Birthday Weekend Part 1

We headed out to the lake house on Thursday night to spend the weekend with our family and celebrate Olivia and Carter's first birthday.  I took 270 pictures during the three days at the lake.  Whew!  Thankfully I didn't post them all to this blog.  :-)

Hanging out in jammas on Friday morning:

In the backyard....our favorite place:

I love these of Forrest and the twins:

Especially this one which makes Carter's belly look giant.  (Maybe it is giant?!?!)  :-)

Grandmommie tried to take a pic of Liah and me and all four kids.  She took about 25 of them and this one was the best.  Ha! 

This picture deserves a frame:

We took a walk to the park before dinner.  Carter needed a nap so he stayed behind, which opened up a primo seat for Caroline.

Mitchell Farms

A group from our church went out to Mitchell Farms in Collins this afternoon.  It's a giant property that is really one big fall playground for young children.  There was a pumpkin patch, hay bale maze, and a fantastic wagon ride.  Also, there were some small shops and an area full of rope and tire swings for the kids to play on.

 This is Brady.  He's only a year older than the twins but he is a giant.  He's the son of one of my favorite church friends, Kelly.

As our kids are a little young for some of the activities, but we took advantage of the wagon ride and the pumpkin patch.

We had to wait in line for a few minutes in order to ride on the wagon, so we let the kids get out of the stroller and play.

The wagon ride itself was the highlight of the day for me.  The twins loved it!

This is my girlfriend Jennifer and her son Cameron:

 This was the first indication that Carter was starting to drag a bit:

After the wagon ride we went to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out our free (with the price of admission) pumpkins.

More of Carter's tiredness emerges:



 And now he's turning cranky:

 But not Olivia!  She's seizing the day (and pumpkin).

Here are the two pumpkins we took home.

We all had a wonderful time.  Forrest carried Olivia and I held Carter's hand while he walked to the car with us.  By this time he was so cranky that he started trying to walk in the opposite direction from me.  I kept having to chase after him and force him to go with us, which he resisted.  He is definitely a toddler but he slept like a baby on the way home.  Olivia and I hunt out together in the backseat and snacked on pumpkin bread.

Texas Fight!

Today is the Texas/OU game - biggest game of the year!  Last year the twins missed this game by one day.  In fact, I went to labor a few hours after the game (I'm assuming that the stress of the game DID NOT have anything to do with my early labor!). 

Forrest left early this morning to play golf, so he wasn't here to prevent me from outfitting us all in Longhorn gear.

Texas Fight!

 Sorry about the poor quality of this one.  It is very hard to take a self portrait while holding two one-year olds on your lap.

One year birthday

Olivia and Carter turned one year old on Tuesday.  I don't think I've ever looked forward to any birthday more than I've looked forward to this one.  It came with a strong sense of accomplishment and thanksgiving.  Is it weird to say that I was mostly just proud of them?  That's really how I felt.  I was so proud of them for growing into the toddlers that they are now.  Plus, I was extremely grateful to have experienced this year with them and Forrest. 

When I went into their bedroom that morning, I immediately proclaimed that it was their birthday.  Then I sang them every birthday song I could think of.  They understood my excitement but probably not its cause, but that's ok.  I want them to know that their birthday is a big deal to me, which is just what my parents did on my birthdays.

I also heard Forrest telling Olivia that "one year ago today was a great day for us, probably not for her, but it definitely was for us."  I thought that was really sweet. 

We didn't have a party because we'll do that at the lake house next weekend.  They did get a couple cards in the mail and some balloons from their teachers and classmates at school.  I served them yogurt for dinner with mandarin oranges inside, as that is their favorite meal. 

O and C - thank you for the best year of my life.  You two are such a joy to me and I'm grateful for the time we've been given together.  I love you this much!

P.S. babies.... I know one of you pooped in the tub on your birthday but neither of you have owned up to it. You seem intent on keeping that secret from me.  I will forgive it since it was your birthday and it's a general rule in our family that you can do no wrong on your birthday.