Girls and Family Weekend

Each year, the girls I graduated with from Clemson with try to get away for a girls weekend. This year we decided to bring the families. We were blessed with an AMAZING, huge home that was graciously given to us for the long weekend. We had so much fun catching up and watching our kids play together! (You know I am not good and picking a few pictures so here are a ton...I did narrow it down from 160 pictures. Also, there is another post below.)

The whole gang! From left the girls are Amber, Jessica (aka Mattice), Brenna, Me, April, and Shelley. Beth also came for one night.

We tried to take a quick picture before Beth had to leave

The kids! It was a crazy house for sure with toys everywhere!

Madison and Ella getting to know each other

Madison figured out a new trick...Luke can ride and she will push

Just after waking up :)

Madison tried to wrestle Caleb and Barret

Look at that tongue

Madison and Ella became quick buds...I think they have the passy in common

Madison was worn out from playing with all these toys. Luke was just getting started!

Meeting Anna Kate

April and Madison

Our family picture :)

Madison and Daddy

When we left for the beach Luke and Madison had runny noses. Throughout the weekend Madison didn't want much to do with her meals. When we got back home we took them to the doctor and found out she had a double ear infection and Luke and an ear infection in his right ear! No wonder she was not too happy looking over the rail...the wind was probably not helping her ear ache! Poor little thing! Good news is we are on medicine and getting better!

Me and my little girl

Me and my little man

Sweet kisses

Luke loves his Daddy (weak at heart...don't look at the next picture)

Daddy's trick...even makes me a little nervous!

Just like Daddy

One of my favorite picture of the whole weekend! I could just eat him!

Geoff had a little talk with Luke after this! I think we have a match with Miss Riley!

Riley, Madison, Ella, and Luke

Madison has never gone up stairs! We have stairs in our house but she has not found them yet. She saw these and didn't miss a beat! She acted like she does this every day!

Wrestling with Daddy

So this is the house! If you want to rent it, just fork up $17,000 for 1 week in the summer! It had 9 bedrooms, 9 1/2 baths, and elevator, 2 of almost everything in the kitchen, and an amazing view!

The back deck

The view from our bedroom. Yes, that is a heated pool and hot tub!

I feel truly blessed that God has given me such wonderful Godly woman as friends! I can't say enough what this time together meant to me. It is neat to see how our lives have changed! I hope we can do this again next year!

Let It Snow

Luke and Madison were able to see their first snow last week and it really was beautiful! When they are this little and not walking yet there is not much to do in the snow. So, we plopped them in our laundry basket and took them for a ride! They seemed to enjoy it :)

Luke and Daddy seeing snow for the first time

Madison and Mommy- I love how Madison is looking up at the snow

The next morning we got out in the snow again

Luke loved it

Go Daddy Go!

They loved being all bundled up and riding around the driveway! We had a lot of cars slowing down as they passed laughing :)

Madison tasting the snow

Luke was not so sure

How precious were these memories?

9 Months Old

Luke and Madison turned 9 months old on January 30th! They are growing so fast and learning so many new things. We had our 9 month appointment this past week and here are their stats :)

Luke

Weight- 18.6 pounds (18th percentile)

Height- 28 3/4 inches (66th percentile)

Head- 18.7 inches (95th percentile) All those brains :)

Madison

Weight- 16.7 pounds (13th percentile)

Height- 28 inches (64th percentile)

Head- 17.1 inches (34th percentile)

All other reports were great! They are ready to start meat and try more table food! Luke still only has 2 teeth and Madison doesn't have any yet. It made me feel better when our doctor told us that his daughter didn't get teeth until she was 13 months old!

We do have one prayer request...Luke's abdomen seems to stick out a little more on one side. A while ago we did blood work to check his liver and the tests turned out normal. Our doctor's hoped it would straighten out by now but he still favors one side (it is not that bad but we notice it). It seems like when he lays down his body just makes a little curve. He wants us to get an ultrasound just to check it out. He didn't seem worried because he said if it were anything it would have shown up on his newborn screening. I am not sure when we will do that but if you will just say a prayer that everything will be fine we would really appreciate it!

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately :) Enjoy!

Daddy is their jungle gym when he gets home from work (looks like a pj day)

Poor Luke is Madison's gym when Daddy is not here. We are working on the pulling hair thing!

You can see how excited she gets when she plays with her brother! She thinks it is so funny and giggles the whole time. She acts like she is wrestling him! She will roll over him and then come back and roll over him the other way. Very funny to watch! I have it on video! Also, as you can tell, Luke doesn't think it is quit as funny. This is his 'mommy help me' face :)

Madison found the freezer! I pulled something out turned around and when I turned back there she was! Go figure a little girl from our family would go for the rolls :)

Two of Daddy's favorite things all in one bag!

Luke loves books! He kicks his legs and arms like crazy when we read to him! It is so cute!

Classic tub picture with the mohawks

Luke and Madison's favorite spot when it gets late! They love to lay back on Daddy and relax. Look at that tummy! Horizontal stripes are not very slimming :)

They love to play together now! Whenever Luke is in the jump jump or exersaucer Madison loves to crawl up on it and play with him. Luke doesn't seem to mind as you can tell.

Rock n' Roll Maddie

We have slowly opened Christmas presents and his week we opened our Lion walker/rider. They LOVE it! They both love to ride around the house (which breaks your back!) and they both love to push it as the lion sings.

Madison never really liked the swing when she was little so I had not put her in it in forever. I tried it again and she loved it...well, she loves to sit in it sideways and then she likes to hang off the side and look at the floor while she swings. It makes me dizzy just watching her. As you can tell her other favorite thing is to drop whatever toy I give her on the floor! Silly girl!

Those eye lashes!

Rubber Ducky, your the one!

Clean baby smells SO good!