My best friend, Kristie, gave me a ton of toys when I was pregnant with the boys. Many of them were toys for toddlers and preschoolers. So, I put them away until the boys were big enough to play with them. Some of those toys came out this weekend, and they were a hit!! Thank you very much, Kristie!

Why do I wonder why it takes so long to do laundry sometimes??

I thought you'd enjoy seeing the picture from our photo session on Monday. I can't get a picture of the entire thing, but the boys' faces tell the story well! They are in a huge plastic pumpkin. The photographer said there was no way they could get out of it. He obviously doesn't have toddlers. They were out in 5 seconds flat - running all around. Sorry for the poor quality. There was a huge glare on the picture. Just thought you might want to laugh at something today!

On a side note, let's study these two pictures. Sometimes I think I have fraternal twins, and sometimes I think I have identical twins. This picture is good evidence for the identical twins theory. Same eye shape and color, same noses, same cleft in their chins (thanks Grandpa), same hair color and texture, same mouths, etc. If I had $200 just lying around, I'd find out. That's what a DNA test would cost. What do you think?? I'd love to hear your thoughts...even those of you who have never commented.

Today I took the boys to a "national chain" photographer. We had a coupon for a free sitting and a free 8x10. It couldn't hurt anything. The boys hadn't had their pictures taken since June. Well, it was a disaster! The boys wouldn't stay still long enough to even snap a bad picture. I think they got seven shots in all. Seven! Henry even got out into the mall! I looked like a crazy lady chasing my barefooted toddler in the mall! I go back on Wednesday to view the proofs. I can't imagine that any of them turned out.

We are spoiled by our favorite photographer, Shannon Stanfield. He has done all the boys pictures and even did our wedding. Shannon is the BEST! (If you go to his site, you will even see Henry and Jonathan at 10 weeks old on page two.) I don't know how he does it, but he gets shots of the boys even when they are running around everywhere. My favorite things about Shannon are that he is patient with children; he gives you tons of pictures on a disk - usually around 150 color and 150 black and white; and you don't have to pay the ridiculous prices to get a "sheet" of pictures. Also, we own the copyright to the pictures so there's no worry there. I can print and post them how I please. Hopefully things will go well when we go for our REAL photo session for our Christmas cards and the boys' 2 year pictures.

Here's a sampling of the work he has done for us over the past two years:

Henry and Jonathan are 22 months old today! Look how far they have come in 22 months!



This is a picture of Henry just a few days old in the NICU.



Here's a recent picture of Henry.



Here's a picture of Jonathan just a few days old in the NICU.



Here's a recent picture of Jonathan. He liked running around with his shirt on his head!

Thank you, Lord for my boys! What a gift they are!

This is my friend, Zerita. She's the Queen of Entertaining. Recently, she hosted a Longaberger show for me at her house (which was quite successful. My second largest show ever. The largest one was hosted by Zerita last winter!) Everything from the invitations to the pencils tied with raffia had a theme, "Fall ing for Longaberger." Zerita can sure make an event fun!


Look what she can do with a plain window box.





How cute is the entrance to her house?!





Look at the thematic food! She served pumpkin bread with a sweetened cream cheese spread, pumpkin cheesecake dip with graham crackers, candy corn, and Granny Smith apple slices with carmel all in Longaberger Baskets. She also had hot apple cider! Could you have more "autumnal" snacks than this? All of it was quite a treat!




Here are some other fun pictures from the Longaberger Show!


Brian came to help with the yard. I really think he wanted some of those autumnal snacks!





Here's Johanna enjoying those snacks!





This is Ara and Johanna's daughter, Ada.





Zerita's sister, Myra, came all the way from Chattanooga!





This is Zerita and Myra's dad, Lloyd. Although he said he wasn't there to see the Longaberger products, we aren't convinced. Maybe he came for the snacks!



Just wait until you see what the "Queen of Entertaining" can do with Christmas decorations!

I go to Wal-mart pretty often, at least once every 2 weeks. But now when I go I have something new on my shopping list: finding former students. When we moved into our new house in January, I started doing my primary shopping at Wal-mart Super Center. Whenever I would go there before I had my own children, I'd always be on the look out for "my kids" because it is in area where the my former school was. But after going to the grocery store with two toddlers, I was more concerned with who was kicking whom and who just threw their cup under the rack of coats than looking for my former students.

This summer while I was wrangling the boys, Amber, one of my 3rd graders from 1997-98 and her mom spotted me in the check-out line. What a treat it was to see Amber! She had gone from an 8 year old to a 16 year old over night! I sure wish I had had my camera. Amber and her mom, Ramona, were able to put me in touch with another student, Christy (kindergarten/1994-95 and 2nd grade/1996-97) and her family who came to visit me a week later. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. Christy's mom, Dee, hadn't changed much but Christy had. She was a rising junior in high school. Here we are in June:

The day after Christy and her family came to visit I was at (you guessed it) Wal-mart, when I saw two more of my students, Lauren and Alicia.

I had another reunion this week. I found out that Nick, a student I taught in 2nd grade (1996-97) and 3rd grade (1997-98), was my neighbor. He lives just around the corner! He stopped by on Tuesday to visit. It's the first time I've seen him in 8 years!


It sure makes me feel old to see how "my kids" have grown up! But I am grateful to see that they have turned out to be good kids!

Can you find the problem in the photo? I think Jonathan has discovered it.

I have two little boys whose waist size is between 12 and 18 months but their length is between 18-24 months.I guess it's time for some suspenders or a belt. I don't think they make "slims" for toddlers. We didn't have to deal with this in the summer because they were wearing shorts!

Henry and Jonathan have discovered that the slide in our back yard is fun. They LOVE going down it and trying to climb up it,too. Thought you'd enjoy pictures of them in action!

That's me, Sarah (my 1st cousin and neighbor all through childhood), and Mike (my brother) in the summer of 1974.(Wasn't that they year Rob was born? There's nothing like "rob"bing the cradle.) I cropped them out of the picture for my profile photo.

(Photo courtesy of my cousin, Sarah.)

(Edited for clarification)The boys are talking a lot now. See if you can decifer some of their "words." Please post some comments on what YOU think the words are. Check back later for the answers. Don't be fooled. Some of them aren't as they appear.

tee to
THANK YOU

lala
1. drink 2. liquid of any kind (not just for drinking)

baba
paci
Funny story - when the boys would get up from a nap we would put their pacis in their cribs (this was before they could reach them) and say "Bye-Bye." They evolved from bye-byes to ba-bas. That's how their pacis became ba-bas.

jew
juice - easy one

bow (as in hair bow)
bowl

don
down - I'm pretty sure my boys weren't born in Pittsburgh, but they sure sound like it with this one.

boppy
broccoli

puppy
any furry animal that walks around our neighborhood (i.e. cat, dog, squirrel)

deeo
CHEERIO

Can you see how much Jonathan loves his new Elmo? He's obviously the one with the cheesy grin on the left. He seems to be a bit more passionate about things. For example, if he likes something - say broccoli - he REALLY likes it. Also, if he wants his paci - he REALLY wants it. He can go from asking one time for a drink to screaming for his drink in 1 second. Don't worry - we're working on not screaming!

After much hair-pulling and back-kicking, the McTwins have a new stroller. I guess now it's time for arm-pinching and snack-stealing. Rob thinks I have a problem. "Why would ANYONE need more than one stroller." I told him that Chandra has four strollers and so does Heidi.

For all you twin moms and twin moms-to-be, I'll let you know how it goes with a side-by-side stroller. I can tell you three things for sure: It is MUCH lighter than my Graco Duo Glider It is easier to push, and I will have to downsize my diaper bag because the basket is a little small.

Henry and Jonathan have a new friend. His name is Caden, and he is Ally's baby brother. Neither of the boys can say Caden so they just call him Baby. (They have another friend named Gaby Baby. I hope they don't get confused.)

On Sunday evening, Ally, Caden and their parents, Brad and Chandra, and our friends Aaron and Laura came over so we could initiate the new deck. The boys and Ally enjoyed free reign of the back yard.

I've been asked for the McTwins' Top 5 Reading List.

1. From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
2. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
3. I Spy - Little Animals by Jean Marzollo
4. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
5. Marcos Counts by Tomie DePaola

When I was single, I remember praying that God would, first of all, give me a husband. Then I started getting more specific and asked for a Godly husband who could fix and make things. God did just that! Rob recently demolished our old deck -which (we found out later) was held to the house with 10 penny nails (I really don't know it that is a total of 10 nails that are the size of pennies or if "10 Penny Nails" are a size of nails. Can anyone help me out??) Over the month of September, he completed our new deck with some help from his friend, Aaron, his dad, and me. I know my help was what made all the difference. ;)

I can't figure out how to get two pictures in one post. Here's the new deck. See that nice picnic table? Rob built it, too! (Michael, I know you know the entire periodic table, but can you build a deck and picnic table?)

Thanks for checking out our new blog! How do you like my attempt to get a "WELCOME" picture?