family first

It's been a while...But we had a fun day today and I actually took the camera with me for our outing, so I thought I would blog it.

After nap today, we went out and gathered some worms (see green bucket below) and went fishing!

We just went down to our neighborhood greenway to the little bridge that crosses the creek.  Nothing too far, but a first nonetheless.

They each had their own rod, but they would share, sometimes unwillingly, with mommy.

And lookey what we caught!

And another...

And one more.  They each got to reel one in.

Overall, a fun little trip.  Next time, 4 rods (vs 3) and many more worms!

happy 5th birthday ains!

caleb's second year

Happy Birthday Caleb!

fun with the vacuum cleaner

fun with boxes

Ainsley's Fall 2011 Dance Recital

tightie blue sharkies?

We have big news around here! Caleb is now potty trained (about a month now) and officially a big boy! I have to say that there is nothing cuter than his little tiny butt running around in his undies.

His pair of choice are the 'dolphins', more commonly known as sharks.

We just got a new set of undies including some actual tightie whities and I'm going to be setting up a blackmail photo shoot with them for use when he's a teenager. All suggestions welcome.

carowinds

Britax has held the company picnic for the past few years at Carowinds. The kids absolutely have a blast!

We immediately took off for the Balloon Ride. Ains was overjoyed at the fun-filled day that was ahead of her.

Caleb was pretty excited too. We were his heroes that day for taking him (thanks Britax!)


One last ride ahead of us and then our turn, oh the anticipation!


All loaded up and ready to go!



We continued to jump from ride to ride for the remainder of the day. Here are just a few before I decided to leave the camera in the car after lunch.

Whirlybirds!




Brad and Ainsley rode the little coaster together. They are in the second car (notice Bradley with his arms up)


This close up cracks me up! Look at her face here - I think the boys in front are more scared than she is!


A little wind blown, but all smiles.


The little cars on a rail were a big hit. Ains and I had a nice smooth ride...


Brad, meanwhile, had his hands full! Check out the concentration on his face. Look out future fellow go-cart riders!


This last picture scares me. Before I know it, he's really going to be driving. Time goes too fast, but it's been a fun ride!

cruisin'

Top down, Z Bar and sunglasses in hand, and off to Lazy 5!  It's gonna be a great day!

yum

Jason's Deli ice cream ... Always a crowd pleaser.

abby's birthday and discovery place

A couple of weeks ago we went to Discovery Place to celebrate a dear friend's 4th birthday.

Check out the cute unicorn cake!

They did a few experiments in the front, one of which consisted turning a cup full of water over on top of Abby's head. You can see the worry in her face here. Luckily the cup was filled with the beads from disposable diapers and no one got wet this time.

It was cake time and oh boy was Ains excited!

Now it was time to play!

The rope bridge in the rain forest was a big hit...

for all kids!

And then, of course, wild man tries to climb it!

Caleb had such a fun time playing with the big kids (blurry, but his expression is priceless!)

Alice's dad was helping Ains reach the bead lift. They had so much fun playing!

At the end of the day we stopped down in the kids play area. Caleb figured out that if he dragged this little ride on up to the hill, he could ride it down.

And here you see all of his hard work paying off.

We had a great time that day! Happy 4th Birthday to Abby!!

haircuts

Last week Megan took the kiddos to get haircuts. She is such a great help around here in our mad house!

Caleb's hair was getting pretty long and shaggy so we just got it cleaned up a little.

Ainsley's was fine, but she wanted to get hers cut like her brother. Unfortunately, as with all drop in places, you don't always get the best cut. She came home with a rounded undercut so I took it upon myself to fix. Please remind me to never do that again. A little here, a little there, a little more here to match there, oops a little more over there... well, then you get something that you have to take BACK to the salon to get fixed. So for now, we have a super short, but perfect for summer SHORT bob!

And please disregard the sweaty hair. They had just gotten home from preschool and it's HOT out around here these days!

quote of the day

Ainsley (while watching her daddy put on deodorant): "Are you doing that so you can grow more fur?"

running

Bradley and I have recently gotten into running again. We've signed up to do a half marathon in Savannah in early November and I cannot be more excited!

We've gone out for long runs the past two Sundays and are doing quite well - just over 5 miles this past Sunday despite the crazy heat and humidity. We have 16 weekends between now and the big day so as long as we keep upping our mileage, I think we'll do just fine!

Check out my new hydration belt! I'll be ready to take on the longer runs now (and pardon the poor quality cell picture)!

So if you see me, keep me honest! Ask how my training is going...

Happy 4th Birthday Ainsley!

new game

There's a new game in town...

And they both love it! They go around and around and around in circles giggling the whole time.

I'm so glad they have each other!

oh the things they say...

Earlier this evening -

Brad [looking out the back door]: "Is that a Praying Mantis on the grill?"

Me: "I don't think so" [unlocks door and goes outside to take a closer look] "No, I think it's a grasshopper."

Brad: "It's a compact one then. It's like the Smart Car of grasshoppers."

He slays me! Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world! We love you!

(I bet you thought this post was going to involve the kids.)

first cheeseburgers

Yum! Lunch with Pawpaw Jack at South 21.