The countdown is ON!

Sometimes I feel bad for the girls' sake that their first year has been so unstable. I mean, they started out in the NICU for a couple of months, then came home after exactly 56 days. They had to get used to the new environment, and then we took them on as many trips to Memphis as we could get away for. Then came the big move Memorial Day weekend - into my parents' house. They had to reacclimate. Then the move into the apartment. More reacclimating. Then the move back to my parents' house. MORE reacclimating. Then vacation... and on it goes! I don't think that most babies have so many readjustments to make their first year, but I'm hoping it just makes them more flexible! This is all to say that we are so beyond ready to close on our new house, which is scheduled to take place in exactly 12 days at the latest, or so we're told! I just wish so many times that I could communicate to the girls in a way that they'd understand that they are just about to have a home again - a real home that we don't have to move out of! :)

This is how I find them all the time when I let them play together - facing each other and talking and giggling. I love it!

I feel like they've missed out on so much. Like our video camera is packed away, and our cord for the camera is likely somewhere in storage... so here we are at 10.5 months with a bunch of iPhone photos to show for our daily lives together.

Evie's lovely curly top

But I've been reminded through it all, again and again, how blessed we are to be where we are. We're so fortunate to be able to stay with my family. Honestly, I don't know how people in our position would be able to afford to move from one city to another if they had a house to sell UNLESS they had family to stay with! My parents have been absolutely wonderful. They help us out with everything, and the girls love having them around. They even squeal when their grandparents come home at the end of the day! Despite living out of suitcases for the past three months, there is nothing I regret about moving closer to family.

Out at Humdinger's Trivia Night with McKenzie (and Matt and Sara, of course!)

That said, I can't WAIT for the girls to have their own house. If nothing else, this has been a real reminder, albeit on a MUCH less grandiose scale, of the fact that as believers, we're living in the in-between times. We know we have peace with God and a living hope for the future, but we're still on earth, and Christ hasn't come back yet. We still mess up all the time, and we have to put up with all the nonsense that living life on earth entails - tragedies, disease, injustice, even just simple inconveniences. But praise the Lord that if we have Christ, we know this isn't all there is! He's going to make everything right one day, and we have a glorious home waiting for us that will be ours forever. That we don't have to move out of... ever!! That said, on with the pictures!

Tamsie demonstrates the girls' favorite new(ish) skill: standing up!

Look, ma(mamamamama)! One hand!

Deep in concentration

Great-Grandma time!

Tamsie is resting her head on Great-Grandma. Tamsie rarely rests her head on anyone, so this is very special indeed!

Rachie-Face came to town!! This haute mama is pregnant with a sweet baby boy who is expected to arrive not too long after the girls' first birthday! He is as yet unnamed, so we just call him Lil' Fisch for now. Apostrophe included.

Evie really does love Rachel - she had just woken up at this point, so she was less than her usual level of enthused at the time.

It's the Tamsie and Evie Show!

You would not believe how nearly impossible it is to get a decent, non-blurry iPhone photo of the two of them these days!

If Herbie hadn't been entertaining them while I was trying to get this picture, I don't think it would have happened.

The girls celebrated their first Seminoles game in the most proper way they knew how: wearing FSU pillowcase dresses and sitting in their daddy's lap!

We have been hanging out at his family's house in Mississippi for the weekend. Since FSU is not always adequately appreciated in these parts, he had to watch the game online. Let's just say it's a good thing the Internet was invented for times like these!

Evie takes after her Mama. She's not quite as into football as her dad and sister are.

The halftime show!

Mrs. DeeDee took these pictures while watching the girls during halftime. Meanwhile, Chris and I went to the fanciest Kroger that can possibly be in existence anywhere. (No joke - just ask my dear friend Jennifer, whom I was on the phone with on the way there. I was waaay more excited about finally going to that Kroger than any rational human being ever should be about going to a grocery store. But perhaps you'd understand if you saw it in all of its grocery glory!!)

Now I'm starting to wonder if we picked those Wubbanubs out on purpose for their FSU color similarities!

Tamsie Pearl!

Out of my frustration with failed attempts at taking decent pictures of girls who are constantly in motion these days, I gave in and made a video at one point this week. This is pretty typical of their adventures these days, especially since Evie keeps trying to pull up on Tamsie:

This morning, we took the girls out for brunch at Julep. YUM! This was actually their first time to sit up in high chairs (out of their car seats) at a restaurant, and also their first time eating baby food at a restaurant. They felt like such big girls! :) (Note that the table cloth has been folded away from them. They kept pulling hard at it, so we had to childproof it for them!)

This afternoon we dropped by my cousin Keri's house and had a grand old time. They felt like celebrities at one point, with Uncle Walt, Cousin Keri and their mama all snapping pictures of them at once! :)

The girls LOVE silly voices right now, which worked well for them today since their cousin just so happens to be amazing at that. She read this book to them, and they loooved it!

The girls loved getting to pet Chewie too! They were in awe.

Super cool: Keri has a hat that once belonged to our great-grandmother whom Tamsie is named after. Here's Baby Tamsie in Tamsie, Sr.'s hat!

Keri also has an authentic Greek fisherman's hat, which Evie wore in honor of the Greek heritage of her name!

We are having a wonderful weekend in Mississippi, and tomorrow we'll be at my aunt and uncle's house in Collierville for a cookout. Happy Labor Day Weekend, y'all!