1st Boat Ride

Trey and Charlotte went on their first boat ride on Sunday afternoon. Our Sunday School class has tried to be intentional about getting all the girls together and all the guys together every other month for some time to hang out.  With most of us having young kids, it is hard to build relationships together outside of church so girls time and guys time has been something we each look forward to each month(and the other spouse is in charge of the kids!).  So far the girls have done dinner and a movie, pedicures and lunch, and dinner at the Homeplace.  The guys have done hiking, a Salem Red Sox game, and skeet shooting.  Now looking at it the guys events are more active and the girls events all involve food!

Sunday was a girl's day and we were supposed to go on a boat ride around Smith Mountain Lake, but only 3 girls could go, so we decided to bring our families along.  We ate lunch all together at a Mexican restaurant after church.

Both the kids love Mexican food.  Charlotte kept licking the salsa off her chip and dipping the chip back in the bowl.  We gave her her own bowl of salsa. 

Then we headed for the lake.  It was only about 15 minutes from church and Charlotte got in a short nap on the way.  She was kinda sleepy for first part of the ride so she just chilled with her paci and blanket on the boat.  I had to take them away to put on her lifejacket (which she hated!) and then give them back to sooth her because she kept trying to tear the life jacket off.

Charlotte sat in my lap most of the trip, but at the end she kept wanting to walk around the back of the boat and then sit on the seat by herself and hold on. 

Trey didn't get off Jay's lap until we docked, but you can tell he had fun!

Trey was very excited before we got to the lake, but like any new thing it took him a while to feel comfortable and get warmed up.  He also was not a fan of the life jacket at first but it grew on him.  He liked to see the people fishing on the lake and all the other boats on the docks.

Girls Time on the boat ride

Purses Galore!

Charlotte has three obsessions in life: shoes, purses and talking on the phone.  I don't want to know what she will be like at 15 if this is what she is like at 20 months!   She wants everyone to wear shoes, will bring you shoes, try on any shoes she finds, and constantly wants to put on different shoes when she finds them.  If you are talking on the phone she comes up and yells "me!" until you hand her the phone to talk on.   Her newest love is purses.  She will turn any bag into a purse and wear it around the house.

Talking on the phone with Daddy while Trey plays on his own.  The picture shows my social butterfly and my shy introvert. 

Still talking on the phone but trying to ignore me so I can't get the phone back.

Before church this morning Charlotte gets her bag to carry.  She has to carry her own bag wherever we go.  Usually her hand is holding onto her head or her hair to help her arm stay up!

After naptime she found three purses to carry, well one is really Trey's train basket. 

Charlotte loves her purses!

September Stuff

For the past 2 years my blog has slowed down during the month of September.  It is either because our life is so busy getting back into the fall routine I don't have time to blog, or we are just doing "normal" things every day since we are back into a regular schedule.

Jay and I have had a lot of different meetings due to the start of the school and having to meet with other teachers to set things up.  During one late evening for him, the kids and I baked cookies after dinner.

Trey likes to stir the batter.  I can't turn my back because he will add random things on the counter to the bowl in order to have more stuff to stir in.  We had to talk about why we follow the recipe. 

Charlotte spent most her time just banging on the counter.  But she had to be up on the chair with Trey and when he scooped something into the bowl she would stick her scoop in right after his ready for her turn. 

Saturday was the first day in a while we just stayed at home.  I was able to clean the whole house during a morning cleaning spree and evening cleaning spree.  The kids got out the blue playdoh Nana made for Trey and had a blast.  Charlotte knows exactly what to do with the cookie cutters and it was fun to watch her play and not have to constantly worry about her eating the playdoh.  Although, we did have to fish some out of her mouth at the very end when she was trying to be sneaky! Trey made the playdoh crumbly and said it was snow falling.  I guess he is ready for cooler weather too!

Trey put on his apron and said, "Look Mommy I am a cook like you are!"

Charlotte wanted to make apples.  She kept saying apple over and over again as she made them with the cookie cutter. 

At church the preschool kids have moved up to their next class.  Trey is in a new room with new teachers for Sunday School and choir on Wednesday nights.  At first he was really hesitant to go in when we got to church, but when we got to the room for choir he found his name tag, stuck it on his shirt and walked right in.  I was very proud of him because I was afraid he was going to be clingy and not want to go inside.  On Sunday morning his teachers apologized to Jay because Trey's underwear was on backwards.  They said no matter what they tried to tell him he wouldn't let them turn it around.  Jay just laughed and explained he likes to see the character on the underwear so he wears them backwards.  I hadn't realized how odd that would look to his teachers at church when they take him to the bathroom!

Charlotte hasn't moved up rooms yet.  In her area there is a baby room, crawler room, and a walker room for the one year olds.  Charlotte is still in the crawler room even though she has been walking for quite a while now and is 19 months old.  She loves her teachers and walks right in and plays without crying.  Last week she even carried her bag in all by herself and handed it to them! They move up as the teachers think they are ready for the next class or if one room gets too crowded, but the children's minister told me today she doesn't know if Charlotte's teachers will ever more her up because she is so good in her room. 

Fantasy Football

Last weekend was Labor Day Weekend and we headed to Richmond for Jay's annual fantasy football draft.  I don't mind because 10 years ago after the draft weekend Jay stopped by my dorm room to give me a college goodie bag my sister in law had given to him to bring to me at Tech.  That was the first time we ever hung out.  He came by to drop off the bag and stayed for four hours.  Thanks Jennifer :)

Anyways, on Saturday we hit the outlets in Williamsburg kid-free.  My parents kept the kids and wore them out shopping and running errands.  My mom took Charlotte shoe shopping and she sat in the chair and let them measure her foot like a big girl! A lot our shopping in Williamsburg was getting fall clothes for the kids.  We like to buy a little bit bigger than they need right now so it will last throughout the winter.  Last year I accidentally bought too small for Charlotte and she wore a couple of shirts like 2 times before they were too tight, so I learned my lesson.

I got these play clothes from Target for Charlotte.  I put them on her to see how they would fit and she wouldn't let me take them off the rest of the evening until bathtime! The tags didn't even seem to bother her. 

These pants are from last year and they still fit Trey great.  I guess all the 4T pants we just bought may have to wait a few months for him to grow into them.  We got this orange vest at Target.  He pulled out these clothes to put on all by himself.  He must know hunting season it coming soon!

Not Mom of the Year

This week E, Myself, and I didn't do her usual Midweek Confessions link up, but I have too many confessions this week to skip out so I will link to her post from last week.

 

And here, in no particular order, is why I will not be nominated for Mom of the Year, EVER.

• We let Trey dress himself in the mornings.  It makes our lives much easier than fighting a battle every morning with a 3 year old over what he is going to wear.  Especially since the only people seeing him are his parents, sister and grandparents most days and we all appreciate his unique style. 

• Conversation in the car last weekend when I took the kids to Wal-Mart solo to pick up some school stuff. Wal-mart is a good 30 minute drive so I packed crackers to keep them occupied and happy.


• Trey (after eating one cracker I packed for him): Mommy, I need a paper towel. 
• Me: Trey, I am driving right now I don't have a paper towel for you. 
• Trey: I need a napkin. 
• Me: Trey I don't have a napkin.  Can you just wipe your hands on your pants? (It was just a few crumbs!) 
• Trey: No Mommy, then my pants will be dirty! 
• So I sigh and pull over off the road to reach down into the floorboard to get the tissues and I end up handing him one after every. single. cracker. he ate on that trip because his hands were dirty. 
• Today I slipped on my brown ballet flat style crocs to put some stuff in the car.  When I got to school I looked down and realized I was still in my crocs and hadn't changed into shoes to match my white floral skirt. 
• I weigh exactly 4 lbs lighter than when I got pregnant with Trey 4 years ago, but I am up one size.  How does that work? 
• Jay and I have been setting our alarm to get up at 5 am to work out for the past 3 days.  Today was the only day we actually got up and worked out.  1 out 3 isn't too bad :) 
• I downloaded the 30 Day Shred workout video by Jillian Micheals back in June and I have started it three different times.  I get to about day 8 and then something in life happens and I stop.  Today I started day 1 again.  
• I make both kids carry their plates from the dining room to the kitchen sink after every meal.  Trey is not a fan of this activity, but nothing makes Charlotte prouder than carrying her plate to the sink and chucking it in.  

August Photo Dump

I have a collection of pictures on my camera from random things the kids have done this month, but there is nothing cohesive about them to write a post.  So, amidst requests from the grandparents, here are some new pictures of the kids.

Trey and Charlotte trying out Cooper's new dog house, which he refuses to go into no matter how hard it is raining outside.

Trey is enjoying the last of the hot summer evenings outside.

Trey "helping" with the laundry.  He is telling me to take a picture of him, thus his hands are up pretending to hold a camera.

We found the musical instruments one evening together. 

More cymbals!

Everybody all together now :)

Trey is very proud of his new puzzle we got on our vacation trip.  Now he can put it all together by himself.

I brought this toy up from the basement thinking Charlotte would enjoy it.  She is obsessed with walking her doggy everywhere she goes and she carries it from upstairs to downstairs and back. 

"Come on doggy."

Another one of Charlotte's favorite things to do, talk on the phone.  When she starts to talk to someone on our cell phones, she runs away from you while talking so she doesn't have to give the phone back!

Charlotte feeding her baby.  This is really sweet, except she is holding the baby's head up by her hairbow. 

Frame Project

One of my friends and a fellow blogger does a "Make It Monday" post every week on her blog, The Pollock Potluck, to make herself follow through with all the great ideas she pins on pinterest.  I decided to join her and post my own "Make It Monday"  about the frame project we did over the summer.  I say over the summer because we started my first week out of school and finished it up at the end of July.  In our defense we were making steady progress until the Great Power Outage of 2012 came and changed all our summer plans (or at least it felt that way!).

Here is what I pinned on my dining room board back in the early spring.  I liked using the frames together as a piece of art and originally thought it might work on a wall on our dining room. 

 

http://livingwithlindsay.com/2012/01/how-to-layered-frame-gallery-wall.html

We had been going back and forth about what to do with all this empty space on the wall above the sofa, because I wanted something there and my husband liked it blank.   

I had thought about doing a photo gallery wall, but my husband wasn't too pleased with that idea and after showing him pins and pins of ideas that he rejected, we decided the frame idea was one we both liked.  So I spent the first week of summer break dragging my kids from thrift store to thrift store purchasing random sized frames.  Most of the frames were between 25 cents and a dollar so I was very happy with my purchases.  I also searched the basement to find frames we already had that we were no longer using and would fit for this project.

Once all the frames were selected we took one naptime to lay them out and arrange them. 

Then we took all the spray paint cans we had picked up at Lowes (various shades of yellow, blues, and gray) and labeled each frame the color we wanted to paint it.  

Thankfully the kids took an extra long nap because we even had time to pick out what pictures we wanted to put in each frame.  

 Then Jay spray painted all the frames out in the driveway during another naptime, which also happens to coincide with the hottest time of the day.  You have to look really close in the first picture to see all the newspapers and frames laid on the driveway. 

At the end of the week, we went over to Roanoke and got copies of the pictures we wanted to use in the correct size. 

Except for our wedding photo because for a week our wedding photo cd was missing in action.  Then came The Great Power Outage and the frame project was moved to the corner of the basement and put on hold for a couple of weeks. 

One glorious day we found the wedding photo cd after looking in every box in the basement and every drawer/cabinet/bag in our house.  First Jay made a couple of copies of the cd to insure this misplacement never happens again. Then he cropped the picture and we drove over to town to print out a blown up size of the photo. 

Finally the day arrived to put the project together.  We wore the kids out really good all morning and put them down to nap at 12.   We had 2-3 hours to complete the project so we headed down to the basement and set out all the frames. Yes, we are using Trey's flattened cardboard playhouse from this post to cushion the frames from the concrete floor.

Jay used a nail gun to nail the frames together.  We want to be able to change out the pictures, so we nailed wood pieces onto the backs of the frames that were going to hold pictures and then connect the wood pieces to the other frames.  That way we can take off the frames by undoing the prongs on the back and change out the photos.  The frameback is what is attached to all the other frames.  I am not sure if that makes sense, but essentially we can change out the photos because my husband is a genius. 

The backside where the frames are connected through the wood pieces and framebacks to the pictures so they can be changed out.  

The front side. 

We carried the completed project upstairs in two pieces and then attached it to the wall.  I can't remember how it attached to the wall, only that there was a lot of measuring, drilling and kids wanting to be brought downstairs from their nap during this time. 

All up on the wall! The wedding picture is really big because at first we thought that frame wouldn't be able to come off to change the picture, so we wanted a picture that would fit our family for many years to come.  We also don't have a large wedding photo anywhere in the house and we like the symbolism how our family has grown from our marriage. 

A closer view.  Sorry about the crookedness and glare, I really don't know how to work my camera. 

We had a lot of fun working on the project and I really like the way it came together and brought some color to the wall.  Now onto our next house project....