adventures in the law of twins

does this happen to anyone else?!

i mean how am i suppose to keep up with twin toddlers without a fence?! 

it's gotta be the 

law of twins: 

move in the opposite direction of your sibling,
without stopping & as fast as possible.

thankfully, i have found a park with a fence!
it's a rarity & such a blessing.

bonus:
bathrooms & a picnic shelter

i'm calling it my little slice of heaven on earth.

at least with a fence i have a fighting chance of keeping up.
and the only way i can take all 4 boys to the park by myself.

{and if you've ever wondered how i lost my baby weight...
this should give you an idea how. haha! }

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When adventures come to an end a legacy is left

This past Saturday the Ruckel family lost a wonderful man, C. wWalter Ruckel, jr., at the age of 85. Although he is gone, his legacy of family, generosity & activity in a community he loved will remain implanted in the hearts of those he left behind. We are honored to now be raising our family in this town he obviously loved & cared for.

we've been remembering & celebrating papa walt this week. we've had beautiful services held in his honor & got to share lots of stories of this man, the legend that he is. the church was literally standing room only and i'd say that, in & of itself, shows the mutual love & respect between this man and this town.

click picture for his obituary 

and what i've learned from his life: 

may we all have the zeal to live life to its fullest & make the choice to adventure whenever possible. 

click picture for article & more pictures on his funeral services 

beach adventures: embracing routine

wow! it's been a crazy couple of weeks full of visitors, a getaway to the beach & even some sick buddies in the mix. and this morning as we fall back into our normal, our routine, i find myself at peace.  because as nice as vacation is, the lack of routine nearly breaks us all.

i can honestly say that i never thought i'd get to this place in life. i've always bucked schedules. i personally feel they're too restrictive. BUT i have found a place in my heart (& life) for routine. in fact, i've come to see that not only do my boys thrive on routine, but so do i. now i'm not talking about a daily schedule laid out by the minute. i'm more referring to the outline of a day, things to be expected...there will be meals, naps & picking {ben} up from school. i do think it was having twins that created this need in me...that and having 4 kids.

but it is still my goal in life to never be tied down to a schedule. although, i'm sure that will ebb & flow as {ben} enters kindergarten next fall & the others start preschool. i mean i can only be in denial of the inevitable for so long, but i'll enjoy it while it lasts.

but i guess that also means i have yet to figure out how to get regular posts up. still working on that new year's resolution. until then, i leave you with some shots of our little getaway at the beach house.

Our family fishing adventure

With Matt's new and consistent work schedule, we have truly found our weekends to be more precious...and actually available! So we are trying to do some sort of family outing, ya know explore & take advantage of our new town.

We skipped going to church this week. It's had it's ups & downs but that's a story for another time. instead we packed up the boys and ventured for a fishing trip. Yeah, we're crazy like that. 4 little boys+water+hooks can be a scary combo.

And while there are probably a million & 1 fantastic fishing spots down here in the "redneck riviera" as my father inlaw calls it, we just don't know them yet. So we set out to a place that we knew would be great at our first attempt. The park that sits across from {matt}s grandparents old house.

yes, it was really that foggy.

{gran} & {pop} have both gone to be with Jesus and we haven't been by the house since new owners have moved in. It was a little strange. But this trip was different. We had 4 little boys that are so full of life & adventure that the memories here were sweet & full of excitement to have our own kids there. Digging in the sand. Running down the pier. Squealing as they ran around the playground.













While the day was full of fog & no fish. We all were worn out by lunch. I've come to learn that the success of these trips isn't about whether or not any fish are caught, but that we are all enjoying our time together...even if it's spent untangling fishing lines. It's about giving my boys a chance to do little boy things.

{ben} loved the worms.
i definitely heard him say to a worm, 'come here, ya slimy jerk!'
what?! haha!

Give boys room to explore & the possibilities become endless.
So what if their pants are soaked because they didn't wipe the slide off first...they were enjoying the moment.
Or their clothes & shoes get muddy...they were running & playing.
Maybe they're hot & sweaty & smell like outside...they're doing what boys were made to do!

{matt} said he used to play in this same spot for hours.
i. love. this!

- Posted from my iPhone

single parent sundays :: fresh fall air

bed hogs slept in the middle of my bed all week

when {matt} was sick a few weeks back, i said it would be better to have a sick kid than a sick spouse. well turns out i got my wish...we all minus {ben} & including my parents got the stomach bug last week. karma just kicked my butt! it was terrible. not as bad as when we got it back in march, but still bad. my mom drove up the day i got sick. and my dad dropped by during the weekend...and they still got it. it's the kinda bug that lingers even after you aren't feeling sick. the worst! so we stayed home. inside. for days! did i mention i'm currently in a 2 bedroom condo?! cabin fever is an understatement.

{grammie} & {matty}

on sunday we were all feeling pretty much back to normal, but knowing that my parents had just gotten sick, we didn't want to chance taking this nasty bug onto church. so we stayed home. sure that meant no rushing to get out the door in time or arguments over outfits, but i was still doing it by myself. nothing had changed. the monotony of the week was digging in deep under my skin. thankfully, sunday brought beautiful fall weather here in southeastern virginia & i knew that if i didn't get out of the house we would all pay for it. i dressed my grumpy self & my grumpy tribe of boys and off we went to explore the great outdoors. ok, maybe not so much explore, but a walk to the park.

not sure why, but i feel like they look a lot like me here.

{gabe} wanted a ride back

 and getting out just once just wasn't enough, so we went for another walk later that afternoon. {auntie kate} came to the rescue again and took the little guys & i took the big ones. i tried to make them sit on this bench and act like they loved each other. this is the look i get from {gabe}. ha! shoulda known, we were all still a little on the grumpy side.

and turns out, that both {sam} & {matty} were cutting molars too. no wonder i feel like my hearing has been compromised.  i mean, there's a lot of crying that happens in this house normally we warn all those who dare to enter the door! but put sick AND teething buddies....yeah we reached a whole new level. 

thankfully the majority of us are on the up & up. {matty}s gums are still getting torn to pieces and he is more than sufficiently reminding us of this, but the bug has passed and we are enjoying the 80 degree weather. 

so last week was full of plenty of things to be grumpy about but like i said before, i'm trying to be thankful for something every day...even if it seems that there's nothing but baby puke filling it. and since all the days last week just got jumbled into one, i'll just be generally thankful. that's good enough right?!

• a husband who literally gets his hands dirty to help out at home
• that {ben} made it through without so much as a sneeze
• my husband that takes the day off to watch the kids & take care of me
• that same husband can get more done on his day off at home than i usually can 
• for parents who come to help...and get sick in return but wouldn't have it any other way
• for new windows to open & air out the house
• this amazingly gorgeous fall weather
• the colorful leaves that make looking out my window a little more enjoyable
• checking BIG things of a to-do list
• watching that to-do list get shorter & shorter

A few people I'm thankful for :: day 3

{nana roo} & her special birthday...ok so I meant to add that to yesterday's post. as I was typing realized the notes I had been keeping had been deleted by a certain 2 yr old who can't keep his hands off my phone.

{nana roo} & {papa steve}
photo by: tom graham

to know that a dear friend is back home in the states (she & family have been in in thailand for 1.5 yrs) and recovering from jetlag. happy heart!

{tess} with a brand new {gabe}

Listening to Christmas music while cleaning. Love the nostalgia & joy it brings. Especially when listening to this...



Remember my friend {abbie}, this is her big brudda, Matt Wertz. I spent many a Christmas seasons in their cozy house. *sigh* and yes, I'm suddenly filled with childhood nostalgia again...see its just that good! he's working hard at pursuing his dream, so show him some support. GO GET IT!

Which also makes me thankful for Abbie & all these years when laughed & cried through life together. Gah! If only texas weren't so far away!! Kiss that sweet niño for me.

{abbie} & her son {wes-a-wee}, {bethany} &
me and my boys

New books to read at bedtime. Nothing like the rhythmic sound of a new book to slow down the pace before bed.

gift cards that had been put away & forgotten about to help buy a few groceries while money was low. major blessing!!

- Posted from my iPhone

adventurous attempts at kite flying :: take 2

i spent some time last weekend sitting on a screened-in-porch at a gorgeous beach house we had a worship retreat with the crew from NLVB in the quaint town of duck, nc. it was one of those sweet moments that i wanted to capture in a bottle and keep forever. the breeze blowing. the kids playing sweetly. the warmth of the sun on my legs. the sound of the ocean as it crashes against the shore. sigh.

it was everything i love & adore about fall days.

{matty}, {gabe} & {sam}
& the one in pink is the
closest thing to a daughter i have {hayden}

{ben} got distracted by a little brother &
then refused to take anymore pictures with me. grump! 

see it's supa dupa windy in the outer banks. guess the wright brothers knew what was up when they picked this place when trying to figure out how to fly. yes, kitty hawk, north carolina peeps. look it up. well we decided that we should take advantage of the wind here too. and so out we set on our kite flying adventure :: take 2!

first stop...the infamous kitty hawk kites store to buy a real kite. and by that i mean made of nylon not just plastic. {ben} picked out this stealth bomber kite.

next stop...a park. the best place to fly the kites in the outer banks is on the beach. but with so many little ones and the sand & water, i wasn't so thrilled with that idea. instead we headed up to corolla, nc by the lighthouse. they have a huge open field where we knew we could fly the kite without trees or power lines in the way. it was perfect!

it was gorgeous kite flying conditions. {gabe} & {ben} both got to fly the kite. they were so pumped. stoked would be a better description. eventually dinner time came and we were all ready to leave in search of food. much more sucessful than the previous trip. if you have no idea what i'm talking about, read this.

it's times like these i'm thankful for my iphone. between {matt} & i we got some great shots of our adventuring....all in all, a great trip to the outer banks!

me retrieving the twins from their escape

{matt} with the twins

{ben}'s trick kite flying & his fans in awe & wonder

{ben}'s favorite thing to do...fly the kite with his feet. he's totally my kid. i did stuff like that all the time when i was younger. and one time it got away from him and {matt}, the wonderful dad that he is, went running and then flopping after it as the kite began to fly away. i laughed so hard i couldn't breathe!

******

remembering to embrace the camera! have you lately?!

adventurous attempts at kite flying

its always quite the excursion when we go out with all 4 of the boys...especially when we go to the park. we haven't quite figure out how to manage them all yet, but we're getting better at it. although, there is one park here that {ben} loves to go to and the playground area is huge. and of course that means lots of fun too. it stresses {matt} & i both out because we can't let the babies down to just to run around. so we both hold a twin and chase one of the big boys. yes, it is as exhausting as it sounds. but it makes for happy and just as exhausted boys.

but the best part is the 'mountain' that the boys can run and climb. and although i use the word 'mountain', it's a glorified hill that is named mount trashmore. yep we play on an old landfill. and it's the best place to fly a kite in town. so after about 20 minutes of playing on the playground, we sent the boys up the 'mountain'.

{sam} & {matty} were trying to catch up
and instead fell down.

{ben} can just about make it to the top without stopping.

{gabe} wears out pretty quickly. the grass + 'mountain' climbing = needs to hold momma or daddy's hand to finish the race.

{sam} & {matty} get carried to the top and then let go for wandering. but it seems that all they wanted to do was inspect what i thought were aerated pieces of dirt & later upon further inspection found it was actually goose poop. so gross! so i was busy trying to keep them from putting it in their mouths.

it starts like this. watching intently
while dad puts the kite together...

{matt}bought a kite just for this particular family outing. a cheap one. and let's just say, lessoned learned, cheap kites don't fly well. so it took a while to put together and stay together. we got it up a few times but nothing really long enough for {ben} to have a turn flying it. {ben} thought we were just playing a really long and non-funny joke on him.

and eventually they start to scatter.

but isn't that just how family outings work...80% craziness with 20% successful memory making moments?! it was just fun to watch the boys run and explore the 'mountain'. i snapped a few pictures on my iphone and that was good enough for me. i even remembered to make sure i was in a few of them so the boys can see that i was there...even if all they remember is their dad's attempts at flying a kite.

me wrestling the {twins}
in attempt to keep them away from the goose poop.

and for your viewing pleasure...a video clip of what it's like to go with us to the park. enjoy! and yes, it's ok to laugh. 

*******

done in effort to learn how to embrace the camera..

adventures hiding from hurricane irene

i'm sure most are wondering...
"how exactly do you survive a hurricane with 4 under 4?!"

the answer is...YOU DON'T!

because we currently do not own a home and are staying with the ever so gracious {auntie kate}, there wasn't a need to stay and keep an eye on things. aaaaanndd remember, {auntie kate} lives in a 3rd floor condo just a block from the beach. therefore that puts us in flood zone 1. which means, if power goes out it'll take longer to be restored if there is still flooding. and i've already done the whole no power with kids thing. read that story here. and doing that again & for longer, no thanks! so we peaced out!

for {aunt kristin}'s house in the southern carolina.

it's currently gorgeous weather here thanks to irene.

which is awesome since there are currently 9 children 9 & under. 8 cousins & a friend.

so we need there to be outside play time.

a few pictures of our hiding adventures thus far...

{matthew owen}, {matthew stephen} & {matthew campbell}

{sam} & {noah}

let's play a game!

can you find all the kiddos?

{sam} & {matty} loved the wagon

these boys turned that water brown.

the great part of twins. 

twice the snuggles!

with this beautiful weather, i woke up this morning and was filled with nostalgia. it's the kind of weather that reminded me of all those early saturday mornings that i would get up and head to the soccer fields. it even almost smelled like fall.

i was already getting the fall weather bug, but now i think irene is making it worse! anyone else ready for fall?!