Last weekend we went to Maryville & Townsend to visit some family.  It was such a beautiful weekend we decided to take a drive to the Smoky Mountains and visit Great-Great Mamaw Beulah. On our way, we stopped by Chilhowee Lake and then made our way through the Parkway up to Townsend. It was so beautiful with all the colors of fall. Here are a few pictures.

Chilhowee Lake

The Great Smoky Mountains

Great-Great Mamaw Beulah was SO excited to see Jack & Elijah.  She doesn’t really like to have her picture taken, but I kept snapping pictures. She kept saying “That was a good one” (as in….don’t take any more!). Here are a couple of pictures of her playing with the boys.  They were really funny!

Mamaw & Jack

Mamaw & Eli

We had a really nice day. The weather was perfect.  Here is a picture of the four of us.

The Fam

This past Tuesday, our good friends Kyla & Aliza came down to Cleveland for a visit.  Our weekends are so jam packed visiting family when we are in that we do not get to see them sometimes…so they came to us! We had a really good time.  Here is a picture of Aliza and the boys….(of course we waited til close to nap time to try to get a picture…)

Eli, Aliza & Jack

Last Friday, the boys experienced their first Halloween! Get ready boys….there are many more to come with crazy costumes and lots of candy! Yum! We decided to go with an animal theme this year.  Babies in animal costumes are so cute! They were really funny in them.

Jack was a puppy dog.  Here are a couple pictures of him.

Jack, the Puppy

Jack

Elijah was a horse. Many people kept mistaking it for a giraffe, cow….etc.  It is actually a horse. Here are a few pictures of Eli.

Elijah, the Horse

Eli

Here are some of our favorite pictures of the boys together.

Jack & Elijah

Halloween is SO FUN!

Elijah was really good at playing the part of a horse.  He actually started eating grass.  It was really funny.  This is the picture where we caught him eating grass…..who knows how much he actually ate…..

Eli practicing being a Horse

On Friday night, we took them to “Trunk or Treat” at our church.   For those of you not familiar with that, they decorate the back of their trunks and you go around to the trunk of their cars and “Trick or Treat” at their trunks.  It was very fun.  We got to hang out with some of our friends that also have children.

We had lots of fun with the boys’ first Halloween this year.  I can’t wait for next year! To view all of the pictures we took of them in their costumes, click on the “Pictures” tab to view the new slideshow.

This past weekend we visited some close friends in Bristol, TN- Kelly & Jason French. We had a really fun time.  The boys really enjoyed themselves.  Kelly & Jason have a puppy named Allie and a ferret named Ruthie.  The boys LOVED them! They would smile and get so excited every time they came around.  Here is a picture of the boys playing with Ruthie (or Jack tackling her).

Eli & Jack playing with Ruthie

We had fun playing games while we were there. Jack & Eli’s favorite was the video game “Rock Band” where you play an instrument or sing.  They kept trying to get the cords that connected the instruments to the video game console.  Finally Aunt Kelly & Uncle Jason let them have a turn at it….

Kelly & Eli playing the drums

Jason & Jack singing in the microphone

On Sunday we visited the South Holston Dam.  It was a beautiful day.  We took a little hike with the boys and their puppy Allie.  Here is a picture of the boys getting ready for the hike.

Jason & Jack and Matt & Eli

After our hike, we drove across the top of the dam.  Here is a picture from the top.  It was really pretty.

The view from the South Holston Dam

We had a fun weekend and as usual the boys did wonderful traveling!

I can’t believe they are already 8 months old (even though they have been for a few weeks now)! They are growing up so fast.  It seems like they learn something new every day.

We just introduced cheerios to them this past Friday. It was so cute. They couldn’t quite get them into their mouths on there own, so I would put them in their mouths & they would chew away! By Saturday they were feeding themselves! They LOVE their cheerios! Here is a picture of them eating cheerios.

Eating Cheerios

They are also on the move.  Jack is officially crawling in some kind of fashion.  He chooses more of the “Army Crawl” technique.  He is all over the house now. I can’t turn my back on him!  Elijah is more satisfied with sitting where he is or rolling around.  He makes an effort every now and then, but I am sure it is just right around the corner before he is crawling!

They both are becoming more aware of each other.  They have started playing together a little more.  Of course along with playing together, they also steal toys from each other! We have very unhappy campers when that happens! Here is a picture of them playing together at one of their new favorite toys.

Playing together

They continue to develop their own unique personalities.  It is so fun to watch them.  Here are some of our favorite recent pictures of the boys.

Elijah

Jack

Jack (left) & Eli (right)

Yes, I know…..we went to the beach twice over a month.  We were home about 6 days and we left for sunny Florida.  This time we went to Daytona Beach with my family.  Unfortunately Matt wasn’t able to make this trip with us so the boys and I traveled with Aunt Suzy.

We left on Saturday, October 4th around 7:15 am and got to the beach around 6:00 pm.  It is a 9 hour drive from Cleveland, so we made it in a little under 11 hours….not too bad with twins!

We had pretty nice weather while we were there….actually we did have a tornado watch on Thursday night but that didn’t really affect us too much.

Every day we basically did the same schedule.  After the boy’s morning nap we would go down to the pool and play.  Jack & Elijah loved sitting on the steps and splashing in the water. The pool had a Lazy River and a water slide.  The big kids (yes…including me) would go down the slide…it was so fun! The boys LOVED floating around the Lazy River- so we would do that as long as possible.  Here is a picture of us with the boys on the Lazy River.

Floating in the Lazy River

After lunch, we would head to the beach for the afternoon.  We borrowed a beach tent from some friends and set it up on the beach for the boys to play in and nap.  Every day they would take their afternoon nap in the tent.  It was so funny to watch them play with each other in the tent until they would settle down for their nap.  They would wrestle around and try to steal each others’ blanket. Here are a couple of pictures of them “napping.”

Playing....not napping

Come here....I'm not finished with you!

Finally, they would fall asleep and take a pretty good nap….after all, the beach is great for napping…

Finally napping....

When they would wake up, we would let them play in the sand (or eat the sand) and splash in the water.  Here are some pictures of them “playing” in the sand.

Eli & Jack playing in the sand

Who knew sand was so fun!?!

They even helped bury Uncle Michael in the sand.

Jack & Eli burying Uncle Michael in the sand

Here they are having fun at the beach with Grandma!

At the beach with Grandma

Of course we had to do a little sightseeing while we were there.  Since our last trip I’m on a Lighthouse kick, so we visited Ponce de Leon Lighthouse.  It was very pretty.  We climbed to the top of it. Here is a picture of the lighthouse.

Ponce de Leon Lighthouse

On Saturday, October 11th we left the beach around 7:30 pm.  We arrived back in Cleveland around 5:30 pm.  We made it back home almost an hour faster compared to the trip there.  The boys were SO HAPPY to see Matt when we got home.  They smiled so big! (Of course I smiled real big too when I saw him!)

We had a really fun trip! Good job Jack & Elijah! Maybe next time we will go to the West Coast….haha!

This past week we went on our first vacation to the beach with Jack & Elijah.  It was lots of fun! We left on Friday, September 19th and met up with Grandpa & Grandma Fuson in Louisville, TN.  We stayed the night in Greensboro, NC- arriving there about 8:30 pm.  The boys surprisingly stayed awake until we got there.

On Saturday, we drove to Raleigh, NC and met up with Aunt Amy, Uncle Mike & Cousins Emily & Katelyn.  From there we drove all the way to Avon, NC where we stayed at our beautiful beach house!  We arrived in Avon, NC around 6:00 pm.  The boys were so happy to get out of the car (so were we)!

On Sunday, we ended up visiting Kill Devil Hills (45 minutes north of Avon) to take Elijah to an after hours clinic because he was pulling at his ear and had a runny nose.  We had just taken Jack to the pediatrician before we left for the same symptoms & he had ear infections so we didn’t want to take a chance. Bingo- another ear infection….so now we had two babies on amoxicillin.  We caught them in time so they luckily got better towards the beginning of the week.

After we finally got to the beach house, we found out that a tropical depression was forming and we were expecting winds up to 50 mph.  Well, the prediction was true & indeed we did have winds that strong (if not stronger) so we did not go to the beach the first several days.  Instead we ended up sightseeing and shopping which was still lots of fun!

On Monday, we visited some of the local shops & ate lunch at the Captain’s Table where we enjoyed some delicious Flounder & Spanish Mackerel. We also visited Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  It was a little rainy that day, so we went back later in the week & climbed to the top of it.  It was a beautiful view.  Here is a picture of the family at the lighthouse.

The family at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

On Tuesday, we rode a ferry over to Ocracoke Island. It was really cool! Here is a picture of the family riding on the ferry.

The family riding the Ferry

After about a 40-45 minute ferry ride, we drove all over Ocracoke Island.  We visited Ocracoke Lighthouse, some neat little shops, a British Cemetery and ate some delicious crab cakes at Howard’s Pub.  Here is a picture of us at the lighthouse.

The Family at Ocracoke Lighthouse

On Wednesday, we drove down to Hatteras and ate some tasty blackened Tuna sandwiches at Teach’s Hole.  We then visited the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum that describes the history of the hundreds of shipwrecks that happened on the Outer Banks. We also visited several little shops in Hatteras Village.

On Thursday, the wind finally calmed down enough to allow us to go to the beach! Hooray! We finally took the boys down for their first experience with the ocean & the beach.  The boys were so funny.  Elijah was trying to eat the sand by the handful.  Jack was real unsure about the water & sand.  He finally warmed up to it. We didn’t stay out very long because the boys were ready for a nap, but here is a picture of us at the beach.

Our family at the beach

On Friday, we visited a little bakery- “The Orange Blossom”- famous for their Apple Uglies.  They were amazing! We spent most of the day at the beach because we again had some beautiful weather! Here are some of our favorite pictures of the boys at the beach.  The boys were SO CUTE!

Jack & Eli soaking in the sun

Two little men enjoying the beach

Is this your first time to the beach?

We ended the day on Friday eating at the Dolphin’s Den where we had the most incredible “She-Crab” soup ever.  It is definitely my new favorite soup.

On Saturday, we left our beach house around 10:00 am and headed home.  We made one last stop at Bodie Lighthouse before leaving Hatteras Island.  Here is a picture of us with the Bodie Lighthouse.

The family at Bodie Lighthouse

We made a quick stop at Mike & Amy’s in Raleigh before we drove on to Hickory, NC where we stayed the night.

On Sunday, we drove back to the Fuson’s in Louisville and then headed on home to Cleveland.  It was quite a trip but the boys did GREAT! They are great little travelers.  We had a very fun trip with the family and can’t wait to take more trips with Jack & Eli.

Be sure to check out the “Pictures” tab to view more pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

Today we had a play-date with some good friends- Noah & Nicole and Isaac & Ruth. It was lots of fun! Noah is a little over 2 years old & Isaac is a little over 1 year old.  It was a great picture for me to see what life is going to be like with two at those ages!!! It sure will be fun!  It was the first time that Noah & Nicole got to meet the boys because they moved to Kentucky this past year but now they are back in Cleveland temporarily (we are hoping permanently because we miss them……).  Jack & Eli LOVED watching Noah & Isaac run around and play.  If they could crawl, I’m sure they would have been right there in the middle of it! Here are some pictures of us from today.

Noah, Eli, Jack & Isaac

Nicole, Eli & Noah, Michelle & Jack, Ruth & Isaac

I am training the boys at an early age to help with chores around the house.  They are getting pretty good at them.  The past several weeks the boys have learned to dust under the couches for me…..

Eli cleaning the bottom of the couch

Here is a picture of Jack helping me reach those hard to get places….

Jack cleaning under the couch

They also have helped us with the laundry since they were 9 days old….you can tell they really liked it! Haha!

9 Days Old- Helping with Laundry

7 Months old- Still helping with Laundry

So Jack & Elijah got their first little cold this past week.  We went to Maryville to visit our families for Labor Day weekend and we came back with runny noses & fevers.  Two sick babies are NO FUN! Of course, I can’t complain too much- they made it to 7 months before they got sick for the first time.  On top of that Matt was sick for several days and then I ended up getting what the boys had mid-week.  We survived though & seem to be almost recovered.

Even though they had their moments where they didn’t feel good & just wanted to be held- they still have managed to play and have fun.  We took it easy & just relaxed at home this past week & weekend.  The boys love to play in the Jumperoo & the Exersaucer.  Here are some pictures of them playing this week.

Elijah playing in the Jumperoo

Jack playing in the Exersaucer

It is true! We have a total of two teeth- one for each of them! Amazingly enough, it even happened two days apart.

Jack got his bottom RIGHT tooth on Sunday (maybe Saturday during the night)…..it was definitely there Sunday morning! Here is Jack’s tooth…

Jack's Tooth

Elijah got his bottom LEFT tooth on Tuesday morning (again….maybe Monday during the night). Here is Elijah’s tooth….

Elijah

They are really cute. Both of them are moving their tongues over it all the time. I guess it is a new feeling to them.

Congratulations on getting teeth boys! Now you can eat some steak! Haha!