Halloween 2011

Luke the construction builder
Will the train engineer

Hard to believe that Halloween has come and gone. This year was a lot of fun, we had a train engineer and a construction builder. Not the most creative choices, but everyone knew what the boys were dressed as! Watching Will was special. He understood the concept of trick or treating and was on a mission to make sure we hit as many houses as possible. His goal: a full bag of candy!


We didn't quite get there due to darkness, but we got quite a stash!

Luke was not very happy for most of the night. He wanted to walk, but I wouldn't let him since we were on a busy road. We also forgot his paci, so we let him eat candy out of his bag to keep him quiet. Notice the assortment of colors on his shirt in the pic below!:)But once we got home, he was happy with his stash as well!

Time with Marmie

It worked out that my mom was able to come back with us when we came home from our trip. She was on Fall Break and my dad was in Myrtle Beach playing golf. We met up with him over the weekend. We enjoyed my mom being with us. She loved on our boys and us and we are very grateful to her, especially for helping us take down wallpaper, paint and redecorate our downstairs bathroom!:) Thanks for everything
mom!
Will and Miles at the aquarium. I keep Miles a couple days a week for a friend. My boys adore him!
Luke enjoying the milkshake that he was supposed to share with me.
Milkshakes on the way to Myrtle Beach!
Skeeball at a Boardwalk Arcade in Myrtle Beach.
Will was really starting to catch on to how you play when it was time to leave.
Luke's idea of skeeball.
Whatever works!

Annual Fall Trip

There is something about going home that is just so comforting. Now that neither Mike or I live close to home it is even more exciting when we get the chance to go. And getting to hear Will and Luke giggle and laugh and play with their grandparents is priceless. Last week we got the chance to go home for our annual fall trip. We went to the mountains, picked pumpkins, played with cousins, drove golf carts and basically just had a fun, relaxing time. Our boys loved it, we loved it and our family loved it and here are the pictures to prove it.


Mimi, Poppy and the grandkids
Will, Luke and Caleb. Will could not wait to play with his cousin!
Annual tractor picture with Poppy. I love family traditions!:)


Will and Jake. Will could not wait to play with Jake either. It warms my heart that he loves his cousins so much and that they play so well together!

New camera, back to blogging

I hate when I go through a blogging drought. A couple of months ago my camera broke. It was dropped by a precious 15 month old that lives in our house. I have been without a camera and it has been killing me! We have Mike's iPhone, but it goes everywhere with him, so I don't get to take any pics unless he is home. All that to say, I have neglected to share about the boys because I have not had any cute pics to share. But...thanks to a good friend, I now have a new-to-me camera.



So, let me get you caught up. Let's see, we will start with sweet little Luke. This kids is a ham and he cracks us up everyday! I hope I never forget that:
*He likes to get up early every morning between 6:45 and 7:15.
*He is trying to say words. He can say juice, mama, dada, milk. The other day he walked into the bathroom and tried his best to say brush teeth. Mike didn't believe me until he heard him say it tonight.
*He will nod his head and say something like yeah for yes and shake his head and grunt something for no.
*He loves to laugh and make others laugh.
*He loves meal time and bath time!
*Graham crackers are his favorite food, but goldfish are not far behind.
*He loves books. It has taken us awhile to get here, but he finally wants me to read to him. He will go and pull every book off his shelf and bring me one and plop down in my lap. Right now his favorite books are "Peek-a-Boo Jungle" and "Little Quacks Opposites".
*He LOVES to be outside. He will come running if you open the back door!



Now for Mr. Will. This kid is becoming so articulate and is saying so much right now. Its so cool to get to have a conversation with him everyday. I hope I never forget that:
*He loves to laugh and to make his brother laugh.
*He loves his friends dearly and asks to pray for them most every night.
*He loves to play cars, trains, basketball and football. But he also likes to play hide-and-seek. This consists of him pulling all the pillows off the beds or couch and hiding under them. He also wants me or Mike to hide with him.
*He LOVES to be outside. I think he would be content to play outside all day. He especially loves to swing and play soccer. But of course, I must be with him when he is doing these things. He says he doesn't like to play by himself.
*He loves to go to church to be in his class with his friends.
*He still loves helping me, in fact he likes to ask "How can I help you Mommy?"
*He loves to be home, but he also loves to go places. Most days he asks "Where do we go today?" when we get up.
*He is not a big eater. He prefers snacking. He loves any kind of cheese cracker, peanut butter crackers, graham crackers or fruit. And of course, apple juice is his favorite drink.
*He loves to read too. He changes favorite books like the wind. But right now we are digging car books, Gingerbread man books and Halloween books. I just read what he asks!

Welcome Fall

One of our future Georgia Bulldogs.

Today is the first day of Fall...my favorite season. In honor of my friend Carrie, I have made a list of why I love fall in bullet form. Your welcome Carrie!

*cooler weather
*leaves
*pumpkins
*cinnamon apple candles
*fried apple pies
*chili
*jeans and sweaters
*Halloween candy
*my birthday:)
*apple cider
*college football

Living in Charleston we get a very abbreviated version of autumn, if one at all.
Even though it was 80 something degrees today, we celebrated with a big pot of vegetable soup and corn muffins. So, welcome fall. We are glad you are here!

Our other future Georgia Bulldog.
Ready to cheer on the Dawgs tomorrow!

Always into something

Luke on the table...a daily occurrence.

If I could sum up life with two little boys it would be this: Always into something. Wow! I can't even turn my back for a little while without something going wrong. The crazy thing is, I was not quite prepared for this. You see, I used to have only one child who was into something and would make a small mess. It was easy with just one. I could shoo him away to play with something else while I got everything cleaned up. But as of a few weeks ago, I started to notice that we have made the transition into having two that are constantly into things. Yep, sweet little Lukie is growing up and has decided it is fun to make trouble with his brother! Oh boy!

Just to fill you in on a typical day around here, here are some fun things that happened in the past 24 hours:
1. my phone was used as a toy in the bathtub (water was in the tub!)
2. Will walked into my room this morning covered in ink pen and asked if he was pretty. As I started to tell him that we don't write on ourselves with pen Luke walks in and is covered in ink pen also. Evidently Will made them both pretty.
3. Both boys were quiet after lunch. I had let them go out onto the back porch while I cleaned up the kitchen only to find them 5 minutes later covered in potting soil that they had dug out of the planter on the back porch. This has happened at least once for the past 5 days.
4. At least two drinks were pulled down from the kitchen table onto the floor.
5. Will decided to pull a kitchen chair over to the counter beside the refrigerator so that he could climb up and reach the m&m's that I had put on top of the refrigerator.
6. Balls went whizzing past my head at least 14 times or I fussed at someone for swinging a plastic golf club inside the house.
7. I picked up decorative pumpkins and gourds that I have around the house for fall I don't know how many times. The pumpkins were used as soccer balls and and the gourds instruments for Will's marching band.
8. When I went to vacuum up one of the messes I had to fight two little boys just to be able to clean up. They love the vacuum! They just want to sit in front of it and let the wind blow in their faces. They will do everything in their power to prevent me from vacuuming so they can sit and enjoy. (see the pictures below)
9. I'm pulled a 14 month off the table, because he climbed up without me looking. I do my best to get the chairs pushed in as soon as we get up from eating, but that kid is fast! He always seems to beat me!

No wonder I go to bed tired every night! I love those two, but they keep me hopping all day. I guess this is what my life will be like for the next 20ish years. Well, at least I know it will never be boring around here!

Luke playing with the vacuum cleaner.
Will playing with the vacuum cleaner.
Will at 1 year playing with the vacuum. Evidently he hasn't outgrown this stage!

Random Pictures

Family Picture from a wedding at Magnolia Plantation in August

We have taken a ton of pictures over the past couple of months that have yet to make it in a blog post. Most of these are from Mike's phone, which is now our camera since Luke decided to break mine! Hopefully this will give you a little insight into what we have been doing over the past couple of months.

Luke looking cute!
Luke and Mommy at Waterfront Park in July
Both of our boys love these quarter rides at the mall!
Brushing Luke's teeth. He loves to do it, but he would rather you let him suck on the toothbrush instead of actually brushing his little teeth!
At the Children's Museum for Will's birthday. Its kind of our new favorite place!
Playing at Publix at the Museum
Shopping at Publix at the Museum. This guy is dangerous with a cart!
Will's birthday ice cream from Ye Old Fashioned...Superman flavor, of course!
Luke and Mommy's ice cream...chocolate, of course!