Ladies night

On Friday, all of these ladies rolled into town for their annual shopping-in-Atlanta getaway weekend, and I got to join them for dinner that night. We were in a fabulous supper club with several of these friends during our two years of married life in Auburn.

That sweet group of families has evolved and grown in the four years since we moved, and it is delightful to get to know these "new" folks... that whole thing about easy it is to enjoy good friends' friends!

The funny part is that I haven't seen these girls since last fall, but almost everyone keeps regular blogs, so we are all completely up to date on each other's lives. Technology is such a blessing! Girls, it was SO fabulous to be with y'all!

Now, while I was out enjoying the night, Jake not only took care of all the girls easily, but I came home to a cleaned out and very organized garage. The magnitude and scope of this chaos he tackled is impossible to describe, as our garage solely functions as a storage unit for us. There is now playspace in there!

Sorry, ladies, he's not for sale!

One of our family's sweetest days ever...

Yesterday was our 1st 5K as a family of five- it was a fundraiser run on the KSU campus. Here is before...

Here is after. Can you tell the Superman who pushed the double stroller up a few hills?
We were the only strollers in the race, and we were a little disappointed that we didn't win some category of most people to simultaneously cross the finish line... not to mention the girls winning their age division.
After the run, we spread out and enjoyed bananas and a lovely morning.
Joy needed to rehydrate a bit after all that exertion.

After naps (during which we caught some great football), we headed over to the Taste of Kennesaw. It was a fabulous afternoon, and we got to try some delicious dishes from local restaurants! The gumbo Jake is sampling below was probably our favorite.

The event took place on either side of the railroad tracks that run through downtown Kennesaw, and the girls got to watch a couple of trains while we were there!

My favorite part of our time there was at the end, when we sat down in front of the museum while a band played some great music and we just enjoyed our girls.

This sticky young lady, bedecked in various festival necklaces, seemed to enjoy that part of the afternoon...

and the ice cream she had... the very best, too.

Haircuts and BBQ

Jake and Abby Jane headed up to see Mr. Donny yesterday for some daddy/daughter haircuts. Here is Mischief before...

Here she is after. Can't see much difference? That's because Daddy did a great job of relaying to Mr. Donny that we are trying to grow her hair out for a much-desired ponytail.

Haircuts in Cartersville were all the excuse we needed to meet up with Mimi and Bop Bop at one of our favorite BBQ spots!

It was so boring.

No one had any fun at all.

I really wish my father-in-law were more comfortable with my little girls.

I'm not sure if my mother-in-law loves on the girls enough.
I wish Joy liked snuggling with her daddy more.

It sure is rough having family so close by. But someone's got to do it! Thanks for a great time, y'all!!!

Score

I think that phrase may be from the 80's, but Jake totally scored today. While grilling last weekend, we discovered our old grill was about to fall apart. Today, Jake got this thing of beauty...

for a grand total of $75 from a moving sale on Craigslist! A-mazing.

As many of you know, we are still in the same rental home we jumped on last fall before the twins came, thinking at the time that we'd be out in less than three months and into a permanent home. It's sort of a long story, but we're still here for now. HOWEVER, this grill seems to me to be crying out for a lovely back deck. So far, its impact on our household has been a motivated Jake to clean out a huge portion of our garage for the newest member of our family to live in. I like it.

How we "Labor"ed

In the morning: hike up Kennesaw Mountain, first time using our hand-me-down double jogger (a.k.a. the "Aunt Betsy" stroller as Abby Jane has named it in honor of their donation to the Gross family.) Gorgeous morning!

Joy leg.

Top of the mountain snack time.
All that stroller riding can wear a girl (or two) out.
Afternoon: playtime and picnic dinner at the field!
Somehow the picnic was still a success despite me forgetting baby spoons and bowls... and thus baby dinner being fed upon plastic forks...

Opening Day

Yesterday had to have been the most gorgeous day of the entire year- proof that God loves football! The girls had on their Auburn dresses (my friend Rebecca is coming next week to teach me to monogram- yea!)

Greg, Sus, and the kids came in town for the weekend, so we spent yesterday and today at Mom's with them... which meant extra loving on the twins

and great cousin time!

Ryan watching some football with Uncle Jake.

Grandaddy and Granny Joan joined us at the pool for swimming and pizza, and of course I made it out the door with everything we needed but our camera. After we got back, the big kids got to watch the first bit of the Auburn game!

We're working on our ability to focus on the game.

We hit the park this morning- can't get enough of this weather!

BIGGEST NEWS OF TODAY: JOY OFFICIALLY CRAWLED!!!! Bizarrely enough, it was in the exact same place in my mom's bedroom where Blythe first crawled- and two months later almost to the day! We're so proud of our Joy, and she's pretty proud of herself, too!

10 months

This is the girls at 10 months a lot of the time. They are not laughing at me, but at their big sis. Abby Jane is chief entertainer and my best assistant.

Here is an outtake. I think Abby Jane got distracted from her photo assistant duties.

Blythe, Blythe, Blythe. The girl is everywhere, crawling, pulling up, walking holding onto your fingers, and chewing on anything she can get her hands on. Blythe FINALLY started visibly cutting a tooth yesterday! Lack of teeth has no impact on her eating, though. The girl has a hollow leg and usually finishes off whatever Joy leaves on her tray! That appetite also includes any shoes not put away and ANY sort of vegetation she can grab when we're outside- grass, leaves, bark, etc.
This is classic Blythe- teething, and... do you notice anything missing behind her? Yes, we hung those letters at that height totally assuming we'd be out of this house before the girls were pulling up and able to reach anything!

Despite her adventurous spirit, Blythe is in the attachment phase and likes to be near Mama a lot of the time. Her favorite perch when I'm sitting on the floor is standing on my leg with one arm around me and the rest of her body facing away, too busy and independent to snuggle.

These two are big buddies- Blythe loves to follow Abby Jane and Abby Jane loves it. I often get reports ("Mama, Blythe's getting the ____!" Insert cord, TV, shoes, etc.)

Sweet Joy still only has those two teeth she got back in June. She is still not crawling, but somehow does migrate around. I predict a crawler in the next two weeks. She launches herself forward, falls, then pushes up to sitting- and ends up getting around somehow. Joy loves being read to and tries to sing along with you. She waves, claps, and plays "Where's Joy?"

She is working on pulling up, and can stand for a little while holding onto your fingers. She bounces and kicks when she gets excited. We hope she learns to crawl soon- she often gets left in whatever room everyone started in when Blythe and Abby Jane take off!

Here is Abby Jane wearing the same dress at just under 9 months. Can you tell they're sisters?!

Fav toys right now- rattles, balls, Alphabet Paul caterpillar, activity table, books with textures.

Eating schedule (for my records- sorry!): breakfast (nursing, then fruits with oatmeal, then finger foods), mid-morning snack (fruit crisps and multigrain cheerios), lunch (veggies, some variety of applesauce, finger foods, nursing), after nap nursing, dinner (veggies, meat, applesauce), finger foods to keep them busy while we eat, then bedtime nursing.

Fav finger foods: blueberries, ANY kind of chopped fruit or veggies (sometimes turn down carrots randomly), multigrain cheerios (don't like plain as much), cheese, turkey, Puffs, rice cakes.

Nap schedule: morning nap- would sleep almost 2 hours if I'd let them, but I usually get them up after an hour or hour and a half so we can actually go somewhere. Afternoon nap- 3-4 hours! It's amazing. I do have a theory that they require more sleep than a lot of only-child babies b/c they are constantly overstimulated by their doting big sister! Bless their baby hearts! We love these girls!