we ❤ our GiGi

We've had lots of wonderful family time this summer. We are SO grateful to have close family ties on both sides.

Future posts will portray LOTS and LOTS of pictures of family members. One family member that won't be seen by face is the Cuties' GiGi (Great Grandma). BUT she is represented in all the pictures that include blankets.

GiGi--we love you and wish we lived closer to you so that we can share life. But please know that you are remembered daily (if not hourly) because of the blankets that the Cuties tote everywhere. Your love literally wraps them up at every nap and bedtime and anytime that they are sad, the blanket comes out to comfort them. 

And even when there aren't pictures of blankets, GiGi's resemblance can be seen in Poppy's face, my face, and Cutie Face's face:

Is it me or do the three of us have the same profile?

We love you, GiGi and hope to see you soon!

Falling Water Baby

We're here

That phrase may seem like a small, inconsequential thing to you but to 2 tired twins, each mommies to 2 (very) tired girls aged 2 and under, it is HUGE

3 (or was it 4?) stops and 12 hours later (in what usually is a 9-hour car ride) we arrived, sweaty, exhausted, and smelling like pee (well, not us but one daughter...ahem...Cutie Face...and the whole van).

We were thrilled! 

We cannot praise God enough for His hedge of protection, safety and saneness around us.

To celebrate, we went swimming twice...

and Cutie Cakes seemed to love it the most. 

Side Note: When Big C was 6-months old (February '09) she went to Florida with us and we taught her how to "jump" in:

so we couldn't deny Cutie Cakes

She was an instant pro and wiggled her little bum right off the side into my waiting arms.

the twin captured it all on video after she'd been at it for 5 minutes or so. 

priceless! Hopefully we'll get some better close-ups of her HUGE grin tomorrow!

Sign with me, Cutie Cakes!

Because I have more than 300 photos from this weekend alone....Because we're leaving for Florida in 12 hours....Because I feel the urge to blog but not to really blog....

....i'm skipping over 7 days of fun and landing smack on today's activity: teaching sign language to Cutie Cakes...by the Cutie Face herself....

Cutie Cakes started her morning out by entertaining herself...

but that quickly turned into frustration

So the ever-helpful big sister stepped in and narrates from here:

"Waz dat, Cutie Cakes? You wanna watch a video, huh?"

i show you how to sign "more".

like DIS Cutie Cakes like dis

more more more

wait a minute (yes she really says that). lemme see

yup (yes, she says that, too). like dis

PHEW! it's tough being a teacher!

Grandma in the ATL

The last few times we've seen Grandma have been in Hillsdale. Cutie Face LOVES visiting Grandma's house because of her lake, swing, and puppies.

We, however, were thrilled to welcome her back to the ATL for a week-long visit that coincided with her birthday, Cutie Face's birthday, and Cutie Cakes' baptsim. Talk about a full week!

As if all of those events weren't enough, we still managed to go to the zoo, the doctor's and out to dinner. Thanks for tagging along with us, Grandma!

the birthday girl ordered a fun TV dinner tray--complete with lemon cupcake!

a day after all the birthday and baptism celebrations, Grandma accompanied us to the 2-year and 6-month doctor's appointments.

(six-month sitter)

(two-year sorter)

Cutie Face was weighed and measured
and found to be in the 99th percentile for height (37.5")

Cutie Cakes is our "petite" kiddo, 

measuring in the 69th percentile for both height and weight

We LOVE our PA! She's great and examined Cutie Face's new doll from Grandma before she performed any "tricks" on Cutie Face. 

we were very thankful that Grandma was with us, especially after the vaccine shots!

post-doctor, we headed to the zoo. Grandma bought us our zoo membership but she'd never been with us. We were very glad to share the animals with her!

it was a bit steamy at the panda exhibit

Despite the heat, there were SO MANY animals playing or lounging

the highlight was seeing the newborn, 4-week old giraffe

she barely stopped running. It was adorable!

we even saw two elephants--seriously, we've never seen more animals at one time before--they must have known that Grandma was coming to see them!

Grandma is a minister in the Episcopalian church so we decided to take her to one of the most beautiful Episcoplain cathedrals we've ever seen--The Cathedral of St. Philips. 

We first discovered this church when we started attending their weekly Saturday farmers' market (the best in the ATL!). One Saturday, we sought cover from the rain, and stumbled upon their incredible bookstore. So that's where we took Grandma...

The girls were a little antsy so we played on both of their playgrounds (yes! they have TWO!)

and Cutie Face practiced for preschool

It now appears that it isn't a visit to the Cutie household
without a Move it Move it dance party
...of which Grandma was happy to partake!

Thanks for coming to visit us, Grandma!

we love you!

Baptizing the Cutie Cakester

A year and a half ago, Cutie Face was baptized on Super Bowl Sunday--exactly one week before she hit the 6-month mark.

This year, Cutie Cakes was baptized on her sister's birthday, 2 days after turning 6-months. It was fun to see the similarities/differences at the same age, stage and, more importantly event (BAPTISM!).

While our invitation might seem casual, this day in Cutie Cakes' life is a HUGE deal to us...

As mentioned before, we belong to a PCA church and baptize our kiddos as infants. We do not believe this is a saving sacrament but, rather, an act where a child enters the Covenant Family. Much like circumcision was (is!) used as a sign to set infant (males) apart for God, PCAers (Presbyterian Church of America) view baptism as the New Testament mark of the covenant. Again, feel free to check out this link posted a few months ago when Sweet Pea was baptized--it makes more sense than I do!

The whole gang headed back down to our neck of the woods for this special event...

Cutie Cakes was a little nervous about being in front of so many people so she gnawed on Mimi's hand for a bit.

The older cousins were the sweetest. The held hands in the service and sat quietly while we sang, prayed, and listened to the Word. The best part came after we finished a song--Lil Miss exclaimed, "YAY!" and started clapping. Then Cutie Face said (very loudly), "Lil Miss said 'YAY'!" It was too much.

Cutie Cakes big moment finally came and we stood up in front of the church body as a family. The charge that our pastor gives us as parents is so incredible. I wish I had a video of it so I could remind myself of what my true calling as a mother should be and to draw encouragement from it when the day-to-day begins to wear on me.

You can see my dad in the picture on the right. He is an elder at our parent church (we're a church plant from a larger church in the suburbs) and held the baptism bowl for us.  You don't know how neat that is to me that he was able to do that. Thanks Poppy!

pictures by Bob Schellhammer

Cutie Cakes did GREAT up in front of everyone--

smiling, gurgling, and distracting (!). 

picture by Bob Schellhammer

The official baptism moment

picture by Bob Schellhammer

Post church, all the cousins had a quick photo-op in their matching outfits

picture by Bob Schellhammer

Then we headed inside for a lavish brunch casserole spread. 

Many many thanks to all the hands that prepared it!

After brunch and before naps, the cousins played

picture by Bob Schellhammer

 When the cousins said goodbye, the Cuties had bonding time with Gramps and Jen-Gram before they headed back home

beautiful Jen-Gram

picture by Bob Schellhammer

sharing blankie-love with Gramps

picture by Jen Schellhammer

Movin'Movin' it with Gramps!

can't get enough

Cutie Cakes takes it all in

picture by Bob Schellhammer

What a great celebration to share with family!