Gearing up for 1st Grade!

We are starting 1st grade next Wednesday! Jaxon is getting excited and so am I! Camron and Caden will be doing some "preschool" work and they are excited about that as well! We have been talking about our "new year" and doing a little prep work lately with reading, writing, etc. I have been getting things prepared as well. We have also been talking about having another "pencil party" like we did last year to kick off our year. Well, Jax just came in here and said the sweetest thing....He said "Mommy, how 'bout instead of making a pencil cake this year, we make a cake that says 'our teachers are awesome', or we can still make a pencil cake and just put 'our teachers are awesome' on it." I said who? and he said, "You, Shannon, and Holly and Amber"....AWWW, my baby is SO SWWWWEEEEEET!

How Stinkin' Cute

Being a twin must be the greatest thing. I see Camron and Caden interact in ways that just amaze me! I just went in to check on them and this is how they are sleeping. It's not uncommon for them to snug up to each other. I think it's comforting...how could it not be considering they've been like this since they were in my womb! I just love it and wanted to share!

Last Friday we took a summer field trip to Lazy 5 Ranch! The kids had a great time! There aren't as many animals as there used to be but it's still nice to take the wagon ride through the park and feed the ones that still live there! Here are some pictures of our fun!

ice cream party!

I am VERY behind on posting...sorry! A few days ago, we had an ice cream party with our neighbors, the Brewers. They have 3 boys as well so there's NEVER a dull moment when we are together! As you can see from the pics, the Daddy's were having more fun than the kids with the rocket!

Cow Appreciation

Each year we like to dress up like Moo Cows and go to "chickalay" for some yummy free food! The boys love it and to be quite honest, so do I! Here is a cute pic of them all decked out! This year, they got to pet baby calves and have their picture taken by Sears Portrait Studios....all for FREE...we like free!

March for Babies UPDATE

I got a final count today for the amount raised by the Darling Dukes team this year! We raised $1, 895!

I am SOOOO appreciative to all who donated, walked and in any way supported us! Mom and Joanna, and extra special thank you to each of you for creating your own mini team and raising money for us as well! Looking forward to next year!

4th FUN

Here are a few pictures from our 4th of July cookout. It was LOTS of fun! You can see the fireworks from Oak Hollow Lake perfectly from our driveway! Of course we had a few of our own from our trip to the beach ;)! The kids had a blast!

Captain Camron

The week before we went to the beach, the little boys had an eye dr. appointment. For those of you who don't know, they have seen an opthamologist since birth due to ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) and Camron is extremely near sighted in his left eye. At their appointment, Caden was released on an as needed basis (praise the Lord for that!). Camron, who has worn glasses since 7 months old, did GREAT on his vision screening. The best he's ever done (praise the Lord for that!). He also is wearing a patch over his stronger eye to make the weaker eye work harder. We got some of the sticky patches at the dr.'s office to wear under his glasses. He likes to choose his patch each morning. A friend from church also sewed batman fabric and Duke fabric over a "pirate" patch which is great if he needs (or just wants) to take the sticky patch off before his "time's up". I also ordered one on ebay (which we haven't gotten yet) that hook onto his glasses. We'll see how that works! Anyway, I just wanted to share a picture of Camron wearing his patch! He is doing great wearing it! I took him shopping yesterday to get a reward for being so "big". He tells me every morning when he's choosing his patch..."Mommy, my eye is getting STRONGER" and he holds up his arms like he's showing his muscles when he says it! ADORABLE! You'll notice in the beach post that he and Caden are both wearing one..Caden just wanted to wear it!

Our Beach Trip

I am getting a little slack on my posting...so sorry! We went to the beach last week and had an absolute blast. Chris surprised me with the trip for our anniversary and was planning on NOT telling me. Good thing he re-thought that one. Can you EVEN imagine what would have been packed for all 5 of us if HE had done it all alone?? I shutter to think...anyway...we went to Myrtle Beach and stayed at Ocean Lakes. My dear friend Holly has a place there (well, her parents do) and they graciously let us stay at their "Sanctuary". It was AWESOME! We swam in the pool, mostly the 2 foot kiddie pool but it was the best and coolest anyway. We layed on the beach, well, I did while the boys played in the sand and water. We rode on the golf cart even though it is painted in Wake Forest team colors ;). We ate at an expensive restaurant Jaxon likes to call "Lobsters". We spent time doing a little of this, a little of that and sometimes a little of nothing...just the 5 of us! It was perfect! Here are a few pics from our trip!

What's in your bag??

The game is called "what's in your bag tag". I think this stuff is fun! Plus I know I have random things in my bag so of course I wanted in! Thanks Karen! Here's the bag...nothing too fancy...a goodwill bargain of course!

Here's the loot. I posted the pics sort of small! Sorry!


Here is my "small" bible in it's own bag of course, a small bottle of sunscreen (should always be on hand, a mini tape measure ( you never know!), my Sony Webbie, hand sanitizer, 2 pens, a mini first aid kit, and leftover candy from vbs.....

Now we have my sunglasses bag (which never houses the sunglasses of course), some icebreaker mints, 2 free passes to the ice rink (?), a receipt from the seafood place where we ate at the beach, an extra patch of Camron's, and a list of the things I needed to pick up before we left for the beach, and my wallet (which holds my mini calendar)....


Finally, we have my scripture memory cards, my digital camera case ( I was using the camera, DUH!), a post it I need to give to Holly, a button that fell off of...something, a straw, 2 tampons, 2 peppermints, and a pack of gum!
I think that's all...of course there was some trash in there that I didn't photograph although it did cross my mind!
Let me know if YOU want to play...or just consider yourself tagged!