Trip to Mimi and Grampys!

We got to spend all of last week with my parents in Greenville, SC. Russ had gone to Miami for the week for business, so what better time to go back home! We were pampered with good food and lots of good family time with my parents.

Caleb got to go to Bible School at my parent's church and he loved it. My mother taught the 4 and 5 year old class (with a lot of other helpers) and Caleb did great in the class. We didn't know how well he would do, but after the first day he came home and said that he loved it. He even remembered ALL of the Bible story about Jesus healing the blind man. Of course, he stayed by Mimi's side the whole time, but she loved it too! I can't believe he is old enough to go to Bible School. The church had gone all out in the set-up, activities, songs, etc. It was really neat. If you ask Caleb what he learned at Bible school, he will tell you that God gives you the power to be brave! I can't wait for him to go again next year.

Here is Caleb and Kathryn sitting with Mimi and singing. Kathryn just went for end of the last day.

Here he is singing and praising God!

We got to celebrate my Pop's 88th birthday on Tuesday evening with a big dinner. We went out to lunch with some good friends on Wednesday. I didn't have my camera, so no pictures for that. Caleb decided on Wednesday night that we should have a picnic outside in the back yard for dinner. It was not very comfortable, but Caleb loved it.

On Thursday we went a big park near Mimi and Grampy's house. He especially loved the big pirate ship and ran around saying "Ahoy, Maties!" It was hot, but lots of fun. The playground even had a big mister spot where you could go when you were hot to get cooled off! We had a picnic there and played a lot! We got to go to a friends pool on Thursday afternoon and swim. I didn't have my camera for that either, so sorry no pictures.

We left on Friday to go home, pick up Russ and head out to the beach that night. Here are some other pictures of our week in Greenville. Stay tuned for pictures from the beach.

Caleb and Kathryn wrestling on the floor. They are really enjoying playing with each other some now.

Mimi with both her babies, both sucking their thumbs!

Silly Grampy and Kathryn. It is hard to get a good picture of Grampy because he is constantly making silly faces to get Kathryn to laugh!

Here is Kathryn eating her first popcicle with Mimi. She loved the pudding pop and made a big mess. She ate all of it and we ended up having to take her clothes off because she made such a mess! (My mom is in the same shirt in these pictures because of Bible School!)

New Pics!

Russ and I decided that it was about time that we get some new pictures of the kids. We took Caleb to get his 3 year pictures, Kathryn to get her 9 month pictures (even though she is almost 11 months!), plus we wanted some good ones of both of them together. It was an adventure to say the least! Russ and I were so warn out and frustrated when we left that neither one of us said a word for a long while! It started out pretty good when we tried to get some pictures of them together. Caleb did a great job at smiling, he just didn't want to sit still. Kathryn wouldn't smile at all, which is not like her! Our photographer was very patient and pretty good with the kids. I think that Kathryn was just overwhelmed with it all. She also didn't understand when the photographer would hand her a stuffed animal, just to take it away from her again. I mean, did he not understand that it would not make her laugh if you take something away from her? Anyways, we got only 1 good picture of them together, even though Kathryn wouldn't smile. Oh well, what can you do?

We ended up getting some great ones of the kids individually and they were both happy to do those! Here are some of Kathryn:

And some of Caleb:

By the end of the session, we had 2 tired kids and parents. Here are the final pictures of them together - none which are very good! Oh well, it was definitely an experience, and we did end up getting some cute pictures.

Don't worry, we came home with a bunch of pictures, so some of you should expect to get some in the mail soon!

Happy Birthday and Happy Father's Day!!!

I am going to first start out by saying how thankful I am for my sweet husband Russ. He is definitely my better half and the love of my life! He is a wonderful husband and a fantastic daddy to Caleb and Kathryn. I really think that he is the best and thank God daily for blessing me with Russ. Happy Birthday Russ and Happy Father's Day!

We had a very busy weekend celebrating Russ' birthday on Saturday and Father's Day on Sunday. On Friday, Caleb and I worked hard on a cake for Russ for his birthday. I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture of it! Caleb insisted on the cake being green, so we colored the icing and had fun making a green cake. Caleb decorated it with sprinkles and then loved eating all of the left over green frosting. He was so excited to give it to Russ, who was very suprised!

Here is Russ opening one of his presents from us : a GPS system!


On Saturday morning we went to the birthday party of Caleb's friend Savannah. She was turning 2 and we celebrated with her at Charlotte at Play. Caleb loved all of the different activities and had blast playing with all of his friends.

Saturday evening we went over to Russ' parents house to celebrate Russ' birthday and his dad's birthday, which was June 11. Russ' brother Brad was there with his wife Anna and their little boy Roane. We had a delicious meal and had fun watching the kids play and enjoying good company.
Caleb, Kathryn and Roane ~ Have I told you how impossible it is to get a good picture of all 3 of them!!!

We enjoyed a nice lunch on Sunday after church with Russ' family for Father's Day.Happy Birthday Papa!

The past few days...

We have been really busy the past few days, so I thought I would share some of what we've done through pictures:


We started out our weekend by going to Monkey Joe's to do some fun jumping around! Caleb had a blast sliding down all of the slides. He must have gone down at least 25 times. He is such a big boy and not afraid! There were a lot of other older kids there which made me nervous, but Caleb just jumped right in there with them and loved it! Kathryn wasn't quit old enough to jump, so she just enjoyed watching all of the commotion!







Friday evening Russ had a softball game, so Caleb and I put Kathryn down to bed early and we had a fun movie night. We popped popcorn, drank lemonade and watched Toy Story (thanks for the idea Chelle!). He enjoyed the movie and ate almost the whole bag of popcorn! He sat still and watched the entire thing and he went to bed at 9:30 exhausted. It was such a fun evening because Caleb is at such a cute age!






Saturday evening we went out to dinner with Russ' brother Greg and his girlfriend Amanda. We had a great time with them and the kids did great. Kathryn ate a whole piece of pizza herself ~ after 2 jars of baby food! Caleb was a little more wiggly, but still did well even though he didn't want to eat his "squishy" pizza!





Monday afternoon we met Donna and Caroline at Noah's Art for a play date. The kids got to paint pictures, make a caterpillar, a bug, a butterfly and play with toys. All for just $5! Caleb loves doing art work and his teachers at school said that was his favorite part of the day. I just couldn't pass up taking him to a place to paint and stuff without having to clean anything up!



This morning we met some friends downtown at the Mint Museam for designs and crafts. They were doing a free program where kids get to make a gift for their daddy for father's day. After making a wrong turn, trying to find a parking place in the huge parking garage, getting turned around after we walked out of the parking garage, and walking downtown with a baby in a stroller and a toddler who wanted to pick up every leaf and rock that he saw, we finally made it! Caleb didn't even want to make the craft once we got there. I told him that he better get a better attitude because I was not going to have come all the way there for nothing!!! After a few minutes of whining, he did end up enjoying the craft and he has a good present for daddy now. After the craft, we walked around the museam and looked at all of the art. Caleb LOVED it and was fascinated by all of the designs. He said "Ohhhhhh, mommy look at this" over and over. Before we left he saw these really tall chairs and he wanted to sit in one of them. He asked me to please take his picture in it. This is a first because he normally hates taking pictures! I jumped at his request and ended up getting a cute picture!

Memorial Day Beach Trip

I know this post is a litte late since Memorial Day was a week ago, but I figured better late than never! We headed out to Russ' parent's beach house for Memorial Day weekend on Friday. We always look forward to the times that all of Russ' family gets together. After a long trip down with at least 2 different potty stops for Caleb, we made it just in time for the kids to get their last bit of energy out before bed time. We awoke bright and early on Saturday morning (thanks to Caleb who gets up at the crack of dawn!). Unfortunately, it was a very overcast, rainy day. We stayed in most of the morning and watched the kids play together. We then headed out to Broadway at the Beach for the afternoon. Nana and Papa took Caleb, Kathryn and Roane to the aquarium while Russ and I, Brad, Anna and Greg went to see Indiana Jones. The kids had a blast at the aquarium and didn't tire Nana and Papa out too much! We really enjoyed the movie, even though it was very far fetched! Sunday was a beautiful day, so we spent most of it down by the pool or at the beach. Monday turned out to be the prettiest day yet, but of course it was the day we had to leave! We had a great weekend and enjoyed spending some time with Russ' family. We also loved playing the Wii and we all ended up being pretty sore from playing so hard! Nana was staying at the beach for the week, so she asked if Caleb could stay down there with her. Papa was going to be there for part of the time. We agreed, thinking it would be a good break for us and a great opportunity for Caleb to have Nana to himself for a couple of days. He had a great time with her and we appreciated the break, however we really started to miss him after a few days! My parents were down at Myrtle Beach for the week as well, so they picked up Caleb from the beach house and took him back to the house they were at for Friday and Saturday. Needless to say, he was a very spoiled boy all week! He came home this afternoon and we are so glad to have him back. We really missed him. I swear, he has grown so much over the past week! Enjoy some of the pictures from the weekend!