Happy 4th of July

Our neighborhood has a parade on the 4th of July. Benjamin and I decorated the golf cart earlier in the week. He has been looking forward to the parade all week -- though you can not tell from this picture! He was tired of decorating.

We had great weather this morning -- still a little cool and a nice breeze. Here is the 4 of us on the 4th!

The boys checking out all the other decorated golf carts.

Ethan loved waving his flags and later learned how to wave hello. He enjoys his front-row seat.

We were at the tail-end of the parade and got to see all the other golf carts ahead of us.

We hope everyone has a Happy and Safe 4th of July. We are going to the pool later today and then grilling out at home. There will be no fireworks for us this year -- the boys go to bed waaaay too early for that. They are asleep by 7:30pm.

It's been a while

I know, I am way behind in posting. These are pictures from Father's Day at Papaw's house. Brian got a much deserved few house of quiet time at home. (He says he watched golf, but I think he took a long nap!) Speak of naps.....both the boys were so worn out from playing with Papaw and Uncle Evan that these were in my rear-view mirror on the way home.

Sleepy but too enthralled by Little Einsteins DVD to sleep.

Benjamin playing with Uncle Evan.

Ethan does not usually stay still long enough for pictures....this was a special day!

Lately, our days and night have been consumed with paint, caulk, new teeth, getting rid of a certain someone's paci, mulch and pinestraw. The extreme home make-over is complete. Stay tuned for pictures of it all. We are so glad to be done with the most labor intensive home improvement project to date.

Daddy, say "park"

Wow it has been a busy week. The week started with a cold for me and Ethan last weekend that has lingered into this week. As it lingered, Benjamin caught it and ended up with croup on Monday night. Benjamin had croup once before but it was worse this time and boy was it scary. For about an hour (in the middle of the night, of course) we held him in a steaming bathroom and debated taking him to the ER. Finally, Benjamin was able to catch his breath and we got a few hours of sleep. After a trip to the doctor in the morning and a prescription for a few days of steroids, Benjamin was on his way back to good health. Then, as the cold made it's rounds, Brian caught it.

Ethan has also been cutting teeth for what seems like a hundred years now. As you can see in the picture below, he has 4 teeth, yep, that is it -- I think that he should have about 8 or 9 teeth by now. He is finally cutting some more -- his top two molars. We hope to see a few more soon so that he can enjoy ALL the foods that his big brother eats!

As we all started feeling better, we enjoyed a cloudy afternoon at the park. It was nice to have Brian join us. Lately, Benjamin has been saying "daddy, say 'park'" or "daddy, say 'tractor.'" I think his is imitating us as we are working with Ethan to get him saying a few words. The day we went to the park all I heard from Benjamin was "Ethan, say 'park'" and "daddy, say 'park.'"

Ethan loves the swing, but loves his daddy more.

Brian was out of town part of the week and just got home today. While he was gone I took the boys to the pool for the first time this summer. I was a little nervous taking both of them by myself but was more nervous about their reaction to the water and the pool. It too a little getting used to but the boys want to go back and were upset when we left. We are hoping to take the boys over the weekend (I will get pictures when I have help with them at the pool).

I am also testing out a new phone -- I heard Clark Howard talking about a new cell phone and since my contract was up, I thought I would cut my cell phone bill by $20 a month and get texting along with my minutes (look out 21st century, here I come!). It is called Smart Talk and you can find out all the details at www.smarttalk.com They use the Verizon Network for coverage. I 'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend and I will have more pictures of the boys from over the weekend!

Over the River and Through the Woods....

to papaw's house we go. Mommy knows the way to carry the sleigh (ummm I mean van).....

Last week, we took the sleigh to Washington Farms to get fresh picked strawberries. Nope, we did not pick them ourselves -- did you think I was that crazy? We will attempt to pick them next spring -- we did the pre-picked ones this year. And, you guessed it -- they loved the fresh picked strawberries. They cried when we had to stop eating them and get in the sleigh to come home!

Later in the week, we carried a basket of fresh goodness to Papaw's house. The boys ate lunch there and we got to play in the shaded backyard. Papaw has a little pond and small water feature that the boys were fascinated with.

After piloting the sleigh home, they boys went straight to bed -- while visions of more fresh goodness danced in their heads.....

Doggie and Dirty Feet

So I bet you thought I was going to post about this little girl. Well not exactly....though she did come and stay with us for a few days. I have to say it was not like old times. (Benjamin was scared of Shelby and every time she barked, growled or sneezed, Benjamin cried and wanted to be held. Ethan on the other hand, wanted to pet her and let her sniff him.) We really had to keep an eye on Ethan around Shelby.

I have heard from many people how different two children can be and I have come to realize that with the boys, what brings them comfort is very different. Ethan has really grown attached to his doggie from Uncle Evan. Ethan will not get in his crib without doggie and does not want to leave doggie behind ever. His face lights up when he get to carry doggie around. We got concerned that we might misplace doggie -- Evan was gracious enough to buy us a back-up doggie.

Benjamin on the other hand, loves his "dirty feet." Do you see the plastic pink and brown blob near Benjamin's face? That is Dirty Feet, his plastic pink pig with dirt on its feet. The pig is part of Benjamin's Little People Farm and Barnyard. One day, I pointed out that the pig had dirty feet. And, just like that, Dirty Feet was born and Benjamin will not go to sleep without Dirty Feet. You can also see his paci in this picture. He kept loosing it in his bed and would wake up crying. We got the idea to safety pin his paci to his sleep sack (don't worry -- the string is not long enough to wrap around his neck). Thanks Pam for the great safety pin idea.

We hope that everyone has a night filled with dreams of your own doggies and dirty feet.

'Night all.

Adults Only

The past few weeks have involved a lot of adult only work around our house. Brian and I have been working on several home improvement projects (the final reveal will have a post all to itself). In addition to the work on the home front, Brian is having to shut down his office. His lease is up at the end of May and the company decided that they will not renew the lease. Hence one of the many reasons for creating an office in our house. (The other reason was to free up a guest room upstairs -- that came in handy this weekend!) So, Brian has been busy packing up his office/warehouse. This was the last of the goods to go to the home office -- the boys and went up to Brian's office to see the big truck. We never miss a chance to see a big truck up close and personal.

As I have mentioned before, all the professional, paid people have completed their parts of our home improvement projects......now it all on us to finish. Brian and I have been spend A LOT of time primer, paint and these guys:

All the while we have been planning our first get away without the boys. I have not mentioned it on the blog, as I was worried that something would come up and we would not get to go (as in, I would not be able to leave the boys!). But, we went and had a wonderful time. We spent two night at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS. It was just the right amount of time. Papaw stayed with the boys at our house (utilizing our new guest room). It took me forever to get ready for the trip with all my lists and schedules typed out -- I am sure that Papaw just laughed at all the papers! We ate at two very nice restaurants and I was able to take my time and actually eat my food warm!

We knew that Brett Michaels (former lead singer of Poison) was going to be at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino next door to us. We walked over there to people watch. For fun I checked the ticket prices for the concert and they were $50 and $60. That seems like a crazy amount to see Brett Michaels. We ended up getting tickets from someone who had extra for $10. Now that is more like it. It was a fun hour and 15 min. But boy was it loud (we have not been to a rock and roll concert in a long time).

Me and my lead singer at the concert!

We are glad to be home and really missed the boys. More about what the boys have been up to very soon.....stay tuned!

Happy Birth Day Ungy

Last Sunday we celebrated Uncle Evan's (aka Ungy) Birthday at Piedmont Park. It was a great day and we all had fun running around. We had Willy's for lunch (you can't go wrong there) and played with the boys. I think Ungy and Papaw ran as much as the boys did. I know that this post is a little late -- we are continuing our work on the home projects we have started. And as Ungy says -- "It's ok, I am going to be 32 for a whole year."

Benjamin loves chips and salsa.

Here we are leaving the park in the limo that the boys got for Christmas -- we love our wagon!

We were glad to be able to help Ungy celebrate his birthday.