WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

Now that we're all back to being healthy (knock on wood, say your prayers...) we took full advantage of this amazing weather we had all weekend! We met our friends Jennifer and Andy for dinner at TPC Sawgrass on Friday night (their son Nathan is one of the girl's best friends. They are in the same class at school and they just love him so much! One of my best friends, Angie and her husband David and their kids Hannah and Jonathan (who just moved to Ponte Vedra Beach a few weeks ago!!!!) met us there too. It was a beautiful night and we sat outside on the verandah. It was perfect and the kids just ran and ran and ran all over the little green area that they have. They loved it and so did the grownups!

Saturday we went to Angie and David's house for dinner and to watch some basketball. Hannah and Jonathan are in first grade (Hannah) and four years old (Jonathan)...so they take great care of R and R and the kids all had a blast together. We are through the roof excited that they live here now...it's so awesome.
Then today we spent the entire day at the beach with the exception of a brief trip home for naps! The girls had us in hysterics this morning because they played in the ocean just jumping the waves and running from them and having a total ball. YES, the water is freezing! They didn't seem to care and didn't really get wet past their knees...but I didn't go in after them, that's for sure! They also went swimming in the pool which was like bath water...much more my speed! This afternoon we went back to the beach and while we were there the most amazing thing happened. It was a beautiful day but there was a period of about 5 minutes where it sprinkled. Right after, a huge rainbow trailed across the sky right over the ocean. We saw a bunch of people jumping up and down and pointing out into the water. I figured they must have seen some dolphins (although they were a little too excited for it to be dolphins). Turns out...it was a whale!!!!! Yes!!! A whale!!! We sat and watched it for the longest time (it was right underneath the rainbow...how amazing is that!?!?). I tried to get it on video...the rainbow is easier to see than the whale. Just look for a tiny black dot way out in the distance. Trust me, it was a whale and it was clear to see to us...just didn't show up on the video. I tried to explain to the girls how lucky they are that they saw a whale at our beach today! Some people go their whole lives without seeing a whale unless they're at Sea World! It was just another day that we are just so very, very thankful to live where we do! Hope everyone else had a great weekend too! Our best friends, Molly and Walt (the reason there IS an Iofredo family!) and their kids Walt and Isla come tomorrow for the week! We can't wait to have them here. Doesn't look like the weather is going to be quite as nice as it was this weekend...but we'll make sure and enjoy every second we have with them.

Ready for SPRING!!!!

We've had a lot going on around here the past few weeks! Nana Susan and Auntie Ronna came to visit for two whole weeks! They rented a condo down at the beach and so we were able to see them for some trips to the beach and swimming and dinners out and some playtime at our house. (Anthony "T" even made it down for a weekend too!). Unfortunately, the winter CRUD found Matt and the girls and they traded a virus back and forth between the three of them for almost the entire two weeks (and week after!) they were here. Not to mention, Mother Nature continues to make Florida residents feel sympathetic towards all of you Northerners, as our weather has been stinky lately! Bring on spring (and summer at this point)...we're ready for warm days and sunshine!!!!! Everyone seems back to normal around here now and we're so happy about that!!!
We had a great visit with them though, and they were even here during Grandparent's Day at school and were able to go with the girls. It was super special and we're so glad they were here...just wish they lived closer as we miss them already!

Dance class. Take two.

So...we're going to attempt dance class again. It wasn't exactly the greatest experience last time so we're trying a different place (at Christ Church...where the girls go to school) and hoping that they are "older and more mature" and ready to handle a dance class.  Fingers crossed!
They woke up from naps today jumping out of the beds so excited to get to dance class. They got all dressed and then told me they wanted to practice dancing for daddy and wanted me to take a video to show him. Riley decided to sing for most of it...and yes, the hug at the beginning did melt my heart. They do that all the time lately...just the best friends ever.

Busy Bees

We had such a fun, busy weekend! Friday night, Matt and I had a fundraising party at Christ Church (the girl's school) and it was so much fun! The only thing we "won" was the Teacher Tuck-In, which means that their amazing teacher, Ms.Janet is going to come to our house and read them their bedtime story and tuck them in to bed. When we told the girls on Saturday morning they were out of control excited about it. We can't wait to schedule it with her...you'll DEFINITELY be seeing it on here some time in the future. So cute.
Saturday we took the girls to a birthday party they'd been invited to for their friends (also twins), Luke and Kinsey who turned 3! It was a pirate themed party and was just awesome. The girls had a ball. The most amazing thing about it was they'd rented a bouncy house. For the first half of the party, both girls were afraid/nervous to go in to it. But Riley must have said about 50 times that she really, really wanted to go in and finally I asked her if I went in with her, if she'd do it and she said yes. Of course. So...I had to climb into the bouncy house with all of the other kids. But it was SO worth it. Reagan climbed in soon after and they had more fun than they've had in forever...not even kidding. They both cried when they had to come out and on the way home from the party all they kept asking about was if they could go back to Luke and Kinsey's to jump. Ha! They loved it. I know they'll have many, many more opportunities to play in bouncy houses, as they seem to be all the rage at birthday parties these days....

Then today we were invited to our friends Holly and Jeff's house (their sons Jack and Luke go to school with the girls...Jack is Reagan's "very, very special friend"). They live a block from the beach in Neptune Beach and the Donna Half Marathon/Marathon was happening today so they had a bunch of people over to cheer for the runners since it ran right past their house. It was a blast...the kids just ran around and played and occasionally came out to the balcony to scream at the runners, and the grownups drank mimosas while watching the runners struggle by at mile 18....ha! My kind of race!
Such a great weekend and we're all just so happy that we have made such fun friends here in Jacksonville!

Sand and Sunshine!!!!!!

The girls and I spent the entire day at the beach today (minus a break to go home for lunch and naps)! It was absolutely beautiful, and warm and we had so much fun. They just swam and swam and swam in the pool for hours (obviously no pictures of that because I was the one making sure they stayed above water)! And we saw some of their beach friends there too, so we played at the beach and dug in the sand and found some starfish (don't worry...we put them back!) and just ran around and around. Matt met us for dinner tonight after work down at the beach and then we came home for baths...I wasn't even sure they'd make it up all the way through their baths tonight, they were THAT tired! Reagan did NOT want to stop playing long enough today to have her picture taken and Riley said she'd love to have her's taken as long as I gave her a lollipop...hence the reason that Riley is smiling in one of the pictures and Reagan looks like I'm just interrupting some important sandcastle building. And yes, "Reagan and Riley's log" is still there....it washed up around October I think? and it's still there...they run to it immediately upon getting to the beach and use it for their choo-choo, as a balance beam, to hide things in and as a seat.  I'm praying that we don't show up someday and it's been removed...they'll be devastated!!!

Our Valentine Dancers

The girls and I met Matt down at the beach for our Valentine dinner last night! It was such a gorgeous, gorgeous night and we got to watch the most beautiful full moon rise all the way up to the sky. I tried to get a couple of pictures so that I could try and capture how huge the moon looked over the ocean, but I just couldn't do it. But take my word for it, that it was phenomenal!
The girl's favorite singer was singing last night...it was a little too chilly to sit outside and eat so we ate inside and as soon as the girls were done eating they begged to be able to start dancing. They LOVE dancing to the music there...particularly any Jimmy Buffet!  SO cute! It was a perfect night!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!!! The girls woke up this morning and were so excited to go to the breakfast table where we had all of their cards and a few little presents for them to open! They got a Minnie Mouse doll from Nana Susan, new Minnie Mouse cups(filled with candy!) and some awesome new books from Nana and BopBop and a little Minnie Mouse necklace from Daddy! (do you sense a pattern here?!) They love Minnie and all things Disney World!
Sorry we have been MIA...the winter sicknesses finally seemed to all converge together in our house and we've all been sick for about 2 weeks now. That means we've done virtually nothing other than a few walks outside, the playground and just play around the house. We are VERY ready for spring around here!!!! I think we're all on the mend at this point....so fingers crossed we'll have a lot more fun things to post here in the next few weeks!
Hope you're all having a fabulous Valentine's Day! We have the two cutest Valentine's in the world and we love them with all of our hearts!