Long Beach New Jersey!!!

Long Beach was awesome! This last weekend all of the office went to Long Beach for a barbaque and to hang out. Its only a 1 1/2 hour drive from philly so we loaded up the girls and headed out. The Girls had a great time because a couple of people brought dogs and they went crazy over them as youll see in the video. Alexis and Taylor are fearless and will grab ahold of everything, especially poor helpless little dogs! The beach was so different from the one on the oregon coast last year. This beach had thick pure sand vs the rocky stuff in oregon. The other nice thing was that you could just about drive to the edge of the beach, we parked our car, put the girls in the stroller and crossed over the board walk onto the nice white sand. We had to carry the stroller a little ways but it was fun :) the last picture is me giving Alexis a bath after we got back :) as you can see, sunscreen and girls rolling in the sand doesnt mix. Tay (pink) Lexi (Purple)

Amish!

First, we started our day off with an authentic Philly Cheese Steak! There is a guy who makes them from his little trailer thingy that he has parked on the sidewalk on Market Street there in Philly. His English isn't very good, but he sure knows how to make a Philly Cheese Steak!

We then headed out to Ronks, which is where you can find lots of Amish. They were everywhere! It was really neat to see them walking down the side of the road, pushing themselves down the road on their little scooters, plowing the fields with their team of horses, and riding in their buggies. Thayne was really excited about this vacation, especially since it's the first one he's had since we've been out here! He printed off information about the Amish so that we had a little bit of a better understanding of them. Married men grow beards, but NO mustaches are ever worn by the Amish men. Married women wear white bonnets, whereas single women wear black bonnets. The wheels on their plows and buggies are made of metal, not rubber. In the summertime, men wear straw hats and felt ones in the winter. All of them wear plain clothing so as to not create statuses. They speak old Pennsylvania Dutch (a dialect of German). It's not until the go to their ONE ROOM SCHOOL that they learn English. They do not use electricity as it makes them feel like electricity would connect them to the world and all of its temptations. They do, however, accept modern medicine and make use of it when necessary.

Should you ever need to run to Wal-Mart here in the Lancaster area, be sure to make room for the buggies!

Ha ha! They even have parking stalls for the buggies. I'm talking little barn-like parking stalls for the horses to stand in while they run inside a store or enjoy a day at the park.

Krystal and girls sitting in a miniature of Thomas the Train!ALL ABOARD!!! This was my first train ride (and the girls' first train ride, too)! We rode aboard the Strasburg. We sat in the Dining Car so that we could enjoy a nice little lunch as we rode through Amish country! It was unbelievably fun! They would ring the bell (ding ding ding) and blow the whistle (toot toot)! The girls had a blast reaching out and grabbing food off our plates and attempting to shove it into their mouths before we could stop them. Everyone was going wild over our girls; they thought they were soooo cute!
If you know my husband, then you know that he could not resist going to Intercourse once he learned there was a town named that. Naturally, he wanted a picture in front of the sign. On the side of the road, there was a stand with Amish selling jams and pies. We bought strawberry jam and a little pie that looked like and tasted like an Oreo cookie. We stopped at an Amish store and bought souvenirs. Thayne wanted shirts that had the town name, "Intercourse" on it, so we grabbed some shirts for us. We had two rottweiler shirts made for the girls to resemble Diesel. Diesel! Diesel! Diesel! I miss my little love boat!!! We also grabbed copies of the Declaration of Independence, Amendments, and Presidents. We grabbed some magnets because we are in need of them. The Amish dolls that we got for the girls have no faces because the Amish do not believe in letting children play with dolls that have faces. They feel it goes against not having graven images, likeness, or idols. Oh, the tiny license plates we actually bought from the Strasburg Railroad souvenir store. Thayne just wanted to take one picture of all our souvenirs.

Simmons Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Roots - Family tree chart

Simmons Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Phillies vs Blue Jays !

We just got back from Krystal's and the girls' very first professional baseball game! Our office had won an incentive from Pinnacle to go to a baseball game. Everyone got up early and went out to sell so we could all get off early for the game. I was able to sell 2 before I ran home to help Krystal with the girls, but she had things all ready to go. We went to Citizens Bank Park to watch the game. During the game, we were picked out of the many thousands of people at the game to be on the jumbotron with our little girls!!! That was freaking rad! We each got a big ol' brat and drink (on Pinnacle of course). Shawn and his wife, Anna, were nice enough to hold little Alexis and Taylor while we ate. I would have to say that, overall, the girls did pretty well with all the screaming and yelling. At the end they got a little tired and cranky so we had to leave a little early but we grabbed a couple of shirts to remember the occasion. The Blue Jays won at the end 8 to 3 :(

8 Months Old!

(Picture: Alexis on left and Taylor on right)
Honestly, I never thought I would make it this far. Some days were really hard, while other days were, well, super freaking hard. Nonetheless, I am grateful to have them. I think Heavenly Father felt like I was growing so much in just a few areas of my life that He figured I was getting a little lopsided. Instead of sending me just one little bundle of joy, he sent me two. He just knew that one wouldn't be hard enough and wouldn't push me to grow in areas that I hadn't really grown in yet. But, He knew that two would surely force me to grow and, hopefully, no longer be so lopsided. I love my little girls very much. They have taught me that patience is not something we are born with, but rather it is something we learn to have :) I now value what little time I get to sit down and take in a few breaths while surrounded by silence (which is sure to end the moment I exhale). But, the most important thing of all, they have taught me to love another's life more than I love my own life. I miss them when I go to sleep. I look forward to seeing their smiling faces (or crying faces) when I walk out into the front room each morning after Thayne (my wonderful, loving husband) gets them up for the day. Sometimes I find myself reaching back into their car seats just so I can touch their faces while they sleep as we drive. I also find myself going into their room while they're asleep. I'll lay my head on their tummies and whisper the hopes and dreams I have for them. My little girls are a lot of work, but their mine (well, ours). Anyways, I'm done sobbing and ready to update you on their progress.

Taylor Addison

• Weight: 14 lbs. (Just guessing since we don't have a scale)
• Length: 26.5 inches
• Can sit up without any support. Rarely falls over.
• Is starting to roll more frequently (mostly rolls to get to places when I am not in the room. Stinker!)
• Sometimes uses things to pull herself up into a standing position. Can't stand there on her own for very long.
• Loves to suck on her blanket and thumb at the same time.
• Is fascinated with jewelry.
• Thinks it's hilarious when I do the sign for milk.
• Hates to wear shoes.
• Holds her own bottle.
• Loves to feel everything (and scratch it).
• Loves to suck her upper lip in.
• Will not sleep without her pink blanket that Rachel gave us when we were at the hospital.
• Splashes up a storm whenever she plays in the tub or pool.
• Loves to pull out the baby wipes and suck on them.

Alexis Nicole

• Weight: 15.5 lbs. (Again, just guessing)
• Length: 27 inches
• Can sit up without any support. Rarely falls over.
• Army crawls backwards. Mostly rolls to get to places.
• Uses anything to pull herself up into a standing position and can stand there for a long time before tipping over.
• Loves to eat. Drinks between 4 & 7 oz of milk each feeding. Enjoys all the baby foods (fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.). Loves the puffs. Can't get enough of the food that I eat (I only feed her the stuff that she can have).
• Holds her own bottle.
• Loves to feel everything (and scratch it).
• LOVES to suck her upper lip in.
• Will not sleep without her pink blanket that Rachel gave us when we were at the hospital.
• Splashes up a storm whenever she plays in the tub or pool.
• Scatters our movies across the floor whenever she gets the chance.
• Loves to pull out the baby wipes and suck on them.
• Does not like to sit here on the floor by herself while I publish this post!

Philadelphia Zoo Trip!!!

Today we went to the zoo with Doug and Krista and their kids, as well as Doug and Brandy and their kid. The Philadelphia zoo is the oldest zoo. It was the first zoo in the U.S. Neat! When we got there, the first thing we saw was that they were doing camel rides :) it looked way fun and we plan on doing it one of these times. It was nice and hot through out the day but luckily there were tonz of trees to shade the girls through our adventure. It was really fun to see Giraffes, Rhinos, Elephants and all the big animals. Fun Fun !!! so yeah, just a little update about us ;)

The Atlantic Ocean!

Saturday, we went with a group of wives to Atlantic City. Atlantic City resembles Las Vegas BIG TIME! The only differences are temperatures (about 15 to 20 degrees cooler), cleaner, and LARGER! There are casinos, tons of different nationalities, shopping, shopping, and more shopping!!! It was a lot of fun. We ate lunch in Ruby Tuesday. That was a very, very small restaurant and the service wasn't that great. They sat us in the corner of the restaurant right by the bathrooms :( We then headed off to the little shops nearby to do some shopping. We hit up the Kids Outlet, Nike Outlet, Disney Store (I bought the girls some Minnie Mouse flip phones in hopes that they would leave mine alone), and the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (YUMMY). After we shopped around, we headed over to the boardwalk and beach. CUTE!!! The girls dipped their feet into the ocean for the very first time! Taylor dipped hers in first but absolutely hated it! She cried and screamed. Alexis was super excited about the water, that is until it got to her feet and then she cried. Hey, at least they can say they've been to the Atlantic Ocean and dipped their feet into it. I'd have to say that the water was cold but not nearly as cold as it was in Oregon.

Baby Pool

Well here is the latest update :) since we cant take kids in the pool here at Wyncote, we went to walmart and bought a pool and stuck it in our apartment ! Thanks Holly for the idea :) As you can see, they absolutley love splashing in the water and Taylor loves to lean forward and dip her face in on purpose. This is the greatest idea yet because it keeps the girls entertained as well as Krystal :) We have the tv turned towards the pool and we are all watching The Three Little Pigs cartoon (Thanks Mom for sending it) while we splash in the water :) sorry about the picture quality, I took them from my phone. (Tay Purple - Lexi - Pink)

Ha ha ha ha!

So, I sat Taylor down on the ground with a book that her Aunt Hopey made her and Alexis. When I came back, she had untied the bow that keeps it closed and had plucked 3 of the feathers off the "crazy bird" page! I didn't get a picture of it right away because I was worried about her putting the feathers in her mouth, but I placed them on her so you could see the damage!!! What a little cutie!

Well, we're on our third week here. We haven't been out to do much. We've been to New Jersey (by accident), Willow Grove Park mall (it's freaking huge), Target, ShopRite, some parks and church. I'm hoping to go the the ocean, New York City (it's only 1 hour & 45 minutes from us), Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Valley Forge and anything else that would be cool to see. Thayne has been doing well, especially since he's still a little rusty. He did meet the parents of one of the Temptations singers. The Temptations sing the song "My Girl." I thought that was pretty awesome! Alexis loves to roll over onto her tummy ALL the time. She gets into the crawling position but face plants because her hands don't know how to coordinate with her legs yet! I think she's starting to get some teeth. She has seemed really bothered lately, constantly sucks on anything and everything, and drools a ton. I keep looking at her gums but I cannot see anything yet, so cross your fingers that this onory little act she's got going on is a result of teething and not her true personality coming out!!! Kill me now if it is her true personality! (sigh) Taylor seems to be right behind Alexis in her progress. She's doing what Alexis was doing 2 weeks ago, which is starting to randomly roll over onto her tummy for a minute and then roll back over onto her back. She's not showing any signs of teething, however. Thank goodness!!! Or maybe not. I don't know if I'd rather have them get teeth at the same time so we can get this over with...yeah, I'd rather deal with them being onory at the same time instead of being onory at different times. Ugh...I thought we were done hearing them cry so much! Oh well! Moving on, we have a pool here that we really want to go to. The only problem is...THEY DON'T ALLOW persons wearing diapers of ANY KIND to swim in the pool, 20 minutes EVERY HOUR (yup, you read that right) is dedicated to adult swim ONLY, and no FLOATIES of ANY KIND are permitted in the pool! GAY GAY GAY! There goes my sanity! The girls LOVE LOVE LOVE the water so I was planning on spending most days at the pool. Guess I won't be doing that. Don't get me wrong, other than having a come-apart the other week and thinking I'd be better off going home, I like it out here. I honestly feel like I'm living in Snow White's world because there are birds singing everywhere, bunnies hopping across the lawns, squirrels darting across the ground and it is super green everywhere. Anyways, I'm going to take the girls to the pool, regardless of what they said. I'll have to let you know how that works out.