Friday, June 27, 2008

Hilton Head Island 2008

June 1-7, 2008: We had another great trip to the beach earlier this month. We traveled with Nana and Grandaddy (all of us in the van!) to Hilton Head and enjoyed it so much! There was a minor bug problem in our first condo...an older, wooden building that had some (hundred) unwanted guests living there. Mom and I nicely explained the situation to the rental company and convinced them that staying put was not an option. We were able to move Tuesday morning and all was well! Drew just loves the beach...he could play for hours in the sand. Unfortunately, he was not blessed with dark skin and can't stay out for hours! He really enjoyed the pool too and is becoming quite the little swimmer. Allen was a trooper and even napped at the beach a couple of mornings. Nana & Grandaddy spent quite a bit of time at the beach in the afternoons, resting under the umbrella and just relaxing next to the ocean. Patrick worked most days but was still able to play with the boys and let me have some "sun" time as well. It was a wonderful trip!

Beach Photos


Misc Photos


Nana and Grandaddy celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary while we were there! They enjoyed a nice evening out (sans kids) and a lovely meal (on the day after their anniversary...the day of they celebrated in the car with us and then dinner at the Hilton Head Diner!) Don't think they aren't doing anything big...since this year marks their 40th anniversary and both of their 60th birthdays, they are going on a 2 week European cruise in July!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Happy Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!


Happy 9th Anniversary to Grandma & Grandpa! We hope you had a great day! We love you and miss you! (And we have no recent photos of the two of you together - seriously...)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

June Fun

We have had a very busy month and I have been a failure at keeping up with the blog! Here are some photos of our adventures the past few weeks!

First day of VBS 2008!

Allen's first "real" food...bananas...

Where Allen spends a lot of time...it's good exercise, right?!

Swinging at Nana & Grandaddy's

Happy Father's Day!

Drew's first diving board adventure!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

My Littlest Golfer

Tonight, I put Allen on the floor in the living room while I fixed his bottle. I heard him grunting and knew he was after something out of his reach. I was able to capture his escapades...

Almost got it...

I'll just flip to my belly to reach it...

Ahh...got it!

Thanks mom for sitting me back up!

Don't take it away!!!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Beach Trip - Perdido Key, FL

May 8-16, 2008: Our first vacation to Florida as a family of 4 was great. We took 2 days to drive down and had horrible weather, but we made it fine. A rock cracked our windshield about 30 minutes from the beach...of well...I'm sure it won't be the last damage to my new car! We were all excited to meet baby Elizabeth - even Drew! The resort where we stayed was wonderful. There were 3 outdoor pools, 3 indoor, and a lazy river. Drew enjoyed all the big waterslides and quickly got over any lignering fear of the water! Saturday was cousin Julie's wedding. It was lovely and she was beautiful! We enjoyed the reception and getting to hang out with all the cousins we don't see very much. Monday we finally made it to the beach and Drew had a great time playing in the sand with Caroline (3). We had to say goodbye to Auntie Maggie, Uncle Jim and baby Elizabeth early Tuesday morning and then we spent more time at the awesome pools. On Wednesday, Grandma kept Allen so we could have some quality time with Drew at the beach. It was great! He played so hard in the sand and really enjoyed having our full attention. We had to leave on Thursday and drove again through storms. We stopped that evening in Atlanta to see Rusty, Bernie and Olivia since they weren't able to make it to the wedding. We really enjoyed spending time with them and the kids played nicely together! We finally made it home on Friday and dumped everything in the house...and we're still digging out...

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!


We had a very busy and fun time celebrating Father's Day! Drew chose an outing to the zoo so the four of us went for about 3 hours this morning. Drew had a great time visiting all the animals. Allen was a champ...riding around in the stroller without any complaints.
Daddy was able to take some time away at the driving range while both boys napped this afternoon. It was as close as he could get to playing golf today, but he didn't complain!
Tonight we went to Nana and Grandaddy's house for dinner and playtime. Nana made a wonderful lasagna and we even had dirt cake for dessert! (Jay and Amelia helped her make it yesterday) The kids played outside for a little while after dinner and ran races in the backyard.

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there! You are loved!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

8 Months


It's hard to believe that another month has passed already! Allen is growing up so fast and is a busy little man. He is babbling like crazy..."dada" is his favorite and he often says "hi dada" (though not necessarily at the proper moment!). I've been pushing for "mama" but it usually only comes out when he's really upset and crying hard...oh well!
He finally mastered rolling back to front, but it has caused all sorts of issues with sleep. He'll get turned over on his side and then his tummy when he's trying to get comfy to sleep and then he just gets angry because he's face down and can't get anywhere! Yesterday he rolled all the way over (back to front and then kept going until he was on his back again) so I'm hoping he will start flipping himself around in bed as he needs to. He will scoot on his bottom when he's sitting up and wants to get somewhere and when he's on his tummy he can scoot backwards. Again, that causes issues in bed when he gets himself all the way to the side of the crib and those fat little legs go through the slats! By far his favorite activity is still the jumper seat - he will go for at least 20 minutes, non-stop. The best part of it is the laughter and perma-smile while he is doing it!
He is eating well - cereal and fruit for breakfast, cereal and vegetable for dinner, 4 bottles a day at other times. I'm trying to drop a bottle and add a cereal feeding in its place, but finding a good time in the day to make the switch has proved daunting! Oh - we finally have 2 teeth! The bottom 2 came in about the same time with much screaming and sleepless nights to make sure I was aware of the event. Now I'm just hoping the top ones will make their appearance soon and we can start some finger foods in the near future. It is sad how much the kid watches you eat and moves his mouth as if to say "Come on, seriously? Can't I have some of that?!"
Allen LOVES his big brother. He laughs at Drew all the time and loves to watch him play. If Drew comes close enough, Allen lunges for him and tries to latch on, like he is trying to keep him close. On our drive home from the beach yesterday, Drew was sleeping in the third row and Allen could see him perfectly from his rear facing car seat. He was trying so hard to talk to him and wake him up - babbling and laughing and cooing at him. It was so cute! Allen still loves Maddie, though Maddie can be a bit stingy returning the love. She will lay just out of his reach, but he will dive forward if he thinks he can get to her. She will sit next to his rocking chair at night when I'm giving him his last bottle and let him pet her head. I love it - it is so fun to have my boys grow up with a sweet dog!

Monday, June 2, 2008

At the beach...again...

We are at the beach again...this time in South Carolina on Hilton Head Island with Nana and Grandaddy. It is beautiful (and hot) and we're having a great time (though we're quite hot). I forgot my download cable so you'll have to wait for photos. Then again...I still haven't posted our Florida photos either!
On top of things, I am not...

Monday, May 26, 2008

We're gonna need a bigger bed...

Patrick came to find me the other night, laughing his head off. He took me into Drew's room where we found this...



Apparently, we need to step up the search for a big boy bed if all these animals are going to join him each night! Oh yeah...when we put him to bed...he was alone...

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Last Day of School

Today was Drew's last day of preschool...it was so sad for me! Drew had a wonderful year with Ms Gina and Ms Julie. I can't thank them enough for giving Drew an amazing year of learning and growing emotionally, spiritually and socially. They were amazing! We have a fabulous collection of artwork, most of which includes either a hand print or thumbprint and is laminated so it will keep for years to come! I could always count on them to help Drew with the morning transition (which got more difficult the more Daddy traveled) by immediately taking his mind off the drop off and distracting him with anything train orriented. Drew was not the only train obsessed kid in the class, though I would bet he ranked pretty high! They not only accepted the kids' fascination with trains, but they incorporated it into their classroom as they could. There were Thomas books and trains in his room ("big Thomas" as Drew referred to him - a push and go version) and they let us know if they saw a train on the playground each day. They even made a Thomas in art one day - it is adorable!
Drew was not into the photo taking thing today...oh well...I really wanted to get a shot of him to compare to the first day!

Headed to school...on last time...

Drew's classroom and Ms Gina