Diaper box train

We had so much fun w/ Nana pulling us around in this box!

This seems to be their most favorite place to play in the entire house. Sutton always tries to close the door when Taylor is inside the cabinet by herself and Taylor screams. No dark, scary cabinets for her!

Eating like the big kids do

We are officially into big girl seats now. I have cleaned and shined the high chairs up and moved them to the basement. As of last night the girls are eating at the table and they really seem to like it. It's less mess for me to clean up to!

We are talking up a storm!

The girls are chattering up a storm lately. Taylor has said "milk", "school" and "sissy" and Sutton has said "school" "excuse me" and "sissy". Now, obviously they are not speaking clearly yet, but they are definitely repeating things back to us that we say to them now. Our delicate little flowers just love to burp...so ladylike, I know. So we are teaching them to say "excuse me" afterwards. It's more like "cuse me" but it's cute!

They have also learned to blow kisses, which we love. Last night for the first time I got a real kiss on the lips from them both. I put Taylor in her bed and leaned down and said "give mommy a kiss" and she jumped up and laid one on me...3 times in a row! It was the sweetest thing ever. I decided to try my luck w/ Sutton, who is not such a fan of anyone being right in her face, and she did it too! Three times in a row, just like sissy. I could have stayed in there all night long running from bed to bed getting kisses.

They are absolutely loving school these days. Each time I pick them up the teacher brings them outside to me and they are grinning from ear to ear and just wiggling with excitement. Who would have ever thought they would have so much fun?

We are already teaching them to help pick up their toys etc. We can use all the help they will give! They are really good about picking up all of their books and putting them back in the bin we keep them in. They will also pick up all of the loose balls from the ball pit and put them back up. When we put them in their jammies at night I hand them their dirty clothes from the day and tell them to take them to the kitchen (laundry room) and they will prance right in there and wait for me to open the door to put them in the dirty clothes basket.

They both like Elmo a lot but Sutton is down right infatuated with him. We went to Toys R Us (first time ever) over the weekend and found an aisle with nothing but Elmo gear on it and she almost had a stroke. She was totally overwhelmed and started screaming and crying when Clint pushed the buggy onto another aisle. They have different variations of his name. He goes by "Mo", "Melmo", "My Mo" or "My Melmo".

They have stopped fighting so much lately and are being very loving towards each other and we are so happy about it. You can say "give sissy a hug" and they will just bear hug each other. It is too cute! Taylor is biting less and Sutton is biting more so it is pretty much even now on who bites who the most. They are starting to share better and when one is crying about something the other will bring her a toy to make her feel better. Sweet!

Taylor cut 3 teeth in about 2 days and has another about to come through. Sutton finally cut a top tooth so we are hoping for the other one before Christmas. All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

They absolutely love the show Yo Gabba Gabba and love to dance to the music throughout the show. It's comical to just sit back and watch them shake their booties!

I guess that's about it. I will try to post some new photos in the next few days. I have been sick for about a month now and a week ago I found out I have bronchitis that I cannot seem to get rid of. The girls are well though, and that's the main thing.

Two little ladybugs

We went to our neighborhood fall festival in the park close to our house on Saturday and we had a really good time. The girls didn't mind their costumes at all but the headpieces didn't stay on until we made it down to the park. We rode a train, saw some ponies and were absolutely mesmerized by the gigantic bouncey house that had an Elmo head on front of it. They just stared in amazement and clapped for him!

They are both sick now (have been since last Thursday but we went to the festival anyway) so I don't know if we will get to trick or treat on Friday night or not. We had to skip the trunk or treat at church last night because they both had a fever and felt yucky.

We love to read!

I hope this trend continues because they absolutely love, love, love their books right now. They have decided the best place for reading is in the ballpit or the toybox.

Ballpit fun

Can you find the baby in this picture? The girls decided to move most of their toys from the toybox into the ballpit for some reason. They played in it like this for about an hour!

One word...ME-OW!!

I drug the girls out onto the porch in the cold weather this morning to take their picture before they went to school because they just looked too darn cute in these sassy shirts that Aunt Vanessa sent to them. Will I ever get a picture with them both looking at the camera and smiling?

Beach pics

Taylor w/ Nana and Sutton struttin' her stuff.

Our first beach trip

We had beautiful weather at the beach and have decided we are now big fans of the Santa Rosa/ Blue Mtn. Beach area. The first day we took the girls to the beach it was toasty...about 85 degrees, but the following day it was a crisp cool fall day when we started out (thus the long sleeves on us all) but we were hot by the time we left. Both of the girls were unsure about the sand to begin with but Sutton finally seemed to tolerate it. Taylor wasn't having any part of it! We will try again in the spring and see how it goes.

Nole Girls

Go Noles!! Daddy bought us these shirts to wear on game days. We even wore them when mom and dad were in Las Vegas and it helped to pull the Seminoles though by the skin of their teeth.

Bath in the big tub

Daddy was either feeling very adventurous or the cough medicine he is on went to his head but he let us take a bath in the big tub last night and we LOVED it!!!

Sutton wasn't too sure about things when we turned the jets on but realized it was fun and made lots of bubbles once she gave it a few minutes. Taylor of course loved it.

Please send toys

Poor kids have no toys to play with and they had to resort to tupperware and chewing on the blender cord...it's pitiful around here. I think Sutton is buried under the plastic bowls somewhere in this picture.

Taylor

I just love this picture of my little smiley girl!

The Wagon

We finally broke the wagon out yesterday. We have had it for almost a year but haven't used it yet...crazy huh? The girls loved it! We walked around the neighborhood a little and they smiled and waved to everyone and even met a little girl that lives just down the street that is the same age so maybe we'll have a new playmate soon. Yesterday was so nice outside that we spent lots of time outdoors. They thought it was oh so fun to crawl up and down the front steps and onto the porch and were aboslutely filthy by the time we went inside. They both also had their first falls on the pavement yesterday with little crying and a few scratches on their legs...they are pretty tough.

I wanna be a cowgirl

Yeehaw!

Bubble Machine

We finally broke out our bubble machine yesterday and it was lots of fun! Both of the girls are sick w/ a stomach virus but we felt like they could use some fresh air so we let them play out on the deck for a little while. Taylor liked the bubbles, but as you can see on Sutton's face, she wasn't too sure about them. I think they will enjoy it more once they are feeling better.

These babies have been sick for the better part of a month now with one thing or another...it's time for them to feel good again. First it was a cold and cough, then the fever virus, then they got some shots, then a stomach virus.

Purple poodle purses

Leopard print and purple poodle purses are all the rage at the Ray house these days!

Dresses from Aunt Vanessa

Aren't these dresses just precious? Aunt Vanessa sent them to the girls when Sarah came to visit last and we just love them. Would it kill my kids to smile when I take pictures?

And if you are wondering, yes we have totally covered up the nice hardwood floors in our den with this oh-so-beautiful smurf-blue flooring. Kinda makes a statement, don't you think? You're all just jealous!

Alone time with my book

Sutton climbed into the toybox last night for a little "alone time" to read her book and as soon as Taylor saw her she just had to get in too. Monkey see, monkey do.

Taylor & her lunchboxes

I bought the girls Tinkerbell lunchboxes for school and they were such a hit that Taylor thinks she'll take them both!

First Day of School

I never thought it would be so hard to get one picture w/ both girls in it without someone crying over something but it seems darn near impossible.

Today was their first day at Mother's Day Out and it went really well. I drove up, the ladies unbuckled them and they held their little arms out for them to pick them up just like they'd known 'em forever. No crying or anything...except for ME!!!

When I picked them up the teachers said that Sutton was the little social butterfly all day. Who would have ever thought that would be the case about 6 months ago when she cried everytime we were in a crowded room? They said they could tell Taylor was teething because she was whiny. She's not normally whiny at all and once we get this 2nd top tooth in I am going to throw a party! I want my mild-mannered, easy-going baby back.

They also said that they thought they were going to adjust to MDO very easily from the way they acted today so I was very glad to hear that...time will tell.

Taylor & her nose

I just had to post this!! She will kill me for taking this when she's 16 but I thought it needed to be documented.

Baptism

The girls and Clint were all baptized on Sunday at church and we also joined Asbury that day. Believe it or not out of about 30 or so pictures these are the only decent ones! And they aren't so good, are they? You take two babies that are teething during their nap time and expect them to let some strange man pour water on their head and it just doesn't go so well. Not to mention that Taylor had thrown up about 15 minutes before we took these. Actually, they did pretty well during the ceremony but we were not allowed to take pictures until after church and they were none to thrilled by then.

Emily's Visit

Our good friends from Atlanta, Brad, Tiffany and little Emily, came for a visit over the Labor Day weekend and we all had a great time. Sutton and Taylor had not seen Emi since Christmas so I had no idea how they would react to having another baby in the house but they seemed to thoroughly enjoy her being here. Emi and Sutton were inseparable and were hugging and cuddling the whole weekend. Taylor mostly just stole her toys!

First pair of real shoes

Today is the first day since the girls have been walking that I put shoes on them. They have never been a big fan of keeping shoes on so we'll see how long it lasts today. They reverted back to crawling for the first five minutes then began to walk around like high-stepping horses...too funny. Now they're running around like it's old news. Is it just me or do they look so much bigger with shoes on? My babies are sprouting up too quickly.

Taylor post-teething nap

The night after Taylor was cutting her top tooth she took a really long, really hard nap. I think her hair tells the story pretty well!