It was FABULOUS!!!

Blythe, Joy, and I got back on Wednesday night from a perfect 5 days in L.A! We were so sad to leave Abby Jane behind while we were going to see Jake and all our L.A. friends, but I couldn't bring all three girls!  As it turned out, though, Ken ended up hopping on the flight out there with his Delta seniority and getting a little extra time with his youngest granddaughters while offering me the use of his muscles getting through security, etc.

It is impossible to fully describe how wonderful it was to be in our "other home" and see all those dear friends, but hopefully the snippets of a few of the pictures can give you (and for our memories) a taste!

We got to see the Strawns right after I arrived- here is precious Mihret meeting Joy!

Blythe and Joy, meet the beach.  We are a water family, and we're so glad you are starting young!

The precious Roberts family hosted us even though they had only been in their new home for a few days!  This was on a walk over at the Bluffs down the street from them.  It was beyond refreshing and delightful to be with these dear friends! That night we left the kiddos with a babysitter and went to sushi with the Roberts, Wades, and DuBachs- such precious time!

Playdate with my dear mama friends at the Country Mart, Abby Jane's and my old mothership, followed by lunch with Nicole and Les!

Small group girls on Monday night- we were so very thankful that our trip overlapped small group night!

Precious Sammy is all grown up and was so wonderful with the little babies!  He is a pleasure to be around!

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to Jake, who spent the remainder of the week in Azusa and made the Malibu rounds. We started with our library gang- it was so wonderful to see them and their children!  Unfortunately, it was too foggy and the tide was too high for us to go in Trisha's "back yard" (a.k.a. the beach), but we all had a wonderful time inside!

After lunch with Katie and Sophia at John's Garden, we ran by Jake's old office, then up to see Becca and Bailey, ending at our old courtyard with all our dear neighbors!!

Love this one of Tiffany and Luke (by the way, she's the one who does the cute headbands!)
It was so fun to let the girls get a little quality time in the courtyard where Abby Jane spent countless hours in the same way!
The Aufhammers flew back in town the afternoon of our last day and capped off our visit with a great last evening at the Roberts'!
And this is the face of my solo flight home with the twins.  The whole way.  Just like this.  I had to force them to eat here and there.  At the end of the flight, the lady in front of us turned around and said, "Oh my goodness, I didn't know there was a baby (much less two!) behind me!" God is good to make it so easy for us- and I highly recommend flying at this age!!!

Thank you, Jake, for the best Christmas gift ever!! I'm so glad you're flying home tonight!

Baby it's cold outside!

The snow started coming down around noon today and made a little winter wonderland by late afternoon!  Sandy was all set to come down to give me a hand this afternoon while Jake's out of town, so we got to really enjoy the snow since I wasn't juggling all three alone!  Here is Mimi catching snowflakes with Abby Jane...
I look at this picture and think... that looks like trouble on wheels!
All the girls 

Bright Eyes Blythe

My Joy, literally
Snow tastes great
Mimi with the twins

I talked with my precious friend Lesley this afternoon to see how to pack for California, and she said she had on shorts and flip flops today.  Landing in sunny L.A. is going to be such a crazy leap after all this wild winter weather! I guess we should pray that our travels on Saturday morning aren't impacted by the icy roads tonight...

Little Reunion

On Tuesday, these dear friends both drove over an hour to meet up at my mom's.  Beth and Laura (and their families) are dear, dear Auburn friends, and there are six kids between the three of us.  Though Beth and Abby Jane have spent a good amount of time together, none of us had met any of the other kiddos there!  

Lyndsay works just 3 minutes from my mom's house, so she was able to stop by to see everyone- here she is giving Blythe some love...

Here's Blythe smiling at Beth- I told y'all Blythe is my busy one!

Laura's precious mama, Miss Jennifer, was kind enough to come up with Laura and help watch the older kiddos, Grayson and Abby Jane, who are only one week apart in age!  Grayson and Abby Jane had a great time together- I can't wait for them to play again.  Here is Miss Jennifer with Laura's sweet newest addition, Piper (5 months).
Four young ladies 5 months and younger (clockwise from top): Piper (5 months), Bella Grace (3 months), Joy, then Blythe (2 months)!
The whole little gang... Grayson with Piper, Joy, Abby Jane with Blythe, and Bella Grace (who was the first one on the sofa to get a little nap... thus the slight separation!)

We had such a delightful time having our little ones together that we promised to not make it so long until next time!

It's been two months!

Blythe and Joy turned two months last week! (Can you tell these are my favorite dresses at this age? Had to get one more picture in them before Christmas was officially declared over!)
I think they were taking turns smiling (already ganging up on us!)  Their smiles are my favorite thing about this age- they are so precious and spontaneous! 
At their two month check up today, Joy was 12 lb 1 oz (75%) and 23 inches (75%)!!!

Blythe was also 23 inches (75%) and 10 lb 8 oz (50%)!  She has almost doubled her weight since birth!

I decided it's time for some fun facts about the twins for our records! (p.s. these cute little faces are from my Miss Penny, and I love them!)

Overall personality...

Joy: still laid-back, happy to be alive, just kind of hangs out in her swing or wherever she is

Blythe: a little busier, looking all around her when awake, a little less laid back, but still a pretty low-key kid 

Their sleep...

They're learning to only have a diaper change when they wake in the night and not get fed.  They kind of take turns being the one who wakes up and needs some TLC, and usually it's not both of them at the same time.

*Update- last night, both girls slept through the night without a single peep for the first time!

Their eating...

Is going well- we're thankful for such chunky little twins! To answer what most folks ask- yes, they eat at the same time, and the session averages about 10 minutes- they're speedy!

Their cries...

Blythe: cry is muted and doesn't hit that ear-piercing volume you hear sometimes in newborns, but her face usually looks more ANGRY than sad

Joy: cry is louder, but her face just looks sad, not mad

Their appearance...

Blythe: darker hair, darker gray-blue eyes

Joy: lighter hair, true blue eyes

On tummy time...

Joy is a little better than Blythe at holding up her head, but they're both still just learning.

Funny diaper anecdotes...

-When you're changing Blythe's diaper, you may just think she's staring off into space in the mirror by the changing table... until you realize she's staring you down in the reflection!

-One morning, Jake asked me who changed Joy's diaper last in the night before.  When I told him it was me, he informed me that I HAD NOT FASTENED HER DIAPER!! Talk about being on autopilot!  I had just put it on her and snapped up her PJs without velcro-ing the diaper on the sides!  Thankfully it was only a wet diaper, and true disaster was somehow diverted!!

It's 2010!!

Here's a question: will you say "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten"? 

We spent a wonderful New Years Eve with my sister Jodi's family up in Chattanooga! Abby Jane had a great time with Katie and Ian (on their new Christmas trampoline)

and their vast quantity of toys,

and the twins got some extra attention from all members of the family! 

 Katie is practicing up for the new little one joining their family in April.  

Thanks for a great time, Gregorys!

On New Year's Day, we watched the first half of that crazy Auburn game at the Lees' home with some sweet Gross family friends who have wonderful taste in schools and New Year's Day decor, MUCH to Abby Jane's delight!

Jake flew out to L.A. this morning for his two weeks on campus at APU.  My Christmas present from Jake is to be flown out to join him on Saturday with the twins for several days of seeing him and sweet friends!  More on that to come!

The most wonderful time of the year

Our Christmas was so sweet, and I hope each of you also had wonderful, wonderful days of celebrating Christ's birth.

We let Abby Jane start opening presents on Christmas Eve so the actual day wouldn't be overload.  She was SO excited! She also helped the twins open their gifts, which included the blocks pictured at the top that are a tradition to receive from their Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan!

The girls were given a Radio Flyer wagon on Christmas morning that turned out to be the perfect place for other presents and little girls!

 

Then we went up to Cartersville to spend the day with Jake's family, joined by my mom later in the day.  Here are the oldest cousins playing in Cade's new tent, having a wonderful time together as always.

The ladybug tea set you see her opening here is now one of Abby Jane's most treasured possessions- she loves to offer cream and sugar with your "hot hot tea" that needs her to blow on it to cool it off.

 Blythe and her Bop Bop- I think she was here for at least an hour!

All five cousins- Joy, Cade, Abby Jane, Blythe, and Luke

I gave Jake a game called Last Word (first discovered with our dear friends on our trip to Mammoth earlier this year), which all the adults played during the kids' naps, and it was SO fun! I highly recommend it for a good laugh. The twins' Christmas gift to Jake and I was sleeping through the night for the first time on Christmas Eve!  

Jake is finishing up a paper tonight, then we have a whole week ahead to hang out as a family before he heads to LA for his Jan session at APU!

Family weekend

My extended family get-together was on Saturday night, and it was such a delight to introduce Blythe and Joy to my aunts (my Uncle Wayne had already met the girls).  Now that I'm an aunt so many times over, it makes that even more special as I think about how much it will mean to me to someday meet MY nieces' and nephews' children!

Joy (on left) and Blythe (on right) hanging out in their bouncy seats during the party at my moms.

Scott, Ryan, and Ashley before everyone got there...

On Sunday we saw my mom's side of the family and had the wonderful honor of receiving my Grandaddy's traditional great-grandchild gift of these beautiful handmade adirondack chairs for the twins. These are such treasures- and just think- he's made one for each of the eight, going on nine, great-grands!

Worn out from weekend partying (and yet inseparable from the Trader Joe's reindeer sticker)...