L.O.V.E.

Happy Valentine's Day to all our family and friends! We hope you all had a beautiful day with the people you love most. Lots of love from our family to each of you!



My very first flowers from my husband. I love them.

Snotty, Sickly Spider

Zach unfortunately came down with a bad cold and conjunctivitis in both eyes, and he's been pretty miserable for the past couple of days. Every few minutes he brings me a Kleenex and asks me to wipe his boogers. It breaks my heart every time I look at his weepy eyes, hear his phlegmmy coughs, or see a gob of booger peeking out of his raw little nose. I feel so bad for my guy! Ben's acting like he's going to get sick but so far he's just picked up Zach's cough....fingers crossed it stays that way. I'd hate to have two of these sad faces looking back at me.

Newest Addition

Ben and I visited the Bacon household yesterday afternoon while Darius and Zach stayed home and napped. Since Emma's arrival, Ben has been very timid on arrival, shuffling his feet and lingering near the door instead of his usual stampede inside. Next to Emma on the couch, he sat on my lap and clung to me, which is something totally uncharacteristic of Ben. I will admit that I enjoyed it since it's rare that Ben will just sit on my lap with his arms wrapped around my neck. Patti eventually got him to release his grip by asking him to keep an eye out for Dylan coming home from school. After the initial squirreliness, Ben enjoyed sitting next to Emma on the couch and repeatedly asked to hold her. A good portion of the rest of our visit consisted of him sweeping the floors.

The face of a big brother that absolutely adores his baby sister.

I finally had the presence of mind to snap a couple of photos of Emma during our visit. I know the boys weren't any bigger than she was when they were new, but I forgot just how small they really were until Emma reminded me. I'm so happy that we're here to see her start out, and I'm so looking forward to watching her grow.

After our visit, Ben and I headed to the store for a little secret shopping mission. I'm starting to see now how nice it is to have a little one-on-one time with the boys separately. So much of their time is spent together, and it's refreshing to be able to focus my attention on them individually. Ben and Zach may be twins, but to me that's hardly a term I ever use to describe them. They are brothers who are the same age and roughly the same size, but that's about as twin as they get. They do pretty well to get along as well as they do and as often as they do. I can't speak for them, but I have a feeling that a break from each other is probably something they don't mind too much.

Beach/Baby Day

After seeing how much fun the boys had at Cocoa Beach earlier this month, we've been planning a return trip so that Darius could join us. We headed over to the coast mid day and enjoyed great weather while we collected seashells, dug a big hole, filled the big hole with water (again and again and again), played in the waves, chased birds, and overall had a really good time. The boys really love the beach, and I'm finding that going to the beach with two little boys is a whole lot more fun than all the other times I've been to just lay out and soak up sun.

On our way home we stopped by the Bacon's to pay a visit to the newest addition to their family. Baby Emma was born last week and this was our first time meeting her. The boys were really cute with her and gave her lots of kisses on her sweet little head. Ben loved holding her but told us "No thanks," when we asked him if he would like a little sister of his own. Zach on the other hand said okay to the idea of a little sister and softly sang a song to her when he held her. I was too preoccupied with watching Emma to actually take any photos, but I have a feeling she will soon be the focus of lots of pictures to come. Her parents made one beautiful little girl!

18 Days into 2012

I've been slacking....over half the month is already over!

The boys and I got bugs as the year started, and we're finally sounding human again first thing in the morning rather than that cough-up-a-lung sounding cough. I forget how really awesome it is to feel well until I get sick. Unfortunately I can be a really grouchy sick person, and I think Darius had about enough of me.

My parents came to visit and just left us yesterday. We really enjoyed having them stay with us, and the boys of course love the extra love and attention. We mostly just hung out and did what we normally do when they're not around. We visited the park, fed the ducks in our pond, had a pizza night with the Bacon's, and went to the Y. Mom gave the boys haircuts, Darius and Dad got a couple rounds of golf in, and Mom helped me with some sewing projects.

Haircut - Day 5

Turkey Lake Park - Day 6

Fishing Turkey Lake - Day 6

After the time we spent living with my parents in Cordova, we've come to really enjoy our visits from them. It's nice having them around, and we were sad to see them leave. And speaking of Cordova.... whoa that's a whole lot of snow we just dodged! I feel for what the residents are going through, but I'm so relieved we moved when we did.

Here's an old photo from the back porch of my parents house in December 2009. That's a lot of snow to me, so it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this amount is just a fraction of what they're up against.

During our visit with my parents we had to make a quick trip to Louisiana. My parents actually booked a cruise out of Cape Canaveral leaving the same day as we did, and returned the day after we got back. It was a special treat for the boys to see both sets of grandparents a day apart considering where everyone lives. It was a long drive there and back, and the trip itself was packed full. We enjoyed our time with Margaret and Alfred, and then we took the time to drive down to the Leesville area to visit with Darius' friend Randy. We finally got a chance to see the burger restaurant he opened a couple of years ago, and he treated us to lunch there. We spent the evening watching the Saint's game at his business partner's home, had some great barbecue, and shot skeet. I had my first experience shooting a shotgun, and it was fun!!

Louisiana - Day 14

After picking up my parents from their cruise, we headed over to Cocoa Beach. We spent a good part of the day there, and met up with my friend Lyndsay and her family in the afternoon for a few hours. It wasn't the best beach weather, but we all had a really good time.

Cocoa Beach - Day 15

Day 18 we dropped my parents off at the airport, and in the evening we had Lyndsay and her family over for dinner. They're here visiting Orlando for a week, and I'm so happy that we had the chance to meet up with them while they're here. I haven't seen her since her wedding and since then she's had a baby, who I was super excited to meet. She's got a great little family, and I really enjoyed our time with them.