Our Adventures In Eleven Years!

James & I celebrated our 11 year anniversary this past weekend!!! When I think back over the time, all I can say is that we have had a very busy & adventurous 11 years! We met in 1995 at NCSU... and the rest is history. Three major moves, two dogs, and four children later... here we are! A few pictures highlighting our life together (forgive the graininess... I didn't make the switch to digital until mid-2006!):

Spring 1996 - College Graduation!

Fall 1996 - Engagement & our first "children" ... Well Spencer, my crazed JRT, was mine from college... we chose Baron, our boxer, together.

October 1997 - Our Wedding! I can't believe Lyda & Alex are taller than I am now... hmm...

Our Honeymoon in Boulder, CO... skiing, horseback riding in the snow, visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, hiking...

1999 - Our First Trip to Cancun, Mexico... our last big trip before the kiddos came along!

Before having children, James & I loved traveling (mostly quick weekend trips)... Charleston, SC... New Orleans... a cruise in the Caribbean... Cancun... We enjoyed white water rafting, camping, hiking, skiing, four-wheeling on the NC beaches during the off-season, attending ALL the NCSU home football games... ahhhhh! Then, our adventures really began when along came...

June 2000 - Jessica Anne... She was our little doll baby... easy, loving, sweet, charming... we were so in love!

April 2003 - Jaycie Elizabeth... From Day 1... Jaycie could melt our hearts...

February 2006 - Jamie Leigh & Jacob Michael... Ahh... we knew it wouldn't be easy this time around... but thanks to the help of MANY friends & family... we survived the first year... with very little sleep!

Our family is complete & our adventures continue...

With the kids... our quick weekend trips are to visit family & friends. We spend our family vacations at the beach with wonderful friends. We will probably venture again to Disney in the next couple of years. Our lives have changed a lot in the past 11 years... we have many blessings to count and every day seems to be an adventure of some sort. I can't wait to see what adventures the next 11 years hold for our family... maybe camping again now that the twins are older? We would love to go to Niagara Falls, skiing out west again, on an Alaskan cruise... who knows? We did make it back to Cancun last year to celebrate 10 year anniversaries with our closest friends.

2007 - Back to Cancun!

We are truly blessed... and I am thankful for my husband, our children, our family, and our friends... and all of our past, present, and future adventures together!

Party Pooped...

I love fall... it is absolutely my favorite season of the year. But we are party pooped! Between pumpkin picking, Halloween parties, birthday parties, fall festivals, etc... & the everyday things that must be done, the past two weeks have been a little hectic. Don't get me wrong... we have had a blast and LOVE doing all of these things, but having 2 or 3 events planned in the same day is difficult while trying to maintain somewhat of a nap schedule for the twins and my sanity. Anyway... we have had a great time, but we are taking things slow this week. James is out of town and Jaycie has strep throat... we are praying that no one else comes down with it... but this has given me the opportunity to relax at home and love on all my babies. It is nice to just sit on the couch in our PJ's and cuddle... knowing we don't have to do anything all day! I know the excitement will pick back up on Friday... but in the meantime, we will share a few pictures from the past two weeks:

Pumpkin picking with our playgroup at McLeod Farms

We loved the hay ride... Jacob couldn't take his eyes off of the tractors in the field.

After picking pumpkins, we had a picnic, played on the tractors, and the old carousel... then headed home for a long nap!

A Halloween party with many guests including super heroes, princesses, Minnie mouse, clowns, ballerinas, a train conductor, and even an appearance from Elvis... thank you Kayne, Sandy, and Katie for hosting and to Anna Grace for sharing her backyard! We had a spooktacular time!

Spiderman (a.k.a. Hunter) giving our little Spiderman and our ballerina a wagon ride... what muscles!

Our little fairy enjoys riding the tricycle...

Ms. Beth led the kids in parachute games... Jamie watched from the tricycle for a long time, then eventually joined in the fun.

Jaycie was the first in our family willing to bob for pumpkins... followed by Jessica, then Jacob. Jamie refused to pick one up with her mouth and just opted to pick it out with her hands.

We also dressed everyone up for the Moms of Multiples Halloween Party. There were some terribly cute costumes there... what great ideas for twins... Thing 1 & Thing 2, Minnie & Mickey, a flower & a butterfly, Wonder Woman & Super Man, Winnie the Pooh & Tigger, and once again... many princesses & superheros! James convinced me to just let our kids completely pick their own costumes this year. If it were my choice... the twins would have been Peter Pan & Tinkerbell... maybe another year! For this year, we have a ballerina, a fairy, Pocahontas, and Spiderman. I guess every house should have at least one superhero!

This is as good as it gets with this many little ones...

Our Spiderman and Thing 2 help keep the skittles off the floor during the skittle relay!

Jessica, Katherine, and Anne Marie enjoy their Girl Scout skating party! This was one of the few pictures I took... as Jessica informed me that I didn't have to stay... it would be fine to just come back to pick her up. At least I knew there would only be little girls there!!! She is growing up too fast...

Off to the park with our playgroup to paint pumpkins on the COLDEST morning this season. The wind was blowing, the sun was hiding behind clouds, and the kids sat still for all of 5 minutes until their lips turned blue. After attempting to paint, they played on the playground for a few minutes... then we just ended up coming home and having friends over for pizza. Once the sun came out, we went on the back porch and played with play dough & it turned out to be a very nice afternoon!

I took the girls to their school fall festival this weekend... it was CROWDED to say the least. Usually, they would have the big blow up bouncy things outside... but since it was pouring down rain, all of the activities were held inside. For this reason, James opted to stay home with Jamie & Jacob... a good decision b/c I don't think we could have made it through the hallways. The girls and I had a nice dinner (BBQ... yum!), played games, went through the haunted house (Jaycie kept her face buried in my shoulder the entire time)... and Jaycie won a cake in the cake walk! Of course, the night would not have been complete without a visit to Jessica's old 2nd grade classroom to see the hermit crabs!

Boo...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

It's A Zoo Around Here

Most days at our house feel like a zoo... we have monkeys that swing on furniture, bears that growl when grumpy, birds that sing when happy, elephants that throw mud all around, meerkats that insist on climbing on top of you & invading your personal space, and turtles that move slowly when you have somewhere to go... just to name a few. But, this weekend we went to the real zoo and had a great time. We hesitated to go because they were calling for rain... but we decided to give it a try anyway. Fortunately, it did not rain... and thankfully, it was nice & cool... and not crowded at all. Perfect for our family! For the first time, we actually did not even take a stroller (A MAJOR MILESTONE FOR US!!!) The kids had a great time... so did James & I... there were no tears, no meltdowns, no temper tantrums... everyone was very happy & listened very well. What an awesome time!

Afterwards, we had dinner with Stephen, Elise, Anson, & Ethan! We had not seen them in four years... and wow, have the boys grown! I actually met Stephen & Elise (and lived with them) when I did a summer internship in Virginia while in college. Shortly afterwards, they moved to SC... so we have not gotten to see each other often. It was great catching up! Thanks for a great evening!!

Our Four Little Monkeys

Feeding the Lorakeets - On Jessica's Favorites List

Jamie giving the tiger some "wub."

After every exhibit, Jamie would say "Mommy, I wub them."

Four of the five lion cubs at the zoo! I imagine my four are a little easier to handle!

He looks like he has lost a lot in the stock market, too.

Yeap, it is a real lizard... Jessica found him in S&E's backyard and she played with him for a long time. I am surprised she didn't ask to bring him home.

Like I said... It's a zoo around here!

A Nice Weekend

Dad & Ann (aka... Papa & Memommy) came to visit us this weekend and we had a great time. The kids love when they come to visit. After getting all the kiddos off to school on Friday, Ann & I went to the local Christmas Show at the Civic Center and we both picked up several Christmas gifts and a goodie or two for ourselves. Friday night we had our usual Family Fun Night... where Jaycie beat us all at Disney Bingo. Saturday morning we took the kids to a local cornfield maze. The weather was beautiful... the maze was trickier than we thought and after finding 7/10 clues... me, Dad, and the kids took an "emergency exit" while James and Ann completed the maze. We enjoyed a picnic lunch & a wagon ride... Jessica spent the majority of her time petting their horses.

The kids were energetic at the beginning of the maze...

tired when we took our "exit"...

The Wagon Ride

Jaycie (front), Jamie & Jacob (back) liked their ride on the cow train.

On Saturday night, Dad & Ann volunteered to watch the kids so James & I could actually have a date! We had a wonderful dinner... we planned to go to a late movie afterwards, but came home and crashed instead. Guess we are showing our age ;)

Date Night!!

On Sunday, while the twins were napping... Ann & I took the girls to the Farmer's Market. We were able to eat hot boiled peanuts! Boy, do I miss eating them! Poor Jacob will probably never get the pleasure... we also let the girls pick out a few more "baby" pumpkins & gourds and I picked up some mums for the front porch. I love the fall!

Dad & Ann left this morning after the kids were all off to school. Jaycie has been into writing little notes lately and she probably gave them one every other hour this weekend. When the kids got home from school, they each had a special little note waiting in their rooms from Papa & Memommy... it made their day!

Proud of My Girls!

I am so PROUD of Jessica & Jaycie! Our church regularly sends mission groups to Haiti, which was devastated by recent hurricanes. The children at church have been talking about ways to help in their Sunday School classes, and this has weighed heavily on Jessica's heart. Jessica & Jaycie decided to make bookmarks at home, which they sold to family & close friends. They worked hard and made almost 30 bookmarks by hand. Jessica & Jaycie also washed my car... inside & out... and decided on their own to give half of their allowance. Well, after 2 weeks of hard work... they raised close to $40 completely on their own!!!! They were very happy as they handed the money to our Children's Minister last night... and I was so proud of them! There are many things I can learn from my children... and this time, they taught me to give unselfishly & with a loving heart.

"While we try to teach our children all about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about."

-Angela Schwindt

Beach Weekend

Last weekend, I headed to Topsail Island to meet my best friends from back home. We try to go twice a year... just the girls. We had a great time... scrapbooking, sleeping in, eating out (give me some scissors, please... security!), catching up, eating chocolate, drinking wine, laughing... deciding what Janet will be for Halloween (B2Q)... you name it. We were able to head down Thursday night, despite the weather... and it was SO worth it! I miss seeing you guys on a daily basis! Can't wait until January!!!!

Janet, Samantha, Jennifer, & Wilkie

"Friends can make you laugh when no one else can." - unknown