Meeting a birthday buddy

I am part of an online group of moms that is awesome! I have been lucky enough to meet a couple of them since we moved here. This past Wednesday we were able to meet a birthday buddy of A&E's. Owen was born the same day that A&E were so it was fun to meet someone their exact same age.

We met at an indoor playplace in Hot Springs and luckily Andy was off work and able to go and help the other dad watch the kids (and take pics) so the moms could chat. Amanda and her family were here visiting family for Thanksgiving. She had her two nieces with her and the older niece was such a big help. She climbed up everything and helped the kids through places in the play structure!

Avery swinging

Owen thought the swing looked fun but wasn't impressed once he got in

Evan playing

Everyone sliding



A&E stayed close together


Amanda and her youngest baby Aidric (he was just too sweet)

Happy Thanksgiving

We had friends over for Thanksgiving and made a big turkey (well Andy made a big turkey because I have issues with raw poultry lol). We had a great time just hanging out and chatting. In the military, your friends become family because you don't get to see the real thing very often. We are lucky to have great friends here!

Andy's delicious turkey


Trey & Evan playing (Evan just loves Trey and wants him to play as soon as he walks in the door)


All that yummy food made Marlena sleepy lol


Avery wanted a close-up


So of course Evan did too


Trey & Andy


Bob & Jon (Avery had been asking for Jon all week so she stuck to him like glue. She just adores Jon. She must have been busy eating ice cream when I took this lol)

Cozy pajamas

A&E love their cozy pajamas, especially after a bath.

Playground pics

We took A&E to a small playground at the outdoor amphitheatre in North Little Rock yesterday. They had a ball playing around, climbing the stairs, and checking out the fountain water. I was busy practicing with my new camera. I have to admit it is still better than I am. I need to read some books about lighting and angles. I am definitely amateur.








If you saw how fast they were spinning around this pole, you would be impressed that I caught this without blurring.



At home later riding trikes & playing

My new pride & joy meets the subjects

I didn't have too much time to play around after naptime because I had to start dinner. I did have some willing subjects in the beginning though. By the end of the night, not so much. I got a lot of "no pictures mommy". It isn't like I am the paparazzi! Here are some good shots I got!

Murphy

Joey

Evan didn't like a camera in his face as soon as he woke up.


Avery was willing....at first






My fave pic of the day!





Trey, Marlena, and baby Drew came over for dinner and had to get some pics taken too.

My new pride & joy

This year as our family Christmas gift, we decided to get a nice camera. It is a Canon Rebel EOS T1i DSLR. Sounds fancy, right? It kinda is!

We bought it early so we could have plenty of time to practice taking pics before Christmas. ;) I am already in love with this thing. It is amazing the difference in the pics it takes compared to our small point & shoot camera. There will probably be even more pics of A&E to share on the blog now! I got it today and got it all put together and the battery charged. So far I can only shoot in auto but even those pics are a million times better. I practiced on Joey and Murphy, then Evan woke up to be my photo victim. He is already tired of it. ha ha I am patiently waiting for Avery to wake up so I can get some pics of her then I will figure out how to upload them and share!

My new pride & joy

Built-in playmate

The great thing about twins is you have a built-in playmate (the bad side is the built-in enemy). A&E love to play together and I often here them say "come on" to get the other one to come play. The other night they made a game of pushing each other around in their toy strollers. Evan is a bit rough and was running Avery into doors and walls which they both found hysterical. I have my hands full!