August 2010

The apples don’t fall far…

by Adrienne on August 30, 2010

Eric is an only child, but growing up he was blessed to have a cousin close in age, Joey. They were ( and still are) very good buddies. Joey is the closest thing to a brother that Eric has. Since I became part of their family, I have heard TONS of stories of Eric and Joey terrorizing their Mothers, Grandmother, and the rest of the town they lived in!

Here is a recent photo of the two of them.

Not the best picture. ( Sorry guys.)

Here they are back in the day..

Eric is the one on the left.

And here they are again a little older..

And again a little older.

Fast forward about 20 years and they both have 2 sweet little girls about the same age.

Two sweet darling little girls, incapable of doing any of the horrid things their daddies had done when they were little boys. I mean just look at those sweet faces!

Or so we thought.

This is what we discovered in one of Eric’s grandmother’s guest bedrooms after the two sweeties had locked themselves in there for a few minutes.

I forgot to mention they used Sharpies!

The good news is that we were able to get most of it off of the walls and trim with one of those magic erasers. The bad news is we have several more years of mischief to deal with from these cute little cousins.

Also, here is the picture of Eric with his Batman cake, on his eighth birthday.

Wesley with his batman cake.

Another example of the apple not falling far…

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Field Trip to the Aquarium

by Adrienne on August 27, 2010

To celebrate our first week of school, we decided to take the kids to Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg. When Wesley was smaller we had annual passes and we went a lot , but we hadn’t been there in a long time. Emma’s last/first trip was at the one in Myrtle Beach. That was when we took this picture, which is one of my favorite pictures of her.

Would you just look at those CHUBBY legs!

Anyway, it was a much needed family day!

They stared at these fish forever!

They were fascinated with the shark tunnel.

This was Ava’s favorite part.

Eric being all “manly” and showing the kids the horseshoe crab.

I think Emma was a little nervous about the jaws.

Wesley trying to be funny by reenacting this picture.

“Mom we found Nemo.”

I think all of us ( except Ava who loved the shark tunnel ) agreed that the new Penguin Playhouse was the best part of the Aquarium.

If you haven’t been, there is a glass tunnel you crawl through and the penguins swim all around you.

Maureen was our favorite penguin.

You could see the penguins swimming under the glass.

We had so much fun that we bought annual passes again.

Wesley is spending the night with Eric’s grandmother tonight, so this evening we took the girls on a walk around the neighborhood and stopped at the park. I am loving the “cooler” weather.

Ava is smitten with her Daddy.

I sure do love these little girlys.

Tonight when I was tucking Emma in bed she said, ” Mommy I had fun with you today”.

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First day of school

by Adrienne on August 23, 2010

Well, we survived our first day of school! It went fine, but I would be lying if I said it went great. We have all of Wesley’s books, but until late this afternoon we hadn’t received all of my teacher’s books. So we did some math, bible and reading. I am also having Wesley keep a journal, and he wrote in that. We also went to the Library and checked out some books. But, because I didn’t have any teacher books I didn’t feel comfortable starting any other subjects. It will probably take a few days for me to figure out exactly how our days are going to go. Emma was really curious about the whole school thing. She was really hard to manage today and I’m hoping that she will be able to entertain herself a little more as we get adjusted. If any homeschooling moms out there have any suggestions on what to do with a toddler during school time I would love some help.

I had a little first day of school gift for Wesley.

Here is Wesley’s desk, and new computer.

My adorable little second grader.

Hard worker.

Emma coloring in her My little Pony book.

Ava’s favorite subject is nap time!

Wesley was supposed to be working on a human body puzzle, but Emma decided she wanted to “help”, and we eventually had to give up on it.

I’m sure things will get easier as we settle into a routine. Wesley did great and had a great attitude. He already told me once today that he loved homeschooling.

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Wesley’s 8th birthday party!

by Adrienne on August 21, 2010

Wesley with his batcake. Eric’s Mom brought over a really cute picture of Eric with his batman cake at the same age. So cute. I will scan it when I get a chance and put it on the blog.

Wesley and Emma love to play Batman together. When they play Emma is always Robin. When I saw this shirt I had to get it for her and she LOVES to wear it!

His big present from Eric and I was a Batman slot car track.

Happy Birthday Wesley!

Olivia came to the party sporting her cute new shades!

Sweet little Sofia.

Do we have some cute babies in our family or what?

Wesley wanted me to take a picture of him with all of his presents.

Holy birthday presents Batman!

Thank you to everyone that came and made Wesley’s birthday special. We love you all!

I’m going to bed so I can get caught up on my sleep. Hopefully Ava will cooperate!

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Wesley’s birthday sleepover!

by Adrienne on August 21, 2010

Tonight has been such a fun night! We had 6 little boys ( 7 including Wesley) over for a sleepover. In case you couldn’t guess there was a Batman theme.

Party favors

The “Batcave”

We played Batman Pictionary. It was so much fun!

After the game, we went on a bat hunt. We actually did see some bats!

Ava loved the walk. She fell asleep in her Baby Bjorn.

After the walk we all got teeth brushed and settled into our pajamas and watched Paul Blart Mall Cop.

Everyone all tucked into the “Batcave”.

We have had so much fun with these sweet little boys! I have laughed so hard tonight! I think this has definitely been my favorite birthday party so far!

Eric said to me tonight, ” Can you imagine doing this with a bunch of little girls”. Ha Ha!

Wesley’s ( and Mommy and Daddy’s) first sleepover was a big success!

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Happy 8th Birthday Wesley

by Adrienne on August 19, 2010

Eight years ago today, I became a Mommy for the first time! It has been a wonderful eight years! Anyone who has the privilege of knowing Wesley, knows what an incredible little boy he is.

He has a heart for people who are sick. He prays for all the people he knows that are sick every night, from a cold to cancer.
His best friend is his Dad.
His favorite color is blue.
He LOVES sharks. Shark week is one of his favorite times of year.
He loves being a big brother. ( He wants us to have more children.)
His favorite type of food is Japanese.
He loves to make people laugh, and has a great sense of humor.
Little kids and babies LOVE him. He takes great pride in that.
His favorite subjects in school are Bible and Science.
He is following in his father’s footsteps and has taken up photography. ( He is really good!)
He loves Batman!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Wesley:

Wesley, you are such a joy. You make your Daddy and I so proud. We love you very much!

Happy Birthday!

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A busy week

by Adrienne on August 15, 2010

There have been so many times that I meant to blog this week, but I didn’t. I guess I’ll start out with some pretty big news. We have decided to homeschool this year! Yes, we kinda waited till the last minute to decide, which has left us scrambling to pick out curriculum and other homeschool supplies. We ordered all of our books, and a new desk for Wesley. I’m hoping to start school on the 23rd. I am really excited/ terrified, which I’m told is exactly how I should feel. Of course I will be keeping everyone informed of our new adventure.

I have also been busy planning Wesley’s 8th birthday party, which is next week. We are having a batman themed sleepover on Friday night and we will have a family party on Saturday. This will be the first time Wesley has had friends over for a sleepover. I think it will be a lot of fun.

Thursday, Eric and I celebrated our 10th anniversary! I can’t believe how fast ten years have gone by.

We went to dinner together. We had our little sidekick (Ava) with us. I’m hoping that maybe next year we can take a trip together, since we couldn’t this year.

Here are the beautiful roses Eric gave me.

Earlier this week we had a playdate with the Riggs family.

Abby and Wesley have been pals their whole lives.

Silly faces.

We had a great time!

Also this week Emma made AMAZING progress at the pool. She started out jumping in to me in the shallow end. I put her floaties on her and she started swimming all over the pool and had a blast! She even jumped into the deep end. I have no idea what made her decide to do this, but she was amazing.

I’ll try to get some video of her this week.

Lastly, Eric and I have been shopping for a car, and we got a great deal on this beaut. Here is our new sweet ride.

Ha Ha! Kidding.

It is almost that time!!

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2 year and 2 month check ups

by Adrienne on August 8, 2010

Last week my two sweet little girlys had check ups. It was a rough visit because they both had to have shots. The good news is they are both healthy! Here are there stats:

Emma is 35 lbs. 10 oz. -94% 37 1/2 inches -84%

She’s been pretty high up on the charts since she was born. The doctor said she was a healthy girl.

She was NOT a fan of the doctor’s office. She started crying when they asked her to step up on the scales, and it was pretty much downhill after that.

Ava is 11lbs 3oz -53% 22 inches -31%

I didn’t take a picture of her at the doctor’s, so here is just a sweet picture.

Later that afternoon we had a swim playdate with the Giffords. We ended up playing indoors because of the rain.

While we were there, Emma fell and hit her cheek. It looks a little worse now, because of the bruising.

That didn’t stop her from having a great time playing with her best friend!

Elliott LOVES babies! She will be a wonderful big sister!

The girls snuggling up during the storm to watch Cinderella 3.

Wesley spent most of last week at my Dad’s in Asheville with his cousin Ella. He had a blast! We are glad he had such a great time, but we sure did miss him! Today I took him to Build a Bear. Here he is with ” Bat-bear”.

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Back to school

by Adrienne on August 4, 2010

I have finished Wesley’s back to school shopping. I usually try to avoid tax free weekend because everything gets picked over and it’s just total insanity.

Here is his loot.

I love his backpack and lunchbox and it was a STEAL at the Children’s Place with a 20 percent off coupon. I still need to order his uniforms but aside from that, we are all set.

I know I had a baby at the beginning of summer, but good grief the summer has gone by SO FAST!!! It always does, but really!!!!

Speaking of time going by, my little Ava Charlotte turned 2 months old last Friday! She and Emma both have check-ups tomorrow so I will post all of their stats later.

I FINALLY ordered her birth announcements and I’m just waiting for the pictures I ordered to mail them out.

I have to share with all of my Mommy friends who have babies the great deal on diapers I found. Parent’s magazine has a 2o percent off coupon for diapers on Amazon. If you sign up to do the subscribe and save (on amazon) you get 30 percent off, and then you can use your 20 percent off coupon. And, you get free two-day shipping. We got 288 diapers for $38.00!!

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BIG NEWS!

by Adrienne on August 2, 2010

Before I get to the big news, here are some pictures of some things we did this weekend.

Friday my friend Rebekka and her family came over to play.

Her little boy Tristan is a big fan of Thomas, so we got out all of Wesley’s old Thomas trains and track. The kids had a lot of fun playing together. It made me miss the Thomas days.