Out Takes

Last night the kids were playing together so we tried to get a picture of the two of them. Almost every picture we have involves them laying down next to each other, but now that Charlotte is sitting up so well Trey wanted her to sit in his lap. What followed was a hilarious photo shoot where we could not get both kids to look at the camera to save our lives. The shadows are bad and the lighting is horrible, but the kids were having so much fun we continued. Enjoy the pictures!

Summertime Pictures

Pictures from the past few weeks at home. We haven't been too busy going places the past 3 weeks, but we have been busy at home working on projects and playing. It has been really hot the past few days so we have mainly been inside, but the kids still seem to be having a good time.

Helping Mommy bake some bread. He likes to scoop the grains.




Not napping in the swing during naptime. After a few days of realizing she was not going to nap in the swing when Trey napped in their room, we moved her into our room to nap. So far so good.



Like father, like son.



Playtime on the floor.







Cooking up some yummy hot dogs!



Please excuse the oven mitt, I think it is Jay's from college. Enough said.

Morning Walks

Charlotte takes her first morning nap usually between 8:30-9:30. Sometimes Trey likes to play downstairs at that time, but some mornings he just wants to be with his sister and is charging up the stairs every time we turn around to go lay in his bed so he can "nap" too. While a cute idea, this does not promote the quiet, peaceful atmosphere Charlotte needs to sleep in, so I try to get him outside.

If Jay is home I try to take him on my morning walk. Well, usually it is a run but with a 30 lb toddler in the stroller it turns into a walk up the hills and a slow jog on downhill/even stretches.

We like to talk about what we see, what color it is, what sounds it makes, etc. Often we will stop and thank God for what we see. Trey loves to say "Pray!" and so we say a simple prayer like "Thank you God for birds. Amen"

Today I decided to go a little deeper than just thanking God for the things we saw. Here was our conversation:

Mom: "Trey, who made the birds?"
Trey: "Dad!"
Mom: "God made the birds. "
Trey: "No, Dad. "
Mom: "Did God make Dad?"
Trey: "No, Mom."

So Blessed

I am continually reminded of how blessed we are as a family. I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a senior who just graduated and is gearing up to head to Tech in the fall. She was telling me how excited she was and I started sharing how that was one of the best times in my life and how much I knew she was going to enjoy being in Blacksburg. She was like yeah, but I really can't wait to be where you are. Upon my confused expression she explained, "you know, already married to a great husband and with cute young kids." And it made me think, I always wanted to be here too.

Now that I am here it is so easy to complain about the lack of sleep, utter exhaustion, a body that will not go back to its college days no matter how hard I work out, and fixing 3 different meals a day for 4 people! But then I remember, it is more about the time together, the giggles, sweet baby noises and toddler hugs and kisses.

This morning Charlotte was practicing her new talent- shrieking with delight- at 6:30 in the morning. I roll over to Jay who has a pillow over his head and is sound asleep. I go into the kids room and pick up Charlotte and Trey scoots off the bed to go find his daddy. We all spend the morning in the big bed as Trey calls it, cuddling, laughing, getting climbed on, and loving every moment. We are truly blessed.

Beep, Beep, Beep

Trey is full of conversation these days and likes to use the same words over and over in his conversation. One if his favorite new words is love or ov as he calls it. In the back of the car yesterday we heard him singing to himself:

ov Larla, ov Mom, ov Dad, ov BUS!!!, ov Nana, ov Papa, ov Uncle, ov truck, uv BUS!!! beep- beep- beep- ......

As you can tell his favorite thing ever is a bus. He knows where all the buses are between home and church (a 45 minute drive) and is eager to point them out before they show up in our sight!

This morning he was still asleep when it was time to get up for church. He was not very amenable to being woken up and shoved into clothes before his eyes were open, but when I mentioned we had to get dressed to go to church the first thing out of his mouth was, "BUS!!" followed quickly by "Beep! Beep! Beep!" in case we had forgotten what sound the bus makes.

He likes to get to church early because the church bus goes to pick up our senior adult population at one of the local retirement homes and if we time it right he can watch them get off the bus and listen to the bus as it beeps and backs up into it's parking space. This is a huge highlight to his week!

Trey is also responding really well when we talk to him about things that are coming up. Yesterday we went and got his hair cut. We talked all week about getting his haircut, how to sit still, how he would watch daddy get his hair cut, and how we don't cry when we get our haircut. When we took him yesterday he sat in a dryer chair and watched Jay get his haircut first. Another hairdresser turned on the dryer beside him so he spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out what the noise and how he could get his chair to do that too! Then he sat still and did not cry while the hairdresser cut his hair. It was the first haircut ever that did not end in tears!

Conversation in the car on the way to the haircut:

Me: Who is going to get their haircut?
Trey: me!
Me: Who else?
Trey: Dad, Mom and Larla
Me: Charlotte is not getting her haircut, remember she has no hair.
Trey: Yes.
Me: Do we cry when we get our haircut?
Trey: no, big boy

The Best of Friends

Trey's friend Madison just had a baby brother added to her family. We went by the other evening to bring dinner and provide entertainment for Madison. I remember after Charlotte was born having visitors helped entertain Trey so much because we weren't really going anywhere outside the house. Trey and Madison had a great time playing and sharing dinner. Madison reminded Trey they needed to say the blessing before they ate. She even convinced him to try a piece of spaghetti, which he spit out as soon as it got into his mouth.

Trey is a man of few words, so Madison took care of the talking end of their relationship. Pretty typical I would say :)



A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside. - A.A. Milne.

Summer Mornings

In the summer our mornings are quite lazy. Starting on Monday Jay is officially on summer break as well so we are enjoying the times of getting things done around the house and just simply being together. Breakfast is usually eaten a little later and usually consists of something homemade. The kids stay in their pajamas a little longer than normal and showers are taken sometime in mid afternoon. It is bliss.

And we usually find ourselves around the kitchen table. Pretty much everything in our life happens around this table it seems like. Especially when I look back at pictures. We fold laundry, try new foods, eat together, and work together here.



This morning Jay was working on his computer. Who knows what he was doing. I think looking up stuff we will never be able to afford.

I was busy organizing my coupons. Right now I am really bad couponer. Iusually lose my coupons between here and the store and my purse. I am dragging the kids out the door at the store and forget to use my coupons or I get fed up with the little pieces of paper and just throw them away. But this summer I am determined to save us some money by using my coupons.



Trey decided to join us at the table and he got his crayons, stickers, paper, and a car seat manual, because that's what all good toddlers need to color. Right now his life's work is to tear the paper off of every crayon in the bag. He is working very diligently on this.



Charlotte's life work is napping. She is very good at it. Especially when her brother runs up the stairs yelling "Larla, Larla!" everytime he realizes she is missing from the room so she must be in her bed asleep. When I try to intercept him in the stairs so he does not disturb her he explains he needs to "Help Larla!" which means wake her up. Hence her napping in the swing this morning and not the crib.