Sculpture Saturday

We are back from vacation, so, the posts should be flowing!  However, this will also depend on how the girls adjust to a quiet house of just us!  :)

A few weeks ago, we had dinner guests and we recruited them to help out with our Sculpture endeavors.

This sculpture is in front of this cute, old-school hardware store.

This guitar-playing sculpture is out front at Mad Anthony's Brewing Company.

I think we have 6 statues down, 8 more to go!

Oh Vacation...

So, we are still on our vacation (a work-cation for Jon).

We are having a great time and the girls have adjusted marvelously. 

Let me describe this lake experience to you. 

13 boy cousins, 3 girls cousins

add on top of this, aunts, uncles, grandparents and a lot of wild ideas.

Jada and Adia are the first babies in 14 years.

I am scared we are going to get home and have three spoiled rotten girls.  Yes, three.

I haven't had to carry two babies very often.  If I am in need of a break, I find someone and pass off the girls.  They are getting very used to being the center of attention and entertained and held. I am getting used to having breaks!

I can't get another picture in right now, so for your viewing pleasure, here is what Adia thinks of her lifejacket. :)

An update on the computers and the theft: We now have new computers. I am still sad for irreplaceable things that we have lost, but so glad for insurance coming through.  Praise the Lord!

Oh, by the way, so far three of my readers are going to get Christmas Cards b/c I only have gotten your addresses!  (If I have your address easily accessible in a directory, you are off the hook).  :)

Okay, So Here is the Dealie-o

Hi!  Sorry it has been so quiet on my end.  We have had quite the week...Unfortunately, I am going to violate my cardinal blogging rule and post without a picture!  yikes! Hopefully pictures will come soon as we now have internet.

We are vacationing with my family at a nearby lake.  Jon is doing work from there and we are having a great time.   However, our first night, we were visited by thieves.  I have never had anything big stolen, but my vehicle had the window busted out and my laptop was taken.  Jon's car had his laptop and work bag in it as well.  Stolen.  So frustrating.  It is kind of sobering to realize how much I depend on a machine! We hope the police can recover something.  Jon has been scrambling to rebuild what we have lost and our insurance, praise the Lord, has agreed to replace them after we pay our deductible.

The girls are doing well now.  We stay in a cottage with a lot of family, aunts, uncles, grandma, cousins, etc.  We had our big bumps in the road but now they both have adjusted and on Thursday night, I finally got out behind the boat.

I did lose my address list/Christmas card list.  If you would be so kind, I would greatly appreciate your snail mail!  If you would like to e-mail them to me instead of leaving a comment, you can use amymichellegerst@gmail.com

Okay, more to come with pictures and less pity-party! ;)

"It Goes Up to 30 Pounds!"

I said to Jon across the produce section.  A woman stopped, "You aren't going to do what I think you are going to do"..."Yes, actually we are," I replied.  "Do you mind if I stay here and watch?" 

Yes, that's right, we weighed them right there on the produce scale.  I guess when you don't own a scale, you have to be resourcesful!

Finally!  Accurate weights on the girls!  According to the produce scale they are 17 lbs even!

I Never Thought I Would Post About Squirrels...

In lieu of Sculpture Saturday, we are going to have "Squirrel Saturday".  Yes, weird and semi-boring sounding, but wait, let me explain...

In our fair town, we  have our share of squirrels. 

There we sat on the front porch.  The girls were delighted to be in their 4th of July outfits, again.

and it seemed like a normal night.

Okay, normal in the fact that Adia has a handful of Jada's hair in this picture.

Not normal in that the girls were FUSSY because of their vaccines. :(  Look at Adia's cute little bandaged thighs!)

Okay, back to the squirrels.  There we were enjoying the evening, when Jon and I noticed these two squirrels that were having so much fun together.  Seriously, quite the antics.  They were like best friend squirrels, one would hop, the other would follow, they played, ran, laid, climbed trees, altogether. 

Jon went to go and get the camera.  "Seriously babe, we cannot take pictures of squirrels!" Jon replied, "oh, it's just my hobby."  Okay, not a bad hobby, take squirrel pictures.

We were already laughing at them, and then things got really funny because, on this HOT evening, this squirrel did this on our sidewalk.

I have never seen squirrels behave quite like this. Our fair town also has two kinds of squirrels, the typical gray squirrel and then the black squirrel.  (Wait, go back and say "the black squirrel" in an ominious tone.  From here on, whenever you read "black squirrel" use this tone, it will help the whole story be so much funnier!) Rumor has it, the black squirrels are vicious. We have heard rumor of some pretty gruesome details when a black squirrel catches a gray squirrel.  (Yes, we may just spend too much time on our porch listening to the neighborhood squirrel gossip.)

When what should pop around the tree???

Dashing it's tail around like a sword...

Dun, dun, dun...

THE BLACK SQUIRREL

and the chase begins...

It was like the Discovery Channel in our front yard. 

We thought it was a rumor.

I won't add any more pictures and should probably erase this whole post, but if you have stayed with me this long...it seems the rumors are true.

BLACK SQUIRREL STRIKES AGAIN.

Then our sweeet neighbors came by, a happy picture to end the post on. :)

A Prayer Request: Jon and I are really in need of wisdom in a very sticky situation of which we are in the middle.  Please pray with us for wisdom and the proper action.

The Blue One...

We celebrated my Grandma's Birthday last weekend. Jada and Adia are the only great-grandkids on that side of the family and are given much love and attention.

My favorite moment of the night came at dinnertime.  I put the girls down to play and shut the french doors, thinking they would be happier without all the noise.  I went to check on them and found my 14 and 15 year-old cousins like this...

I laughed at how they were just watching the girls through the glass.  I thanked them for watching the girls and said, "I am going to be in the kitchen, let me know if they start to fuss." I overhead Ben tell Tyler, "this is kind of fun!"

Less than a minute later, I hear Ben yell, "Amy, the blue one is crying!"

Also, I would like to make a correction. I wrote the wrong link for Amanda's bows! You can find her work at: http://www.aslittlebowtique.blogspot.com/.  She made the headbands the girls used for the 4th of July.

Frills and Flowers

Some have asked about where I get the girls' headbands. My sister-in-law, Sarah, (you see her adorable son and daughter on the blog, little Paige usually has in beautiful flowers) set us up with a great many flowers and headbands, my girls are still growing into those, but we are oh so close!  We also got some from a friend who has http://aslittleboutique.blogspot.com. The girls have worn several different kinds, but I would like to spotlight Frills and Flowers.

You can visit her shop at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/frillsandflowers

The headbands are great quality and lightweight. People are surprised the girls keep them on.  They really don't seem to notice they are wearing these.

However, they do notice each other's...:)

Mousey Mom makes them all custom and you can order one you like from her online shop, or send her a specific outfit you want to match, or a description and she will make you a custom headband.  I know she has made wedding pieces for little girls as well.

Here is a sampling of other headbands she has designed, just for the girls...

And this picture is just for Aunt Kris, Jada rocked the shoes on Sunday!

The girls got their vaccines today...Jada keeps waking up from her nap, yelling and then falling back asleep...It could be a long night?

Public Kiddie Pool-Take Two

Yes, we tried again. Saturday, Jon thought we should give it a shot. We had gotten a floatie from Sarah and things went GREAT! We didn't get great pictures, but they just chilled in the floatie...Definitely going to get another one before the lakes!

Jon was a great sport and was the only husband in the kiddie pool. Props to him. Especially when it came time to de-diaper babies. He chose Adia, who had pooped in her swim diaper. I took Jada about 15 feet away in the shade and I hear Jon say, "Umm, we have a situation." I turned to look, just as every other mother in the kiddie pool area did and saw poop being flung on the sidewalk, Adia's leg, the beach towel, eww, eww, eww. I started to laugh and tried to get ahold of myself to help Jon out. "How do you get these things off without turning them inside out?" He claims that he was not flinging poop, rather, the diaper was flinging poop. :) We had to wash down the area where we were and left with our dry, diapered babies. :)

At least we are making memories wherever we go. ;)

Adia's Boyfriend

The girls love to kiss, and when I say kiss, I mean more of an open-mouth, tongue out, suck on your face.

And when they are in the mood to kiss, your face will be covered in saliva by the time they tire of this activity.

The other night, Jada was done with being cheery for the day.

We told Adia, "Adia, you give sister kisses to make her feel better?"

The approach...

The kiss...

The end result?

Jada was not cheered up.

So, now that you know how they kiss, you will understand Adia's thinking. 

A few mornings ago, they were doing their normal book time.

Here is Adia when I left her.

 

I came around the corner and Adia is sucking on the book, I mean, hunched over, mouth wide open, sucking on a picture.  I couldn't figure it out until I saw the picture that had her so enraptured.

Yes, little Mr. Yawns has caught her attention.

Should we be worried?

Sculpture Saturday

Two sculptures in one Saturday! I kind of don't want to be committed for 15 Saturdays, so we may start doubling up. :)

Whew! What We've Been Doing...

It has been an exhausting week, it hasn't been a bad week, I have just been draggin'! There have been rough little bumps, like trying to figure out why Adia is WIDE AWAKE and ready for the day at 3:30 am.  Bless Jon, he got up with her around 4:20 am when we figured out nothing was going to put her back to sleep.  However, with the bumps, we have had lots of fun too.

I am going to try and do a giant catch-up post on our last few weeks. 

Up Close and Personal with the Horses:

Look at Adia's delight...

Zoo Day!

We met Heidi, Honor and Eden at the zoo.

In this picture, Adia has a firm grasp of Eden's hair.

First Time at the Kiddie Pool

My Mom and I took the girls to see what they thought of the kiddie pool...

$6, 30 minutes and a screaming fit later, we left and decided maybe we should stick to a backyard pool (in the shade) this Summer. I am destined to stay pasty white all-year. :)

Cousins Come for a Visit

Ang and girls came over for a fun afternoon.  Jada and Adia really had a better time than is reflected in this picture. ;)

Transitioning to High Chairs, Baby Sign and Homemade Baby Food

It was also time to transition to the high chairs! It is so much cleaner to feed them!

I have been working on a few signs with the girls ("more" and "all-done").  Jada is successfully use the "more" sign!

While talking with my sister-in-law this past weekend, I added up what I estimated the cost of the girls' formula and baby food for a day.  Oh my. Meika has a son a few months older than the girls and she told me how easy it is to make your own baby food.  So, you now see homemade sweet potatoes on those girls' lips.

Turning into Puzzlers...

Yes, that is right.  I have never completed a puzzle bigger than 100 pieces.  Last night, Jon suggested we do a puzzle.  Once the girls are down, we are kind of limited on activities as we need to stay in the house. I laughed and felt like an old person and told Jon that I was not a puzzler.  However, we decided to tackle one, 500 pieces no less, and I must admit, it is kind of addicting!

While we puzzled, we listened to an INCREDIBLE sermon. 

Listen to it today while you check blogs, make dinner or pay the bills.

Table of Nations by Voddie Baucham

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=525091133123

Our American culture has been so misinformed on this subject. We both learned a lot and agreed we have never heard such a clear, concise, biblical perspective on God's Creation of one race. 

Will You Look at That Grin?

A Smattering of Photos...

We had a full and wonderful weekend with the Gerst family. 

Due to exhaustion and a messy house, I am just going to post a mess of pictures of the weekend.  ;)

Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July!