Three Months and Sixteen Pounds?!

My little man is going to be a linebacker one day.

Only 3 months old and he already weighs 16 pounds.  

That just means more of him for me to snuggle!

Thanks Auntie Em for taking great pictures.

How cute is he?  Watch out girls!

So serious...

Sticking out his tongue must be one of the things he has already learned from his sister.

So tired.  Can't take any more pictures.

Cade-man, don't grow up too fast!

Two Means Twice As Much Fun

July 20, 2013

Callie turns 2.

And Cade sleeps through the whole party.

Callie had a pool party for her second birthday.  A big thanks to the Reed's for letting us have the birthday party at their house!  Callie literally stayed in the water for almost four hours.  She floats around by herself now and is not afraid to be in the pool by herself.

Aunt LaLa and Callie swam together and had a little chat overlooking the May River.  (I'm pretty sure Lauren staged this picture and asked Emily to take it, but they won't admit to it!)

And then Daddy caught her and decided it was time for some real fun.  Good thing she is not afraid of the water!

The only thing that got her out of the pool was cake - cupcakes to be more exact.

And if cupcakes weren't enough, Mama D brought cake pops.

How many cake pops did she eat?  Who knows.  All I know is that I have about 20 pictures of her eating cupcakes and cake pops.  That's the best part of birthdays, right?

We had practiced blowing out the candles for several days, but when the time, Daddy had to help.  She loved the attention and everyone singing to her, but she wasn't too sure about fire being shoved in her face.  Smart girl!

Callie has become an expert present opener.  This is her new method.  Thankfully no one gives a 2 year old anything breakable.

The kitchen set from Aunt Debbie, Claude, and Hannah has provided hours of entertainment!  I have eaten more grilled cheese sandwiches, oatmeal, and drank more tea than I could ever have thought possible.  And it has taught us so many new words - fork, spoon, bowl, plate, pot, oven mitt...

My parents, Bryan's parents, and us all went in together and got Callie a swing set for the backyard.  We are so busy and have so little time at home, that it took Bryan almost 2 weeks to build it.  But now it is up and she loves it!  She asks to "wing" and "yide" all the time.  (S's are a little tough to say!)

After a big birthday nap, Bryan and I took Callie to play putt-putt.  This was on our summer bucket list and I thought it would be fun.  Of course I should have thought about the fact that we were driving to the island at 6 pm on a Saturday with all of the tourists.  After sitting on the bridge for a while, we finally made it to Pirate's Island.  I was really impressed with how well Callie did!  She actually tried to hit the ball, and she made it through hole 16 before she got tired and decided she was all done.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

The Days of Summer

Summer has flown by and these two crazy kids have kept me on my toes!

We did get to cross several things off of our summer bucket list in July.  I took Callie to the Beaufort County Library for the first time.  She got a library card and picked out a few books that she was very excited to take home.

I painted Callie's toenails.  And I have decided this is how she is going to learn her colors.  She now knows pink and purple, thanks to nail polish.

Amanda and I took Callie, Cade, and Brantley to the Savannah Mall one morning to ride the carousel.  Callie absolutely loved that, but she was not sure about the train ride.  When they started to pull away and drive, she started crying and Brantley tried to climb out of the window.  So Amanda and I were "those moms" running along side the train trying to calm our children.  Wish someone had that on camera!  It should be interesting to see how she reacts to the different rides at Disney next month!

Callie and I went to the Bluffton Farmer's one Thursday afternoon and shared a freshly squeezed lemonade.  After one sip, she didn't want to share with me anymore!

We spent a lot of time at the beach...

 and the pool...

and the beach a few more times to watch Daddy kiteboard.

On one trip to the beach, Callie decided that she needed to help Bryan with his kiteboard.  He loved it!

The 4th of July was a busy morning and a lazy night.  Callie and Cade both woke up very early that morning, so I took them over to Berkeley Hall to see Bryan at work and watch the Firecracker Race.  Callie had fun seeing all of the runners and she cheered them on.  Then we went to Berkeley Hall with Mom, Dad, Emi, and Alyssa and spent most of the day playing in the pool.  Cade napped on the chair, had lunch, and then went swimming for the first time.  The kids were so exhausted from their early morning and fun time at the pool that they had to go to bed early.  I think this was the first year that Bryan and I did not see fireworks!  Mabye next year.

We did hang around the house a few days.  Cade loves to play in the "octopus".  I remember Callie used to sit and play for hours in that thing, so I'm glad Cade likes it too.

He has also mastered the door jumper.  I think that is his favorite activity!  I just move it around the house - upstairs, in my room, in the pantry - so he can be near us.  He loves the interaction!

He also is getting really good at kicking the ball and playing on his playmat.  He is working on holding his head up, but it is hard!  And he has not even thought about rolling over yet.

Bryan got out bubbles one day and Callie thought it was hilarious!  She didn't really understand why Mom made the bubbles move outside though.  :)

And we still make our weekly trips to Lovin Spoons.  Callie gets excited when we turn at that light.  She knows where we are going and that she is going to get some fro yo!

One random Friday night that we were actually home, we went to the Bluffton Shrimp Festival.  Callie got to climb on a shrimp boat and eat delicious shrimp from the Toomer's restaurant.  Of course, she will eat anything with "dip" right now.  I think it is her new favorite word.  Everything that she eats, she asks for dip.  And she could be asking for ketchup, ranch, hummus, peanut butter, honey mustard - it doesn't matter as long as it is dip!

My babies are growing up too fast!

6 Hour Drive - Sure - Why Not?

Whenever I remember our road trip to Atlanta, I realize that I really do have amazing children.  Look at this face - does it look like he just spent 6 miserable hours in the car?

Aunt Lauren has been asking us to come visit her in Atlanta for years now.  She comes home all the time and just once, wanted us to come see her.  So, we packed up the car, and drove to Atlanta.  Almost 6 1/2 hours later, we finally made it.  Atlanta traffic is terrible!!!  Callie and Cade were great in the car though.  I was more irritated with the traffic than them.  :)  And Bryan had to put up with all of us.  Callie was in the middle of potty training, so we had to stop multiple times for her to try to go potty.  But she was still in the early stages, and didn't like to go in bathrooms that were not at her house.  But we survived the weekend with only a few accidents in the car!

We stayed in a wonderful hotel, and the kiddos had so much fun snuggling in the big beds.

On Saturday morning, we drove out to Lilburn to visit Mama Betty.  It is so awesome to have 5 generations all in the same room!  She was so excited to see how much Callie had grown and to meet Cade-man!

Mama Gerry and Grandad came over to see us while we were there.  Cade gave Mama big smiles!

And Callie was so excited to get presents.

And of course, let's not forget that Baby made the trip!  (She had gotten a bath in the washing machine and a new outfit after swimming in the lake at Santee.)

We squeezed in lunch at one of Lauren's favorite mexican restaurants, Tin Lizzy's, and then made it to the Aquarium just in time for the Dolphin Show.  Callie absolutely loved it!  She was standing up on Bryan's lap clapping and saying, "More, More!"

She also really enjoyed seeing all of the fish and her attempt to say the word "fish" is adorable.

It was a pretty exhausting day, we fit a lot in, and we had a great time!

So, it will be along time before we make the drive back to Atlanta, but it was a great weekend and I'm so glad we went.  Thanks for having us, Aunt LaLa, and for giving us a fun-filled weekend!

And The Road Trips Continue

Summer is the time for traveling and family vacations, not for rest and relaxation!  I learned what it is like to "vacation" with two children under two.  Not really a vacation!  We did have a lot of fun though, and plenty of help from the family made my life a little easier.  

The Cokers rented a house at Santee for a week this year and we were able to go up for 4 days.  Bryan had a blast being on the water and it was lots of fun to get away.  We swam in the lake, played in the yard, swung in the hammock, and pretty much lived in our bathing suits.  

(Don't you love this cute little one?)

Dalton got to come spend a night with us.  Callie got to spend some quality time with him and he finally got to meet Cade!

Devin and Emi joined us for the weekend - the two of them just go from one vacation to the next!  Callie absolutely loves Emi and "Dude".  They had some special times winging in the hammock.

And of course, she loved playing around with Devin.

We borrowed Aunt Kathy's boat while we were there.  And it literally almost sank.  Thankfully the boys got it to a dock just in time and somehow managed to get it on a broken trailer.  However, before all of this drama happened, we tried to Callie for a little ride.  I have no idea why, but she was terrified and hated every minute of it.  I still haven't been able to get here near a boat without crying since then!

It was good to have some time away from home and just hang out with the family.  Callie and Cade had some good brother-sister time.  Cade always smiles when he is with his big sis.

It was a great week at the lake!  Can't wait to go again next year!