Adventures with Austin & Owen

Gone but Not Forgotton

2012-01-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and Followers,

For those of you who do not know, my mother unexpectedly passed away on January 3, 2012. I am grief stricken, in disbelief and dealing with a sadness I have never felt before. My mom adored my boys more than anything and she loved this blog. She's a big reason why I kept it going as long as I did and if there was a period of time where there were no posts, she would let me know and ask for more stories and pictures ASAP! For that reason, I plan to keep blogging, but for now I have to step back and take a break. It may be a week, a month or several months, but hopefully when I do come back it will be in full force with tons of pictures and updates.

For now, please follow my Facebook account for pictures and updates on Austin and Owen.

Happy New Year from the Harrises!

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Catching Up!

2011-12-30T00:15:00.001-05:00

December is always such a fabulously busy month, but this year really takes the cake! As much as I hate it, I don't have time to write a post for every fun event that has taken place this month. In fact, I'm finding it hard to find the time to blog at all as of lately (am I'm sure you've noticed), but I promise not to give up as long as a few of you just hang in there with me! :)

So here goes...our December, the condensed version:

My cute little Clemson elf loved decorating his very own orange Christmas tree!

Only 2 ornaments were harmed in the process...

Setting up the Santa train!

After driving through the lights at the speedway

Am Ma and Austin feeding a goat at Carolina Christmas

Owen's turn!

Guess who wasn't a fan of Santa...

Austin mailing off his and Owen's letters to Santa. He asked for cars, trucks, crayons, trains and stickers. Owen asked for everything his big brother wanted. Mom and Dad told Santa that sharing wasn't one of the boys' strong points and maybe he should just bring two of everything.

If you can't see over it, just look through it!

Austin trying out one of the Legend cars.

Our attempt at a Christmas card photo. One hour and over a hundred pictures later, this was about the best we could do. However, it didn't really matter in the end because I forgot to send out Christmas cards this year anyway! (I told ya its been a crazy month!)

Before the holidays, we met up with friends at Discovery Place Kids. Austin and Christian had a blast playing together!

How cute are these two firefighters?

Trying to decide who should be the cashier and who should bag the groceries.

Owen loved doing the grocery shopping!

Austin was shocked to hear me over the speaker when he pulled up to the bank window!

Austin's Christmas program at preschool. He really liked those jingle bells!

Showing us their obstacle course.

A well-deserved snack after all that hard work!

Owen and daddy were there too. Owen is mad that he doesn't get to go to preschool because it sure does look like fun!

Austin was so excited about making this gingerbread house so as a treat to him, we made it together while Owen was napping one day.

He ended up eating more candy than he actually put on the house, but it was a lot of fun and an excellent way to teach and reinforce patterns.

The finished product!

Update: Owen still doesn't like Santa.

He got over it as soon as he saw the remote control cars, however!

Making cookies for Santa!

Just a Tidbit...

2011-12-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

So much to do and so little time! I don't know when updating the blog is going to make it to the forefront of my massive to-do list, but I did want to leave you with a tiny tidbit of what we've been up to lately....

More to come later from our magical time at the happiest place on Earth!!

30

2011-12-06T01:08:00.000-05:00

On 12/2/11, I officially turned 30. I'll admit, I didn't wake up in the best of moods. Turning 30 hit me harder than I thought it would. I remember just 5 short years ago, meeting several law school classmates of Ryan's who were in their 30's and thinking, "wow, they're so old!" I never imagined I, myself, would turn 30 so quickly...

Luckily, I am quite blessed to have wonderful friends and family who were able to make turning 30 a little less of a blow. My amazing mother-in-law, came up to watch the boys the afternoon of my birthday and Ryan whisked me off on a surprise trip to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore House. Biltmore is a very special place for me and Ryan because in our first year of dating we bought season passes and spent countless weekends there exploring and just being two crazy kids in love! We hadn't been back since, so it was a perfect birthday getaway.

Ryan had a wonderful and romantic trip planned. We got to the Biltmore House that evening and toured the winery until our dinner reservations. We had a delicious dinner at the Deerpark Inn and ended our night with a candlelight Christmas tour of the house. The next morning we went back to Biltmore and just wondered around the grounds and took in the beautiful scenery. After lunch we drove back to Charlotte, checked in with AmMa and the boys and then headed uptown to watch our Tigers play in the ACC championship game. The game was amazing, the atmosphere was electric and the Tigers pulled out a convincing win! And wouldn't you know it...Clemson wins their 1st ACC title in...30 years!

We came back home, both excited and exhausted. I had already forgotten how sad I was about being 30. I think I can make it through 30 ok...just don't talk to me about 31!!

Lazy 5

2011-12-05T01:07:00.000-05:00

Almost every weekend we go in search of fun family activities in the area that we can enjoy with the boys. Last weekend we discovered what could possibly be our favorite place yet....the Lazy 5 Ranch. It's a drive-through animal park with hundreds...probably thousands...of free roaming animals that you can see up close, touch and even feed. It was a huge hit with the kids and Ryan and I had a blast as well!

Checking out the scenery!

Feeding the sheep and goats!

Watching the big horse get his sore foot fixed.

Owen imitating the big camel!

Love the cute little lemurs!

Hold onto your buckets tight!

The Watusi

A small sampling of what we saw on our wagon ride.

The Brahma

Mom and baby zebra

Ryan feeding a llama

The big, hungry giraffes that ended up eating all the rest of our food.

Owen loves giraffes!

So beautiful!

Enjoying the wagon ride!

Baby goats playing...so cute!

Thanksgiving Craftiness

2011-11-30T14:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Pinterest, I'm finally starting to express that tiny little crafty bone in my body. I've always wanted to be crafty, but just never had the patience, skill or creativity to do things on my own. Not to mention that I am totally scatterbrained half the time and can't ever finish what I start. Lucky for me, Pinterest has tons of cute ideas all in one place and often links to step by step instructions. It really is a lot of fun to make cute things that you know your kids can help with and will enjoy!

For Thanksgiving I decided to make an array of themed goodies:

The Fudge Stripe Cookie and Reese's Cup Pilgram Hats

The Oreo Turkey

...and the Hershey Kiss and Nutter Butter Acorns.

I also used the acorns to decorate my homemade caramel cake!

Yum!!

(For tutorials on how to make these fun treats, find me on Pinterest and check out my Thanksgiving board pins.)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

We journeyed down to Columbia for Thanksgiving this year at Mimi and Papa's house. It was a whirlwind of a day that ended far too quickly. Uncle Nick earned his gold star for actively entertaining Austin outside almost the entire afternoon. Papa then earned his platinum star for keeping up with both kids outside while Ryan and I chatted with our good friends Whitney and Travis who were in town visiting from Virginia. The kids were so exhausted that they were completely sacked out before we even left the neighborhood!

The day after, Austin kept telling me he wanted to go back to Mimi and Papa's house in "Combia." I asked him why and he replied, "...because I get to play outside ALL day!" :)

Ready for the feast!

Being a typical boy, lounging around and hogging the remote.

Playing with Papa

Playing drums in the bed of Papa's truck.

Tissue paper....cheap and endless entertainment!

"Hey Aunt Caca, smell this paper!"

SMASH!

Giving Miss Whitney a big hug!

And here comes the cuteness....

Ta-Da!

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid!

2011-11-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

Yep, we broke down and took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time a couple weeks ago. Honestly the thought had never crossed my mind until we passed the place on the interstate and Austin said he wanted to go there. In actuality he though it was a Monkey Joes, but we decided to check it out anyway.

First of all, I had no idea this place was so cheap. Every game was 1 token and we got about 50 tokens for only $10 which lasted us for almost 2 hours. There was a toddler room for Owen to play in and tons of rides and games for the boys to enjoy. We also discovered Austin's new love for air hockey...and he's actually pretty good! Owen was in heaven because there were gobs and gobs of buttons to "pish" and he became infatuated with the mouse ride and this duck game where you try to knock the ducks in the water.

I don't know why I had such a negative view of Chuck E. Cheese in my head, but that's been wiped clean as of now. It's definitely a cheap and entertaining way to spend a cold and rainy afternoon! Maybe next time we'll try the pizza. :)

Santa Arrives!

2011-11-29T15:15:00.001-05:00

A couple weekends ago, Santa Claus himself arrived in NC. And where do you think he made his first stop? Why Birkdale Village Shopping Center, of course! We had nothing better to do on a Saturday evening and I was really anxious to see how Austin would react to seeing Santa for the first time this season. The whole holiday celebration was a little lame and the parade was downright pathetic....but as soon as Santa turned that corner riding on the back of a pick-up truck....it became magical!! Owen was amused just watching the cars drive by, but Austin was downright smitten with Santa and after he passed us we had to hurriedly cross the road and stake out a place on the other side so we could see him drive by again. We then followed him to the Christmas tree and shouted "1-2-3, Santa light that tree" and watched as Santa "magically" lit the giant tree.

We had to promise Austin that we'd see Santa again soon just to get him to leave and then we went to IHOP down the road for a pancake supper. I have never been a big IHOP fan until realizing that it's the ONLY sit down restaurant where both boys will eat and behave relatively well. Austin kept waiting for Santa to join us at IHOP but then got distracted when he saw a girl dressed as a pirate walk in and sit at a table nearby. So distracted in fact that when we were walking out he walked face first into a table because he was so busy looking at this pirate girl that he wasn't watching where he was going.

We've been talking about Santa ever since and even made a visit to mall Santa just to chat one morning. When we lit up our Christmas tree this past weekend, Austin said to himself before he stepped on the button the turns the tree lights on, "1-2-3, Austin light that tree!" Oh, it's going to be a FUN holiday season!!!

Waiting for the parade to start. Owen obviously not pleased about stopping to pose for a picture.

Santa!!

(Austin had just finished eating a Reeses cup that was thrown to him in the parade, hence the peanut butter in his teeth.)

Oh the joy!

Waving as Santa goes by...

...in the bed of a truck.

An attempt to pose in front of the big tree. Austin was upset that his shoe had fallen off and Owen was busy watching the fake snow blow around.

Zzzzzzzzz

2011-11-28T12:03:00.000-05:00

Tell tale signs that we've been keeping pretty busy around here lately...

Believe it or not, these pictures document the very first times both kids have fallen asleep in someplace other than a bed, crib, or car seat....and they happened within a week of each other! Guess we need to tone down the holiday festivities a little bit and focus on catching up on a few more zzzz's!

Stay tuned to hear about all the fun we've been having! I foresee some wonderfully long nap times in my near future which means time to catch up on the blogging. :-)

Owen is 18 Months!

2011-11-11T01:07:00.000-05:00

Owen is officially 1.5 years old now! Here are a few fun facts about my sweet little 18 month old boy.

-Owen had his 2nd haircut this month. You can observe the before and after pictures above.

-FINALLY starting to enjoy a little variety in his diet! After a couple months of almost nothing but yogurt, applesauce, crackers and baby food pouches....this is by far the most exciting achievement right now!

-Loves Lightning McQueen ("Ly-ing") and Mater ("Mare") and points out everything with either of their pictures on it.

-Enjoys watching football (in moderation) and says "Uh oh!" every time there's a big tackle.

-Wants to "pish" (push) any button or flip any switch he can see.

-Will take a juice box over a piece of candy any day!

-Takes one 2-3 hour nap every afternoon.

-Can not be trusted to walk anywhere in public on his own! He refuses to hold my hand and often runs off. He's really starting to gain a new sense of independence!

-Loves to climb and walk up stairs and has no fear whatsoever.

-Saying new words everyday and putting several words together now. The other day he got breakfast all over his hands and said "I'm a mess!"

-Likes to stand at the window and look out at the squirrels and birds.

-Loves to dance and shake his booty!

-Says "Please" and "Thank You" some of the times. :)

-Currently dealing with (and not so well I might add) his first ear infection.

-Weighs 24 lbs. and measures 32.5 inches tall. Our new ped. office doesn't do percentiles, but I looked online and it says he's in the 25th for weight and 56th for height.

-Loves to sing Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, 5 Little Monkeys, She'll be Coming Round the Mountain, If You're Happy and You Know It, Wheels on the Bus, and Little Green Frog. Yes, Owen really likes music. :)

-Loves to put on socks and shoes...mainly because he thinks that means we're going outside.

-Still has a serious attachment to his "duck-duck." Even Austin knows better than to mess with Owen's duck-duck!

-Barely sits still long enough to read unless it's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chicka Chicka 1-2-3, A Potty for Me, The Gruffalo, or any book that has to do with cars or monster trucks.

Days of Autumn

2011-11-09T21:55:00.000-05:00

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,

"Come o'er the meadows with me and play:

Put on your dresses of red and gold -

For summer is gone and the days grow cold."

"Leaves in the autumn came tumbling down,

Scarlet and yellow, russet and brown,

Leaves in the garden were swept in a heap,

Trees were undressing ready for sleep."

Daddy's Office

2011-11-04T00:03:00.000-04:00

The day after Austin's birthday party, him and I made a special trip to daddy's office while AmMa stayed home with Owen since he was napping. Austin has been interested in skyscrapers lately and well, Ryan's office, is in one of the tallest buildings in the southeast! It's an ordeal just to get up there, though. I can't ever just pop in unannounced because you have to have clearance and show ID just to get to the elevators!

Austin loved everything about daddy's office. From the parking garage and long elevator ride to just looking out the big windows at all the cars and buildings below. He was especially excited that he could see the Panthers football stadium. We walked around and visited some of Ryan's co-workers but Austin was completely uninterested unless their office had a view of the stadium...and was not shy at all about letting them know he wasn't impressed by their view!

Hard at work!

View of the stadium

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-03T20:12:00.000-04:00

We had a fun Halloween full of pumpkin carving, trick or treating and candy eating! Austin, the train engineer, got really into the trick or treating this year and kept us busy heading for every house he could find with a light on, exclaiming "Trick or Treat, Thank You, Happy Halloween, Bye-Bye" at every door we went to. Owen, the golfer, was content to hang on tight to his very first treat, a sucker, and let Ryan carry him around as Austin led the way. An hour and a half later, the cold set in and a little of the excitement wore off so we headed home to examine our treats. Not quite the excitement of last year, but my two little candy monsters were still very happy with their treats...especially anything on a stick!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane!

2011-11-01T23:10:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday we went to the air show at Concord Regional Airport. We made it just in time for the flybys and to take a tour of a C-130 military aircraft. It was a fun time and the boys really loved watching all the airplanes...or as Owen says, ah-plees.

Sitting in the C-130

The super cool Apache helicoptor

Checking under the hood!

"Look, that one has smoke!"

Waving at the pilot!

Watching the C-130 take off and the yellow plane land.

Romp 'n Roll Halloween

2011-11-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

Our local play gym hosted a Halloween Bash last Friday night. Owen came in second in the costume contest and Austin was 3rd. The boys had a blast and played hard!!

Boo in the Zoo

2011-11-01T22:26:00.000-04:00

We were back in SC for the Clemson vs. NC football game a couple weekends ago and decided to take the boys to Boo in the Zoo after the game. Austin got the hang of trick or treating really fast and wouldn't stop to even look at the animals because he was so excited about getting to the next booth and collecting his prizes. Owen, however, really seemed to enjoy the animals and was way more excited about the elephants, lions and monkeys than what was going into his bag. I was just excited to get the boys in their costumes for the first time and enjoy walking around the Greenville Zoo again...just like old times!

Maybe Next Year...

2011-10-27T23:48:00.000-04:00

I so desperately wanted to have a family fun day at the pumpkin patch this year. I was so excited that I took Owen ahead of time just to scope out the best place. I even bought matching personalized pumpkin shirts for the boys to wear in anticipation. Unfortunately, there was just never a good time to go. Between football, family, traveling, sickness and birthdays....our weekends just weren't being accommodating.

Finally, in a desperate move, I made the decision that we were going to go despite the fact we were all feeling a bit under the weather that day. Bad move. The hay ride is what finally put us all at our breaking points. Owen refused to be held down, Austin whined that he wanted off the entire time, and what fun can the parents have when their kids are miserable? After about 30 minutes of whining and complaining and crying....we just had to leave. I managed to get a few pictures, mostly of the backs of heads though because it was just not one of those smiley and cooperative days if you know what I mean.

This picture kind of sums up the mood of the day...

Fast forward two weeks later and once again we make plans to attempt the pumpkin patch. Matching shirts washed and folded, camera battery charged, just had to wait for the boys to wake up from naps and we would be off. Well, not so fast. Owen woke up from his nap in a terrible mood, whining and crying for no reason. Ryan took him outside to walk around a little bit but it wasn't working. He brought him back in and right as he handed him back over to me...throw up...and lots of it. I was devastated. Not only because my baby was sick and we were both standing there covered in vomit, but also because it looked like another pumpkin patch trip ruined. Luckily, daddy swooped in and decided to take Austin while Owen and I recovered at home. Apparently it was like night and day. Austin loved the pumpkin patch this time and even begged to go on the hay ride. He was smiling in every picture taken and had a blast.

So, maybe my dreams of a fun family trip to the pumpkin patch won't be fulfilled this year, but at least both boys got to go individually and have some fun!

Watching the pigs eat a pumpkin!

This is a picture of Austin stomping on multi-colored popcorn. Why did I include it? Because according to Ryan, Austin really wanted a bag of popcorn while they were there and just HAD to have the $3 bag of "Tutti Frutti" popcorn instead of the $1 bag of regular popcorn that Ryan was trying to convince him would be better. Apparently he took one bite and spit it out and decided it was so bad that he needed to physically stomp on every piece to show just how much he disliked it.

Proudly showing off his ticket for the hay ride

My sweet boy even picked a sunflower just for me!! :)

Brusha Brusha

2011-10-27T23:10:00.000-04:00

Owen loves to brush his teeth. We usually brush teeth right after bathtime but lately Owen will barely stay in the bath because all he wants to do is get out and "buush teef." He lets me brush his teeth for as long as I want and then he finishes up. After about 5-10 minutes of teeth brushing I usually have to pry his toothbrush out of his hands. Hopefully this love for brushing will continue into adulthood. Is it possible I have a future dentist on my hands??

Monster Truck Party!!

2011-10-27T14:20:00.001-04:00

For Austin's 3rd birthday party I decided to do a monster truck theme since he's really into monster trucks right now. Not a ton of monster truck party ideas out there, but I managed to find some inspiration from the world of google, etsy and pinterest!! I wanted to make it classy and simple but manage to keep it fun and boyish at the same time. The party was at our home with just a few guests, mainly family, so we didn't go ALL out...but it was a fun and very special party to say the least!

This was the super cute party invitation that I ordered from this awesome seller on etsy!

I ordered some awesome Monster Jam themed paper products and favors from Birthday Express and Birthday Direct.

These cute (and delicious) monster truck cookies were made by a local NC woman who specializes in adorable hand baked goodies! You can find her etsy shop here.

I found the inspiration for this cake online and absolutely loved how it turned out!!

And you just can't have enough monster truck sweets!

The delicious cupcakes were made by a local bakery here in Harrisburg.

I bought the toppers and wrappers from...you guessed it...etsy!

One of my favorite decorations from the party was Austin's personalized monster truck banner!

I ordered it from Birthday Express and not only was it very reasonable priced, but awesome quality, too!

The rest of the kitchen I did in red, yellow and checkered flags.

And finally, the birthday boy's t-shirt!

Unfortunately this is about the only decent picture I have of Austin modeling the entire thing. It seems a hand, toy, party guest or piece of food had to interfere in almost every other picture I took. The shirt was made by a really sweet and helpful etsy seller whose shop you can find her shop here.

And of course no monster truck party can be complete without a monster truck of your very own!!!

Party Time!

2011-10-27T14:15:00.000-04:00

We had Austin's monster truck birthday party on Sunday here at the house. It was a small event, mainly family and a few close friends, but it was loads of fun and Austin's been asking for another party ever since!! I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Happy Birthday dear Austin, Happy Birthday to you!

Blowing out the candles is seriously one of his favorite things about birthdays!

A rare family shot!

That's Austin piece...

Cake and cookies for lunch...don't mind if I do!

How is it that a child of mine would rather drive cars over a cupcake rather than eat it??

Playing with his little buddy, Salem!

Salem supervising Austin as he opened her gift.

Uncle Nick showing Austin how to use his new remote control car!

Playing with his gift from Aunt Catherine and Uncle Nick

Owen and Duck-Duck

Salem and Jeff

Austin and Aunt G

Guess who loves his Aunt Ca Ca?!

Owen playing with Papa!

Austin's 3rd Birthday!

2011-10-25T00:08:00.008-04:00

My big boy turned 3 years old on October 15th! We had a big weekend of fun planned and it all started on the Friday before his birthday. Am Ma was in town visiting and so we all enjoyed a birthday "eve" dinner at Outback. Austin ate half a loaf of bread and a small bowl of croutons. Hey, it was his birthday dinner so I let it ride. After our meal a huge party of servers came over to our table singing "Happy Birthday" to Austin. I just knew that at least one of the boys was going to start crying, but they actually got really excited about it! Austin topped off his bread and crouton dinner with half a bowl of ice cream and we all came home to prepare for the big day.

Saturday morning Austin woke us up in his usual fashion and took all of .5 seconds to notice the huge pile of presents sitting on the kitchen counter. After a small birthday doughnut (which is all he told us he wanted for his birthday for weeks), we gathered around to watch Austin open his gifts. This took much longer than expected because instead of tearing through each gift to hurriedly see what was in the next, Austin wanted to open and play with each thing one at a time. I'm pretty sure now that I could have given him just a doughnut and a toy train and it would have still gone down as the best birthday ever.

Austin got a new Thomas the Train layout for his train table and Owen even got a couple of things to unwrap as well...just like my parents did for me and my sister when we were kids. I made some apple spice waffles for breakfast and we spent the rest of the morning playing with the new trains and working on the new layout.

After naps, Ryan and I took Austin to do one of his most favorite activities....play mini golf! Am Ma stayed home with Owen so Austin could have us all to himself for at least a few hours on his special day. We golfed and played video games and then picked up some treats and headed to the park for a snack and to play on the playground. It was a perfect afternoon!!

Once we got back home, we got busy making Austin a special birthday dinner. At his request we had cheeseburgers on the grill with extra pickles, mac & cheese and potato salad. I brought Austin his plate and he sent it back to the kitchen requesting one last thing...a candle in his burger! So we sang Happy Birthday for the 26th time and Austin blew out his candle for the 15th time that day. The big birthday bash was topped off with a big come from behind win from our Clemson Tigers! It was quite a day!

Party at Preschool

2011-10-21T01:12:00.000-04:00

Austin's 3rd birthday weekend celebration was kicked off by a party at his preschool last Friday. I surprised him in class after lunch and brought cupcakes for the birthday boy and all his friends. Austin was beyond excited and I loved being a part of his class...even if only for an hour. The kids were all very interested in me, my camera and of course the cupcakes and goody bags. One little girl, Ella (or as I like to call her, my future daughter-in-law) really captured my heart. She was giving Austin birthday hugs and kisses and seemed to love just being around him...and he was pretty fond of her as well. The real kicker came when she asked the teacher if she could play with the toy cars she brought from home...and then shared them with Austin. So, not only is she super sweet to my boy and a car lover, but a sharer as well. It doesn't get much better than that in the land of 2 and 3 year olds!!

Anyway, after getting all the kids hopped up on sugar, we decided to have a mini dance party. Austin's favorite song that they sing in school is the "Jump Up and Down Song," so his teacher turned on some music and all the kids started jumping up and down. I started taking pictures and it got them even more excited. They all ran to me every few seconds wanting to see themselves jumping on my camera screen. It was pretty darn cute if I do say so myself (and I rarely use the word cute to describe 10 jumping and screaming preschoolers).

After dancing I had a few too many "helpers" try to "help" put birthday goody bags in cubbies and then I observed as Austin got a toy down from the shelf only to have another kid walk up to him and take it, which prompted Austin to go take it back, which resulted in Austin being hit and falling to the ground crying. I learned a couple things from this display. First of all, I will do just about anything for my boys....even admit to daydreaming about kicking some rude preschooler booty for making my child cry. I was happy to learn that my child was not the bully of the classroom like I had always secretly pictured him to be but reluctantly learned that some of these bad behaviors we're dealing with at home are being learned firsthand in school. Oh well, I guess you can't just have a class full of Ella's!

Austin bounced back quickly from the somewhat traumatic event and really enjoyed the rest of his party. So much in fact that I had a hard time getting him to leave preschool that day altogether. What can I say, my boy likes to party...especially when he's the center of attention!!

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Blowing out the candle

Demolishing a cupcake...frosting end first of course.

Making eyes at his girl, Ella (in the salmon colored shirt).

Bunches of blurry jumping preschoolers!

Almost...

2011-10-20T15:05:00.000-04:00

And if you're wondering why I'm working so hard on getting the blog updated (and in somewhat of a sequential order), it's because I've got a big birthday weekend to start writing about and uploading pictures from!

Can you believe my big boy turned 3 on the 15th?!?! I know I still can't!

The birthday pictures and details are coming soon, but until then, I'll leave you with this:

1st Soccer Scrimmage

2011-10-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

This was one of those times I realllly wish I had my video camera! Austin's soccer team had their first scrimmage a couple weeks ago and it was pretty stinkin' hilarious. Now, let me preface by saying that Austin is the youngest on his team by at least a year. It's a 3 and 4 year old soccer league and the cut off was his exact birthday but I decided to take a chance and see how he'd do. For the purpose of actually learning and understanding the game, we probably should have waited another year, but for pure fun and entertainment value, I'm glad we did it.

As for the scrimmage...only about 4 out of the 10 kids actually knew what they were supposed to be doing and Austin was quite obviously not one of those 4. In fact, he believed he was playing a different sport all together...that sport being tackle football. Picture a bunch of kids running after a ball and trying to kick it in all different directions. One of those kids is bound to get knocked down at some point, and seeing how Austin is the youngest and smallest, he was the first man down. Did he get upset, sad or discouraged? No! He thought it was hilarious and then took it upon himself to tackle anyone else who got in his way to the ground. The other parents probably thought he was just extremely clumsy...running into kids and then falling to the ground, but I knew exactly what he was doing and it was the most fun I've seen him have playing soccer since we started!

(Please excuse the picture quality. It was extremely bright and sunny and I only had my point and shoot.)

Cheesin'

Dribbling drills

Going in for the steal!

And down he goes...

...and again...

...and again!

Caught red handed! Here he is in the process of "accidentally" falling forward.

Pumpkins with my Punkin'

2011-10-20T13:42:00.000-04:00

One morning while Austin was at preschool, Owen and I decided to check out the local pumpkin patch. We were the only ones there (which I would come to find out later, was because they were not officially open yet) and we had the place to ourselves! Wide open spaces, pumpkins galore, barns, animals, and a corn maze...but what's the first thing to capture Owen's attention? A tractor.

After I pulled him away from the tractor, we went to visit the ponies and I was pleased that Owen finally found something a little more exciting than a big blue farm machine.

The ponies were great, until he noticed there were stairs to be climbed!

After going back and forth between stairs an ponies, I was finally able to lure Owen over to the bright orange pumpkins.

But even with all the perfect pumpkins to choose from, we decided it would just be more fun to pick our own and so we headed to the patch.

Owen found the perfect one and sat down to admire his little pumpkin. Thinking it looked quite delicious, he went in for a taste...

Eh...maybe not!!

Buy a ton of diapers...

2011-10-20T13:18:00.000-04:00

...get a free kitchen!! Well, a pretend kitchen that is.

I've been saving Pampers Gifts to Grow codes on our diaper packages since Austin was a newborn. Every time I would collect enough to trade them in, however, I couldn't find anything worth trading them in for. Over three years of collecting and entering codes, my points began to accumulate and I reached the point where I had enough points to trade in for the highest prize available....but I still couldn't find anything I wanted.

A few weeks ago I decided to take another look and was so excited to see a Step 2 Cozy Kitchen offered and I didn't hesitate for a moment! I've always wanted the boys to have a play kitchen, but society, Toys R Us and even my husband seem to classify it as a "girls" toy. No one could argue with me if it was for free though, right?! After all, aren't most of the famous chefs out there male anyways? Not to mention, any toy that requires use of imagination is perfect in my book!

Day Out with Thomas

2011-10-20T00:55:00.000-04:00

The NC Transportation Museum hosted a special event a couple weeks ago called a Day Out with Thomas. The museum had all kinds of Thomas the Train themed activities and even a full size Thomas engine. We got to ride on a train pulled by Thomas himself, take pictures with Thomas, and even meet Sir Toppem Hat. There were tons of other train related activities and a half dozen Thomas train tables set up at various places. Never before have I heard so many children screaming and crying while being forced to leave a train table. My boys, being the perfect little angels that they are, were pulled away...er...I mean, walked away on their own ~~kicking and screaming~~ without so much as a whine. Ha!

While we have always been fans of Thomas the Train, it seems this trip really kicked it into full gear. The best part was seeing how excited the boys were to see an actual Thomas engine pulling a train right in front of us and to hear Austin talking and waving to Thomas as he went by. If you have a train lover in the family, I highly suggest this event!!

All Aboard!!

Owen was so proud of his train ticket!

Reading their Jr. Engineer certificates!

Austin waving at the crowd below as Thomas pulled out of the station.

Meeting Sir Topham Hatt

Playing on the little red caboose

I think we could have left them there for hours and they would have never known we'd walked away...

Choo! Choo!

Owen is 17 Months!

2011-10-19T23:59:00.001-04:00

And just like last month I am extremely behind on blogging. I can't pick up my computer anymore without having both boys crawling in my lap demanding to watch videos or play games and now that fall TV is back on my evenings are spent watching Revenge, Psych, Dexter, House, Raising Hope, Top Chef, Tosh.0 and Jersey Shore ....to name a few. I promise lots of new posts coming soon, though! To kick if off lets start with how Owen turned 17 months old back on October 4th. I can't believe he'll be 1 and a half in no time!

Here are 17 quick, fun facts about Owen at 17 months!

-Vocabulary is seriously taking off. I can't even begin to name all the words he's saying now! Today, for instance, he grabbed my jewelry and said "necklace."

-LOVES to climb. I caught him standing on top of our kitchen table this week.

-Which reminds me, Owen pushes the kitchen table chairs out from under the table at least 15 times a day and then climbs on top of them, holds onto the back and jumps up and down shouting "wheeeeeee!"

-His favorite toys are still cars, trains or anything with wheels.

-Completely fearless! And a fearless little boy who loves to climb = one worried mama!

-Starting to put words together like "right there" "read book" and "what's this?"

-Can count to 10

-Hates to eat...and I mean HATES it! He pretty much lives off of greek yogurt, applesauce, bananas, bread and the occasional bowl of pasta or turkey hotdog.

-Calls all trains "choo-choos."

-Loves to sing "Wheels on the bus" "If you're happy and you know it" and "Little green frog"

-Likes to throw a ball and try to catch it.

-Becoming even more attached to his yellow "duck duck."

-Smiles and says "cheese!" whenever he sees my camera.

-Loves to be tickled!

-Imitates everything we do, say or he sees on TV.

-Will lay down and hold perfectly still if I say I need to put on his socks.

-Loves to "pish" buttons and flip switches. His favorites are light switches, doorbells, and the card scanner machines at stores.

Trucks and Planes

2011-10-03T10:39:00.000-04:00

I really am starting to love our new home. There is just so much to do when you live this close to a big city! A couple weeks ago I heard about the Concord Regional Airport which is only about 5 minutes from us. It's a small airport and they love when kids come visit to watch the planes. I also heard that on the Wednesday or Thursday before a big NASCAR race, the drivers and crew who live in the area will fly out of this airport.

Last Thursday I decided to take the boys, and even though we just missed most of the race traffic, we still had an awesome time and got to see some pretty cool stuff. We were able to sit right outside along the runway and saw a few personal airplanes landing, a helicopter touch down right in front of us, and one of the big Hendrix Motorsports jets take off for the race. The highlight, however, was when one of the big fueling trucks pulled up and let Austin climb up and sit inside and honk the horn. Both boys think planes are pretty cool....but they are still a distant second to anything with wheels!

Carolina Panthers Game

2011-10-03T10:22:00.000-04:00

Ryan won tickets to the Carolina Panthers game last weekend and decided to take Austin and my dad. I am so glad I opted out of going because not only did I get to take a nap and then hang out with my mom all afternoon, but there was a monsoon about midway through the first half. Luckily, the guys were able to stay pretty dry. Unfortunately, Austin slept through the majority of his first NFL football game. Looks like Mimi and Papa really wore him out the day before!

Football is Back!

2011-09-30T12:44:00.000-04:00

So here we are, almost 5 games into the season already and I have yet to put one thing about Clemson football on the blog!! Man, I really am getting slack here lately...

Well, of the first 4 home games, we have been lucky enough to be able to attend 3 of those. We were excited about the Troy game and kicking off the first game of the season and didn't think twice about going to the game and bringing both boys along with us. All I can say about that is, EPIC DISASTER! Three hours in the car with barely any napping, followed by 2 hours hanging out in the West End Zone and finally a 3:30 game is just a recipe for disaster when you've got 2 kids 2 and under. We left at halftime after watching probably less than 10 minutes of actual football and drove straight back to NC. Austin and Owen were both asleep before we got out of the parking lot! We vowed right there that we would never take them both to a game again this season. Yes, it was that bad. I didn't even get a picture of the game...or of the 5 minutes the boys were still enough to watch the game. I'm very sad I won't have a single picture of all 4 of us at a Clemson football game this year....but on that day my sanity was far more important than any picture! I did manage to get a few shots of the boys hanging out in the WEZ before the crowds started to arrive...but the after shots are my favorite. It's amazing how sweet and angelic they looked sleeping away in the car after acting like little devils just a few minutes prior!!

As for the Auburn and Florida State games, we had no issues whatsoever about pawning those precious little boys off on their grandparents for a day. Before the Auburn game we spent the night in Seneca with friends Ben and Tonya and visited and let the kids play that evening and then dropped the boys off with Am Ma before the game the next day. For the Florida State game, Mimi and Papa came up to NC and stayed with the boys all day. I can't thank them enough! It was pretty awesome to attend and actually get to watch two of the most exciting home games in recent Clemson history. Not only did I get tons of pictures from the actual games...but look at this:

...pictures of Ryan and I...together! Quite the rarity these days!

Mister Blue Eyes

2011-09-23T01:02:00.000-04:00

No editing needed, folks, yes those eyes really are that blue!

Austin's Big Boy Bed

2011-09-21T12:10:00.000-04:00

We finally did it...we made the transition from crib to big boy bed! I know, I know...I'm a little embarrassed to admit we had an almost 3 year old still sleeping in his crib...but he LOVED his crib and seemed to have no desire to give it up. Remember this post? He could get in and out on his own so we didn't really see much difference between sleeping in a crib or a toddler bed (which is basically just the crib without the front on it) so we let it ride.

However, traveling became an issue because he was definitely too big for a pack 'n play and moves around way too much to sleep with me and Ryan or in any bed without a side rail. We were at a loss until we found this...the inflatable toddler bed! We used it for the first time at the beach last month and Austin slept like a champ! He didn't try to get out, he didn't fall on the floor and he even took naps on it with no problem. That's when we realized it was time. He's a big boy and needs his space...we couldn't cram him into that tiny crib any longer so we skipped the toddler bed completely and converted his crib to a full size bed!

Guess what....he LOVES it!

He hasn't mentioned his crib once and only fell out the first night (before we went and bought a bigger side rail). I love that we can cuddle up in his bed while we read books at night and Austin has even requested that me or Ryan sleep with him every now and then and I love that we finally can! He really is getting to be such a big boy!!

Owen is 16 Months!

2011-09-21T00:38:00.000-04:00

Ok, so he'll actually be 17 months in 2 weeks, I know I'm a little late here. This is a super busy time of year and the blog is most definitely falling behind. I do have lots of stuff to post about...just no idea when I'll finally get around to it all! But on to Owen and 16 fabulous things about my sweet 16 (almost 17) month old!

-Starting to talk a lot more now and using his words to let us know what he wants/needs. By far his two favorite words are "No" and "There."

-Knows almost all of his ABC's and the sounds each letter makes. The Letter Factory DVD has proven itself successful once again!

-Can recognize several shapes, but loves stars the most.

-Owen's most favorite thing to do is to race! Him and Austin go and stand in one corner of the room and I say "Ready, Set, Go!" and they both take off in my direction. Even though Austin is faster, Owen can be quite tricky and will start running to me before Austin makes it back and gets ready.

-Some of his favorite books are "Bear in the Square," "Wheels on the Bus," "Chicka, Chicka, 1,2,3," "The Gruffalo," "Nobunny's Perfect," and anything about letters and shapes.

-Loves to give kisses to all the babies and animals he sees in his books.

-Knows where his eyes, mouth, nose, toes, head, tongue and belly are.

-Owen is quickly becoming an independent eater. I have to put the food on the spoon or fork and then give the utensil to him so that he can feed himself. Messy and time consuming...but it's the only way he'll have it!

-Loves to push things like his bubble mower, wagon and walker.

-When he wants to read a book he'll go get one out of the basket, carry it over to me and then back into my lap and sit down. I love that he always wants to be in my lap while we're reading!

-Just like his big brother, he is obsessed with anything that has wheels! He especially loves trucks, cars, trains and tractors.

-Always yells out "wheeeeee!" when he's doing something he thinks is really fun!

-Jumping on the bed is another favorite pastime. I sing "5 Little Monkeys" while he jumps and then falls down and pretends bump his head.

-Could probably climb a mountain if I let him!

-Enjoys helping me play hide and seek with Austin. Austin is an exceptional hider...but Owen can always find him!

-Owen is such a sweet, sensitive, happy, smart and loving little boy. I still can't believe how quickly he's growing up!

Tiger World

2011-09-14T12:09:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday we went to an animal refuge a few miles north of us called Tiger World. They are a small non-profit that dedicates their time to caring for and taking in unwanted, unneeded, abused or neglected wild animals. It's a peaceful and quiet place with many gorgeous animals in habitats that you can walk right up to! There were several tigers as well as some lions, bears, wolves, monkeys, turtles, birds, and several other exotic species I can't think of right now. Some of the enclosures were small, and while it's always a little disheartening to see these big wild animals cooped up in tiny cages, I truly believe that Tiger World is a good organization who is truly dedicated to the rescue and preservation of their animals.

When we told Austin we were going to see some tigers he said, "We're going to Clemson?!" Man, that boy sure knows how to make his daddy smile! Not until we got there did he realize we were going to see actual tigers and not watch a football game. We spent several hours just wondering around and watching the animals. Many of them were sleeping to which Austin continuously yelled "wake up!" Owen was pretty amused and didn't even attempt his baby Houdini tricks of wiggling free from Ryan's arms and remained content while being held and looking into each enclosure. Austin, who has never been extremely taken with animals of any kind (and would probably rather watch the Clemson Tigers play football), got a little bored of seeing cage after cage of animals just sitting there or sleeping...but livened up a little when we happened upon the bears. We were lucky to walk up on the two grizzly bears, Brutus and Cleo, right after they had their baths. The trainer was still there and was extremely nice and willing to get the bears to show us some tricks. Brutus the bear was very entertaining as he showed us his teeth, stood up on his hind legs and begged for clumps of dirt the trainer had in his hands. Brutus was my favorite.

After the bears we saw the giant turtles. If you ask Austin what his favorite part of Tiger World was, he will probably say seeing the turtles...or the peacocks...or walking over the bridge that led to the turtles. Owen loved chasing the ducks...and climbing in the chairs...and picking up rocks off the ground. Yep, just what I had hoped to accomplish by taking my boys to an exotic animal park...to let them see ducks and turtles and walk through loose gravel and over log bridges. At least Ryan and I really enjoyed seeing the rare and endangered species...

Even though the boys weren't as excited as I had hoped about seeing the lions and tigers and bears (oh my)! It was still a very fun and successful trip which we topped off with a picnic among some geese and peacocks and about 12 gazillion flys. Apparently, however, Austin and Owen would be just as amused watching football or visiting a farm or even a pet store. Maybe in a few more years....

Ready to see some Tigers!

Austin vs. Peacock

Walking off among the geese...

Owen spotting his first tiger!

Austin telling the tiger to get down off that house

Taking a break in front of the bears

Brutus showing his teeth

Big Brutus!

I'm free!!

Mr. Turtle....Austin's favorite

I think this monkey was trying to escape so he could claw my face off. I called him a pretty monkey in a high pitched voice and I don't think he was too pleased. Probably because he is a baboon and tired of people constantly mistaking him for a monkey...

Snack time!

When Austin saw this tiger he said he looked sad...

...so he gave the tiger statue a kiss to make him feel better....since he couldn't give the actual tiger a kiss.

Back to School

2011-09-06T15:30:00.000-04:00

Austin had his first day at his new preschool today! He'll be going from 9-1 two days a week at a local church that I fell in love with over the summer. He's in the 2 year old class since he just misses the cutoff date to advance into 3's, but from what I've been told, it's a good thing he's always going to be older because boys typically mature at a slower rate. I just hope he's challenged enough and doesn't realize he's the big kid in class and bully all the younger kids like he does his little brother sometimes!!

Austin couldn't wait to go back to school this morning and I had virtually no trouble getting him ready to go as long as I phrased every request with, "If you ________, we can go to school today!" He was so excited I could barely get a picture of him before he went running out the door. At school, he immediately walked into his classroom, found his name on his cubby and then found the exact same truck he played with at open house last week. I lingered for a few minutes just watching him and he paid me absolutely no attention whatsoever. I told him bye and got no response back but when I told him to tell Owen bye-bye, we got a partial look and a quiet "...bye, Owen." I just hope he's always this happy and excited to be at school!!

Splish! Splash!

2011-09-05T23:48:00.000-04:00

We spent last Friday at the splash pad with new friends Tess, Christian and little baby Everett! What a fun way to beat the heat!!

Soccer Star!

2011-09-05T13:04:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, before we took off for Ryan's birthday weekend, we went to Austin's first soccer practice! He's playing pee-wee soccer this season on a team of 3 and 4 year olds and it's just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. Austin chose to be lucky #7. He's the youngest on the team this year because he just made the cut, and it's a little obvious, but I think he'll start to blend in more as the season progresses.

Austin loved the warm up and Ryan and I got a kick out of watching him try to do jumping jacks. Then the kids kicked the ball in the goal a few times and Austin enjoyed that as well. The dribbling drills were a little tricky as he didn't get the whole idea about not touching the ball with your hands. Coach M had learned Austin's name by this point and was using it a lot. The funniest thing was when the coach told the kids to dribble their balls over to the white line. Austin took this as meaning his ball had to be directly on the white line and was not satisfied until his ball was resting exactly in place. He kept fidgeting with the ball until it was lying directly on the line and he was so concerned about the placement of his ball that he would miss the rest of the instructions. He sooo gets that from his daddy!

Austin pretty much tuned out the last 15 minutes of practice and did his own thing. I guess he found soccer just about as interesting as most Americans. That, or the fact that he's 2 and has the attention span of a fish right now. He started watching the kids playing t-ball on an opposite field and told us he was ready to go play baseball now. Unfortunately we have to wait until next year for t-ball...

We've got practice for a few more weeks and then they start scrimmaging other teams. I just hope Austin learns not to touch the ball between now and then or he's going to get so many handball penalties that he'll be thrown out of every game! Maybe we should go ahead and start positioning him for the roll of goalie....

Oh My Wordy, Look Who's 30!

2011-09-02T02:18:00.000-04:00

Ryan turned the big 3-0 on Saturday and we had an awesome time celebrating! It's scary leaving your 20's behind (seriously, I still have 4 months to go and I can't stop obsessing), so we made sure to make 30 a milestone to remember!

AmMa Jo Ann came in town to keep the boys so we started out Saturday with a trip to Carowinds for the 30 year old kid (aka my husband) and myself. Not exactly how I'd opt to spend my 30th, but it was perfect for Ryan and it was great to do something fun like that without the kids (although I couldn't help but think the whole day about how much Austin would love this place). After arriving and riding our first roller coaster at the park, the Intimidator (aka the tallest, fastest, longest coaster in the southeast), we both decided that we are, in fact, too old for roller coasters and prefer our feet a little more firmly planted on the ground. So, we headed on over to the water park for a little less aggressive, laid back fun.

We followed Carowinds up with an early evening check-in at a "swanky" (as Ryan stated) hotel and got ready for dinner. Our dinner was awesome and delicious and so relaxing. Ryan mentioned ending our fun day by just going back to the hotel and turning in early, but I had a little something extra up my sleeve. I convinced him that we should go to his favorite bar in uptown Charlotte for a few drinks to end the night and when we walked in he was completely shocked when more than15 of his friends jumped up and yelled "Surprise!" The best line of the night was when Ryan looked at me and said, "I didn't even know this many people liked me!"

Unfortunately, this is the best group shot of the night.

Chris, Ryan & Neal

The Birthday Bucket!

No idea what's going on here, but this is apparently the only picture I'm in...or the side of my head is in...

It was a fun night to say the least, but we woke up the next morning realizing once again that we are also, in fact, too old to stay out partying all night. Darn you thirties!!!!! At least we took comfort in knowing that the boys were at home being well taken care of so we enjoyed a quiet Sunday morning of laying in bed and watching TV until noon...something we probably haven't done in almost 3 years now! I miss that... :-)

Happy 30th Birthday, Ryan!!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, you deserved it!!

We love you so much!

Beach Comparisons

2011-09-02T01:08:00.001-04:00

A Look Back At The Past 5 Years

My goodness how life changes...

Summer 2011

Austin at 34 months and Owen at 15 months

Summer 2010

Austin at 23 months and a 5 month old baby Owen!

Summer 2009

Austin at 9 months

Summer 2008

6 Months Pregnant on our Babymoon

Summer 2007

Newlywed on our Honeymoon

HH '11

2011-09-02T00:40:00.000-04:00

I took a little blogging vacation, but much to the grandparents excitement (and maybe 1 or 2 others), the Adventures finally continue....

We took our first (and possibly only) trip to the beach a couple weeks ago. The 4 of us as well as Aunt CaCa and Uncle Nick stayed in Nick's family's 2 bedroom condo at Hilton Head. Four adults and 2 kids in a small two bedroom place....needless to say I don't think we will be getting an invitation back anytime soon! Ryan and I are used to the fact that our lives center around our kids right now and we've learned that sometimes we have to sacrifice our own personal comforts in order to make things better for our children. Catherine and Nick are awesome with the boys and love them to death.... but lets face it....they're young newlyweds and probably don't look forward to vacations where they have to share a room with a 2 year old who wakes up at 7am and then never quits talking or wanting them to play with him all day. They also sometimes underestimate the volatile nature of a child in his "terrible twos" who is sleep deprived and doesn't like to hear the word "no." Finally, they probably didn't completely understand that you can't take your eyes off a toddling 15 months old.....ever! Catherine and Nick, we love y'all dearly, but we understand if you never want to vacation with us again!

Other than the tight living quarters and exhaustion from keeping up with 2 wild kids in new surroundings, we had a really fun time! Owen was a total beach baby although he definitely preferred sand to sea. When he wasn't wondering off down the beach, eating sand, taking our room key to random strangers or chasing down birds, he was most likely carrying around his yellow shovel and splashing through tide pools. He loved the freedom and space, especially when the tide was out and we had the entire beach to ourselves.

Austin loved the beach on the first day but could take it or leave it after that. The ocean kind of scared him when he went in too deep and the waves started coming. He also didn't like getting sand all over him. He loved to make Ryan build him tons of sandcastles, however, just so he could stomp them all down. His favorite part of the entire trip was the two rounds of putt-putt and arcade games we played. He did have several fun moments on the beach though running around with Owen, chasing the frisbee and flying the kite.

If we thought a beach vacation with a 1 and 2 year old was crazy....I can't wait until next year!!!

Beachin'

2011-08-22T14:38:00.000-04:00

We've been beachin' for the past several days. More to come on that later, but I just couldn't wait to post a few favorites from our trip!

Our Deer Friends

2011-08-16T15:41:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago Owen and I spotted a mama deer and her fawn walking out of the woods behind our house. By the time I got my camera they had made their way into the front yard and were walking across the street. Owen loved watching them and stood there looking out the window saying "deer deer." For a few days later he would look out the window and call for them. Well, they must have heard his calls because after he got up from his nap this afternoon we spotted them again in the woods out back. I brought him to the window and he was so excited to see his deer had come back! He even began kissing the window! I know that deer season opened the other day so right now I'm just praying hard that they find solace in the woods behind out house and stay far, far away from any hunters. Owen and I really love our new deer friends and want to see lots more of them! Somehow Austin is always napping when they come by, but I'm sure he'd love to get a glimpse of them as well.

Just like a mama to be concerned with the potential threat watching them while baby is just wandering around looking for something to eat!

Owen loving on the sweet deer in the backyard!

Romp 'n Roll

2011-08-16T12:46:00.001-04:00

Romp 'n Roll is a new kids gym that just re-opened down the street from us. It's the only one in the area so I was thrilled when I heard they were reopening this month. We just went to our 3rd open gym since they started and as usual, the boys had a blast! It's a soft, gated, air conditioned, fun place for kids to run free....what's not to love?

End of Summer Gifts

2011-08-15T12:33:00.000-04:00

I decided to try and be crafty by making thank you gifts for Austin's preschool teachers this year. I love DIY projects and fun craft ideas...I just usually don't have the skill or patience or proper supplies to see them through. I did want to do my best to impress his teachers though since I strongly believe that a good teacher/parent relationship can really help out a child while they are in school. Maybe if I really try to hone my skills in these early years, by the time the boys are in elementary school I will be a pro! I guess if it doesn't work out, however, I can always go to etsy.com and buy something and pass it off as homemade!

Anyway, so I found this idea on www.pinterest.com. (Oh, you haven't heard about pinterest? Seriously, you need to check it out ASAP!) The basic idea was to purchase a reusable cup, put some flavor packets and a note from the child inside and add crafty straw topper to finish it off. It looked relatively easy so I figured I could pull it off.

Here is the finished project! (Excuse the horrible picture, I didn't think about taking a picture until after dark the night before his last day of school so the lighting is, of course, horrible.)

The cups, flavor packets and gift bags only cost about $22 from Target which came out to $11 per gift. It really was a fun, quick, easy and relatively inexpensive way to say thanks to Austin's teachers for all their hard work over the summer! I can't wait to start filling my pinterest boards with lots more great crafty teacher ideas to use in the future!!

Just Keep Swimmin'

2011-08-15T10:32:00.000-04:00

Austin had his last day of summer swim lessons last week. He's learned so much and come so far in the past 9 weeks. I feel somewhat confident that should he randomly fall into a pool of water right now that he could make it to safety. By next summer, I think I will be very confident. Here's a look at his last lesson of the summer:

Waiting for his lesson to begin on Miss Hannah's bench

Practicing his kicks

Floating all by himself!

Owen watching big brother through the window!

More Monster Trucks

2011-08-14T09:40:00.000-04:00

Since the beginning of summer we've been waiting to go to the Monster Truck Bash at the speedway and last night it was finally here! We got there early for the pit party and were able to see all the trucks up close as well as their drivers. Both boys were in awe and I ended up getting more pictures of the back of their heads than their faces because they were so busy staring at the huge trucks right in front of them. There was even a fire truck to play in which came in a very close 2nd to the monster trucks.

Halfway into the show it began to rain, it was also getting late and Owen was tired of just sitting there. I decided to take him home and dry him off and warm him up and then come back later to pick up Austin and Ryan. Austin was so into the show and having such a great time that I'm not even sure he knew it was raining and he was getting wet! I'm serious...I'm pretty sure Austin had one of the best nights of his entire life last night watching those monster trucks! He was still so wound up even after we got home that he didn't go to bed until after 11pm. He talked about the trucks all night long and said his favorite was Hot Tamale. One of the few I didn't get a picture of....of course!

Owen is 15 Months!

2011-08-10T15:14:00.002-04:00

Owen's 1st oreo face!

Only 3 months past his first birthday and Owen has already changed so dramatically!

-Owen is walking like a pro and starting to run now. Watch out world!

-He's becoming much more temperamental and really doesn't like it when he doesn't get what he wants!

-His temperament could have a little something to do with the fact that he's getting in ALL the rest of his teeth right now with the exception of his 2nd set of molars.

-He loves, loves, loves to be outside. He hates, hates, hates to have to come back in.

-Greek yogurt and peaches are two of his favorite foods. He also has a major sweet tooth!

-Weighs 22lbs. which puts him in the 24th %tile.

-He is now 31.5 inches tall and in the 64th%tile for height.

-His head is still topping the charts at 19.5 inches (96th%).

-He follows certain simple commands like sit down, stand up, bring me a book, let's run, spin, stop, go, wave, clap, hide etc.

-He poops and/or pees on the floor every.single.time he gets away from me while not wearing a diaper. It's like a fun game for him. Maybe we'll start potty training a little earlier this time....

-Owen naps for 2-3 hours each day but sometimes it's over one nap and sometimes it's two. I prefer one nap a day, but when Owen is tired, he lets you know. All I have to do is ask if he's ready for night-night and off to his room he goes!

-Sharing toys is probably one of our most difficult battles at home since both boys like the same things and always want what the other is playing with. Austin use to be able to just walk up to Owen and grab whatever he was playing with out of his hand (and then promptly be put in time out), but recently Owen has started to fight back! He'll hold on tight and scream at Austin and won't give up so easily.

-One of the funniest things from this past month is that Owen has started to try to jump. His feet rarely leave the ground, but it is pretty stinkin' cute to watch him bobbing up and down!

-Owen tries so hard to sing the ABC song but most of the time it just sounds like a bunch of A's and E's. He's great at doing all the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the Bus, though!

-Owen is definitely a baby who thinks he's a big kid. We recently met up with our playgroup at the park and I watched in amazement as several other moms with babies near Owen's age were just sitting calmly on blankets and playing with a few toys and enjoying a snack. No, no, no, not Owen! He was climbing the jungle gym, going up the slide, running back and forth and trying to do what all the older children were doing. He is one active little boy!

Dreadful Day at the Doctor

2011-08-10T11:45:00.001-04:00

Owen turned 15 months old last Thursday and on Friday we went to our scheduled well baby appointment. The weather was dark and dreary and rainy and it was just one of those days where you didn't even want to leave the house. I actually called Ryan to see if he thought I should reschedule due to the bad weather, but ultimately I just decided to go and get it over and done.

This new office was not nearly as warm and inviting as our pediatrician's office in Greenville was. There were chairs lining all the walls, magazines for the adults, and nothing but a small tv hung in one of the corners of the room to attempt to entertain the little ones. Not that either of my boys would have paid attention anyway when there was a new scene to explore, but they were showing one of those annoying pre-teen shows on Nickelodeon when the average age of the patients in the waiting room was about 24 months.

So I go up the the window to check in while both boys start going crazy in this wide open, empty waiting room. I'm trying to answer questions and find insurance cards all while coaxing both boys down from on top of the furniture. Owen was climbing the tables and Austin was jumping off chairs. They were like two monkeys in the wild! I had never seem them like this before in a public place, and we weren't even 5 minutes into our visit. I could already feel myself breaking into a cold sweat.

I finally got my clipboard of paperwork and was going to sit down when Owen walked up to me smacking his lips. Considering this child will eat just about anything besides the healthy meals I prepare for him every day, I instinctively reached my fingers in his mouth and, much to my surprise, pull out.....a breath mint. Awesome. Not only was there a choking hazard lying somewhere in the waiting room, but eagle-eye Owen picked it up and tried to eat it. At this point I'm just praying it fell out of someones pocket and not their mouth...

Now I'm just trying to concentrate on filling out this new patient paperwork which is proving to be quite impossible because Austin has noticed that I'm writing and continues to insist that I spell words like Boo Boo, Monster Truck, Cars, School Bus, Door, Chair, Doctor, etc. etc. I finally cave and agree to let him write his name on the back of one of the pages. He writes his first few letters too big and runs our of room to finish his name and in true two-year-old fashion, a temper tantrum breaks out and you would have thought I just told him that Lightening McQueen and Mater died. Meanwhile, I look over at Owen who is now squatting on the floor in front of me and, yep, there's no mistaking it, he's got the poop face. Moments later the smell permeates the waiting room and I do my best to grab both boys and hurry to find a changing room.

We make it back to the waiting room after wrestling through a diaper change and as soon as I sit down with my clipboard to try and finish the first half of page 1 of 4, Owen's name is called. We get back to the room, Owen is weighed and measured and then the nurse tells me she's going to take his temperature...rectally. It caught me off guard and certainly did Owen as well! Luckily, Austin was too busy trying to roll the paper that was lining the table back up and didn't notice a thing.

So, I'm trying to talk to the doctor all while holding a struggling Owen and trying to block out Austin's constant interruptions. Seriously...the boy hardly said a word until he was 18 months old and now he barely stops talking long enough to breathe! Apparently Austin didn't take too kindly to the cold shoulder, however, because the next thing I know, a golf ball is whizzing across the room and hitting the wall, coming dangerously close to the window in front of us. All of a sudden I'm seriously regretting hiding the golf ball Austin found on the floor the other day in the diaper bag...

Finally it's time for Owen's exam and I'm holding him in my lap as he's getting checked out. In trying to get him to cooperate for the doctor, I kind of lose sight of Austin when all of a sudden I look over and see him using a stool to try and climb on the counter where I placed my pen and clipboard of paperwork. Of course, before I can say a word, he sees me watching him, gets scared and falls off the chair and onto the floor bumping his head on the wall on the way down. The doctor jumped up and grabbed him while I held onto Owen and quickly checked him over to make sure he was ok. I was a couple seconds away from a panic attack, but Austin was fine.

The weather was still pretty bad outside and getting worse by the second. We were sitting there one minute and then see a bright flash of lightning immediately followed by a loud clap of thunder and suddenly...darkness. The lights came back on a few seconds later, but shortly after, a nurse came into our room to notify us that the power outage caused all their systems to reboot and we wouldn't be able to get Owen his shots today. If this visit wasn't bad enough, now we get to go back in another week!!

At least it was finally time to leave. I scribbled thorough the remaining paperwork while holding Owen on my hip at the checkout desk. Austin had one final meltdown (because he had to get a Mater sticker when he wanted Mack), and with no patience left, I grabbed him by his hand and pulled him out the door. We all walked to the car in a monsoon with no umbrella and after finally getting both kids buckled in their car seats, I sit down in the car absolutely soaking wet. Kind of a perfect end to the most horrible doctor's office visit ever.

In case you were wondering...

2011-08-03T16:21:00.000-04:00

...what Owen and I do on our "Austin-free" mornings....well, here's a little sneak peek...

We have play dates at the park...

...and come home to cool off in a bowl of ice.

We run around in our jammies...

...and then relax in the sun.

We enjoy free reign of the train table...

...go head first down slides...

...and bounce and play all day!!

I miss my big boy, that's for sure...but I really do cherish those few hours a week that I get this little man all to myself!

Preschool Program

2011-08-03T13:50:00.000-04:00

Austin had his End of the Summer program and party last week at preschool. I couldn't wait to go and to watch him perform and to get a chance to see him interact with the other kids in his class and show me what he's learned. They started out by sitting on the mat and singing several songs. I know Austin knew each and every one and I've heard him sing them many, many times at home...but while he had a whole crowd of eager parents watching? No way! Oh yeah....he was "that kid."

You know, the one who sprawled out on the ground and rolled all over the place while the rest of the children were sitting nicely and singing.

The one who tried to carry on a conversation with the mom sitting next to him while everyone else was trying hard to follow along with the song.

The one who finally decided to participate in one of the songs but insisted on standing instead of sitting and watched himself in the mirror the entire time.

The one who got up and ran across the gym only to have a teacher have to get up and go bring him back.

Yep, he's the little boy who knows that all he has to do is flash that sweet and mischievous grin my way and I can't help but turn into putty.

And even though his singing performance wasn't exactly perfect, he did do a wonderful job showing me all the fun stuff he's learned in gymnastics...

...like the monkey swing...

...the superhero leap...

...and the two-year-old tumble.

But my favorite part of the day, was seeing him play and having so much fun with some of his new best friends!!

I can't believe my big boy just completed his first summer of preschool! We can't wait to start back in the fall!

Summer Shootout

2011-07-28T23:41:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned before, we live in a racing town, and I guess it's to be expected when the Charlotte Motor Speedway is only a couple miles down the road, but even when NASCAR isn't going on, the speedway still hosts tons of other racing events. On Monday and Tuesday nights during the summer there is a special series going on called the Summer Shootout, and this Tuesday night Austin and I had a date!!

Ryan had been out of town for awhile so Grandma Jo Ann came up to keep us company for a few days and kept Owen while Austin and I went out for our mommy-son evening at the track. It was HOT, but it was FUN!!

Austin so excited to walk through those gates!!

Standing on the track with his new Monster Truck toy!

Since Austin is all about Monster Trucks these days we of course had to go on Monster Truck day. He got a free toy for being one of the first kids through the gate and they even had Monster Truck rides!! He was a little intimidated by the size of the actual truck but we climbed on board still really excited about our upcoming ride.

Strapped in and ready to ride!

I strapped Austin in tight but in all my worrying about him, I forgot to put on my own seat belt! I didn't think it would matter until I almost ended up on the floor as soon as the thing started moving. I clutched the seat in front of me with my left hand and held onto Austin with my right. It was wild and very loud! I think I had a nervous laugh going on the entire time and Austin had a blank stare on his face and didn't make a single noise. When we finally went to get off he said to me, "That was scary!" I asked if he wanted to ride again and he quickly responded, "NO!" We sat there for about 30 more minutes and just watched as other people rode and took some pictures.

There was a car parked near by and every time the truck would start going again Austin would ask me when it was going to jump over that car. Apparently he is not nearly as fascinated with Monster Trucks when they are just driving around...he needs to see them crush cars and fly through the air.

After saying goodbye to the Monster Truck, we took a golf cart shuttle back to the main track where the preliminary races were taking place. Austin loved the golf cart ride more than his ride in the Monster Truck...who would have guessed? We made it back just in time to watch the 8-11 year old qualifiers. Yes, that's right, 8-11 year old kids were driving miniature versions of race cars out on the track. It was wild! These kids aren't even old enough drive a car or get a license but here they were driving on a NASCAR track...better than most adults! We even witnessed a small crash and I almost started to get a little emotional just knowing that there was a young kid in that car. He handled it like a pro and Austin couldn't stop talking about the crash and the tow truck that had to come tow the car off the track.

The crash

The little boy on the big screen was the driver of the car above that crashed.

Austin cooling off and watching the races!

After qualifiers were over, the big races started and it began it get really loud once those cars started going all out. I couldn't believe the difference in noise from the qualifiers to the actual races...and this is what Austin thought about that...

Next time we'll remember our earplugs!!

We Rode in a Monster Truck...

2011-07-27T02:13:00.000-04:00

...this monster truck to be exact.

What a fun night!!

More coming soon, but I just couldn't go to bed without posting this picture first...for Ryan who is out of town and had to miss this fun adventure, and for my mom who called me today asking why I had not blogged about her precious grandchildren in several days!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-20T22:34:00.002-04:00

Writing Sample

2011-07-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

In my last post I mentioned that Austin loved to write his name. He can write most of the letters of the alphabet pretty well but has yet to grasp the concept of making them all relatively the same size. After 10 sheets of paper with giant A's and U's and barely enough room for the S, T, I and N...I came up with a method that has worked pretty well. I draw circles for how ever many letters are in the word he wants to spell and he has to write each letter in a circle. Here's an example of how well he's writing these days...

I wrote the purple letters up top to give him a reference, but the blue letters in the circles are 100% Austin's writing. I find it pretty funny that his S's are always backwards because when I was younger I used to always write my name with a backwards J. :)

Favorite Things Friday (a day late)

2011-07-16T23:33:00.004-04:00

For no particular reason and in no particular order, here are a few of my favorite things at the moment.

1. Zulily.com: Seriously...I love this site! I've found some of the cutest things on here for the boys and for me and it's all at a discount! It's the only "deal" site I go to on a daily basis anymore, but I probably need to stop for awhile before my spending gets out of hand!!

2. Tosh.0: I feel like I shouldn't like this show...but I can't help it. Rarely does something on TV actually make me laugh out loud, but Daniel Tosh's questionable, yet witty humor gets me every time! Ryan often says he loves to watch this show with me because he likes to hear me laugh. :) Just another reason I like it!

3. Rompers: For Owen of course, not myself. It's hassle-free, mistake-proof, cool and comfortable clothing! It's also about the only thing Owen has been wearing these past few 100+ degree days and I'm dreading the day he gets too old to wear them anymore.

4. Super Why: Also known as the ONLY show Austin will sit and pay attention to anymore. I enjoy the 25 minutes of free time while the boys enjoy some cute and educational entertainment. It's a win-win!

5. Lilly Pulitzer Wink Perfume - I discovered this scent while perfume shopping in Hilton Head last summer. It was on clearance and I loved it and it might just be the first bottle of perfume that I have used in its entirety. I've heard rumors that it is being discontinued soon which stinks, but it also means you can find it online at a huge discount (like $20/bottle)!

6. Laughing Cow Cheese: Spread some of this on a Triscut and enjoy a delicious and healthy treat! Only 35 calories a wedge!

7. Cargo Bronzer: I haven't been tan since I got married. Actually, I've never really been tan, just a darker shade of pale...and that took 3+ months of going to a tanning bed every other day to achieve. I think it's safe to assume that's never going to happen again, so I guess I just better get good at faking a tan from now on! I love this bronzer and wear it everyday. It's not fake looking and the giant tin it came in has lasted me a really long time.

8. Joovy Caboose Tandem Stroller: The perfect double stroller may not exist, but this thing has got to be close! It's light (for a double), not too big, extremely easy to fold and unfold, and it's a sit and stand! Also, it was less than $150! I love that I can take the boys to the mall or park by myself and let Austin walk with me while pushing Owen, but always have the option to strap them both in should I need to pick up the pace or should Austin get tired.

9. Kumon Activity Books: I learned about these books from another blog I read and figured they'd be perfect for Austin. He really wants to learn to write lately, not color, but write. He loves the mazes book and it has really helped him learn to hold a pencil properly, draw straight lines and make careful movements. He also loves the tracing and drawing letters books and has recently learned to write his name!

10. PlumSweets: I have such a major sweet tooth and I have a hard time finding good and healthy snacks to satisfy that craving without sacrificing an entire day's worth of calories. But thanks to my favorite daily e-mail "Eat This, Not That," I discovered these dark chocolate covered pieces of deliciousness and a small handful (or two) does the trick and they're surprisingly healthy!

So, what are some of your favorite things??

Wiggly Wednesday!

2011-07-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

I won tickets to see The Wiggles in concert here in Charlotte last night. We were actually going to buy them and go regardless, but I ended up winning a contest and saved us $100. The seats were pretty awesome, too. Dead center, no one behind us, and no one sitting beside us. This was key because I'm just as much of a Wiggles fan as the boys are and I would have gone crazy if I couldn't get up and dance to a few of the songs...and you better believe I did! I honestly was probably more excited about this concert than any other I've been to in the past 5 years. I am such a mom...and I have a huge crush on Anthony, the blue Wiggle. :)

Austin's favorite Wiggle is Sam and he insisted he wear a yellow shirt to the concert to match his favorite yellow wiggle. Austin's 2nd favorite Wiggle is Jeff and he really wanted Owen to wear purple, but when we could find none, he was ok with Owen wearing blue (the color of mommy's favorite Wiggle) instead. The concert was great, they sang all our favorite songs, and we even got thisclose to Sam when he was wandering through the crowd. The only disappointment was that Jeff was not there!! Apparently he had some heart issues and was back in Australia having a pace maker put in. This was the first show he's missed in 20 years!! They had a replacement....but it just wasn't the same without Jeff.

Henry's Dance with replacement Jeff on the far left

Come back, Sam!! Austin's little hand was just about to disconnect at the wrist because he was waving so hard to Sam!

Enjoying a snack

Owen remained interested for a good 45 minutes, but wasn't opposed to the bites of popcorn and pretzel daddy kept giving him.

Both boys really getting into it!

It was getting really close to someone's bedtime...

After the show

One happy little Wiggles fan!

1st Haircut Comparison

2011-07-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

Y'all know how much I love comparison pictures. A random journey through the blog archives caused me to stumble on a picture of Austin's first haircut and I couldn't wait to compare them! Owen's about 2 months younger than Austin in his picture.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-13T15:51:00.001-04:00

Owen is 14 Months!

2011-07-12T17:05:00.001-04:00

And here they are....14 things about 14 months!

-Owen can tell you what sounds the sheep, cow, duck, snake and pig make. The pig noise is my favorite because he actually snorts.

-Loves...and I mean LOVES to read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. We read it 10 times a day...at least!

-Points out trucks when we see them driving by and says "Tuck!"

-Absolutely HATES riding in a shopping cart.

-His favorite animal is a duck and he will point and say "duck!" whenever he sees one.

-Sleeps with his lovie (duck duck) and stuffed duck (ducky) each night. Pretty original names, huh? :)

-Will try to copy almost any sound we make or word we say.

-Calls Ryan "da-deee."

-Loves to pretend that he's talking on the phone and calls da-deee every time.

-Says "cheese" when he sees my camera.

-Loves to look at letters, read books about the alphabet and try to sing the ABC song. His recognition is spotty though, sometimes he calls everything an "A" or an "E" and sometimes he gets them right.

-Shares his snacks with our dog, Lucy.

-Drives toy cars all over everything going "vrrrrrrrrrrrr vrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Wonder where he got that from??

-Weighs 21 lbs., wears size 4 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes.

4th Comparison

2011-07-10T22:23:00.000-04:00

The morning of July 4th, before we left for Columbia, I couldn't wait to go outside and sit on our new front porch and get a new picture of me and the boys together. We had taken a picture just like it the year before and I was excited to see the comparison. As my luck would have it, however, we were running late, the boys were cranky and not wanting to hold still, the humidity fogged up my camera lens as soon as we walked outside and the sun was blaring right down on us.

And so these were the two best pictures we got.

On your mark.....get set.....

Now everyone stare directly into the sun....and don't forget to smile!

Yeah, so those are totally frame-worthy....right??

Not quite as good as last year's....but you can still get the idea!

Chomp!

2011-07-09T14:08:00.000-04:00

Remember when I was talking about the insane amount of drooling Owen was doing in this post?

Well, I do believe this was the cause...

He doesn't even have all his little teeth in yet but he's getting molars? It doesn't quite seem to fit the timeline to me, but Owen sure doesn't seem to mind the extra help when chomping down at the dinner table!

Hair Flower Fun & Giveaway

2011-07-07T12:15:00.000-04:00

Have I ever introduced y'all to Owen's twin sister, Olivia?

Ohhh I hope this picture doesn't follow Owen around and haunt him for the rest of his life...but I could hardly resist considering the numerous amount of times people have mistaken him for a girl or called him "pretty."

Ryan brought home the bow last night after buying it from a girl on his softball team who makes them. He bought it for me, actually, until I told him it was probably meant for a child and I didn't think I could quite pull off the hairbow look. I couldn't resist trying it out on Owen though, and I have to admit, he would make a very pretty girl!!

But anyway, the bow is called a Hair Flower and it was beautifully made by Ryan's teammate, Alicia. Please visit her website http://www.oneuniqueway.com to see all the other wonderful handmade items she makes and sells. There are more fabulous Hair Flowers for kids and adults as well as some gorgeous jewelry! She even does custom designs and there are a ton more Hair Flowers available that aren't even listed on the website yet.

So, on to something fun! How about a giveaway?? The winner will receive one Hair Flower in the design of their choosing! Just leave a comment below and you're entered!! If you'd like an additional chance to win, go visit Alicia's site and come back here and tell me about your favorite item. Winner will be announced Tuesday morning so comment now! Good luck!!

The Fourth, Part 2

2011-07-06T00:21:00.000-04:00

On the actual 4th of July, we went down to my parents house in Columbia for a little cook-out and pool party. My best friend, Keri, and her family came to enjoy the day as well. She seriously has the two cutest and sweetest little girls on the planet!! I think I ended up taking more pictures of them than my own children...but Kylie and Blair aren't immune to my camera yet like my own two are! :)

The two babes.... separated by just 3 months!

Beautiful Miss Kylie!

This girl is one serious little fish!

After a long, hot day in the sun and water, these two boys we out!

Best attempt at getting a shot of both the little ones.

At least Blair is not camera shy!!

Natural beauty!

Watch out Keri, she'll be walking in no time!

Keri's 2 girls and my 2 boys!

This shot was NOT easy to come by!! :-)

The Fourth, Part 1

2011-07-05T23:47:00.001-04:00

We celebrated Independence Day on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th this year! It was a fantastic (but exhausting) long weekend. Lots and lots of pictures were taken...as usual. These are from our awesome first two nights at the Harrisburg Fourth of July Festival.

Choo-choo!!

Set him down for a moment and he's off!

Highlight of the night, listening to the Fantastic Shakers and doing a little booty shakin' of their own!

Fireworks were a big hit with Austin this year.

"Look at that one, BOOM!"

Watching the show!

Favorite ride of the night!

Day #2

Driving the race cars...boy was in heaven!

Waving to big brother as he drives by!

Can you tell he liked the swings?

Watching Da Throwback Band and loving every minute!

And then he was off!

(Due to a pizza incident, we had to go without the shorts for the remainder of the night)

Traded in our side by side double stroller for this tandem and we LOVE it! Got an additional $20 off for choosing purple...which is fine, I'll just sew some tiger paws on the side and, voila...instant Clemson stroller!!

It's Here!

2011-07-02T17:23:00.000-04:00

So excited that my new blog design went live this morning! Thanks so much to Jenn at Munchkin Land Designs for all the hard work. So, what do y'all think?

My Humble Attempt

2011-06-29T14:32:00.001-04:00

I really wish I had the time, knowledge and creative ability to become a great photographer. Maybe once the boys are in school I'll try to take some classes and buy a nice, new, professional camera and learn how to edit using Lightroom.

For now, however, I'm alright with the fact that I almost always use Auto mode and only edit in Picasa. At least at our new house I have some pretty wonderful green backdrops to work with which makes even my humble photography attempts look much better.

Another Comparison

2011-06-28T13:05:00.001-04:00

Obviously that's Owen on the right....but can you guess who that is on the left??

That would be me (circa 1983) showing off my super cool bubble beard...

I think it's safe to say that Owen got his looks from my side of the family!

A vs. O

2011-06-28T09:55:00.003-04:00

The picture below is a comparison of the boys. Austin is on the left and Owen is on the right. This comparison is a bit shocking to me because the picture of Austin was taken when he was 9 months old. The picture of Owen was taken last weekend....at almost 14 months old....wearing, and just now fitting into, an outfit that was a tad snug on Austin when he was 5 months younger. Seriously, these two boys are like night and day!!

Mini Golf

2011-06-28T01:01:00.000-04:00

Austin never ceases to amaze me with his skills. Maybe he gets it from his daddy or maybe it comes from the fact that he's been attending sporting events since he was barely a month old...but seriously, this boy has some skills with a ball!

We decided to play some mini golf yesterday afternoon...which is now one of Austin's most favorite activities. He even likes to watch golf on TV, and seriously, the only thing more boring than watching golf on TV is watching bowling....or tennis....or soccer.

But anyway, hole #1 and Austin gets it in in 2 shots...with no help. Hole #2 and he gets it in 4, and then 3 and then a few holes later he gets a hole in one!! Ryan and I were both shocked and cheering for him louder than two people should cheer on a small miniature golf course, but it was pretty awesome to watch. Of course there were those holes where it took about 20 shots and then he finally gave up and just kicked it in with his foot...but when there we no distractions and he was paying attention...he totally rocked at golf!

Apparently you can start golf lessons at age 4 and you better believe Austin will be attending. I sure wouldn't mind having a future Rory McIlroy in the family!! I just hope he remains interested for that long and it doesn't turn out like that episode of Family Guy where Cleveland Jr. plays golf with Peter and is really good but then his ADD kicks in and he runs off and gets interested in something else. (Weird reference, I know, but I was really into Family Guy in college...I blame this guy! FYI-approach that last link with caution. I feel it my necessary duty as a blogger to link up the blogs of friends...but Dave's blog might be a little too much for most.) :-)

Owen thoroughly enjoyed mini golf as well. He's going through that stage now where a ball is one of the greatest things invented and loved dropping it in the hole and then fishing it out. We let him "walk the course" with us and he couldn't have been happier.

Look at that shot!

Owen loved putting the balls in the hole...and then taking them out again.

Getting a little help with his stance.

Owen added an extra degree of difficulty to a few of the holes.

He also liked to run off with our golf balls...

Golf sure is exhausting!!

Something New Coming Soon!!

2011-06-27T11:27:00.000-04:00

I know the blog is looking a bit rough right now. I started playing around one night and just couldn't get it looking how I wanted it to so I just gave up! I had to get a new computer a few months ago and I don't have Photoshop on this one yet so I'm having a hard time without it.

Good news though....I've finally decided to get some professional help. :) So, I'm currently working with Jen over at Munchkin Land Designs and should have a cute, new layout coming soon!! I saw the first draft today and it's looking awesome. I can't wait to see the final result!

Cars 2

2011-06-26T23:28:00.000-04:00

Stop me if you've heard this one.

So, a toddler and a preschooler walk into a movie theatre....

Oh wait, you think you know how it ends already??

Well, unless you've been living under a rock (or you don't have kids) you probably know that the sequel to Austin's all-time favorite movie, Cars, came out on Friday. We could hardly wait to watch him experience his first movie in a theatre! I just knew it was going to be a huge hit! We decided on the Saturday matinee and we also decided to bring Owen instead of spending the money to hire a sitter. Probably not our wisest decision....

So, we got there ridiculously early because we heard the previous showings had been selling out. We sat through 15 minutes of pre-previews and another 15 minutes of actual previews. (I mean, seriously? Why do there have to be so many previews in a kids movie? Don't they realize that children are incredibly impatient??) Finally, the movie started and I was convinced that both boys would immediately calm down and be entertained once they saw their good friends Mater and Lightning on the screen.

Austin actually did great at first, besides the fact that he has no volume control and thought he had to yell everything to make sure we could hear him, he was at least sitting and paying attention to what was on the screen. Owen, however, was quite intrigued with the new surroundings and wanted to get down and explore. It took daddy's lap, a firm grip, half a bag of popcorn and 2 dum-dums, but he lasted a surprisingly long 45 minutes before it got to be too much (or he got too full) and I had to take him out of the movie. Luckily, we opted for the Concord Mills movie theatre so Owen and I got to stroll around and do some shopping and playing while the other two boys ~~enjoyed~~ stayed for the rest of the movie.

About the time Owen started getting antsy and right before I decided to leave, Austin started getting bored and began playing movie theatre musical chairs. We were lucky to have half an empty row beside us because Austin decided he wanted to sit in each and every chair in our row. He'd get all the way down, look back at me, I'd shoot him my "evil eye" and then he'd slowly make his way back down to where we were sitting. It was looking like our first movie experience was going to be an all around failure. I honestly figured that Ryan and Austin would make their way out of the theatre right behind us, but I should have known better! My dear husband isn't one for "wasting" money and he was pretty into the movie himself, so he tempted Austin with popcorn and fruit snacks and managed to keep him relatively still and quiet for the remaining 75 minutes. I'm pretty sure I would have just given up and waited for the DVD release, but I have to hand it to Ryan for sticking it out!!

There was no crying and no meltdowns, so in a way I consider that a success, but I can pretty much promise that we won't attempt anymore movies anytime soon...well, unless they come out with a Super Why or Bubble Guppies movie that is...

We ended the night with dinner in the food court and a carousel ride. At least we finally found something for both boys to do that they actually enjoyed!

Catching Fireflies

2011-06-26T21:54:00.000-04:00

Or as we call them around here....lightning bugs! Austin has recently become infatuated with these bright little insects and one evening last week we caught a few in daddy's old "critter catcher" so we could take a closer look. It was definitely the highlight of a certain 2 year old's night!!

Father's Day '11

2011-06-26T21:41:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to say a belated Happy Father's Day to one truly awesome daddy and husband!! We had a low-key celebration last weekend, but with all the craziness going on lately, it was exactly what we all needed.

Artsy!

2011-06-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

One of the many reasons me and Austin are really loving preschool...

I think I'm going to need more magnets...and another refrigerator!!

Baby Fishy

2011-06-21T23:48:00.000-04:00

Owen may not get to take swim lessons, but he's getting plenty of pool time this summer!!

Too bad we are having such a hard time finding a swimsuit to fit his "tiny heiny!"

Little Fishy

2011-06-21T23:33:00.000-04:00

Austin started swim lessons last week. Naturally, my little water baby was a huge fan! He worked on floating on his back, kicking his legs, doggy paddling, jumping in the pool and going under the water, touching the bottom, holding his breath and putting his face in the water. His teacher was impressed with his willingness to do what she asked and his fearlessness. Owen was sad he couldn't join big brother in the pool, but lucky for him there was a great little playroom to hang out in during brother's lesson.

By the way, can you tell Owen's is teething??

Look at that insane amount of drool!!

115

2011-06-16T22:23:00.001-04:00

I took 115 pictures of the boys playing outside yesterday.

Yes, I know, I have a problem.

But since I took so many, I feel that I should at least share a small sampling on the blog. I think it was the matching swimsuits that had me all "snap happy!"

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-15T15:20:00.000-04:00

Choo choo!

2011-06-14T12:03:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we decided that we really wanted to do a fun family activity...and luckily Charlotte has a lot of those going on! We actually got in the car heading one place and changed our minds last minute and went somewhere completely different. I think we made a great decision and we had a wonderful day....just wish it hadn't been 100 degrees out!!

So here's a look at the day we spent at the NC Transportation Museum:

NOLA

2011-06-14T01:12:00.000-04:00

A couple weekends ago I traveled to New Orleans with my awesome friend, Aaron, for a wedding/girl's weekend. We had an amazing time exploring the town and took the utmost advantage of our 3 day trip. We stayed out late, slept in, ate fabulous food, toured the city, did a little shopping, a little sight seeing and a bit of drinking and relaxing. We also attended the fabulous New Orleans themed wedding of Nick & Whitney which was the perfect end to our mini vacation.

It was by far the longest I'd ever been away from my boys (and also the longest Ryan's ever had them alone). And let me just stop a moment there to brag on my truly wonderful husband. This trip was in the works for months and Ryan fully supported me going the entire time. Not once did he complain about me going or try to change my mind...he actually helped me plan the trip and used his SkyMiles to buy our plane tickets! It was just him and the boys from early Thursday afternoon until lunchtime on Sunday...no grandparents, no babysitter, just Ryan, Austin & Owen. He took them swimming a couple times and even out to dinner a few times...alone...a feat that even I rarely take on! I even arrived home on Sunday to a straight house and freshly vacuumed floors. I mean seriously, am I lucky or what?? :-)

Ryan and I both knew that I was truly in need of a weekend away and a break from being a full-time mommy...but man did I miss those sweet little guys!!! I actually teared up as soon as I saw our car waiting outside at baggage claim on Sunday just knowing that my little family was inside and I would get to wrap my arms around them at any moment. Austin was asleep when I got in the car, but Owen and I talked and laughed the entire way home. Austin finally opened his eyes when we got home and did a few double-takes when he noticed me sitting next to him. We got out of the car and he gave me the biggest hug and a super sweet kiss on my cheek. It was pure bliss!

New Orleans truly was such an awesome trip and fun experience, but the next vacation I go on, I want my boys with me, all three of them!!

Me & Aaron at Pat O's piano bar

Brunch at the Court of Two Sisters

Who doesn't need a little charm?

Aaron with her beignet at Cafe du Monde

We laughed about this sign all weekend!

Beads, Balconies and Bourbon St.

On a streetcar tour of the Garden District...I loved looking at all the beads in the trees!

Newlyweds, Nick and Whitney at the reception

The wedding was at the Wax Museum...really awesome.

Aaron and I were totally creeped out by some of the things we saw at the museum.

A wax Freddie....scary!

13 Months!

2011-06-13T14:29:00.001-04:00

This has been a big month! Owen is learning and doing and saying new things all the time now. Every day I fall in love with my sweet baby boy all over again. This really is a fun and sweet age. So, here goes my list of all Owen's fun milestones from the past month:

-He's WALKING!! Owen took his first steps at 10 months but didn't gain the confidence to actually begin walking until a couple weeks ago. He's now walking all over the place and rarely crawls anymore. Oh my gosh...it's seriously the cutest thing ever!

-He's TALKING!! Owen is saying new words all the time and now using the words he already knows in the right context. He says mama, dada, Austin, dog, ball, cheese, bye-bye, hi, done, eyes, no-no, and night-night, to name just a few.

-Such a snuggler! Austin was always too busy at this age to want to stop and cuddle, but Owen loves to sit with me, lay his head on my shoulder and just snuggle. I l.o.v.e. it!!

-Eating mostly table foods (when he's not throwing it all on the floor) and drinking whole milk....still likes it from his ba-ba though.

-Not a big fan of the sippy cup, but loves to drink from a straw.

-Still quite the mama's boy. When I came back from New Orleans he wouldn't let me out of his sight....not even to nap! I even had to rock him to sleep for the first time in months. I'm not complaining though, it's nice to feel so loved all the time!

-Loves to read his books and will point at specific things when I ask where they are. His favorite book is First 100 Words.

-Adores toy cars just like his big brother! His favorites are the Shake n' Go cars and he will carry one around the house all day shaking it and making it make noise. You can't imagine how many times I've wanted to yank the batteries out of those things....

-Has 8 teeth but we are working on quite a few more at the moment. Thankfully Owen has always been a pretty good teether...just a lot of drool and biting.

-Really loves to hide and play peek-a-boo, especially with his big brother!

-Enjoys driving trains on the train table. Finally he's using the train table for what it's for and not just pulling up all the tracks and chewing on the trains!

-The only television show he will sit and watch is Bubble Guppies on Nickelodeon. He is memorized by it for some reason and even sings along with the theme song going, "bu bu bu bu."

-Owen is an excellent booty shaker!! He dances anytime he hears music and shakes that little booty so fast that sometimes he makes himself lose his balance and falls down. He really loves music and is instantly calmed by it....even by the sound of me singing, which in my opinion, is never a calming sound!

-Owen says bye-bye when were leaving, night-night when I'm taking him to bed, claps when he gets excited, gives high fives when you put your hand out, gives excellent kisses and will even blow you a kiss if you ask for one.

-Loves the water! Whether it be at the pool or in the bath, he loves to splash and hang out in the water, hot or cold, it doesn't matter.

-When I ask "how old is Owen?" he holds up one finger and says "one."

-Loves Happy Baby food pouches and can feed himself when I give him one! He also adores these yogurt smoothies!