The boys found Rob's hard hat from his former job and enjoyed wearing it. I guess it's time for a "masculine" dress up box.






I think Henry looks more like a pirate than Bob the Builder.














Sweet Jonathan

1. Greengrass, Redgrass, Newgrass - Bluegrass (as in music)

2. ronies - macaroni

3. "big one" - our mini-van

4. "little one" - our car

5. aiken - music - we still aren't sure where this one came from

6. chicken - chicken nuggets, fish sticks, or any other process meat product

7. Happened? - easy one - What happened?

8. puppa dawg - another easy one - puppy dog

9. supa - something as in supa to eat, supa to drink, supa to watch

10. I no no. - I don't know

11. Gee go. - Here you go.

12. Pieman - Spiderman

13. Fraut - Spot, the puppa dawg

14. noman - snowman

15. I pink so. - I think so.

Mayfield Dairy held their annual "Free Ice Cream" day in Market Square. Everyone got a free serving of one of Mayfield's newest flavors - Blueberry Pie, Extreme Moose Tracks, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough or Triple Brownie. I guess you could have had all four flavors if you waited in line four times.

Henry, Jonathan, Ally and Caden enjoyed the ice cream and wanted more, but it was the fountains that they were excited about. We ran in to Shelley and her kids just as we finished up our ice cream. All the kids, except 14 month old Hannah, enjoyed playing in the water.




Here's a fun action shot of Ally trying to get the ball to stay on top of the fountains. Look at that face!





Henry's turn at trying to keep the ball in the air!





Jonathan is so excited that he was able to do it, too!












What do you do when you can't walk yet, but you want to join in the fun?














You cheer!

It's been a while since I've offered new toddler words for translation. Some of these are pretty easy, but I think they are cute and wanted to share them. I'll post the translation in a couple of days. (Hint - if they are capitalized, then they are really proper nouns. If they are punctuated, then they are actual sentences.)Give it your best shot!

1. Greengrass, Redgrass, Newgrass

2. ronies

3. "big one" - no, Amy, it's not what Jonathan said on Sunday

4. "little one"

5. aiken

6. chicken

7. Happened?

8. puppa dawg

9. supa

10. I no no.

11. Gee go.

12. Pieman

13. Fraut

14. noman

15. I pink so.

What's more fun than running around inside Brian and Zerita's "not so child-friendly" house that's full of antiques? Running around in their new EMPTY house! We all knew they wouldn't make it long in Zerita's 850 square foot house. They closed on their new house yesterday. Congratulations Brian and Zerita! Now everyone can pray that their old house will sell quickly!

We enjoyed dinner with Rob's boss and his family on Sunday evening. We had five kids between us - ages 5, 3, 2, 2, 1. It was an interesting experience. After dinner, we went to Volunteer Landing to walk along the river.

My Dad and me - just before we went down the aisle - Doesn't he look excited to marry off his 31 year old daughter?




I had 5 kids in my wedding. They all did great!! It was Josh's birthday (little boy on the right).







Here's our wedding party.













The newlyweds leaving the church
















After we left the church, our photographer, Shannon Stanfield, took us down to the river to get even more pictures! It was about 90 degrees in the shade that day!

Happy Birthday to my favorite Josh and my favorite 8 year-old in the whole world!

Our friends, Tom and Heidi, welcomed Baby Caroline into their family on June 28. Isn't she beautiful? Yesterday, our boys got to meet Caroline for the first time. I thought they'd be intrigued by her. I had the camera all set to get pictures of the first meeting. They were only interested in Ashlee and Marshall. The four of them hadn't seen each other in almost a month.


Watch out, Baby Caroline! You'd better toughen up now! Here's what's in store for you!

Here's a picture of the boys in their cow costumes before their free kids meal at Chick-fil-a. This is the best I could come up with in the time and the materials I had.






Papaw with Henry and Nana with Jonathan - Carolyn had already ditched her costume. She thought I was playing a trick on her to get her to dress up like a cow. We were all laughing so hard that I couldn't take her picture. She receive a free combo meal. I only received a free sandwich for effort. I had on a brown shirt with spots and ears taped to my sunglasses. My father-in-law, Bob, as well as Rob, thought we were crazy.







Henry loves to climb up in the play structure and come down the slide.









Jonathan isn't as thrilled about it. He'd rather spend his time waiting for Henry to come down the slide. The steps to get up into the structure are too far apart for toddlers. Henry's just a bit more of a risk taker.

Today is Chick-fil-a's 2nd Annual Cow Appreciation Day. If you dress up like a cow, you will get a free combo. Guess where we are going to dinner! My mother-in-law, Carolyn, has already made her costume out of a white garbage bag...udders and all. Now that's creative. Go get a free dinner for your family! Pictures coming soon!

If you know anyone who is searching for the mythical Big Foot/Saquatch, I have two of them at my house. Maybe I could charge an admission price for people to see them. I could use the money to get the DNA test done to find out if they are identical or fraternal. Did you notice how much they look alike in the post below? It makes me wonder!

I think my boys are bored. How many times can you build with Legos, put all your plastic animals in a van the crash it into the wall, take the cushions off Rob's bachelor couch that now resides in our bonus room? What about reading all the library books and then playing Candyland by 2 year-olds' rules and finally running in the hallway with the lights off?

We've tried coloring. That works for about 10 minutes. Then they start snacking. We've tried play-dough. See above comment. We play games - Candyland, Memory, etc. But they don't quite understand the object of the game. They would be happy as little larks if I'd let them watch TV all day. Nope!

My friend, Laura, who used to teach pre-school, recommended watercolors. It was a HIT! They painted for about 30 minutes.

Another other ideas to keep my 2 year olds busy?!



Henry before painting




Henry after painting




Jonathan before painting




Jonathan after painting

What do you think about this strange picture of Henry? He was running towards Rob when the picture was taken. I think he got too close!

On Saturday, we traveled to Kingsport to attend Reagan's birthday party. Reagan is my my cousin's daughter - Reagan Suzanne, that is. Wonder who she's named after? Reagan and her family live in Virginia, so I don't see them very often. So, this visit (though short) was a treat!

Here's some pictures from the party:



The Birthday Girl, Reagan







Becky-cousin; Aunt Betty, Uncle Wallace, Uncle Raymond, Aunt Carolyn and Aunt Irene





Henry and Jonathan loved seeing Cousin Ashley's new puppy.










Henry posing for a picture

















Jonathan enjoying some cake and ice cream

Let's set the scene
Where: Chick-fil-a
When: Today - 11:20
Why: an early lunch because the library doesn't open until noon
Who: a crazy mom and her two year-old twin boys

The three of us go out by ourselves often. We go to the park, the store, fast food restaurants, the library, etc. But I think we've hit the brick wall when it comes to eating out alone. From the boys, who are in rolling highchairs, pushing off the table and rolling 7 feet away from the table into people coming in the door and not obeying when I asked them to stop; to the son, who shall remain nameles, screaming, kicking and pulling my shirt half off because he didn't want to go home; to the other son running away from me, twice.... You can now see why I'm calling it quits to eating out with just the three of us.

I remember before I had children that I couldn't believe the behavior I saw in some children. My children would be obedient. They would never kick and scream in public. Oh, how wrong I was. My children are sinners and so am I (surprise, surprise) They don't want to obey and be cheerful. I must train them. Rob says that getting married is Dying to Self 101. Having children must be a graduate course. Have mercy on us sinners, God!

I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of our "not so good" moments like the ones today:





Doesn't my sister-in-law, Melissa, look very calm in this picture as always!

Today is my birthday! (Yes, that's a picture of the cakes from Zerita's shower...that's the only picture I had of cake.)