Impromptu Photo Shoot

Yesterday, Ethan requested to go see the Red Caboose in a town near our house. It was a nice cool day -- a great day for a photo shoot.

The boys' reactions when told this was a photo shoot:

Ethan loves to make silly faces (which makes a photo shoot all the more fun!).

The Red Caboose was nice diversion from the packing up our house and trying to figure out where we are going to live!

4th of July Fun

Whew! We have had a lot go on here in the last 10 days. We now have a contract on our house and will close on August 15th. We are still working a new house! I assure you, we won't be homeless! We spent some time washing and decorating our golf cart for the annual neighborhood 4th of July golf cart parade.

Ethan is testing out the decorations:

A great helper:

Ethan decided that decorating was too much work and he needed a break!

The boys getting ready for our test ride:

On the 4th of July at the Parade:

Benjamin all decked out (right down to the Uncle Sam Hat tattoo on his leg):

"Why do we have to smile again??"

Finally, ready to get the parade moving!

We hope that you had a wonderful 4th of July! We have started packing up the house -- it's hard to believe that in 5 weeks we have to have it all done!

Father's Day 2011

We had a fun Father's Day with Brian and my dad. The boys joined Brian in watching golf (and you can see that Ethan is still recovering from his virus):

Then, the boys and I took dinner to my day. Evan met us there. It was a relaxing afternoon of playing and visiting.

My dad and Benjamin spent some time playing the "slap" game.

Happy belated Father's Day to all daddies!

Catching up....

Wow it has been a while. I am sorry that I have not posted in a while. We have several irons in the fire, including trying to sell our house (it has been on the market a while but recently we have an increase in showings - requiring us to leave the house often). Two weeks ago Ethan was sick -- a virus that caused mouth sores and a few on his face. The sores made it difficult for Ethan to eat. Thankfully, I was off that week and Brian and Benjamin were my helpers to get Ethan back on his feet. Ethan lost about 3 pounds (a lot for a little guy) but we loved taking care of him! Here Benjamin is entertaining Ethan with a game on the i pad.

Earlier this month we went to the Heritage Environmental Center and the boys learned about the North and South Poles. The learned to walk like penguins:

The boys also got to ride in a bob-sled:

Now that Ethan is healed and I am off this week, we are looking forward to spend some quality time at the pool. The boys have had a few swim lessons and are getting a little more comfortable in the water. Hope that your summer is going well!!

Tow Mater and Ride 'Em Cowboy

We spent part of Memorial Day Weekend at Uncle Randy and Aunt Kay's house in the North Georgia mountains. Gebee came along for the fun and she enjoyed the cool breeze on the front porch.

The weekend was jam-packed with fun. The boys had a chance to get dirty, ride on big machines and ride on a big animal!

Benjamin and Ethan helped plant the garden. (I think that the boys were expecting the plants to grown while we were up there!)

Ethan started getting tired and wanted to just ride in the Gator.

The of a hard day's work:

Earlier in the day, Uncle Randy and Matt fired up all the big machines (let's see if I can get them right -- I was corrected on the names of the equipment several times by Benjamin and Ethan) -- tractor, back hoe loader and dump truck.

The boys pointed out that the dump truck looks like Tow Mater!

Matt and Benjamin surveying the land:

Sunday morning, Matt and Uncle Randy went and got their horses. They boys got to ride Seth, Uncle Randy's horse.

The boys and daddy right before the boys became cowboys!

Ethan learned how to clean his boots:

We hope that you had wonderful long weekend. Our was full of fun and family!

Let's Play Ball & Stomp Rocket

Two weeks ago I took the boys to a Gwinnett Braves game (they are the farm team for the Atlanta Braves). We were lucky enough to have seats behind home plate. Papaw went with us and it was so neat to be so close to the game. We were able to make the same calls the home plate umpire made. They boys loved all the activity between the innings. Ethan was VERY sad that he could not get on the field and "hit that ball." This was our view:

Benjamin eventually looked more like he was enjoying the game once it started.

Ethan gave our seats two thumbs up!

Us watching as a player hit a home run:

Me and the boys enjoying a fun outing:

As the cooler weather continued, we also brought out a new toy -- THE STOMP ROCKET. We have not see the buddies laugh so hard in a long time. This air-powered rocket provided us so much entertainment.

And, now here we are just a mere two weeks later and it's too hot (95 degrees) to out and play in the middle of the day. We hope that everyone is enjoying the long weekend. We enjoyed spending part of the weekend with family in the mountains -- those pictures are coming soon!

End of Soccer Season

Whew! What a busy few weeks we have had. And now, I have some time to catch you all up on what's been going on with us. Soccer ended. The boys had a lot of fun on the field together. Here they are at the last game and getting their trophies (which are now displayed in the boys' bedrooms).

Benjamin kicking a goal!

Ethan "warming up."

The trophies:

More to come soon -- I promise!