Back to Reality!

This last week, Ryan and I were able to go to Disney with our friends Zach and Martha Lynn and we left our kids here....I know, that's pretty bad. A huge thank you to my parents and their parents for keeping our kids for 6 days so we could have some time to ourselves! We stayed at the Polynesian Resort and visited about 2 parks each day. It was not a relaxing vacation, but don't get me wrong, it was super nice to sleep in past 6 am! We went to Universal Studios the first day and this was us right before the Hulk took off. That's the best picture I could do with my own hands:-) We had no idea how quickly that ride was going to take off so I think we laughed and screamed the whole way through!

One night, the Magic Kingdom had extended hours for resort guest so we went there from 9-midnight. As you can see in the picture below, Martha Lynn was the only one on this roller coaster. We were all planning on riding this ride but ML got on before we were ready and the gates closed on us!

We are so thankful for our friendship with the Crawfords. I hope that we can do this type of trip every year, but I should probably give my parents a year warning before they are left with all 3 kids again for a week!

Back to Life, Back to Reality ... I think was the first morning that we were all back home together!!!! Look closely at the back of this picture. I went downstairs for literally 1 minute, and I come upstairs to find them sitting in a huge pile of oats! So much for making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies! The funniest thing was that I asked who did it, and they responded with "Craig"

Sweet 'little' Kylie. She is honestly such a happy, good baby. I think I would have 2 more if they were as easy as she is! I think any baby would have been easy though compared to what all we went through with the boys:-)! She is really starting to talk/squeal more and loves to play with her brothers' trucks. Don't worry though, she does have a baby doll too that her Granny Carol gave her to play with.
Gotta love those chunky legs too in the second picture...she will thank me one day for taking a picture of her thunder thighs!!! Braden is still just full of energy. He wakes up just a jumpin'! He definitely loves to test the waters with how far he can get away with things, but he also keeps us laughing all the time. He can be very sweet to Kylie and loves to lie beside her on her play mat all the time. It will be interesting to watch their relationships develop with her.
Braden loves to walk the 'balance beam' on my parents driveway over and over. I think his daddy might have a heart attack if he wants to be a gymnast!

Reed has come so far these past 2 years, and I cannot help but to think every day what a little miracle he is. He still owes his brother big time for getting him where he is today!
Reed is getting his ear tubes and circumcision this coming Tuesday so please pray that all goes well. Hopefully that will just leave one last surgery to correct his strabismus!
Reed likes to go up to 'Ky-Ky' and just give her a quick kiss and move on with what he is doing. He jabbers all the time right now and it's like he is trying to carry on his own little conversation with us!

I think these pictures depict pretty well how they both feel about their Pappa! It makes me so happy to see how much joy our kids bring my parents. Our boys and little girl have been such a healer for our family...and cousin Charley too!

The Toy Exchange! The boys love playing with each other, but they also enjoy doing their own things. They will be riding a toy and Braden will call out for Reed and they will switch what they are playing with. This sometimes though is not a mutual desire for wanting to switch!

I cannot imagine not having the experience of twins and wish that everyone could experience it... I know some of you are thinking "Are you crazy?!" It really is one of the neatest relationships to watch develop over time. They have definitely made having a third child so close in age so much easier since they entertain each other. I love these last two pictures!!!

School Time!

That's right, the boys have started a Mother's Day out program but I will start with the fun stuff first. Since the kids had so much fun at the first fair, we decided to take them to the Wilson County fair too...which is way bigger and better than the Williamson County fair!
When we got there, it decided to rain for the first hour but that made for fewer crowds which is always a good thing! Don't you think we did a good job at keeping the kids dry?!! Can you find Kylie???
The boys enjoyed the petting zoo but Braden did not like the pigs nibbling his toes at all!

Pretty sanitary, right? There is no way I can keep these boys clean or from putting their mouths where they shouldn't go! Braden's face is priceless when he sees the big cows. They finished up the petting zoo with a popsicle which they call "pop-sick" and ask for one every day! Before all the kids went back to school, the Calendines so graciously hosted our Sunday school class over for a big fall bash. They had 2 huge blowup bounce things for the kids, a horse ride, jet skis, tons of Famous Daves and the list could go on and on. We owe them a huge thanks! Everyone had a great time, especially the kids!
This is a picture of just the kids and not all the kids were in the shot! Sweet Francis held onto Kylie for dear life. Her mom was way more scared than I was that I was letting her daughter hold a 4-month old:-)

I love this picture of Macy, Reed, Madison and Braden. They were born about a week before the boys and they are all in the same Sunday school class. I think they are going to be good friends growing up! Can we do arranged marriages any more?!

The boys on their first morning of school. They are only going 1 day a week and maybe 2 days in the Spring. I wa a little nervous for them but they did well. They didn't even cry when we left them which was huge! However, they have both been way clingy with me since then. I could hardly get ready for school! They are such big boys!

Poor "little" Kylie having to take a bath with her rowdy brothers! They are getting more and more fun every day. They love to jump on you when you are lying on the floor. Ryan has definitely encouraged this behavior!