by his second. He got to bring home a special story book and write all about his tooth experience in the class tooth journal.

Obviously with all this life change he must be six AND A HALF. And since my alpha boy is a summer baby we celebrated "the half" in style at school.

Half plates and half hats were a hit. Hey, if it ain't broke ;).
Birthday boy, notice the TWO missing teeth.

Trick candles are pretty cool for 6 1/2 year olds, none of those regular candles six year olds use.
Happy Half Birthday!

It Takes A Village

My babies are ONE. I'm very aware that the continuous cries of where does the time go, it goes by in a blink, and so on are completely over-spoken, monotonous, and go without saying. But they are this way for a reason: THEY ARE JUST SO DARN TRUE!!!!!

Indulge me, lets take a little stroll down memory lane. :)

On the actual birthday we celebrated with donut holes. Forget the birthday cake, the holes were a HIT!


Delicious!!

And then a few special gifts picked out by Stacey and Wyatt.

When I look back on the past year, or even farther back to the day we found out we were having twins, I am completely overwhelmed by God's goodness, grace and faithfulness. That he would entrust us with these two little lives is just beyond me.

I think about the first few months with no sleep and trying to figure how to manange two crying babies. I used to feel really guilty saying they were "not the happiest babies on the block", like I was talking bad about my sweet angles, but the truth was they were not super happy those first few months. And it was hard trying to balance all they needed and still love Stacey and Wyatt well - without sleeping. It was A LOT and it was hard.

They say it takes a village and I am a believer!! We would not have made it without all the help and support of our family and friends who helped us do everything from driving carpool and having the house cleaned to bringing meals. The word Twins was barely out of our mouths and they were already geared up to help - more than we could ever have known we'd need

There is an old song called "Two Sets of Jones" by Big Tent Revival (if you didn't spend most of the 90s on a church bus like me then google it cause I sort of still love it...come to think of it, it might just be the nostalgia of that church bus??) anyway, there is a line in the song, that I think about ALL the time

Rueben was holding a Gideon's Bible

he screamed, "it's a boy" so that everyone heard.

The guys at the factory took a collection

Again, God provided for bills he'd incurred

I know some of you are singing along with me now. ;)

It's that last line, "Again, God provided for bills he'd incurred" that regularly finds it's way to the forefront of my mind.

When we got pregnant with our sweet precious baby #3, who was "planned" for lack of a better word, we were already expecting sweet Jesus to provide in ways that only He can, yet always has for us. So, when we got the news that we were having a SUPER SURPRISE baby #4 and not one but TWO babies, lets just say we got down a little lower on our knees with those prayers for provision!!

But wouldn't you know it, AGAIN, GOD PROVIDED FOR BILLS HE'D INCURRED.

God's village, of people who love Jesus and therefore love us well, along with Coyt and Crew who after about five months decided to sleep and then really were the happiest babies on the block, :) have made the last year one of the best years of our lives.

As the bills continued to roll in, and role in, and role in - it's not like a two for one deal just in case you were wondering - we got pretty overwhelmed. I called on our two largest bills and prayed before hand that the Lord would give me someone helpful and understanding to talk to at the hospital. I ended up on hold for no less than 40 minutes, all the while doing the tango with Crew and Coyt trying to keep them quit because I knew at any second this helpful, cooperative, Godly woman on the other line was going to pick up.

She didn't, I got disconnected.

But then she did. And thanks to her suggestion - which I firmly believe could have been overlooked or unmentioned by another representative - we filled out a few simple applications and the hospital was able to grant us almost $10,ooo in coverage that would have otherwise come out of our pockets.

You better believe that when those letters came in saying they would in fact cover the bills I was singing, "AGAIN God, AGAIN You provided!!!"

But it wasn't just the big bills that he provided for. I was blessed with a diaper shower that stocked our closet with diapers for the first few months and just about the time those diapers were running out Stacey's small group boys (high school boys mind you, yes, with organized mothers, but still, high school boys!!) showed up with a trunk full of the next size we needed and once again the closet was stocked. Not to mention other angels who dropped of diapers in car pool line, or with a meal or brought wipes by just as the last box was being emptied.

We didn't have to buy one diaper until Crew and Coyt were EIGHT MONTHS OLD. I am no math wizard but there are two of them people!! That is A LOT of diapers, and A LOT of provision.

Those are just a few examples of how we've been supported and cared for during the last year and that doesn't include babysitters for date nights, school scholarships, etc. trust me I could go on and on and on!!

Sometimes I will find myself wordering if God really cares about something that seems small in my life or just unimportant. But just as He says, consider the lilies of the field, I think to myself, consider all those diapers. If he cares about Crew and Coyt's sweet precious tiny hineys and can orchestrate Pampers (for twins) showing up consistently when you need them, than YES he cares about _________.

The last year has tested me and taught me a lot about myself, my family and God. It has no doubt been an adventure and one of the absolute best years of my life! Have I mentioned it's been an incredible year? :)

Yes, there are two diapers to be changed every time you change one and there is often crying in stereo mode, there are two messes to clean up after every meal, and two droolers leaving a trail everywhere they go. However, there are also two little smiling boys that greet me every morning and two precious giggles I get to hear every day, two edible little voices saying Mama and two little clean baby loves to smother in kisses after baths. We are beyond blessed and so thankful for our C's.

And if you've been a part of our "village" we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!, but don't go too far, our twin adventures are just getting started. :)