Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all had a great holiday this past weekend. We had a great weekend as well. It was nice to have Jason home from work on Friday. He took the boys on a bike ride Friday and then to play with friends in the river...well, creek right now since we haven't had much rain. Friday night we went to visit friends in Spring Hill to watch fireworks in their neighborhood. They really enjoyed their first fireworks experience! We wondered how they would handle the noise since they seem to not like anything loud except the radio. But they did real good and it was almost 10:30 when we got home to put them to bed. They were great! While we were at our friends house we played a little Guitar Hero, hopefully I can get those pictures posted on this blog because they are hilarious! Travis is in the brown shirt and Taylor is in the red.

Friday morning I was up before they were, sitting on the couch and was able to listen to their conversation on the way down the stairs. Here's how the adorable conversation went:

Long sign/yawn from someone as they're getting out of the bed.

Bedroom door opens, Travis says "You hear Rusty, Taylor?" (Rusty is out side barking at a friend walking by).

Taylor responds "Um, yes. You wanna go see him Travis?"

"Yes, let's go see him," Travis says.

"He's outside, Travis" says Taylor.

And now they see me sitting on the couch watching them come down the stairs and they stop talking and begin smiling these huge smiles at me. It's like they know they were caught by me in the middle of some conversation they didn't want me to hear. They talk like this to each other all the time. It really is adorable and I'm so fortunate to be a part of their lives!

On Saturday night we had our fish fry. We fried something like 35 pieces of catfish and made the best hushpuppies to go with it for 21 people in our backyard and just had a great time. Our friends made a homemade chocolate ice cream that tasted like the Wendy's frosty and Jason made his MtDew ice cream. It was all fabulous! We used Memaw and Papa's fish fry and hushpuppie recipe. It's a lot of work and has certainly given me a new appreciation for what Memaw and Papa do when they fry fish for everyone at their house. Jason pretty much stood over that boiling oil and I was his "runner" for the whole evening. It makes it hard to get to spend time with all the friends you invited over, but it was still fun. However, next time we "entertain" we'll tell people to pick up a bucket of chicken and come hang out in our yard. That way we may get to spend time with them!

An update on naps - the boys are doing much much better. I don't know what was going on, but they are back to normal nap time. It takes me sitting outside the door to make sure they don't pull their mattresses of their bed and go all WWF on me, but it works.

Fish Fry Practice

Once we were back from our fishing trip, we wanted to have a big fish fry for or friends. We started with a smaller crowd and invited our old neighbors over to be our test audience. Jason fried the fish and the hush puppies while I made the slaw, tartar sauce and lemonade. It was all very good for our first time! Of course there are no pictures of Jason frying, as the process and recipes are top secret. I'm not sure we got the entire recipe from Memaw and Papa. :-)

After we ate our fish we enjoyed home made chocolate ice cream with our friends. You can see part of Rusty in the background tryingto get in on the action.

Gone Fishin'

A couple of weeks ago we took the boys fishing with Jason's Memaw and Papa near Wheeler Dam in NW Alabama. We had such a great time! Check out all our pictures! In most of them Travis is wearing orange and Taylor is in blue.

For three days we got up about 5:15am, slathered the boys in sunscreen and headed to the boat ramp to meet Memaw and Papa. We left at 6am and were back by 9am to beat the heat. The boys had a great time fishing but they also got to drive the boat and pee in a bucket...both of which were equally exciting! Day 1 we caught 31 catfish, day 2 we didn't catch as many but Papa and Jason went out later and brought our total to 38 for that day. Day 3 we caught another 38 catfish. That's a lot of fish and it's like that everytime we fish with Papa. The McGriff's have a reputation on that lake. It's been said that Papa and his brother Duell were fishing out there in a crowd of boats. They were catching everything and the others weren't having such luck. One boat said "We gotta go, there's too many McGriff's around here." So we're proud of their legend!

The boys did great on the boat and were good sports about the life jackets and hats as well. You can even see Travis sporting his sunglasses up there. Papa and Jason would bait hooks for the boys, Memaw and myselft and then we'd cast out and wait. Apparently the key to catching catfish is drifting. You must have a breeze to push the boat along. And Papa is hilarious to fish with! We have 5 poles in the water, each with 2 hooks of fiddle worms and if in about 2 minutes no one gets a bite, Papa wants to reel in and try another spot. And we of course listened to him because he knows where the fish are. Why 2 hooks? I'm not really sure, but me, Taylor and Memaw all caught 2 at a time during our trip!

Fishing off a pontoon boat is ideal with kiddos. We would have never been able to stay out there with a little fishing boat. There was room for the boys to roam around a little and still be out of the way of the flying hooks and fish. The boys were fun to watch. Taylor would pull his pole out of the water and exclaim "I think I've got one!", and some times he did, some times he didn't. When they got bored with fishing they would dig in the bucket of worms and throw the dirt overboard. Or, if we caught a little brim or other kind of bait fish they wanted to throw them back over. Once we had one that Papa wanted to cut up for bait. He left it laying on top of the cooler and one of the boys picked it up and threw overboard, sparing its life no doubt.

When we weren't fishing we were hanging out at our cabin or out exploring. We went on our first "hike" with the boys. A hike with 2 toddlers for us translates into "walk in the woods". Nonetheless, it was fun and exciting. We also took every chance we could to throw rocks in whatever water we could find. These guys are more efficient than the corps of engineers and putting up a dam.

On Monday night we cooked our catch for the day which allowed us to sit and learn at the feet of the master fish friers and hushpuppy makers. That was good and the food is always good when Memaw and Papa are involved.

Changes on the horizon? YIKES!!

I can 't believe we're into June now. I suppose I should start thinking about the 3 year old birthday party. I can 't believe I'm thinking about a 3 year party!! Where is time going?

Last week was a terrible week for me. I have some ideas about what was behind it, and I also know what was compounding it: the boys. I think they are getting to the point where they don't need a nap. What? I know! It's crazy nuts! I really don't think they took 2 naps last week. Well, traditional naps anyway. On the days where they just tore their room up for 2 hours at a time (which includes taking all the folded clothes out of the dresser), they would later fall asleep on the couch. Which was cute and all until Travis peed on the couch!! Yes. And for those of you who visit our house, please don't be afraid to sit on the couch. It's been cleaned up. But anyway, on the days where they didn't take nap they did really well in the afternoon and evening. That really suprised me. But I'm not ready to give up the nap time because that is important time for me and I'm not ready to give it up. I feel a little scared because I don't know what I would do with them for the whole day if they're awake. I think I will bore them and then they'll get out of control and then I'll get out of control and it's a crazy cycle. I'm not sure if I can be a mom with out nap time. And you can forget "rest time" because what they do while they are supposed to be napping is far from restful! But I'm not sure if I can be a mom all day long. I don't know if many people can understand that. I'm just afraid that they'll not like me. They will get bored, I don't know what to do and we'll just sit in front of the TV. It's weird, I know. And it's not that I don't enjoy spending time with them because I certainly do. I'm just not sure if I have the skills to keep 2 three year olds entertained!

So let me tell you what "nap" time has looked like for the boys lately. I put them down about 12:30 pm. They kiss me good night and it looks good...for about 20 seconds. Then the first thump. It's nothing to be alarmed about, it's only one of them jumping off their bed onto the floor. Hopefully it stops there. But then another thump. Now we're both jumping and then competition has begun. How far out from your bed can you jump? They take the next few minutes to find out. Then up comes Mommy to put an end to the horsing around. I give out threats of loosing toys and spankings. They settle down again. Ah, out the door, two boys in beds and I'm off to take a shower. Until I get downstairs and I hear "there's Doc Travis!" It doesn't take me long to figure out that they are now in their drawers pulling out all the folded clothes and throwing them around the room. I go back up, take their cars they sleep with, make them clean up the clothes and give spankings as I promised before. All the sudden it seems like I can't spank them hard enough because they're laughing. Out I go again. Frustrated and out of consequenses. I get downstairs and decide to wait on the shower until I know they are asleep. Next I hear Baby Tad singing songs to them and Elmo chiming in behind. So, I give it a few minutes because I'm in no shape to go up there right now. I cool off and then go in and take every toy, every book, every thing I think they can possibly play with out of the room. Put them back in bed, no spankings because they're obviously not working, and head back downstairs. I sit down to relax and pray that they will go to sleep. Of course, it doesn't happen. I go back upstairs and they are both sitting on top of the dresser putting lotion on each other and calling each other "baby". "Let me hold you baby", "Come here baby", "I don't want to be the baby". It was actually funny, but totally not funny all at the same time. So I finally give up on the nap attempts and let them come downstairs to play. It wasn't like that every day, just 3 out of 5. I did try putting them down later thinking we could just push the naps back not get rid of them altogether and that didn't work either. Of course over the weekend while Jason was home they took a nap, no problem. Jason goes to work on Monday and they don't take a nap. On the days when they don't take a nap, they typically fall asleep watching "Bob the Builder" about 3:45 in the afternoon (see picture above). Then try to wake them up. It's not pretty and I know they get that directly from me! But we can't let them sleep long, it's too late for a long nap! So, that's what the new nap schedule looks like.

The hardest part is trying not to completely loose it because they don't do what I want them to do. Most people developed a "picture" of what God looked like based on the way their parents were when they were young. I don't know that I did that, but I understand that a lot of people did. So it dawned on me today...what kind of picture am I creating in their heads of God? Isn't it my responsibility as a parent to give them a true picture of what God the Father looks like? I need to make some changes. I know I'll never be perfect in this life, but there are certainly things I can change in order to give these boys a clearer picture of what unconditional love and never ending grace and mercy look like.

Lord I know I am not able to make these changes by myself. Please do a work in me. Only you can. Show me how to be the parent that you created me to be. Let your love and mercy poor out of me all over these boys. Give me wisdom and knowledge for the situations I encounter with them during the day. Let me know react harshly but help me to know that you are with me. You are Emmanuel, God With Us all the time, even when I'm blowing it with them. Help me to remember that your Spirit lives in me. I need you Lord.

Horses and Poop Talk

Okay, so since the purpose of this blog is to be a "journal" of our lives, I've got some stories for you!!



Last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, we had a great time with the boys. Friday night we went to a local park to play in the creek and just spend time outside since it was beautiful! The boys played and played in the creek. Rusty went with us and had himself a dip as well. Everyone had a lot of fun. They are so much fun to watch. Travis and Taylor like to throw rocks into the water to see who can make the biggest splashes. Rusty, an innocent bystander, becomes somewhat of a target. But to be honest, he's not the smartest dog walking around so it didn't bother him at all that they were trying to hit him with the rocks as long as he was receiving some of the splash. When we had out boat that dog would jump out and swim forever! And now I'm learning that the only thing worse than wet dog smell is wet dog and sweaty little boy together.



Saturday we got up and went to Lebanon, TN to visit friends who breed horses. We were all pretty excited of course the boys were most excited. We told them they would get to ride horses while we were there. They of course then told us they wanted to ride cows and pigs as well because obviously where there are horses there are cows and pigs!



The boys rode the horses with Mr Darrell, who I like to call Cowboy Darrell because every time I've seen him he's wearing his cowboy hat and he once rescued us from the side of the road when our boat trailer managed a flat tire one day on the way back from the lake. But I digress. They rode first with Mr Darrell on his horse Plum Naked. Isn't that a cool name for a horse! Her baby girl's name is Half Naked! After they rode with him a couple of times the boys declared they wanted to ride by themselves. Now, I probably normally would not be cool with this. But these horses were so good! We put the boys Jackie and Mr Darrell led her around while she just followed right next to him. She never tried to take off and never acted like she was bothered in the least. They had so much fun and really thought they were the stuff! I hope I can figure out how to put some of those pictures on this post. They also got to hold (and by that I mean squeeze) new kittens and climb on a bunch of tractors. It was a big day for them. The pictures up top are Travis (orange shirt) and Taylor (blue shirt) riding Jackie with Mr Darrell next to them.



We got home and started working on our deck that evening. We started adding on to our deck last July and simply ran out of cash to finish. Then it started getting cold outside and before we knew it, Christmas was here. So, we've picked that project back up. I really like what we've done and it's been a lot of fun to work with Jason on it. The boys have been helping as well. They like to hammer and measure and drill and screw and once we turn the sprinkler on, they've changed gears and head for the open yard. We tried to get them in for normal bedtime (7:30 pm) but Taylor picked up his toy hammer, walked back and forth on a piece of decking laying on the ground and declared "We can't go to bed, we've got a lot of work to do. We have to keep working!" It was really cute and he was serious.



Sunday we got up and went for a nice walk through the neighborhood. We decided not to go to church and just hang out together that day. Another fun day of working on the deck and just being together. The boys played with water guns for the first time. They are infatuated with anything that has to do with water so we spent a lot of time filling up water guns. They would spray us, but again, Rusty became the target. They chased Rusty around spraying him and then got the idea to give him a wash down. He didn't know why at first, but they asked Jason for a washcloth. He got one for them and then found them chasing Rusty, squirting him with the water guns and then rubbing him with the washcloth like they were giving him a bath. There are very few things on this planet that Rusty enjoys less than a bath. But alas, they wore him down and he finally gave up and just let them do whatever they wanted. Man they love that dog! He's driving me crazy lately, but they love that dog.



Monday finally rolled around and we went with Daddy to Bowie Nature Center in Fairview. Jason rode the mountain biking trails and the boys and I played on the playground. We went down to the fishing pond and watched the ducks. We'll have to go back there, it was a really nice place and it would be a great place to feed the ducks. However, there are signs everywhere that say "Do not feed ducks in picnic area". You look around and their are pic nic tables everywhere. So, we'll have to figure that one out.


We're coming right along on the potty training. I don't know when I can say the boys are potty trained. What's the rule on that? I just refer to them as potty training and leave it at that. The funniest thing about potty training is the talk that comes out of it. For instance, snake poop v. rock poop. The boys have begun comparing their poop. Is is snake poop or rock poop? And then shortly after that question is answered they have to know how much there was. So each time one of them poops the other has to check it out and gets mad if the pooper flushes before the brother can check it out. Pretty funny! Then there is the size comparission. Travis was pooping and Taylor told him that he could poop "bigger, bigger, bigger rock poop"! So there is a little debate there. Now honestly, I'd rather see a competition based around who can stay dry and clean longer. But this certainly makes it fun and interesting for them. We do seem to be having more accidents lately and I'm not sure what the problem is. Taylor told me today (as I was cleaning poop out of his undies - probably would have been snake poop) that he didn't go to the bathroom because he was playing. We've got to get them to understand that they can come back to whatever they leave from and go to the bathroom!! I guess they think while they're on the toilet I'm going to go and clean up and hide all their toys. They are also concerned about birds getting them...as if birds are going to come into the house and grab the toys. I have no idea where that comes from!

That's all for this post. I started several days ago and just tonight managed to finish. I've got more to talk about and I'll start that in another post.

The First Post

I suppose this is the hardest thing about starting a blog...starting. So, I set this up a couple of months ago and now that I've had time to get over that, I'm posting my first entry. You see, I'm not real big into this. I've always thought that I was too old and mature to do a blog or have a facebook page...still don't have one of those. And then I realized that I am getting old, and it just happens...can't fight it. I don't think that I don't like getting old. I certainly have done a lot in my years. I've been young, single, career woman, got married, got a yellow lab, bought a ski boat, burried my father, got pregnant, sold a ski boat, had twin boys, had twin boys, run a 5k, run a 10k, and most recently potty trained the 2 1/2 year old twin boys. It's definitely been a very busy existance to this point. And I've loved most of every minute of it. I didn't love every minute of the potty training and really didn't love being pregnant either, but have loved the results of both!



This year, one of my new years resolutions was to start a blog. I used to journal daily, but fell out of that once I got married. That's funny, because it's been from that point on that I've really had something to write about. I didn't realize until after I got married that I was such a selfish person and therefore, marriage was quite an adjustment. A very good adjustment, but an adjustment none the less. Then just when I was getting comfortable with that (4 years later), we decided to have kids. And along came the boys! The are a real blessing and I wouldn't trade them for all the riches on the planet. You go into parenthood sufficently freaked out about all that is involved and all there is to teach the kiddos and worried that you'll be the biggest idiot parent out there and it turns out that no one really knows what their doing! It's all totally arbitrary. And then you realize that you have so much to learn from them and that if you're willing, God will teach you some very valuable lessons about yourself and your relationship with Him. And you also learn some very practical lessons, especially with twins. Can you open a door with your feet or breast feed two babies at once? And, I can also name a piece of construction equipment for every letter of the alphabet. That's good stuff!

So, I hope to keep this up. I'm not entirely sure what I want to get out of this blog. Maybe it's more about what I want to get out of me. If you're following along, I sure hope you enjoy reading!