Michigan Pictures

Doesn't he look like he should have a little girl? :)

The 3 kids watching Baby Einstein and playing

They played well together in general

Katie and I with the wee ones

My darling girl :)

Andy and Eric at the end of our flying visit

Eric and I :)

Stephen asleep on the way home

Caleb in the same state... they were amazingly good.

Reformation Day Party

Our church had a Reformation Day party on the 31st and it was so much fun to see the kids dressed up and playing games. Caleb had a blast and Stephen spent the whole night running in circles. He didn't want to be picked up because he was having too much fun. Caleb is wearing the jack'o lantern costume that Andy's Mom made for him when Andy was Caleb's age, so that was fun. Stephen refused to wear a normal costume so a couple of bandanas later we had the cutest little cowboy. ;)

Nature

Yesterday we took a drive outside of Auburn and here are a couple pics that we took while out. In some ways it's difficult to believe I took these in Alabama since everything is so dry. lol

Caleb's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe that my baby boy is growing up so fast. It was a shock to realize that we were celebrating his 3rd birthday September 26th. He is of course a very big boy, wearing size 5s and an 11 1/2 extra wide shoe, but we are starting to see his face slim down and lose the baby fat.

He talks up a storm and will repeat anything and everything he hears. And of course he is always saying "I do myself Mommy." The funniest thing at the moment happened a couple of weeks ago. Caleb was running around the house playing and pooted. Andy turned around and laughingly asked him if he pooted. Caleb looked at him and said, "you talk about my poot Daddy?" Andy said yes, then Caleb turned to me with "Mommy, I pooted and Daddy talking about it." We just about rolled out of our chairs we were laughing so hard. Ever since then, thankfully only at home, if he poots Caleb looks at Andy and says "you talk about my poot Daddy?" What do you do with uninhibated wee ones? lol

Below are some pictures from Caleb's birthday dinner.

Holding up 3 fingers... he wanted pizza for his dinner

Even with cake in front of him he didn't want to put the pizza down

Stephen just couldn't wait to get his hands on that cake

My sweet boys

He picked out a spice cake

Can you tell he was happy to get his cake :)

Stone Mountain-July

So I am super behind on posting and wish I had kept up with things, but I've been busy with house stuff and not feeling well so blogging was not high on my priority list. So I will start with our flying family trip to Stone Mountain back in July. The main reason we went was so that we could get to meet David's girlfriend Mary without overwhelming her at my parent's house. We grilled out and had a good time eating and talking. Then Nana and Pop-pop watched the boys while the rest of us climbed the mountain. We got caught in a quick rainstorm while up there and everyone was soaked to the skin. lol We stayed for the laser show of course and no matter if people think it's cheesy or not, it is always fun.

An interesting thing about the laser show... everyone who has seen it knows that at the end they play the National Anthem and fly the flag on the mountain. We were seated about halfway down the lawn and John immediately stood when it started playing... David, James and Andy weren't far behind... they were the only ones I saw standing to begin with and from behind me I hear "Jerks! Blocking my view." Shortly after that the voice said in a different tone, "ohhhh" and I saw the man stand up. By the end of the song, the majority of the crowd was standing with their hands over their hearts, but that initial reaction unfortunately didn't surprise me.

Andy and I obviously... on top of the mountain.

David isn't really this much taller than Mary... they are cute together aren't they. :)

All of us drenched.

Laser show pictures

Best Friends

While I was in Georgia last week Katie and I were able to get together for the first time in 6 months. It was great to sit and talk about silly little things and important things with someone who understands me so well. I love having old friendships that you can slip back into as if no time has past. Granted, we are now sitting in Subway wondering if our kids are happy without us and knowing that we have only an hour or 2 before we have to get them again, instead of being carefree. But being able to stay friends even as life presents us with new experiences is a wonderful thing.

Charis seemed so fascinated with Caleb's shoe.

The babies were quite happy to look at each other while we took pics. :)

With all the kids... can you tell how thrilled they are? lol

So glad to be together

Stephen's First Birthday--Very Belated

I have been lazy and didn't get the pictures developed from Stephen's First Birthday party until yesterday. It's hard to believe that he turned 1 year old April 10th. For his birthday my whole family was able to make it in and Andy's parents came down. We also had 2 couples we are good friends with come over. It was lots of fun to just hang out, talk and eat. :) Below are my favorite pics from the day.

Stephen dove into his cake without hesitation :)

Little chocolate boy

Caleb and Hunter enjoyed helping open Stephen's presents... here we are opening a float for Stephen to use at the lake this summer.

Such a cute grin from my wee one

The boys thought Deke was really funny with the bag over his head. :)

David...

The beginning of May David went down to Florida for the National RUF conference. While down there he met this beautiful young lady from the University of Texas. Mary will be coming for a visit sometime in July and I hope to be able to meet her then. Best of luck to them both. :)

Mother's Day

After David's graduation we headed over Birmingham to Andy's parents for Mother's Day and to celebrate his Aunt's wedding. We got to see both sides of the family on Sunday and enjoy spending time and catching up with everyone. Uncle Mike loves to take pictures at our dinners and these are just a few of the ones he took of the boys.

We were watching everyone playing frisbee



Sleepy baby

Hayden adores the boys and Stephen loved being tossed around.

Time Flies...

It's amazing how fast time flies when you have little ones. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed, but have been catching up with things. Back in February, David came and stayed with us for the weekend before his birthday. We had lots of fun laying around the house, playing tennis and just catching up. Uncle David is also a huge hit with his nephews who adored him and wanted to climb all over him. David was so sweet and played with everything they brought him.

Uncle David putting Stephen's shoes on... see his grin? :)

One of the many times they were both piled on him.

One of the other things that has been happening in our lives is the boys are really starting to play together. Caleb will be with something and Stephen will do a run-by snatch... start from across the room and snatch one of Caleb's toys and take off with it. He'll have a huge grin on his face as he runs off and Caleb chases him down. :) They will also share toys and walk around holding hands. I love watching their personalities emerge as they interact. Below are 2 of my favorite pics of them from the last few months.

They fell asleep on the couch together and Stephen woke up just before I took the picture.

My couch has become a playground now that Stephen is climbing and they have great fun making play areas and jumping around.

Backyards and Swing Sets

One of the reasons we LOVE our duplex is the backyard. It was already mostly fenced in when we moved here and our lovely landlords have told us that we can put up more fencing, play toys and plant anything we want. For Christmas Andy's parents bought the boys a swing set and this weekend was the first chance we've had to bring it down and put it up. Between weather, being sick and people traveling it just hasn't worked out until now. Anyways, we are thrilled and here are some pictures from Saturday. We have since gotten most of the leaves up and have 2 lounges chairs out that we got for wedding presents and have been storing under our bed. :)

Getting everything out...

My cutie pie... he has my eyes :)

Caleb is so excited. Can you tell?

He wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first

Yes, we have a sandbox and LOVE it!

Caleb wanted to "help" Deke so he laid down next to him :)

All done!!!!