Back to Reality

We got home from vaction around 10 Tuesday night and my parents had the all the kid waiting up for us.  It was great seeing them again, but Miles and Bennett were pretty funny.  They just kept staring at me.  I smiled at them and went over to them and after a while of staring at me, they finally started smiling.  It is like they couldn't believe I was back.  It was pretty hard getting back to reality for both Andrew and I.  We wished we could just fly back real quick and soak it all in again.  But real life was awaiting us.  Lincoln had his school pictures on Tuesday and I am anxious to get them back because I'm not quite sure if he smiled for them.  He was not very happy about having to take them.  I spent all day Tuesday unpacking, doing laundry, and putting stuff away.  I even forced myself to make dinner-super hard after enjoying so many wonderful meals that I didn't have to cook or clean up after.  Andrew took Jackson and Ellie to soccer practice that night.  And then I decided it was finally time to hit up the store on Wednesday.  Both boys are doing well sitting up now, so I thought we would try the carts without car seats this time.  Wal-Mart has these big carts that have a separate plastic seat with two safety belts.  They had a five-point harness, so I thought we were all good.  I was so wrong.  The harnesses were too big for the boys and they just kept sliding and slouching.  They looked miserable and started crying pretty soon into our trip.  I tried to move quickly, but had to keep stopping to sit them back up.  I should have gotten a picture.  So at our next stop, Aldi's, I just kept them in their car seats like we usually do.  I will need to get something else figured out though as their car seats are getting pretty heavy these days, especially when you are carrying both of them at the same time.  To get the both of them into Wal-Mart in just a normal cart, I just held one on my hip and put the other in the front seat of the cart.  The one sitting in the cart seemed to do fine.  So I am hoping those double seater carts like they have at Sam's magically appear at our Wal-Mart. 

The rest of our week was business as usual.  On Wednesday, the kids had their church program after school and then we had our small group.  I was supposed to be leading the discussion for this week and it wasn't until we were getting started that someone pointed out to me that I had prepared using the materials for the next week.  I guess I was just planning ahead :-) Thursday was supposed to be football practice, but it was canceled at the last minute because of the rain.  I also spent a lot of time going through tubs of old clothes sorting through clothes for the twins.  I dread that job, but I know I need to do it.  And I finally did my first vinyl cutting with my Silhouette.  A lady from our church that works at the local Christian book store asked me if I would mind doing some for a sign they needed for the store.  I had just ordered some stuff to do something for my mom, so I thought it would be good practice.  After some hesitation of making sure I was doing it the right way, it turned out well and wasn't that hard to do.  I was able to finish up my mom's this weekend too. 

Friday was Andrew's birthday.  First we went to Jackson's football game.  It was a beautiful night for a game. While I was going through the old clothes, I was able to find these tiger shirts for the twins. One was Lincoln's and the other was Alex's.  Leah was nice enough to give me Alex's old shirts that matched some of the ones Lincoln had.

 

After the game, we came home and I finished getting Andrew's birthday dinner ready.  My parents joined us for the birthday celebration.  Andrew doesn't really care for cake, so I always make him a pumpkin pie for his birthday.  He blew out his candle and then relit it for Ellie and Lincoln to each have a chance. 

The next day Jackson and Ellie both had soccer games.  Jackson had a morning game and then we came home, grabbed some lunch, and then headed back for Ellie's game.  Jackson got a little lecture for not trying very hard.  He would sometimes get in there a bit, but held back a lot and was being a little lazy.  Well Ellie was determined that she wouldn't get that lecture too.  She started out at goalie and she was constantly moving back and forth along the goal making sure she was in the game.

After the games, Jackson, Ellie, and I went to Red Barn with my mom and Molly while Andrew stayed with the three youngest at home so they could all nap, Andrew included :-).  Then Ellie and I stayed with the twins while Andrew headed out to do some work at the ranch.  Jackson took Zach with him and, of course, Lincoln went.  Andrew can't go to the ranch without him.   Actually I have a cute little story about this.  Thursday was a little cooler, so set jeans out for Lincoln to put on.  He came downstairs that morning all dressed and excited because he thought he was going to the ranch since he was wearing jeans.  He was so disappointed when he learned that he would be going to school instead. 

Saturday night, Andrew took Ellie out for a Daddy Daughter dinner.  Ellie loves when they get to do this.  It is nothing fancy (this time it was McDonalds) but she loves her one on one time with her dad.  Sunday has been another beautiful day.  Andrew went on a 20 mile bike ride early in the morning with our neighbor and then headed to the office for a bit.  Jackson and Ellie both decided to take a jog around the block.  It was fun watching them take off and they like having the independence to do it.  He was in charge of doing the communion message at both services and we joined him for the second one.  I think it is now definitely time to take the twins back to the nursery.  They were pretty restless today and thankfully a lady in our church (Mrs. Nothdurft) who knew that Andrew was doing the communion message, came up and offered to take Miles while he went up.  It was a very nice offer.  After church, I just spent the day getting stuff done around the house and Andrew was back at the office preparing for a big trial he has coming up in a few weeks.

The twins turned nine months this past week.  I realized that I never did schedule a nine month appointment for them, but their doctor said not to worry :-)  They are thriving and doing well.  I would like to weigh them though and see where they are on the charts.  They both have their two front top teeth coming in.  And they are all over the place.  You never know where you will find them.  And they try to put anything they find on the floor in their mouths.  They both also pull up to everything but haven't quite figured out how to easily get back down.  So they scream until someone helps them down and then they just get right back up there.  They are also so fun to watch interact with each other.  They just crawl over each other, use each other as props to help them get up, and try to steal toys from each other or both play with it at the same time.  Getting them dressed or changing their diapers is quite the task now as they are always trying to get away.  So now it takes even longer to get them ready :-) They have also started taking real baths in the big tub and they love it.  Except for Bennett tries to stand up in the tub and usually slips and falls down.

And one last funny thing I have to put on here.  Ellie was star student the other day and one of the things they do during the day is have each kid in the class draw a picture of the student.  They make it into a book for the student to take home.  Here is an example of some of the drawings in the book and a picture of the shirt Ellie was wearing that day to help offer some explanation :-)