Now I lay me...

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Please God bless my Mommy and Daddy, Addie and Avery, Kayla and Ben, My Nana and Moxie, My Grandma and Grandpa, Donna Donna, Santa Claus and all the rest of my friends and family, Ayyyyyyyymen.

I just thought I'd see if you all to noticed who made the "blessing" list .... yep.....Santa Claus. HEEHEEE! We took the kids to the mall this weekend and there wasn't a single person in line for Santa so we thought we'd just get that out of the way, and when Zach went to bed that night, he added Santa to his list of prayers. (And if you're name isn't on Zach's list; don't be offended. He changes it often depending on how much time he wants to spend, lol!)

Here's a picture of the kids with Santa. Again, impossible to get all three looking the same way at the same time. Zach had no problem sitting on Santa's lap this year and neither did Addie - Avery on the other hand, was much more skeptical of this bearded fellow.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.........

It was another *horrible* 60 degree autumn day here in southern Virginia :) !! Below are a few pictures we took today during a drive out to Yorktown/Williamsburg area. The kids (believe it or not) were great during the drive and when we went out for lunch, even though they've all got a cold.

The twins are getting so darn cute, I can't hardly stand it. They're into "mimicking" each other (this has just started) ... so if one is "singing", or dancing, or jumping, or rolling - whatever - the other one tries to do the exact same thing. (And of course, their brother can never help but join in!) They're both so sweet to each other - yesterday when we were in the store Avery was having a fit (crying) about something ... and Addison was sitting next to her in the shopping cart and was rubbing her back and her hair trying to soothe her. Zach is the same way with them - though he bosses them around, he loves to take care of them. He has to give them their "bottles" each night and makes sure they're on their blankie, and he brings them their babies if they're crying (which is probably usually a result of something he has done to them, lol). They were in their beds tonight and they started crying, Zach said "I'll be right back mom" ... and he comes back and said he went up to give each sissy one of his "monster trucks" (his new thing) so they would stop crying. Earlier today, Zach took Avery's paci and a few minutes later (without my even having to prompt him) he brought it back and said "I"m sorry I took your paci, Sissy!" *sigh* I know the three of them are going to grow up to be not only siblings but close friends.

The girls are saying soooooo many words now, and it's great that they can actually communicate what they want, though I wish they would listen a little more rather than communicating so much (joking!) Speaking of - does anyone have any suggestions on keeping them from climbing so much - for example, on the kitchen table??

Anyway, I hope everyone has a GREAT turkey day! Enjoy the time with your friends and family!! Enjoy the photos.............

The fall colors are amazing here - I love how the trees reflect in the water.

The first two are Old Mill Pond

Fall has landed...

Fall has officially landed in Virginia Beach. The colors on the trees are amazing and the weather has cooled off pretty dramatically. (Although, not to brag, but it was 70 here just this past Wednesday!) The kids are doing well and they love being outside in this nice weather, though they all currently have a slight cold. They can still play with their playset and sand table (no water in it) and they love running around picking up acorns and pine cones ... not to mention watching the million squirrels chase each other through the leaves in our backyard. Here's some pictures I took the other day:

Avery

Addie had just fallen off the swing (poor thing)

Zach wants to rake the leaves ...

Avery

These remind me of my paci!

It's definitely getting colder and we got the kids warm coats and hats today. The stores are actually selling SNOW SUITS. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we don't get THAT MUCH snow down here to where a kid will need a snow suit??!!)

Anyway, just wanted to put up a couple new pictures of the kids.....I'm sure we'll have more this week with Thanksgiving and a short week just a few days away! If I don't post again before then, have a HAPPY Thanksgiving!

Love,

Rachel

The results are in...........

The "long awaited results" are in!

The girls are.....................identical! Yes, I know, not too much of a surprise..but they are definitely (as per their DNA) ............identical.

What fun, and I'm glad I know FOR SURE. We obviously have thought that they were on many occasions --- but never knowing for sure since they look "similar..but different."

Anyway.....just wanted to let you all know. Definitely identical.

Happy Halloween!

Ok it is virtually impossible (seriously) to get our kids to all look the same way at the same time for a picture. This is probably the reason we've never taken them all to get their pictures taken together. This is about the best Halloween photos we could do ... hopefully by next year they will sit still. (Probably not.)



The kids had a blast trick-or-treating with our neighbor's and friend's kids: Brody (hot-wheels racer), Seth (small tigger), Abby (Michigan cheerleader) and Joseph (big tigger.) Not pictured: Emily (Abby's sister) who was also a Michigan cheerleader. They had fun, but I have to say.....Zachary has SOMMMMME nerve! He apparently (I didn't see this, thank goodness) opened a family's door who didn't answer when he rang the bell. And if that wasn't embarassing enough, he blew out the candle in every pumpkin that he could. Oh and he asked for more than one piece of candy. Well, he didn't exactly ask. Give me one more was more like it. Maybe by next year we will have instilled some manners in this child (heehee!)


The girls had fun, but it only took them a couple houses to get tired out, and then we had crabby pirates on our hands. I took them back home and answered the door until Daddy and Zach came back. When we got the girls to bed, we sat outside with Zach in the front yard (mind you, Sam was in shorts!) and handed out candy. Apparently Zach must have caught on to some of the manners we were trying to teach him about "trick-or-treating" because when a kid came to our house and Zach gave him/her the candy and they turned to walk away - Zach would blurt out "say thank you!" HOW EMBARASSING!

We're stuck with about 7 pounds of candy (seriously.) Some of this is going over to our neighbor, Jen, because she advised us we would need A LOT of candy. Apparently trick-or-treaters were busy doing other things this year because we have three JUMBO bags of candy left, and we weren't stingy when they came to the door!!

Hope you all had fun and enjoyed the evening!

Take care,

Rachel

Let's see who is reading our blog!

Ok everyone, we should know tomorrow (11/2) whether the twins are fraternal ... or identical.

Who wants to know????