Maggie Valley, Part 2

Attempts at getting a family picture with the lovely view behind us

This is right before K spit up in daddy's hair (he he he)

But what a cute picture! I know Joel would say it was worth it :o)

Kennedy loves her daddy

Natalie loves to play with anything that makes a "crunchy" sound, so she found this

bag of stuffing on the counter while hanging out in the kitchen and went to town

Smiling Kennedy

She is cutting a bottom tooth!

The gorgeous view from the front porch

Shhh, Ken is sleeping

Papa and Kennedy

I love it when the girls "talk" to each other :o)

"Hey Kennedy, guess what?!?!"

"I know, isn't that so exciting?!?!"

Vacation to Maggie Valley (part 1)

Well, we almost didn't make it to North Carolina... the day before we were supposed to leave, Joel got very sick and it seemed almost impossible to make the 4 1/2 hour trip with him feeling so awful. But he toughed it out, and the girls did great on their first road trip, and we arrived around 8 o'clock Wednesday night. We stayed at a cabin owned by friends of my parents, and it is sooo nice! Awesome view, comfortable king-sized bed, large soaking tub, perfect 75 degree weather every day... all around wonderful. Unfortunately, Joel was still sick most of our time there, which was a bummer. I hated that he felt so bad - we had been looking forward to this vacation for a while. But inspite of that, we had a really good time with my parents and sister. It was also nice to have the extra helping hands with the girls. The only thing that could have made it better was if Joel was 100% feeling good.
We just relaxed, ate my mom's yummy cooking, played card games, sat out on the great deck enjoying the view, napped, took long baths, snacked on junk food, watched movies, read, played with Natalie & Kennedy, and overall relaxed and took it easy.
We took lots and lots of pictures, so that is why I am calling this Part One... so more pictures to come, but here are some from our four days in Maggie Valley, North Carolina ~

Mommy & Nat Bug

Sooooo BIG!

Aunt Emily & Kennedy


Me & my hubby on the swing

Our little fam

Peek-A-Boo

The girls looking thru the window at a log cabin playhouse

There were these bear footrests, and we thought it'd be cute to get the girls on them,

but of course they couldn't sit on them without support, so we hopped on. Kind of silly, but hey, it looks cute!

LOVE this picture of my Ken!!!

Check out those stunning blue eyes

Nat blowing bubbles

Also check out her gorgeous blue eyes!

Natalie just hanging out in the jumperoo

Papa showing Kennedy how to play Liverpool Rummy

Natalie just playing... such a cutie pie!

Sisters having fun together

I like this one...

Natalie is a happy baby, just really hard to get to smile in pictures... so you get the stare

On our way up to NC, we stopped at Cracker Barrel

Mommy and her girls

One night in the big soaking tub, we decided that the girls needed to take a bath, so Emily & I put on our clothes and hopped in the tub with the girls, who had a blast splashing and playing in the water. It was their first bath in a real tub, and I think they liked it! Enjoy the video :o)

Gettin' More Fun By The Minute!

It's hard to believe that Natalie & Kennedy will be six months old tomorrow! It has been months full of love, smiles, diapers, laundry, little sleep, naps, discoveries, lots of laughter, and grateful hearts. Joel & I say often how glad we are that God gave us twin daughters!!! We wouldn't have it any other way...
Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the past week or two -

Natalie modeling her new bathing suit

It has matching flip flops (I couldn't resist) but she kept kicking them off,

so they didn't make it in the photo

Kennedy in her new swimsuit - she wasn't in the best mood, but I still think she looks adorable!

Joel & Ken


Rub a dub dub, Kennedy's in the tub!

Miss Ken

Natalie excited about getting a bath

Kennedy playing on her surfboard

Natalie playing

Ken taking a nap on daddy

Natalie likes holding her own bottle

Natalie playing in the exersaucer at Mimi's house

Daddy & daughters

This video is priceless. We all went to the Aquarium restaurant at Opry Mills to celebrate Uncle Andrey's last day here in Nashville before returning home to Ukraine. He took Kennedy over to look at the fish - I did not expect this type of reaction from her, but she LOVED it!!! Her facial expression says it all, but she was so fascinated. I tried to capture it on video, but her face melted our hearts. Anyway, here is Kennedy seeing "underwater" for the first time -

Summer is almost here!

Well, summer is not officially here yet, but we've had some really HOT days here in Nashville! And a fun and busy past few weeks. We spent time getting to know Andrey, a missionary with Campus Crusade from Kiev, Ukraine. He was truly one of the nicest guys we've met, and he loved talking to the girls and we really enjoyed getting to know him! We took our first picnic two weekends ago to Granny White Park, and the girls loved it! Well, we all loved it :o) We had fun at Laura & Justin's house a few w eeks ago, and played with cousins Caroline & Anna Kate. Laura has this cool car that the kids can sit in and you can push them around. Well, of course our girls had to try it out and we got the funniest pictures... too cute! Both Natalie & Kennedy are getting so big and grabbing for everything (most things end up in their mouths) and they are finally sleeping through the night (well, mostly) They go to bed around 8:30 or 9 and wake up between 5 or 6. I am very, very thankful to be getting more rest! We have had to deal with two ear infections for both girls back to back the past few weeks, which was pitiful. Poor babies. They took 10 days worth of yucky antibiotic, only to go back to the Dr to find out the infections had come right back. So we just finished another stronger medicine on Sunday and the girls seem to be doing much better. Since they have been on a lot of antibiotics lately, the Dr told us we could give them yogurt, so we have done that a few times, and Kennedy thinks it is the best stuff!!! Natalie is still figuring out the whole eating-with-a-spoon thing, so she ate a little, but Ken could not get enough! Guess we'll be introducing other baby foods real soon. Well, that's all for now... on to what you really look at our blog for - PICTURES!!! :O)

Me & Emily holding sleeping babies
She is holding Kennedy and I am holding Natalie

Mimi with Natalie

Emily with Natalie

Kennedy driving the car

Look at me behind the wheel!!!

Kennedy loves driving the car

Kennedy in cousin Caroline's big girl chair

Sweet Natalie

Andrey holding Ken

Natalie trying to eat the steering wheel

You think she is teething???

Natalie driving the car

Happy Kennedy
Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?!?!?!

Big smile from Natalie

Can't remember how we got her to smile, she usually

does not like being in her car seat! :o)

Me reading to my babies

They were actually looking at the pages & paying attention!

My sweet girls...