Thanksgiving 2011 and My Birthday

Where to start, we packed a lot into 8 days. Our Thanksgiving week started the Sunday before when we headed to my grandma's. We met all of my mom's side of the family, all 20 something of us. It was really fun.

All 13 great-grandchildren

The girls and I headed back to OKC with my mom and dad while Wes headed back home to work for two days. So the girls and I hung out with grandma and papa and saw my cousins Angie and Chris. I got to go to the sonogram with them to see the baby boy. We also had all 5 cousins spend the night. The 3 big kids went to sleep really late and we went to McDonald's for breakfast.

On Wednesday, Wes came to OKC and we had a pre-Thanksgiving and birthday lunch with Grandma and Papa Potter and all 5 kids. Then for dinner, we went to have mexican for my birthday.

Papa making zip ties into rings for the girls

On Thursday, we had Thanksgiving here with my sister's family, Angie and Chris's family, my aunt Betty, us and my parents. This year my birthday fell on Thanksgiving. It was such a fun day and as a gift to me from my mom, I got to be lazy all day! Our after lunch tradition is to look through all the Black Friday ads. That's when we planned for midnight run to Macy's. Which is exactly what we did.

Counting pennies that Grandma gave them

 Friday, mom and I went shopping and she ended up getting all the girls presents. It was fun going with her.

Saturday, we went to my sister's for chili and the Muppet Movie. After the movie, Wes, the girls and I went to see Grandma and Papa Potter. It was a really fun day for us and the girls. We all loved the movie.

With Grandma

Sunday we headed home. So much fun and so exhausting..... Can't wait until Christmas!

Fall Photo Session

This year, my twin club did their photo fundraiser and took pictures with Allison. The pictures turned out awesome. As always, she did an excellent job! It doesn't hurt that the girls love her and she always gets them to smile.

We were lucky that Nana was still here to get her picture taken with the girls too. 

Joy, Gratitude and Thankfulness

Today was a great day for us. After being busy for a few weeks, we took today off. We watched a little TV, played in our backyard, met Daddy for lunch and napped. It was a beautiful day outside to play and just be present.

We are at a stage where the girls are understanding so much and we have some really fun conversations. Lizzie and Gracie love to give kisses and tell us they love us all the time. Its so sweet. They have also been really affectionate. We get lots of snuggle time. I love how they play and love on each other. It seems they are always thinking about sister. Its not always hugs and kisses, but it helps us remember that there is good times with some of the challenges.

Today, I was just feeling thankful for my husband, my girls and my family.

Playing in the leaves

I loved both of these pictures so I posted both

Grandma's Birthday

This past weekend was Grandma's birthday. We headed to Oklahoma to celebrate. We had a blast as always. Its so fun to see all the cousins play together and have fun! November is full of birthdays for our family, it starts with Nana's, then Aunt Betty, then my cousin Angie, then my mom, then me and then my sister Laura. Whew! By the end of the month, we are almost all birthday out.

The girls always wake up Grandma and she feeds them cereal

If its a birthday (even Grandma), Lizzie thinks we should go to Chuck E Cheese

My sweet sister Laura and Lizzie

All the sweet cousins

Angie, Gracie and Betty. Gracie made Angie shell peanuts and then didn't eat them.

Waiting for our table for Grandma's birthday dinner.

Nana's In Town

Nana came to stay with us a few days. We had lots of fun and were pretty busy. We played, read books, shopped, went to the zoo, and played some more. The girls made Nana read a ton of books. Several every night before bed.

Nana also celebrated her birthday with us and we went to Babe's for dinner. Yummy chicken!

Eating lunch and shopping.

Nana reading books

Love this of a daddy and his girls. He is holding them up to see the rhinos.

Nana and daddy helping the girls feed the birds

Feeding the birds at the zoo. They loved it.

Minnie Mouse and Fancy Nancy

Today was Halloween. This year, you could tell it clicked. They got everything about it. We practiced our trick or treating today before going out. One girl would go inside our Dora tent and the other would stand outside and say "trick or treat". Then the one on the inside would put a toy in the bucket. They were really good about taking turns.
As an extra treat, Nana came today for a few days and was able to go trick or treating with us. As we have done for the last 3 years, we have gone to the Sher's house and had a yummy dinner and then went trick or treating. This year, we had Fancy Nancy, Minnie Mouse, a pink bunny and 2 Rapunzels join us. The kids were so excited they could barely sit still for this picture.

A gaggle of girls

Where's Waldo? He's leading the girls to their trick or treat fun!

The first house, it didn't take long for the younger ones to catch on.

Sweet Minnie, she was always bringing up the rear. You can't hurry her.

Energetic Gracie was running from house to house.

 Every time we went to a house, all the girls would run up and then Gracie would come back and say "look at my trick or treats!". Then toward the end she would say "Happy Halloween". So cute.

Lizzie showing us her haul.

 After we had been up and down one of the streets, we hit two houses that ran out of candy. The first house didn't answer the door and the second the woman was really apologetic to the girls. They just kept staring at her with their pails out. They all finally got it and turned away. They actually all took it well and want to go to the next house.

Checking the stash!

After we were done, we went back to the Sher's to eat a little and get really cute treats from Jill. We then headed home. Before we called it a night, we had to trick or treat at our neighbor's house, Rocky and Amy. After that, the girls were really tired and Gracie told us she was ready to go home.

We all had lots of fun and the weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. Everyone that we meet was really nice and polite. All the other trick or treaters waited their turns and the people giving candy were really nice.

Busy Week with Fall Activities

This week was busy with Halloween activities. The girls really love Halloween and want to wear their costumes all the time. Its so fun!

Wednesday was the Halloween festival at church. The girls were so excited that when they took a bath before we went, Wes asked who wanted out the tub first and they both said me. Usually, Lizzie says Gracie. They both love staying in the tub. So, we got them dressed, realized Gracie's costume was a little big and made a Walmart run for a tank top to put underneath it. When we got to the church, we saw all our friends all dressed up. We ate our hot dogs and waited for the parade to start. Our friend Drew led the parade dressed as Where's Waldo. All the kids followed him all over the playground and into the church. It was cute but reminded me of the Pied Piper.

Minnie Mouse aka Lizzie

Fancy Nancy aka Gracie

Next up was a Halloween party at our friends house. This is our third year to go and we had a blast. The girls love playing with all the big kids. We enjoyed our time with the adults.

Lizzie decorating cookies

Several of the girls came down the stairs dressed up. This is how Gracie came down.

 Today was the last of the pre-Halloween activities. It was our annual Fall Festival for MPOM. It was at the pumpkin patch at the Lutheran Church. It turned out great. Amy and I were in charge of planning and organizing. The only hitch was my cute craft. It was suppose to look like this, but all the cookies kept breaking. Fortunately, 2-4 year olds don't really care. We had about a dozen set of multiples show up! So great. The girls were so happy they got to see Reese and Riley and Anna, Issac and EJ.

Multiple Multiples!

Next up is Nana coming and Halloween! It should be really fun!

Making Our Tree Scary

As we were driving around yesterday with Grandma and Papa looking at some Halloween decorations, Lizzie informed us that we needed some scary ghosts in our tree. I remembered that I had some white plastic bags and markers. So, we got to work. We all decorated our trash bags and tied them with twine. Then put them in the tree.

Both girls were really proud of their tree and Lizzie told us that she wanted all the neighbors and her friends to see her "scary tree". This is the year for them to really start understanding the holidays. If they are this excited about Halloween, I can't imagine how Christmas will be!

Notice who is doing all the work? Of course its Grandma.

Pumpkin Patch with Grandma and Papa

Grandma and Papa stopped through town this weekend after a trip to see their good friends in Wilmington, DE. We picked them up at the airport and headed to Babe's for some yummy chicken.  For a week now, Lizzie has talked about going to the scary Target. She likes to look at the Halloween decorations and that's whats so "scary". She wanted to have Grandma and Papa go to Target with her to show them how scary it is. So after nap and dinner, we all headed over to Target to have a look.

This weekend turned out to be about pumpkins, for breakfast Grandma and the girls made us pumpkin muffins. Then later, we took Grandma and Papa to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Grandma was going to help the girls decorate their pumpkins. So of course, we had to get pictures. We came home, the girls napped, and then got to decorate their pumpkins. The used Dora and Diego stickers and markers to make their pumpkins "pretty". I couldn't tell who was having more fun, the girls or Grandma.

We asked Grandma to take a family picture for us.

Grandma and Papa with the girls

Sitting on a little bench in a sea of pumpkins

With their pumpkins they picked out

My sweet momma and daddy

We had a really great time. Grandma and Papa both took turns reading the Fancy Nancy Halloween book that Nana sent. The girls loved the book (it was read a zillion times). Wes and I even squeezed a date in while Grandma and Papa watched the girls. We will be sad when Grandma and Papa head back to Oklahoma.

How Are They Different?

People ask me all the time how the girls are different. While they were still in the womb, I was concerned about their movement and I told the perinatologist that one was more active than the other. He said to me, they are totally different and not to compare them. Later I learned, that they were both active and that they were both laying with their feet in the same spot. Lesson learned. It is still some times hard not to compare but I keep telling myself they are two different girls.

And different they are. I wouldn't say night and day, but different. To explain it, lets look at their hair. Lizzie has very straight hair, so straight that it really doesn't hold a curl. Her personality is very straight and narrow. Methodical and organized. Things have to be a certain way, you have to tell her about change and then she will be ok. She was one of the first kids in her preschool class to master rolling up her nap mat. Gracie has curly hair and is very bouncy, springy (like her curls). Compassionate and hyper. She comes up with some of the most imaginative things. She loves to carry some sort of bag and loves her babies.

I wouldn't say that one is more outgoing than the other, but different. In some situations, Gracie takes the lead while in others Lizzie does. They both like girly things but have different tastes. I can start to see their sense of style coming out. Much to their mother's happiness, they love shoes!

Both girls reflect their parents personality. Gracie is very similar to me and Lizzie is very similar to Wes. They show me every day how different they can be. The one similarity is their love for one another. They are always looking out for sissy and want to see her happy. I am thankful every day for these two precious souls.

Fair Day 2011

Riding in the train

Today, Wes took the day off and we went to the fair. This year, we decided to take the train and the girls loved it! The train drops you right at the gate.We look at the cars, toured several bathrooms and got our Borden's milk by visiting Elsie the Cow. We went through the petting zoo where a zebra almost ate Lizzie's hand. The girls really liked feeding the animals and learned to use the shovels provided after a couple of goats ate the paper cups with the feed in it.


This year, we took the girls through the "Little Hands on the Farm" where they got to pretend to be farmers. Both girls loved it. It was really fun and took the kids through the entire farming process. They were even given "money" to "buy" something which was a bag of Cheetos in the girls case.


We had a great time. The train ride home was a little long because the girls needed a nap and were bored on the train. I was really proud of the girls because we didn't have any potty accidents and they told us when they needed to go. 

Getting ready to look at the cars and holding hands

Feeding the animals at the petting zoo

The girls with their aprons on (or as they call them capes) getting ready to "farm"

At this point they have already fed the chickens, watered and picked the peaches, and milked the cow. Now they are planting their crop

Taking turns riding the tractor