Lucky Seven

Around this time last year, we had a pint-sized version of our lucky seven.  This year, Daniel and I celebrated seven fabulous years as husband and wife.  We've had our share of ups and downs, and I couldn't imagine doing life with anyone else.  Daniel is the rock of our family - he keeps the ship afloat, makes all three of his girls laugh, and always keeps me smiling and in love.

This life will go by in the blink of an eye, but I wouldn't want to spend it without you by my side.

Thanks to Grandma Georgia loving on the girls, we were able to enjoy an amazing, beautiful, and quiet night at The Boathouse.  The weather was so perfect, and we really enjoyed being on their deck.  The sunset was in-cre-di-ble.  We drank fancy drinks and had kick-ass food.  We also didn't have to cut food into tiny pieces, ask someone to eat another bite or not to throw their food on the floor, or change messy diapers.  It was a very-much needed break in the midst of our crazy lives :)

fancy drinks and handsome date

the view & sunset were stunning

Cheers to surviving another year... happier than I ever thought we could be.  Being a mom and dad to multiples is tough - it's not for the faint of heart, and you have to really work at not taking your exhaustion and grumpiness out on your better half.  We have to work every day to try to put each other first, remember that we were a married couple before we were parents, and try not to lose sight of that.  And we do, occasionally (or more often than not), so we just remind each other where we started... pick ourselves back up, and start fresh.  We don't always like each other, but we always, always, always love each other.

This, my friends, is our happily ever after.

Sink Family of Four - Fall Vacay

Do you remember back in the summer when we went on a vacation trip?  It consisted with a lot of crying and clinginess from Ella, our family of four being split up, babies sleeping in our room, oh... and in laws?  Well, I decided by the time we left the OBX that we needed a make-up vacation, and it needed to be just the four of us.  Everyone needed to be healthy, the girls needed to sleep in their own room, and we just needed to regroup - us four.  I started looking, and we booked a nice place in Massanutten in the Fall.  I'm so happy that I thought outside the box - there's more to vacations than just the beach in the summer.  After researching, Massanutten was a great option - playgrounds, indoor pools, and a cool pumpkin patch nearby - perfect for our family with two tiny tots to please!

We planned to arrive on Wednesday evening, and come home on a Sunday, with having an extra day on Monday for Columbus Day.  A few days before we were due to leave, Sydney decided it was a great time to get a stomach bug.  I mean, seriously Syd!?!?  We are trying to have a fun and healthy vacation... could you just lock it up??  The good news is, it was very minimal, she magically didn't share any germs with Ella, and we were off on our trip!

And let me tell you... it was amazing.  Everything I dreamed it would be, and more!  The girls had so much fun.  They slept great, napped at the same time, and went to bed early.  I loved that we were able to devote all of our attention to them - we weren't trying to spend time with them, fix meals, and get items marked off our to-do lists.  Our place was huge... so spacious for the girls to run around, the bath tub was so big it required the girls to wear floats, and we had a great view.  I mean, so great all-around.

We were going to leave at bed time, but decided to leave early and arrive by dinner time.  It was perfect - we all ate dinner and unloaded the van.  When we got into our place, the girls literally ran around laughing and making happy noises.  It was awesome.  Daddy quickly got to work making the girls giggle - he pulled them around on blankets!

:) :)

Everyone slept great, and we woke up to a beautiful day and fabulous view.

Breakfast time: happy sharing tots!

First stop: the playground.

my whole heart

Ella's face is happy, Sydney's face is hilarious



swings: a tiny toddler's joy!

#doubleswing

Sink twins take on the Skee Ball

Look at us! Eating bananas like real people

After a good nap and a snack, we headed to the coolest pumpkin patch.

Momma bear and her girls in the corn-pit

team work: milking the cow

Momma and Ella getting ready to go down the 60ft underground slide



The After

Daddy & Sydney's turn!

Double-Dad-Duty

hanging out on the human hamster wheel

two cute girls hanging out on the hay bale

obsessed with the goat

We took a hay ride out to pick pumpkins



Ella is giving the pumpkin kisses

Sydney might be small, but girlfriend is strong



<3 <3 <3 <3

E&S on the hayride holding their prized pumpkins

Daddy is so good at teaching the girls manners

a tire swing, literally

First ever carousel ride

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

these pumpkins are more our size

That pumpkin patch was seriously awesome... so many fun things for little kiddos to do.  We're already talking about coming back :)

After we came back from our fun-filled day outside, Ella and Sydney seriously needed a bath.  We put them in the HUGE bath tub and quickly realize that they needed floats.  SO.MUCH.FUN!  They were in heaven.  They were obsessed with the bubbles and playing with each other.  Look at this picture of PURE JOY on both of their faces - I love that you can see Syd's huge grin in the mirror. 

my favorite

you might not be able to tell, but these two were laughing HYSTERICALLY at each other

casual Thursday night in the bathroom

when Daddy does airplane and they both want to fly... he's a Super-Dad, literally.

I bought the girls some new toys and books to play with for our trip.  The best $10 I've spent at Walmart: a new tea set!  And who better to have tea with than Daddy?

We had a rainy day, so we visited a pool on the resort

And skinny babies = cold babies

So we headed back for lunch and naps and literally just vegged out for the rest of the day.

oh, and hung out in laundry baskets.  BFFs <3

Another new book: the Cheerios Playbook.  You put Cheerios on the spaces on each page... so we've trained the girls to wait until all the Cheerios are on the page before they can eat them.

"wait.... wait.... wait.... GO!"

And to finish out our lazy day - ice cream for dessert!

And for the last day... we hemmed and hawed, but decided to go ahead and try out the water park.  It was awesome, and definitely money well-spent.  They had a great area for littles, we went around the lazy river half a dozen times, and since our petites get cold so quickly, they lovvvvvved the "family hot tub" aka a large warm pool with jets.  Their faces would light up as soon as their toes hit the warm water!  We don't have many pictures because... well, two toddlers at a water park.

Sydney LOVED that little slide

Ella liked it.. didn't love it.

but Ella really loved the little swings

Getting warmed up and ready to head back for a nap

Sydney is perfecting the duck face selfie (she's really practicing her fish face)

"What does a fish do?"

just swinging the afternoon away

warming up, exhausted little ladies!

such a fun day!

After another good swim in the big bath tub and a good night's rest, we headed home!  I had a grand plan to stop by and do some apple picking/eat lunch and donuts on the way home.  I mean, in theory it was a good plan, until we had some remnants of Hurricane Matthew, and the wind was blowing so hard on the top of Carter Mountain that the girls literally couldn't even walk in.  So we grabbed them a snack of French fries, donuts, and apple cider and they ate it in the front seat of the car! Ha!

Massanutten 2016 = success!
I can't tell you enough how much I loved our little family vacation.  It's so important to do something with just your little family, just like it is to do something as husband and wife, instead of mama and dada.  As much as we love all of the grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles... but at the center of it all, we have to keep the four of us on top.  We're already talking about our next trip <3 <3