nutshell.

since i am a horible blogger.. i'll give you 2011 in a nutshell. these are some of my favorite memories and pics from the year.. i tried to narrow it down... but its long. sorry. 

SPRING

family weekend getaway to white river for dad's birthday

jay, dad, and me

the water was cold and the fishing was amazing! (yes, i caught fish... no, i didn't touch the fish i caught...yes, i threw them back)

julianna, christian, mom, londyn, dad, berkley, and jordyn

mom and dad with the grandkids

lindsey, jay, me, dad, and christy

dad with his kiddos

then we put our house on the market just for fun. it sold so we moved in with mom and dad for a few months until we could get things worked out to move in the next house

the window seat at mom and dads was a big hit for playtime

\

our amazing hosts :)

and wow.. lon and berk being lon and berk (this is the picture i will bust out when they start dating.. no naked tub pictures.. just this one)

we had lots of picnics outside at pawpaw and mawmaws (if you look closely you can see mac and cheese covering berk. after every bite she would rub her face and hair... lots of baths for this baby)

mothers day

we did lots of reading

 SUMMER

the girls painted a frame for aaron for fathers day and this is their surprise pic we put in it (yes. lon was covered head to toe in green, blue, and yellow paint.. but it was so worth it.. and berk had paint on one finger i think.. she's not so much into getting dirty)

fathers day party (the theme was wild west.. yes, we had a theme)

everyone had to wear a mustache at some point throughout the party

daddy and his girls

pawpaw and sherrif berkley

we did lots of playing in the water (again.. berk kept her distance.. apparently water is messy unless in the bath)

lindsey drove with me to our first annual cousins weekend in gatlinburg

and in our group, there are three sets of twins (2 sets were under 2 at this point).. apparently twins run in the family :) 

we visited the titanic while we were there (yes, its the real titanic.. no, not really but i'm pretty sure the people that work there think it is.. and think they are real survivors)

we finally moved in our house!!

and we pretty much spent every single day in the backyard

when they weren't in the backyard, lon and berk were playing in their new playroom (which we all love) :) the girls also fixed many a breakfast for elmo (their summer obsession)

more outdoor time with daddy and the cozy coupe

and then the obsession turned to stickers! (they were everywhere.. and still are. if they aren't covering the girls clothes, we find them on the couch, walls, floor, toilet, table, phones, toys, our socks, the carpet... and even on the dog.) when i find them in random places though they always make me smile. :)

... we also spent alot of our summer at the park, the swimming pool with aunt lindsey, and visits to grammie and pops house (not sure where those pics are though)

FALL

and then the leaves fell. oh my oh my.. the girls love the leaves

probably my favorite fall pic of them

told you we were outside all the time (so thankful for a house with a yard to play in now. they played in the leaves, the dirt, the grass, whatever they could find)

and then i turned 30... so in honor of how not excited i was, we took this pic

 the girls at the pumkin patch (highly recommend this place.. its close, little kid friendly, and not packed out with people.. no, they didn't pay me to say that)

can you guess who they wanted to be for halloween?? (obsession for fall.. minnie mouse)

or "mimmie" as they call her.. and no, i will not correct them :)

WINTER

so now we pretty much play indoors..except for the days its 60 degrees, which happens alot in arkansas in the winter apparently. ring around the rosey is a favorite but please don't ask lon to sing it in public.. she gets stuck on the ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes part.. but she says it in her cute way.. which isn't a kid friendly word. go figure. (yes, i've tried to correct her.. no, it only makes her louder and stil wrong)

 another favorite indoor activity is cooking.. usually there are ingredients involved, but slice and bake work too :)

favorite pic because if you look close you can see lon has all of her train blocks in her shirt.. all of them. i think we counted 20

let christmas begin! we started christmas off two weeks early with the "little" famliy christmas (not little tiny, but little family.. nevermind)

then we continued our celebration month of december with londyn and berkley's 2nd birthday party! (no, i can't believe they are really two. yes, i cried)

now there's grammie and pop :)

celebration #3 - christmas with the holloways! (mom's side) - this is a pic of two sets of our family twins and isabella and gibson's big brother logan (sidenote - the twins are only one month apart.. pretty sure grandma and pawpaw doubled or tripled their great-grandkids in those two months)

berkley's christmas pic (actually saying cheeesee)

londyn's christmas pic (not saying cheese. they would only stand by the tree if i gave them fruit snacks.. and that was about all she had in her that day :) yes, i bribe my kiddos with fruit snacks and/or raisins for pictures.. but it works..)

 showing they are two! .. in their christmas p.j's

this was on christmas morning before we headed to wynne (by far the best christmas ever by the way! i think its because they were talking so much this year, but it was so amazing to hear them yell "mismas ights" as we drove anywhere... day or night and when they saw a "mismas tee", present, decor ..anything that remotely looked christmasish, they would yell "mismas!" with so much excitement. i loved it. they are the best christmas gifts/blessing from God i have ever received and i thank him multiple times a day for them. :)

and last but not least.. this pic is for katy.

 a) because you are the only one that reads my blog :) 

and b) because since we have wynne husbands and you probably already own piggie banks for your kiddos as well.. i thought you would appreciate this pic of what their daddy wanted them to have for christmas. (yes.. piggie banks. yes, they are two. yes, learning early. no, we haven't had a lesson on spreadsheets or budget yet.. but i'm sure its coming soon)

thanks for reading (katy) hahahha hope you enjoy the pics of this last year in a nutshell. i always say i'll try to do better of keeping up.. but i really will try this time. try being the key word. :)

newness.

just in case you are one of my many blog readers (hahahha totally kidding.. think i might have 1)
well i wanted to invite you to start following my new blog. its www.perspectiveoflove.blogspot.com. i've started using it to keep up with my journey for this 2012 year as i have a few very exciting (to me) things happening. :) hope you'll join me.
p.s. i'll still blog on this one (hopefully more than in the past)

THE bag.

i don't often blog about things i like. take that back, i never blog about things i like, but here i go. this adorable girl named kelly moore clark is a mom/photographer/girl who needed a bag to fit all her needs AND not look like a giant diaper bag so.....she made her own line! check them out at www.kellymoorebag.com and enter to win one this week at My Organized Chaos. i'm sure you'll fall in love. :)

holy cow.

these two words have become oh so common in the last year and a half of my life.
*how fast we go through a gallon of milk - holy cow

*how fast we fill up a diaper genie - holy cow
*opening a random diaper - holy cow
*the girls saying a new word for the first time - holy cow

*remembering how lucky i am that i get to be a mom to two babies - holy cow
*the mess in the floor when we leave a restaurant - holy cow
*how they wake up every day looking more grown up than the day before - holy cow

you can begin to see how those two words seem to perfectly sum up my life. people with kiddos have always said "wow time sure flies. enjoy every second" but HOLY COW, no one explained how truly fast it goes. so that is where this blog comes in. with twins, I have been HORRIBLE at writing down the "little things" they do with each month. I know I have already forgotten so much and I cannot stand it. so tonight, while Aaron is catching up on work I decided to write down some of my current favs in this moment of time in the life of londyn and berkley....since stopping time is obviously not working.
so here i go.
ps this is probably more for me than anyone that reads this..but oh well. i hope you enjoy.

FAVS

B&L- they are really good at using their sign language words to talk to us. they use the sign for "more", "please", and "eat" all the time.. sometimes they will use "thank you" and "sorry" (we are working on those though.)

B&L- they are obsessed with ducks! they say "du duck duck" and least 50 times a day when they actually see a duck and/or if they see an animal and don't know what it's really called and/or if they see something yellow. this immediately is repeated by "qua quack quac" love love it.

B&L- other favorite words- "ba" or "ball" (both meaning ball), "da" or "daaag" (dog), "wuf" "uf" (barking like a dog), "ooooo" (moo), "nack" (snack), "uuuppmmm" (i believe this means "up mom", its a londyn creation), "pawpaw", and the all-time favs "momma", "dadda", and "uuuh ohhh"
B&L- the only show they will actually stop and pay attention to is yo gabba gabba. random i know. we even had to buy the video since we never could seem to catch it when it was on tv. it's hilarious watching L&B do the same dance movements and even repeat some words they sing.
L- she loves when we read to her. both the girls will bring us books, say "uh uh" (which mean read this) and then they will rub their chest (which is please in sign language) so seriously.. how can you say no to that? hahah. berk will usually last once through the book, but londyn will insist on you reading it over... and over.. and over.. and over. (you get the idea) she gets so into it though, pointing to the pictures, making the sounds, but when its time to turn the page.. you better let her. its her thing. :)

B- she is such a cuddle bug! especially with her daddy. her big thing right now is for us to say "berk give momma a hug" and she'll walk up to you, put her arms around your arm, neck, leg (whatever she can reach) and she'll say "uuuh uuh uhhh" as she hugs and squeezes you. she also does this with all of her toys. i love it.

B&L- they LOVE to dance (especially to yo gabba gabba songs, the ABC song, and "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz) Berkley bends her knees and puts her hands up with her palms in the air and bounces up and down. Londyn stands with her feet apart and sways left to right.

B&L- they love to laugh! aaron is by far the best at getting them going. its hysterical! they will even run up to him, stop, throw themselves down and lay on their backs for him to tickle them. i wish i could put a recording of their laughs.. crazy how different they are.

B- her favorite color is orange. she always chooses the orange block, crayon, ball, stuffed animal.. anything!

B&L- they always wake up happy! (i have no idea where they get this from) ha! but seriously. usually londyn is standing is her bed or pops up the second i walk in the room and starts yelling "issy issy" (sissy) just in case berk doesn't see me. so funny.

B&L LOVE

the outdoors

crackers, veggie straws, yogurt, pancakes, and bananas

brushing their teeth (even saying please in sign language and then putting their finger in their mouth like its a toothbrush)

brushing their hair

pretending they are talking on the phone

their tennis shoes (and londyn loves her braces)

blow up balls (even the giant exercise ones)

their glow worm dolls

dancing

being tickled

animal noises

bathtime

books

yo gabba gabba

dogs and ducks (real and stuffed animals)

giving high fives and pounding it (knocking knuckles)

ok, so i'll stop for now. as i'm writing all this i'm saying holy cow again as i am in amazement at all they can do. aaron and i have truly loved each month since l & b were born. its crazy how it all is becoming a blur so fast. ahh if i could only slow it down somehow.

easter.

Dear God,
I'm not really sure where the bunny or the easter dress came from nor am I sure about the whole hiding plastic eggs with candy in them thing either. (although tasty) :) I do know one thing though. I know that easter is a day I celebrate my King. I celebrate that You are alive. I celebrate that one day I will meet you and praise you with all those that believe in you and call you God.
Thank you for not staying in the tomb. Thank you for still doing your work around us everyday. Thank you for every single blessing in my life.
As I prepare for "special days" as my girls grow, in all the festivities that we will take part in, I pray that they first know who we are celebrating and why. I pray they will know you.
Love- momma baker

emotional.

so I tend to be a woman who keeps "her world" to herself. if you know me (which you probably do if you are reading this) you know I am pretty much labeled "hard to get to know." I wish this wasn't the case but I've always had a hard time letting people into my life. I'm sure there are many reasons for this and I should probably seek therapy for those. ha! oh well. anyway, my point for writing this is my new "journey" in this life. this journey is one of opening a window to "my world." technically, i'm probably just opening it a crack but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
this all started several months ago when I was asked to do the announcements for our church. I felt God had been placing a burden on my heart to help in some area with the launch of this new campus, but being a mom of 16 month old twins, I was finding it difficult to find my place. to tell you the truth, when I was asked to do this I reallllllllly wanted to say "uhhhh I'll pass" but I felt this was Gods way of letting me help so i said ok. pretty sure this was God's big kick to get me out of my comfort zone of hiding in the crowd. hard to hide when your head is on a ginormous screen in front of the church. still makes me uncomfortable. ok, so back to my point. tomorrow morning we are continuing our series ONE WORD where they will be playing a video of my family sharing our story of how God is our PROVIDER. for me...I'm terrified. people don't know me know me. not many have heard me cry. not many know what makes my heart hurt. so here I am...telling you...the world that listens so well and doesn't answer back. ironic I suppose. I really feel like this, this period in time, is where the walls fall. this is where God wants me. he is pushing me in front of others to share..to be me..to show He is in me and he wants me to let more people in to see him.
so yes, I am emotional. maybe it's the moving, maybe because my girls are growing too fast, maybe because I've seen a young family lose a father and husband this week. I just feel like God is moving.. not just in my life but all of us. this series at church is encouraging so many to share their story! I pray God is breaking walls in all of us. I pray he makes us bold! I pray God speaks directly through our story tomorrow as many will hear it. I pray people hear truth. I pray God launches all of us into a world where we share more and have less walls in the way.
thank you God for using all of these things to show me that you need me to open "my world" so others can see how much I need you and how much I love you.

warmish.

it's finally warm!!!! ish. these pics were taken on the first warmish day this year. well, probably not the first, but the first where we had the energy (and help) to get out for this adventure! I took the girls to the park with my sister-in-law, my sister, my nieces, and nephew. this was the girls first park experience since we pretty much didn't leave the house their first year of life (doctors orders) but holy cow they loved it! berk is not yet a fan of grass and all things that can get her dirty...but she'll learn. londyn, on the other hand, wanted to do everything! pretty sure we'll be going back lots this summer. have I mentioned I love these kids!

lonners

berk kate