Topsy Turvy Twins

Time for Some Catch Up!

2012-11-03T21:50:00.000-04:00

Hi from our new home here in Augusta. This year has been full of changes! In June of this year, we closed out another chapter in our lives. The movers came and packed up all our stuff and we were officially "homeless".

We spent the Summer traveling and visiting family. We lived part time at Nana and Papa's house in Florida and part time in a hotel room in Augusta and part time at Grandma and Granny's house in West Virginia. We managed to attend family reunion and we even found time to house hunt. We moved into a hotel room in August while we settled on a house and got everything ready to go. The twins started 3rd grade in August.

In September, we moved into our new home. We love it! It is much bigger than our home in Virginia. The kids are slowly getting used to having more room. I am adjusting to having a basement for the first time in my life. (Even if it is unfinished for now!)

Now we are in early November, and we are settling in and making this our home little by little. I promise to get some pictures posted soon! But here we are, still alive and kicking...and thankfully, no longer "homeless"!

Under Construction

2012-05-31T22:51:00.001-04:00

So...as you may have noticed, I have not posted in awhile. We are still here, but life is CRAZY busy right now. Our whole lives are about to change for the better, but we are having growing pains...I find not nearly enough time to update my blog...Jim is retired from the Navy now and has a new job. He is traveling a lot right now, so I am trying to be mom and dad (and doing the best I can) but sadly, my blog has taken the hit and I have just not had the time to keep it up to date...Hopefully that will change soon...in the meantime, keep checking back. I will do my best to try and get thins updated as fast as I can!!

Fall School Pictures

2012-03-05T12:38:00.004-05:00

Here are my beautiful children in their second grade pictures. It is hard to believe they are that old already!

Trip to See Santa

2012-03-05T12:29:00.004-05:00

In early November, we took a trip to Williamsburg to the Yankee Candle Factory. There we saw Santa! The kids also got to play in the "snow"! We had a wonderful afternoon with some great friends!

So On We Go!

2012-03-05T12:17:00.004-05:00

The kids took a field trip to Jamestown. I went with them. They had such a good time exploring and learning about the Indians and the early English settlers. I am so proud to hear them tell me everything they learned! Christopher was very excited to hear that the Captain of the ship was named Christopher as well...he announced to me that the captain MUST have been named after him...love that boy!!

It was a wonderful way to spend the day!

Fabulous Fall in Pictures!

2012-02-28T09:28:00.011-05:00

Fall is full of Baseball, trips to Busch Gardens, Dance, Pumpkin Patch trips, Pumpkin carving and Trick or Treating. We enjoyed our Fall...hope you enjoy the pictures! (Sorry it took so long to get them here!!)

VERY PIC HEAVY POST!!

Time to Get in Gear

2012-02-28T09:23:00.002-05:00

Okay..so time to play some catch-up. I am going to lump all the Halloween pictures in together with some trips to Busch Gardens last Fall. Trick or Treating, pumpkin carving, and getting CANDY! The kids had a great time! So the next post will be very picture heavy!!

I am going to do my best to get this all updated in the next 10 days! We have had a LOT of things going on! I can't wait to tell you all about it!! Stay tuned!!

Wow! Long Time

2012-01-30T22:05:00.002-05:00

So, I fell off the blogging bandwagon. Life just gets crazy and even though I want to keep up with this blog (since my family uses it to keep up with the twins and Jim and I), I fall behind. I am going to "try" to be better about it. I am going to "try" to get caught up in the next few days, but with Jim home now (retirement), and having to share the computer with him as he looks for a job, I can't promise it will be fast!

So, stay tuned as I try to catch everyone up!!

Making A Scarecrow!

2011-11-13T13:24:00.003-05:00

Looking for fun on a Saturday afternoon? Why not make a scarecrow? One of the local childrens hospitals had a fund raising event where they provided everything to make a scarecrow for $25. So off we we went with out friends Traci and her kids. Christopher and Caitlin had a great time "dressing" our scarecrow and then stuffing him. Christopher made sure we followed all the directions carefully. Caitlin was a pro at gathering the straw to stuff him with. When it was all said and done, we had a great scarecrow to decorate the house for Fall with and we had donated to a great cause. What a great way to spend a day!

Lounging With Daddy!

2011-11-13T13:19:00.003-05:00

I love seeing my boys snuggled together watching TV. And Jim, being the wonderful man he is, even takes on an "extra" and snuggles him in tight. The guys were watching football!

Twins 7 Year Pictures

2011-11-13T12:58:00.004-05:00

Yes, these are late, but our Summer was a little CRAZY! I FINALLY got some wonderful pictures of the twins done to celebrate them being 7. You know, I always thought that as the kids got older, it would be easier to get them to "pose" for pictures. somehow, it seems to have gotten harder! Christopher loves to pose, he just wants to pose as a Storm Trooper with a gun, or a pirate with a sword, or and army man with a gun. (Are you noticing a trend here yet?) Caitlin wants to pose, but she always wants to be the princess and the star. She does not necessarily want to share the spotlight with her brother as he poses with his "guns". So it makes taking cute pictures a challenge. Melissa from Hudd's Photography manages to capture the twins in their poses, but still catches them as beautiful children. So thank you Melissa!

Here are the pictures..some silly and all cute...Enjoy!

For Grandma

2011-11-05T17:08:00.002-04:00

Christopher was playing dress up. He loves to put on his old Halloween costumes and play! He came downstairs and posed and said "mommy take my picture". I of course obliged. He then asked me to please send that picture to Grandma. So Grandma, this picture is just for you..with love from Christopher!

Our Last Khaki Ball

2011-11-04T23:25:00.003-04:00

With Jim's retirement approaching fast, this year has given us many "last" experiences. In September, we attended the Khaki Ball for the new Chiefs for the last time. We had a wonderful night. We have been so blessed over the last 12 years. (12 for me, 20 for Jim) I am going to miss the functions we have attended. But I know there will be new adventures on the horizon for us! Here's to the future!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2011-11-04T23:19:00.003-04:00

We had a small party for my birthday at home. It was nice to celebrate with my friends and family! I had a wonderful day! Here's to another great year!

Playing at the Park

2011-11-04T23:12:00.005-04:00

We took advantage of the wonderful weather the weekend after school started to go and play in the park! Both Christopher and Caitlin have mastered the art of swinging on their own! (My days of swing pusher are OVER!)

Back to School!

2011-10-27T11:35:00.002-04:00

We started back to school the day after Labor day. Jim was out to sea, but we had a GREAT first day anyway! Christopher and Caitlin had both met their teachers the week before and were excited to start back to school. I find it hard to believe that I have 2nd graders now. Where did the years go? For the first time this year, there were no tears on the first day. Caitlin is normally the one who will cry a little. Her anxiety gets the best of her. This year she handled it so much better. I was so proud of her! Christopher handled it like a champ as always!

For me the day was a little bittersweet. For once, I was actually sad to see the Summer end. We just stayed so busy this Summer and had such fun! It made it a little harder to send them off to school with a smile this year. But alas, they have to go to school....so off to a new school year!

Last Trip to Water Country

2011-10-24T11:48:00.004-04:00

Labor day weekend brings the close of our local water park. The kids all love to go there. We ended our summer the way we started it...with a trip to Water Country. We went with our friends. Daddy was out to sea. The kids had a WONDERFUL day! And the best part, they got good and tired and slept really well for the next day....Back to School!

VLM

2011-10-24T11:40:00.002-04:00

We took a trip to see the Butterflies one last time before the end of Summer. The kids LOVED the maze the VLM had. They explored and had a great time reading about butterflies. I love watching them learn and grow and explore. This was one of our last end of Summer activities. The date for back to school was approaching fast!

The Hurricane and Drive Home

2011-10-13T11:47:00.004-04:00

We stayed an extra day in Florida because we were being hit by a hurricane at home. (While we were in Florida, there was an earthquake and a hurricane.) It was nice to have the extra day with family, but the drive home was LONG! We didn't see very much damage until we got to North Carolina. There we saw trees down every where. It looked like there were several spots on I-95 that had been blocked by trees. Once we hit Virginia the damage was even worse. In Emporia it looked like all the power lines were down. We managed to avoid traffic until we were almost home. When we got home, it was not too bad. We had some tree limbs down, but no major damage. We had no electricity though and did not get that back for 3 days. All in all not too bad at all! Nice welcome home for us, huh?

Congratualtions Aunt Jenny!

2011-10-13T10:19:00.004-04:00

Part of our trip to Florida was planned around my sister graduating from radiology school. She has worked very hard! Her graduation was August 25, 2011. We were all so excited to attend her graduation ceremony! Christopher and Caitlin were very happy! There was a slide show of the class as they went through their training. Caitlin was yelling out "Aunt Jenny" every time she saw her picture! Congratulations Aunt Jenny! We love you and are so proud of you!

Disney Pictures

2011-10-10T14:28:00.005-04:00

Disney has a system for taking photos of your family..they call it Photo Pass...it is GREAT! I get to be in some of our family pictures this way! You carry a card with you and where ever you see a Disney photographer, they will take your picture. They will even take a picture with your camera for you! It is great! Then when you get home, you have 30 days to look at the photos, edit them and add "fun" features and then choose to order them or just let them go. It really was a great way to get some family pictures. I am very glad we did it!!

Playing in Downtown Disney

2011-10-10T14:00:00.006-04:00

I had never been to Downtown Disney before, so I was not sure what to expect. It was a lot of fun! There was a HUGE Lego store. (That was Christopher and Caitlin's favorite store!) We looked at Christmas ornaments. We explored the kitchen store. (They had a Star Wars recipe book along with a Harry Potter one) We had lunch, we checked out the Harley Store. We watched people making remote controlled cars. It was a great way to spend a morning. Then we headed back to Nana and Papa's. Had to get ready for Jenny's graduation!

So we closed the book on our little family get away to Disney. I had a great time and I am pretty sure the kids did too! For us, we really did make memories!!

Monorails and Golf

2011-09-27T15:00:00.003-04:00

The first time we visited Disney, Christopher wanted to ride the "monorail that went into the hotel". So after our day at Aquatica, off we went to the Magic Kingdom. As soon as we got there, we went right to the hotel monorails. Christopher was so excited! We rode around one time and got to go right through the Contemporary hotel. Both kids thought that was the neatest thing! Now they are trying to talk us into staying at that hotel next time. (Fat chance...it is VERY EXPENSIVE!) It was a good way to spend some time while it was sprinkling. (We had no rain until this day!)

Waiting to go ride the Monorail

After we got back from riding the monorail, we headed over to play some golf..miniature golf that is! We played at the Winter Summerland course. They had two courses with Santa on them. The kids had a wonderful time playing golf and after the rain earlier in the day, no one was there playing, so we had the place all to ourselves. It was a great way to end our last full day in Orlando! The kids are already planning their next Disney Trip! Guess we should start saving for it now!

Water Park Fun...Orlando Style!

2011-09-19T12:42:00.003-04:00

We took the twins to Aquatica again this year. It was a MUCH better trip. Caitlin was not sick and she got to ride all the slides! Her favorite? The dolphin slide...come to think of it, that is Christopher's favorite too. We got rained out in the afternoon, but we still had a great day!

Hollywood Studios

2011-09-18T20:41:00.004-04:00

After a long day at Animal Kingdom and a LATE night at the Magic Kingdom, we got a little bit of a slow start the next day. We headed over to Hollywood Studios. Christopher was in 7th heaven. They had STAR WARS! He got to watch "Jedi training" and ride Star Tours...twice! Caitlin enjoyed it too. We stayed until about 2 and then headed back to the hotel. The kids went swimming at cooled off. I rested. I knew it was going to be another late night! Hollywood Studios had late night hours that night. We headed back over and ate dinner. Then we were off seeing more things. There was a wonderful show with lights and fireworks. We all really enjoyed that show. Then we went to ride the roller coaster. The line was long, but worth it! Caitlin made herself too nervous about riding. Poor thing threw up. We felt awful for her! So Christopher and I rode it alone. It went upside down. I was so nervous that he would hate it...boy was I surprised! He LOVED it! He is already talking about riding it next time we go back! And Caitlin wants to try again to ride it. It was another wonderful day for us!

~~Topsy Turvy Twins~~