A Little Culture for Our Boys

Granna and Grandpa had been to see the Town of Cary band perform before. Since the boys love bands so much, Granna and Grandpa suggested that we take the boys to a concert and see how they would do. We thought the concert started at 7pm tonight, but it didn't start until 7:30. So, we had our pick of seats in the auditorium and got a great parking spot as well! We got to watch the band tune up before they started their concert. We spent most of dinner talking with the boys about how this band would be a little different from the bands they are used to at ballgames. We told them that we had to be very quiet while listening to the band. Our two little guys Did. So. Good! It was amazing! They looked like little men just sitting there in their seats listening so attentively. It was so cute. They loved the band so much that we will definitely have to go to another concert. Mommy forgot the camera, so here are a few IPhone pics to document our night at the band concert.

Jack watching as the band was tuning up for their concert.

Mark watching as the band was tuning up for their concert.

The Cary Town Band tuning up before their concert.

30 Month Parent / Teacher Conferences

At the SAS daycare, they hold parent teacher conferences around your child's birthday and then one mid-year to discuss their progress and how they are doing in the classroom. We always look forward to these conferences and spending time talking with their teachers.  Below are some recaps from their conferences:

Mark

• Mark's teachers talked a lot about this boy's basketball skills. He can dribble a basketball, can bounce-pass and shoot the basketball very well. They said they had never seen another 2 year old with basketball skills like his.
• Mark is making good efforts at self-dressing himself, but needs to work more in this area. He can put his coat and his shoes on all by himself, but still needs help with other parts of dressing.
• Mark is a very good worker and he's great at putting his work back on the shelf. He enjoys working with his friends, but can also do work alone very well.
• They were very complimentary of how easy going Mark is. He is always very smiley and happy. They kept talking about how much fun they have with him!
• The only thing they are currently working with Mark on is not saying "no" to his teachers when they ask him to do something. This is something he has just recently started doing and they indicated that it is very age-appropriate for a 30-month old.
• The things he needs to accomplish before moving to the 3 year old class are to master dressing himself and potty training.
• We are so very proud of Mark and all he has accomplished in the 2 year old classroom!

Jack

• Jack's teacher talked a lot about his charming personality and how much he loves to be a helper (to teachers and his classmates).
• Jack sets up the morning snack each morning for his class. This means that he takes everything off of the tray and sets it all out on the cabinet for serving and then puts napkins at each chair at the tables for his classmates. His teacher said that he is so proud of himself each day when he gets it all set up for everyone.
• Jack can completely dress himself. This is a secret that he had not shared with us at home. We dress him at home all the time, but that will be ending this weekend as now we know he can do it!
• Jack is almost completely potty trained at school.
• Jack is a very good worker and loves to be challenged.
• We are so very proud of Jack and all he has accomplished in the 2 year old classroom!

Speech Therapy

In recent weeks, both Jack and Mark's teachers have suggested that they be evaluated by a speech therapist. They actually have a speech therapist who comes to the SAS daycare to work with kids on a weekly basis. So, we decided to take their advice and have them evaluated. The speech therapist has evaluated them and informed us that they are both a little behind on their verbal skills. She says that this is very common for boys and for twins, so she is attributing the fact that they are behind to both of these factors (since they have shown no other signs of developmental delays). She seems to think that she will work with them for about 6 months and they should be caught up to where they should be by around age 3. We were glad to hear that she doesn't think this is going to be a long-term problem for either of them and something that can easily be fixed with the right help. We are interested to hear ways we can work with them at home and help them improve in the months to come.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day and celebrated love with all those who are special to you! We certainly had a fabulous day full of celebrating love! We started the day off with some pictures before going to work and school.

Mark and Jack wearing their Valentine shirts that Mommy designed on the internet!

Our family of four!

Mommy got home a little early, so she could get everything set up for the boys' arrival from school. Here are Jack's and Mark's V-Day gifts from Mommy and Daddy.

A card and a Snoopy for our boys!

When the boys came in the door from school, they each had a rose for Mommy. Daddy ran an errand before picking the boys up, so they could bring a surprise home to Mommy. It was so sweet!

 Jack with his bag of Valentines and a rose for Mommy!

 Mark with his rose for Mommy!

After dinner, Jack and Mark enjoyed cupcakes that Mommy had brought home for them from a bakery downtown.

Mark getting ready to enjoy his V-Day cupcake!

Jack getting ready to enjoy his V-Day cupcake!

Daddy and the boys exchanging V-Day cards!

Mommy and Jack exchanging V-Day cards!

Mommy and Mark exchanging V-Day cards!

After dinner and exchanging our family V-Day cards, the boys absolutely loved showing us their V-Day cards from all their friends at school. It was so cute to hear them talk about them. Within about 2 days, both boys had memorized who each of their V-Day cards was from. We can pull a card out of their bag and they look at it and tell us who it is from. It's like a new game around here!

This pretty much sums up our Valentine's Day....a day to celebrate L.O.V.E - Love!





The Greatest Show on Earth

Saturday we went and saw the Greatest Show on Earth.  No, I am not talking about the NC State Wolfpack basketball team.  No, I am not talking about Phil Mickelson vs. Tiger Woods.  No, I am not talking about the musical Tommy, the Broadway Show Cats, nor Saturday Night Live.  I am talking about the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.  It was at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

The boys were mesmerized by elephants, tigers, horses, jugglers, trapeze walkers, strongmen, stuntmen, clowns, and even some basketball players.  We sat down about 10 rows from the floor and got a great view of everything that was happening.  Initially, the boys were a little confused because even though we told them we were going to the circus, they still thought we were going to a basketball game. 

They saw the animals and entertainers come out and start the show.  When the clowns were out there trying to make people laugh, they certainly had Jack in mind.  He laughed out loud so much that Heather and I were laughing just watching him laugh.  Mark kept pointing out the animals that were coming towards us.  They just stared while watching the high wire performers.

At the intermission, everything changed.  Both boys wanted to see more.  Then the staff brought out some basketball goals for a part of the show later on.  The boys saw the goals brought into the arena...right in front of them, and they became very excited. 

After intermission, the tiger trainer showed off his talent with about 12 tigers inside a cage.  It was really impressive.  But the boys were most excited by the high energy group that started dunking the basketballs.  The performers were on spring loaded stilts and could jump very high.  It was cool and the boys loved it.

We are looking forward to seeing the circus again next year.  Here are a couple of pictures from the greatest show on earth:

The DeVaults before seeing the circus.

Mommy with her boys.

Daddy with his boys.

Daddy and Mark intently watch the circus.

Jack laughs and smiles as the clowns do something funny.

We are big boys sitting in our seats now.  - Jack and Mark

During intermission, the boys got excited seeing basketball goals brought onto the floor.

The elephants show off several tricks.

The grand finale!

The next day, Jack and Mark look at the program to bring back good memories.

Mailing Valentine Cards

Who knew that taking Valentine cards to the mailbox would be such a treat? On Saturday, after the boys had colored in the Valentine cards that they were sending to family, Mommy mentioned that she would get them addressed and take them to the mailbox. Mommy quickly had two little boys that wanted to help. We had not even gotten the boys dressed yet for the day, but off we went to the mailbox with Jack and Mark still in their pajamas (and bundled up, of course, as it was very cold)!

Jack and Mark taking Valentine cards to the mailbox.

Jack putting his cards in the mailbox.

Mark putting his cards in the mailbox.

Jack raising the flag on the mailbox.

Mark's turn to raise the flag on the mailbox.

Our 3rd Blog-Versary: February 10, 2012

Three years ago on February 10, 2009, we posted our first blog post (click on the previous link to take you to our very first post) announcing our pregnancy. We are so glad that we have kept up with our blogging for three years and hope that we can continue for years to come! It is a great way to keep many family and friends in touch with our latest happenings and allow them to watch the boys grow up evern though they may be miles away. At the end of each year, we print our blog to a book using Blog2Print, so that we will have a hard copy to look back at and enjoy for years to come. Craig and I both blog depending on who has time each week. It really can seem like a "chore" sometimes to blog, but we are glad we do it! We typically blog at night after the boys are in the bed (as this is when we get most everything done!) We try to blog about twice a week, but the frequency depends on what we have going on. We hope you enjoy the blog and keeping up with Jack and Mark!

Super Bowl XLVI

Well, we had been telling the boys that the Super Bowl was on Sunday and that we were going to have some friends over for a little party (our Super Bowl parties sure have changed in recent years to accomodate all the young ones!). So, Saturday night, they thought it would be a good idea to wear their football pajamas! They don't always dress alike in their pajamas, but definitely wanted to on Saturday night. Mommy thought it was quite the photo opportunity on Sunday morning in their matching football pajamas! This is pretty typical of trying to take pictures of twins.....

Jack - great smile and Mark - eyes closed!

Jack - confused look and Mark - cute face!

Izzy taught the boys how for to hold and kick the football. They had so much fun practicing their kicking during the Super Bowl!

Mark as the holder and Jack as the kicker! They switch positions for now until figure out their specialty!

Three great friends: Jack, Izzy and Mark!

I don't know who enjoyed this more, Izzy or Jack and Mark?

Izzy reading to the boys! So sweet!

Flashback: Cute Picture from January!

As I was looking back through our pictures from January, I realized that somehow we forgot to post this picture of the boys. And, quite frankly, it is just too cute to not include on the blog.

I. LOVE. THESE. TWO.

Quiet week but a fun Saturday

This week has been a pretty quiet from an activities point of view.  The boys were trying to getting fully over their bronchitis while Mommy had to make up for some missed time at work while still not being at 100%.  The most exciting thing we did as a family this week was to go to the mall on Wednesday night for dinner in the Food Court.  After we did that, we went and rode the train inside the mall.  Jack and Mark really love to ride that train.  They enjoyed their lollipop while the train was going around the mall and waving to all the people in the mall.

Today, we had a relaxing morning and then took the boys to get their hair cut.  The boys do really good getting their hair cut.  They sit there and either watch Thomas the Tank Engine or something else.  After we left JJ Kids' Cuts, we ate a quick lunch at Chick Fil-A. 

After lunch, we went straight to the RBC Center to see State play their new "arch-rival" according to the ACC commissioner John Swofford, Wake Forest.  We got to the game about 30 minutes early and took the boys down to the court so they could see the players up close and personal.  They really enjoyed that.  We took a few pictures of them down near the court.  The students sitting near where we were commented how cute and precious Jack and Mark are.  After that, we went up to our seats, we watched the Wolfpack win their 6th ACC game of the year, 87-76.

Here are a couple of pictures from the basketball game:

Mark and Jack with a Raleigh Wolf inside the RBC Center.

Mommy and the boys next to the court. 

Look at that cute girl over there.  How YOU doin'?  - Jack and Mark

Let's get this student section up and get them loud.  - Jack

Watching the pre-game warmups from our section.

Clapping to the fight song.

Brotherly love, part 1.

Brotherly love, part 2.

The happy family watching another Wolfpack victory.