"Hokey Smokes!!" (title not approved by Mary Jane)

....really not anything else to say

"Where's Daddy?" or "The Great Search"

"Where's Daddy been?"

"I don't know"

"I heard him apologize for making mommy a "widow for two weeks"

"What's that mean?"

"dunno"

"Let's go find him."

"Maybe he's outside raking the leaves which are piling up..."

...nope"

"maybe we can call him...

...huh I can't hear anything"

"um, Parker, um that's not how you hold a phone"

"oh...yeah...so silly....let me try again. hello...daddy? daddy? I still can't hear"

"Parker it's upside...oh never mind. Hop on. We'll find him.

"There's daddy!!"

Cheesy post? yes.

But my brain is fried. Last couple weeks of the quarter were brutal, and unfortunately Mary Jane and the girls suffered for it. I was pretty much lost in the books trying to get things done. BUT....Quarter is over! It is break time and suddenly not only am I around, but Mary Jane has some time off as well!! Which means we are spending time together...all four of us! It is great.

Halloween and 14/11 months

It is hard to believe it is November. A year ago we were in the NICU pushing/ praying/ begging/ waiting impatiently to go home. Last year the girls were "two peas in a pod" for Halloween... this year they were lambs! I'm not gonna lie- they absolutely hated their costumes. They mainly hated the hoods- these girls aren't hat fans. They try to pull them off by pulling them down and guess what- that only makes the situation worse. But I tortured them anyway and made them wear their costumes multiple times. It was hilarious. We were fortunate to get to go to Chattanooga for Halloween the girls got to show off their costumes to alot of southerners.

Parker having a melt down in the costume.

Emma Jane post-meltdown which only stopped after the hood was removed and a shiny orange bag was put in front of her.

Someone trying to crawl (I honestly don't know which baby this is)

Daddy pulled out all the stops to get a smile.

The girls are very very very busy and never ever sit still except for one thing- Baby Einstein (aka baby crack). In the last month Parker and Emma Jane have learned a few party tricks. They can wave bye-bye, point to things, hold the phone (or anything really) up to their ear to say "hello", play peek-a-boo, and Emma Jane can stand on her own (Parker is close) but no steps yet. We are hoping for some walking action by Christmas. It is so funny how many things have changed yet some many haven't in the last year. Emma Jane is serious, thinks about things before she does them, and can be so so stubborn... but she also loves to cuddle and always appears to be really taking in and thinking about whatever you are saying to her. Parker... is a ball of emotions. She takes everything- everything that Emma Jane has, acts without thinking, reacts without thinking, and is fierce with whatever she does. My mom decided that Parker's water broke because she just wanted to be over where Emma Jane was. Here are some random pictures plus the monkey/owl pictures (which are getting harder to do)!

Pumpkins

This past weekend we took the girls to a pumpkin patch with the Ernst family. A good time was had by all. It was cold outside but thanks to a wonderful new fall wardrobe the girls were warm and cozy. They really enjoyed touching all the pumpkins but they quickly wanted to bite, lick, and chew on all the pumpkins as well...

Emma Jane isn't such a fan of hats.

About to go through the "corn maze" with Daddy.

GIVE ME THE CAMERA!

"Would you like some of my pretzel?"

"Well, you can't have any... ha!"

"Please let me get out of the stroller and go play in the cold mud."

The newest addition to our household.

Parker is so over the excitement of the pretzel now.

I know you are jealous...

The girls got their one year/ 9 month old pictures made this past weekend. I have been fighting will Blogger all day to get them in the order I wanted. I am surrendering though because I can't justify spending anymore time fighting with a computer program.... Blogger I am angry at you right now. But anyway, enjoy the pictures (even the ones with the wierd purple background).

This last picture was actually the first ones we took. Parker isn't a fan of getting her picture made as you can see by the deer in headlights look on her face. Emma Jane loves it though!

Playtime and Bathtime

The girls were very blessed to receive more presents for their birthday than they could possibly imagine. Our dining room has now become the playroom. Emma Jane and Parker are nice enough to let us have a little corner for a table and some highchairs. Their latest accomplishments include pointing, handing you whatever they are holding if you ask for it (most of the time) and Emma Jane has learned her first word that she can say on command- "uh-oh". She says it when she drops pretty much anything. She will also say it if you ask her to. We like it so much we get to her to say it about a million times a day. Parker is probably really sick of it!!

Here is just a small sampling of pictures of the girls enjoying their gifts:

PawPaw made the girls this awesome shelf for their toys.

The little ladies also LOVE bathtime especially since we have moved the party to the big people tub.

One of their favorite activities is to stand up... how easily they are entertained.

Gotta love hooded towels.

200th extravaganza or Happy Belated Birthday

This post should have gone out a few days ago. Friday was Mary Jane's birthday. Alas, she had to work on Friday, still it was an improvement on a year ago when we were waiting for Emma Jane to have her surgery. It is amazing what a difference a year makes. Over this past year Mary Jane has shown something I knew would be true the day I met her...she is an amazing mother. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to best explain this, what kind of flowery words would best help you understand how lucky the girls and I are to have Mary Jane as our mother and wife, but I found there just aren't the words. Finally I decided to go with the old adage...a picture is worth a thousand words (so this is going to be a whole bunch of words)

Mary Jane...I love you. Happy Birthday.