Henry and Parker's First Birthday!

Back in October {you know, over four months ago}, Henry and Parker turned one!  I never blogged about their birthday, but I have a great reason to hop in my time machine and share it today.  One of my favorite blogs, Twin Talk, is turning ONE today {yay!} and they are hosting a link up for twin's first birthday posts.  Plus, I am on Spring Break this week so I have a little bit of time to dust off the ol' blog and join the link up.  So welcome to Henry and Parker's First Birthday!

October 29, 2014

Silly birthday poses

We did not really plan a big birthday party for the boys. We wanted to just celebrate with family, which is exactly what we did.  I was thrilled however, when my sister and brother-in-law from Oklahoma City and my brother and sister-in-law from Austin both emailed me and said they wanted to come to Dallas for the occasion. Add in grandparents and local family and our little shindig turned into a pretty big deal!  The morning of the party Henry was grumpy and acting so out of character.  We ended up taking him to the doctor and discovering he had a small ear infection (our first one ever, on his birthday!) so we were a little behind schedule getting things ready.  But everything came together eventually and hey, a great thing about having family only for the party is that they don't care if they show up and nothing is ready!  They will gladly help blow up some balloons, throw together the food and decorate for the party, so Mom can go take a shower :)

I hung up pictures of the boys on the mantle and my sister made adorable first birthday prints to display.  This was a super last minute thought that she put together for me in about two days, which was awesome!  We got cupcakes from Central Market, which were yummy and super affordable. 

Guests

If you thought a small birthday party means not very many presents, you would be wrong.

Parker

Henry and Grandpa

 Neither of the boys were that impressed with the cake, but Parker gave it more of a taste than Henry, who pretty much just threw it on the floor!

We have this large, grown-up-sized tricycle that we pulled out during the party.  It was a hit with everyone!

The picture above with the boys laying in the birthday party aftermath makes me laugh.  It was a great day and Henry and Parker had so much fun, despite spending the morning at the pediatrician and barely getting a nap that afternoon.  The best part was that their birthday party was the day before Daylight Savings Time and they wore themselves out so much that they slept an hour later the next morning {which NEVER happens!}  They set themselves to the new time without even knowing it!  

Happy Birthday, sweet boys!

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Happy Tuesday!

A New Year

A few days after Christmas, Mark and I took the boys to Target, just to get out of the house.  We do that a lot.  Go places just to go.  None of us do very well when we are cooped up inside for more than a day or so, so there are often mornings when Mark and I look at each other (while Grumps 1 and Grumps 2 are melting into puddles of despair at our feet) and say WHERE SHOULD WE GO?!!  This means trips to Lowes, the mall or any other indoor place that has wide aisles for the stroller and is loud enough for the occasional shriek.  The destination on this day was Target.  And not even our neighborhood Target. Oh no, we need variety here and a road trip that is longer than five minutes to stretch these outings as long as possible.  So we went up to Plano to go to the Super Target. Cue angels singing.

Now I can wander around Target with absolutely no agenda or anything in particular I am shopping for any day of the week.  Am I right ladies??!  I could easily kill an hour or two going up and down every. single. aisle. and buying all the things.  But Target is not so leisurely when you have a husband and two one-year olds in tow.  It's more like a rapid lap around the perimeter (must keep moving or Parker will decide he'd rather you carry him than ride in the stroller) looking at holiday clearance and vacuum cleaners (yes, that is exactly what we did).  We might have lasted 25 minutes in there before we were out of Cheerios and getting close to two meltdowns. 

On this particular morning it was very cold and slightly raining.  So basically perfect weather for unloading two grumpy boys from the stroller, strapping them into their carseats, taking off the stroller seats, loading them into the back of car, dumping out all the Cheerios that fell down into the bottom of the stroller, and then folding it up and lifting it into the car.  While we were doing this (and getting rained on and freezing, btw) a pick-up truck was ever so slowly coming up to us in the parking lot.  I thought that he wanted our parking place and was thinking, "Seriously?! Can't you tell that this is not a quick process so you should just scoot on past us and find a spot a little farther away?!" when he stopped beside us and rolled his window down.  An older man, probably my parents' age, peeked over the window and into the cold and smiled at us.

"You're doubly blessed," he said.

And Mark and I looked at him and back at each other, nodding.  We knew he was right.

So Long Sweet Summer

A great BIG thank you and WELCOME BACK to everyone who found me from my post on Twin Talk!  I hope some of you will stick with me, either here on my blog or on Instagram.  It was so much fun to "meet" so many of you from your own blogs and IG accounts.  I have so many new twin moms to follow, which has been tons of fun.

This week I started back at school, which has been going great.  I have the sweetest class this year and I'm excited to be back in the school groove.  I have been pretty wiped out though!  It usually takes a week or so to adjust to my schedule in the fall, but I am finding that starting the year with babies makes it that much harder!  Plus, the boys are in a new class at their school now, and they have a different nap schedule.  So we all needed a good week to adjust and get used to it.  But! They now nap for {almost} THREE HOURS IN THE AFTERNOON! Straight. In a row. I thought moving to one nap would be INSANE, but it has actually been pretty fantastic.  It is working out well for all of us, so we can't complain.

Thank goodness for the long weekend!  I am catching up on blogging {i also have a teaching blog!} and trying to also get some last details wrapped up in my classroom.  Knowing that we don't have work yet tomorrow is the best feeling.  We have had a pretty lazy weekend, just hanging around at home and watching lots of college football {yay!}

Henry and Parker were {of course} sporting their Texas gear {Mom's team}, but Henry also gave Dad a shout out with his OSU hat.  Luckily, his head is big enough to wear Mark's hat!

Right before school started, the boys and I went to the pool with one of my fellow teacher friends.  Her sister-in-law and niece were there too, and the littles enjoyed playing with some cups {that may or may not have been for the wine.}  One thing we did not do nearly enough this summer was hit up the pool.  But, we still have tomorrow.

Enjoy your long weekends. Soak up the sun!

This Girl is a Guest Blogger!!

You guys, I think I am {finally} a legit blogger because I am being featured on another blog!  I know what you're thinking.  How can someone who posts {maybe} once a month make it as a guest blogger somewhere else? Well, I am kind of asking myself that too.  But lo and behold, today you can find me over at Twin Talk Blog where I will be sharing the boys' birth story.  

I never imagined I would be a Birth Story Sharing Kinda Blogger, but if you are at all interested in a little insight into Henry and Parker's big debut, head on over to Twin Talk Blog today.  And if you are a twin mom yourself, FOR SURE add Twin Talk to your blog list because it is an awesome community of twin moms!  Meredith and Amber, both mothers of twins and even from the DFW area, started the blog together as a way to share and collaborate with other moms on ALL THINGS TWINS.  Like if you were/are super googling during your pregnancy about twin births or wondering what the heck your twin baby bump was going to look like at week 32, then this my friend is the place for you. {Sidenote: I do not want to relive what my belly looked like, ahh}  Meredith and Amber, as well as tons of other twin moms {::cough::me::cough} share everything from their favorite baby products, great ideas for what to feed your littles, and even help you find other Twin Mamas in your area for TWIN PLAY DATES.  Can you even imagine?  I guarantee you will want to be BFFs with all the awesome ladies on Twin Talk.

Ok whew.  Twin mom rant over.  Welcome to any new readers who found me from my guest post and DISCLAIMER: I submitted my birth story post to the blog like months ago, for real.  I don't even remember what all I wrote, so I hope I don't cringe when I read it.  But yes, welcome!

That's me and my husband Mark, Parker (on the left) and Henry (on the right).  

When Meredith emailed me to let me know that my story would be on their blog today, she was like OMG I can't believe your girl turned out to be a boy and I was like OMG I can't believe I actually kind of forgot about all that!!  Or at least I don't think of it that often.  These little guys are so a part of our family that I cannot even dream what it would be like if we had a girl in the mix instead.  The picture above is actually from July 4, taken outside our house.  We recreated a picture we took last year on the fourth, which I posted on social media as an announcement about my pregnancy:

Notice anything different?  Yes, last year we had a blue chair and a pink chair.  This year, we replaced that pink with another blue.  It was a truly shocking and fun surprise to hear that nurse say, "oh they're both boys!" right after our little guys were born.  The brother bond Henry and Parker already share is the best thing ever.  And I don't think Henry even notices that his bed is pink....... ;)

In other news, school inservice starts on Monday for me, so tomorrow is actually my last official day of summer vacation and my last day to be home with the boys.  I am sad but also so excited to start a new year and get back into the swing of the school routine.  We are laying low this weekend and hopefully will have a smooth transition back to my Working Mom schedule.  The boys and I have been busy making the most of our freedom these past several weeks by visiting grandparents, hitting up the pool and taking lots of walks before it gets to be 104 degrees outside.  My parents live on a ranch, and Henry got such a kick out of "driving" their mule around their property every morning we were there, to check on the cows!  

Everyone have a good weekend!  And don't forget to follow Twin Talk.  They are also on Instagram here.  If you are a twin mom and blogger too, leave me your link!  I am always looking for others to follow.  And if you don't have a blog, let me know where you are from.  Any Dallas area moms?  I'd love to get together!  Twins or no twins!

xoxo

August

I know it is not August yet, but it might as well be.  Where did the summer go?!  I can't believe school starts back up in a month.  Four weeks.  EEEK.  It feels like we only just started our lazy (ha) days at home, and now they are already running out.

The boys are napping right now.  Both of them.  Are asleep.  This feat was not achieved lightly.  It took almost 20 solid minutes of screams of rage.  Parker did not think he needed to take a nap, so he voiced his opinion quite loudly.  In fact, don't tell him that I was actually about to wave the white flag and go get him out of his bed, giving up on the afternoon nap.  But when I creaked the door open, he was sprawled out asleep.  Whew.

So now I sit with a dishwasher that needs unloading, laundry that has been in the dryer for days, and a list of things I need to start working on for school in the fall.  But instead, I'm watching a Nicholas Sparks movie I've been saving in the DVR {The Vow} and dusting off the ol' blog.

Our summer has been going really well.  I thought we would be going stir crazy and looking for things to occupy our days, but we are actually so busy that I don't even think we have had a full week at home with just me and the boys, all day everyday.  Family visiting and friends staying over and summer vacations and long weekends with the grandparents have stacked up and made the weeks fly by.  I think it is all winding down now though, which is great.  I look at the days left at home this summer and feel a pull on my heart for when Henry and Parker will go back to their school in August.  Even though the days are long and often hard and I am constantly saying prayers for patience under my breath, I really do treasure this time with my boys.

{Sidenote: I have already rewinded The Vow three times because I am not even paying attention to it.  Gah! Must use this quiet time to watch depressing chick-flicks where either Rachel McAdams or Channing Tatum is GUARANTEED to die.  Thanks a lot, Nick.}

For a few weeks, Parker's hair made the best ever faux hawk. 

Henry and Grandma

These photos are getting tougher and tougher to take, since Parker is MOBILE now!

Hankie!

Henry and Dad on the ferry to Galveston

Seeing the ocean {okay it's really the gulf} for the first time!

At our beach house, "Purple Haze"