Twin love

I say quite that I feel sorry for kids that don't get to have a twin.  You have your best friend with you at all moments in your life!  Drew and Anna Kate are getting in to the age where they pick and bicker with each other but they love each other so much. It is absolutely precious to see their love for one another. They have genuine care and concern if the other gets hurt and they have the sweetest desire to take care of each other (if one gets a cookie, they want one for the other, they go get each others lovey, etc...)

We have just been enjoying the start to Spring. The weather is starting to warm up and we have been soaking up as much outside time as possible!  We have settled in to Mamaw & Papaw's house and are hoping to get started on our new house soon.  We drive by our future home site (hopefully!) on our way to DotDot and Grandaddy's house. Drew and Anna Kate now know where it is and always say that is where our new house is going to be. We are all excited!

Grandaddy bought this for Drew and Anna Kate a few years ago and decided to get it out a couple of weeks ago.  It is a good thing because at the rate they are going, it won't be long before they outgrow it!

 The joys of a box! This picture is blurry but sweet. They played in this box for forever. It was a ship, an airplane, a tent.....

Oh, this girl! She wakes up every morning and asks if we are going to the beach. I'm not sure that we are going to get her to wear anything other than a bathing suit this summer. She would wear one now if we didn't make her change because it is too cold to leave the house with it on! 

 Drew loves his bicycle. He calls it his motorcycle. He wouldn't even get off of it to eat breakfast a few days ago.

 Anna Kate LOVES flowers. You have to watch her or she will pick every flower in the flower bed. She plucked one of DotDot's pretty blooming tulips yesterday before I could get to her.  She somehow managed to pull an entire limb off of the Bradford Pear tree last weekend!

 Crazy kid! DotDot and I went shopping and found this nightgown.  There aren't many things in this world that Anna Kate loves more than feeling like a beautiful princess. We could have only come back with this and she would have been a happy camper.

 Big helper helping Grandaddy feed his birds.

 He is so funny! He has determined that he needs to get those rocks off of DotDot and Grandaddy's wall.  He gets his tool box and beats and bangs on them. Poor guy will be working for a while. We have determined it does keep him occupied so we just let him work.

 Watching a little TV before bed.

The next night.... See the love?! It feels that all they do is fuss with each other some days but their sweet moments are enough to make you forget about the 250,000 fights they had that day.

Moving and sickness go together like oil and water!

February wasn't my most impressive month on the blogging front. Actually January wasn't any better. Maybe I'll get it together soon!
So.... it seems it is finally going to happen. We are moving! It is such a mixed range of emotions. We are leaving our first home. Where we came home to after we got married, where we brought our babies home from the hospital, and where they have spent the last 3 1/2 years growing and hitting so many different milestones. When I think about it like that, I get sad and want to unpack and stay there! As sad as that is, it is also very exciting. We are going to be building a new house that will accommodate our needs so much better! As exciting as that is, it is also very intimidating and nerve-racking (do you see how this roller coaster ride of emotions is exhausting?!). We are going to be in charge of trying to a build a house, we are going to be imposing on Papaw Hubert and Mamaw Katherine's lives by living in their house while we build. I think everything will go smoothly but it is still just the unknown of it all.
To add to all of the stress and emotions of moving, Anna Kate decided last Wednesday would be a good time to get the flu! This is most serious illness she has ever had so for that, I am thankful. It seemed to be lingering so we took her back to the doctor on Monday to find she also had an ear infection (again, a first). Some antibiotics have about cleared her up and she is back to normal. When I got home from work on Tuesday, I was greeted by Drew with a yucky sounding cough so he and I went to the clinic that evening. Although his flu test was negative, they treated him for the flu. On his third day in, he seems to be doing much better. I am hoping that by the weekend, they are both 100%. John Clay and I both seem to have a head cold so that makes it even more awesome. Our plans for moving last weekend have been dragged out through this week and we hope to be completely out by tomorrow afternoon. It has been a little stressful but I see light at the end of the tunnel and I think we might survive! My to-do list feels really long and daunting over the next couple of months while trying to get our construction under way but fortunately, that is my job so I at least have an advantage.

 I took last Friday off to stay home with the kids and try to limit exposure to the grandparents. I put them to work on helping me with laundry. We can call it a learning activity in matching. Notice that even when sick, Anna Kate knows the importance of dressing like the princess that she is.

 Sick baby. She and I slept on couch for several nights in a row. She was hard to convince once she was better that she needed to start sleeping in her bed again.

 Look what I found in the cabinet. Paci's! (and you can see our arsenal of cold & flu meds). Drew and Anna Kate also found the pacis and stuck them in their mouths right away. They weren't too hard to get back from them. It was weird throwing them away even though they haven't used them in quite some time.  It was also another reminder that my babies aren't babies any more!

 After Drew was pronounced sick on Tuesday, I took another day off on Wednesday to stay with them. I hoped to get a little packing done too. DotDot kindly came to our germ cesspool house to help. We did make some progress but it wasn't any thanks to Drew and Anna Kate. They were in.to.everything. Every closet we opened to get things out to pack, they would dig around in. Anna Kate found her water wings which prompted her to change in to her bathing suit. Then they found their roller skates that I might have hidden in the back of their closet and attempted to break their necks by wearing them around the house. They also decided they only needed a 30 minute nap. How sweet they are!

Last night was the last night we will spend in our house. This has been our nightly routine since they were little. It has evolved some but after baths, we have always turned out all the lights and sat with them on the couch (either giving them their last bottle when they were babies, reading books, or watching Mickey Mouse like last night) to calm them down a bit before bed. I am sure that will remain our routine at Mamaw & Papaw's house but it won't be quite the same. Again, mixed bag of emotions over here! Haha!

The Circus!

Anna Kate is becoming a tiny adult before my eyes.  Last week, she was planning her own events! DotDot called me one afternoon and wanted to know if she was supposed to have them ready for the circus by the time I picked them up that day. Um.... no? Apparently, Anna Kate was so adamant all day long that she was going to be going to the Circus that night that DotDot started believing her! I guess she has been paying attention to the commercials for the Circus being in town. DotDot felt she really needed to go since she was so excited about so I went Friday and bought tickets for the Saturday afternoon show.  A weekend away trip for John Clay and I didn't turn out the way we planned so instead of DotDot and Aunt Ashley taking them, Aunt Ashley and I took them. I am glad I got to go! They really enjoyed themselves.  We made the mistake of asking if anyone needed to go to the bathroom just after intermission. You know Anna Kate was all over that. She went 3 times before it was over. She even missed the elephants because she was in the bathroom.  Silly girl. This germaphobic mama sometimes can't even handle that she wants to go into every.public.restroom we encounter.

 Loaded in the car and ready to go! To make an exciting outing even better, they got to ride in Aunt Ashley's car!

 I couldn't get a good picture for some reason. They were all coming out blurry! My smallest subjects weren't helping much either. This is Drew's new picture face. Ugh!

 Excited to be there!

 Cutie!

 Anna Kate's favorite part was the horses. They had miniature ponies and big horses. I think she is going to be a horse lover. She tells me often she wants a horse. And a sea horse.

This was Drew's absolute favorite part. I couldn't get a picture of him because he was on my lap but this was the last act. They were starting to fade and lose interest and then they brought the motorcycles out. He sat right up and was completely enthralled.

After the circus we went to see cousin Price play baseketball and got to see Whitney, Todd, Hayes, Mimi, & Pops there too! After the game, Aunt Ashley came back to our house for dinner, she helped them with their baths, and snuggled with them while they watched cartoons before bed.  I'm pretty sure they would say it was one of their best days ever! 

Just trucking along!

Old man winter has been brutal this year. We are just trucking along and looking forward to Spring and some warmer weather. I can't say I haven't enjoyed the snow though! We got another snow last week that was about 6-7 inches. I haven't seen that much snow in a long time!

We have been somewhat busy around our house. Our house is under contract (again!) and we hope we will really be moving this time (in about 3 weeks!!)!  We have been busy looking for lots, picking out house plans, making plans for the move, etc... Such exciting times! 2014 is going to be a year of many changes for the Garlands.  We are going to be moving out of our first home (that is going to be really sad!), building a new home, and Drew and Anna Kate are going to start a new school in August! They were excepted into the Wesley Day School. This is where cousin Hayes goes and although they won't be in the same class as him, I am sure they will see him around which will be exciting!

 I ran errands last Saturday while Drew and Anna Kate stayed home with their Daddy. This is what I came home to. This is not the outfit John Clay put her in that morning. This one is all her. Oh, that crazy kid!

 This is further proof that Anna Kate is just like her Aunt Ashley.  Her new thing since Christmas is "decorating".  She takes her hair bows and other items and decorates her room, the living room, DotDot's house, etc.....

 Dinner date with the neighbors! Drew and Anna Kate really enjoyed getting to go out to eat with Gabby.

 We are still doing gymnastics every Monday evening and they still love it. Anna Kate takes it a bit more seriously than her brother but they both do pretty well. They still need to be in the Mommy and Me class as they need some help staying focused, on track, and in line waiting their turn but they are definitely making some improvements.

Hand stands!

Snow Day!

Last week we got to enjoy a couple of snow days.  It was the first real snow we have seen in a while. Drew and Anna Kate really enjoyed it and even got to do a little sledding and we finally got to try out the Snowman making kit they got for Christmas! I got to be off of work for a day and a half too so we all got to enjoy the fun together!

 Getting all dressed up! They got these snow suits two years ago for Christmas. They got to wear them for the first time and probably the last time. They are too small!

 Drew's ready!

Catching a ride on the sleds with Dad!

 He thought it was funny to eat the snow until it was really cold on his "trapped" (chapped) face.

 Snow angel!

 Sweet girl!

 He has the most infectious smile!

 Playing on the swing set. The frozen slide makes for some fun!

 Oops! That tree jumped out of no where!

 Just a'swingin!

 Morning cartoons while we wait for it to get warm enough to go outside! Anna Kate was literally toasting her buns by the heater! Haha!

 Our (sad) little snowman.  The snow was a very dry and powdery snow. By the time we were able to get snow balls big enough to make anything, it was packed so tight we had a hard time getting it decorated.

Drew didn't have as much snowman love. He knocked his hat off then laughed! He is the true definition of boy!

They are calling for more snow and the kid in me is hoping it comes. I guess we shall see!

Sleepovers, birthday party, gymnastics, oh my!

This weekend was full of fun for my little cuties! On Saturday night, they spent their first night at Mamaw & Papaw's house.  We weren't sure if they were actually going to stay but they did just fine.  They got to sleep on air mattress on Mamaw & Papaw's floor and they thought that was the berries! Anna Kate was more than excited and Drew took a little convincing but from what I hear didn't have any issues after we dropped them off.  They thought they were having a camp out and Drew even asked when they were going to build the fire.  Haha! I guess we will need to put camping on the schedule this summer.  I think they will love it!
Sunday afternoon they went to a birthday party for a friend from school.  They had a late night and early morning at their sleepover and when you combine that with no nap, they were completely exhausted by dinner time.  Drew fell asleep on the couch while we made dinner and was finally convinced to get up and take a bath about 2 hours later.
Monday was a much needed small step towards getting back to normal.  Drew and Anna Kate went to DotDot's house for the first time in since Grandaddy got sick (over three weeks!).  They were really excited about going and even more excited to learn that Aunt Ashley would be coming for a visit.  We missed our weekend visit with her because of the birthday party so we planned for dinner Monday evening.  Monday was also their first gymnastics class! We have been talking for 2 years about taking them and we finally did it. We should have done it a long time ago because they had so.much.fun!  Aunt Ashley went with us so that made it that much more great! They were a little wound up and did not get a nap on Monday so I will be honest and say I was a little nervous about how it would go.  I will also be honest and tell you that I may or may not have threatened them on the way there that if they didn't behave and listen to their teacher that we would leave and not go back.  They did wonderfully! I would like to think that they took my threats seriously but the good behavior was likely because they were enjoying themselves so much. Either way, I'll take it! We plan to make gymnastics a part of our weekly routine. Our hope is that they will be ready to move out of the "Mommy and Me" class soon and in to a class with cousin Hayes! How fun would that be?!

 Drew's bed head after naps on Saturday. Such a handsome man!

 Ready to party! They were so very excited about going to Cydnee's party.

 First experience with a Pinata.  They did well and didn't hit anyone! Drew did use the bat as an air guitar before passing it along to the next person in line.  That boy.... he is such a little comedian. He loves it when people laugh at his antics!

 The loot!

 This is what tired looks like.  After all the activities this weekend and gymnastics Monday night, they were worn out!

Sound asleep. Their room was completely dark and neither or them even flinched at my flash.

2 year "Blogiversary"

January 1, 2014 was my 2 year "Blogiversary".  Like last year, I am pretty amazed that I have kept it up and I am oh so glad I did!  It is so very hard to believe a year has passed! Where did 365 days get off to so quickly?  What were we doing for all of those days?  Well, good news... the blog will tell me! (Seems I didn't leave my "corniness" in 2013!)  One thing I am disappointed I didn't do last year was get the blog printed into a book. Maybe I can make good on that this year. AND... I'll get to get two books! I am a terrible procrastinator and I know how time consuming it will be. I tried to "auto populate" a book with the 2012 blog last year and it came out as a 500 page book! So.... that means I am going to have to arrange every page. I do know how much I am going to love having it so I'm not sure why it has been so hard for me to just sit down and get it done.
Any way... moving on to more fun things..... I love going back and reading my "reviews" of Drew and Anna Kate's personalities.  Some things are forever unchanged and some things change daily.  One thing remains, they are awesome! I don't remember my life before them but it must have been somewhat boring.

Drew, you are the  most stubborn child I have ever met. This is one of those things that has changed in you. When you were tiny, your sister was the demanding one. We always said you were just happy to be here. You still are a happy little boy that smiles with your whole face but if you have made your mind up about something, that is it. Wardrobe choice is our main argument most days. More often than not, you go places with outfits that don't match and aren't seasonally appropriate.  I have kind of given up. Its just not worth the fight (refer to your stubbornness). I think you are going to play an instrument of some kind. You can play "air guitar" (I guess it isn't really "air" because you will use things like toy swords as a guitar) with the best of them and you really, really love to play the drums.  Ironically this drives your father, the drummer, crazy! You know how to push his buttons and you will go head to head with him pretty much daily. I hope this is a phase because as a toddler, its cute. As a teenager, not so much!  During your spats you come out with some of the most hilarious things! Your new things is saying... "Daddy! People don't need to tell people (insert whatever it is that he is getting on to you for)".  A few weekends ago we were eating breakfast and you were going to town on the ottoman with your drum sticks and your daddy got on to you.  You came running across this living room with your crooked little pointer finger aimed directly at him and said "Daddy! People don't need to tell people not to play the drums! Daddy!"  We both had to look away so you didn't see us laughing.  You told him just last night "Daddy! People don't need to tell people that they have to go to bed!" Whew, you are something else! You also told  yelled at us that you were not going to go to bed and that you were not going to have a good night! This was in response to us telling you "Good night" before leaving your room. But for all the stubborn and meanness, you sure are cute and you are a great cuddler. You are the world's best greeter! When you get excited about seeing someone your face lights up, you yell their name, and then run to them with a big hug. It is so pure and genuine. Melt me and put me in the palm of your hand! You still like big trucks, cars, tools, anything "boy". You pick at your sister and play too rough with her but you get very concerned if she is hurt. I love your spunk!
Anna Kate, you are such a sass! That is your constant. I guess we know what you are going to be like when you grow up. You love to draw, color, and paint. You make notes and write letters.  You are a hoarder. You like packing bags, your bed, baskets, anything with a random array of your things.You tell stories. I have had to make the disclaimer to everyone that when you say "my mama says/does/etc...." that they shouldn't necessarily believe it! When you don't get your way you are a serious pouter. You try to protest by crossing your arms and stomping your foot as big as you can. This usually makes us laugh which is turn, makes you laugh. You are oh so dramatic. You have a little trick that when you really hurt yourself, you hold your breath while you cry, You have passed out at least 3 times while doing this. You have taken years off of our lives with this stunt! Even your poor brother comes flying when you get hurt now so he can help blow in your face to get you breathing again.  Oh, sis, you're a mess. You are so sweet though. You like to help with grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, & the dishes. You still mother your babies and Drew.  For a little while you were our early riser but recently, you have enjoyed sleeping in. If we try to wake you up, you hide under your covers and tell us you aren't ready to get up yet! You have a strange obsession with your hairbows. You pull the draw full of them out and will play with them for hours. You are a super sweet little girl that loves to give hugs and kisses. All we have to do is tell you that you will make someone sad if you don't tell them good-bye, give them a hug, etc.... and you will run straight to do it.  You are funny and most of the time you don't even mean to be.
I have been slacking in the blogging department lately.  I have been lacking in creativity and I think I remember this being an issue around this time last year. Since I am a fair weather friend, I am going to blame it on the cold! Hopefully, I'll come around and be able to keep up my end of the deal this year with the blog. I know I won't ever be sorry I did it!

 Playing his drum along with the band on Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Smart girl! She got my iPad, climbed up on the bed, and started her baby doll game all by herself!

 Helping his daddy work on his tricycle

Talking to Mamaw on the phone. She was telling her that we were going to go to an "Elephant parade" that night.  Again, she can tell some pretty wild stories!