29, 4 and 6

Well, it's Monday morning nap time around the Vafi temporary residence, so here I am with some pictures from the weekend! This weekend was extra-special, because I had a birthday, Chris and I were finally able celebrate our 4th anniversary, and the girls officially turned 6 months old developmentally! 

Evie thought she was hilarious holding her bottle with hands and feet!

My birthday was Friday, so Mom took off work and spent the day with the girls and me. We went to La Baguette for lunch, where these two attracted plenty of attention (as usual)! Can you tell who's who?

Evie's in the pink, and Tamsie's in the blue. Whenever an outfit is available in a soft pink color, it goes to Evie, and whenever hot pink is around, it goes to Tamsie. That's due primarily to their personalities: Evie is more reserved, and Tamsie is more attention-seeking. This is how I decide who wears what!

But sometimes I throw everyone for a loop by dressing them in similar colors! Here my mom is holding Tamsie in Evie's swing after lunch. They thought this was fabulous!

I love Evie's expression here. :)

Celebrating my 29th with my two little silly geese. Birthday afternoon we headed out to Itty Bitty Bella in Collierville to go shopping with Gigi, and then Chris, my parents, the girls and I went to Fino Villa for dinner.

Saturday, Melissa arranged a Mom-and-me high tea at the Peabody in honor of my birthday. It was delicious, and I've never felt so posh! (Vickie, I hope you're reading this! :) This was the first course.

Somehow I missed taking pictures of the second course - the most amazing scones and raspberry jelly ever - but here's what was for dessert. 

Classy. Carissa, Melissa and me - plus a tray in my face!

Don't be fooled. Despite the fanciness of it all, a recurring conversation topic throughout our tea time revolved around "Awkward Olympics" - a phrase coined by Melissa, I'm pretty sure. 

At the end, we decided this must become an annual event. I can't think of any better way to celebrate my birthday! :) Also, you should know that after lunch was over, somehow I wound up getting Mrs. Kathy to call her current next-door-neighbor (who lives in the house I grew up in) to arrange a tour of our old house. It was so sweet/surreal to be back again! Somehow I even managed to refrain from bursting out into "The House That Built Me" - although it was tempting.

"Why is this picture-worthy?" - Tamsie

Evie in her cute Sunday dress from YaYa

Sunday night, the Vaf and I were finally able to celebrate our fourth anniversary! We went to Paulette's, which has moved to Mud Island from Midtown since we've been gone.

It's inside the River Inn of Harbor Town, which has this gorgeous lobby. (You know I'm a sucker for chandeliers!) 

After dinner we took a stroll along the river.

I love Mud Island!

Paulette's is on the first floor of the River Inn.

I forgot how pretty the views are on Mud Island!

... and the houses too!

 It sounds as though naptime has come to an early end, so I'm gonna go find something fun to do with the girls! :)

You've come a long way, babies!

Riding along tonight, I looked at the girls in their carseats and thought about this:

Evangelyn, December 2011 and this evening:

Tamsie, December 2011 and this evening:

Now if you'll excuse me while I go all Ephesians 3:20-21 on you:
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Thank you, Lord... seriously!

Movin' On Up!

This weekend the Vaf and I decided to check out the furnished corporate apartment his company has offered us to stay in for free during the moving process. We weren't expecting much, but once we saw it, we both looked at each other and said, "Umm, why are we not already living here?" There was just so much space, and it just made sense, so Saturday we moved on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky... if by "deluxe apartment in the sky" you mean second-floor spacious two-bedroom apartment. So that's where I've been the past few days - moving in and getting settled. Somewhere in the middle of all of that I went shopping with Carissa and Cliff, celebrated Chris's first Father's Day and spent time with my own fabulous Dad (and Mom), and watched the Bachelorette (our mutual guilty pleasure) with Melissa. (We're on Team Jef if you were curious. Yes, the one I like to refer to as "Fwoofy Hair.") And while I'm not sure how Martha Stewart would feel about how we've set things up around the apartment, I'm fairly certain that Babies 'R' Us would smile upon our use of the space. We all know it was never my intention for baby stuff to take over my life, but with twins, there's simply no way around it!  Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to the past few days:

Messy faces! The girls enjoy some prunes, but they sure are a messy treat! Here Tamsie can't contain her joy.

Evie's a big fan too... of prunes and messiness.

Evie's prune-covered smile!

By the way, the high chairs are in Louisville. Thus the bouncy seats. :) Since these pictures were taken, JT has come to the rescue and loaned us Dalen's (since he's not old enough for them yet).

Thank the Lord they love solids so much, since they have been fighting their bottles more than ever lately! (Prayers about this are much appreciated!)

This is a little night-vision camera work, which I had to resort to because the girls were both chewing on Red Dog at the same time...

... until Evie yanked it away from Tamsie.

"No she didn't!"

When you have two babies, it helps to have two exersaucers - so this new one came to live with us this weekend. Tamsie demonstrated how it's done while Evie slept.

When we get them a new toy, it's kind of like getting ourselves a new toy too, because it's so much fun to watch them having fun! :) Make that Thing I Never Knew Before Having Babies #3567.

When we first put T in the exersaucer, this was the face she made nonstop.

She also threw some of these faces in as well, just to mix things up a little.

Even though this is designed for 3-month-olds and up, my little girls' feet can't yet touch the floor. To solve the crisis, we stacked a pile of linens from the apartment underneath, so now they can jump...

... which Tamsie gladly does! Evie's still trying to figure that out, but she's catching on.

The ooooo face is back!

All giggles!

Oooo again! I can't help myself - it's too cute!

OK. One more. Moving on!

This is a rare glimpse at Evie's brand-new pearly whites. She doesn't particularly enjoy showing them off, so I was excited I actually got a picture of them!

Typical playtime with the Vafi girls: lots of blankets and toys, and yet they always go for the same toy. I'm hoping this means they'll be champions at sharing by the time they get to kindergarten.

Or not. Maybe they'll be experts at stealing toys from the other kids, since they give each other so much practice at this already! By the way, check out T's attempt at getting up on all fours!

And now E tries it out... 

At this point, Evie has created a little reading/book-biting nook. I looked up and found her like this.

Tamsie in action, wanting a corner of the book to bite too.

T at today's post-playtime nap: "Please, no pictures."

Sweet little Evie girl all aslumber, with the help of her giraffe

Evie (and Tamsie, who was asleep at the time) were finally able to meet their buddy Dalen (JT's baby) tonight! She, like the rest of us, was in awe of his cuteness.

Mini OBU Reunion! JP (who is holding Tamsie's stand-in) came up from Arkansas to visit JT and me and our babies, plus another friend who has a baby named Evie Rose! Sadly, we probably owe JP's mom an apology for potentially scaring her away from giving her grandchildren after listening to our scary childbirth stories - haha!! But seriously, it was SO good to get to see these two girls I love so much and to see how Mr. Dalen has grown too.