Saturday, January 20, 2007

Saturday at the Truan Household .......

Words are nice, but pictures make it even better! Still not sure how to post pictures, but I'm going to dedicate some time next week to figure that out. Sometimes my days are gone before I realize it and not much has gotten done (i.e.: not figuring out how to post pics!) Yet another valuable lesson we have learned as parents ..... it's not about us and what we want to do anymore, it's ALL about Mattie and Grace and their schedules! We do still stick to somewhat of a schedule. I feel like they are trying to totally wean themselves out of that morning nap. And afternoon nap is hit or miss. Its either a short 30 minute nap, or to the extreme opposite, a 3 hour nap! Of course I love those 3 hour naps because that's my opportunity to clean, do laundry, etc.

At any rate, just wanted to post to let everyone know what we have been up to the past couple of weeks. We started back to Mothers Morning Out at Hillside, the church right outside of our neighborhood. We had not gone since November, so needless to say, it was hard to get back into the swing of things last week. On Wednesday Mattie climbed up me like I was a tree because she didn't want me to leave. Oh, it broke my heart! I went back down to their room and peeked in the window before I left and she was fine .... playing like nothing had ever happened. That made me feel better and I was able to leave with a sense of peace. Since the weather was so cold here last week, we weren't able to get outside and play. The week before was very nice so I took the girls out several days to play with their new Christmas toys. They absolutely LOVE to go outside! Maybe little tomboys?! That's fine! Some of my best childhood memories are of me and all my friends playing outside in the neighborhood I grew up in .... Grant Circle. Those were the days! How I would love to go back in time and relive just one of them!

The girls have a new found love for books that I have noticed just in the past week or so. They got several books between their birthday and Christmas. At first they would occasionally sit still for me to read through one or two pages. Now, they will sit still for 4 or 5 pages, then take the book from me, flip through all of the pages on their own and "read the story" to each other. Of course we have arguments over the same book, but luckily we have duplicates of a few. Their favorite is probably "Is Your Mama a Llama?" They see that book and immediately start saying, "Mama! Mama!" We need to get another copy of "Mama" though because they really fight over that one!

I would like to ask for your prayers for a good friend of ours, Katherine Arnold. She is battling Leukemia right now and is currently in the hospital. She has good days and bad days, but her strength level is very low and she is just not feeling well overall. She is such a sweet girl. Geoff and I have been keeping her close in our prayers, especially the past couple of weeks. Please do the same. She needs it! God hears our prayers and the more people we have praying on her behalf, the better! Thank you! I encourage you to check out her web site - I have posted the link below. Her mom or dad updates it daily. Leave her a note if you feel led. The guestbook really encourages her, even if she doesn't know the person who left it!

I sign off to a busy day today! I love the weekends with my family! On tap for today is a visit to Papa's, Papaw's if he's around, and my Granny (Grace & Mattie's great grandmother). She is in the hospital right now. Thank you Jesus!! She is finally feeling better after an operation and another surgical procedure just yesterday. It always lifts her spirits to see the girls and they get a quick out of her too! Tomorrow we plan to see Mimi (my mom). And 2 weeks from today we will be visiting our Nana and Z.O. in Memphis! We try to visit around with family every weekend! We are so thankful for all of our family members! We love all of you very much!

And we love all of you who check our blog too! Have a great week and I will post again soon ..... hopefully with some pictures next time!

Blessings!
Julie, Geoff & the girls

1 Corinthians 2:9 "However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.' "

You can visit Katherine ’s CaringBridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katherinearnold01

Monday, January 8, 2007

WELCOME 2007!!

I have decided to "give in" (to myself :-) and create a blog! We make memories with Mattie and Grace on a daily basis and since it's next to impossible to call everyone and update you when we hit a "milestone", I figured this would be the easiest way to do it! Bare with me though! This is ALL new to me, so here goes ......

We celebrated Christmas in a BIG way this year and boy was it fun! The first year we thought the girls would actually realize what was going on, and, well ..... lets just say maybe next year they will have an even better idea of what is going on! They definitely knew there were new toys when we turned the corner and walked into the living room Christmas morning, but, of course they were not able to put two and two together and realize that the big man with the white beard they had been talking about for the past 5 weeks was the jolly ole' fellow that had left all those goodies! They were able to recognize Santa by the end of the season, and still call him out whenever they see anyone with a white beard, "ho, ho!" they say. It is so sweet! In order to carry on my family Christmas traditions, which I have followed since I'm able to remember, we did a lot of "traveling" over the course of the two days. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! In addition to our normal Christmas traditions, we were so blessed to have Geoff's sister and brother-n-law (better known as Nana and Z.O. :-) and our niece, Carol, here for Christmas. It was wonderful! They really enjoyed seeing the girls reactions to everyting Christmas morning! Thank goodness they were able to help Santa until 2am putting things together! And, of course, once again, they spoiled the girls ... just a little bit! They gave them their first tricycles! They are so fitting too .... pink and purple. The girls will have to grow a little length wise before they are able to ride them, but they still love to get up on them, which they do all alone, and act like they are riding them! We also enjoyed the company of papaw (my dad) all day Chrsitmas Day! We love our papaw!

We rang in the New Year like parents of 15 month old twins are suppose to ring in the New Year! We made it to midnight (barely), gave each other a New Years kiss and then off to bed shortly after! You see, we've gotten wiser in our nearly year and a half of parenting. Grace and Mattie rise as usual no matter what time you go to bed! So its much easier, and makes for a much better day the next day, to go to bed early because no matter what, they are getting up early! Nonetheless, it was a great New Years Eve, maybe not one for the memory books, but good!

So now, it's life back to normal. Geoff is totally back to work after having a couple of light work weeks with the holidays. Now is the time we want to start Christmas traditions with the girls, so it was nice to have him around more during the Christmas season. Our family along with my sister, her husband and my nephew, Chandler went to see Santa and then over to Lenox and rode the Pink
Pig. We all had such a good time and hope to carry on this tradition for many years to come. I remember riding the Pink Pig when I was a little girl. It has changed tremendously, nothing at all like it used to be. But the girls loved it and their little faces were priceless!

Well, I will close for now. I hope to learn more about blogging and I will try to get some pictures up soon! Lord knows I take plenty! Thanks for logging on!


Psalm 4:7 " You have filled my heart with greater joy ......"

Julie, Geoff and the girls