Snow!

When we had our first snow day the week before Christmas. It was exciting. :)

Jadyn desperately wanted to play outside but the snow caught us off guard and I hadn't bought bigger sized snow gear.

So, we improvised. Much to her dismay she had to wear jeans outside. GASP!
She threw a fit about the layering but I held strong.
Rain boots doubled as snow boots.
Her brains are a bit big for her hat.

I had her all bundled up and then realized that we didn't have gloves.

so,

I got a pair of socks and she had "mittens."

That's right, I'm aiming for Mom-of-the-year! 

She had Daddy had a blast - for 10 whole minutes in the snow! 

(note - yes, Daddy is in carhart coveralls...)

 Snow angels!

She had snow EVERYWHERE. It's a good thing she only stayed out for 10 minutes. 

Seriously, she is just about the sweetest thing ever. LOVE her!! And her mitten hands :) 

Snowballs! 

 Cutie-Patuties! 

Disclaimer 1: Most of these photos were shot from inside the house. I used our bigger lens and shot through the screens on the windows. Not to shabby :)

Disclaimer 2: Nana heard of my instant snow outfit and has since outfitted Jadyn with proper snow attire. :)

High Chairs

You know, when we had Jadyn we were so eager to move her along in the "process" of life. :) We were quick to start baby food, sippy cups, high chairs, and all that other jazz.

Well this time around am SLOW to want to do things. I think part of it is just how overwhelming it is to do everything twice, but also I think I'm in now hurry for the babies to grow up! It goes so fast, why rush them along?

Well, apparently I have been moving too slowly. I got "scolded" in a round about way by the girls doctor for them not being further along in their growing up department.

Bummer.

So, we are working on it. I must admit I'm not doing well with it all, but I should get with it. :)

We did buy new high chairs for the girls. We were going to try to get by with one but not any more. With an unexpected gift for the babies we were able to purchase the kind of high chairs that go on a regular chair. Nice!

The babies love them.

Jemma Bean in the high chairs

She love to eat!

Twins in their chairs - Jaycie attempting her sippy cut!

Jadyn loves to help. She also loves to pose.

WWE

Well, a lot of thoughts have run through this brain of mine since we found out we were having twins. I did think about the whole "sharing" issue. I knew this would be a new world for us anyway since Jadyn would be gaining siblings, but it never occurred to me that my twins would think they were professional wrestlers!

Folks, we have the WWE nightly at our house.

In one corner we have Jaycie Marie - current reigning champ.

In the other corner we have Jemma Carmen - currently oblivious to what is happening until she is hurt.

Jaycie pretty much beats the tar out of Jemma daily.
I have spoken with other parents of multiples and this is normal.

Poor Poor Jemma.

or

Maybe poor poor Jaycie, because I am quite confident that when Jemma chooses to retaliate it will be quite bad. She may or may not be like her Mama in that regard.

A little pre-wrestling work out.

Jaycie attacking Jemma

See her grabbing Jemma's hair! She pulls it all the time and if she gets close enough before we get there she starts trying to bite Jemma's hair.

For now we are all friends afterwards. However, right after this picture Jemma started crying.

A very merry EARLY Christmas

Greg and I talked back at the beginning of the month about when we should open our gifts in our immediate family. We just don't have a great time to do it. The past couple of years we have done it Christmas night, but last year Jadyn was so tired it was not an enjoyable evening.

We finally decided that we would do it Christmas eve morning. That seemed like the best time.
but then it snowed.

Last Thursday it snowed.

And I decided that it would be MORE fun to have Christmas on a snowy day.
So we got up (snow day at school)
and let Jadyn and the girls open presents. :)

And it was fun.
Jadyn got a new American Girl doll from Mommy and Daddy. We were able to snag her for 65% off in a one day sale that Mommy found. GO MOMMY! (Can I cheer for myself? That's seems rude, but I really needed a cheer).

Jadyn and the girls got 4 presents from Mommy and Daddy this year. Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. This is Jadyn opening her "wear" - New socks! (She wasn't excited - oh well).
Jaycie and Jemma helped open presents too. For some reason I don't have any good ones of Jaycie - Oh wait that's because I had to hold her to keep her from tackling Jemma.

Jadyn really got into Christmas this year! It was fun! She's all about Santa coming and everything. Love it!

My girls on our First Family of 5 Christmas!

Merry EARLY Christmas!

A night at King's Crown

Any Fancy Nancy readers out there? We have one at our house. She LOVES Fancy Nancy! In fact I'm thinking about redoing the play room "Fancy Nancy" style! Anyway, in the books Fancy Nancy always goes to the local restaurant called the King's Crown.

Jadyn thinks Crown Center is the King's Crown. Haha! I refuse to officially correct her because it's so stinking cute! We made our annual trip down to Crown Center on Wednesday night. We started this tradition the year Jadyn was born. They have the best Santa. We took Jaycie and Jemma for their first Santa pictures.

This year we had the added bonus of getting to take Grandma Carmen with us! She is in town for the week and gladly came along with Greg and I and my parents! We had a blast.

My Dad graciously snapped pictures while I acted a fool trying to get the girls to smile for their official picture. Here is all three of my babies.

Jemma - having a little moment with Santa. Ha! I think she's asking him for a break from Jaycie. (More on their wrestling later)

Then we took the babies off of Santa and let Jadyn have her moment. I was shocked that she actually talked to him. He asked her if she always picked up her toys and she said yes. Then he asked if she went to bed right when Mommy asked and she said yes. Later I asked her about those two questions and Jadyn said, "Mom, I lied to Santa." I almost died laughing. :)

After Santa we had dinner at Milan - the Italian restaurant at The King's Crown. It was yummy but the babies were starting to get nutty so I didn't have a chance to snap any pictures.

After dinner Jadyn and Daddy had ice cream. Jadyn had a sundae that had gummy worms on top.

 Sweet sweet picture of 2 of my loves!

We had a delightful evening! The girls did 1000x better than I expected! Yay!

A serious post

Yesterday morning I could feel God calling me out to do something different in response to the Sandy Hook shootings. Basically, I've felt panicked since it happened - almost to the point of thinking I might need to see someone about it.

Yesterday, I felt God asking me to pray for a specific family and to ask others to do the same. I looked again at the list of tiny victims and new immediately that my my heart belongs to Noah Pozner's family.

You see, Noah was a twin. He left his twin sister behind. Her name is Arielle.

Even though my twins are only 9 months old I can see the bond.

And as a mother, I can't imagine looking at one without the other. They've been together since conception.

Noah's image is burned into my mind. His sweet face. I know I don't know him or his family, but I believe I will carry him in my heart forever.

Yesterday was Noah's funeral.

Last night I wept while in our  bedroom and found myself yet again asking God why.

And He answered.

Not with an "answer," but with a verse.

my verse.

Joshua 1:9
"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord they God is with thee, withersoever thou goest."

Withersoever thou goest.

I always think of that verse meaning places, but now I'm seeing it means journeys.
Journeys in life we don't understand.

Time in the NICU
Time figuring out how to pay off hospital bills
Time trying to balance money so we can buy formula x2.
Time during and absolutely horrific school shooting involving babies my nephew's age.

Withersoever thou goest.

He's here. He's with me. Always. Even when my heart is grieving for families I've never met. He's with me.

And, He's with them.

Withersoever thou goest.

And, He's with you.

Withersoever thou goest.

He's God.

Christmas with the Franzes

We celebrated our Christmas with the Franzes today - minus Grandpa. He had to stay behind but kindly shared Grandma with us for the week.

We had a lovely day at Greg's Aunt and Uncle's house. The girls all did a great job and we had a good day with family.

Jadyn can hardly take a picture anymore without striking a pose :)

Jaycie doesn't hold still anymore for pictures. :)

My happy happy Jemma

Jadyn playing with her new Minnie Mouse and her cousin Daniel

Jemma and Jaycie checking out their new toys!

"I love food, Mommy!" says Jemma always!

Greg holding Jaycie so Grandma can feed her. I love love love this pictures of Greg. I think he looks so handsome here.

Merry Christmas!

Jadyn's program

We had Jadyn's Christmas program this past week. She did a fantastic job and looked so cute! Here is her super cute Christmas dress! 

She pretty much held her dress like this the whole night. It was very princess like :) 

She spotted Daddy and gave him a "smile". 

 There was a lot of standing up and sitting down during the program. Not great for pretty dresses... but she survived. 

 She and the little boy beside her did not get along. At all. We had to have a chat before the program about "taking care of herself" and not worrying about him. He is an interesting character. :)

 We caught on of her singing. I love love love this!! :) 

Love my girlie! :)

A quick trip

down memory lane.

Sometimes I feel like life just flies by. I know everyone says that, but you know what I mean. There are seasons of life - sometimes just a few days, or maybe a few weeks that just seem like one thing after another is going on and then in a blink of an eye it's over.

I'm trying to enjoy every minute that I can.

Sometimes though I can't believe that my "baby" is 4. She's a little lady. She laughs, makes jokes, dances, understands things and is an absolute joy to be around. Sometimes I need to just look back, to just hang on a little bit longer to my baby.

I was scrolling though old pictures the other day and came across a few worth sharing.

Stop Growing up, Jadyn Millee!!!

And love your Mommy, ALWAYS.

Personalities

People have been asking us forever if we see personalities in each of the girls. I know the politically correct answer is yes, but honestly, until recently the answer was no. In the last couple of weeks though we have started seeing major differences in the girls. Not only do they look very different but they act very different too!

Let me demonstrate for you. Here the sweet little girlies were both wanting the same toy.
Jemma got it first. She is happy happy happy. Jaycie...not so much. She's a little ticked that Jemma has the toy.

Jemma keeps playing with the toy but is very interested in her Mama. She's talking to me watching me laughing with me. Jaycie - TOY. 

So while my little social Jemma is still playing with Mommy, focused Jaycie reaches over and gets the toy. Jemma doesn't even notice.

And when it's all said and done... everyone is happy happy happy! Jaycie got the toy she was so focused on 

 And Jemma got to keep playing with Mommy!

Right now at 8 1/2 months the girls are so different it's fun! Jemma is very very social. She talks all the time. She has said Dada a few times. She laughs HARD when you bounce her or kiss her neck. She laughs so hard that I laugh when she's laughing. It's fantastic! She doesn't move as much (although she moves just fine and can do whatever she wants) she'd just rather hang out and talk.

Jaycie is focused. She sees a toy and she goes after it. She isn't officially crawling but she gets where ever she wants to get quickly. She has already discovered the presents under the tree and has tried to rip them open. If I move her after she's crawled someplace she shouldn't be - she goes right back. She tries to mimic facial expressions and also laughs a lot. 

It's fun. We've been in "survival" mode for so many months that it's nice to finally remember what it's like to have babies in the house. We still have our survival times but we also are starting to get to spend more individual time with the girls and getting to know them better! 

Between the 3 of them.... We are in for quite a ride!! :)