Who Knew Rolling Over was so Funny!!!

But it is to Evan and Taryn. Annaliese rolled over for the first time at 2 months exactly, and had done it again a few times since but nothing consistent until this week now I can't keep her on her belly :-). She hasn't rolled fully from back to belly yet, but she is so close. The twins think its hilarious that when she rolls over and they always try to roll her back to her tummy, the only problem is they aren't the most genteel so I have to play referee a lot :-)

First Day of School

The twins had their first day of preschool today and did awesome. They had so much fun they didn't want to leave...not sure if I should take offense or not. Its a long drive and Annaliese have to kill the 2.5 hours that the twins are in school but when I see how much fun they had it makes it all worth it. Once we move into the house the drive will only be 15 min instead of an hour so it will be much better and Annaliese and I can chill at home why the twins are in school...but for now we make it work. They were so excited to go this morning and not one tear shed by them...I won't tell you how many I shed, I did at least make it out of the class room first :-). The teachers were so sweet and welcoming I am just so excited about this opportunity, they had Chapel time today and talked about how each person has special gifts from God and how it makes God happy when we use the gifts he gives us. Such great new and fun things for the kids to learn :-)

Yes she is wearing a red, white and blue flower in her hair

and no it doesn't match her pretty pink sweater but

...she is exercising her right to express her self and

I have learned to pick my battles :-)

Road Trip

Yes, call us insane Chad and I took the kids on a long road trip to Texas. There were many reasons behind our motivation but mainly I just needed to get the kids out of this tiny condo and they needed some sunshine to play in, so since we had to drive to GA anyway for me to do drill w/the GA ANG and Chad to do his check ride (flying eval) we decided we would just continue to TX and invade what once was a peaceful home (until we arrived)at His Glory Hill otherwise known as mema and papa's house. The kids and I stayed for 3 weeks while Chad flew back to MD to work, you know someone has to earn a living :-). When our time was up in TX Chad flew back to pick us up and we made the journey back to MD making a detour once again through GA so I could work March drill. If I'm counting right the kids and I were gone about 6 weeks. We had a great time but it is still good to be home. Annaliese did so amazing on the trip, we asked a lot of her and she far surpassed our expectations. She continues to grow like a weed...I can't believe how big she is. She smiles so much and giggles now, she rolls over a lot and has some teeth coming in ALREADY!!!! I really want time to slow down a bit. She is a great sleeper too, we have had a few nights where she was up every 3 hours but most nights she is down for anywhere from 7-10 hours and then goes back down for another 4-5 hours. We are putting her down around 7 and wakes for the day around 8 of course w/the time changes (changing time zones and springing forward) we are trying to figure out the right bed time again, but she is pretty good at letting us know she is ready (i.e. inconsolable crying) :-)

...Back to our TX trip, kids had a great time, we went to the zoo and took a train ride, Sea World, had a few play dates and a party, lots of sunshine and out door time and walks to our land...it was wonderful, we hated to leave but I guess at some point you have to face real life again :-)

New House Pictures

Or as Evan would say "Neewwww House, Train Table...4 Months"

Explanation, when we first took the kids out to the home site we told them this would be our new home and when we moved in he would get a train table, in about 4 months...so now it is more like 2 months away but he still says 4 :-)

Side view of basement windows

Kids Playroom in Basement

My craft room in Basement :-)

Walk-out Basement Door

Stairs

Greatroom from standing in Kitchen w/Sunroom off to the left

Standing in Living Room looking through Dining Room and into the Kitchen

Fireplace

Standing in Great Room looking into Kitchen

Master Bedroom looking into Closets and Bath

Master Bedroom

2-Month Check-up

Annaliese had her 2 month check up this week and she weighed in at a whooping 11 pounds and is 22.5 inches. She is right at the 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference...so to sum it up...she is doing AWESOME!!!! I am so happy to know that she is doing well and hopefully avoid all the stress I had w/the twins. We are definitely headed in the right direction. Needless to say nursing one baby is a ton easier than nursing two :-)

On a side note, poor Evan has pneumonia :-( thankfully he is doing much better now but he had a rough early part of the week and so did I as I had a sick little boy who wanted to cuddle 24/7...not that I mind the cuddling, just hard to do constantly w/a newborn to take care of as well...but we made it through and everyone seems to be doing well. Just praying that Annaliese doesn't come down w/whatever caused Evan to have pneumonia

House Progress

Here you can see they have poured/built the basement up. We are so excited to have a walk-out, plenty of natural sunlight for us to hang out and have fun in :-)

Catching Up

No matter my intentions I can't seem to keep up w/this thing, I have thought about just letting it go but then I think it's nice to have when I do have time to update it, to look back and have these memory joggers because you know I haven't started one of the kids scrap books yet, sigh!!!!!

A quick synopsis on our happenings and then I will get to the good stuff, (you know pictures) :-).

Kids are all doing well, Evan and Taryn have adjusted to their new sister well. Annaliese is an amazing baby and such a sweet addition to our family. She is sleeping great, doing about 7-10 hours at night and then back down for 4-6 more so we are getting there :-). Still working on establishing her day time sleep, it is still all over the place but that is to be expected at this age. She is happy and content and growing like a weed :-).

Big changes are about to happen for the twins. I really wanted to get them into preschool in Septemeber but I missed registration so I just figured we would have to wait until next fall. I called a particular preschool that I was interested in for the twins last week to ask about resgistraion for this coming fall (Sep 12) and was told that they had two spot available for the twins in their 2 y/o program for this year and the twins could start right away. I was so excited so Chad and I took the twins last Friday to check it out and we just LOVED it and so did the kids. If you asked Evan he would tell you the best part is they have a train table in his class room :-). Not expecting them to start preschool this year we had planned a spur of the moment trip to San Antonio to get out of this tiny condo and let the kids have some fun playing on mema and papas 5 acres in warm San Antonio, so they will start when we get back in March. Chad and I were a little misty-eyed at the thought of them starting 'school' but we are so happy for them and really think they will enjoy it and gain a lot from their experiences and social interactions. they will be going 2 days a week (wed and fri) for 2.5 hours and since it is down where our new home will be (about 1 hour drive from here) Annaliese and I will have to hang out in Starbucks to kill the time but it is worth it for the twins to get this opportunity. Once we move into the new house it will only be a 15 min drive, which is much more manageable for long-term.

Speaking of the 'new house' they have begun construction and gave us an approximate closing date of April 20th, so we have started our search for renters for the condo and are so looking forward to moving into a house and being settled once and for all (well at least for the next 7 years or so :-) )

The 'New House'

Annaliese 2 Months...

already???? Can you believe it

Annaliese 1 Month

Christmas 2011