Afternoon bath

After the boys made a mess in muddy wet grass (don't ask!) an afternoon bath was definitely necessary! Here's the cute wet baby after getting out of the tub!

low rider

"It's my bottom and I'll pull my diaper down low if I want to."

(how did I not realize that I haven't updated the blog in three weeks? 

so sorry! i'll work on that this week!)

xoxo

the PLAYGROUND!? what's THAT!?

Eric is out of town, and the weather is amazingly nice (as I mentioned in the previous post) so I thought we'd venture to the playground this afternoon, for the first time in AGES. Tanner is all over EVERYTHING.  He was MADE to be at the playground! He tries EVERYTHING that Bryce does! (His lack of fear is frightening!)

We love and miss you Daddy!!!

xoxo

outside!? what's that!?

Could it be, the weather was nice enough to venture out into the yard? I'm sure it won't last, but we have had some GREAT weather this week! I never thought high 80's would feel so great!

(this last pic cracks me up! i don't know WHAT he was yelling about!)

Cozy!

Tanner was playing with the big bucket of toys in his room, (as you can see) but he asked for each of the stuffed animals by name, blankets, and pillow from his crib and has created quite the cozy nest on the floor next to his crib. He's getting everything in just the right spot, and is laying there playing, and petting his stuffed animals.

Now, as I type, he's pulling everything off the big bed too. I think a cute, cozy, major mess is beginning! :)

Go Jags!

Thank you Gigi and Doobie for the Jaguars tickets!!! Bryce is excited to stay up late on a school night, to see the first half of the game. Then the boys will head home at halftime, and hopefully tomorrow we won't regret letting Bryce stay up so late! Last preseason game!
Go Jaguars!!!!
>

Happy Bithday sweet Tanner!!!

He's TWO! He's TWO! (and yes, he still thinks he's six!)

Today we're just having a sweet, quiet celebration at home.  We blew up a bunch of balloons, which Tanner was totally excited about.  He's been saying "boon" for WEEKS when we've talked about his birthday, so we knew his day wouldn't be complete without them!

Tanner is currently OBSESSED with cats (which is ironic, since Eric and I are the biggest non-cat lovers on the planet!) But, I made Tanner a kitty cat birthday cake (which I've miraculously been able to keep his fingers out of for the past 18 hours!)

When Eric gets home from church, and Tanner wakes up from his nap, we'll have cake, and open presents, and probably play with whatever balloons haven't yet been POPPED!

Tanner has been trying to say TONS of words lately.  He is definitely at the point that he will ATTEMPT to repeat anything you ask him to.  It doesn't always sound ANYTHING like what we've said, but he tries at least! Yesterday he said "nose" for the first time, and pointed at his kitty cake's nose.  "Up, up, up", and "down, down, down" are still two of his favorite things to say.  And Bryce is still "BUH-buh" for brother.

He started back at The Little Gym this past week, and had a FABULOUS time.  He did all the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider, and he hung on the bars, walked on the beam, and rolled on the mat like a CHAMP! I think we need to take him there EVERY day so he has a safe place to climb and jump, rather than doing it on the furniture!

And now, just for a little blast from the past, here is Tanner one year ago, on his first birthday! I'll post some birthday pictures later on today!!!

xoxo

First of first!

Bryce survived his first day of first grade with flying colors!  He didn't seem nervous this morning, and went right in and started getting settled.  He told me about what they did today (pretty normal first-day things -songs, routines, etc)  He said one of his two teachers was pretty funny.  (And the other one is pretty pregnant. . .but that's MY words, not his!)

All in all he seems to be getting right back into the routine.  It's sort of like we never left for summer break!

And I managed to get WAY at the front of the carline this afternoon, so he didn't have to sit and wait at all, (unlike the first day of school LAST year!)

He's ready!

Game-changer

5:00am. He knew it was time to get up. And mommy said, "a few more minutes". But that wasn't okay with him. So he took matters into his own hands, and climbed the heck right out of his crib. And I must say he was pretty graceful and sure-footed about it. Shoot, this is a major game-changer.

Sent from my iPod

Splash!

Bryce had THE best time with his cousins while they were visiting! How cool is this picture?! Thank you California cousins for being so sweet to Bryce! xoxo

"if I hide under the table with Bryces candy, surely mommy will never find me!"

Another one lost

Happiness is....

Pool. Shower. Legos. ;)

4th of July hot chocolate - in august

Never mind the fact that it's supposed to be near 100 degrees today, Bryce decided he wanted hot chocolate today. With marshmallows. Star shaped 4th of July marshmallows.

But tanner didn't like it "hot" (which was actually warm.). So we added ice and cold milk. One might say it was chocolate milk, but Bryce decided it's official name is a choco-latte. (Do you think this kid has Starbucks addicts in his family?)

I still say it'd be better with some COFFEE in it (especially since tanner has decided, once again, that sleep is highly overrated.)

North Carolina

First batch of some North Carolina pictures!

Here's the QUICK recap (before Tanner draws all over the kitchen floor, while I am blogging instead of supervising him!)

-We spent most of the week outside

-The weather was fabulous!

-The boys LOVED the creek!

-There were lots of rocks thrown, moved, dug up, and splashed into the creek.

-The kiddie pool on the porch was almost as much fun as the creek.

-Ice cream cones!!!!!

-Making fun things from wood in the garage with Poppy

-Electric train and Lincoln Logs on the downstairs porch

-Did I mention the creek?

-Forts in Mimi and Poppy's bed.  And in their closet!

-Bonfire!

-Smores!

-Watermelon!

-Feeding the horses

And now Tanner is crying, and the crayons are all over the kitchen floor.  So I better go. Figure out the pictures for yourself! (Giggle giggle!)

Tooth #3

Tonight (after trying to pull it all week while in north Carolina) Bryce finally got his third tooth out!
We are home from a fabulous trip in the mountains - pictures coming this week!
Xoxo

Snuggle bugs

Snuggling in Mimi and poppy's bed!

The fort

The boys are playing in a giant fort in Mimi and Poppy's bed!  We're having a super time in North Carolina!  More pictures . . .sometime!

Disney Day

When we went to Disney in May, to celebrate our anniversary, the new Star Tours ride at Hollywood Studios (formerly known as, and forever in my brain, MGM Studios) was about a week away from opening.  Bryce was DESPERATE to ride it, as he is OBSESSED with Star Wars, (even though he hasn't seen the movies, and won't be allowed to see them for some time!)  We promised him that we would go back down for a day after it opened.  This was the day!

Bryce and Eric both loved the ride.  And the line was miraculously short, first thing in the morning.  (Eric rode it three times in a row!)

The boys and I played at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, where everything is giant. . .like this ant that Tanner is sitting on, while showing us his giant cheesy grin! 

We were quite proud of ourselves, for the ways we managed to do Disney on the  CHEAP.  We've learned a lot of little tricks along the way, like our PBJ sandwiches for lunch, and FREE ICE WATER. (Helllllo, why would we PAY for water, if they'll give it to us for free!?)

One of my favorite things as a kid, were the jumping fountains at Epcot.  (Oh yes, after lunch we left Hollywood Studios and headed to Epcot for the rest of the day.)  Bryce, and now Tanner, LOVE LOVE LOVE the jumping fountains, and they got totally soaked! But being that it was nine thousand degrees outside, it was okay, although Bryce's socks and shoes were wet for the rest of the day!

Tanner LOVES Nemo.  He was so excited to climb right up into this raised garden area to say hello to the fishies.

Bryce said hello to Stitch, from Lilo and Stitch.  (Tanner was napping.)

We saved our money on lunch, so that we could get an AMAAZING fabulous pizza for dinner, in Italy. OH. MY. YUMMINESS.  It was a terrific pizza, at a fairly new restaurant.  We hadn't been there yet, so it was fun to try something new!

 And what trip to Disney would be complete without the Mickey ice cream bar!? It's a MUST-DO tradition.  Bryce asked for it ALL day long, but I think he agreed it was worth the wait!