Summertime fun!

The end of July proved to be fairly relaxing. We spent most days just playing at home and at the park. On Fridays throughout the summer we are doing play dates with Jacksons classmates from preschool. He always enjoys seeing his friends and its nice for me to get some quality adult time. His school offers various week long camp sessions throughout the summer. He attended a couple of these at the end of July. Emily also ended up attending camp one week in the crib class! We ran into Jacksons teacher Ms. Michelle when she mentioned that she was teaching the crib class at the end of July and that there were openings for Emily, if interested. I was hesitant at first but at the last minute I decided to go for it. I figured it would be good for both of us since she spends everyday home with me. She attended for three days in a row from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first morning she cried for a bit right after I left, but after that it was smooth sailing. Of course, I had to sneak out each morning when I dropped her off.  She was a happy camper (no pun intended) each afternoon when I arrived to pick her up.

All ready for her first day of camp!

Jackson got a little crazy with the finger paint at one of our play dates

Bowling, for the first time, at another play date

The first weekend of August we went to visit our friends Laura and Rob, who live about three hours NE of Charlotte in a town called Fuquay-Varina. We went to see them, their 6 month old son, and to enjoy some boating on a nearby lake. It was nice catching up with old friends and let the kids play together. It was Emily's first time on the boat. She seemed to enjoy it and even tolerated the life jacket a lot better than I thought she would!

Boating is a way of life for Reid

Jackson and Emily are not so sure

Swimming off the side of the boat

The babies checking each other out...

Enjoying it now

 

 

 

 

Emily was 8 months on August 5th. It is getting more and more difficult to take the monthly photo, as you can see...

 

 

 

 

 

About a week later the kids and I went to the beach with Amber and her two boys. Her parents have a beach house in Emerald Isle which is about 5 hours from here. The trip was a lot of fun but also exhausting with all of the kids. The beach was quite challenging with Emily crawling and trying to eat sand the whole time. After tackling the beach the first day we decided the waterpark would be more relaxing, so we spent the next day there. The boys had tons of fun going to the bounce house, out for ice cream, seeing an outdoor movie, and looking for deer at dusk. We definitely look forward to going back, preferably when Emily is walking!

Enjoying the music in the park the first night we arrived...

Beach day...

Catching a snooze at the waterpark

Such angels when they sleep

Our little cuties before dinner one night

Boo Boo and Anderson

Boo Boo burying Jackson

Boo Boo's turn

We loaded up the kids AND the beach gear in the bike trailers

All the kids watching Disney the morning we left

A couple days after arriving home from the beach, grandma and papa came for a visit. They had not seen our new house yet. We had a fun weekend just bumming around Charlotte and hanging out at the house. Its always nice to see them and let the kids get some quality time in.

Playing with Papa...

 

 

The last 6 weeks in pictures...

As usual, we have been keeping busy here with the kids and the new house. We are feeling pretty settled and have completed a few minor projects so far. The list goes on and on so there is always something to be working on.

The kids are doing well and forever changing. Jackson has been out of school for the summer so keeping him busy can be a challenge. Bobby and Pa are back in NC for awhile so we have been hanging with them quite a bit. Jackson always loves going to their house. He is so smart and keeps us laughing with the things that come out of his mouth. We are often impressed by his growing vocabulary. Emily is 7.5 months old. She has been sitting up on her own for a few weeks now. She loves to sit on the floor and play with all of her toys in front of her. She is very intrigued by Jacksons toys. Of course when she grabs for them, he gets upset because they are his toys. She is not quite crawling yet but it will be any day now. She gets up on all fours and will move an arm or leg forward but hasn't figured out how to put it all together yet. She is very vocal and absolutely loves to play in her jumper. She is still sleeping pretty good at night but her naps during the day are very short, lasting only about 30-40 minutes most of the time. She is eating all sorts of foods now and seems to love everything. They include: oatmeal, yogurt, banana, sweet potatoes, apples, and carrots. She is a little water baby who loves her bath and playing in her inflatable pool. Now onto the pictures.....




We took a family trip to Naples at the beginning of June. Toby had a work conference in Ft. Lauderdale so we all went him and stayed at Bobby and Pa's while he over to the other coast for the week. Hannah came to Naples with Cy that week as well. It was so great to see them. Cy is getting so big and is so cute!

Emily's first time floating in the pool. She loved it!

Cousins

Emily and Cy at baby yoga

Pool day

It was impossible to get a photo of all three kids actually looking at the camera

Jackson and Pa hard at work

Beach life!

At sunset one night

Daddy with his babies for Fathers Day

We drove back from Naples on Fathers Day. Since then we have been in town enjoying the new house.

Daddy with his babies on his 31st birthday

Jackson and I went on a mommy/son date to see Monsters University

Emily and Pa on Independence Day

She fell asleep mid jump!

Emily is 7 months old!

Play time at home

Sitting like a big girl in the shopping cart

Relaxing in her pool

Jackson has been loving the slip and slide

Playing together so nicely

She looks so grown up in this picture :(

Emily's 6 month check up

Today Emily had her 6 month check up. Where has the time gone! She weighed in at 13 lb 14 oz (12th%) and measured 25.5 inches (36%) in length. She received some immunizations but as usual did really well with them. Her clogged tear ducts have improved quite a bit. We are really hoping that this continues so she does not need to have any procedures in the future to correct the problem. The doctor was very pleased with her developments to this point.

Big girl on the exam table at her doctor visit

We gave Emily some rice cereal right around 5 months and she was not that into it. I waited a couple weeks and tried again. She seems to be enjoying it now. We gave her avocado as her first solid food. She really liked it! Last night we added banana into the mix. She seemed a bit unsure then but tonight she really liked it. She is sitting up on her own for very short periods. She loves when we stand her up on her legs. She rolls all over the room now. She is extrememly spoiled and wants to be held most of the time. I've been trying to get her on a nap schedule which is hard because just as she falls asleep it seems like there is always somewhere we need to go, like take Jackson to school or run an errand for example, so she ends up cat napping in her car seat most days. The past two days she has taken an afternoon nap at the same time as Jack! I sure hope that continues, although Jackson seems to be giving up the afternoon nap (not by my choice though!). Emily still sleeps great at night. I put her to bed around 8 p.m. and she sleeps until about 6:30 or 7 a.m. She just adores her brother, always watching him and laughing at his silly actions.

6 month photo shoot this morning

This is how I find her in the crib most mornings



On the move.....again!

Well, we just completed our 4th move within the last two years. I'd like to think that this was the last one.....for awhile anyway! When we came back to the Charlotte area back in January we had the idea that we would move before Jack starts kindergaten, in two years, to get into a better school zone and to upsize a bit. Just for fun we had been searching the realty websites and had even gone to an open house or two. Toby stumbled upon this house and just for kicks called the realtor so we could come take a look. About a week later we were under contract to purchase the home! We then scrambled to get ours on the market. Fortunately for us, ours sold in 6 days!! We close on it in a week. This past weekend we moved into our new home. It will be a work in progress over several years.We are in the process of having the interior painted. The house is located in a neighborhood that we have always longed to live in. Its on a beautiful, private wooded lot that happens to back up to Jacksons preschool. The creek out back already has a bridge and a path leading to the school. We think it will be a great house and neighnorhood for the kids to grow up in. The elementary school is located within the neighborhood! We look forward to all of the memories that will be made in this house!

Toasting to our new home after closing

The front of the house from the street

The back of the house