New Years Eve 2011!

This is how we are spending our New Years Eve....

With 2 sicklings (Daddy and Caroline) in our family tonight, we are spending New Years Eve at home. That's exactly how I like it too. You may remember our disaster of a new years trip to Nashville last year. I do wish everyone was healthy but there is no place that I'd rather be than home with my sweet family. Asher and I went out this morning to get some snack foods, party hats and horns, and movies. We even picked up our favorite kinds of pizza to celebrate tonight.

I'm not one to make resolutions but tomorrow I'll post a few goals/ideas for 2012. I do have a few closing thoughts and observations of 2011 that I want to document. For me, 2011 was the year that I grew up. Now, I know I'm 31 years old and technically have been a grown up for a while. However, this was the year I feel like I turned the corner and my childhood is definitely behind me. I am an adult. There is no going back.

I received the biggest surprise of my life on Jan. 11th, 2011, when we found out that we were being blessed with not one, but two little babies. We witnessed God's blessings and protection during this twin pregnancy. Tyler remained healthy after being exposed to meningitis. The twin's got a healthy report when we traveled to Little Rock after a scary visit in Ft. Smith. My employer graciously allowed me to have an extended maternity leave and cut back to 2 days per week upon returning to work. The twins were delivered healthy at 34 weeks and we brought them home just 9 days later. They came home and have grown and adapted perfectly to their home. Asher and Leila have been amazing big brother and big sister to the twins....they've adapted well to their new siblings and our new crazy life! ;) Our family has been wonderful helping us with everything too. God truly has poured out his blessings on the Wood family this year!

2011 also brought loss and a big dose of reality to our family and our friends. We lost my Papa unexpectedly in May. I'm not going to say that 2011 was terrible because of this because it also gave us 5 great months of time with him. I will say that watching my Nana struggle to carry on without him in her life has been hard. We have friends that have experienced divorce, lost children, and lost jobs this year. We have lifted up many prayers for others this year, we have carried many burdens. We have struggled to make the right decisions for our family, our children, our careers. As we look at the outside world, we are truly thankful for work, food, a home, a supportive family and church. We know that life is not all sunshine and roses. It is life, sometimes it is hard. 2011 has been sobering, but I'm thankful for each and every day.

I pray that 2012 will be filled with many, many blessings and wonderful moments for our family and your's too!

My favorite moments/things of 2011:
-finding out that I was expecting twins!
-our family trip to Great Wolf Lodge
-finding out that the twins were healthy
-the sweet, sweet days that I spent with Asher and Leila when I was on maternity leave
-Mother's Day picnic at Ben Geren Park
-the birth of Cal and Caroline
-the nights at the nicu spent getting to know our twins
-bringing the twins home and becoming a family of 6!
-date nights with Tyler
-discovery of Pinterest!
-Christmas wrapping party at Maggie's with some great gals!

6 months!

Monday, Dec. 26th the twins turned 6 months old!

Cal.....

You are getting to be such a BIG boy. Just look at the picture of your feet compared to Caroline's! You are such a funny little man. You growl all of the time. You sing yourself to sleep, just like your big brother did. You LOVE to blow motorboat noises with your lips. You are rolling over and trying to sit up. You are wearing 12 month clothing, size 3 diapers, and taking 6 oz. bottles. We still do therapy weekly for your torticollis. We are going introduce cereal this week (last introduction didn't go so well so Dr. advised us to wait and try again later). You have had a cold and pink eye this month (poor baby). You are sleeping through the night (11-9)!!!!! You like to bury your face in something to go to sleep. It's sweet. You are so expressive with your smile and eyebrows. I feel all your love when you smile at me! You are very active....I think you may keep us on our toes. ;) I almost forgot, you got your 1st tooth this month too!! You are such a good baby and I can't wait to see what this month brings! I love you, sweet boy!

Caroline....

You are starting to slow down on the growing business....I think you know that there is no way for you to keep up with your big brother. ;) You are such a daddy's girl. You squeal and kick your feet with delight when you see him. Your little eyes are beautiful and expressive. You seem very observant and express love through your sweet eyes. You are rolling over and trying to sit up too. I think you are working on getting a tooth. You have recently learned to blow motorboat noises and you enjoy doing it, but you LOVE to squeal/scream. You are wearing 9 month clothes, sz 3 diapers, and taking 6oz. bottles but you leave some most every time. You had bronchiolitis again this month (poor baby). You are also sleeping through the night (11-9)!!!! You are also a wonderful baby and I can't wait to see what this month brings! I love you, sweet girl!

*You both are thumb suckers. (which doesn't make me very happy, but it is so darn cute!)

All that Jack did....

Here are a few of the things that Jack did on his visit from the North Pole.....

The kid's couldn't wait to see what mischief Jack had been into each day. ;)

Christmas Day 2011

It was a special Christmas this year. We missed our sweet Nana being here but we enjoyed our precious family time. Here are a few highlights of our Christmas:

Asher- this was his lego/game Christmas. He says his favorite Santa gift was Mario Chess.
Leila- this was her lalaloopsy/doll Christmas. Her favorite present was her bean bag and her DS.
The twins- their 1st Christmas!
My favorite memory- Asher running out of the bedroom, jumping into my arms, yelling "It's Christmas!"

Dinner was scrumptious and the magic of Christmas was in the air. It truly was a very special Christmas!

Christmas Eve Night

Nanny just opened a partially eaten jelly sandwich?

Asher says, "Are you kidding me?"

Leila doesn't want to take Nanny up on her offer to give Leila her present! ;)

We put out cookies for Santa after we were clean and ready for bed.

Enjoying a few minutes of play time before snuggling in for the night.

I love our Christmas Eve tradition of going to my Nana and Papa's house. This has been the tradition for my entire life. The food is always wonderful, the family time even better, and we usually leave with a sack load of presents. We listen to Christmas tunes on the way home and look for Rudolph's nose in the night sky. This year was no different, except that it really was. My heart ached for old times and wished that Papa was here to share in the twin's first Christmas. I wish that Nana wasn't going through this rough time during the Christmas season this year. We have been blessed beyond measure this year (again) but we have had loss this year too. I celebrate this Christmas season and am thankful for the time we are given with family. However, I truly mourn the loss of a very special man this Christmas season. It was harder than I thought that it might be.