Time to play catch up again Part 3 and 4

Ah here I am again, running behind. I did the older two kids updates back in July! Yes, I said July and here we are just a couple of weeks away from Cullen and Amelia's 2nd birthday. Time really does fly when you are busy having fun!

Lets see where to start with them.......The last post about them was July 2012 when they did their ISR lessons at 9 months.  In that time of course there was learning to walk (Amelia beat Cullen to actual walking at 9.5 months), but Cullen was the first to pull up and cruise, stand up by himself from a sitting position and make us believe he was getting ready to take off (around 7.5- 8 months) and he did about a month after his sister (he was almost 10.5 months). There has been many words spoken, especially in their "twin language", but the older two seem to understand the secret language also. Amelia has always been the one in control, she has always been the aggressive one since they were conceived and we got to watch them monthly on the sonogram screen. Poor Cullen has put up with her abuse for way too long. She is an avid biter and usually only biting Cullen. Here recently, Cullen has let her know, he isn't going to take it anymore and boy has things gotten pretty interesting around this house. I have never seen two small kids fight like these two will at times. They do however have each others back. You let one of the older kids try to mess with one and the other is right there for backup. It truly is a special bond they have with each other. It has been a blessing being able to watch them grow into the tiny people they are becoming.

Here are a few pictures by the amazing Brook Mayo of Brooke Mayo Photographers

8 months old

Almost one year olds at our Halloween fun shoot

and a few from their one year shoot

We had so much fun with their Birthday party! We decided on a costume Halloween Party. Our family theme was Alice in Wonderland. The twins were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Elizabeth was Alice, Declan was The Mad Hatter, Jeremy was the White Rabbit and I, of course was the Queen of Hearts...hahahah!

After their 1st Birthday, they enjoyed their second Christmas, which they were very into! They loved tearing open their gifts to see what was inside. We also took a trip to Bryson City, NC to ride the Polar Express! This trip will have it's own blog post! 2013 has flew by so fast with so many different milestones. Just looking back at these pictures, really doesn't seem like this has been almost a year ago.

Cullen and Amelia took their second year of ISR lessons. This year instead of just floating they learned how to swim float swim. I am totally amazed by these lessons. They are so important, especially for us living around so much water.

Here's a video Jeremy, put together of the kids swimming at their lessons this year (Elizabeth's is from last year)!

It's been a busy summer. Beach trips and lots of outside fun for the kids. Amelia and Cullen both enjoy the beach, but Cullen still hates the feeling of sand on his hands or feet (he is truly my child...lol)! He has gotten better and will venture off of the blanket now as long as he has his shoes on. They have been avid cheerleaders for Elizabeth and Declan at their soccer and t-ball games this summer/fall. We are planning for their 2nd Birthday party now (only 18 days away) and for Halloween. We have another family costume in plans...hopefully I can get it all together and we can pull it off!

Time to play catch up again Part 2 - Declan

Declan started 3 yr old preschool back in August 2012. He went 3 days a week from 9am to 12pm. He had the sweetest teachers, Ms. Kristy and Ms. Christy. They were just amazing with the kids and Declan was so excited to go daily and didn't want to leave at the end of the day. He learned so much and met a lot of new little friends.

He went on a field trip to Grandy Greenhouse back in October to pick pumpkins.

He also had a visit from the Fire Department and from The reptile guy, who shared all his lizards, snakes and turtles with the kids! 

April 19th he turned 4! He chose to go to the Portsmouth Children's Museum and out to eat for his special day.

He also celebrated his big day at Children at Play (our local children's museum) with a Leonardo (TMNT) birthday cake!

It was a huge help having Elizabeth and Declan both wanting the same theme for their joint party. I am not sure how many years we will be so lucky....lol!

We attended a special mothers day program at Declan's preschool. The kids sang for us, made us gifts and we got to have a mommy and Declan brunch at school that day. It was really nice and so great to get time with him alone.

Declan's last day of school was in the middle of May. He will be attending the same school, but in the 4 yr old class this year. He will attend 4 days a week with the same hours as last year.

Declan also got introduced to the world of tball this year. He barely made the cut for age to play, but he did! He was on the same team as Elizabeth, which made our life a little easier with the same practices and games. He was a little entertainer for sure on the field. From not stopping on a base and completely running all 3 bases every time (even though he knows to stop) to leaving his position on the infield to chase down balls on the total opposite side. The crowd loved him every game and he knew it....lol!

Declan just finished up his first year of Red Cross swimming lessons with Christen Buchert. It is so cute to watch him do "Chicken, airplane, solider" as he glides across the pool on his back. He has really grown a lot in this last year. He is just the silliest little guy and will keep you laughing. Some of his "stories" he comes up with we have no clue where he gets this stuff from. We are super proud of all his accomplishments this last year!

Time to play catch up again Part 1 - Elizabeth

Wow! It's been a little over a year since I have posted. I really need to get better about this, things have just been so crazy and busy around here. So I will catch everyone up! I'll have to this in parts so let's start with Elizabeth!

Elizabeth, started Kindergarten August of last year. 

She had the best teachers ever, Ms. Meekins and Ms. White. She absolutely loved them to death. 

She had two field trips, one to Morris Farm Market (to pick pumpkins back in October 2012) and the other to the Norfolk Zoo in Virginia a few weeks before school got out for the summer.

She had a really nice graduation and has advanced to 1st grade.

Elizabeth turned 6, on April 2nd. She had a special day at the Virginia Living museum and then dinner afterwards. 

She also had a party at Children at Play (the local kids Museum) complete with her friends and family and her Donatello  (TMNT) Cake. Nothing else would do, it had to be the Ninja Turtles for her party.

 Elizabeth also took dance for the third year this past year. We loss her teacher, Victoria Toms, to Cancer last September. Her co-owner, Mila stepped in and has been just amazing! She had her 3rd recital in June of this year. 

Elizabeth also got into sports at the Rec. dept. this year. She played spring soccer and tball this summer. We have already signed her back up for soccer this fall.

Elizabeth also had the privilege of taking her second year of red cross swimming lessons from Christen Buchert. Christen is truly amazing with kids and they learn so much from her. We are so very proud of Elizabeth and all her accomplishments this past year.


I forgot to add, she decided to chop her hair off. It is absolutely adorable on her!

Family of Swimmers

We just recently had the babies enrolled along with our older two in Infant Swimming Resource lessons (ISR). We started back in May with Declan doing his 2 week refresher. The twins took 4 weeks from the end of May until the first two weeks in June and Elizabeth did her 2 week refresher the first two weeks in June also. So proud of all 4 of my ISR graduates! We were lucky enough to have the amazing Brooke Mayo , come take our family pictures underwater!

Here is one of the twins with their ISR buddies!

The Gift of Giving Life is now available for purchase!

I am so excited right now! The book that has Elizabeth's Birth Story in it has FINALLY been released for purchase! I preordered mine months ago and cannot wait to receive it! You can visit The Gift of giving life to purchase your own copy!

One Sentence Summary: A spiritual look at pregnancy and birth through inspiring essays and birth stories from dozens of LDS women, women in the scriptures, words of the prophets and other spiritual texts;The Gift of Giving Life if the essential pregnancy companion for every LDS woman and any woman of faith who would like to discover the divinity and gift of giving life.