Oh Lillie!

Nap time used to be as simple as laying a baby in the bed and leaving... not anymore. This was Lillie 30 minutes after I put her in the bed.

Also, go to my friend Melissa's blog to check out Lillie and Elliott with their buddy Jonah yesterday.

Another Generation!

These pictures are so funny to me. As soon as I saw this picture at the beach it immediately reminded me of a picture of me with my cousins and grand parents a long time ago.

Imagination

On a daily basis Jack builds something with the pillows from our bed. For a long time it was houses. Lately it's been forms of transportation. Tonight he has driven a tractor to feed cows and pigs, driven a bus, rode in a fire engine, and just a minute ago he announced he was mowing the yard.

This is the tractor.

Notice he uses a plastic plate for his steering wheel. He had a spoon of marshmallow cream for dessert tonight, he clams it's his favorite. Haven't wiped it off his mouth yet.

This is the bus.

Mommy Card

We meet a lot of people at the play ground. Several times a mom has handed me a "mommy card" and said we should get the kids together sometime. I'm pretty sure I knew these kinds of cards existed, but there has never really been a need for me to have one. Before NYC I knew how to get in touch with everyone we hung out with, no need for card with our info. However, I have the need these days. I googled them to see how much it would cost me to order some and quickly realized I didn't need, nor want, to spend money on "mommy cards." I proceeded to create my own on the computer, but then couldn't find the blank business cards that I knew were somewhere in this apartment. Today I found them!

So here you have it...
The Wyatt Family Mommy Card!

The latest...

...taste of the Big Apple!

tw in

All of the PJ's are dirty, so I had to get creative with what Lillie and Elliott are going to sleep in tonight. I figured these onesies were as good as any other option. I remember them getting them as a baby gift from our neighbor, they seemed so huge! Can't believe they fit into them now!!

Potty Time

The next big task to conquer.

Afternoon Reading

Afternoon story time in Lillie's bed. These pictures are pretty typical of the 3 of them.

Jack in charge "reading" to them and getting frustrated at Lillie when she touches the book.

Lillie all over the place.

Elliott doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing, behaving and listening.

(don't be fooled by Lillie, this was seconds after I put them in the bed!)

Hippo Playground

Yesterday on Freddy T.'s day off we ventured down to Hippo Playground for Art In The Park.This is a free program has been going on all summer, but the hill to get down to the playground is so steep I didn't think I could manage it with my big stroller alone. We had a good time. There were 3 tables set up for the kids. Play dough, coloring, and stickers. Jack loved the stickers. They were all farm stickers, so easily won him over. After he did art for a while he played on the playground. It was fun to do something new as a family. They playground is huge and crowded so it would be a lot to keep up with Jack at this stage and watch Lillie and Elliott at the same time, but when they get older and can all run around it will be great.

Baby Food Update and Another Resource

Just did the math. In case you were wondering if it was saving us money to make baby food for the twins...

I just made 88 "jars".

Here in NYC a jar of baby food is 79 cents.

I bought 12 cans of fruit (big cans: peaches, pears, apricots. all drained and rinsed real good from the juices/syrup they were sitting in) each $2. 69.

These are all NYC prices, probably cheaper in most other places.

Anyway 88 jars would have cost $69.52
Making the food from 12 cans cost $32.28, ends up being 36 cents a jar.

Every penny counts!

Today carrots, green beans, broccoli, and peas. For me its easy to get fresh vegetables and make those, the fruit takes so long to peel and core so I've found the cans to work better for me there.

Sweet potatoes, asparagus, and squash are already in there. Our freezer is full! This will last a while, but just imagine if you did this for 1 kid instead of 2, you'd be set for a long time!

I think by the time this food is gone Lillie and Elliott will be moving toward table food, so I think this round will be one of our last big rounds of making and freezing their food.

On a completely other note.

Glenna Marshall recommended this website called Motivated Moms on her blog the other day. I feel like I used to be a fairly organized person, but since kids came along its been a little harder for me to make a plan that works for me as far as getting house work done. This website offers a house work planner for only $4 that you can print off and it lays out daily chores(ones you'll do every single day) and then 5 or 6 specific tasks to get done in addition. It has helped me so much this week. I found this tool on Wednesday, since then I've cleaned our bathroom, mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the microwave, semi organized one of our closets, vacuumed rugs, cleaned all mirrors, dusted our bedroom, and ironed. You'll see how easy it is to be productive and feel good about it too when you look at the sample on the website. And I've run errands and gone to an exercise class during the day, so I'm not stuck inside all day trying to accomplish these things. The tasks are easy and not overwhelming for the day at all. I do live in an apartment so I have a lot less to clean and it doesn't take long (and some of the tasks I can scratch off quickly since they don't pertain to me, ex. sweep porch, wipe down washer and dryer, vacuum 2nd floor, etc) . I've found that to be an extra blessing during this season in life when I don't have time to clean a lot anyway!

Hope this helps and encourages all you ladies out there that feel overwhelmed by housework from time to time.

Like Daddy

Me: Jack look you're getting hair on your legs!

Jack: Like Daddy! (with a big smile on his face)

Snack Time

Twins: 9 Months

9 months have come and gone... can't believe it! I'm a little behind this month since we were out of town on the actual 9 month day.

Elliott mastered sitting up this month and Lillie has started "rocking" on her hands and knees. Any day now it feels like she'll take off crawling. Lillie cut a tooth this month. It's just broken through so we haven't really seen it yet, but you can definitely feel it. They both tried Cheerios this month and have started enjoying them for morning and afternoon snacks.

Charleston

Tired. Happy. Arrived in Charleston. Never been. Reflecting on five years. This September 4th makes it.

Tired. Happy. Hopeful. Tired.

Last week was family time. This week vacation + a great friend’s wedding – officiating + just reading scripture = still vacation.

Gran and Gran-Gramps holding the fort down @ 90th and Columbus with our three monkeys. Asleep before we left them (see picture). Susan hopes that Lillie B’s and Big E will have teeth but wont be crawling when we return though she’s afraid they’ll be crawlin with no teeth. We’ll see. (Susan wants it to be known that Jack and I are the only one’s that refer to Elliott as “Big E”).

Last week NYC to ATL to NYC via Wedding in Hamptons to PCB to NYC.

5 years. Sort of feels like 10. Sort of feels like 2. Mostly feels like 5.

5 = # of years married
4 = # of states lived in NJ, KY, TN, NY
3 = # of kids thus far: Jack, Elliott, Lillie

So grateful. To Him. To them. To you. So many.

Saved. Sent. And being Spent for one Great Name’s sake…

Jesus.

More of Him and less of us.

Family Pictures

Elliott

Lillie

Jack

Lillie and Elliott
(they had their own photo shoot the night before the family
shoot in attempts not to overwhelm them and still get good pictures)







I love this one!

And this one too!


Lillie, Jack, Elliott, Karlee
(2 0ut of 4 smiling... not bad!)


Nay Nay with the grand kids


Nay Nay and Pa with the grand kids


Mommy and Lillie


Daddy and Jack

Daddy and Elliott



Family Vacation
Panama City Beach, FL
2009

Elliott and Pap

We just got back from vacation. I've got several pictures to upload and publish. They are all on Freddy's computer and I'm working from mine right now (that just got the Internet installed back on it today, thanks Regina!)

We started our vacation in Atlanta visiting my Dad, Aunt and Uncle, Grandparents, and Cousins and spending a little time with Freddy's parents at his cousins wedding. From there we headed to Panama City Beach for a week vacation with my Mom's side of the family. I'll try to catch everyone up on our travels over the next few days.

When Jack was 9 months old I took a picture of him wearing his Pittsburgh Pirates uniform with my dad. My dad is a huge fan! I took the uniform with us to Atlanta for Elliott to get his picture made as well. You'll have to look at Jack's pictures and compare.

My cousin Angie also got a picture of all the great grand kids
(except Karlee) with my grandparents.

Lillie and Elliott are being held by the other set of boy girl twins on that side of the family.