Wrapping up summer

Once again, I'm here with a sorta-mega-update two months late.  We said so-long to summertime.

I've never before had a twin-egg before until now!  Apparently that's "the thing" - when you're pregnant with twins, you crack open twin eggs.  Here it is, three years after being pregnant with them!

yolk #2 broke up before I could snap a good pic... but my twins with our twin egg

just doing some casual mowing with our bubble mowers in the cul-de-sac

"do you mind if I just take a seat, Ella?"

double carts at Home Depot for the major win

seriously, look how happy they are

After the very sad, unnecessary, and ridiculous events in Charlottesville, The Martin Agency took a big stand with their old Virginia is for lovers slogan revamped with #standforlove.  Proud to work here.

 Look at these cute ladies trying on their beach pictures outfits

Sydney was not a fan of halting her play time for her fitting

For a few weeks in August, Martin let everyone off at 1 for "Summer Fridays".  On one particularly sweltering Friday, we decided to take the girls to the zoo.  Despite the heat, we had the best time!  The zoo was practically empty, the birds were hungry, and we were able to let the girls walk around without a stroller.

giraffe shirts to go see real-life giraffes

So as much as the girls loved their shirts and talked about the giraffes... we all kind of hated them, ha.  They were aggressive, their massive tongues were insanely strong, and they smelled so bad.  Don't worry, the mom-arrazi documented our time with the giraffes, but we much preferred the birds.

hilarious and terrifying

look at Sydney feeding that thing solo!

do you see that nasty giraffe eyeballing the girls?  he wanted to eat them alive, I'm sure of it

 ...and then the birds!  Oh, how we love these birds.  On that particular day, they were hungry and friendly and so fun.

that bird plopped right down on Ella's head.

so many hungry birds

they say birds so sweet and cute... "buurrds" and "teet, teet, teet, teet" (tweet)

we had so much fun... and we even made it into the Martin Agency staff meeting, to represent how awesome Summer Fridays are

looking at the massive turtle

hot, sweaty, happy

take a guess on which one didn't care for the carousel

how cool is that?

After the zoo, we went out to eat and stopped by the TD parking lot to see school buses.  Right now, they are OBSESSED with school buses.  They love seeing them, talking about them, singing about them... they literally ran around and squealed with delight.

a school-bus-obsessed-toddler's-heaven

We had to do some vacation shopping, which meant we had to actually go into the store.  We've been doing Grocery Pick-Up which is a heaven-send for our family.  Not only do we save time, but we save a ton of money not impulse-buying.  So, alas, I had to take two tots into the Walmart by myself.  Fortunately, I've been saving a huge lollipop for the right occasion, so they did great people watching and eating their sugary treat.

two crabs headed home after a swim

a fun new toy at Grandma's house

two beggars when it's time for dessert... at least they're cute

silly cousins

sweet, sweet, sweet

"Yet's go, Eyya"

On 8/21, we had a partial solar eclipse in Richmond.  We weren't in the area with full totality, but had about 85% totality, and it was still so cool to watch.  My work threw a eclipse viewing party, and Daniel went to the Arbor Landing lake to see it with his brother and our neighbors.

it's up there behind the clouds

really, pretty neat

through Daniel's glasses

fun with Jacob... on the way home, they were pretty disappointed they didn't have a Mickey Mouse pillow

swaddled baby dolls, giggling girls, so much cute before bed time.

And you can find the video of their amazing laughter right here

my filled up lap is my favorite
two little girls
one bird
one baby doll
one kitty baby
four arms, four legs, forty fingers and toes

love their sweet little feet
(these are Sydney's)

chalk, bubbles, good weather

We went to POR park with our baby bestie, Evelyn, and had such a great time.  We played on the playground and went for a hike

two swings, three little ones, no problem

headed on our hiking adventure

with Darryl as our leader

on the way back from the hiking adventure... they couldn't hang

One rainy day, they asked to visit Aster and Daisy, but it was raining.  So we put on our much-too-large rain boots and headed over.  Much to our surprise, Daisy has matching rain boots!

a preview of teenage Ella

squeaky clean monsters

National Teddy Bear day means our teddy bears (given to us by Nana) went to school

meow, it feels like fall

One gorgeous Sunday morning, we decided to head to the park to play, and it was empty.  I guess all the good people go to church...? :)

so we enjoyed a picnic after playing.. I've recently discovered the ease and joy of Lunchables :)

someone ran into the corner of the coffee table and we had to pull out Boo Boo Bunny reinforcements

and Ella took some selfies (and by some, I mean about 15)

so after getting bitten at school, falling on the playground and needing a band aid, and the coffee table incident, we just hunkered down and snuggled... it was much safer on the couch

happy momma

So my sister had this fun game she wanted to play....
"what's the most unsafe location to take three toddlers, a 5 year old, a newborn, and six adults" and take them there!  She wanted us to see the progress on their gigantic new house, which is cool and all, until you have to keep your kids from jumping out of window-holes, picking up nails, and not climbing the halfway-completed stairs.

Ella spent one Sunday morning pouring cup after cup after cup of tea/coffee/apple juice/milk.  She's perfected the "I'm a little teapot" pose

party girls in their ice cream and sprinkles attire, heading to Macon's bday party

biker chicks
Ride or Die

alphabet pants & monster feet
the beautiful chaos of a toddler

A new favorite thing - airplanes and helicopters.  Fortunately for them, they go to daycare on base where they can see jets and helicopters in abundance.  Each morning they say "wanna see the air-pane, momma" and then say "it's not moving" or "it's not fy-ing (flying)".  There's one particular helicopter they like that has a "mad face, momma".  One morning, we went to go touch one and see it up close.

So long summer.  We enjoyed you!