half of a year

Hard to believe the chickens are 6 months (or because I am so late with posting almost 7 months). Of course I have already misplaced the paperwork from the doctor's visit but the girls are close to 15 lbs and long. And  with this age comes movement. Both girls are combat crawling and this week they have discovered that there is more to the house than just the small patch of rug that we typically have them. This also means that they have discovered bookshelves and it is high time that I edit my bookshelves to remove items from the lower level. ugh! I feel too old to be doing this again!

So with all this movement and activity we have renamed the girls the Daughters of Destruction (DOD) as most days the house ends up looking like the first photo below. The top interests on their list: diapers especially if they are still packaged or nicely stacked in their bin, power cords, shoes, and paper. Lizzie especially liked the baskets of magazines that we keep under the coffee table. And even better was that the other day Rick and I both complimented each other on the fact that the baskets were finally removed along with the chorus of  "Lizzard stop eating magazines!" only to discover that it wasn't the parents who thought of that but JT and Zach who wisely moved (and even nicely stacked in a corner) the magazine baskets. Obviously removing torn up magazines from their sisters was interfering with their TV time.

They've also been eating like crazy and have yet to find a baby food they don't like or really any food. On several occasions I've had to fight a baby over dinner as they see any plate (or bowl) of food and immediately dive for it. They seem to take turns as to who eats the most but both are busy at it. 

And to keep life in perspective, the other day JT and I were talking about how this time last year we were en-route to Charleston for vacation, we were all adjusting to the news of twins and I had just scheduled my appointment to learn the sex of the twins. We didn't even know at this point that they were identical.  Crazy what a difference a year can do and how this entire experience has made me realize that there is so much I can't plan or rather that it is silly to try to plan too far in advance because life can change so quickly. 

And one last note, school starts in less than a month. How did that happen?

party of six

We have this thing going that you can read about on Rick's site. This thing meant that at 6 AM Rick walked in to the room while I was mid mental debate about getting out of bed and working and told me we needed a family photo.

I always want to do family photos. I secretly spend too much time looking at photography blogs and then I look at the prices and decide that the world will have live with the photos that I take. Apparently though when you have a thing going on, they want a photo that has the entire family.

So we all got dressed this morning (which made me mental note that working from home means I have nothing to wear that is appropriate for a family photo or anything beyond sitting in a chair and working), enlisted the help of our favorite teenager, and got a few decent photos.

the fourth

This house is busy and not busy all at the same time. We are constantly going and constantly not going. I am not sure how it is possible but I think 2 boys and 2 babies does that to you. Work has been insanely busy hence my long absence from blogging. I've taken to being a night-owl compared to my early bird past. I've managed to get through 2 seasons of an angsty teen-age drama because I stay up late working. It hasn't been ideal but it gets the job done.

So a few things that I've missed since work and life have been so insane. First off 12 years ago (and a few weeks) Rick and I got married. Not sure it has been at all what either of us imagined those 12 years ago but we both agreed to go for another year.

And this past 4th of July weekend marked another anniversary of sorts. It was this week last year that JT went with me to the ultrasound that has become a favorite tale of ours. Just 1 short year ago we learned that we were having twins. I just remember the panic when the tech said she couldn't do my ultrasound and then the mix of shock and fear when she said it was because we had twins. And of course we can't forget that I texted Rick and he thought I was pulling the greatest prank of all time. It has been a wild ride but we wouldn't trade the chickens in.

This 4th of July was much calmer and more relaxing although someone opted for one too many drinks and found herself wondering why anyone would put the 4th of July in the middle of a week. We spent the day with some friends and Rick's "Uncle" Gene who made a quick trip to see the Chickens.

Kit Kat

lizard

All Stars

Do you remember this little guy and his All-Star t-ball team?

Well this year it was Zach's turn to be on the All-Stars t-ball team.

All-in-all it was a fine season. We didn't win like we did with JT's team but Zach doesn't care or seem to notice. What was important to Zach was that Rick got to coach the team (it was the first time that Rick coached one of Zach's teams). 

It was tough to be at a month of baseball and not have the Largent clan with us (G was too old to play on the team) but thankfully the season seemed shorter this year than last with JT. Granted we didn't win as much but I also think there were fewer t-ball teams. I did feel like the old lady of the team since most parents had their eldest child playing and of course I forgot how much I hate t-ball All-Star parents because there is so much  yelling at the kids from the stands. 

We will break for the next month before we start up with fall ball. Zach will make the move to coach pitch and JT will move to 10U kid pitch.