Austin's 7th Birthday

This is clearly not done chronologically, as Austin turned 7 in JUNE 2013!!!!  But I would be a big failure as a mom if I did not record his birthday for our digital baby book :)

This picture pretty much sums up your world AC1 right now....you are Legocentric, and if given the chance you will play with Legos and do nothing else.

You have changed so much this past year and we are so proud of how well you are doing...

 This is your second favorite thing to do....swim anywhere, anytime, any temperature of the water or air!!

 You were nice enough to share your carrot cake with your dad & grandpa for Father's Day as we combined the celebration.....and look more Legos......noticing a trend?!?

 Then there is the new found love of Nerf Guns, and the sheer joy on your face speaks volumes to the love you have for additional weaponry when fighting your mom or dad or sister or neighbor!

 This year you have also gotten a real taste for fishing, which of course makes your Dad, Grandpa, Granddad and Nanny so happy!!  That is your very own tackle box in the big box in front of you....you have worn out some of the lures in that box already!!!

And finally, some more Legos....noticing a trend here!?!  At least you are consistent!!!

We love you!!

Catch Up 101 - First Day of School 2013!!

I never posted Ansley's first day of school picture like I did for Austin a few years ago....so here it is :) the Ansley photo that will just melt your heart ... or at least her mom's....

 and then she grew up.....and went off to Kindergarten....with her big brother off to 2nd grade....and their daddy off to work......we all have had quite an adjustment this fall.....which is what I will blame my absence upon :)

What I wouldn't do for some shorts weather today!!!

Fall

We love this time of year in GA; this is from our church's pumpkin patch. 

AC1 and Eric went camping yesterday, so AC2 and I are staying home having a girl's weekend, which of course meant we needed to carve a pumpkin!! 

Happy post-Halloween Weekend!

Boys Will Be Boys

Our lovely school district, and most of those in our state believe in starting school the first week of August and then giving our fair headed children a week long break after just 9 weeks of school....not exactly the best fit for working families, but we are trying to make the best of it........

We went to the lake to play......and boys being boys and all.....some found their way into the water.....AC1 is walking towards me after a slip in the water .... please take slip lightly....he full well went into the water as he wanted to go into the water and had been wanting to go into the water for quite some time.

But, then along came Eric with the 4 wheeler and some really good mud ...

which was just asking to be driven through......

Of course AC1 could not help but put himself in the trail of the 4 wheeler....all the while AC2 and I are just standing back and watching in awe!!  How could someone enjoy this?!?

As you can see from the back of AC1; he got covered .... and on the front side he was smiling and laughing from ear to ear....oh wait....he looked like this:

literally, he could not have been any happier!  The picture above was not from the same shot, it was after the fact when he decided since he was already muddy he should continue to play in the mud to see just how much mud he could get caked onto his little body!  Needless to say, he was brown from neck to toes.

So he then took it upon himself to get clean in the lake.....clean is such a relative term when you started out SO filthy!  But I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun he had!  

Of course AC2 and I just sat back and watched....she was so happy to find a feather and hung with me until it was time to drag AC1 back out of the lake and to get a really, really good bath!

Horse Camp

Ansley seems to be fixated on horses lately, so she and her friend Megan went to Horse Camp for the last week of July before she went back to school.

Of course, all good horses must be cared for ... AC2 is the little one on the right side of the picture...not really sure what they are doing, but she called it "work"

 On Friday of the week of camp they had a "show" for the families and the kids showed off their "skills" ... note how small the horse really is in the picture!!!

 But she had SO much FUN!!  She absolutely loved the riding and she talks on and on about the horses, but now, when we have taken her back to ride again, she will not even get back on a horse again.

 She loved doing the jumps and keeps talking our ears off!  You know Ansley :)

7th Birthday

This is WAY past due, like 3 months and 3 days!!

I am not running for mother of the year; clearly. I am, however, trying to at least keep some semblance of a virtual baby book ... which, at this point has moved into a children's book since our "little red head" has made it to 7!

We had a party at Grandma and Grandpa's house with all of the rest of the family as a combination Happy 7th Birthday and Father's Day event.  Great fun was had by all and AC1 kept us all entertained!! 

 AC1 benefited just as AC2 did by having a birthday which lasted for two days instead of one!!  The pictures above and below are of him opening his gifts from Mom and Dad and Granddad and Nanny.  As you can see from the expressions on his face, he LOVES gifts! 

 We have been talking about love languages lately and we are very clear from AC1's face that his love language might have something to do with gifts....we will have to help him learn that these gifts cannot always be tangible things.

The eyes have it!!

This has been a very big year for us AC1, we have learned a lot from you and the whole world around you. You had an amazing 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Butler who helped us to learn more about you in just a few weeks than we had learned about you in almost your whole life!!  We knew who you were but we now understand you better.  It is very exciting to see how much you have changed over the last year and how much you are growing and changing all of the time.

Your love of science has continued but you have become a bit of a math junkie, which of course we are all too okay with these days!!  You are still so funny and kind, we are always amazed at some of the little things which come out of your mouth.  Sometimes you of course are a boy, like when you burp your ABCs....and sometimes you are so funny with your faces....and every time you open the door and someone is behind you, you ALWAYS hold the door open, it literally melts my heart each and every time.  Not because you are being kind and doing as you were told, but because you are thinking of others.  Yippee!!

The other day someone remarked that you were so nice and sweet.  I almost had to do a double take to make sure they were talking to me :).  Kidding! You are still amphibious, you still LOVE legos and anything else which can be built and torn apart.  You are now a chess junkie and have started to play well; we now just need to get you to teach Granddad a little more so he can play with you!

We are so proud of you and cannot wait to see you grow in the next 7 years!!

Cub Scout Summer Camp

Yes, you read correctly.  I should have my blog card revoked, but not my mom card as I am told the little ones might miss me ... giggle ... giggle.  So, in order to return to the recording of our children's lives, one blog post at a time, I will do my best to catch up today.  Starting with the ever so popular, fun, and amazing 4 days AC1 and Eric spent this summer at Cub Scout camp....needless to say they will be going back every year!

Note: we are still cheap in this family, so the best camera Eric had was his cell phone camera which is not as great as the one we use for most of the pictures on this blog....so please forgive the poor quality....story still the same.

So, as all boys who go to summer camp will tell you, at some point you get a little bored and struggle to find something productive to do....and .... boys will be boys.....one their first night or two there AC1 and the other boys were trying to entertain themselves in the rain no less, and it seemed like a good idea to throw rocks at the kid with the umbrella....well, as AC1 will tell you, he did not find the end results of this rock throwing funny as it resulted in him getting hit just below his eye and receiving a pretty nice little cut.....but, after a quick trip to the camp's Medical Unit and the application of some butterfly closures and a phone call with Dr. Mom he was back to being a camper.

 Later on during the week, the boys had to find ways to entertain themselves during the down times, so of course this meant building domino houses; in the background you can see the set up....tents, people lounging, bug spray galore, etc.......what you might not be able to see, or even comprehend if you are reading this from Texas is the amount of humidity in the air....it is like walking around in a shower 24/7......I know, your envy abounds

 After what I have already described I know we will have to make a list next year of the number of you who wish to go with little AC1 and Eric to camp......so of course the list is going to immediately lengthen as I get to the really good stuff!!

Over the summer AC1 really took a liking to fishing, something about being in his DNA from Granddad T and Grandpa B and his dad and ..... so, every opportunity they could find, the boys went fishing....you might think the first picture is the bait...........sorry for the fingernail shot, you get a really good idea of the hygiene at camp in this one!

 But the next picture makes it abundantly clear, what you see there my friends is not bait!  No, that is today's Catch of the Day and from the look on AC1's face, you know it is an AMAZING catch!!  Hopefully these fish will have the chance to feast all winter while the camping slows down and grow a bit before next year's rendezvous!

 So the rest of the weekend, as often as possible, AC1 and Eric slipped off to the lake to do a little fishing....I am told the fish did not grow much in size, but AC1's sheer delight in catching them grew each and every time!

Over the rest of the weekend, the eye boo-boo healed, the fish kept biting, the boys kept being boys, the mosquitoes kept biting, and all the fun that could be had was had by ALL!!  AC1 earned several belt loop awards for things like swimming and archery, Eric won big "Dad" points for roughing it for 4 days, and AC2 and I were reminded of how much cleaner our house is sans testosterone and how fun it is when the boys come back with stories and smiles and cuts and bruises and just a few pieces of laundry to wash :)