More Vacation pics...

We're home. Boo. We had so much fun!

We were in the Outer Banks, NC. "Duck, NC" to be specific. It's only a 3 and 1/2 hour drive and rather "affordable" on today's gas prices.

This is the house we rented:

It's the biggest and best we've rented so far. This is the pre-season cheap week, but we were blessed with beautiful weather the whole week.

This is the "crew" that went, my family of 6, plus one (Mason's girlfriend, Lori), my older brother and his family, my mom (of course) and my younger brother.

"Wild" horses on the beach. Isn't that cool? This year they looked really healthy, in years past they've always seemed a bit "thin" to me.
Okay, dark picture, but I wanted to show the "sound" (as opposed to the ocean) which was on the other side of our street.
Evan chillin'. The beach (Atlantic Ocean) is at the end of the street. Super close!`

Mason and Lory's self portrait!

All four of my boys. May I say they look dashing in their hibiscus!
Going out for dinner.

Going our "choppin" (shopping).
They had just woken up from their nap and were ready to go swimmin'. Don't they look like they're still asleep!

Each morning the twins woke up and went "visiting." They loved to hang out in Nonnie's room.

They loved givin' smooches to their "Pan-chee." (Their name for Patsy.)

More mornin' lovin' for Nonnie.

On our last day of vacation, our dear friends and fellow adoptive parents Jeff and Robin joined us at the pool for some fun!

Princess Mira and one of her 4 brothers, Emerson, peaking out from behind her. I could eat this girl up, she's so cute!! With all of the activity, I did not get near enough snuggle time with her!

I have much more to blog about, but it's taking me this long to "recover" from vacation fatigue! Austin and Logan had SO much fun, they never stopped, they never slept - with so many people around and so much water (pool, beach), 4 doggies to love on, etc, etc, etc, - who can blame them!

On our second night home, Logan had his first emergency room visit. He was jumping on the bed and fell off and with his head broke the metal knob off of he side table. Broke the metal knob!! He is now the proud, temporary owner of an emergency room staple in his head. No stitches, just one big staple.

Vacation!!

Yay! We're on vacation!!

Here's a few pictures from our 6am start.



"So confused. One minute, sleepin' - next minute we're in the car."

"We'll just go back to sleep. Hey - was this the plan all along!?! Those smart parents of ours!"

"Dang, we're up and we're STILL in a car. Oh, we get to watch a video, though. Cool."

First time on the beach. "That is the LOUDEST bathtub we have ever seen, Momma. Hold ME!"

"Okay, if all our peeps/heroes are gonna do it, we will too."

My brother, Mitch and Austin strollin'.

Logan wearing Evan's hat over his hood. Austin and Logan in the raft!!

Quick video of Mason and Evan "jammin' in the car on the way down" and then Austin and Logan SWIMMING!" This is with only 6 -30minute sessions. I think we'll be signing them up again when we get home.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Day 2 on the beach....

I may try to post one more time while we're here. If not, yall have a great week and I'll be back to "commenting" into a week!

Hi-5!!

Go get yourself a bucket of popcorn, turn up the volume on your computer and get ready to watching to dancing fools!!

Austin and Logan LOVE Hi-5. As I've mentioned before, A and L first discovered Hi-5 in Guatemala. We've found it here on Discovery Channel and can watch episodes anytime On Demand.

For some reason, we have gotten stuck on this one episode called, "TEAMS." The five Hi-5 performers are dressed like cheerleaders and sing a song. Austin and Logan ask for "Teams" or "Go, go, go" ALL DAY LONG.

In the following Montage, you can see their dancing skills, expert use of Pom Pom's (bought for Evan's basketball games), their growing vocabulary and even a Spanish word or two!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Off to China!

Hey everybody - I would like to introduce you to my friend, Tracey. Tracey and I met two years ago through our mutual friend, Gena. Together, we have shared the road to adoption.

And FINALLY, Tracey and her husband Scott are leaving this Thursday for CHINA to pick up their son, Van!! Van is exactly one month older than Austin and Logan and we are SO EXCITED !!!

Tracey just created her blog this weekend for their pick-up trip. Remember that round-the-clock excitement of packing and getting ready to leave on a voyage that will change your life forever!?!

How about visiting her brand new blog and showing her some love and well wishes as she prepares for her journey, be sure and tell her I sent you!!
http://handsomevan.blogspot.com

Tracey - if you've had time to stop by and read this, "You're crazy! Get to packin' girl!"

Nonnie!

Happy Mother's Day, Nonnie!

My mom. My hero.

All the time, I hear "I'm not sure how you do it with two." "Boy those two are busy, how do you keep up with them? They must wear you out?" "How do you do it."

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my life and I LOVE that I am exhausted because of my twins.

But every time someone asks me that, the one word that comes to my mind, is MOM. My Mom saves my butt. All the time.

This is nothing new. In highschool, late at night, after I finished writing my 17 page term papersthe night before they were due (I'm a charter member of the Procrastinators of the World Club), Mom was there as the World's Fastest typer to type my papers at 2 am! I also like to take on projects, sewing projects. I would create a pattern and try to make it. Mom's a much better sewer and she always took my rags and turned them into beautiful finished projects for me.

Growing up, I had to loan my mom out on several occasions. Because despite being raised a strict Catholic and a "good girl," Mom was the least judgemental person I knew. When my friends couldn't talk to or were scared of their mom's, they talked to my mom. When you've made your biggest mistake, there is nobody in this world like my mom to make you feel like you are still loved and still a worthy person, mistake and all.

During all of my infertility issues and through our long adoption process, Mom stood by me and cried just as much as I did. And nobody was as happy as she was when we all finally got of that plane and arrived safely home.

Mom flew on all by herself on her first international flight to meet her grandbabbies and to be with me because I wanted to stay longer than Gary's work allowed him on our 2nd visit trip.

With Dad's passing in December, Mom is living by herself for the first time in her life. And she's really brave. And smart. And she cut the grass for the first time in her life, all by herself. ;-) Go Mom!

Each day she calls me and sees if I need help. If I need a break. If we want company. She encourages me when I feel overwhelmed. She tells me all the time what a good Mommy I am.

She treats me to special things like outfits and pedicures because she knows what a treat that is for me!

She'll call in the evening just to make sure that something she said earlier in the day didn't come off the wrong way. She wants to make sure that I know she's not being judgemental or hurtful.

She puts up with a lot from me, too. A saint I am not! I pick. I fuss. I yell. I have a very weird, warped sense of humor. I can be downright annoying. ;-)

Mom - I love you. You are my hero. I admire you. You are strong, you are kind, you make the best funny faces and funny noises for your grandbabies. You raised us well.

There's so much I haven't written. I could probably write for hours and still not thank you for everything you've done for me.

Know that you are loved. Admired. Cherished. Thank you for bringing me into this world, for teaching me so much, for letting me arrive here, to this place in my life. My destiny.

And to you all you Mom's out there! Happy Mother's Day!!

Mason, Evan, Austin and Logan - Thanks for making me a Mom!! I love you all very, very much!

Water table fun!

Many of you have gotten sand/water tables for your children. Austin and Logan love water, too. So, I was really excited when I realized we already HAD a water table. I pulled it out the other day when the temperatures soared and the boys had a blast:

At first, they started out "swimming" their fishies in it. Then, other toys joined in. Then, for some reason they thought putting their feet in would be fun.






That quickly turned into an all out, full body soaking.

Oh, this summer is gonna be fun!!

Today is....

a

National Day Of Prayer
for the
Orphans of Guatemala

For the whole story/link click on JuJu's name on the right.

More birthday fun..

Okay, I was working on a really big, deep, thought provoking post - the kind that comes with spending the first birthday with your sons, but the week is getting away from me, so I'll just post a few more pictures from Tuesday.

Here are the boys in front of their tree. Last year, when they weren't home, we decided to give them some roots in Virginia by planting a Dogwood tree for them.

Their tree being planted on their birthday in 2007.

This year, standing in front of their tree - just like I always imagined!

Like their birthday shirts!?! Again, Nonnie got them for us...they have their names (duh!) on them and a bunch of 2's all over and say "Austin is two and terrific!" and "Logan is two and terrific!"
(Katie, there are times when I see Brayden's younger pictures that I think he looks like the twins, and when I saw this picture, I thought of Brayden, again.)
"Mommy took us to the park while we were waiting for Daddy to get off of work."

"Then, we went out to eat at a very fun restaurant. They even made balloons for us."

"There were lots of kids and we even got to run around and play when some of our friends joined us."

"But we will share a little warning with all you other kids that read our blog. We heard Mommy and Daddy ask for some free birthday ice cream, which sounded really good to us. But what we got instead was about twelve men and women all dressed in black showing up out of nowhere, marching right up to the table and yelling and clapping at us very, very loudly. We were expecting ice cream, so this was incredibly scary. They might have been singing, we're not sure, it was hard to hear them over our screaming. It was all very chaotic. SO, if you ever hear your parents ask for "free ice cream" at a restaurant and it's your birthday. RUN!!"

Thanks for all the special birthday messages!! You guys are awesome!