Twins!

"I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139

Last December, I was thrilled beyond measure when my twin sister announced that she and her husband were expecting! Today, I'm that plus elated, thrilled, ecstatic, excited, and happy! As you can tell from the above picture my twin sister is having twins! A girl baby and a boy baby! My whole family is so very happy and excited for my sister and her family and can't wait to meet the twins in early August. Until their arrival we are praying for a safe and healthy full term pregnancy! But I just can't wait to meet them, hold them, read to them, tell them that I love them, and for Caroline to play with them! They will be such blessings to our family and Kaleb is going to love being their big brother!

 Miss C's Responsibilities!

Caroline loves being a "big helper". She's always trying to put things up or away and believe it or not it's mostly done without being told! I call this kind of responsibility "awareness". She's aware of when things need to be put up like her paci, or a toy she's finished playing with, or mommy's magazine that she's "read". Last night, I asked her to put a catalog back that she was looking it, and when she didn't, I forgot about it (I'm losing my mind), and later when she realized she hadn't  she ran over to it and as she's putting it away she says "oh mommy" and puts it back in its home. I love how she loves being a big helper, I make a big deal about it and she loves doing her "responsibility"!

Chore 1: "Pushing" the clothes in the dryer.

Chore 2: (Her favorite) Feeding kitty...

"I wanna feed him!"

Chore 3: Reading to Curly Sue (this is my

absolute favorite)!

Chore 4: Playing with her toys!

Chore 5: Being read a story by mommy or daddy!

Chore 6: Playing!

Car Buddies!

Yesterday was President's Day but I still had to work and so C got to play with her friends at Ms. Leah's! Yesterday wasn't a day with students, but our district held it's biannual Instructional Fair! I always enjoy the fair and I have presented at two out of four! It's a day to see friends throughout the district that you don't see everyday and it's more importantly a time to learn from other colleagues (I know I'm a dork, but I love to learn). So I began the day knowing it would be relaxed and funfilled! Yesterday, C began her trip to Leah's as usual with all of her car buddies plus a new one. Bovey (bunny lovey) and sweetly are usually always in the car but she just had to bring Elmo! She loves to rub their tags for the satiny feel and she'll talk to them and sometimes she'll tell them "No MA'AM" in her most county voice. My favorite part is when she hugs them and loves on them as if they are her very best friends. I love the car buddies they were each gifts from some very special people in C's life and as you can tell she defintely loves them too!

Miss C with her car buddies!

Ms. Leah was able to take this picture of C yesterday while she was completing a puzzle! I worried for the longest time thinking that she would never be able to master putting a puzzle together. She's always wanted to do puzzles ever since she was introduced to them but always seemed to have a hard time turing the pieces and knowing how to put them back in the puzzle to make the picture! She's mastered it now and continues to love putting "puzles" together. From the look on her face I think she's enjoying this puzzle!

C at Ms. Leah's working on a puzzle!

On Saturday afternoon C and I headed down to "Levinerville", this is the place in the country where my inlaws own property in several different places in one small community! The rest of the Leviner Clan camped out in Levinerville on Friday night, but the girly girl and I stayed home and "camped" out in our house, but not before a wagon ride in the cul-de-sac, a bath, supper, and then later a yum snack! C and I headed to the campers on Saturday afternoon and it was a day full of warm weather, a delicious lunch (prepared by chef MIL), a hayride, and lots of other children (dirt bike riding, four wheel riding, etc.) fun!

C and the mommy!

C and the daddy!

Many small children (C's first cousins)!

Caroline, Samantha, Christian, Franklin, Anna, and Silas

Anna Louise swinging on a vine! This girl

had the best time swinging!

C helping Granddaddy drive the tractor!

Don't mess with my tutu...

because this morning we are full of pink, laughter, sunshine, fun, and smiles!

Here's another happy girl!

Happy Da-Doo Daddy!

Caroline loves birthdays just like her mommy! Tonight we celebrated Sam's! The whole way out to dinner she sang Happy Da Doo and then yelled "cake, want some" and she also loves to say "Happy Cakey" (ever since we've celebrated four birthdays since Jan.). I do have another video that I took tonight of her talking and telling us who she loves, but it was taken in the car so it looks rather dark.

Her vocabulary seems to double daily! She's also revealing her bossy side but she's so cute when she says "Momma, sit down" and "I wanna feed him" when it's time to feed Stitch. People have asked me about what I do with her to have her talking so much and I blame it on us reading to her daily since the day she was born! I also believe that she has a love for books (she already has a jinormous supply of story books) and stories because I read stories to my students multiple times a day at school when I was pregnant! I know there are many different reasons and causes for children's vocabulary and verbal skills development at different stages so I can't say one particular thing because we could very well do the same things with our next child and have different results. For now, I'm so happy that she loves books and is able to verbally express her likes and dislikes (although her dislikes are more strongly expressed). She not only uses words to express her feelings but also facial expersssions. Like tonight for instance, she got upset with me about something at the dinner table and scooted away from me with the frumpiest face while saying "No, mommy". It didn't last long because the tickle monster attacked her belly and all was well!

We had a great time celebrating Sam's big day and listening to our girl sing "Happy Da Doo"!

This little girl brings so much joy into our lives daily! Her personality is delightful! Watch as she sings her ABC's, counts, and tells who lives in her heart on Valentine's Day! Don't forget to mute the music playlist at the bottom first!

Compared to the past few weeks the weather this weekend has been perfect and we took full advantage! C loved running around and enjoyed visiting the outdoors coatless! Her favorite part of yesterday was learning that her Nanny and PC were taking out their little Valentine for dinner! She enjoyed her dinner, their outing, and their visit! I'm looking forward for more beautiful and fun weather days!

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

My little Valentine!

Miss Valentine having some fun!

Daddy's Valentine!

Our Sweet Valentine!

Nanny's Valentine!

This past weekend was pageant weekend! It was fun, exciting, entertaining, and well quite frankly beautiful! I think I've only been to one pageant in my life. My sister and some very dear friends competed one year in high school, and so I was very excited to see what the pageant "scene" was all about for this weekend and so I couldn't wait to see our Kelsey compete in her school's Miss Freshman pageant! This is so different from what we thought she would ever do, but to put it in her own words, "I am doing it for fun and I'm not expecting to place".  She wanted to have fun, her friends wanted her to do it, and so she entered! As Saturday preparations began, she wasn't at all nervous, in fact, she couldn't wait to get to school for all the fun to begin.  Her bubbly personality and full of confidence attitude brought her the 3rd runner up title! She didn't expect to hear her name being called for one of the five finalist spots out of the 50 girls that competed and when the MC did she didn't even budge. She said she thought she heard wrong!
We are so proud of our Kelsey!

Kelsey and Jessi!

Ladies and Gentleman I am

Kelsey Marie Dukes

your contestant number 25!

Evening Gown and Poise!

Our girl!

Kelsey and Jessi! Beautiful!

Kelsey is ready for some fun!

5 finalist and there's our K!

YAY! Kelsey Marie Dukes is 3rd Runner Up!

The gals!

We love this little girl's "Heart"!