Baby milestones

Watching them learn to roll over, crawl and then walk were all fun and amazing. (And I promise I will find some way to get some video of them walking on here.) What I didn't know was how much fun watching them learn to eat with a spoon was going to be. We have tried it a couple times now with mommy assisting. Today I just let them go for it and you can see what that lead to. A BIG mess that's what. But they were enjoying it. They want to be like mommy and daddy and use silverware too. When they see us eating they point at our fork or spoon so I figured it was time for them to start using silverware too. (The plastic baby variety.) They are getting the hang of it. It makes a bit of a mess, but that is all part of the fun in watching your babies learn and grow.
Oh, did I mention that I love these bowls that have the suction cups on the bottoms. When Alyssa is done she will toss everything on the floor so I had to get some of these. :) They work pretty well.

Babies having fun in the new kitchen

Oh the joys of having new stuff to explore. It didn't take long for my curious one (Alyssa) to find all the fun stuff behind those cabinet doors. I haven't been able to get cabinet locks yet, so I have to deal with cleaning the mess everyday. Just so you aren't worried, I put anything dangerous up high. All they can get to are the pans, tablecloths, my apron and the ziploc baggies. :) Alyssa starts the game, but Hannah joins right in once sissy pulls all the fun stuff out. It is so cute to watch and they aren't really hurting anything. I just have to pick it all up, but I don't mind. :)

Alyssa is actually sitting in the pan. :)

The girls have their 1st birthday!

A long awaited milestone!! The girls had their 1st birthday on Friday the 6th of Feb. It was a fun day. We started with a good breakfast and fun new bibs.Then we got dressed in our new cute jeans and drove up to St.Marys to take some pictures of the girls at the beautiful waterfront park. They were a little grumpy when we first got there, but I think I got some cute pictures.

Then we went to WalMart to get cake mix so I could make a birthday cake with a little dash of mom love. Once we got back to the house, I started making this lovely creation. (I will get better, I had to hurry.) I made a regular cake for the family to eat, and a single layer for the girls.

Then began the messy fun. We sang "Happy Birthday" and gave each of the girls a piece of the cake with their initial on it with a 1 candle in it. They had a little help blowing out the candles. Then we let them go for it. Hannah was very lady like at first, gently taking the frosting off. Alyssa got into the cake part faster and made the big mess on the floor. She loves to put her finger in her mouth and lick it off. It was so cute.

Then after a quick bath and clean up we opened some presents. They love looking in the bags and taking things out.

It was a great day and we are so happy to have these girls in our lives. They bring us joy everyday. We are looking forward to many more years of fun filled birthdays.

1st birthday fun!

The girls' first year

The girl's first hairbows!

Even though the girls don't have much hair, I just couldn't resist getting them some bows for their hair. They don't stay in long, but I managed to get a few pictures. I think they are adorable. Hannah has more hair so her's looks pretty good. Alyssa has some hair but it is growing only in the middle of her head so the bow looks kind of silly right in the middle of her head. Hopefully they will be getting more hair soon and I will be buying more bows.

We have a house!!

We have been looking for a place to live almost every weekend since Christmas. We searched the papers, internet and drove around all over looking at places, calling people and hoping we would at least find something to rent. One weekend we must have called 10 people but no one answered and no one called us back. We looked at several places and were hopeful, but every time we got our hopes up, something went wrong. We were starting to get a little frustrated. Then one day the last week of January, Jim got a call out of the blue from one of the people we had called from a for sale by owner sign we saw on a house. The guy was the builder and he said he would meet us to look at it and he seemed very willing to help us out any way he could to make a deal happen. And it did! We met with him and his brother on Saturday, talked a little while, and we gave him some money. We will have to close later in the month because he is going on a week long fishing trip. :) So we will be moving at the end of the month. Yeah! We are so excited to actually own a house again and not pay someone else's mortgage. :) It feels great to have a great place to put down roots and raise our girls in a home.

Kitchen - they are putting in a stove and fridge

Master Bath - you can see the garden tub and big tile shower in mirror

Front Door - We are going to paint the trim, door and add some shutters to make it more appealing, but I like the glass in the door.

The girl's bathroom - I love the tile

The deck - It is bigger than this, you can't see it all in this picture.


The house is brand new built in 2007, but we will be the first owners. The builders did such a nice job and we love it. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a nice open floor plan. It has plenty of room for the girls to play and roam around. The baths have 18' tile on the floors, beautiful tile in the showers, the cabinets are the big oak cabinets and it has a great covered deck off the back. It is on 1.24 acres on a corner lot. The yard will need some work to get grass to grow because they brought some dirt in to level the yard, but Jim needs a good project to work on. The front needs some color and some curb appeal added to it, but we will work on making it ours and it is going to be a great place to raise our girls. It is in Callahan, FL just northwest of Jacksonville. We chose to live there because we like more of a country living feel. We also love the church family we have there. We lived in that area before and loved it there. It is still close to Jim's family. We are so excited to get moved and settled in. I'll add some more pics later, these I just took real quick while we were looking at it.