Time Flies

These two are closing in on their 1st and 3rd birthdays. I can hardly believe that they will be 1 and 3 in less than a month! They are such precious children, and I continued to be amazed at how different children of the same genetics and rearing can be!

This one is crawling, pulling up, eating up a storm, drinking exclusively from a sippy cup, and sleeping 12 hours at night! She says a few things....uh, oh, bye-bye, and hi sometimes...but don't let that fool you into thinking she's quiet. Oh, no. Callen "talks" up a storm and LOVES to squeal {which I don't love so much}. She also thinks her brother is fabulous and wants to be wherever he is, doing whatever he is doing.

This one is as busy as you might imagine an almost-3-year-old can be. He is ALL. BOY. Carter throws everything, runs, and is into sports more than I would have expected at his age--golf, especially. He is a sponge and soaks in everything that is around him, and amazes me with what he learns and what he remembers. He loves his little sister but could be a little more gentle with her.

They are a sweet pair, though!

Former Roomies

Cheney & I were roommates in Tut.wiler at the University of Ala.bama what seems like forever ago our freshman year of college. We went to high school together and had such a great time sharing our first year of school living in the tee-tiny room we called a dorm!

(sure wish I felt like rummaging through my pictures to find one of the day we moved in to our dorm to compare to this one!)

Sadly, we haven't seen each other since our 10 year high school reunion because life has kept us extremely busy. Cheney has two girls and lives in At.lanta. Although her family still lives in Birmingham, we haven't managed to be in Birmingham at the same time over the past several years.

So, needless to say, I was thrilled when she told me she was bringing the girls to Birmingham on a weekend we were going to be in town! We had them over for some playtime and dinner, and it was FABULOUS to get to catch up with her!

The children enjoyed playing together, and they played together very well--Cheney's girls even endured playing trains with Carter! Carter woke up the next day asking if they were coming back to play!

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

Until I can muster up some blogging energy, I'll leave you to deduce what happened here:

Carter goes to the Dentist

{Title in honor of one of Carter's favorite books: Do.ra Goes to the Dentist}

Friday morning, Nick and Carter headed up to Decatur to go to the dentist. Nick's dental visit had been scheduled for some time, but I called recently to see if they could squeeze Carter in on the same morning Nick had his appointment. {For those of you who may not know, Nick's dad is a dentist. So, naturally, he is Nick's dentist, and I couldn't imagine my children getting their teeth taken care of by a dentist other than Popsy!} Luckily, the grandson has some pull and they were able to schedule Carter right after Nick.

I had a breakfast for work that morning, so Nick took him up there and reported that he was PERFECT! I am so proud of him!

Here are some pictures from his trip to Popsy's dental chair {for dental reasons...there have been known to be other reasons to go to the dental chair! Please see the Murphree Blog for more details!}

Ready for his cleaning and exam

Mrs. Kim cleaning his teeth

In the rocket {he informed me that the rocket takes a picture of your teeth!}

Popsy checks out his teeth

With Popsy at the end of his visit!

I am happy to report that he got a great overall report, with the exception of how his teeth are out of whack {my term!} from where he sucks his thumb. We'll have to start working on that one soon!

Thanks for taking care of our teeth, Popsy!

A Cousin Visits!

Sunday afternoon while Carter was asleep, Debbie {Nick's mom} pulled up at our house to spend the night with this lovely lady in tow:

When Carter woke up from his nap, he couldn't have been more excited that Debbie and Mary Reese were at our house. Mary Reese and Debbie had picked out some surprises for Carter and Callen at Target. Mary Reese was ready to show Carter how to put his surprises to good use, and she had an eager student!

First, she coached him on the finer points of artistic expression with sidewalk chalk on asphalt.

Then, she instructed him in marksmanship with a water pistol {through the screen on the back porch--very creative!}
All the while, Callen felt the need to demonstrate that she could entertain herself pulling up around the house.
After Mary Reese and Carter had exhausted the "newness" of his surprises, they thought it'd be a good idea to cool off in the sprinklers. This is what they did for 20 minutes...ran, ran, and ran in circles through the water!
Before bedtime, Mary Reese even had Carter playing dolls with her! It was actually really funny to watch. Carter hasn't really played dolls before, so Mary Reese kept telling him to make them say something. He kept making them say, "Carter," and Mary Reese would laugh and say "not that!"
They played together so very well...with no fights or tears! We were so happy to have Mary Reese and Debbie here last night, and Carter was so sad his playmate was gone when we got home tonight!

You Compare

Callen; July 2010

Carter; July 2008

Guess there isn't much question about if they're brother and sister, huh?

Off of her belly!

At 10 months, this little one has finally decided to crawl on all fours. She's been doing some strange but surprisingly very effective--and fast! version of an army crawl that has turned the front of EVERY outfit she owns into a laundry nightmare. She could crawl on all fours and would do so every once in a while.

In the last week, though, she has consistently been crawling on all fours and is pretty fast that way now, as well.
She's pretty pleased with herself, and I am both happy with her accomplishment and just slightly sad that my baby keeps growing up so fast!

Our 4th of July Weekend

Well, you could probably guess where we went for the 4th of July weekend. We headed back down to the beach to celebrate the 4th {which is also my dad's birthday}. The children and I drove down on Thursday night and the intention was for Nick to drive down Friday after work.

Unfortunately, Nick's car died as he was headed to work on Friday morning {but also fortunately, in that he/we were not on the road to the beach with two children and a dog and hours away from someone who could help} . My brother took some time out of his morning to help Nick out since the rest of us were at the beach, and his sister was kind enough to loan Nick her car for the weekend since they were going out of town {ahh...the benefits of having family close by...}

So, while Nick spent the weekend in Birmingham researching and test driving new cars, the kiddos and I enjoyed some quality time with my parents and sister. Sadly, because I was without my spouse, I took fewer pictures than is usual for me when we go down there...BUT, we had a great time!

Carter couldn't get enough swimming in. I swear, he is becoming VERY fearless around the water...a good, but also scary thing!

Waiting at the door to the pool for me to get all of the "gear" situated. I just felt like it was safer to have my two inside until I could have my attention focused completely on them.

Bamma pointing out the dolphin swimming in the harbor to Carter. He loved them! We got to see them several times while we were down there. We sure are glad that they still love to come in the harbor to get their dinner...no oil there yet!

Taking a break from swimming. Callen wanted to make sure she wasn't missing anything.

We celebrated Dad's birthday on Saturday night and Sunday, and got to see some great fireworks--Carter even braved it and stayed up for them! We were glad to get back and see Nick on Sunday night and enjoyed some pool time late on Monday afternoon.

Now...just to take care of that car situation.