Steppin Out Saturday - Low Key

I haven't done a fashion post the past two weeks, because honestly, I haven't had anything to post about. Last weekend, Jake and I were at a lakehouse in Camden just hanging out and chilling baby-free while Jake's parents had the babes (Jake was playing in a golf tournament over there) so, I really was just in a swimsuit or super casual. Which was super awesome :)




A view from the lake. Pretty perfect, eh?



This past weekend was also pretty low-key. We went to the zoo, and grilled out, and went to the pool a couple of days. Fall is a SUPER BUSY time, and with our new house that I have recently become obsessed with decorating, furnishing, or and demolishing and redoing, it's nice to have some low-key family time :)

Some pics from the weekend:

At the Zoo - "Howd my Hand Josh!" - Jules

Giggles :)

Close to being my most favorite pic ever.

This boys eyelashes...seriously!!!

Because, naturally, you pick pine cones after swimming.

Double jump!

And, a

Our Favorite Things - 2 Years, 8 Months

I am just going to breeze right past the age in the title, because, let's be honest, I might just start bawling my eyes out because there is NO WAY they are that old. Impossible, mkay?

It's time for another Favorite Things post, since I haven't done one in forever!


Activites: Hmmm, what are their favorite things to do? Pretty much anything they want. Haha. They are hard to keep still, hard to keep content for long. They love their trains, dolls, cars, blocks and balls. They love building towers, cars, a sand castle and a school bus with their blocks. It's funny they all end up looking like a tall string of blocks though...hmmmm. Oh, to have the imagination of a two year old! They also love to just run, run, and more run. They have started playing MUCH more with one another, which makes my life easier (Haha, again, because let's be honest. They play together for about 60 seconds until I hear, "Ahhh" MAMA!!!" As someone has stolen a toy, hit their head, etc) They love the zoo, and love going for walks, and LOVE to go swimming!
Books: I was just telling Jake tonight how cyclical they are with their favorite books and what they want to read all.the.time. For a while it was Go Dog Go, and we had to read it absolutely every night. Then it was Good Night Gorilla, and we read that one every night. Now it is a Neighboorhood Numbers book by Baby Einstein. I'll say that we switch out book number 2, but there is always a dominant one. It's so funny. We have also named all the characters in Neighborhood Numbers, which is why I think they like it. It's like seeing their friends! There is Patches and Ralph, Joe and Moe the penguins, and Pinky and Stinky the mice.
Electronics: I think it's safe to add this category in here now, because my babes are super smart when it comes to computers. We bought the Leap Pads for them for Christmas (which I absolutely hate), but they didn't use them much. However, they LOVE our ipad, iphones, and their ipod touch. I will do a post later on our favorite games and apps, but they are so smart with them and  adore them.
Foods: We have gone into toddler hell here. I am really trying to still have some variety in what they eat, but they really love their chicken, french fries and and other "every toddler" food. But I sneak in some vegetables as much as I can. Now that they have started school, I have really liked packing good lunches for them. I know they probably don't eat all of it, but am hoping peer pressure changes that :) They are still a huge lover of any and all fruit. And hate chocolate, cake and ice cream. Weirdos.
Songs: Top of the list right now (again, songs are cyclical too) is Mockingbird. They want to hear it every night before bed. We rotate lots of other faves around. Lucky for the babes I am pretty musical (hehe) so our songlist includes everything from kiddie songs to showtunes, to The TN Waltz, Peter Paul and Mary, to Disney songs, to Christina Aguilara, to the really fun chorus music I sang in school. I also am really good (according to the babes) at making up songs too. Another random thing is that we sing the same three songs by request at night: Mockingbird, the Mickey Mouse song (um, not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the one with Annette. I'm really not 60 years old, I swear) and a song called Josh and Jules that I made up.

Toys: Jules' go-to things are her mouse lovey that she sleeps with and "Baby Foofa". They sleep with a big Foofa/Brobee pillow pet thing, but she loves her little pint size Foofa thats as big as her hand. Also, she is obsessed with her tacos (blankets) and takes them everywhere too. Also, she a huge fan of playing catch. (wanna play catch mama??) Josh has recently become attached to his Blankie, which he loves. Now, Josh, bless his heart, gets attached to the ODDEST of things. He might find some random object and become attached to it for days at a time: a keychain, a bracelet, a Napolean Dynamite pen, etc. It's so funny!
Shows: They pretty much love shows now, which probably isn't good. However, I will say that I have been amazed at how educational shows are nowadays. Josh's favorite show is UmiZoomi, which is awesome at math skills. SuperWhy is a wonderful show about reading, letters, and spelling. Dora (eh) of course introduces Spanish. Bubble Guppies they used to like, but it's taken a back step now. Jake and the Pirates just happens to be on during breakfast, so they sometimes watch that one. And of course, they still adore Yo Gabba Gabba and Mickey Mouse. My darling Jules, though is OBSESSED, I mean crazy obsessed with Fresh Beat Band. Holy Moly, if she could watch this show all day, every day, she would! They don't get to watch it that much, though, so it makes it special when they do. They still aren't into movies, and I'm not sure why. It's hard to understand!!

A Moment of Pause

Apologies in advance of my lack of posting this week. While my babes are as precious as ever, I have found myself not picking up my camera as much this week. My life has been consumed with

this:

This:

And this:

Yup....We are full fledged knee-deep in trying to redesign the home we bought! So, any free time I have had has been scouring the internet, going to stores, and looking on Craiglist for ideas, etc. (Did I mention we are gutting it? What were we thinking??) In all honesty, we are excited, and I have half-way thought about starting a home flipping blog, just to post some ideas of things I have found, do some before-afters, and things like that because its so nice to put ideas down on paper. And, I dont' want to crowd up this blog, because this is all about the babes :) We close in a little over two weeks! Eeeep!

Oh, and P.S. Houzz Rocks My Socks.

Sleeping at preschool

I talked to their teacher the other day about my babes actually napping on their little naps with other children. So, she sent me proof yesterday. Oh, be still my beating heart! The sweetness is overwhelming :)

The post in which I felt like a failure

I know (hope) most moms have had days like this. I haven't had it happen to me yet, but this week, it did. I was *mortified* in a public place by my children.

Our grocery store visit started out fine. If I have the babes with me, I typically go to Publix, because I like their car shopping carts better. I'm weird, I know, but theirs are up high, while the car carts at Kroger are down low. They typically fight in those and I have to separate them. At Publix, they are up top with me. 

Anyway, so like I said, it started out fine. They LOVE going to the store. I should have known it would be bad when we had our first meltdown right at the bananas (Yes, as in, the first thing you get to when you get in the store). We made it through a couple more aisles, and then they started arguing. Josh wanted to get out an walk (no) wanted to come up in the seat with me (which he did), he wanted to get back in with Jules, they fought some more, I am pulling out my hair at this point. And OH THE WHINING. I let them have a fruit packet hoping that would settle them down.

We are halfway through the aisles at this point, and this was quick trip anyway, but I was done.

But all this yes, I know, can be normal.

It was a check-out when things got bad. They love to "help me" put stuff onto the register, which is fine. This is when Jules had  a meltdown and Josh stood up in cart. He got "scolded" by the bagger lady. (well, not scolded really, but I had my back turned trying to calm Jules down, and the lady was just worried he would fall). So, then I got him down and he started pulling stuff off the racks. OMG.

The register people at Publix had to tell Josh no again because Jules was screaming and I had to deal with her.

I am just a mess at this point and want to get out of there. Can't I control my own children? Why do the people at Publix feel the need they need to help me? I should be telling my own kids no, not them! However, they had to because let's be honest, I was outnumbered! We got to the car and I got them out and tried to get them in the car while bagger lady puts my groceries in the back. I am MORTIFIED at this point. Josh is throwing a fit because he doesn't want to get in and stands in between my legs. And, again, bagger lady tells him to stay with me. I say "he's ok, this is how we do this and get them in the car". She doesn't know our routine of getting twin two-year-olds in the car, and it does look crazy I guess if you don't know us. But, it works for us and I have to do everything at the same time. Again, she was just trying to help, I know. But, honestly, I want TO DIE.

But, for the first time in their 2.5 years on this earth, I was so embarrassed that she felt she had to help me. Mortified. I can't explain this feeling, but I know some of you out there have experienced it. I felt ashamed, and it was an awful feeling. I usually have good kids, I really do. And usually, they don't team up on me. It's usually one or the other. But not that day. It makes you feel like a complete failure as a mother and that you have failed in some way in mothering the babes because they act so awful sometimes.

But, I also know that they are two. And I have to take a step back and realize that. But, I also need to re-evaulate some disclipine. Because things like that will now be kept to a minimum if I can help it, because I certainly don't want to feel like that again!

Steppin Out Saturday - Williamson County Fair

Saturday was yet another first for us! The babes got to ride their first "ride"! We were the southern cliche on Saturday. I haven't attended a county fair since I was probably in the 6th grade. They come every year, of course, but I haven't wanted to brave it since 6th grade, lol. But, now that I have sweet little two year olds, I was SUPER pumped to try it out.

The Williamson County Fair is a big deal around here. It's held in Franklin, and has lots of rides, animal things, and lots of other "fair" type things like funnel cakes and prize games. We stuck to the kiddie stuff, and let me say I was SUPER impressed by how much they could do! I didn't have high hopes since they are still so little, but I have to give the Fair props, it was so much fun. There were about 3-4 rides that were age/size appropriate, which was plenty for them. And the best part was the HUGE exhibit called "Little 1's Farming". I was obsessed with this! The babes got to go through this huge barn and experience all it takes to be a farmer (in a pretend way): feed chickens, milk cows, ride a tractor, fish, grow and pick vegetables, and then sell them to the local farmers market. It was precious! There was also tons of animals for them to see as well.

So, yes, we were the total cliche, but it was uber fun. A fabulous time for sure.

Happy Jules on the "boats" - this was their first experience and they were so excited!

Wearing our little farmers aprons preparing to be a farmer. We have our baskets ready!

Brushing the sheep and gathering wool

"Oooo, I got a fish!! - Thanks Daddy" - Jules

Hanging out in the John Deere tractor. Rite of passage, no?

Seriously, we are the cliche.

Hehe. My little piglet

Playing in the corn.

SOS
On Moi:
Top: boutique in Savannah, TN//Tank: H and M//Necklace: Stella and Dot//Jeans: Vera Wang

Oh my. For those who know me, know what seeing this did to me. I was like a kid at Christmas. I am obsessed with pigs, and actually used to have one for a teeny amount of time. This also reaffirmed my stance on no pork for moi.

On the fish ride!

He is precious, no?

He was giggling the entire time.

Precious girl.

On the airplane ride!

In Other News...

We did it. We got a new house! Excellent size, excellent location. Offer was accepted, and home inspection is done. So, now it's "official". For those that keep up, this has been a long, LONG process. We have been looking since before the babes were born.

We live about a mile from the Williamson County line. While that doesn't mean much to you people, it does around here. When you enter Williamson County, you are also entering some of the best public school systems in the nation. But, you also paid more to live there. So, we have been pretty picky. We have been really picky on location (not wanting to be "too" far out), picky on price, and picky on size. We have put two offers on two houses in the past two years. One we backed out of, and one we were too late on*

*the housing market in Brentwood in Williamson County is NUTS. It's definitely a seller's market. The house we lost we put an offer on it 24 hours after it was listed - and we were still too late. The house we now have we put an offer on it less than 48 hours after it was listed, and it already had other offers. We just won that one. Crazy, I know!! So, that it why it's been such a crazy mess of house hunters over here. It moves TOO fast and you really have to be on top of it. Good houses only last a few days on the market.

Back to our house! It's going to be awesome. We are pretty much gutting it and re-doing most of the inside. It's fun for me, not so much fun for Jake. The babies love it. It's funny, they have been with us each time we looked at the house, which is odd, but kind of cool. They were there when we looked at it, and again when we met with a contractor there, and then again during the home inspection. They are used to the house already and love it. After the third time, Josh had a MELTDOWN in his car seat in our driveway, because he did NOT want to go to the "old house" - he wanted to only got to the "new" house.

Hysterical.

So, a new journey begins for us. It's going to be bitter-sweet, because this was the home we brought the babies home to from the hospital, and this was where they spent almost 3 years of the first of their life. It's where they took their first steps, first crawl, first bath, first food, first birthday party, second birthday party, first two Christmases, everything!! It was a wonderful home for us. When we moved in 7 years ago, I knew which bedroom would be the nursery. It only took us 5 years to fill it up with babes!

I will probably be posting some "house memories" of the babes over the next few weeks. After all, this is their baby book, and I don't want them to forget it!

The new house will be fabulous though. More space, and lots of room for them to run around in and be their crazy selves. A decision will have to be made on if I am ready to separate them into two rooms...(hmmmm, not yet, I don't think, even though they need it - doh!)

Oh, and p.s., if you follow me on Pinterest (@apstribling) - I apologize for flooding your stream with endless home idea pictures, lol.

And, p.p.s. Our house is on the market! Pass it on if you know anyone looking :)