Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Holiday Photo Shoot

Last weekend, we had awesome weather.  We took the opportunity to do a photo shoot of the boys in their holiday clothes.  








This is the point where the wheels started coming off the photo shoot.  These were the best smiles we saw all day!!


While this was not part of the photo shoot (it was taken Thanksgiving Day), it is a rare picture of my family!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Fall Fun Part II

As I catch you up on the last 3 months of what is going on at our house, I wanted to make sure we talked about Buford Baseball.  The boys played baseball for the athletic association connected with the school Benjamin attends.  This league demands more and is more competitive then the league we played in the past.  (I was a little worried if the move to this league was going to be too much on the boys - I was wrong, by the way.)

Brian was the pitcher for the games he was in town for.  (There are no pictures of me - I was "Dug-Out  Mom.)  The boys will play again in the Spring and so excited.  Brian will pitch again and I am considering a move to assistant coach!



The season ended and we rolled right into Halloween


By the end of the night, they did not even resemble a pirate or Frankenstein!  

And then right after Halloween, we rolled right into Karate.  The boys now have a month of Karate under their belts (and after two weeks they earned their white belt -- the first belt, for those of you not familiar with the hierarchy of belts), and doing very well.
I am almost caught up.......

Friday, November 30, 2012

Fall Fun

Brace yourself -- this is a catch up post.  You didn't think I could go into a Christmas season and not be caught up, now did you?  This fall was filled with lots of fun things.  

Brian and I took the boys to a corn maze near Athens and they had so much fun!



Benjamin did not want to lay down in the corn pit....




Benjamin had a long weekend for Columbus Day.  I took a vacation day and Benjamin and I had a date at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens - there was an educational scavenger hunt and very cool centers.


We stopped and took a break and Benjamin just wanted to lay down on a porch swing.  Love those eyes!

We also took a field trip to the Yellow River Game Ranch - a petting zoo that house animals that have been injured and can not return to the wild.  The boys loved feeding the farm animals -  Ethan wanted to know why we couldn't have chickens in our yard.  (I told him there would not be room in the pool for us and the chickens!)



There is more "Fall Fun" coming.........

Friday, October 19, 2012

Santa Came Early

We had been talking about how perfect our yard would be for a pool and how fun it would be to have one!  We were planning one for the spring -- then an offer came along that we could not pass up (you know me and a bargain!).  So, Santa came a little early this year!

The night before the big dig:

The morning of the big dig - Ethan was so excited that all of the cool stuff was going to happen on his day home with me!  We actually offered Benjamin the chance to stay home from school (how often is there a digger in your backyard?) and he told us that he wanted to go to school!  (Gotta love his work ethic!)


Ethan and his buddy were given a chance to help!


 This is under our deck -- we will have an outside bathroom under the stairs in the Spring.

The pool has been poured and you can see the markings for the decking to be poured next.
 Yes, I know, it looks really blue in this picture.  But the finished product looks waaaaay better!
 Here we are about 8 hours into filling the pool.  Just a fun fact, it took us 32 hours straight of our hose running to fill the pool!
 Almost done -- you will see a hole in the decking in the upper right corner (the fire pit is going there) and no grass around the pool.  Those cosmetic things did not stop the boys, Brian and most of the kids on the street from swimming.  The balmy 75 degrees and swimming in cold water from a hose did not stop them either!!
 End result.  We still have to plant a few shrubs about the pool but we are just enjoying the space now!
 The inaugural fire in the fire pit.  Another fun fact -- Ethan calls this "fire camp."
 My three buddies enjoying the fire camp!

Look for more pictures of the pool once Spring time rolls around!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Plaaaaay Balllll!

I realize that it may seem like life at our house has been quiet for the last month or two - you know, because there have been no blog posts recently.  But I can assure you that life has begun moving at a faster-then-warp-speed pace!  The boys started playing baseball for the athletic association that is part of the school system that Benjamin attends.  This is our first season with them.  I have to admit I had concerns about switching leagues.  The league the boys used to play for did not keep score ("everyone is a winner") and the umpires interacted with and gave the kids batting suggestions.  

We have arrived at "The Big League!"  The league we play for now has a player draft in the pre-season and yes, we keep score!  And, no the umpire did not provide coaching advise or help tie a shoe!  We have had practices and scrimmages, all leading up tonight -- our first game.

We have been fortunate that the boys are on the same team and will get to be for the next season or two!  The boys love having Brian pitch to them (Yes, Brian is the team pitcher).  

Here's Benjamin playing short stop:

And, Ethan is in left center field, backing up third base and short stop:

The boys, "baseball ready":
There will be more pictures from future games, but as the dugout mom, I struggled to snap these tonight.  Oh, and for those of you interested, the score was 13-10. Winning the first game was so sweet for the boys!

P.S.  I hope to have a post up soon about what else has been going on around our house -- we are knee-deep in a house project and I have been taking pictures along the way.  

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Wordless Wednesday


I still can't pass up a chance to take pictures of sleeping buddies -- I am certain that visions of baseball and backpacks are dancing in their heads!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Benjamin's First Day of School

Five and a half years ago, when Benjamin was born, I never imagined that he would be going off to school so soon!  Here we are five and a half years later.....

Today is the fist day of school and Benjamin was beyond ready for school to start!  

There were no tears shed this morning and we can't wait to hear all about his first day when he gets home!  As I type this, Benjamin is getting ready for lunch at school!

Ethan loves the fact that he is going to be home alone with mommy now!  He told me that he is super excited to be my side kick!


Cookies for the teachers..... "With you as my teacher, I'll be one smart cookie."

 Going into his class....he was so excited.
 Already getting settled, we left him smiling!