Audrey and Charlotte turn 4!

Our little twinkles are 4!! Audrey and Charlotte turned 4 on July 19th, we had a fun little family party them that night with pizza and cake. That weekend we had a bigger family party with everyone in tow. My little girls love dress up and being princesses so we had a princess party for them :) Kate and Naty had great fun picking out gifts for them this year which was fun to see too.

Audrey is turning into such a people person! She has never met a stranger and assumes everyone wants to know her and what she's thinking hahaha She always wakes up with the biggest smile and I swear she wakes thinking what crazy thing can I do today? Hahaha She's most definitely the more outgoing of the two. She's my little shadow and has been one of my biggest helpers during this pregnancy. She loves helping me with the laundry and dishes! She's definitely a little spot of spunky sunshine! :)

Charlotte is still my little sweet pea! She's got such a kind, sweet nature to her. Much more quiet then her twin sister, but always right behind her ready for whatever adventure Audrey thinks of (after Audrey has given it a test run and made sure it's safe haha) Lotty loves her accessories! She's always wearing necklaces, bracelets, and something on her head. She also loves her purses, bags, and wagon. Always full to the brim with her favorite toys of the moment!

I can still remember the shock of finding out we were having twins and I can say 4 years later that I can see what a blessing God gave us and them with our little BOGO pregnancy ;) They melt my heart when I see them hold hands or snuggle together. It helps my mother anxiety that they will have each other in PreK next month since I still think of them as my babies. I hope and pray they will always love and cherish each other so much and take so much joy in their special bond! :)

Birthday morning

Birthday swim

So shy when everyone clapped for them

Opening gifts

Sweet 4 year olds!

Making necklaces

Tea time!

Even Gigi got in on it!

Cousin Simon thought the plate was tasty too

Hehehehe such a good Daddy to play along

Birthday Princesses

Daddy made an awesome princess cake!

Blog, what blog?

Ok can we all just admit up front I've done a TERRIBLE job keeping up with this blog thing? Hahaha Well I'm going to try to do better for my own forget-everything-mommy-brain self! Hhhmm, where to start.. well last school year went great, Kate and Naty had a fabulous year and learned so much! They seemed so much more mature to me at the end. Next month school starts up again! Kate will be in 1st grade, Naty will be in Kindergarten, and Audrey and Charlotte will be in PreK!! Hard to believe all four will be in school! Audrey and Charlotte will be the youngest starting PreK so far, as they will only turn 4 tomorrow, versus Kate who was almost 5 and Naty who was 4.5. 6 months can make a HUGE difference at this age. I think they are completely socially ready for school but academically they want nothing to do with any workbooks or even just learning play that I've tried to do. Hopefully the school environment will help spark that eagerness.

With all four about to be in school, I found myself wondering what I would do with all my free time I'd suddenly had. I had been making plans to train for a 10k, get more involved in the PTA at school, maybe even take some photography classes and brush up on my skills. God apparently had very different plans for me! The biggest thing that's about to change in our family is we're adding a new member! It came as quite the surprise!! Little Miss Alice will be joining our family in October! I'm going to be totally honest, I wasn't thrilled at first and stupid people comments only added to the anxiety I was having. It took me much longer then it has in the past to be excited about having another baby. There are still some days I'm not quite sure what the Big Guy was thinking either, but I do my best to let go and Trust those days. The idea that I'll be the mother of 5 children still freaks me out a bit too hahahaha The girls have been huge helps so far, they've been helping me more and more around the house as my belly gets bigger and chores are hard. They are all VERY excited about their new sister arriving and tell me daily about all the plans they have to help me take care of her :)

The summer has been flying by! We try to play with friends as often as we can, the girls go swimming almost daily and we've been having lots of tea parties and movie afternoons to beat the heat!

Think that's it for now, like I said Audrey and Charlotte's birthday is tomorrow! Can't believe they'll be 4 already!

Here's some recent pictures of everyone too! :)

Princess Twinks

All my beautiful daughters

Naty after going down a giant slip n slide

Kate enjoying water fun

Audrey, always the ham!

Back at 25 weeks!

Jason and all his princesses on Father's Day <3

New School Year

Well school started yesterday (Aug 22nd) Kate is in Kindergarten and Naty is in PreK! Time is really speeding up again! Natalie had been hoping to be with Kate's PreK teacher but I didn't request her so she got one of the other teachers. She was ok with that and so was I. Having 4 kids go through grades back to back like we will, I think giving the teachers a break from the Ziegenbein Hurricanes will be nice LOL I also think it will give them each a slightly different experience so that none of them can say "Oh I did that too" which I know they'll do some stuff the same but no teacher does the same activity the same.

So the night before school started everyone was very excited and nervous! I was very happy when the girls were asleep by 9pm! I managed to get the nervous stomaches to eat breakfast, we took some pictures (below) and walked to school. I decided to drop Kate off at her class first since I figured she wouldn't feel the need for me to stay. We walked into her classroom and found she had a substitute already. Her teacher had been sick on Meet the Teacher night too. So I helped Kate get settled, didn't talk to the sub much but I overheard him saying to other parents who were bombarding him with questions, "I'm not quite sure of the policy" I just figured, they'll survive, just don't loose my kid. Guess what? He lost my kid! I was a little late for pick-up (it's almost an hour earlier then how ended last year) so I was caught in the mix of first day parents, all ten thousand of them ;). I got Naty from her class, was waiting to get Kate's sub's attention or the teacher with the megaphone calling for the kids, all of sudden I realize the TA from Kate's PreK class is standing in front of me with a sobbing Kate! She explained that somehow Kate had ended up with the Extended Day kids and then tried to go to the cafeteria where the car riders/walker usually come out from, she was just standing in a corner sobbing trying to tell a teacher she didn't know that she isn't supposed to be there. Thank God Mrs. Meyers came up then and was able to scoop her up and come find me! Poor Kate, took all evening to calm her down. I assured her I would come talk to either her teacher or sub, whoever was there the next day. Turns out, someone in the office let everyone go at the same time, they usually call for bus riders, then Extended Day kids, then everyone else leaves. They apparently had kids trying to get on buses who were car riders too, it was a cluster.

The rest of the week has gone smoothly. Kate's teacher has only been there for 2.5 days, not sure what she has but I feel bad for her! Naty is in love with her teacher and the whole school experience! I think Kate is finally settling in too, she's excited to have a "real" art class this year! Today is her first Art class, so I can't wait to hear how it went! Praying for a good school year! :)

Audrey and Charlotte are now enjoying some alone time with Mom and I'm enjoying it too! The first few days were a little rough for them in the morning because they are so used to going with their big sisters everywhere that they had a hard time understanding they can't go to school this year. We are waiting for the weather to cool off so we can enjoy doing things like the park and zoo with just the three of us! They have been potty training all month and are doing such a good job! They are having some issues with making it to the potty for #2 but are solid on #1, even sleeping dry all night! I actually threw out the diaper pail today! Big moment for us, we've had one for almost 6 years straight now! Hahaha I know they'll be done with the training soon and then we'll be tackling sleeping without binky ;) That'll be fun :p hahaha

All my girls on the first day of school!

Big Kindergartner!

PreK!!

Charlotte had to have a picture too haha

And of course Audrey too!

Big school girls :)

Hard to believe they'll be in school next year!

Kate in her classroom

Naty in her classroom!

Uncle Dan joins the Navy!

My little brother, Daniel, joined the United States Navy Reserve a little over a month ago! He left for boot camp then A school training this morning, we probably won't see him for 5 months now, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are so incredibly proud of him! In A school, he is going into Construction Mechanics, also known as SeaBees. If you don't know anything about the SeaBees you can go here, USN SeaBees They are pretty bad ass ;) The SeaBees go in right behind the Marines and set up everything from camp to roads and can fix about anything that need fixing. When he comes back though, he intends to finish school and become a Pharmacist and then go active duty for the USN for at least the remainder of his enlistment time but as been seriously considering going career ultimately. We are very proud of our Sailor, praying he stays safe and has a good time, and we can't wait to have him home!

Uncle Dan with his nieces 

My parents and brother

One of my favorites, my brother is such a goob

Chillaxin' last summer

Happy 3rd Birthday Audrey and Charlotte!

Well my babies are 3 today! What an adventure they have taken us on! I had fun with Jason last night reminiscing about "This time three years ago, we were...." Hahaha I was asleep however when the actual time they were born (bright an early at 3:15am and 3:16am) rolled around! Unless God has other plans for us, we are done having children, so they really are my babies and it's truly bittersweet to have them turn 3. They are turning into such fun little girls and they are very much their own people and a tight unit at the same time.

Miss Audrey, she is turning out to be a live life to the fullest at full throttle person! I can see her soon relishing in that 1 minute older thing hahahaha She laughs louder, cries harder and dances longer then any of her sisters! Audrey has never met a stranger and is always going up to anyone who will listen and saying "Hi!" and telling them all about herself and her sisters. We have a running joke in the family that she is running for Congress hahaha She's a big Momma's Girl, the only time she's holding still is if she is snuggling with me or asleep. I love that she will still cuddle with me! She has such an imagination, which she loves to use to tell stories and play games. I'm excited to see what kind of person she continues to turn into, I have no doubt she will be a leader and always looking to include everyone in the fun!

Miss Charlotte, she is definitely much more reserved and shy then her twin. She is such a sweetheart, always has hugs and kisses for everyone and wants everyone to play together! Her verbal skills have finally started to blossom because up til now she has been very happy to let Audrey talk for both of them. I'm so happy to listen to what goes on in her head hahaha She has the most imagination out of all the girls I think, she is constantly lost in her own world. It can be frustrating at times, especially when trying to get her attention, but it's so to just stand and watch and listen as she plays with her dolls or cars! Lotty is a big people watcher and usually will sit back and watch before joining in anything. She is very much a girly girl! She loves dressing up, painting her nails and having her hair done! I think Lotty will continue to grow up to be a friend to everyone and one of those friends you can always talk to because she listens. :)

I can't help but think I'm a little sad because I have forgotten so much about the first couple of years with them! It was such a blur! I don't think either Jason or I ever expected we'd be the parents of twins and it has been a constant learning and growing experience! I always get the comment, "I don't know how you do it!" and I always answer "Neither do I!" and it's the truth! I don't know how I manage me life with these beautiful girls, but I can't imagine what my life would be like without them! Audrey and Charlotte have no problems playing with other children, but always check-in with each other off and on and I think that is a great relationship to have! They always call each other "My Audrey" or "My Charlotte" which just melts my heart every time I hear it!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!! You make my life doubly as full and interesting every day!! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU BOTH!! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last 3 years :)

The ultrasound that nearly made me pass out LOL

Sweet girls, 3 days old

My chunky monkeys, about 4 months old

They always slept cuddled up at babies, still warm my heart!

1st birthday!

1st birthday picture, all dolled up hehe

My mud princess Audrey

2nd birthday!

Lil bunnies!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!

Audrey & Charlotte's 3rd Birthday Party

So I'm a lame mom sometimes and things that I thought I had plenty of time to plan for, like birthday parties, tend to sneak up on me. It doesn't help when you just ripped your house apart and put it back together hahaha I only realized two weeks ago that I needed to plan Audrey & Charlotte's birthday party, then I forget again. Lame, I know. So I threw together a tiny get together with just our closest friends like a week ago. Can I get an Amen for summer birthdays? You fill up the pool, hook up the sprinkler and boom, you have a party! LOL My dear friend Kerri offered to make them Cars cupcakes since I haz no baking skillz! LOL I think I might owe her my next born child since that turned into a 10 hour crazy-fest at her house! Kerri, you have no idea how much I appreciate you!!! Those cupcakes made Audrey & Charlotte's day, they were so yummy and I can't believe how much you went through to make it happen!! Hahaha THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

We had 5 of their friends over and the kids all loved going out to swim, splash in the sprinkler and the greatest fun, flood the sand box! LOL We looked out at one point and they had drug the hose over to the sand box and were filling it! Crazy kids! Audrey & Lotty were in true Birthday Diva form through the party, I think today was a day when they needed a nap. It's gotten so hit and miss with naps with them that I never know when they'll need one. They pretty much took turns being in my arms, my lap, following me, and general fussing. They didn't want to eat anything but their cupcakes, they didn't want to swim, didn't want to play with their friends. Finally with about 30 minutes left they decided to go out and swim and play! I was relieved!

Thank you to my dear friends who came to help celebrate with us! We are so lucky to have incredible friends like you!! :)

Cars Cakes! As the twins called them

McQueen looks innocent, but he just might be the devil hahaha

So happy with their Cars cakes!

Jason and Asher chillin together

All the kiddos having some food

Birthday Divas!

Loving having everyone sing

Lotty's shy face, love her

It's done!

Our new floors are done! Can I get a AMEN?! Jason worked so hard, he did an incredible job! They looks so nice and I am SO HAPPY to be rid of those awful carpets!! The girls love that their cars can drive anywhere now and they are finally not slipping around themselves hahaha One of our dogs Margo, I can't say the same for. She basically Bambi's her way from area rug to area rug! She's not too happy with us but I'm hoping she adjusts soon! Our other dogs, Lucky and Shorty, aren't bothered by them except when trying to sit for biscuits because their fuzzy butts slip hehehehehe It's a little mean how amused we have all been by this ;-) So here is the finished product, I'll only post a couple of pics because I know I've been posting to death about it LOL

Kitchen

Family Room

Living room 1

Living room 2

Girls loving the new floors!

So now we have detail work like base boards, outlet covers, a few light fixtures to replace, and repainting the doors to do still but those will be weekend projects now. Happy, happy, joy, joy! ;)