Easter Sunday

This year was the twins second Easter but the first one where we could go to church as a family. Last year they were tucked away in the NICU since they were just over a week old.

I was so excited to be able to make their baskets-I tried to be very practical and get stuff they would need even if it wasn't a holiday with a few cheap fun things. They were filled with food pouches, goldfish, bubbles, bunny ears, bath toys, pajamas, sunglasses and a skirt for Riggs, socks and shorts for Jackson, sidewalk chalk and a bible to share. They were so cute as they looked through their goodies that morning before church.

Look what the Easter Bunny left the twins!

Checking it all out, of course Riggs is in Jackson's basket.

JackJack and his bunny ears.

Riggs was not a big fan of the glasses

After we enjoyed the morning we got ready and headed to church. The twins had had colds all week so we decided to skip Sunday School to make sure they did not share with any of the other babies. I had been so excited about their Easter outfits, I had gotten them about 2 months ago. On Friday I decided it might be a good idea to try them on-of course both were huge. I spent the weekend trying to figure out what to do-even looked for new ones. In the end I was sewing their clothes on Sunday morning so they would fit better. I think the cinching worked and they were so adorable.

We headed off to church so celebrate the real reason for the day our Risen Savior. I was hopeful I would actually get to sit through the sermon but knew that might be hard since we did not feel we should put them in nursery and Riggs is not able to stay quiet or still enough for church. We made it through about 3 songs and then made our exit to the lobby for the rest of service. During this time Riggs spent the better part crawling around a spitting up her milk. We had just switched them to 100% milk and we learned that morning she has an intolerance and right not can't handle it. During church I think she spit up 6 times-I had no idea how fast milk curdled-this was the worst thing I had ever smelled worse than throw-up. After Aaron and Jackson joined us we decided it was best to get her out of her dress and try and wash it for some after church pictures, the smell was sickening. Aaron took care of this and ran it out to the car so it could dry in the sun. While he was gone I was corral both as they crawled around when Riggs spewed again. As I was cleaning this up Jackson took off towards the worship center doors-of course church ended right then and the people started flooding out. I was stuck wiping up R's mess so I  could not grab him and there was no one I knew around to ask to help. Luckily one lady saw what was going on and offered to grab him so he didn't get away or get trampled.

We left church and went to one of our favorite restaurants in downtown, Smoke on the Water, had a great lunch with Staci, Charlie and Haley and then tried to get some pictures in the park. Well as you can imagine at this point the twins were well past their nap window and this was not too successful, but we were able to snag a few cute one.

My Easter Babies!

I love a boy in a boytie!

Sweet little girl!

The best we could get, we didn't even try a picture of all 4 of us.

I have learned holidays with little ones are exhausting but such a a joy as well. While I know they did not get a lot out of Easter this year in the future we want to make sure they understand what the true meaning is. It is not about the egg hunts and the candy, but about Jesus who died for our sins and rose so we could have eternal life.

Baby Dedication

On January 29th we had our annual baby dedication at church. As you would imagine this year was a little sweeter than those past as we were able to present Jackson and Riggs before the church and ask for their prayers and support as we raise them to honor and love God.

Since we do this once a year there was quite a few babies to be dedicated. In 2011 our church was abundantly blessed with new lives-15 sweet little names were called and dedicated. Jackson and Riggs are going to have so many friends to be raised in the church with-we are so thankful to have such a community to to through this season of life with.

Each baby was called and a picture collage was shown as they were present with a scroll and bible by two of our elders. Little hands quickly grabbed the scrolls so I would say they are less than perfect now but still a special reminder of the love and support we have from our church. The twins did a great job throughout the dedication-we were babies 4 and 5 so there many to follow us. Riggs was a little restless and thought it was fun to pull Noah's mommy Cara's hair during the event-sorry Cara!

Jackson and Riggs being presented their bibles and scrolls by one of our Elders.

 

 

 

Watching all the other babies get announced.

Sweet Brynlee cried the entire time. Preachers Kid!

Riggs pulling Cara's hair during the prayer.

We are so thankful to have such a great church that loves our babies and is there to support us in the most important task we have as parents.

One other fun little treat, Jackson and Riggs made the cover of the bulletin!

Pumkintown, Low Country Boil & More

We had a busy weekend full of many fun family activities. We opted not to go to Clemson for homecoming and partake in those festivities but had many other options to make it excited. Be warned this is a post of many many pictures!

Saturday morning started out slow as Aaron went to work for a bit and I stayed home and played with my favorite twins, did laundry and made pumpkin bread.

Riggs on their new play mat.

Dueling Jump-A-Roos!

 Later in f the afternoon the Wiggains came to our house then we headed out to the Pumkintown festival. Yes there is really a town in South Carolina named Pumpkintown.

 It was a cultural experience to say the least. We were not sure what to expect and I think that is a good thing because I cam not sure this is what we would have pictured. There were a few pumpkins but not many. Mostly it was vendors set up at tents selling their goods. There was everything from smocked dress to marshmallow shooters to redneck wine glasses (a mason jar turned into a wine glass-as they lady said it had a lid so no open container!). Oh I should have taken more pictures. In the entertainment area there was square dancing, blue grass and pole climbing. I have never seen more shirts talking about ammo or had more smoke blown in my sweet babes face (I protected them best I could). I have to say may favorite ignorant people making fun of Jackson's helmet. I think it was better that momma was not around and daddy had him when this happened. All in all we still had fun on our outing to Pumpkintown.

After this we headed over to a couple's condo that we go to church with for a low country boil. It was amazing.

They put this on for our home builders group (the 20 and 30 somethings) and we had so much fun-there were about 50 of us in attendance and we put a major hurtin' on the food. Tommy and Melinda were so generous to to provide this for us.

Riggs had a rough night Saturday night and was screaming (I mean screaming) when it was time to go to bed. I am not sure if it was teething or her tummy but I was finally about to get her to settle down but laying her face down on my legs. After doing this she was out in about 5 seconds. I thought this picture was too funny not to post.

Sunday we got and headed to church for a time of praise and worship. We were there a little early so I snapped some pictures of the twins in their class. I love that we have such a great children's program and the babies are able to start learning about Jesus at such a young age.

That afternoon we made a last minute decision to head over to the Clemson Church of Christ annual pig pickin'. This where Aaron and I went to church in college and the first few years after we moved back to SC. It was so great to see so many of our friends and of course to be able to show off the twins to many we have not seen since they were born. The food and fellowship was great and Jackson and Riggs got to ride a real pony.

Delicious Chicken!

Jackson on his pony ride.

Riggs on her pony ride.

Riggs telling Daddy she wants a pony!

The double twin hold is getting a lot harder as they get bigger.

 We had a fun weekend full of many great activities. We are going to rest up this weekend because next is even busier. What did you do this weekend?

Praying for Strangers

Sunday we had our annual ladies breakfast during Bible Class time. This is really a neat day as ALL of the women of the church are able to attend and the men step up and cover the children's classes. What a great act of service this is to the ladies.

This year we had River Jordan as our guest speaker, she is the author of Praying for Strangers. I have to admit I went into this with many preconceived notions I thought this was going to be some kind of free spirit lady who played with crystals etc. OK maybe I am being a bit dramatic but I did think it would be weird. Well I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and I really enjoyed her talk. River explained how this idea started as a New Years Resolution and then told us of some of the stories in her book. How every day the Holy Spirit would guide her to her stranger that she would pray for. At first she did this privately and then she started to tell people that she would be praying for them that evening and many times they would tell her exactly why God had led her to them. My favorite was the the one about the Kentucky Lady at the bus station. River quickly told her that she would be praying for her and the lady then told her...you know I just finish praying for all these people and at the end I ask God is there anyone in this entire world praying for me? WOW!

I am still processing the morning and how God is going to use this in my life but I thought it was so amazing and such a great concept that I wanted to share. You can go here to see more of River's story and learn more about her book.

Oh I Love to Pat the Bible...

the bible the bible...oh I love to pat the bible with hands God gave me...

Look at them holding hands! I love it!

 Sunday we took the twins to their very first cradle roll class at church. They have been going to class with us since they were about 6 weeks old-normally during class time they were eating or sleeping so this worked great. The last few weeks they have been a little more restless so we decided they were ready to go to their own class at 4.5 months old.

Jackson excited to be in Bible Class!

Trying to figure it all out!

Our little princess getting in her seat! Riggs loves singing!

They both look so eager in this picture and they have their own Bibles!

Singing Pat the Bible for the first time with their teacher Ms. Liz.

This was the perfect week-it was promotion Sunday for all of the kids at church so they got to move up as well.

The big kids at church signing songs before going to their new class

 I love our church and they have an amazing children's program. I am so excited to watch Jackson and Riggs grow up in this setting. Aaron and I feel it is very important to make this a part of their life at such a young age, teaching them to love and obey the Lord. They seemed so excited to be in their class with other little friends. I didn't get paged so I guess they meant they did OK-I kind of wanted to stand outside and watch them through the window but I refrained. I can't wait until they are older and they can tell us about what they learned on our way home from church.