Bedsole Boys

January 2011

2011-02-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

January = winter = Cold. Dark. Long. Wet.

We only ventured outdoors once or twice, particularly whenever Dad parks Canebrake Forestry's trailer o' fun in our driveway. The trailer - slam packed to every side with 4-wheelers, cans of gasoline/combustible liquids, and all types of manly equipment - lures the Bedsole boys without fail. All they're allowed to do is climb around the edges, and that's what we did this particular not-so-horribly-cold, lit afternoon.

Thomas, super proud of his boots

which he wears 8 days a week.

Thomas

silly John David

4wheeler love
It's a boy thing.
(Mamas apparently just don't understand.)

John David, the policeman, and Thomas, the racecar driver,
with Miss Jean on Pajama Day
They looked forward to this day for weeks!

Yes, we're wearing Tshirts in January.

The last Saturday of the month was a.ma.zing.
Oh, the sunshine, the warmth!
We spent the day (9 am - past 6 pm) at the pasture,
unloading hay, feeding cows, riding 4wheelers, playing in the dirt,
and eating M&Ms (which they still call N-a-M's :).
Best. January. Day. Ever.
Praise, praise, praise the Lord, who is good ALL the time,
and especially good to us in West Alabama on this day.

Thomas, future cowboy

John David, the ham

sweet T

We also celebrated Brittany's 20th birthday at P.F. Chang's this month Attempts to copy and paste a photo from Facebook have left me with blood pressure raised. Obviously, the best I could do was the postage stamp you see below. Happy Birthday, B! We love our Brittany.

I still can't believe Brittany's not as small as the boys are :(

Christmas 2010

2011-02-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Tacky Christmas attire

Christmas Eve service
Papa John, Thomas the cow, Granny, Cici

John David the donkey, Steven, Brittany, Thomas the cow

No, it's not Halloween, but
superhero costumes were at the top of our lists.

won.der.ful. homemade cinnamon rolls,
thanks to our friends, the Lindsays

Thomas

Ironman and John David

The ultimate putdown when talking smack with Dad
continues to be the "You wear Roll Tide panties!"
remark. The boys love to say it so he'll chase them.
This year, Cici and Papa crafted Dad
official Roll Tide panties.
Obviously, he refused put them on, but the boys had fun.

2010 in pictures, July - December

2011-01-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

Demopolis city landing

watching fireworks

Mary and Chase got married this summer!
the rehearsal dinner

Aunt Kathy, Brittany, Emily, Ashleigh, Uncle Billy, Mark, Thomas

John David had fever :( the entire wedding weekend

We are so excited for one of my best friends, Ginger, who's now the mother of twin boys :)
Here we are at her baby shower the day of Mary's wedding.
(Ginger is actually carrying twins; I just look like I still am.)
Everything we outgrow needs to be "sent to Miss Ginger" now :)

Thomas and John David in handsome wedding attire
made by a relative in Bessemer.
Beautiful clothing! Take a look at http://www.makinganuttermemory.com/
(We're wearing the 'Enoch' pattern in memory of our great grandfather Enoch,
who wasn't here for this special day.)

(I did not take a camera to the wedding - )

playing with our cousin Kate Mitchell

Kate Mitchell, Thomas, John David

nose wars with Uncle Billy

with Granny at the Birmingham Zoo

primates and pachyderms or cement trucks and bulldozers?
no contest: the construction site

John David

making brownies

4th birthday, with Anderson and Abby

the worm cake

shy Thomas and his Sea Doo cake

4th birthday pool party
(notice the weather conditions outside)

John David and his only birthday request:
real worms in a jar with dirt

There was much running around the empty room.
(see above weather conditions)

age 4

a typical fall day at the pasture

'helping' Granny
No one works harder than our Granny.

family football
Team Northcutt

John David, Thomas
Thomas is a devoted tiger. He actually laid face down on the sofa nearly the entire first half of the Iron Bowl.
John David has not yet declared his allegiance to either team. He just likes to cheer.

last year's Christmas gift
They love wearing this ensemble, particularly the pants.
They asked to wear the pants to daycare every day.
Thomas only wishes there was a "teef strap" with the helmet.

We took a trip to Sewanee in September.
Our Uncle Billy was inducted into
the University of the South's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Billy

their girls/our cousins,
Elizabeth, Mary Kathryn, Anne
We were super excited to find out that Elizabeth is expecting :)

Thomas, Papa
Thomas could not wait to be "on top of a mountain".

Sewanee = beauty

walking on campus - just beautiful

Spiderman and Iron Man
Fear this.

Thomas and John David,
the less scary superheroes

trick-or-treating at Nannie's

Thanksgiving at the beach
We had a wonderful nontraditional holiday at the beach -
perfect weather!

examining all the dead, washed up jelly fish with Granny
I love this picture.

Souvenir City

Thomas

John David
He did this on his own.

In 2010, Mark and his friend and partner, Brandon, had a kennel built at the pasture
for their dog training business, Blackbelt Retrievers.
(This was much to his wife Kelley's and my delight as well - no more dogs in our backyard!)

the students

Christmas on the River 2010

2010 in pictures, January - July

2011-01-01T23:48:00.000-08:00

For whatever reasons (including my intense frustration level when trying to edit in blogger), I sadly have no posts for an entire year. To write about it would possibly take all of 2011. Therefore, pictures and captions will tell some of the story. We're all another year older. I am hopefully another year wiser. We love our life and the people in it. Looking forward to the challenges and blessings that 2011 will bring. (Several photos are out of order, and I am both too tired and drained of patience to manipulate this program any longer.)

with Papa John on Brittany's birthday
I'm not sure why we don't have a picture with the Birthday girl?

snow in Sumter County

snowman in our backyard

John David with Heidi's puppy

Thomas with Heidi's puppy

Mary took us to a big Easter egg hunt
in Hayneville at Chase's aunt's farm.
These are their donkeys.

We had a ball!

our best find on the hunt: a turtle

Thomas, John David
Easter, our front yard

processing in to church
(Thomas, behind flag; John David, holding it high)

John David, the Easter bunny, Thomas
John David, "That's not the real bunny, Mama.
It talked to me. I think there's someone in there."

the pond, from our backyard, frozen
winter 2010: cold, dark, wet, long

Thomas

Our Lab, Heidi, had her first litter of puppies
three adorable males.

Thomas, on a playground

John David
He and Thomas both learned how to swing in 2010.

Thomas

with friends at our first swimming lesson, Demopolis Country Club
John David, the "caboose" in the striped trunks
Thomas, center, in the blue trunks

Thomas!

John David!

John David, Thomas
most summer days spent here
Not swimming independently,
but we love the water
and can jump into water over our heads
and swim a respectable distance to the person catching us.

John David suffered two fat lips this summer, courtesy of the poolside.

It was a naked summer in our backyard.

Thomas, John David

Thomas in the backyard

This kid needs no help fishing.

John David

with Dad and the catch

jumping in muddy puddles
Side note: we watched Peppa Pig episodes on youtube 4,823 times this summer.
If you've seen an episode, you'll understand the side note.

typical Thomas grin :)

so glad to get all of Thomas's smile here :)

John David
Climbing in our neighbor's (The Marlers) crepe myrtles.
They moved this year, and we were so sad. :(

a spur-of-the-moment Fourth of July trip to Dauphin Island
oil clean-up efforts in the background

oil :(

Thomas

John David

This captures what John David did the ENTIRE time he was on the beach.
He scooped and launched sand into the water.
I cannot explain it.

John David, Thomas

Thomas loved being in shallow, calm waters with his daddy.

Well, we could've guessed as much but didn't see this sign posted
until after being in the water for two days. oops

Canebrake Crew

2010-01-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Canebrake Forestry and their crew

Canebrake Kiddos

Taylor (3), Carter (2), Thomas (3), John David (3), Abby (6)

I have a good idea

2009-12-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

said Thomas at the table tonight. "Let's talk about something NICE."
Mama: Like what?
Thomas: ".........the river!"

It warmed my heart to hear Thomas mimicking one of my attempts to change the subject, even though the conversation was going well. I usually do this when they get reallly whiny and particularly when they've gone on and on about something "BAD" someone said or did at daycare that day. Of course, I don't dismiss what they have to say.

We pray for our friends (and ourselves!) to have kind words and kind feet, kind hands, etc; I tell them that it makes Mama sad and Jesus sad - "...and God sad?" - and God sad - "...and Daddy sad?" - and Daddy sad, "...and-" and all the people sad when boys and girls do those things. We'll even open our mouths and look up and pray that God would fill it up with kind words. They love for me to look in and tell them the kind words I see.

I remind them that we don't say those words in our house. "But (kid) can say those words at their house?"

I try to offer situational advice: when (kid) says that to you, you just tell her we don't say words like that; we say kind words. Or: when (kid) does (whatever) to you, you just go play somewhere else. "But (s)he will just follow me, Mama!"

I try to acknowledge their sadness/shock: well that was an awful thing to say/do. One time, Thomas prefaced his report by saying, "Mama, just don't say, 'that's terrible; that's makes you sad' when I tell you."

So, when acknowledgement, prayer, and advice fail, and the reports continue to come, I do say, "Let's talk about something nice that someone did or said. And I suppose the river's about as nice as anything I can think of to talk about.

What made me laugh today:

Thomas: "You don't do it like dad."
Mama: Well, I guess I don't.
Thomas: "Well one day when you are big and shave all your hair off, then you can."

John David: "Hey Mama - I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE girls!"
(It's even cuter the way he says it: "gay-ulls".)

LONG time, no blog

2009-11-04T13:55:00.001-08:00

Our computer quit shortly after the last post, but we haven't slowed down, of course. After 4 months, $230, and a trip to "the shop", we're ready to recap our summer/fall 2009. Summer was as fun as summer should be, and we are well into the swing of things this year (school year). (It's hard to believe that HALF the 'year' will be over in 3 weeks - yikes!)

June marked our parents' 32nd birthdays and their 7th anniversary. We spent most of the month outside, playing in the water, half-clothed, and potty training (i.e. tee-teeing off the back patio, in the grass, on the driveway, etc.).

July was both fun and sad. We continued our lazy summer pool days. Cici, Papa John, and Granny kept us for a long weekend while our parents took a trip to Boston with their friends, Kelley and Brandon.
at Fenway Park

We were very sad to lose our great-grandfather, Enoch Northcutt, in July, shortly before his 88th birthday. Though he lived a long and full life, we were not expecting him to go when he did. 2007

2009

Our prayers at night continue to include "Granddaddy in heaven". It was with satisfaction that we realized on our own that Granddaddy has the company of Trudy and George, our grandparents' dead dog and cockatiel. There's definitely a connection between death and heaven/God/Jesus. Just last week when our Mom's car "died", John David's logical question was, "Is it going to heaven?"

August 16th was our third birthday!!! After daily, thoughtful consideration of birthday cake themes - pontoon boats, that firetruck right there, War Eagle, penguins, Roll Tide, football, and monster trucks - and the big day looming in the near future, we settled on the boat genre: John David chose a barge, while Thomas specifically requested "Dad's dirty speedboat" (not to be confused with a clean one, or the fact that it's not a speedboat at all, but a camouflaged duck hunting boat?). ???? Hey, Mom asked...

John David

Thomas

w/ Taylor & Ben

Yard tools are serious work. Will we be this determined to blow leaves and whack weeds in ten years?? Don't hold your breath...

The first fever we ran after school got started was jersey fever. (Turning three also marked the I-will-choose-what-I-will-wear-today phase. Why did mom think only girls cared about what they wore?) Once our friends, Ben and Bryant, set the trend by wearing their DHS jerseys to daycare, it was all we could ask for.

T, JD

September '09 is when Thomas got the OK-to-wear-big-boy-underwear pass at daycare. He still continues to sleep in Pull-ups but probably doesn't need to. John David, on the other hand, with little and often no interest (or physical bladder control), has no complaints with the underwear look-alikes. He gets to sport Lightning McQueen and he doesn't soak his shorts when he goes - truly a win-win. And so we continue to encourage him to "try".

October was eventful. For the first time, John David successfully "stopped" the tee tee from coming out, went to the potty, and continued to go. VICTORY! He did this three times in October, although he has not achieved PT status yet.

No checkup with the ENT is complete without a visit to the Children's Hands-On Museum. (We're thankful our ears do not give us the trouble they used to.)

We went to our first high school football game this month, in our jerseys of course. Here we are at the homecoming parade.

w/ Preston & Ben

T, Ben, JD

(Thing 2 and Thing 1. Our numbers = birth order.)

Cici and Papa John took us to the state fair in Montgomery...

and they took us to Callaway Gardens, a.k.a. the butterfly garden.T spotted one

JD, Cici, T

T, JD

JD, T

with Granny

Three is clearly the age for comprehending the concept of holidays (for us anyway), and Halloween was a hit. John David will still reply, "go trick-or-treating," when asked what he wants to do. We were much more decisive on choosing a costume than we were a birthday cake. In honor of two of the animals we sleep with, John David was a penguin; Thomas was a panda. Possibly, it's because we wore animal costumes (the same ones, no doubt) the last two years and we assumed we were supposed to choose an animal. Either way, we loved dressing up and all that candy.

T, JD

w/Ellen Marie

Here we are with our neighbor and dear friend, Jack Marler, aka "Marler". Not pictured is his wife, Brenda, aka "Marler". (That started when we were very little and wouldn't say Mr. or Mrs.) He suffered a spinal injury when he had a bicycle wreck back in May. We are so thankful that he's finally home and improving his mobility. Though we are fascinated by his "4wheeler wheelchair" and enjoy riding our bikes on his ramp, we look forward to the day when it's gone.

watching Marlers' cuckoo clock

November ends on Monday. We celebrated Thanksgiving this week, with much to be thankful for, as always. It's a little harder to absorb this holiday since we've been bombarded with Christmas decorations since the month began everywhere we turn. We are sad that our Paw Paw was hospitalized on Thanksgiving with diabetic neuropathy (sp?). So we missed Thanksgiving in Aliceville this year. We also missed tailgating in War Eagle country but watched and cheered with Dad for the first quarter, wearing our Alabama jerseys ?? (We're still collegiately confused. We find humor in shouting Roll Tide to all the Auburn fans we know and vice versa.) For the rest of the game, we napped, Dad continued to hope for the best (sorry), and Bama fans everywhere squeaked a sigh of relief.

I suppose that brings us up to date. We've say funny things, like all kids do. And like most moms who don't stop to write them down, ours has forgotten a lot of them. A few that come to mind...

Cici - "Dogs wag their tails when they're happy. We don't have tails, do we?"
Thomas - "I got a tail in the front."

Thomas - "Mama, what are you doin in there?"
Mama - "Using the bathroom, Thomas."
Thomas - "Did your poop come out or just are you waitin on it like I do?"

John David (looking at Thomas's poop in his little potty) - "He made a J!" (A bit graphic, but it was a J. And we're both doing so well with letter recgonition. We can write T, J, D, A, M, O, C most of the time [with a crayon, not with our poop!]) For some reason, they both want to see the other's poop (hopefully that's a toddler thing and not just a Bedsole boy thing). John David also did this a long while back when Thomas's diaper was being changed. John David recognized both "a pancake" and "a snake" in the diapers. (Mom and Dad are so proud :).

Mama - "Thomas, don't you want to try to tee-tee before we go?"
Thomas - "No, my tee-tee is just too tired."

John David (it has been mentioned that he loves to fill his bed with "stuff") has become quite the bag lady/boy. He regularly gets plastic shopping bags and fills them with all the stuff he can find: Mardi Gras beads; stuffed animals - particularly penguins; this plastic, blue bear he found; trucks; etc. etc. etc. We have to be careful not to trash the bags that look like they're holding such. Most of his questions these days are, "Can I sleep with this?" (We must post a picture of his bed. Hopefully you'll only see it here and not on the show about the hoarders.)

Thomas: "That's just how it goes, Mama."

John David (the penguin boy) - "Peck, peck, peck. My penguin likes to peck."
Thomas - "Can I pet your penguin?"
John David - "Yeah. You can pat him on his pecker."
Mama - "That's called his beak, John David. We have mouths and birds have beaks."
John David - "No mom, that's just his pecker that he pecks with." (Sorry - didn't mean to drag you into the gutter with his parents, but Mom and Dad were very careful not to laugh out loud or make a big deal about it.)

Baby-talk: Both boys have acquired imaginary babies?? They have babies that live everywhere, have everything, and do anything. Throughout the day, we say things like:

"My baby was just making that mess."
"That's where my baby lives."

"My baby rides that."
(pointing at the man in the next car at Sonic) "That's my baby's dad."

"My baby's got a truck like that."

"Is that just your baby's, John David?"

etc. etc. etc.

Do a better job at writing these things down, Mama! I can't believe no more come to mind! Well, we've enjoyed a long week off from school: walking in our camouflage boots in Marler's ditch; playing football; trying to learn how to clean up toys; decorating, undecorating, and decorating (repeat) the little tree in our room; watching Charlie Brown; fighting naptime; repeating after dad, "Go Gators!"; and staying up entirely too late. Thomas especially enjoys a game of shooting "daddy deers", in which he is the daddy deer that runs past you, the hunter; you shoot (POW POW); and he continues to run, almost never dropping dead. This is mostly because "you missed" and sometimes because he's transformed into a baby deer, which you cannot shoot. (He's still the man in charge.) We end the week looking forward to Christmas on the River next week and all the excitement that leads to the big day.

Drug Store Cowboys

2009-05-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Q: Who wants to go to a rodeo? A: I do! We goin to a rodeo!...What's a rodeo? We went to our first rodeo last night, dressed for the part. We were somewhat disappointed that we weren't able to ride the animals but had fun watching others.

Thomas

John David

John David, Thomas

Thomas, John David

Thomas

John David

Bearing Rings and Laughs

2009-05-25T13:18:00.001-07:00

We were recently the ring bearers in our cousin Lindsey's wedding. The rehearsal went (too) well. So after several hours of refusing to smile for photos, no (real) lunch, some tears from Thomas, and no nap on wedding day, our participation was questionable. We surprised our parents by not only walking and standing as rehearsed, but by first, loving, then smiling, and even giggling with one another the rest of the way through the teary ceremony. We were so carried away with our 'cuteness' that we wouldn't get down! (By the way, this behavior in front of an audience truly is out of character for us both!) But considering the other direction our behavior could've taken, we chalked it up as a victory and offer our services to other engaged couples out there...we're available.

(L- Thomas, R- John David)

After the entire wedding party had exited the 'stage':

(Hey, look, why's Mama coming up here?)

Jailbreak!

2009-04-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

So Mama was grading papers in the sun Sunday afternoon when we surprised her (a.k.a. scared her out of her wits!). She thought we were still napping, but we secretly (successfully) climbed out of our cribs together, crept to the sliding glass doors, and called her just like Daddy calls the cows, "WOO-ooh!" She could not BELIEVE what we'd done...or, again, how big we are.

We've actually been able to climb/fall out for some time now; only we've "chosen" to stay put. Unsure of how long we'll keep making that choice, we were told it was time for big boy beds. Upon hearing the news that we'd get big boy beds, we thought about it... "That's a baby bed, Mama?" (It never actually occurred to us what kind of bed we're sleeping in. Good thing we didn't know before now; the "baby" reference still offends.) Very curious about what these beds would look like, she explained that we'd take the rails down. Thomas, being the boss he is, corrected her, "You gonna take the stripes down?" (Those are called the rails.) "No, Mama, that's the stripes on the side."

Mama cried the first time she began to take the stripes down, and she stopped!! She took pictures of us in our baby beds, and we had to sleep in them one more night. (Mama's just a tad sad about losing a big part of her babies...after all, she wonders if she'll ever use these rails again...she won't be greeted with our four outstretched arms to lift out of bed in the mornings...it seems all that's left between us and "boyhood" are the Pullups.)

We, on the other hand, are THRILLED with these new beds (same cribs minus big stripes plus little rails). We spent about an hour getting in and out of them. We asked about bedtime all afternoon. (And we haven't made one peep since Mama started typing this 20 mintues ago!!) We thanked God tonight for the past 32 months - almost all of them spent behind these stripes - and prayed for all the growing up we have ahead of us. What blessings He's given us!

Out of the "big house" behind the stripes, and into the little big boy beds :) (photo to come)

Easter - He is not here...

2009-04-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

And neither is the video and some other pictures Mama took using the digital camera Easter morning!! :( So it goes with the things of this world. Not to equate our Lord with a mere camera, but we (ok, Mama) was shocked and sad; we're also thankful for the memories and the few pics we have of Thomas and his bunny surprises. That morning, we were both excited by the goodies in our baskets at the front door. We drove the trucks and 4-wheelers, and John David, upon discovering the rattle in the plastic eggs, went straight for the candy and never looked back. Sweet fun!

Thomas and his brown bunny (John David's is "silver", not to be confused with the color gray)

Thomas, Mary, Brittany, and John David

(post-NO-knee-socks-meltdown, pre-church)

John David

The Northcutts

Thomas, Easter Bunny, John David (After a few encounters with Mary's new puppy, they wisely asked, "He not bite me, Mama? He just licks?")

Thomas, (our great-)Granddaddy, and John David: the best we could do at this point.

After church, we checked out a terrific bunny display - a local family's Easter tradition that's SO much fun to explore.

brotherly love (T, JD)

John David, our cousin Haleigh (7), and Thomas

There's the snow. Where's James?

2009-03-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Like thousands of other shocked Southerners, we recently awoke to snow! We soon began inquiring about James, the boy in the snow. (If you've never watched Raymond Briggs's The Snowman, a short, captivating animated film about a boy who builds a snowman, the Bedsole boys highly recommend it. No dialogue, just beautiful music; we only know his name because it's written on a gift that Santa gives him.)

There were no James sightings and hardly enough snow for a respectable snowman, but it worked out for the best. By the time we rounded up enough layers and coverings for our extremities, Thomas was whining that his boots were "too tight" and his "head's too big" (for his hat, which was true). Things were much better outside for about 10 minutes. We threw a few snowballs at the window (like James) and caught a few flakes on our tongues. However, the WIND(!!) was unforgiving, as was the cold stuff on our little hands. Enough was enough. We spent the rest of the morning watching it snow from Cici's kitchen counter.

Thomas:

John David:

Nothing "terrible" about it

2009-02-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

The Twos. When you really look at it, there's nothing terrible about it at all.
So we're typical two-year-olds (or two-and-a-half-year-olds). Our vocabulary has exploded, we repeat and remember EVERYTHING, and as a result, say the darndest things. Our mom has failed miserably at documenting them all, but we're just too fast. We're hysterical. We're moody. We're delightful. We're draining. We're independent. We're clingy. We're adorable. We're unbelievable. We're so smart. We're the absolute BEST. And we're two (-and-a-half).

For whatever reason, the "half-year" mark hits our mom harder than the birthdays. (It's just always hard to believe that half of the current time is over, each time!) So she's stopped to write about some of our unique personality traits at this time in our little lives. Of course, we are not all these things all the time; we have our good and better days; and we may not be this way forever. We're pretty typical compared to other two-year-olds, but NOTHING compares to us.

John David.
John David is a HELPER.
I help my Mama a lot. I throw away diapers, trash, and "old, lucky (yucky)" Kix and Cheerios I find on the floor, without being asked. I've even begun, on two occasions, to clean up toys. I often get a wipe to clean the table. I sometimes shake the milk out of my sippy cup so that I'll have something to wipe up. I almost always stop what I'm doing to find Thomas his "blue pillah" when he is hurt or upset. I look for Thomas when it gets quiet and Mama asks again, "Thomas, where are you?" I run to find out and report back to her. On very rare occasions, I turn down a request for help, like when my Granny asked me to help unload the dryer one morning. Being as polite as I am helpful, I told her, "Not today."

John David is mostly CAUTIOUS,
(a personality trait I inherited from my mama, no doubt). I do not like anything that may cause pain or harm. I will "pank" it or send it to time out. I report any danger I see. For most of my entire (two and a half year) life, I've usually, from my mom's arms, watched Thomas do it first. However, I've recently begun to take a risk or two. For example, Thomas and I were both terribly frightened of two noisy, shaky trucks we got for Christmas, and I was first to finally give them a try. My parents were really surprised and proud of my bravery and how I helped Thomas "not be scared".

John David is MAMA'S BOY.
Most of the time, "I be you litta boy, Mama." Of course, I love my Daddy and have lots of fun with him, but I really NEED my Mama when it's time to get out of the tub and go to bed.

John David is INTENSE and INDEPENDENT.
Do not help me unless I ask for it. If you do me a favor by getting, reaching, straightening, lifting, organizing, moving, or just plain doing anything for me that I did not ask you to do, you will just ruin it for us both. That's the only time I'll ever "pank" you and/or throw the item you touched across the room (and you should SEE what kind of an arm I've got!!). If one of us (Thomas or me) is an a bad mood, you don't want it to be me. My Aunt Brittany once said I got this from her. Hopefully this will develop into patience and perseverance.

John David CARES about his little (bigger) brother.
If I find something I like or of interest, I'm going to take one to Thomas. If I cannot find two, I'll let you know that "Thomas need one". I repeat, "Hee (here) Thomas, hee Thomas, hee Thomas" until he takes it and decides if he agrees with me. I don't like to go to school without him or stay home without him. If I do not know where he is, I ask, "Where Thomas go?" And he is HANDS-DOWN, THE FUNNIEST person I know. No one makes me laugh like my brother does. I'm also very caring of others. If you need medicine, which I LOVE to give and take, I'll give you the "cold medicine" which is actually not for a cold at all; I got my first memorable shot not too long ago, and since most everything Mama wants us to stay away from is HOT, that shot must've had hot medicine in it. I'm kind enough to give people cold medicine. Mama accidentally gave us her white toothpaste instead of our Little Einsteins toothpaste one night, and it was HOT! So I also offer my patients Einstein medicine. Aren't I sweet?

John David likes STUFF.
I am always carrying around something, usually more than I can hold with both arms. When it's time for bed, I quickly scurry to gather things for myself (and for my brother, of course) and quickly, with great skill and aim, hurl them into the cribs. To be certain I have enough, I'll check, "I got too much stuff, Mama?" This is where my cars with storage under the seats and dump truck beds and a shopping carts come in handy. Next to my crib is a stack of tall baskets with stuffed animals, and after Mama and Daddy close the door at night, I stock us both up with these as well. Each night after we've gone to sleep, Mama laboriousy removes all my stuff, including the stuffed animals I've accurately thrown into Thomas's bed. She leaves only my baby penguin, white dog, lion, and "Lukey doggie" (??); Thomas gets to keep his monkey, white dog, and baby penguin. She won't let us take any stuff to school, so I leave my stuff in my car seat until I get back. Mama's car is FULL of my stuff.

Thomas.
Thomas is....a MESS.
Everyone in my family says to me, "You're a mess!" I like to say funny things and have funny reactions. If I overhear you telling someone else about something I've done or said, I'll do it again to humor you. One example, "Ooo (you) go to work, Mama." (After Mama overheard me asking my Granny for ice cream at 7 a.m., she replied "Thomas, we don't eat ice cream for breakfast.") Or when John David and I were putting balls under our shirts to make a "BEEEG belly" and I asked my Aunt Mary, "Ooo got balls in ooo shirt?" The best part of being a mess is when I make my brother laugh, and John David is very good at making me laugh, too. We laugh and laugh our greatest laughs when we're talking to each other in our cribs. Another part of being a mess is being the director. I direct people where sit, what they can play with or drive, etc. I usually do this in a very upbeat and kind manner, making certain that the ones I'm directing know they're getting a good deal: "Ooh sit riiiight here, on da couch." (That way I can have Daddy's chair.) "Ooh drive dis truck. (the one I don't want) "No I gotta drive dat truck." (oh wait, that is the one I want) "Ooh be dis one." (here, I don't want this one anymore) "Ooh like dis one." (the one I don't want to play with) What can I say? I just happen to end up my truck of choice and the best seat in the house most of the time. "Ooo wanna bite of mine? Hee Mama." (I hand her an invisible crum.) Yep, I'm a mess.

Thomas is CURIOUS and MISCHIEVOUS.
(I also know more than they think I do.) My famous last words (and your cue to keep your eyes on me) are "I gon' be riiiiiiiiiight back! Ooo stay here." I notice anything new or out of the ordinary or accidentally left out for me to reach. My mama is thankful that I usually bring it to her first (John David usually makes an announcement about it and delivers it to her), but I usually do that when I need to find out what it's called or what it does. If I can figure out what it does on my own, I use it until I get bored with it or until she takes it away. For many weeks after that, I ask her why I can't have it: "I not have dat, Mama?" "Dat burn me, Mama?" "I not touch dat, Mama?" "Ooh will cry, Mama?" I'm also very good at changing the subject and redirecting your attention when you confront me about something I might have done.

Thomas is DADDY'S BOY...And sometimes Mama's.
I flip flop, mostly to my advantage, but my Daddy's pretty great! I want to go everywhere and anywhere he's going. I need my Mama when Daddy does things I don't like, when I get hurt, and when I wake up in the middle of the night. However, just like I remind Mama that I am a boy, I remind her that she's NOT a boy; she's a Mama. (Some jobs are just for daddies and boys.) I often ask, "Ooo a grell (girl), Mama?" just to be certain that a girl and a mama can be the same thing.

Thomas is CUDDLY but NOT ready to go to bed.
"I want to sleep in OOO bed!" I used to be a great little sleeper when I was a baby, but I'm not a baby. I can match my brother's intensity when I object to bedtime. Some nights I'm too tired to argue, and I usually don't carry on too long, but I can really throw a tantrum in my crib. I'll put on the same show in the middle of the night if I am not transferred to my parents' bed. I'm hard to resist in the wee hours of the morning; I'm so sweet and cuddly and I usually go right to sleep. (Perhaps they don't want to hear me carry on, either.) John David rarlely even wakes up during my tantrums (we've swapped sleeping habits since we were born) and he much prefers sleeping in his own crib (which usually works out for everyone, because he needs his space in the bed). When things don't go my way, I can drag out bedtime and see my parents again with these famous lines:
"I NEED MY BLUE PILLA!!!!!" (that I deliberately and defiantly tossed out)
"I NEED MAMA'S WATER!!!!" (aka ice water in a big cup with no lid; and two sips, not one)
"I NEED MY BLANKET ON!!!" (cover me up with the silky one, no the new one, no my silky one)

Thomas is a TRUCK man.
Race car, monsta truck, hot rod, tanker, school bus, mixer, dump truck..."Whas a blue race car say, Mama?" vrrrrrmmm "Whas dat green race car say?" vrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm "He not say vrrrrmmmm, he say VRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMM VRRRRRRMMMMMM!" "Whas a baby monsta truck say?" "Whas a daddy monsta truck say?" "Whas a ___ say?"..........

Thomas is IMAGINATIVE.
This is where Mama has a hard time recalling and keeping track of all the things I imagine and tell. Animals I report seeing in the hallway, why that baby is crying, where that man is going on TV, what that bug is doing...I have an idea. I have really good ideas. Want to know the name of one of my horses? my donkey? I'll immediately tell you, but you can't pronounce it, let alone spell it to type it. My parents can only imagine what I'll say or do next.

Well, now that Mama's started this, she doesn't know where to stop; there aren't words for some of the characteristics that describe us, and her memory comes and goes. Some of the most obvious are probably left off and may be added later. There are many things we both are, many wonderful and beautiful things that seem endless. And we're constantly changing!! But we LOVE each other and can't imagine existence any other way than together.

We are BOYS.
We have to remind Mama of this often, as in this typical conversation:
Mama: "I don't know where your (fill in the blank) is, baby."
Boys: "I NOT a baby."
Mama: "I meant, boy."
Mama, singing: "You are my sunshine..."
Boys: "I not you hot sun, Mama."
Mama: "You ARE my sunshine!"
Boys: "No Mama, I take you sunshine away."
Mama: "Aww. Who can be my sunshine??"
Thomas: "John Dabid be you sunshine. I be you BIG Boy."
John David: "I not be you hot sun, Mama. I be you litta boy, Mama."

or
Mama: "Who can be my sunshine?"
Thomas : "John Dabid."
John David: "I be you litta boy."
Mama: "I need a sunshine."
John David: "Umm...LeeLee (Lily) be you sunshine."

Sometimes we like to tease her with "I be you BABY, Mama!!" so she'll squeal and pick us up, but not for long and we're her big boys instead. We'll continue to remind Mama of this fact, no matter how much she frowns or cries. We're quickly changing from babies to boys, but for now, we're only half way there!

He came!

2008-12-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008 has gone just as quickly as it came, at our house anyway. While Christmas has been here for MONTHS in stores, etc., the Bedsole house didn't decorate until the week before, so it really appeared to come and go rapidly. It's a long, uninteresting story, but in the end Mama sent Daddy to Marvin's (one of two places in Demopolis to purchase a tree - though Dad reminds us of the hundreds of free trees available in the pasture) one night before closing time to pick out a tree; we were in the mood to decorate and time was ticking. Charlie Brown arrived with the tree fifteen minutes later, and our parents laughed at the worst looking tree they'd ever paid money for. We, on the other hand, thought it was really great and high time we had one in our house. Dad got his twenty bucks worth and then some when we ALL strung lights on the tree...with GLEE. (If there were a sound button in the dictionary beside the word, you would hear John David and Thomas's squeals as they undertook this task. They were overjoyed!)

As perhaps said before, two year olds are as "excited" about Christmas as people instruct them to be, which in our case was pretty excited, considering we didn't know what to really expect or when it was over. Thomas started behaving...well, crabby, on Tuesday, and then proceded to run fever on Christmas eve (and as a toddler, why wouldn't you? That's the same as a night or weekend or any other time your doctor isn't available, right?). A good nurse practitioner (and mother, no doubt) stocked/prepared us for the long week/end, but he never really felt better and we still don't know why. Oh well. So only Mom went to church on Christmas eve with all the Northcutts, and we went to sleep hearing about Santa's arrival for the umteenth time. We both woke up at 2 a.m. (I don't think we're supposed start doing that for a couple of years now, but it was Christmas eve.) However, it wasn't because we were too excited to sleep: Thomas's Motrin had worn off and fever had returned; John David (who never wakes us up during the night anymore) just wanted to get in the bed with everyone else. An hour later, we were all alseep in our own beds until 7 a.m. when we finally discovered our surprises. Having the ability to make sentences, among other developmental things, made it an entirely different experience than last year, and we said some adorable things.

We played for a bit, went to Cici and Papa's to open a few gifts, fooled Granny with her new fridge, and watched Brittany flip out when she got her FIRST CAR!! Uncle Billy cooked us breakfast at Granddaddy's, we napped at home, and reunited at Cici's for dinner. Daddy's always itching for a hunt, so after we went to bed he went to "catch a duck" in MS.

Despite the green monster truck and everything else that goes "vrrrrmmm", Thomas never really felt well, and as we prepare to greet the new year, he still just doesn't seem like his old self. He's irritable, moody, clingy, fitful, spiteful; he's borderline impossible, and Mama hates to admit to those things. (They look even worse in writing!) We all love our T-tom and his amazing qualities and personality. (John David all but worships his "little" brother.) So is he still "ill"? Is he just out of his routine? Have we finally reached the terrible twos? (yikes) He always has done things before his brother. Whatever it is, we all wish he'd get back to being Thomas...SOON! And not just for our sakes, but for his. He's just mostly unhappy. Mama has been concerned, increasingly exhausted by it, and now, impatient. Just how many more times will we all hear "NO!" or "AAH!" [which, by the way, is what we snap at people with when we're mad]. How many more times will he deliberatly disobey his parents, or purposely annoy his brother?(...And those older and wiser who are still reading, don't answer that. We are somewhat aware that we've only just begun :)

But seriously, at a time like this, I need the Lord to help me!! (Fellow Camp McDowellers can appreciate this, and anyone else who knows that ridiculous song. Perhaps in my moments of frustration, I should actually sing it out loud.) And so in an unsuspected way, our mom has been reminded of her own words she exclaimed to us again and again on Christmas morning, "He came!"

And He did. Thank God, HE came. He knows our frustrations. He knows our challenges. He knitted us together. He created every bit of our personalities. Thomas is every bit as human as his mother, and she forgets this at times.

As we welcome a new year, we thank God that He came and that He is with us every step of the way, as we grow and parent and love.

"He brought his reindeer!!" We both briefly mistook the horses for reindeer.

"I goin to Wal-Mart!"

Thomas examines the #1 item on his list: a green monster truck.

He later discovered the "en-a-m's", the breakfast of champions.

John David still has an affection for a cool pair of shades.

Just funny...

Even a gift the size of a refrigerator is not enough to thank our Granny for all she does for us.

Most of the Northcutts, minus Brittany to whom Granddaddy has apparently given the hand.

No, wait. There she is. Now what happened to Mary?

Playing with cars from Uncle Richard at Nannie's house the weekend before.

Jesus and Potty Stars

2008-12-21T12:05:00.000-08:00

One great, cheap (compared to previous gas prices) early evening activity has been riding and looking at Christmas lights. Truly a joy that makes us squeal and creep through the streets like senior citizens/stalkers, we've headed out most evenings after dark to check out our favorites. There's a Santa train with a penguin in a car that pops in and out of a present, a.k.a. "penguin pop out." There's also a yard with a gigantic cedar tree that has a 3D star on top and six or seven strands of vertical lights that come from the star to the ground. Thomas spotted this one way up the street and immediately recognized it as the "SPIDER!"

Now we're experts at identifying the man in red, snowmen, reindeer, and even the harder-to-find holy family. Because our parents, like most, don't want us to miss these important characters in the story of Christmas, we've done several drive-bys and have even walked over to the Methodist church's nativity behind Cici and Papa John's house. Theirs is big and simple - Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph. It took us a little while to identify Jesus as the baby and not his dad (as he appears everywhere else in church), but now we know. There's also a large star above the scene and John David, having cemented in his mind that Jesus is the baby, said, "He got a potty star! He tee tee in the potty!"

This was so priceless and hilarious to our mom (who for a second couldn't figure out what J.D. was saying?) because at day care, we get our potty star posted on the bulletin board when we use the potty. (FYI, ours is never on the board, but we're proud of our stars just the same and can point them out among the 15 - we recognize our names by the T and the J...D... Hey, letter identifcation is a life skill, too, right?)

Isn't it so innocent and original and just plain funny the way we toddlers think? Why else would someone hang up this big star above Jesus? Our Savior is perfect. Perhaps he was potty trained at birth :) hee hee (Moms, can you even imagine Mary potty training a little Jesus? Little parenting things like that just leave me in complete wonder when I think about them.)

(Will post a picture of Jesus underneath the potty star later.)

Thanksgiving with the Lavenders

2008-12-03T19:36:00.001-08:00

Dad's cousins, the Lavenders, are so sweet to include us the last several years at Thanksgiving. This year, we ate at their camp outside Aliceville. After a (long) ride and a carsick John David, we arrived to beautiful weather and great food. We threw our footballs and the dummies to the dogs, rode the "big golf cart", and slept it all off on a quiet ride home. We finished the day at Cici and Papa's with Granny and Britt, and Daddy left to go duck hunting in Mississippi. John David ran fever and got sick. Thomas was very curious about his dad's absence and asked, "You catch a duck?" on the phone the next night. T. informed us he was "catch a green duck with green eyes; Mama gets a blue one." But the only bird Dad came home with the next day was a small but hopeful (war) eagle, which also turned out to be a bum deal. (Sorry Dad...Roll Tide!)

Looks like Mom needed Anne to take pictures this day as well...sorry there aren't more.

John David and Thomas with Uncle Andy, our Nana B's brother

John David with Nannie

John David feeding "Camp Dog" the food from his lap

Thomas, Thanksgiving a.m. "I put on you babysoup, Mama!" aka bathingsuit, which is what he began calling them this summer. (Son, this is one for the rehearsal dinner.)

(pre)Thanksgiving with the Northcutts

2008-12-03T19:19:00.001-08:00

This year was our mama's first Thanksgiving without her family :( but we did see most everyone the night before at our (great) Granddaddy's house. Thank you, Anne, for the pics!

Thomas and John David (fresh after haircuts)

John David and Kate Mitchell, "He's a baby greel (aka girl). He's not a boy." (She is certainly the most beautiful baby greel!)

We were happy to share a toy...mostly.

Thomas and John David, 2 yrs. 3 mo; Kate Mitchell, 10 mo.

If the costume still fits...

2008-10-31T20:14:00.001-07:00

So most mothers of twins are incredibly creative and original with twin costumes, particularly while their children are in the pre-I-want-to-be-the-latest-Disney-character phase, but our mom - as much as she ADORES being the mother of twins - is somewhat of a procrastinator, never shops/browses for fun anymore, and is just thrifty out of necessity these days. So you're not experiencing deja vu - we wore these same costumes last year. The pants are a bit short this year, but we may be even cuter than before :)

We practiced trick-or-treating on Thursday afternoon at our back door. We stood outside with our plastic pumpkins, knocked on the door, and smiled at Mama when she opened it. Then she would say, "Trick-or-treat!" and we'd smile and repeat it, wondering what "candy" we'd get (since the only candy we get is a sucker on haircut days). Mama put a piece of candy corn in there, which we spit out and replaced with our own "tractor snacks" (the John Deere gummy fruits). It was fun for a few rounds.

Friday afternoon, John David announced, "I not put on da costume. I not want da candy." When we got to the first of our three stops, we walked to the front door like such big boys, did the routine, and chose one sucker which we immediately opened to eat. Back at the car John David said, "I finished." We spent the rest of the evening at our grandparents' houses playing with the cat and the trains at Nannie and PawPaw's and dancing up a storm to Dionne Warwick (of all people) at Cici and Papa John's. (For those who've witnessed my Daddy's moves, you know what sort of rhythmic genes we have.) Our 3rd Halloween (wow, already) was lots of fun :)

The monkey (Thomas), Cici, Papa John, and the lion (John David)

John David was out-of-control

Dancing machine

Party Time!

2008-10-22T18:13:00.001-07:00

Our friends have had much to celebrate this fall, and we are so glad they included us in their partying. Brittany went with us to Birmingham for Lily's first birthday. Our friends, Preston and Anderson, turned two like us (but Mama forgot the camera at Preston's party). Then, our whole family went to a pumpkin carving party to get ready for Halloween. We've looked forward to each one and have learned that we go to the parties "on Sataday".

The Pumpkin Party!
We had the BEST time at Miss Teila's house for the pumpkin carving party.

(John David, Thomas) We stopped to touch the scarecrow.

(John David, Thomas) We watched Daddy take the top off.

Thomas wishes he could use the knife.

All the little pumpkins

Anderson's Party

We had so much fun at Anderson's birthday party, playing in his backyard with all of his trucks. He even invited the REAL firetruck to his party! It was like living a dream.

Thomas had no words to describe the intense joy of getting into a real firetruck.

John David's were, "I wanna get down," despite his equal affection for firetrucks.

He MUCH preferred playing in the rocks with the birthday boy.

...and swinging!

Lily's First Birthday

Lily (a.k.a. Willy), the precious birthday girl

Thomas, Lily, and John David

Our mom just likes this one...

2008-09-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Two Boys, Two Years, TOO Fast

2008-08-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

8/16/08
What a long way we've come! Here we were, 4 days old...and 55 days before we came home. It seemed like forever when we were there, and now we realize how quickly the time goes.

We were actually a tad bigger than this at birth.

What blessings! Mama cannot believe her babies are two and still marvels at these two wonderful years! We celebrated with our family again this year in the midst of battling fever, coughs, and earaches (again this year). It appears to be what happens when your birthday comes after the start of school and swapping germs with the kids you haven't seen all summer.

We had a truck party, as we love anything that goes - trucks, tractors, garbage trucks, golfcarts, dump trucks, 4 wheelers, lawn mowers, motorcycles...and more. We got new bubble-blowing lawnmowers, a firetruck and an ambulance (with someone sick-in-dair /there), little four-wheelers and more cars to push, and big four-wheelers that GO to ride at Cici and Papa John's house. Thomas particularly loves to "go to Cici hay-ouse, ride my foo wooler". (Mama is trying very hard to shake her own southern drawl, which she did not realize was so thick; still Thomas drags out many words, but it's so darn cute.) John David doesn't understand why one push of the button won't make the four-wheeler turn on and go continuously; he gets frustrated trying to hold it down with his thumb, so he "ride a bike" instead.

Cici and Brittany brought us cupcakes at daycare :)

Happy Birthday, John David!!

Happy Birthday, Thomas!!

Hey, look at that smoke! We both had "a hot fire" on our cake!

Opening gifts...

We are starting to potty train, just a little, and we'd probably do more if Mama would work at it as hard as our teachers do. Still, we have been getting on and off our blue potties this summer. Mama says the cribs and the diapers seem like the only "baby" she has left, and she's not ready to give them up yet. Incidentally, Thomas straddled the crib railing in a determined "I-wanna-get-aayout (out)!" fit the night before his 2nd birthday. It's coming... We do so many things like little grown ups, Mama and Daddy are so proud and amazed (as are every other Mama and Daddy). We continue to name our colors, sing the alphabet, and count to 10 with some help of course. We are human parrots and come up with the funniest things on our own. We are the biggest blessing our parents will ever receive.

Tay Tay's B'day

2008-06-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

We had a super time at Taylor's birthday party on Sunday.
Here's the birthday girl taking a break from the trampoline action above her.

Thomas, the jumping KING - too bad this wasn't on video. Thomas's jumping technique: "Jumping is not so much in the knees. I've found that simply kicking both legs directly out in front of you at once gets the same results- it's great!"

We don't know if she's still enjoying her ball pit, but WE SURE DID!!
(John David)

Kate Mitchell and Cool Shades

2008-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

We also met our cousin, Kate Mitchell Compton, at Elizabeth's wedding this weekend, only Mama left the camera in the car. We're still very intrigued and unsure about "bebes" when they get close, but Kate Mitchell is absolutley adorable! (Thanks for the pics, Brit!)

A not-quite-ready Granddaddy and his three great-grands!!!

with Mary, Papa John, Brittany, and Aunt Kathy

...four hours home after a long day at the beach is about the longest car ride we've endured, and so we stopped at an elementary school playground in Jackson on the way home to stretch our legs. John David happened upon a FABULOUS playground find - green sunglasses, which he is super proud of! Some poor kid is looking for these.

We're totally digging it, JD :)

A day at the beach...

2008-06-16T19:40:00.001-07:00

After our cousin Elizabeth Cunningham's wedding in Mobile Saturday night, we hit the beach on Sunday for the FIRST TIME EVER (shame on Mama for keeping us from this bliss for almost two years!!). Our friend, Ben, was down with his family and we had the best time ever! What a great Father's Day (and 6th anniversary for our parents :).

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Thomas, throwing sand into the jellyfish infested gulf

John David and "Bee-un" (Ben)

John David, hogging the water bucket

Thomas, finding Daddy's toes in the sand

Mama's boys :)

Good times

At the car wash...

2008-05-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Our first summer/beat-the-heat chore was to wash Mama's car, and we were good little helpers...sort of :)

(Thomas)

(Thomas-rear, John David-front)

(Thomas-in bucket, John David-out)

(John David)

(Thomas)

"I sit down!" (Thomas)

"OFF!" (John David)

First Zoo Trip

2008-04-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time at the Birmingham Zoo! We rode with Miss Natalie in "Tay-Tay's cah" and Mary and Brittany joined us to help. We met Mama's other friends, Dawn and Mimi, and their kids, Lily, Will, and Jake. We ate lunch, rode the train, and saw lots of animals. Our favorite, most recognized animal was the monkey. We had hoped to see the elephants, but maybe next time.

Watching the sea lions! (Thomas is still a little taller than his "older" brother.)

I don't remember what we were looking at, but this is what all our pictures look like :)

Taylor, Natalie, Mama, and John David on the choo-choo!

Mimi, Will, and Jake

Lilybug and her bug - a butterfly she skillfully caught in the butterfly house

Whew, what a day!

First Wedding

2008-04-07T18:28:00.001-07:00

We attended our first wedding this weekend in Birmingham. It was our (...1st, 2nd, 3rd,) fourth cousin's wedding, Jay Guyton. We were pretty well-behaved and enjoyed seeing lots of the Northcutt family. The food was great; we ate shrimp and grits and lots of grapes. We discovered that live music is much louder than our music at home, so we were too afraid to get down and dance. We're looking forward to our cousin Elizabeth's wedding is in a couple of months.

John David with Aunt Mary and Cici

Our cheesy, happy family :)

John David is about pictured out

That's enough, Mama...

Thomas and Daddy

Easter

2008-03-29T18:37:00.001-07:00

Our second Easter was good! After a rough morning of dog emergencies and wrestling to fit into our new shoes, we made it to church. It was windy and chilly, but it didn't keep us from our first Easter egg hunt. We don't know why Mama brought baskets, because we didn't use them. We just ran through the churchyard, opened all the eggs, dropped the shells, and examined the treats inside! We left a trail of opened eggs scattered everywhere. We didn't care that we didn't get to eat the chocolate bunnies, probably because we didn't know we could. Next year will be a different story...

Checking out what the bunny left...

John David, left, and Thomas, right

Hey, there's nothing in this one?

Perhaps John David isn't smiling because he's the only one without candy?

with Dad!

Meet Lanie Mae, our new friend!

2008-03-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

During Spring Break, we went to see one of Mama's dearest friends, Miss Kelli, to play with her little girl, Lanie Mae! She is only six days younger than we are. She shared all her toys and let us ride in her wagon. She is a great dancer! We are planning to go to the zoo with our new girlfriends, Lanie Mae and Lily, this spring. It's a double date, girls :)

John David says, "Dat Wanie...bebe."

Miss Kelli pulled us in the "waggie".

We "culuh culuh" together with crayons...

...and chalk!

We did a puzzle together.

We LOVE our NICU nurses!

2008-03-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here are two of the BEST nurses in the world, Jana and Janya, who took excellent care of us for the first two months of our lives. We can quite literally say we wouldn't be here without them and the rest of the Princeton NICU girls. We had so much fun visiting and look forward to doing it year after year as we grow up!

John David and Thomas at Princeton NICU with Jana and Janya, 19 months after our arrival.

Surprise Visitor!

2008-02-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

We had a surprise visitor on Saturday! Mama's best friend, Dawn, and baby Lily came to our house during naptime. What a great day for company! After days of rain and cold weather, our house is getting more boring by the minute! Lily is more adorable in person than she is on blogger! She slept, smiled, and studied everything she saw. John David even helped his "Aunt" Dawn (who is also a twin just like us!) throw away Lily's diaper. We weren't really sure what to think about a baby in our house, but we did NOT enjoy Mama and Daddy holding her. We are not ready to share our parents yet!

Isn't she the cutest thing?

Collegiate Confusion

2008-02-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

We're not sure who to pledge our allegaince to? The battle between Papa John and Dad continues...

"Wock wock"ing on the front porch at Ezell's in Lavaca.
Dad won't let us go out in our crimson clothes...

But Dad's not at Papa John and Cici's house...they're trying to teach us to say "ROLL TIDE". And they love it when we wear these hats :)

Mama stays out of it; she thinks we're pretty handsome in both :)

First Snow!

2008-01-29T18:24:00.000-08:00

Our first snow experience lasted only about five minutes, which turned out well for our hands since we wouldn't keep our gloves on. John David was thoroughly enjoying the cold stuff, but Thomas (who to his credit had just recently recovered from a week of high fever) was more interested in "cah" (which means sitting in dad's front seat pretending to drive).

Thomas is crying and "coh" (cold). What I don't have a picture of is the next five minutes, which includes John David with this same face, crying because we had to go back inside.

Sneaky, sneaky...

2008-01-20T13:06:00.001-08:00

It is getting harder and harder to turn my back to do anything these days. I zipped over the gate into my room to get dressed when they got very quiet and the sound machine grew very loud. This is what I found: Thomas standing on the arm of the rocking chair and John David smiling at it all!

First Haircuts!

2008-01-04T11:50:00.001-08:00

So our hair was not in our eyes yet, but scroll down to check out the view from behind! Poor John David sports the Pigpen do at some point everyday. Mom can wet it, comb it, beg it, but as soon as he rolls in the floor or sits in the car seat, the fuzz returns! Ironically, John David loves combing hair...

The night before the haircuts...
(Thomas and John David)

Thomas...is that you behind that fuzz??? Looking through Pigpen's haze is like looking through a fog :) (It is particularly bad here; not usually this crazy!)

John David was first (just like at birth!) and SOOOO wonderful and still during his haircut. He took it very seriously. He wouldn't even turn his head to look at the camera; he only moved his eyes.

Thomas was very good for his haircut as well, but Miss Pam had to watch her fingers. He kept pointing out everything he could see.

Thank you Aunt B! We couldn't have done it without you :)

My little men look so handsome and smooth!

Bye Bye Miss Angela!

2008-01-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Our favorite teacher we're going to miss terribly! We love, love, love Miss Angela!

Merry Christmas!

2008-01-03T22:12:00.001-08:00

Cutting molars is one way to spend Christmas, and understandably we were quite the ill pills for the holiday. Thankfully, Santa understood and (along with grandparents) still delivered a wagon, a pair of cozy coupe cars, and a BLUE and GREEN kitchen-like-the-one-we-love-to-play-with-at-daycare-with-cool-lights-that-can-turn-on-and-off-and-has-no-highchair-for-babydolls-and-is-nothing-like-a-girl's-kitchen-and-we're-certainly-not-a-sissy-!! (Dad!!! He was understandably a little leery of mom's choice for an indoor toy, but we do enjoy opening cabinets and playing with the kitchen at school.) We also got a (manly) basketball goal much to dad's approval ;)

Aunt B got more pictures than mom did. Check out the Northcutt family's blog.

Drawing on my Magna Doodle...

Look what I found in my stocking!

Out of my way, Sunday driver!!

MY basketball!

And now I'm ill agian...

Christmas card photo attempts...

2008-01-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

Of course, you can tell who's who by the monogram.

Take a good look...we'll probably never capture both boys looking at the camera at the same time for a long time.

I love my brother :)

With his current affection for basketballs and the tongue thing, John David could be a white Micheal Jordan.

Christmas on the River

2008-01-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas on the River weekend was our first parade! We watched it from Cici and Papa John's front porch. We were not afraid of the loud firetruck; loved all the "cahs"; and we got to meet Mary Frances Collins. She was in the parade!

Thomas and Daddy clapping!

John David (and his ball of course) hanging out
with Granddaddy and Papa John.

Aunt Mary and John David

Sporting our parade beads with Aunt B and Aunt Mary...

John David and Granny, taking a walk.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Keeping up with these two explorers in someone else's home = very few Thanksgiving pictures. Hopefully others will send me some more holiday pictures to post.

Napping with our pillows before the big meal at the Lavenders' in Aliceville . Mom just can't get this picture turned around...

John David has requested a "poon" (left hand) to carry around for the last several days.

Thomas and cousin Haleigh had fun playing the
piano.

Halloween

2007-11-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

Carving a pumpkin with Aunt Mary

John David, the lion!

Thomas, the monkey!

Monkeys and lions DO NOT pose together for pictures!

Thomas and Granddaddy

Post-costumes, walking in endless circles over the furnace...what fun!

Sunday in the park

2007-10-17T18:12:00.001-07:00

Checking out the goldfish...

John David sees one!

Papa John and Thomas looking at the fountain...