I love Christmas

I love Christmas time!!! I love decorating the house and celebrating all month. I love how happy everyone is!!

Our first Christmas party this year was my Mothers of Multiples club party. I love this party every year!!! It is so much fun!!
Here is Ryan making her apron. (I know, great idea right!!)
Connor

Brady's done already...
They had these cute little antlers there so everyone had to take a pair. This was right up Connor's alley. He loves anything that brings him attention.
Brady on the other hand....
LOL....I love it. He looks tortured. Like "why are you DOING this to me?"

Every year Santa comes and gives everyone an early Christmas present. We don't celebrate Santa, but the kids still enjoy it.
They each got their present and loved it!! The twins got color wonder which is like gold to them. Garrett got an dinosaur bone excavation kit and Ryan got the Littlest Pet Shop. We ate and hung out. It's nice going some where with other multiples where people don't feel like they can touch your kids like a petting zoo because they're so unique. Or people are constantly saying "Boy you sure have your hands full." I just roll my eyes when people say that now, like yeah you're the first person to ever notice.....thanks a lot. I also really appreciate the advice I get from my friends whose kids are older and have already been where mine are now!

Garrett's even found some friends there!!! Trevor and Donovan were on his baseball team!!
Last Thursday was Connor and Brady's Christmas party at school. They were so cute!! They painted icecream cones with green icing to make them look like Christmas trees. Then covered them in sprinkles and decorated with mini M&Ms. A HUGE mess, but so cute and so much fun!! Great idea Mrs. Jennifer!!
Brady
Connor

Friday the twins don't have preschool so we all went to Garrett and Ryan's Christmas parties!!

Making Christmas ornaments.
The twins managed to weasel themselves into a cupcake.

Garrett at his party
The twins managed to eat there too......
I promise I do feed them. They just eat a LOT!
Garrett's teacher had all the kids do a book exchange. It was such a neat idea. Garrett got a Encyclopedia Brown book and had it finished by the next day!! He loves to read.

Then Friday night we took the kids to Peachtree Academy for Parent's night out while we had a little Christmas party at our house. I had been looking forward to this ALL WEEK!!! Here are some pics from the night but for a full explanation click here . And trust me you want the full story...it was so much fun!!!

December 11, 2009

This month Garrett was named Student of the Month!!!!
Each of the teachers wrote a paragraph about the student they nominated for Student of the month. Here is Garrett's:

The December student of the month for Mrs. Roton's class is Garrett Williams. Garrett is always on task. He is full of self motivation. He loves AR and reads lots of books and takes an AR test every day! His behavior is wonderful and he is a great role model for his classmates. Garrett is quiet, but witty, and he makes me smile everyday!! I love teaching Garrett! Mrs. Roton.

Way to go Garrett. We love you!!

Wow, has it really been that long???

Wow, so it's been a long time since I posted. Once we got back from Disney things just picked up in their usual whirlwind like we'd never left. So much has happened I think I'll ease back in slowly with just Disney pics for this post.

I'll start with Thanksgiving. I was off for Thanksgiving this year so we stayed here, my mom came and we had a nice quiet Thanksgiving. Then Mom and I went shopping on the day after Thanksgiving and got some GREAT deals!!!

Here is Connor and Brady dressed as pilgrims for their Thanksgiving program. When I walked into the sanctuary at their preschool Connor said "Mommy I knew you come, I knew you come!!" So sweet.
Connor loved it.....

Brady......not so much.....
They were so cute though!! They sang us two songs.


After the program we went to the fellowship hall to eat a lunch that the kids helped prepare. Vegetable soup, cornbread, crackers, and dessert. Connor and Brady were so proud of their meal!!

Over The Top!!!

I got this awesome award from my Buuuuuddddddy, Jess the other day!!! Thanks a lot Jess, Love ya!!

So now I get to pass it along!!!!!

1. First I want to pass it to Trista because she peed in her pants while on a run and had the courage to blog about it!!! LOL- I still laugh when I think about it!!! That is definitely Over The Top!!!

2. Second I want to pass it on to Bakerella. She doesn't use blogger any more and probably doesn't even know that I read her blog, because I don comment, but I LOVE her site. She comes up with the best baking ideas and she is willing to share them with those less fortunate than herself in the baking area!!!! Thanks Bakerella!!

3. Third I want to pass this lovely award onto Angela. She is one of my best friends in the world. She recently had her third baby and works as a flight attendant. I'm giving her this because she's married to Philip. That pretty much makes her life Over the Top!! :-) *snicker*

I think I'm supposed to answer a whole bunch of questions but.....yeah no, that's not going to happen!! :-)

Today was Garrett's first and only Saturday baseball game. My inlaws came up for the morning to watch!!!


Garrett with Meme and Papa. He was so excited about them coming to watch. Garrett is really improving a lot. He is still waiting on his first hit, but he definitely doesn't lack confidence!!! Wonder where he gets that from??

I only have two more days to work until we leave for Disney and I'll be off for 12 days!!!! Can't wait!! The kids are really excited too.

Connor and Brady had their 3 year check up (8 months too late) last week. Everything checked out fine!!! Both boys are in the 50th percentile for height and Connor is in the 90th percentile for weight, Brady is in the 75th percentile!!!!! I was so shocked!!!! I knew they had sprouted recently but to come so far, I definitely didn't expect it!!! When they were born, and for a long time after that they were in the 5th percentile for height and weight, even though they were 5 pounds 13 ounces and 6 pounds 5 ounces at 34 weeks!!! Dr. Manning wasn't really concerned about it, but we still put them on the high calorie formula (when they got it, they were primarily breast fed until 9mo.) I am so excited that they have caught up and then some!!!

Fall is on it's way!!!

Today everything went back to "normal." The kids all went back to school. I came home from work and went grocery shopping.
The boys had a great day at preschool today!!! Apparently the Rockdale County Fire Department came out to see them today. They loved it to say the least!!! The teachers said "They weren't scared at all!!" And I wonder if that's really all that surprising, unfortunately, not much scares them. Which is why I frequently find Brady trying to jump off things and Connor will eat anything. He told me tonight "Mmmmm, Mommy the trash can smells good." **pause** Sorry I just threw up a little in my mouth. Yeah, we had a good little talk about what is good to eat and not good to eat.
Connor and his "Pokin" in his fire fighter hat

Brady and his firefighter hat and his "punkin"

After school we stopped by The Market Conyers. I was really disappointed by the organic produce selection at Publix this week!!! So I stopped by to pick up some produce. Really I should just start buying all of my produce there!!! It's so cheap!!!! Whether you buy organic or not, check it out www.marketconyers.com
When we got to The Market Connor started yelling "Mommy look, it's a pokin, it's a pokin!!!" Me-"You mean a pumpkin?" Connor-"Yeah, a pokin. It a heavy pokin Mommy." So here are the boys sitting with the pokin. As we were leaving with arms full of fresh produce, the owner asked the boys if they'd like their own pumpkin......that made their already great day, even better!!!

On the way home I stopped to take some pics of the flooding. The river has really gone down in most areas. Only a couple roads are still closed.

The bridge by our house on Tuesday....
Today...

You can see the line of mud where the water was at it's highest.
The field next to the road on Tuesday....
Today......
This area usually has NO water in it at all.


I'm so glad the boys enjoy preschool so much. I worried over the decision to put them in preschool, but they LOVE it!! They beg to go and cry when they can't. Their faces just light up when I come to pick them up and they get to tell me about their day!!!

Life Goes On.....

So for now, amidst the flooding life is going on. Making hay while the sun shines, if you will. Garrett's team had a game tonight. He has really been working hard and it is noticeable. Garrett LOVES baseball, even though he runs to the outfield when the coach tells him to go to 3rd base. He did really well tonight. He got walked, which is actually a major accomplishment, because up until now he wants to swing at anything that comes in his general direction. I got some video tonight. Here it is.....

Garrett in the outfield. He gets a little bored out there. In this league, there isn't much action in the outfield. At one point, Garrett was practicing catching a fly ball and throwing it to second base.......while the game was actually in play.

Garrett getting ready to kick some butt.....

The teams showing good sportsmanship. There was some controversy as to who actually won the game. Our team said it was a tie, the other team said they won by one run. Whatever.

Garrett's team is the red and black team.


Ryan had a landform project due last week. It turned out pretty well if you ask me!!!

It was supposed to be made out of household items. The mountain is made out of the top of a soda bottle, then covered with clay. The grass is coconut dyed green with food coloring and sprinkles for flowers. The ocean is modeling clay and paint (didn't have enough of either so we combined!). Then an island made of modeling clay and coconut with a graham cracker beach!!

Great job Ryan!!!

No Laughing Matter

It has been raining for almost a week here in GA. I guess the ground saturated and it all caught up. The rivers, streams and lakes have flooded, some people have lost their homes, and some have lost their lives.

Last night I had to work. The flooding hasn't been so bad out here where we are so I decided to make a go of it since 1. The day shift people were counting on us to come in and relieve them. 2. The patients are still there whether there is bad weather or not. I'd want my mothers nurse to come in. 3. I felt like my family was safe, otherwise I wouldn't have gone.

This morning I came home to this........

This is the Yellow River near our house. Usually you can't see much of the river from this point and all the land directly in front of me here is just a low-lying grassy area.

This area is usually grass. People often drive their cars down this "path" to go fishing in the river.

More "field"

This is right next to the road where I'm driving. Same area as the above pics. The flooding is so bad, I'm afraid if the river doesn't crest soon, it will cover the bridge as it has done in many other areas.

A lot of counties closed schools today. Of course Newton didn't. Rockdale did though, so Connor and Brady didn't get to go to preschool today. They cried when I told them that their teachers weren't going to be at preschool today so they couldn't go.... :-( I'm glad they like it so much though!!

I'm thankful to have gotten to and from work safely (I-20 was flooded just before Turner Hill) and I'm thankful that God provided safetly for our family, friends and our home!!!

Sometimes busy just doesn't cover it.....

This past week was another crazy week. I'm beginning to think that the crazy weeks are the norm and the easier weeks are just a fluke. Garrett went back to school on Thursday. He was feeling pretty normal over the weekend. We just had to wait on the 5 day minimum to pass before he could return.
My Mothers of Multiples group Consignment sale started this week also. I procrastinated tagging my stuff, then when the kids got sick I just resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get my stuff in the sale....oh well, next time. I did get to shop though!!!! And I got some really good stuff!!!

Like this Old Navy jacket for Garrett. It looks brand new and I bought it for $7.50!!!!! And this clothing organizer (if any of you have ever seen my kids when Brad dresses them, you'll understand it's necessity) for $8!!!! Man, I love consignment sales!!!














































****Fast Forward a week to when I actually got to finish this post****

Saturday, Sept 12 was our very first CPR certification class. Two of the instructors at DeKalb came to do a certification course for anyone who was interested. I am so thankful to everyone who took this class and made it such a success!!! CPR certification is so important, and now we have 7 more people in DK who are certified!!!!

This is Shea, Trista, Janna, Nicole, Angela, and Nancy (my mom) getting ready to take the class.



























Check for breathing....



















Great compressions!!!
























Two rescuer CPR








































Everyone did such a great job!!! I really hope this is something we will be able to do again soon!!

Sunday, September 13 was our church's fourth anniversary!!! It is hard to believe we moved up here almost five years ago to help plant Discover Point Church!!! We've had our highs and lows but I don't regret for a minute the decision to move up here. We've seen God move in so many ways, and our faith has grown enormously since we decided to step out in faith and move our family up here. God is always faithful!!!



Monday was Garrett's baseball game vs. Micah's team!!! One of my co-workers stayed two hours late for me on Monday night so that I could go to the game. I had to miss Garrett's game on Thursday of the previous week.





















Garrett batting






















Garrett in the outfield




























Micah in the outfield




























Connor on Daddy's shoulders.