WE'VE BEEN BUSY!!!

Mellow Mushroom..pizza and homemade baked pretzels..YUMMY! Ellie was so happy here. Nothing makes that child happier than eating...she is for sure going to be a chef when she grows up!





James playing in the background (in the Johnny Jumper) and John David fell sound asleep playing in the walker.



Claire's bestfriend Anna playing with John David. He was giggling so loud when Anna would swing him back and forth.



Girls sliding. By the way, I will always have to get this picture each year because I have the same pose from the past two years and I love to see how much they change and grow from summer to summer...





Uncle Phillip and cousin Sam playing at Veteran's park with us.


Jesse's Place






NICU visit for the yearly reunion...Nurse Susie was so wonderful to our boys. There were many other fabulous nurses but Susie holds a special place in our hearts. We didn't get a chance to visit with Annette but she was another one of our favorite nurses. For those of you who have been through the Brookwood NICU (especially if your visit was lengthy like ours) would probably remember Annette and Susie. They will always be treasured by our family because the special care they gave these two precious miracle baby boys was undoubtedably priceless.






Our spend the night party up stairs. I had promised the girls that I would have a spend the night party with them before summer was over. It was fun but my back and hiney bone seriously hurt the next morning.


Piled up in Mommy and Daddy's bed. One of the best things about summer mornings...lazy lounging reading books together. Occasionally Mommy gets a back scratch or foot massage...the pleasure of having &;quot;girls"..hahaha!


Daddy and James were napping on the couch together and when I walked through the living room, James looked up and turned his head like a turtle and smiled at me. It was kind of like, "Ha Ha, I am not really sleeping but Daddy doesn't know it!" Too cute!


Boys hanging out at Claire's tumbling class. They LOVE all the attention!



Not that anyone should be shocked by my post title, but we have been super busy lately. My computer crashed about two weeks ago ( I won't bore you with all the drama involved in us purchasing a new laptop) but I am finally "hooked" up again! Here are lots of pictures from the past two weeks. The girls and I (and boys) have really enjoyed our last few weeks of summer. It saddens me so that the summer has dwindled down and is coming to an end. I am going to miss hanging out with my girls all day. They are such my little buddies. Even though some days are so ridiculously hard and trying of my patience, I still savor the memories we have made together this summer.

Last week we spent a day at the park with Uncle Philip and cousin Sam. Nana also met us there to have a picnic lunch. The girls had a blast and the highlight came at the end of our park play as we were packing up ready to leave, we heard an all to common sound in the distance...the popsicle man! He actually came to the park. The girls ate their bubble gum and banana cherry popsicles under the slides. It was a good thing Nana was there because the popsicle man wouldn't take Mommy's debit card!

Also, I took the girls to Jesse's Place to donate clothes and toys to women and children who are displaced and in need. It was a great experience for them. When they opened the tub of clothes, Ellie found some of her old favorite PJ's and got really excited, then realized she was leaving them there. Her first instinct was to cry and want them back, but then I reminded her that those children she was donating her things too didn't have much of anything, and she said, "It is okay Mommy, I have lots of PJ's at home, so they can have these"...not much makes me more proud of my children than to see the compassion and love they have for others. After Jesse's Place we enjoyed a special lunch at Mellow Mushroom (we NEVER eat out so they were so pumped).
The boys are doing well. They had to go to the doctor last week to get another one of thier shots. Since we are splitting up their shots, we have to go every month. The nurses always comment on how much bigger they look in just one month. They are eating four jars of baby food a day now and still nursing 5-6 times a day. The Johnny Jumper is definitely the highlight of their day. Thanks to cousin Sam we have a Johnny Jumper and thanks to sweet friend Ella Mayfield, we have an awesome exasaucer (which the boys equally love)...
We also enjoyed attending the Brookwood NICU reunion. It was great seeing all the nurses that took such amazing care of our boys during those LONG, scary 49 days.

We had a therapist from the state departement of rehabilitaion come out to the house to evaluate the boys. She said they looked great and seemed to be around 5-6 months physically and cognitively. Basically it means that they are developing "typically" for their gestational age. The therapist said for the first two years the doctors will "correct" their age so that they will be developing on the scale in which they "should have been born"...The calendar started counting days toward their "age" when they should have still been in the womb. So even though the calendar says they are 7 months old, the books say they should appear more like 4 1/2 month old babies becasue they were 10 weeks early. So we are thankful they are doing so well. Growing and thriving and developing wonderfully. God has been so good to us! We thank HIM daily for these precious little miracels. The therapist really couldn't believe their story. She kept saying, "So that is amazing they are doing so well when they shouldn't have even survived the pregnancy!" Yes mam it is amazing, but so is GOD!!!

I'll post more later. Good night for now!