Spring

I love Southern spring.

The smell of honeysuckle reminds me of driving my Wrangler to school with the top down- I could smell the spring flowers as I drove.

The smell of dewey grass reminds me of watering my precious garden in Auburn before driving to my favorite nursing job I ever had.

Even the stink of Bradford pears reminds me of spring tennis season- people always seem to plant those trees near courts!

And now we're making new spring memories...

Every afternoon, we all play outside until dinnertime, Jake and Abby Jane lasting the longest (here is Joy practicing on Abby Jane's new tricycle).

Afternoon bubbles...

Picnic dinners in the yard...

Mom went with me earlier this week to buy some flowers after I realized my normal shopping cart strategy would leave no room for flower pots! Abby Jane got to pick out her very own (she chose a pink geranium) to plant and take care of!

Hope you're enjoying your spring as well!!

Celebrating Sunday

Our Easter was so, so sweet. We've been reading the Easter story in various children's books, so Abby Jane had an elementary grasp that "Jesus isn't dead anymore. Jesus is alive!" It's so sweet to see her begin to understand these stories.

On Easter Sunday, we gave the girls their baskets in the morning before church- including new bibs for the twins and a craft apron for Jane...

After the church service, we headed up to Cartersville for a DELICIOUS lunch with Jake's family and my mom. The adults enjoyed the GORGEOUS day out on the back patio while the kiddos napped. After naps came Easter Egg Hunt #3, and I'm glad Abby Jane had a couple of practice rounds under her belt before the big day so she could try to give big 3 yr. old Cade a run for his money!

It was such a perfect family day! Here are the little ladies in their Easter dresses... I love that with three little girls comes three little Easter dresses each year!

This year, Blythe and Joy's very first Easter dresses were incredibly special. My very dear and precious friend, Emily York, made them from start to finish- from cutting the fabric to the smocking to the last delicate lace-trimmed detail! WHAT an amazing labor of love! The dresses are absolutely gorgeous and were complimented all day. Thank you again, sweet Em!!!

Five Months

My big five-month-olds (who chose not to smile simultaneously this month for their shoot!)

Blythe- the child is just sunshine unless she's extraordinarily hungry or tired. She smiles at the drop of a hat and keeps up a running monologue (particularly when we're at home) that gives Abby Jane a run for her money.

Sweet Joy- this one has become a little less low-key than she had been and a little more of a mama's girl. She's still comparatively laid back and just a little chunk (sorry Joy) of snuggly love.

We have started weaning them from the swaddle and putting them to sleep every time looking like this. Joy typically looks about the same when we get her up, though she sometimes sneaks the other arm out.

Blythe usually ends up looking like this.

Since spring sprang this week, the afternoon rice cereal party is an outdoor affair so big sis can play while we eat. Oatmeal and rice cereal happen three times a day now, and don't you let these girls fool you- I regularly go through at least two bowls each feeding!!!

We introduced the exersaucer and jump-a-roo in the last week, and both girls enjoy them for short periods of time. Abby Jane's babies and animals utilize them the rest of the day.

Joy...

Blythe...

Twinsie items of note...

-getting a little too big to put them on the changing table at the same time

-often hold hands while they're nursing (or poke each other in the eye)

-both giggle most when you tickle their ribs with your nose

-both mostly wearing 6-9 month clothes now

-sleep schedule: nap from 9-10, sometimes cat nap 11:30-12ish, long nap 1-4, sometimes short nap 5:30-6ish, bedtime at 7:30... I know, it's ridiculous- we're so spoiled!

And now, all good things must come to an end...

Egg Hunt #2

This morning, the Gillies hosted a fabulous gathering for an egg hunt and delicious brunch.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Betsy and Paul's friends (who jumped right in with holding the twins!) and being a part of such a fun morning on a beautiful day!

Abby Jane loved hunting eggs again. On the way home, she clutched treats from her eggs in both hands (obeying our request to not eat any more until later)... until the chocolate melted into her hands!! Obviously they weren't M&M's...

Holly sent me the recipe for these cut-out cookies from this blog, and I made them yesterday for today and tomorrow. I highly recommend both the cookies and the icing- they were the best and easiest I've ever tried.

One last visit

We ran up to Chattanooga on Monday to spend the day with Jodi, Katie, and Ian before our newest niece or nephew arrives in a few weeks!

Abby Jane had a ball, as always, with Ian and Katie (after Katie got home from kindergarten). She is always amazed at the sheer volume of new (to her) toys at their house. The trampoline they got for Christmas was her favorite, though...
She literally jumped for hours, laughing so hard I thought she might be crying!

She hung tough with the big kids- yes, that is my firstborn's body going diagonally there... and dying laughing!!

Katie and Ian got in some last minute practice before their sister or brother comes... Katie is tickling Joy while Ian is reading to them!

It was a fantastic day!

Egg Hunt #1

Last Saturday we braved a very windy 40 degree morning to go a egg hunt sponsored by KSU, and we were joined by Grammy, Mimi, and Bop Bop!

Bless their souls, they'll kill us one day for some of these outfits, but they were cute and it was perfect for such a cold morning! And they were a gift from their Aunt Susan anyways...

Abby Jane was a blur of egg gathering from the moment they were allowed to start, a little different from last year's contentment with just one egg for each hand. And she didn't even know there were treats inside until later...

We have a slight issue with wind these days (after a recent bad experience at a sidewalk cafe that involved a rogue wind that caused our umbrella to lift completely out of our table and come crashing down, as well as blowing a lot of dust in Abby Jane's eyes!)... and it was a windy morning- so she needed a little reassurance here and there...

Two firsts: meeting Easter Bunny and first face painting of... drumroll... an egg!

Afterwards, Bop Bop taught Abby Jane in our yard how you actually hunt an egg (other than walking into a big plot of grass and picking up as many as you can!)

Making Room

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, but our computer's memory is full (so is mine sometimes), so tonight I am going through the challenging process of trying to delete any extraneous videos to make more room until we can make more room the official and technical way. I literally cannot upload another photo until I accomplish this task. I have two observations:

1. We had a lot more video of Abby Jane as an infant than we do thus far of Blythe and Joy.

2. There really is no such thing as extraneous videos. A five minute clip of Abby Jane as a 10 week old just wiggling on a blanket is still priceless.

This could take a while... but no worries, this year's first egg hunt as well as the five-month blog for Blythe and Joy to come soon!