First Haircut

On Saturday, we took the boys to a local kids haircut store for their first offical hair cut.  Mommy and Daddy really had no idea what they were getting into.  However, the experience went amazingly well.  The boys did fabulous while getting their hair cut.  Mark was first.  At the store, they have TVs and VCRs at each station.  Each kid can pick out a video to watch.  Obviously, the overwhelming majority of the videos are cartoons.  But the boys have shown no interest in cartoons yet.  But we did find a Jack Hanna Animal Bloopers video.  The boys love animals.  So, it was a no-brainer.  Mark sat down in the chair (which was a police car) and let the hair cut begin. 

He did awesome.  He never got upset or even acted like it bothered him in the least.  He looked like Mommy or Daddy when they get their hair cut.  It was like he had done this for years.  Check out Mark.

This is going to be fun.  I am in a police car.  - Mark

Just the hair, leave the ears.  I just got tubes put in a few weeks ago.  - Mark

 

The final product.  Mark looks like a growing little boy now.

Not to be outdone, Jack was second.  He also did awesome.  He didn't have as much hair cut as Mark did, but he just sat in the police car and watched the video. 

 

Why do I need a haircut?  I look good.  - Jack

Look at my faux-hawk.  My hair looks awesome.  - Jack

Wow!  I do look better.  I look LEGENDARY!  - Jack

We were so proud at how well they did.  No one there could believe that it was the boys' first experience getting their haircut, professionally, because very few boys their age do well the first time.

Mark's Black Eye

Saturday morning, Mark was putting Boom Boom up for the morning so we could go down to breakfast when he tripped and hit the corner of one of his shape sorters.  He was left with a little bit of a shiner.

However, it didn't slow him down from having a good day.



I have fun always.  I won't let a little thing like a black eye slow me down.  - Mark

Visit to Gastonia / Charlotte area

Mommy was off all week last week, so she decided to take Jack and Mark to the Gastonia / Charlotte area for a visit. Mommy and Granna picked up the boys at daycare just before nap time and started our trip. Grandpa had left earlier in the day, as he was meeting some friends to play a round of golf in Concord. Daddy had to stay in Raleigh and work...we sure did miss having him with us!

As we arrived in Charlotte, we stopped at Queens University to meet some of Granna's old coworkers. Granna really enjoyed introducing Jack and Mark to all of her friends. They had not seen the boys since October 2009, so Jack and Mark had really grown since they last saw them. The boys did really well at Queens. They gave "high fives," hugs and shook hands (just like Southern gentlemen). They even walked all the way across campus as we went to other buildings to visit others. Granna and Mommy were so impressed that they did so much walking!

Then, we got back in the car and headed on to Gastonia. Mama and Papa were sure glad to have us visit and stay with them for a night. We grilled hamburgers and enjoyed a nice dinner with them and Uncle Roger, Terri and Rachel and Evi. After dinner, the boys put on quite the show. They were dancing and showing off all the cute things they can do! It was really cute to watch them having so much fun together and enjoying their audience!

Then, it was bed time. The boys did not sleep that well. They were both just starting to come down with a cold, while also getting their 2nd year molars and being out of town on top of all that. Needless to say, Granna, Grandpa and Mommy didn't sleep well either. But, Mama and Papa did, so that was good that we didn't bother them!

On Tuesday morning, we all got up (too early!!!) and had breakfast and packed up all of our things. The boys even sat at the kitchen table and colored Mama and Papa a picture before we left that morning. The pictures were proudly hung on the refrigerator before we left. Then, we were off to Piedmont Natural Gas to visit some of Grandpa's old coworkers. One of Grandpa's friends had brought the boys two sets of beach toys to play with in the sand. The boys were so excited to see the bags of toys! They played with them and entertained all of Grandpa's friends. Jack and Mark gave Ms. Joan hugs to thank her for their toys.

Then, we had lunch and headed back to Raleigh. Jack and Mark were quite tired (especially since they had not slept well) and napped for the majority of the trip back. We were all so excited to see Daddy when he got home from work!

We really enjoyed our trip and it was so good to see so many of our "blog-followers" in person!

Evi and Mark and Jack play with some toys.

Granna and Grandpa with the boys in front of a train while at Southpark mall in Charlotte.

Meeting Mr. Wuf

Last Sunday, we took the boys to a baseball game.  It was a beautiful afternoon and NC State was playing #4 ranked Florida State.  It was the second game of a double header.  When we got there in the 3rd inning, the Pack was up 4-0.  When we walked in, we saw Mr. Wuf.  The boys pointed at him so we followed him to see if we could get a picture of him with the boys.  Before we caught up to him, he went inside to a room for a few minutes so he could cool off. 

While we waited, the boys watched the game.

Now, after a couple of innings, Mr. Wuf did come out to meet the boys.   He came up to them from the side but the boys did not see him.  He got behind the boys for a picture.  Then, right before the picture was taken, he leaned over to his left and looked around the corner to see Mark.  This is Mark's reaction:



After we took another picture, Jack looked up and started crying as well.  They both were crying so hard that we got them out of their strollers to comfort them.  After a couple of minutes, they calmed down and loved watching and pointing out Mr. Wuf to us.  They are big fans, as long as he didn't come up from behind and scare them.

The boys clapped when the Wolfpack did well and had a good time.  And yes, they got to clap often as the Pack won 12-4.

Vacation with an interesting drive

Last Wednesday, Mommy and Daddy went to Wrightsville Beach for three nights and three days for a kid-free vacation.  It was planned to be a relaxing vacation as we were not planning on doing anything but relaxing.  Once we got to the hotel, we did a lot of relaxing.  However, getting there did not go as planned.

After eating dinner in Cary, we left to drive to Wrightsville Beach around 8:30 PM.  We hopped on I-40 East and were taking it all the way until it ends in Wilmington.  Around Exit 385, Heather said that she was going to take a quick nap before we got to the hotel.  About 2 to 3 minutes later and with no cars in sight, Craig had the car in the inside lane and he saw out of the corner of his eye a fox running across the median and into our lane.  I had no chance to miss the animal.  We met and the fox did not win.  The impact quickly woke up Heather.  She was sure we had a big accident.  However, we did not seem to have any problems with the handling of the car.  In the next few miles, we assumed we had some bumper damage but that was it, as the engine and alignment seemed to be OK.  About 30 minutes later, we arrived at the hotel, but it was too late to get a good look at the damage on the car.

The next morning, before going to the driving range, we looked at the front of the car.  Definitely, a new bumper was needed.  It also appeared that a new grill was in the offing.  However, we did not see any other damage. 

In the next couple of days, we didn't drive any except to dinners, which were no more than 2 miles away from the hotel. 

On Saturday, after we checked out and had lunch, we got back in the car to start driving home.  While we were getting out of Wilmington, Heather and I were talking about how much we were looking forward to seeing Jack and Mark.  We were getting ready to turn onto I-40 West from MLK Blvd.  When turning right, we heard a sound coming from the engine that didn't sound normal, or good.  We were stopping in about 100 yards at a Exxon gas station.  While we were pulling in, I looked at the dashboard for any signs of engine trouble.  I didn't see any potential problems highlighted.  When we pulled up to the gas pump, I looked on the left side of the dashboard and something caught my eye.  I noticed that the temperature gauge was over the High level.  I told Heather that we have a problem.  No way that we are getting back to Raleigh in this car. 

We called AAA and they called a towing company to send us a tow truck.  They said it would be around one hour for the tow truck to get there.  So, we had some time to make some calls.  We got a reservation at Hertz for a rental car for a one-way trip (at $114.36---Ouch).  After calling AAA back to make sure Heather and I could ride in the tow truck cab on the way back to Raleigh, we canceled our Hertz reservation.  Next, we called our insurance agent to start the insurance claim process.  I called the phone number for placing a claim.  I spent 30 minutes talking to them about the car and what the next steps were going to be.

While we were waiting, we talked about how glad we were that the boys weren't with us as it would have been more complicated as to keeping them entertained and calm during the wait, as well as needing a rental car to put their car seats in for the ride home.

After 90 minutes, Wayne's Towing showed up with a flat bed.  John, our driver, put the Accord on top of the flat bed and a few minutes later we were off.  Next stop, a body shop in Cary 135 miles away.

When we left Wilmington, it was sunny.  One hour later, around Exit 355, we ran into a strong rain storm.  After a few minutes, it got really bad as it started hailing.  It hailed for about 10 minutes.  At the strongest point of the hail, we saw golf ball size hail.  We never really were able to stop under the overpasses as they already had cars under them stopped to stay out of the hail.  Heather and I were wondering if we were going to need to file a separate insurance claim for hail damage to our car while being towed.  Incredibly, no hail damage occurred on the car.  We don't know how.  It was hailing so strong that John called the office to get an update of the weather and said that the storm was one of the strongest he had ever seen.  That didn't really reassure it.  But in the end, everything worked out.  We had a rain storm for about one hour.  We were very happy to see the sun, which came out around Benson.

But we finally got back to Cary without any other problems.  We met the boys and Granna and Grandpa at the body shop.  The boys really enjoyed seeing Mommy and Daddy getting out of a truck, as they are currently infatuated with trucks.

So, in the end, Mommy and Daddy had a nice relaxing vacation while at the beach.  Unfortunately, the trip down and the trip home was anything but relaxing.

Mother's Day 2011

May 8, 2009 was my last day of work before going out on modified bed rest. Now, two years later, I celebrated my 2nd Mother’s Day and my 7th Anniversary all on the same day. What a fabulous day!


During my weeks of modified bed rest, I was filled with so many emotions: physical discomfort in almost every part of my body, anticipation to meet my boys, loneliness because of the long days I spent at home alone, anxiety about being a new mom to twins, the constant concern over Mark’s size, the concern of the early contractions, all mixed up with the excitement of hoping to meet my babies soon... but not too soon!

Trying to describe how I felt then is as impossible as trying to describe how I feel now, with these two boys in my life. Pure joy! Blessed beyond measure! Pure happiness! Yes, it is exhausting and can make me quite frazzled and stressed at times, but it is a job that I wouldn’t trade for the world! My life was forever changed on July 15, 2009, when I became a Mommy to two precious boys that I love with all my heart!

Yep, it was worth every single contraction (that I experienced daily from late-April until mid-July), all the congestion that I had as part of pregnancy rhinitis, the swelling of my legs and feet and the extreme fatigue. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, knowing I was growing these two amazing beings who have brought so much joy and happiness into my life. I knew it would be worth it all, but look at these precious faces! I am so thankful that God chose me to be Jack and Mark’s Mommy!

Mark

Jack

After going to church, we went out to lunch at Chili’s with Granna and Grandpa. Jack and Mark tried their first tortilla chip at lunch and they loved them! It was so cute to watch them eat them with us! We missed seeing Mimi on Mother’s Day, but we called her on skype that afternoon during snack time.

Today was also a day to celebrate my 7th anniversary of being married to my best friend. I can’t believe it has been 7 years already! Our wedding day was just perfect in every way! It was the day I had dreamed of since I was a little girl! I can honestly say, it was the most FUN day of my life thus far! It was so much fun to celebrate at our reception with so many of our friends and family with us. I thought it was so cool to have all of our friends from so many different aspects of our lives: childhood, high school, college, co-workers, neighbors and our family all with us at the same time! And, now having Craig by my side in everything that life brings our way is so comforting. God truly knew what he was doing when he planned for us to be together as husband and wife! I could not be happier! I look forward to many more years of happiness together! I love you, Craig!

Mommy with her two favorite boys.

Mark gives a kiss to Mommy.

Jack gives Mommy a kiss.

Mommy and Granna celebrate Mother's Day with the boys.

Mama and Papa Dills visit

On Saturday, May 7^th, Mama, Papa, Roger and Terri all came from Gastonia to visit with us for the day. It was so good to see everyone. We enjoyed a really yummy barbecue lunch with cupcakes for dessert. Then, we all went outside and played at Granna and Grandpa’s and enjoyed the fabulous weather.

Mark hangs out with Papa and Mama.

Jack hangs out with Papa, Mama, and Mommy.

Our first kisses from Mark and Jack

On Saturday, May 6^th, Mark woke up about 7:15am and we brought him to our room. He laid in the bed between Craig and I and held “boom-boom” for about 10-15 minutes. Then, he sat up in bed. All of a sudden, he leaned over and kissed Craig’s arm. This was the first time we had ever seen him give a kiss! So, of course, I immediately asked if he could give me a kiss and pointed to my cheek. And, then it happened….I got my first kiss from one of my sons!!!! It almost brought a tear to my eye, it was SOOOO sweet! I just loved it! Of course, Craig and I made a big deal over the kisses, so Mark just kept doing it all morning. So adorable! Throughout the day, he continued to give us kisses and Jack was seeing that the kisses were getting a big reaction out of us. That night, as we were getting the boys dressed in their pajamas for bed, Jack gave me a kiss too! So precious! In the same day, on the day before Mother’s Day, both of our boys had learned how to give kisses!!!!

“Boom-boom” and “Hippo”

On Friday, May 6^th, the stuffed animals that we had ordered for the boys arrived. I had seen these stuffed animals in a catalog that I get in the mail from Company Kids months ago. But, they were $27 and I thought that was a little steep, since the boys have shown no interest in stuffed animals thusfar. However, they were so cute. Well, recently, I noticed they had been moved to clearance and marked down to only $7. At that price, I jumped at them.  We got a blue elephant for Mark and a red hippo for Jack. I had them on the kitchen table when the boys got home from daycare on Friday. They noticed them immediately and wanted them and didn’t put them down until they went to sleep. The stuffed animals even sat on the bathroom counter and watched the boys take a bath! They joined us all for story time before bed as well! The boys put them on the floor right beside of their cribs at bedtime. On Saturday morning, Mark started calling his elephant “boom-boom” after hearing Craig say that when he was playing with Mark. It was really cute. And, “boom-boom” is much easier for him to say than elephant. Until Jack decides differently, his will be called “hippo.” “Boom-boom” and “Hippo” are the first thing that Mark and Jack reach for when they wake up in the mornings and the last thing they put down at night before getting in their cribs. If I had known they would like them this much, I would have paid full price for them and gotten them earlier. This was a well spent $14 – seeing our boys so excited to have them is priceless!

Jack and Hippo

Mark and Boom Boom

Decorating Cupcakes

On Thursday, May 5^th, Daddy was playing a golf tournament in Winston-Salem. So, Mommy got to pick up the boys from daycare. Granna was planning to make some cupcakes for dessert on Saturday when the Dills family from Gastonia was coming to visit. So, we thought Jack and Mark could help Granna decorate the cupcakes. Granna would put the icing on the cupcakes and then set them in front of the boys to decorate with sprinkles.  The boys really enjoyed and picked up on how to do it very quickly. They loved to shake the sprinkles. Sometimes, they would shake them so hard, that the lid of the sprinkles would get in the icing. They knew that wasn’t supposed to happen and would say “uh-oh” over and over until one of us would clean off the top of the sprinkles. It was really cute. At one point, when Mark was waiting on another cupcake to decorate from Granna, he picked up an uniced cupcake and bit right into the top of it. We didn’t stop him! He ate over half of the cupcake!! The boys really enjoyed their first cupcake decorating and Granna really enjoyed having her helpers join her in the kitchen! The cupcakes were really enjoyed by everyone  on Saturday for dessert after lunch!

Check out these boys:

Jack and Mark look on to see what Granna is doing.

Mark shows Granna how to decorate a cupcake.

Not to be outdone, Jack shows Grandpa that you can never have enough sprinkles.

Mark enjoys the fruits of his labor. 

Here are the cupcakes the boys decorated.  You can buy them online for only $14.99 plus shipping and handling.

One trip to Knoxville, Two birthdays to celebrate!

On Friday, April 29th, we picked up the boys at daycare right before their naptime and headed to Knoxville, TN. We were going to celebrate both of our niece’s birthdays. The previous weekend was our niece Macy’s 1st birthday, but her party was scheduled for the next weekend. We were so excited to all be there to celebrate such a milestone! Our family gave Macy a suitcase and duffle bag that she will be able to use for years to come (hopefully she can even use it for lots of trips to Raleigh to see us!).
Janet and Jarett also had a family birthday party that night at dinner for our other niece Kate’s 6th birthday. Kate is having a slumber party in mid-May closer to her actual birthday. But, we were excited to be there to celebrate with her as well. Kate chose a yummy ice cream cake for her birthday cake! Our family gave Kate a sleeping bag that she will be able to enjoy using at her upcoming slumber party (and also, maybe even for trips to Raleigh to see us!).

The boys did so well in the car on the trip to and from Knoxville. They love to sit in the back seat and “talk” to each other and point out all the trucks on the road to us. They try very hard to say “big truck”! They also enjoyed listening to their very favorite ABC Little People CD that they received for their 1st birthday from another set of twin friends! Mommy and Daddy can even sing almost every song word for word! Ah, the things you enjoy doing with your kids!

We had a great trip! It was great to see and spend some time with family and celebrate birthdays!!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:
 

Macy gets ready for her birthday cupcake.

The four grandchildren of Mimi and Poppy.  Macy, Jack, Mark, and Kate