I know what Natalie and Abigail did this summer...

and now, finally, so will you! Summer's not really over yet, but I'm so far behind in posting, I'd figured I would get a head start.

Where to begin..let's go back to May...

May started with the girls' attending their first official birthday party. See link here: http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/bring-out-party-dresses.html

The next weekend was spent with some pre-birthday and Mother's Day celebrations.

Poppy and Nanny stopped by the bring the girls' some birthday gifts. They had a great time opening their presents and checking out their new bubble-blowing lawnmowers. Finally, Daddy has some help!

They also received a huge inflatable pool - which we have since tried out (pictures later). It's about 4' by 10', and the girls love it. They also loved the plastic balls Poppy and Nanny brought. They were meant for the pool, but the girls have loved playing with them indoors and out.

Mother's Day
Sunday morning, Natalie, Abby and I loaded up the car and headed to Asheville to meet my mom for a little Mother's Day girl fun.

It turns out that Biltmore Estates is free to mothers on Mothers Day, so we thought we would check it out. It was late by the time we met my mother, had some lunch and finally made it onto the Estate Grounds. We did get to see inside the house (castle!) and roamed the grounds just a bit. On our way out, we came across a pond with baby geese. They were SO cute. We got out and Natalie and Abby loved trying to get close.

It turned out that it was quite late by the time we were ready to leave, so rather than drive the 3.5 hours home, we opted for the 1.5 hours to go to my mom's for an impromptu visit. It was great to see Mema, who was quite pleasantly surprised!



Birthday Bust
The rest of the week was spent with Abby getting sick and their birthday taking a beating. If you remember, their actual birthday was a bust. Abby was just getting over the throw-ups and as we sat down to a little tea party on their birthday, Natalie was just starting the throw-ups. We did not get to go to the Zoo, eat cake, take decent pictures, or any fun birthday stuff. http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-bust.html

While Natalie stayed home with us, my sister took Abby (who we thought was better) for the trip we had planned to Franklin to celebrate Mema's 84th birthday (May 18) and Kimberly's birthday (26th). It turned out that Abby still wasn't feeling so well and spent most of the weekend glued to Kimberly. But, she did get to meet Uncle John and Aunt Linda, Mema's brother and his wife.

As always, having Auntie around had great benefit for Natalie and Abby. Once Auntie and Abby returned from Franklin, Auntie convinced me to take the girls for a "real" haircut to fix the mess we made when Ben and I gave them their first way too short haircuts. So, off to Peek-A-Boo for $20 haircuts we went. The girls actually did far better than I imagined.
Natalie did great,
and Abby started off well, but right at the end, she lost it. Fortunately, she was pretty much done at that point.








I have to admit, their hair looked MUCH better. (Sorry girls - no more mommy cuts.)








Operation Birthday Do-Over
We spent the 4th weekend in May on Operation Birthday Do-Over at Ya-Ya and Grandpa's. Ya-Ya had cake and presents and they finally had an official 2nd birthday celebration. They loved their new books, coloring books and pens, puzzles, and baby dolls. Oh, and the picnic table and outside swings were a hit too! (Ya-ya and Grandpa got a little carried away:-)) Probably the biggest hit were the baby dolls (one to go home and one for Yaya's house.) It crawls and says "mamamama" and "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba", giggles, and oh, farts. The girls LOVE Ba-Ba baby. Since receiving them, they now crawl on the floor saying ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. I even caught Abby trying to push KitKat into the floor to make him crawl while she chanted, "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba".

We opened gifts and the girls had fun eating their strawberry ice cream cake with their special twin topper. (Remember, it was the cake topper at our beach shower).


After cake, we explored Yaya and Grandpa's yard and took lots and lots and lots of pictures - their official 2 year pictures. It was really fun, and great way to celebrate Natalie and Abigail's birthday - even if it was a week late. Many thanks to Yaya and Grandpa for hosting us and making the girls' birthday special.












(Abby and Natalie)

We rounded off the month of May with a trip to the Museum of Life and Science. Last year we bought a membership for their birthday, and it was expiring May 31. So, one more trip to get our money's worth:-) This time we started at the end and check out the bears (sleeping), foxes (also sleeping) and the lemurs (not sleeping). We also explored the "Catch the Wind" exhibit (which I had never seen). We had a few minutes in the toddler section before the museum closed. They had a stuffed horse that we sat the girls on for a picture. I learned that under no circumstances any time soon would they be interested in actually sitting on a real horse or pony. Just the little stuffed one kind-of freaked them out.











It turned out that May was a pretty busy month - and sort-of bittersweet. After 5 months of babysitting again for Walker and Bean, we decided it was best if I focused on Natalie and Abby and Walker and Bean had a new babysitter whose kids wouldn't get sick every other week. I was so happy being back with the kids again, so I was sad to leave, but I did think it was for the best. Looking back now, I can say it was definitely the right choice. It seems like the girls have been sick less. Plus, we have had so many doctor's appointments and new therapies, that I'm not sure how we would have fit it all in.

For me, though, it was so amazing to watch the four of the children I've loved most in the world get to know each other. Walker and Bean were so great with them, and at the end, Walker was so sweet helping the girls in and out of their car seats. They both were great at making the girls laugh. Natalie and Abby loved them too. Even now, they say "Wa-ka" and "Be" when they see their pictures. We will stay in touch though, and certainly hope to have many more playdates with Wa-ka and Be.

If May was busy, June was even busier. Stay tuned!


Here are a few more great pics that Ben took of the girls! It's hard to tell who's who but Abby is in the dress with the darker print.