Stodda and Gwinchy were late this year... why you may ask?

Well we just could not seem to have one day of stellar behavior by Juliette or Tripp. They knew that they would not arrive until they were on their best behavior.... um yes that is hard for them... and yes they still anxiously awaited... after a stellar day look who arrived...

Juliette wrote him a very special note pledging her promise to be a very good girl! She still feels very bad about Tripp's teeth as you can see! She's trying to explain to Stodda that she did not mean to run with Tripp causing him to fall on his teeth. 

That same evening we made gingerbread houses in attempts at offering Stodda and Gwinchy their own house. 

And look who finally arrived! It was a very exciting morning in our house! Welcome home little guys! 

It's time to go see Santa

We had such a fun weekend with Santa! Dr. Cox never fails us and provides everyone at Don's office with the most authentic Santa you could find real beard and all! 

Juliette was all eyes and ears that morning!  She was eager to let Santa know that she wanted a baby Sister for Christmas. Santa asked if he could not bring that what else would she like? Ummmm... Yes then she would like a real unicorn specifically one that is white and one that can fly with wings! This girl is killing me as I can guarantee you she is not getting either of those. The best thing about Juliette is if you asked her today she would tell you something new. 

Santa exhausted Tyler! Thomas was enjoying watching Santa and even gave him a nice wave!

I considered using this as our Christmas card until Don spotted the fifth child in the picture. Santa's elf was there and posed with us!

Juliette has been a very good girl.  Tripp is three and full of the dickens but lovable as ever! Three year olds in our house are always a handful! The twins have a very good report too for Santa. 

They will all be tucked in and waiting anxiously for Santa.

Ways to "Trap Buckwheat"

Oh sweet Buckwheat! He is the best little bunny. He is so patient! Juliette and Tripp love to bring him in Tessa and Doh's house but he typically stays in the box if Juliette is not holding him. He likes to now jump out of the box like a magic trick!

Here is their failed attempt with the use of "Bucky" the horse, Ashley Bell's dog bone for Christmas and a puzzle to keep him in.

Ha! he says as he hops right out.

Just say "No No It AINT SO..."

Could these sweet boys really be ONE today??

This morning part of me woke a little sad that they are one today but the other part of me raised up my hands and shouted, "I survived!"

Thomas Stovall

 Baby Thomas has 8 teeth. He has four on the top and four on the bottom. At his checkup today his head measured 19 inches. He is 20 inches long and weighs 23 pounds. This guy LOVES to eat! He loves all fruit, yogurt, broccoli, puffs and anything else you are willing to give him. He is a squawker... instead of talking he likes to squawk. It really is hilarious! He does not like to go to sleep and will fuss anytime you put him down in the crib. The fuss is short lived and he is out like a light within a minute or two. He is amazing sleeper at night. He goes to bed around 7:00 and wakes up around 6:30 the next morning.

Juliette loves to call him her twin. The two really resemble each other. I like to tell her that Thomas is the boy version of my only little girl Juliette.

Tyler Stovall

 Baby Tyler has 7 teeth. He has four on the top and three on the bottom. At his checkup today his head measured 19 inches. He is 20 inches long and weighs 21 pounds - two pounds lighter than his brother. This guy LOVES to socialize! He smiles and laughs all day. He is not as into food as his brother. Instead he would rather explore the whole house. He is not walking yet but pulling up and trying to walk holding onto the couch and chairs.

Tripp LOVES this baby! He loves to pinch his cheeks, attempt to wrestle him and I like to think he is just making him bay tough at a very young age. He walks by Thomas to get to Tyler. We are working on this and he will now let you know that he loves Thomas too. Tyler is also an amazing sleeper at night. He goes down as well around 7:00 and wakes up around 6:30 the next morning.

Both boys loved their first few sips of whole milk! I think they were thrilled with the new taste!

It was business as usual for the babies! They were excited just to play with the wrapping paper and slowly rip it down! Their big brother was sure to jump in and "help."

These little guys play hard and then sleep hard!

Tyler loves the rocking chair in Tripp's bedroom. It is his Great Grandpa Bud's chair when he was a baby.

They LOVED their birthday cake! Thomas LOVED LOVED it! Tyler was more interested in giving me some bites of it!

They weren't quite down with the Doctor yesterday but managed to have a very good appointment!

What a difference a year can make!

Happiest of birthdays to my precious TWINkies! You bring MORE love and light to our already bright world!

Cousins are SO much fun!

We had such a fun weekend with my cousins who came for a visit. We packed a lot in over just a weekend. Some of the highlights were frying some turkeys for dinner...

going to Martha Lou's for lunch! This is soul food and Meghan had seen it written up in the New Yorker. I had never been there myself so we were all in for a treat!

We were sad to see them go. We had the best weekend. Not even Tripp's latest episode of falling on his teeth could put a damper on the weekend.

Falling on his teeth you ask? Yes, he and Juliette were running for the front door and Tripp slipped and met the floor. His two front teeth pushed up into his gums and pushed back giving him an under-bite. We quickly called the Dentist who met us at his office where he pulled the teeth back down and pushed them forward. Yup, not a pleasant experience at all. The good news is though that the Dentist is confident with his age, the two teeth will not die and he should be able to keep them. Hence his swollen lip in the picture. 

'Tis the Season for the 2nd Christmas tree

Our evening was SO much fun! We went to the Christmas tree farm on the island and picked out the perfect tree for us!

We got the tree in the stand and that was about all for the evening!

Juliette came squawking into the kitchen to let us know something happened to Tripp! Nothing happened to Tripp just exhaustion! All the work of getting the tree in and the holidays flat wore him out!

Shhh... let's sneak out and fish!

Don had a free afternoon so we took no time to decide to sneak out and fish!

Our little co-captain came to fish with us! Life could not be better for this little guy! A boat, the sun, some fish and a GATORADE! 

We got on a few fish and had a super fun day!

The Captain and the co-Captain!