Silence

Hello out there.  Sorry about the silence around here-I continue to have problems with Google/Blogger/Picasa and can't get any pictures on here-and what is a post without pictures?  Boring.  I just wrote a post about Ben turning 5 using Windows Live Writer, and that didn't work either. 

So, for the 2.5 people out there that read-sorry about the blackout!

Jump!

We had a great day today at Kristen's house at the lake.  Ben went to sports camp in the morning and Nate and I got to hang out with Kristen's Mama Brunch friends.  There were a few littles to play with and some yummy snacks. 

Then we went to get Allie and Ben, gobbled some lunch, and headed back to the dock for some more swimmy time.  The two big fish kept wanting to jump off the dock, but each time they jumped, they had to swim back in and walk up and back out to the end.  It wore them out.   It is our goal to wear them out, so success!

Hold my hand!

And going back for more.....

For the record, Ben only used the float to jump when I was not in the water with him (when I was taking these pictures for example).  When I was in there, he jumped in and swam to me (while I held my breath the whole time).

Oh yeah, and Nate had fun, too.  His brand of fun is different from Ben's right now.  You won't find him jumping off a dock anytime soon, but this sweet boy is usually very content wherever he is.  He is happy to watch all the action and entertains himself well.  He is easy to find, all I have to do is look right beside me-and that is exactly how I like it!

Thanks Kristen!  If you hear rustling down at your dock on a sunny day, don't worry, it's not a big turtle, just some wild boys and their mama!

Happy Father's Day

No big mushy post from me today, even though I happen to know the world's best dad pretty well.  I have two little boys that are lucky to also know him well. 

Gil is the best dad-and I'm not kidding, I think he really is the best.  I probably should have gotten him a coffee cup like Micheal Scott's, but then it would have seemed like a joke.

When Gil walks in the door after work,  I am forgotten.  Those little boys attack him and do not leave him alone until their heads hit the pillow.  The love to do anything with him, from getting the mail, to playing Bull and wrestling.  Lately science experiments have been added into the rotation, thanks to a book I had in the attic in my teaching stuff.

As a mom, I feel so lucky to be a part of a generation that has a lot of very involved dads.  Gil did not shy away from any of the newborn duties (like changing diapers) that dads of the past did not help with, and he has always been right in the trenches throughout all of the stages-from sleepless nights, to potty training.

These little boys will have such good memories of their very involved dad, and that is priceless!

With Ben at the hospital (like the coordinating blanket and shirt?)

Ben at a year old.

Nate at 2 months old.

After Nate's Baptism (look at those fat rolls-yum)



Daddy in action (I don't know how his back does this-over and over and over again)

Snow!

Happy Father's Day Gil!

And Happy Father's Day to our great Grandpa's!

Happy Day to Bully and Jimbo!

Chirp Chirp

Do you hear the crickets?  I don't know what I was thinking,  I was informed today that my public (Gil) is demanding a new post so I thought I would finally share some pictures from when Gil's cousin Leigh's little girl Alex was here. 

We had so much fun with that sweet girl. 

This picture sums up Alex's feelings about the birds-she and her Gammy share the "love" of the feathered ones!

This was a very popular pose with these three little nuts.

The three amigos were also seen like this quite a bit.

Everyone little one should be lucky enough to hang out with their Gammy/Mimi/Granny C! (These two ladies have so many names we couldn't keep them straight!)

And the ever popular bunny ears.



And one last Nate sandwich for the road.  This kiddo gets and gives kisses all day long! 



That's it for now public (I mean Gil).  I'll be back later with some beach pictures, and a few of Ben's graduation.

Three blondies

Right now, I have 700 pictures on my camera to go through, and about 600 were taken Friday at the zoo.  The garden side of Riverbanks is so pretty right now, and is a welcome change from the insanity of the animal side.  We parked over there and walked around to take some pictures of the boys and their cousin Alex.  Broken record alert, but-as hard as it is to get a picture of two wild boys both looking at me with nice looks on their faces-well-add in one seven year old girl and forget about it.  So far I have gone through about 300 and have probably kept 20, and only one is great so far, and I think it is really great.  So, for now....

Cousins!

Yes, the exclamation point is necessary!  In our house we say COUSINS! when we talk about getting a visit from Becca, Ian and Brandon. 

We had such a nice time, although it is always too short, and this time we packed in the fun. Becca and I have discovered that the key to the mommy happiness is to keep them really busy in the mornings, then come home to a movie, and then start again.  Too much free time is not good for anyone.  And being outside is a huge plus.  Boys, like puppies, need room to run.

We all went and picked strawberries one day, and I thought I had a camera, but can't seem to find any pictures.  To make a visual-imagine the 4 boys in the cake pops post with strawberry juice surrounding their mouths.  Add Allie and Kristen to that picture, and I think that about covers it.  We had a nice sunny day and really had fun.  Then we went to lunch at the Farmer's Shed, which I'm pretty sure was much more fabulous for the grownups.  Not having special kid junk doesn't always go over well with the little people.  I think they are all used to being able to order chicken nuggets when they are out and at the Farmer's Shed, they eat what we eat.  Oh well-somehow they survived.

The next day took us all out to Pine Island-again with Allie and Kristen.  Robin and Michael and a big ol' bunch of their parents also joined us for a big party.  We had great weather and freezing water, but that did not stop the small ones!

They all got progressively more naked but I'll spare everyone those pictures-especially the ones of Nate wearing only sunglasses and a diaper-and not a swim diaper-not a good look for him.

Michael and his father and father-in-law were all fishing and were so gracious to let the boys reel in a few lines.  No fish were caught by the boys, but the adults caught a few that we got to see.

We also did a little Easter Egg Hunt for them. 

I am pretty sure that we got a very quiet rest time out of them that day!

The final day of Cousin-palooza took us all to the zoo.  Becca and I had high hopes of grabbing some lunch afterwards and doing a picnic at the park, but we were so pooped when we left.  We made it to chick-fil-a and then....

Ian was the lone awake small person.  He got to read his book in peace, which I'm sure he loved!

Here are a few pictures from the zoo.  They were all so excited because they had money to spend from Grandma-they bought icee's and fed the birds.  Unfortunately, the birds were so overfed that week that they were not too excited.  Nate choose to feed the giraffes instead.  For the first time, he didn't throw the lettuce on the ground when a giraffe came near.

And evenings were generally spent like this...

My boys have a lot to learn from their cousins in the area of bike riding.  Ian rode a bike without training wheels really early and he is really good!  And that little Brandon is fast! I thought his training wheels were going to fly right off on their own!  They gave us something to shoot for.

Overall, we had so much fun-and Ben just cried and cried the day they left.  We are looking forward to a visit to Virginia soon!

Cake Pops

We were so, SO excited for Becca, Ian and Brandon to come for a Spring Break visit. Our visits are never long enough and we stay oh so busy. We sure are sad that we don’t live closer, but they are way Virginians and we are pretty much South Carolinians through and through. I am going to break down Cousin-palooza into a few separate posts because I have so many pictures from our adventures.


Grandma and Charlene sent the boys the best treat for Easter. They made Cake Pops! I was so excited-I have been following Bakerella for quite some time but haven’t attempted any pops-Cake Balls once, but nothing special like these….

And the happy recipients....

I'm pretty sure Nate a few for breakfast every morning for a week-and any other time he could convince someone to open one for him.

Thanks Mom and Char!  We love you guys!

(and no-it is not physically possible for me to get a picture of four wild boys with them all looking at the camera-with their eyes open!)