Our RE-placed Southern Family

LSU game day attire gone wrong

2012-01-22T12:17:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I preface this post by admitting that there were plenty of UA fans in New Orleans who could be on an Alabama version of this. I just chose to focus my picture-taking elsewhere. I will also disclaim that I saw many, many very classy LSU fans with game day attire that made me envious {had it been available in crimson}.

But, I couldn't help but share with you some of the folks who made me chuckle while we were walking around on gameday.

Something about these tiger ears that I must not understand...

And for some, the ears just aren't enough...
I got nothin'...
The quality here isn't great, but this guy seemed to have on his LSU pjs at a bank event before the game. Ok for Christmas morning...leaves a little something to be desired for gameday.
I will applaud them for their school spirit and the entertainment they provided me. :)

14!

2012-01-20T12:05:00.000-06:00

Nick and I were fortunate enough to get to head down to New Orleans for the BCS Nation.al Champ.ionship game! We went to the first UA-LSU match up this year and we both had a feeling that the outcome this time was going to be different...

A HUGE THANK YOU to Bamma and Big Pat who kept C & C so that we could go down there. We dropped them off on Sunday morning and headed to the airport to join the madness {and I do mean MADNESS} in New Orleans.

Sunday night we went to a party hosted by Nick's bank {which is based in LA} and there were plenty of LSU fans, but I like to think those of us who were Tide fans represented well, all things considered.

Then it was Monday, the day of the game. We left our hotel {much as we leave for Tuscaloosa on game day} intending to enjoy the day and then head to the game.

After much anticipation and excitement {and my personal fill of hearing "Tiger Bait" shouted all day}, we headed here:

Was exciting to see the Super.dome with red/white lights {among other colors}. After what seemed like forever to get into the dome and up to our seats {please, can some venue that has it figured out help the dome with crowd control?}, we were ready for the action.
While I know that the rest of the world didn't think it was a very exciting game {hard to feel that way when it is dominated by one side}, I thought it was AMAZING and exciting!

Perhaps the best part was watching all those fans who were yelling Tiger Bait all weekend bail out of the stadium in the fourth quarter.

Kudos to the Tide for a big win {a shutout!!!} in the national championship game!

Roll Tide!

Lights and Face Painting

2012-01-18T11:57:00.000-06:00

I was off for two weeks at Christmas with C & C, so when Aunt B called after Christmas and wanted to go to Zoo.light Safari at the zoo, we thought it was a great idea. The night we chose to go was actually one of the cooler nights of December, but we still had a great time.

First up, ride the train. This is always a favorite at the zoo. Everyone cuddled up close with Aunt B.
Then, we walked around to see more of the lights and saw where they were painting faces. Carter and Callen wanted in on the action.

Carter sat amazingly still while the kind gentleman painted a lion on his cheek.
Then, it was Callen's turn. She sat pretty still as well, but tended to pull away from him because "it tickles."
The finished products...much more detailed lions than I was anticipating!

We walked through the barn and then had to stop and take our picture with Big Al (you can see that they are equal opportunity with the AU set up right next to the UA one.)
After leaving the zoo, we met Daddy for dinner to cap off our fun night with Aunt B.

Christmas Day Re-Cap

2012-01-16T08:10:00.001-06:00

Christmas morning was an exciting one in our house. These two slept until 6:30 {which I thought was pretty good} and then patiently posed for a picture before we opened presents.

After our photo shoot, it was off to see if there was anything in our stockings. The picture quality isn't all that great, but it was too cute not to include.
Carter had several fun items in his stocking, but his favorite was a "real" Alabama jersey. Just in time for wearing in preparation for the 2012 BCS Nat.ional Champ.ionship game.
Callen's favorite item among her stocking treats was a stuffed Hello Kit.ty, but you can see it well in this picture.
Once the stockings had been emptied, we moved on the the presents under the tree. The first one Carter opened was a set of Han.dy Man.ny tools he had been wanting. He was excited to hear them sing and put them to work fixing things around our house.
He opened several more gifts that he had requested from Santa, and then opened his "big RC car" from Toy Sto.ry. It is a remote control car that he LOVES.
Callen was wondering what Santa brought that was in this big bag....
A drawing table! She was so excited! Can you tell?
Callen also loves bubbles, but she has a hard time blowing them herself, so Santa brought her a bubble machine. She was all about it. I am pretty sure that is the only time I will allow the machine to blow bubbles INSIDE the house!

It didn't take Callen any time to get to work coloring on the paper roll on the drawing table.
We had to beg Carter to change clothes later in the day; he was so into driving RC and fixing things with his tools.
After opening presents, we had a yummy breakfast with Bamma and Big Pat, and a relaxing Christmas Day with each other capped off by watching Ne.mo, which Callen got in her stocking!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-15T11:32:00.004-06:00

Christmas Eve, the Willis clan headed to church early...we went to the 2:30 service, which was completely packed! I cannot imagine what the 4:30 service was like! The service was great and the children were well behaved considering that they are 4 & 2.

After church we headed home to change clothes and prep dinner, as we had Bamma and Big Pat, Aunt B and Uncle Ken joining us for Christmas Eve dinner. Nick made his Christmas Eve gumbo and we had yummy mini ham sandwiches to accompany. It was delightful.

Before we could get started with the little ones opening their presents from family, we couldn't resist pressing the men into service around the house. Uncle Ken owns a hardware store, so when my dad commented that our dishwasher handle {which has been loose as long as I can remember} needed tightening, they went to work taking the door apart to tighten it.

Since they completed that so well, I thought I'd ask Uncle Ken if he minded fixing the handle to our back door {it came off when you opened the door}. He was happy to oblige! Thanks to Ken, Dad and Nick for fixing all of our issues!

Ken and Dad fixing the door handle

On to the opening of the presents...Callen was excited to get some color won.der books from Aunt B and Uncle Ken. {I was equally excited that it was color won.der.)

Carter loved his Buzz Light.year sleeping bag from Bamma and Big Pat.
Keeping with the sleep theme, Callen was thrilled with princess sheets that Bamma and Big Pat gave her.
Bamma and Big Pat wanted to make sure that Carter and Callen would be warm cheering on the Tide to another championship, so they also got Tide sweatshirts.

Aunt B and Uncle Ken gave Carter an Opt.imus Pri.me helmet that has sound effects and lets you talk while changing your voice to sound like Opt.imus Pri.me. He loves it!
Trying out their warm hats from Mrs. Dollie and Mr. Young...
It was a great day/night that we enjoyed spending with family. Then, it was off to bed in anticipation of Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

From Our Family to Yours....

Lovoy Christmas Dinner

2011-12-24T06:09:00.001-06:00

On Wednesday night, we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family at Mom and Dad's house. Mom cooked a lovely dinner, and we enjoyed spending time together.

Santa left some gift bags of goodies at Bamma and Big Pat's house for Carter and Callen, and Callen found a sucker that she kept close tabs on until after dinner when she was able to eat it!

Carter and Callen ready to open presents!

Finally, they get to rip paper! Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily gave them Hung.ry Hip.pos! {never mind that we have managed already to lose two of the marbles} Callen also received some Fan.cy Nan.cy game cards.
Carter was pretty thrilled to open his present and find a Toy Sto.ry Alien Fish.ing game.
Big Pat and Carter had it working and were fishing for aliens in no time! I am pretty sure that Carter has played it at least once an hour that he has been awake since!

Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily helped Callen get Hun.gry Hip.pos all set up and ready to play. Which, of course, they did.

Aunt B and Uncle Ken observed the madness - Aunt B took pictures, of course. I think they are just enjoying the "quiet" that is this Christmas, for next year, their little one will surely be in the mix as well!

We had a wonderful night and enjoyed spending time celebrating Christmas with family!

Run, Run As Fast as You Can...

2011-12-23T20:45:00.000-06:00

...You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

Carter has been saying this for the past couple of weeks because they have been reading the book at school. Last weekend, he asked if we could make gingerbread man cookies. That seemed like a pretty good idea for an activity that would keep us busy for a while on our first day all together for the Christmas break.

So, I enlisted my assistant pastry chefs. This one had obviously been busy already since she has flour on her face.

I used this recipe from SL's Dec issue. Was pretty easy and actually pretty tasty--I am not a huge gingerbread cookie fan.

After waiting the required amount of time for the dough to refrigerate, it was time to get to cutting our gingerbread men {and women} out.

Cut gingerbread cookies waiting to be transferred to the pan.

Who can resist watching the little guys/gals cook in the oven?

As Carter called them: Naked Gingerbread Men cooling and waiting to be iced.

One of the perks of being the assistant pastry chefs is that you get to lick the beaters from the roy.al icing! I am pretty sure this was the highlight of the gingerbread man making.

Finally, the gingerbread people were iced and ready to eat and share!

B-I-N-G-O

2011-12-23T14:14:00.003-06:00

And not of the farmer-had-a-dog variety. More along the lines of this...

It has been a Willis family tradition for, well, a while now {I know it pre-dates my children by about a year or two, at least}. Recently, we have had to make our own bingo cards {no blaming the card, then, right?} Aunt Stacey and Uncle David were hard at work on theirs.

All players bring prizes for the table and my FIL and Jane add a number of "signature" items. If you bingo, you pick a prize from the table.

Once everyone has had the opportunity to bingo once {this is usually when all the "big" bingo items are selected}, then we keep playing until the table looks more like this.

Our signature items this year was a drill that Nick scored when he bingoed. We managed to score quite a few good items...this was our loot after Bingo closed down.

In addition to bingo and a great brunch there were gifts for the children:

{three generations of Willis men}

there were stockings for everyone...

lots of playtime with cousins...

that even included some football in our new UA football ensemble...complete with a semi-Heis.man pose that Banks was trying to teach him to do!

We had a lovely time celebrating with Nick's family--enjoying the food, family and fun!

School Christmas Celebrations

2011-12-22T13:31:00.005-06:00

Carter and Callen had their Christmas celebrations at school last week. I was fortunate enough to be in town and able to attend both! They were both PJ parties, so the children were excited to get to wear their pajamas to school.

Carter opted against his Santa PJs in favor of Bu.zz Light.year. He told me that he wanted to be "cool, like Evan {who was also wearing Buzz pjs} and Sophie." I think my heart broke just a little that he is growing up so fast. I didn't think it was possible to know {or care} about being "cool" at 4. But, there are some battles not worth fighting, and having a happy child {who feels "cool" in character PJs, which I am sure will one day mortify him} seems worth leaving the Santa pjs in the drawer...but I digress...

So, on to the party. All 17 children in their class line up to go through the food line. They then sit {so amazingly} patiently at their tables until all their classmates have food, and then they dig in!

After the party food, there was a book swap {boys with boys, and girls with girls}. The teachers played music, all the children passed books to the person next to them and when the music stopped, you got the book you were holding.

Carter unwrapping his book

Yea! Go D.og Go! A new copy of one of our favorites!

After the book swap, Carter and his friends gave their parents the handmade Christmas gifts they created for us--a burlap handprint Christmas tree and a handprint-turned-snowmen. Both were very precious.

Callen's party was the next day, so she geared up for celebrating in her Santa PJs! {at least I still have one who will still wear them to school!} They also started their party with some yummy snacks. Callen ate just about every last bite of all that was on her plate. That girl has a serious sweet tooth, and yet we have to beg her to eat a normal meal.

Callen's class made handprint plates for the parents for Christmas. They were precious also and all lined up above their cubbies with their book from a friend behind. Callen was excited to open her book from Amber.

This next picture is so very Callen. Although it looks like she is dancing, she is really pointing her finger and giving instructions to her friends on where they need to go next. What a hoot! Her teachers told me that they sometimes have to ask her who is in charge in their class when she gets a little bossy. OMG! What are we in for? She. is. only. 2.

A self portrait of Mommy and Callen after the party and before we headed to get Carter.

We had fun celebrating the season with their friends and teachers!

Christmas Tree Farm

2011-12-09T19:16:00.004-06:00

Today, I took the day off to head to the Christmas Tree Farm on a field trip with Carter's class so that they could pick out their class Christmas tree. Earlier in the week, I was a tad nervous that the weather would be horrible {it had been rainy and COLD here}, but turns out that today was sunny with highs in the 50s, so it was actually a great day to go! Just a little bit of a nip in the air, but enough sun to balance it out.

Carter was pretty excited! They had gone to this same farm in October to pick pumpkins {and then we went as a family}, so he thought he was an old pro.

Everyone lined up next to the bus while we got our schedule of events.

After a bathroom break, there was some haystack climbing and swinging to pass the time until we got to see the animals and feed them corn that hadn't been harvested.
Turns out, this goat couldn't wait for us to feed him. He thought that what was happening outside the fence was far more exciting than what was behind the fence.
We even got to see two baby goats. They don't look too small here, but I couldn't get a good a picture of them standing up. Pretty cute...for goats.
We then ate lunch {at 10:30, BTW, I opted to hold out for later}, and then went on a hayride. After the hayride, the children were served apple cider {read: juice} and candy canes while they listened to a story about a boy who lives on a Christmas tree farm.
Then, it was time to pick out the tree. Their teachers told them that they had to agree as a class on which tree they wanted, cut it down themselves {with a little guidance from one of the dads}, and then carry it themselves back to have it wrapped for travel. I was more than a little skeptical. I mean, they are FOUR.

But, after stopping at one tree that most liked, but one classmate vetoed because "the top is too crazy." They did all agree on one.

Then they all took a turn sawing. Below is Carter's turn...pretty sure Mr Ray is holding the tree on the stump at this point.
They carried it by themselves all the way to check out, and then caught as it came out of the "wrapper."

The full class

It was a fun trip, and I was glad that I got to go with them. I am eager to see what their classroom looks like when they get their Christmas tree up!

The Difference a Year Makes

2011-12-04T21:07:00.002-06:00

This morning we went to the V.CC after Sunday School for the annual Santa Brunch. These two couldn't have been more excited about talking with Santa about what they want for Christmas. Callen wasn't too excited about sitting on his lap. She stood next to Carter, holding his hand and told Santa what she wanted.

Here is a picture {courtesy of my phone} from this morning.

This one was from last year's Santa brunch {with my good camera}.

It always amazes me how fast they change at this age! I am looking forward to all the fun and excitement of sharing the joy of Christmas with our children.

I Have Been a Slack Blogger

2011-11-27T16:08:00.003-06:00

I have not, however, been a slacker in life, which has led to a crazy busy November that left no time for blogging. So, here on the 27th of November, I will re-cap what we've been up to this month.

On Nov 3, I accompanied Carter's class on their field trip to Dis.ney on Ice. It was fun...a little crazy with 18 children {even with the 5 parents}; I have no idea how the teachers do it. Eighteen of someone else's children out in public once a month. I fear my blood pressure would never recover.

Our self-portrait

the best picture I could get of the skating action

The first week of November, we took an unexpected afternoon trip to the doctor because Carter woke up from a nap howling that his ear hurt. He did, in fact, have a nasty ear infection. So, we were sentenced to 10 days of antibiotics...not that he minded...love bubble gum flavored amo.xil.

Nick and I were fortunate enough for my parents to take our children to the beach during the first weekend of November so that we could attend the "Game of the Century" {or so it was billed}. We did indeed have a great time, though we would have much preferred to have won the game. It has been interesting to watch college football ~~implode~~ unfold since then... We can't wait until next Sunday night!

Fast forward a few weeks and Carter was able to help celebrate HG's birthday at Cali.fornia Piz.za Kitchen. Didn't know they did birthday parties there, but it was a lot of fun. The children made their own pizzas, toured the kitchen and sang Happy Birthday and ate cake!

Carter and HG

Carter's pizza

Callen found {and fell in love with} "tall" boots! This was her Thanksgiving attire for the two Thanksgivings that we celebrated.

First, we had my family over to our house on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and then we headed up to Decatur on Thursday for Thanksgiving celebrations with the Willis clan. I left my camera at home, so I don't have any pictures of the fine food or the cousins. :(

We also picked out our Christmas tree the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We knew it was supposed to rain, so we picked it out early so it wouldn't be wet and put it up in our house to fall out over the weekend. It now has the lights and the star on it and is waiting to be trimmed.

Nick and I took a little day trip yesterday down Hwy 280 to watch the Tide in their final regular season game of the season.
They did not disappoint! It was a great win to cap off a great regular season and it was very fun to get to tailgate with some of our friends who are Au.burn fans and catch up with them!

Here's hoping you and your family enjoyed a lovely November and a beautiful Thanksgiving celebrating your blessings with family and friends.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:41:00.004-05:00

Today was a big Halloween celebration. Our festivities started with parties at school for each of my children at 3:00 today. I started my fun out with some time in Carter's classroom.

They were finishing story time--in full costume, of course-- when the parents got there.

They quickly transitioned into picture and party mode. I guess we've officially transitioned to 4K when they can sit still for a series of pictures made by all the parents in the room!

Carter enjoyed his Halloween treats with his friends at school!
Then I went next door to celebrate with Cind.erella at her Halloween party. She was already enjoying her treats when I got there.
The whole table {watching a friend melt down across the room}.
Callen was so excited when it was time to go get Carter and head home for trick or treating. They are so sweet together most of the time.

While I was talking with Carter's teachers, they were reading a Halloween book that Carter's teachers had given him.
Once we got home and had some dinner, it was time to get ready to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood.

A shot of Cinder.ella by herself

And one of Bu.zz

Bu.zz thought he'd show me how he flies "to in.finity and beyond"

Trick-or-treating

Riding in the wagon...Daddy-powered

The family Halloween shot

the loot

We had a fun, safe Halloween {without it being too cold}. We hope you had a Happy Halloween, too!

Pre-Halloween Festivities

2011-10-30T20:35:00.005-05:00

We have enjoyed a few fun activities during this busy week leading up to Halloween. Last Thursday evening, the children's daycare held their fall festival. They do a great job--transforming every room into a carnival activity, having a bouncehouse, serving dinner. I was only able to make it for a little while because I had a work dinner, but Nick was able to stay so that Carter and Callen could bounce, and bounce, and bounce...and maybe fit in a few games.

While I was there, we went to visit with Mrs. Katrina, who is one of Callen's favorite teachers. In her room, they were playing pin the tail on the donkey. Callen got a practice run with no blindfold.

Then Carter showed her how to do it with the blindfold.
So, Callen thought she'd try it.
Carter, of course, gravitated across the hall where they were golfing for prizes.
Callen joined in also.

They stayed for a while longer and bounced, but I never managed to get a picture of that.

Today, our neighborhood had its Halloween block party. We got there a little late because Carter had soccer during the first half. However, there were still some games going on when we got there. There was a bean bag toss...

Bag decorating so that you could hold all your prizes...

And there was a fire truck there also! Carter got to drive, but Callen was too shy to climb up there.

Just a little preview of my Cinderella...

and my Bu.zz Light.year before the trick-or-treating begins!

Our house is all ready for any trick-or-treaters who may come tomorrow night {though I am not too hopeful--we are at the very end of our neighborhood. I don't think we had any last year}.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-15T17:14:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday, we headed out to the pumpkin patch for a little fall festivities and to bring home some decorations for our front porch. Carter's class had taken a field trip to this particular pumpkin patch so he was excited to share with us all about it!

We drove about 30 minutes to the farm and loaded up in the wagon for our pumpkin patch adventure.

After stopping to go through the hay maze {which essentially meant that Carter raced through the maze and we called his name until we found him!}, we headed over to check out the animals. We got to see goats, ducks, turkeys, chickens and got to touch a baby chick! We also saw horses and calves.
Callen like the horses the best. She kept wanting to go back and see them.
They both liked climbing on the hay mountain. Carter was all about showing Callen how it was done. She was not about to miss out on anything! Fearless, that girl is.
With Daddy riding out to pick out our pumpkins.
A rare picture with me while we were waiting for the hayride.

At the pumpkin patch at last. We picked out four pumpkins...and one was white and I LOVE it!

Determining that this was the perfect pumpkin.

Excited after a fun trip to the pumpkin patch! Not so excited that the sun was in their eyes.

They were great the whole time and exhausted on the way home! Carter asked if we could go back again. I think that means it was great day!

Pig Roast

2011-10-15T17:00:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, some friends of ours hosted a "Pigskins and Pig Roast" at their house. They had, as you can see, a whole BBQ'd pig, lots of fixins to accompany it, and several TVs going all day so that we could watch several different football games.

I went with the children because Nick had gone to Tuscaloosa for the football game. The children were entertained with a bouncehouse, friends from school, and face-painting. I'll let you guess which was their favorite.

I tried to talk Carter out of getting his face painted. He would have none of it. It was Spidey he wanted, and Spidey he got.

I had a little better success convincing Callen. She opted for a rainbow wrapped around her arm. But, make no mistake, she was going to have something...because all the big kids had something painted.

We had a fun time eating, playing and watching football with friends!

Sassy Sister

2011-10-08T10:30:00.002-05:00

Little Miss has been especially sassy lately. Not in a negative way; rather, more in an "I am really wanting to be a girly-girl" way.

This is what she insisted on wearing to school last week. {sorry for the poor quality...she wasn't really wanting me to take a picture, so I couldn't try for take 2}

Last weekend, she had had enough of bows. She wanted pigtails. Anyone have any idea how hard it is to put pigtails in someone's hair when it barely touches her shoulders? Tough. But we managed. Because, what young lady can be sassy without pigtails?

Birthday Celebration for Friends

2011-09-15T14:40:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, Carter helped two friends from school celebrate their birthdays. The party was held at the Child.ren's Fre.sh Air Fa.rm, which was a venue that I had never been to before. It was actually probably fewer than 5 miles from the house where I grew up!

The twins whose birthday we were celebrating love horses, so there were pony rides for the cowboys and cowgirls at the party! Carter had to be coaxed a little to ride Cookie, but I think he was glad he did.

In addition to a bounce house with a slide, they also had a clown there who did face painting for the children.

When Carter came up to me {while I was talking with another parent} and said, "Mom, I want to get a spider.man, " I said sure. I am not sure I was expecting full-face spidey. It turned out to be quite the topic of conversation as we made a quick run through Home De.pot after the party.
At the end of the party, the birthday girls were gracious enough to take a picture with Carter. {aside: Carter goes back and forth between which of the twins is his "girlfriend." And, yes, he is four. I can't even imagine what I am in for.}
Happy Birthday S. & B.! Thanks for having Carter to your party!

Family Beach Trip

2011-09-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

When we got down to the beach for our family beach trip starting Labor Day weekend, we were greeted by Tropical Storm L.ee.

Lots of wind...lots of rain...lots of water...

Typically, the water level is about two feet {at least} below the dock...here it is right under it.
This is a veiw of the dock by the boat launch. Clearly the water is up higher than usual.
During the storms, we played with play doh, watched movies, played with cars, played with the new pirate island set Carter got for his birthday, and generally enjoyed being together with family. I was really proud of my little ones...they seemed not to be disheartened that we were inside for a few days at the beach. I guess being in a new place was entertaining enough.

Then, the sun came out...
These two were pretty excited for that as well. We spent Tuesday {our first day of sun} swimming at Bamma and Big Pat's house and enjoying being outside again. On Wednesday, the temperatures were much cooler in the morning and didn't make for good swimming. So...what to do but pack up and head to the beach!!!

Carter and Callen loved it. Both really enjoyed playing in the sand. This became our morning ritual. Up, eat breakfast, head to the beach until lunch. It was fun, relaxing, and, for the most part, empty because of the storm and the fact that it is September. We just about had the run of the beach.

Callen was ALL. ABOUT. the water. She kept saying "I want to swim in that pool." The water was a little rough the first few days we were there, so we weren't actually able to swim until Friday, but we just about couldn't get them out of the water on Friday. THEY LOVED IT!

One night before dinner, we headed out to the dock to take some pictures. Daddy spotted a crab that was on one of Big Pat's pilings. {this will also give you an idea of "normal" water levels}

We took lots and lots of pictures and here is one of my two children being silly for the camera!
We had a great week at the beach and enjoyed spending time together! We weren't terribly excited to COME home, but it was nice to BE home. We look forward to our next trip!

UA vs Kent State

2011-09-10T07:37:00.001-05:00

The Friday before Labor Day, we were gearing up for the kick off of college football season! Carter and Callen have "team spirit" Fridays during the fall, and Carter's class had a Tailgate party at lunch that Friday. According to Carter, it was "really fun" and he even got his face painted like a football player! One of his friend's mom sent me the picture below from the party because I couldn't make it.

After school, we took Callen over to Bamma and Big Pat's so that she could go down to the beach with them. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be too happy about it, but she hopped in the car and never looked back. It seems she was ready to head down to beach.

Bright and early the next morning, we headed to Tusc.aloosa to cheer on the Tide. Carter is always so excited to go!

Before the game

Watching intently

Although he always is so excited to be at the game, his attention span hasn't quite stretched to cover 4 quarters. I think he was finished with football around mid-first quarter. I managed to extend that to halftime with a frozen lemonade {it was HOT, after all}, and we abandoned ship after halftime.

We left Tuscaloosa ahead of the traffic and headed south to the beach {to be greeted by Tropical Storm L.ee}. Someone was truly exhausted by the time we really got underway!

We were excited that the Tide opened the season with a big W, and we look forward to more great games this season!

Birthday Party-Take Two

2011-08-31T21:17:00.001-05:00

The birthday celebrations continued Saturday afternoon and evening with our families. Carter and Callen couldn't have been more excited to have all of their cousins there to celebrate with them. This is the whole crew in the bounce house!

After a delightful dinner {thanks Nick, Debbie and Aunt E}, we got to dive into cake #2. {Which, if I am honest is probably more for me than for them...Olexa's cake. WOW. My absolute favorite. This is from the same person who did our wedding cake. I use any excuse to order one of her cakes.}

Uncle Steve and Mary Reese gearing up for the Happy Birthday song with the birthday children.

Digging in to the birthday cake!

It was a wonderful weekend celebrating our two favorite little people. Thanks to all who helped make it special!

Birthday Party-Take One

2011-08-30T20:26:00.004-05:00

These two precious children celebrated birthdays last weekend. Callen turned two on Friday and Carter turned 4 on Saturday. We started off the celebration by taking cupcakes to school on Friday to celebrate both birthdays there. Since Friday was Callen's birthday, we let her pick where we went out to dinner and she wanted to go out for pizza. So, pizza it was.

Saturday morning, bright and early...about ten 'til seven...this was delivered to our house...
As you can tell, someone was pretty enthralled. He woke up and was peeking out the front door as they were setting it up and he couldn't wait to try it out. Once they got it inflated, he was eager to try it out {in his PJs, nonetheless}.

We spent the next few hours getting ready for Carter's party {I thought Callen was probably too young for a friend party yet}. They were all ready and eager for the bounce house to be re-inflated for the party.

Yea! Our friends are here and ready to celebrate! There was A. LOT. of bouncing, and there were very few tears {I think I counted three incidents and one was Callen...no one told her she is two and they are four}.
There were some folks who preferred to play sports...we had a basketball goal and a soccer goal so those who weren't bouncing could play, too. Carter was THRILLED that his good buddy, Will, who just started going to a new school, came to help him celebrate!

Lots of children and parents enjoying a relatively nice August morning and the breeze that was a welcome relief that morning!

Callen taking a break with Big Pat before lunch and cake.

We cleared out our living room to make it into a dining room for the party-goers. After a light meal of chicken fingers and goldfish, it was time for cake!

Carter wanted a Bu.zz Light.year birthday party {hence, the Toy St.ory bounce house}, and that requires a Bu.zz and Woo.dy cake.

Carter was so excited to have everyone sing Happy Birthday and get to blow out his candles!

After the party, he was excited to open his presents and see what his friends picked out for him. He was very thankful for all the new toys and excited to get to open and play with them.

He loves all of his gifts, but this one was one I just couldn't help but take a picture of!

The best part of the day was that evening when we were putting away lawn chairs, balls, and other sports equipment after Birthday Party-Take Two {post soon to come}, Carter said, "It was a wonderful day."

True.

Almost as wonderful as the same day four years ago.

Almost.

Take Two

2011-08-20T16:47:00.004-05:00

I was out of town last week for work from Monday afternoon until Friday night. I was in Indianapolis for a week of training. Wednesday at 1:39pm, I get a text message with the picture below and this message: My day...he is fine.

Needless to say, I bolted from the training class to call Nick {and must have looked panic stricken because I got a text from a colleague asking if everything was ok}. I found out that Carter had been in an accident at school, and Nick had been called to take him to see if he needed stitches to close the cut. They were at the doctor's office, the cut had been cleaned and they were waiting on the doctor to come in, evaluate the cut, and decide if he needed glue or stitches.

Still bandaged from school

He did indeed get 4 stitches to close the wound. I probably would have been much more freaked out about not being there if this had been the first time this had ever happened. {Please don't take that to mean that I wasn't incredibly bothered about not being there. Luckily for me, my husband is amazing!}

So, after they stitched him up, they wrapped his head to ensure that the wound stayed clean while it started closing up. When I got the next texted picture, I felt so bad. He looked like a wounded warrior. I found out later that the shot they gave him to numb his head made his eyes look droopy. :(
And, for being such a brave little fella, Daddy took him to "Aunt Stacey's ice cream shop" for super.man ice cream {which he ate little of; he preferred Daddy's}.
The next day with head bandage removed, he was raring and ready to go. By the time I got home on Friday night, other than having the stitches covered with a large bandage, he was our same ol' Carter. He even seemed proud to tell me about his injury. ALL. BOY.

Leo's First Birthday

2011-08-10T06:03:00.002-05:00

Sunday we headed up to Decatur to celebrate Leo's first birthday. He seemed pretty happy to have so many friends and family there to celebrate his big day!

Leo checking everything out

His cousins were pretty excited to find that there was a bounce house complete with a slide in Leo's front yard for the party. My children, under Mary Reese's supervision {they LOVE Mary Reese and always want to know where she is and do what she is doing}, managed to hop right in and jump until both were beet red and sweaty.

Luckily, Leo's parents know how to take care of party guests in the heat with plenty of COLD refreshments--for parents and children! The lunch was a yummy barbecue with burgers, hot dogs, and BBQ with all the trimmings! We celebrated in our Cat in the H.at party hats and ate yummy cake and ice cream as well.
Both of our children had second mini-naps on the way home they had so much fun! Happy Birthday Leo!

Callen's First Haircut

2011-08-08T06:40:00.000-05:00

This past Friday the children's daycare was closed for teacher training, so I took the day off to be with them. I scheduled a haircut for Carter, and while we were there, I asked Mandy what, if anything we should do for Callen's hair.

Callen doesn't really have enough hair to need a true haircut, but the curls in the back had gotten long and unruly and she had some crazy pieces in the front, too. Mandy said she really just needed the back trimmed to the same length and the front cleaned up.

I wasn't sure how she would react to the whole haircut scenario, but she did great! In fact, she seemed to love it. I think most of all she loved seeing herself in the mirror!

Not one tear! Her hair doesn't look all that different, but at least it doesn't look mullet-ish when it is wet anymore!

How is he ready for 4K?!?!

2011-08-05T09:24:00.003-05:00

I have no idea where the time has gone! It hardly seems possible that this is Carter's last year of preschool before he goes to Kindergarten. His 3K class has been fabulous! I think he has made tremendous strides in terms of learning and has grown both in height and in maturity. I know he is ready for 4K, but it still makes me just a little bit sad that my first baby is growing up so fast!

Wednesday, they had a pizza party lunch at school, and I was able to go and celebrate the end of the year with him. My child is so funny because while other children shoveled in pizza, mine picked at his pizza while shoveling in cheese puffs and fruit snacks! Oh, well; at least he was full.

His teachers have been fabulous! They are probably the best teaching team he has had to date...and I don't say that lightly because he has had some great teachers. About 2/3 of his class is moving up, but several of his good friends won't be in the class until later in the year. I know he will do well with the transition and look forward to seeing him continue to learn and grow!

Rainy Day at the beach

2011-07-21T08:27:00.000-05:00

I took the two children down to the beach last Saturday so that they could play down there for the week with Aunt B and Bamma. Unfortunately, it rained all afternoon on Saturday and almost all day on Sunday. What to do with two lively children at the beach when it rains all weekend?

Decorate your own cupcakes!

I think Carter enjoyed the decorating more than the eating, but Callen liked it all!

Riding your hot wheels/scooter inside

It is always fun to get to break the rules, right? Riding your riding toys inside on a rainy day is great, forbidden fun!

They also managed to read books, watch a movie, play with toys, puzzles, cars, and nap before the rain stopped enough for a quick dip in the pool.

I think the weather has been much better since Sunday and they have been enjoying all kinds of swimming and outdoor fun!

The Movies

2011-07-20T08:21:00.000-05:00

On Sundays, we usually spend a fair amount of time in the afternoon at the pool. However, two Sundays ago, it rained all day on Sunday. Carter had been wanting to go see C.ars 2, so we called Aunt Emily and Uncle Steve to see if they would be so kind as to keep Callen so that we could go to the movies. They were happy to {on VERY short notice} and we were thankful so we could go see what Lighten.ing Mc.Queen was up to these days.

This was Carter's first trip to the movie, so he was pretty excited.

Walking to the theatre with Dad

3D C.ars 2

Shoveling in Skit.tles

The movie was a bit disappointing to me after how good the first one was, but Carter enjoyed his movie-going experience and was really well behaved. He even managed to keep his 3D glasses on the whole time!

Afterward, we went to Mug.shots for a yummy dinner with Aunt Emily, Uncle Steve and Callen!

Golf Tournament

2011-07-19T08:13:00.003-05:00

A few weekends ago, we traveled back up to Decatur because Nick was playing in the Patrick Murphree Memorial Golf Tournament. My SIL and BIL are very involved in the organization and execution of the golf tournament, so I usually go up there too so that our children can play.

I am pretty sure that our children had just as much fun as their fathers did.

Carter "driving" the golf cart. Owen {who is two} actually made it go, so Andrea confiscated the key!

Callen loved being the center of attention with the big girls!

Carter and Holley Ann played kickball

Then, Dad joined in the fun

By the time we got ready for bed at Debbie's, two little ones were wiped out!

It was a fun weekend and we were glad to get to play with cousins!

This is...

2011-07-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

...how you throw a fit when you get put in time out at Debbie's work.

Celebrating Big Pat {& America!}

2011-07-07T20:31:00.007-05:00

We spent the Fourth of July {and an extended weekend} down on the coast with my family. My dad's birthday is on the Fourth, so we always have a fun celebration.

There was no shortage of fun and entertainment for my children. They {we} swam, went for boat rides, saw and chased a Pirate's Ship {Carter loved this part!}, the big boys went fishing, we went on a Sunset dinner cruise on the 4th, and we ate yummy 4th food and celebrated Big Pat's birthday!

We couldn't have asked for a prettier weekend, and we enjoyed our family and our fun in the sun! Here is just a peek at our weekend in pictures!

Swimming with Bamma

"Hollywood" swimming with her sunglasses on her head

Carter showing off his excellent swimming skills

Early the morning of the 4th, Big Pat, Uncle Steve and Dad went fishing. They caught their limit of red snapper {2/person} and were back at the dock by 11:30am! Everyone had to check out the catch!

All the fellas with the biggest red snapper

Mom had planned to serve the traditional ribs and sides to celebrate the 4th, but after the big catch that morning, we changed plans. We had the traditional BBQ food for lunch and took a dinner/drink boat cruise that evening and had appetizers, beverages and red snapper tacos! Yummy! It was a fun time...most of the boat traffic had died down and we enjoyed being together out on the water.

Lots of activity while the cooking was going on

Carter and Callen with Bamma and Big Pat

Carter and Big Pat

We hope your Fourth of July was as relaxing, fun, and memorable as ours was!

Golf, Blueberries and Cousins

2011-06-26T20:54:00.006-05:00

We spent this weekend in Decatur, Nick's hometown, so that he could play in a golf tournament with a good buddy of his. {aside: They won the tourney! They had a weekend full of rain delays, and I had to head home with the children today, so we missed the big finale. Nonetheless, we are super proud of Nick and Wes!}

While Nick and Wes were playing golf, we got to spend time with family we don't get to see as frequently as we would like. We visited with the Murphree family first thing on Saturday morning and then the Stephensons were kind enough to host us at the pool. We got to swim with friends and cousins Mary Reese had both of my children swimming to her from the steps and then she would send them back to the stairs for more! No pictures because it was BUSY and I was solo.

Debbie kept the children so Nick and I could attend the evening events, and they had a big time. They went on walks to the gazebo in her neighborhood, saw some bunnies in the front yard, watered her garden and picked and ate strawberries off the vine. They were excited to tell us all about it the next morning.

Walking home from the gazebo

This morning, all the cousins headed out to pick blueberries {a summertime tradition!}. It was HOT, but fun.

Off to pick blueberries

Picking...

Eating...

(please forgive her hair...she's in need of her 1st haircut, but I am having a hard time since it is finally growing!)

More Picking...

The bounty...please notice who did the picking and who did the eating...

headed back towards the car

Stopping for picture with the cousins

We enjoyed getting to see family and play with cousins. After our blueberry picking experience, we packed up and headed home. I think my two had a full, wonderful weekend.

What do you think?????

Daddy's Day!

2011-06-19T21:10:00.003-05:00

We had a great day celebrating our Daddy today!

We started off the day with his favorite treat! We took a family trip down to the Kris.py Kre.me to watch them making doughnuts HOT n NOW. The kiddos had fun watching them bake and ice...but probably not as much fun as they had eating them once we got home.

Carter and Nick played golf this morning and then met Callen and me at the pool. {aside: At Carter's school, the teachers put up a bulletin board that had what all of the children said they liked to do with their dads. Most were something along the lines of love, hug, read books, etc. Carter's was, "I like to go to the golf course with my daddy." Nick was so proud!} We had a fun time playing together as a family. While the children took naps, Nick joined some other fathers to watch the last round of the US Op.en.

We--our children and me--are so blessed to have such an amazing man as father and husband. Since I have taken a new job, I have been traveling more, and he has not missed a beat! He is fabulous with our children, and they adore him. Everyone is always amazed when they ask if he has help at home when I am gone, and I tell them that he IS the help! {Of course, we are blessed to have Aunt Stacey who has kept them on a few occasions when Nick's had to be gone overnight while I am out of town!}

Happy Father's Day!!! We love our daddy!

Bows and Big Girl Beds

2011-06-10T07:13:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Callen's teachers told us that they thought she was ready for hairbows. To support their claim, they told us that everytime they fix the hair of one of the other girls, Callen asks to have a "hair bow," and if they give her one, she asks to look in the mirror! So, we had only one bow...and she would put in her hair just about from the time she got up in the morning until it was bedtime.

Nick and Callen came back to Birmingham after the Memorial Day weekend, while Carter and I stayed down on the coast because I had to work down there. One afternoon after work/school, Dad took Callen to get a "special treat" of the non-edible variety.

Modeling her purchases

So proud of her bow on the way to school the next morning

I was receiving these updates via text while we were down there and she was thrilled to show me her bows when we finally made it home on Wednesday!

Also while Carter and I were down on the coast, Callen wanted to sleep in Carter's bed. Nick figured it would be a good trial run for when she transitions into her own big girl bed. He said he read her books, put her to sleep and didn't hear a peep out of her until about 5:00am, when she woke up and wasn't sure where she was. He laid down with her to get her back to sleep again until about 6:30. Looks like we have a big girl bed in our not-too-distant future!

Nothing says summer...

2011-06-08T07:09:00.001-05:00

...quite like this!

Memorial Day

2011-06-06T06:47:00.004-05:00

We headed down to the beach for Memorial Day and the whole Lovoy side of the family was there. We had a big time! Carter and Callen did quite a bit of swimming. Carter gradually gained confidence in the water and made us proud by getting even stronger with his swimming throughout the weekend. Callen tried to scare me to death. The child has NO. FEAR. of the water. Just loves it. I am glad she enjoys it but would appreciate some healthy apprehension until she knows how to swim.

One of the first days we were there, some friends that we don't get to see too often stopped by. Nick and Heyward are fraternity brothers and we have always enjoyed getting to spend time with their family. Although, Carter and Lillie couldn't remember meeting before (they were itty bitties when they met), they played together well. We all had a great time visiting.

Of course, beach trips mean things you don't get to do every day. Like, picnics by the pool...

Riding your scooter/hot wheels inside...

And boat rides...

We look forward to more beach time as the summer gets hotter!!!

Where did May go?

2011-06-04T06:34:00.005-05:00

It seems like I blinked, and May was GONE! I am sure that traveling for work during two weeks of the month didn't help with that much. There was quite a bit going on, and, to be honest, blogging took a back seat. So, if you are still reading, I apologize for the hiatus. I wish I could promise it won't happen again...but, instead, I'll promise to TRY not to let it happen again!

Mother's Day was lovely. I was able to spend it with my sweet family and enjoy the precious children that are the reason I have the privilege of being a mom. It is truthfully the hardest, most enjoyable, most rewarding job I have ever had. I always feel like I can handle what the rest of the world throws at me because of motherhood. Sometimes it seems like a good training ground...and, at times, even a microcosm of what I am experiencing in other areas. The calla lilies above were my lovely surprise from my two babies {and my wonderful husband}.

While I was traveling, Nick's bank held a grand opening of one of their branches close to our house. They had activities for the children, so Nick took Carter and Callen and was texting me these pictures while they were there.

Checking out her butterfly balloon animal

Face-painting!

Stylin' in Aunt Em's Sunglasses

I'll be back soon. Or at least sooner.

The Bham Zoo

2011-04-25T08:41:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, I got a text from my sister while I was out of town for the week for work. She was asking if I'd be interested in taking the children to the zoo on Saturday morning. I thought it'd be a great way to kick off our weekend and give Nick a little free time since he'd been flying solo parenting all week.

So, two Saturday mornings ago, right around 9:00am {the ONLY way to go, as far as I'm concerned}, we headed out to the zoo with my two favorite children. They were pretty excited that Aunt B was with us!

We saw many, many animals. We started the morning with the seals and with the Kangaroo. Callen thinks she is as big as Carter is and likes to do EVERYTHING he does. Can you tell?

This was easily our favorite animal of the day...though they did really like the wild dogs {?} too.

The giraffes are always a hit, and Aunt B is helping Callen get a better look.

Everyone stopping for a picture with Aunt B!

We had a great time, and we really enjoyed spending time with Aunt B seeing all the animals. Despite the cooler temps that morning, we even managed to take a train ride before heading home to have lunch and take naps to recover from such a busy morning!

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-24T19:00:00.004-05:00

Happy Easter from the Willis clan! We hope that you and your family had a lovely day celebrating the special meaning that this day holds!

We started the morning {bright and early} excited to see that the Easter Bunny had stopped by our house! He clearly wanted us to be getting ready for summer, as he brought new monogrammed bathing suits, a hat for Callen and flip flops for Carter. He also left a few other odds and ends, as well as the requisite candy for them.

Carter exploring what was left for him

Callen seeing what is in her basket

Clearly our child hasn't had much candy...should we tell her you take it out of the package first?

Then we headed to early church and Sunday school. The service and fellowship were great, and Carter really liked getting to put his flower on the cross and give his Lenten offering.

After church, we headed to the club for a yummy Easter buffet lunch. The food was enjoyable, the company always delightful, and {for this woman who gave up sweets for Lent} the desserts were more than satisfying!

If you happened to miss it in the picture above, Carter busted his lip last night. He and Callen were playing and he fell forward and busted his lip. He was pitiful last night, but the chocolate and candy seems to have helped him recover quite nicely!

HAPPY EASTER!

Picnic

2011-04-23T20:33:00.002-05:00

Since the weather has been so nice, we've been spending lots of our weekend time outside. It is extremely difficult to get my golf-playing son and my slide-loving daughter to come inside to eat lunch.

One day, Carter asked, "Mom, can't we just eat outside and have a picnic?!?" If you know our dog, Wrigley, you know that isn't really a possibility. However, I figured they could eat on the screened-in porch as long as we kept Wrigley in the backyard.

They loved it!

VCC Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-23T17:07:00.003-05:00

This morning we headed over to the club to put to good use the practice hunting eggs that Carter and Callen had during the week at school. It was a great morning for an Easter Egg Hunt--and there were LOTS of children there!

Callen's age group was first and she wasn't too into it; though, she did manage to gather about five eggs. Carter helped her out by picking up another 2 or so.

Then, it was Carter's turn. He was off and running when they said go. He snagged 16 eggs...this picture is towards the end when he returned to the starting point to pick up the eggs everyone else ran past at the start.

Callen figured it out by the time we got to Carter's age group, so she helped herself to a few eggs while they were hunting!

Tasting the loot. Dad opened an egg to see what was inside--jelly beans!--and immediately we had folks grabbing to have some. Check out those chipmunk cheeks!

After the hunts were finished, there were plenty of other activities to entertain. Callen hung out with Dad.

Carter jumped in the bounce house.

We scored some balloon animals. Callen got a butterfly and Carter got a mouse.

Mommy and her babies at the end of all of the festivities.

The two precious egg-hunters...hot, tired and ready for naps!

Classroom Easter Festivities

2011-04-23T16:27:00.005-05:00

The children have had a week full of Easter activities! The festivities started off with Carter's class party. Party days in Carter's class mean that they get to wear PJs. He loves it!

Happy that I made it to the party before the egg hunt

Hunting eggs--there were 400 for their class!

Finding some more

All done with his best buddy, Will

Enjoying the refreshments

Callen's class had their party on Friday. Every time I get there for a party, she has already dived into her party plate!

Happy Girl

Her class hunted eggs, too. I wasn't really sure how they were going to do, but they did really well. Callen wasn't into finding the obvious ones. She was climbing under and on top of the play structure to get her eggs. Every time she found one, she'd run back and hand it to me!

Guarding her loot

We are very thankful for their school and their fun teachers who plan activities that they love!

Phone Camera dump

2011-04-13T08:23:00.000-05:00

If you are my friend on FB, then you've probably seen these {minus any commentary}, but I know there are folks who read here and aren't on FB {STEVE}.

I really like Pub.lix. I don't always like Pub.lix prices, but the people are so nice, the store is clean, the produce, meat, and bakery is good. You get the idea. I missed Pub.lix when we were in Indianapolis. Mar.sh is nice but not the same. The Fresh Mar.ket six blocks from our house there was fabulous, but limited in its offers. So, we're happy to be back in Pub.lix territory. None, however, are happier than my two who get cookies when they go with me {usually somewhere between 8:30am and 9:00am on Saturday mornings...don't judge}.

We are also loving warmer days and sunny weather. We even had to break out the sunscreen last weekend. I have to say, I love the scent of sunscreened babies!!! My new favorite thing is spray sunscreen. {they love it too!} Not sure why I waited so long to adopt this advancement in child-sunscreen-application.

And, finally, last Friday night, Nick and I went to a Racing for Kids benefit for the Children's Hosp.ital of Birmingham associated with the race in town. Some friends of ours were in town because they own a racing team who was racing, so we got to spend some time with them...and with McDreamy!

Ok, so maybe we didn't really spend time with him, but he was nice enough to take a picture with us. He was really very kind to be at the event and help raise money for Child.ren's. Seemed pretty down to earth for a guy with hair like that...

Riding, Riding, Riding

2011-04-11T08:07:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Carter wanted to spend some time riding his bicycle that Santa gave him for Christmas {I suppose my children are just now taking the time to discover their Christmas presents}. Since it was SO BEAUTIFUL outside we didn't have a hard time convincing this little diva to come out and play.

Carter had tried to ride before, but wasn't really getting it then. He would try and get frustrated. This time, however, he was loving every minute of it! He had a "track" that he ran...up our sidewalk, turn around at the top of the driveway, and then back the sidewalk towards the house. He was proficient enough to even make the turns by himself.

He was so proud that when we finally came inside (which was close to 6:00pm!) he said, "I can't wait to show my daddy how I can ride my bike!"

The Wedding

2011-04-09T16:01:00.002-05:00

Callen got a dress-up trunk from Santa for Christmas.

fast-forward four months...

Last weekend, Nick was out of town, and I was downstairs while the children were upstairs playing in the playroom. Carter came to the top of the stairs and said, "Mom, we're ready to go to the wedding."

I'll say.

Not sure you can really see in the picture above, but those are heels he has on for "the wedding." Apparently Rex needed to go too...

I just love the creativity at this age...how they take things they have experienced and re-invent them in new ways. Always entertaining.

Slinky Dog

2011-03-20T16:26:00.002-05:00

I have intentionally omitted discussion of pot.ty train.ing on the blog for a variety of reasons. I am breaking my own rule for just this post to share how excited my little man was when he got his new Slinky Dog as his big reward for being a big boy and using the potty!

Thanks to Connor for introducing Carter to this Slinky Dog toy when we visited. It was quite the motivation!

We're very proud of him {and so thankful that he FINALLY decided it was time!}, and happy that all the focus on the potty appears to be piquing the curiosity of his sister. Perhaps it won't take her until she's 3 and half!

Chili Cookoff 2011

2011-03-11T19:34:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday, was the Exception.al Foundation's Chili Cook-off. You may remember that we went last year, too. This year, the weather wasn't quite as warm, so it was closer to "chili" weather, BUT it was a rainy weekend, so we were only able to play out there for about an hour and a half before the down-pour started.

Nevertheless, we had a great time. We spent a lot of time at the Iber.ia tent, which was decked out for Mardi Gras with masks, beads, and moon pies. My children were in heaven. They even liked the masks, which surprised me.

Showing off their masks {and eating a sucker that was a special treat for doing well at swim lessons!}

Trying to get a posed picture

Checking out Daddy's beads

{sorry for the space between the pictures, they were from someone else's camera and I can't figure out how to get them bigger}

18 Months

2011-03-05T16:59:00.004-06:00

Well, I am a tad late in posting this, as Callen was 18 months on February 26, but life is like that sometimes. I can hardly believe that she is already 18 months old...seems like just yesterday she was this little peanut!

We had her 18 mo check up this past Wednesday. She got a great review from Dr. Smith on her growth and development. Callen weighed in at 25lb, 8oz and is 32.75in long. Growing like a weed!

We've also had a big milestone with our BIG girl this week! Thursday afternoon, I got a text from one of her teachers letting me know that after nap, not only did she ask to go potty, but that she actually tinkled when she was on the potty! And, this afternoon while I was at the grocery store, Nick said she went again on the potty. When did my little girl get so big??!!??

Sliding

2011-02-27T14:08:00.009-06:00

Well, we spent the tail end of last week nursing a sad little boy who was diagnosed with strep. I guess we got some foreshadowing on Wednesday after work/school, when he went directly upstairs and got on his bed when we got home. By lunchtime on Thursday, we'd gotten the call to come pick him up because he had a fever and was saying his throat hurt. So, Friday, he was home from school and, after some antibiotics, seemed to be back to normal by lunch on Saturday.

Which was a good thing, considering that both of my children were chomping at the bit to get outside. They wanted to slide. I envisioned a few hours of lifting my 18 month old up so that she could slide down the slide.

I should have known better...

She thinks she is as big as Carter is. And she LOVES to slide.

Just for reference, this isn't a toddler-sized slide. I swear, Callen has no fear!

When she saw Carter going down on his belly...

She had to follow suit. I did, however, manage to convince her to go feet-first rather than head first!

Back in the Pool

2011-02-22T07:53:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning, we began swim lessons again for Carter. He was swimming very well by last fall, but I wanted to make sure that he was confident in his skills before pool season this year.

I had hoped that the lesson[s] would be without incident, but as soon as the instructor asked them to line up to go into the pool area, Carter had a meltdown.

About 5 minutes later, after a promise of ice cream if he participated and did well {I know, probably not the best parenting technique, but I was grasping here, folks}, which he did.

Below are a few pictures of him perfecting his kicking skills with the instructor.

Valentine's Re-cap

2011-02-19T16:49:00.002-06:00

Better ~~a week~~ late than never, right?

Last Monday, Carter's class had their Valentine's party at lunchtime. He was very excited about giving his friends {what else?} Wood.y & Bu.zz valentines and seeing all of the valentines he received. His teachers are very creative, so instead of the usual "party," they concocted a Happy Meal lunch for his class and ice cream sundaes afterwards. I was able to sneak away from work for about half an hour to enjoy the party with him.

Happy boy in his PJs ready to dig into his happy meal--he ate every bite! {a treat we don't get too often around here}

Carter and his buddy, Wilson, at the table. I really do love his current class and his teachers--and they love him, which is always wonderful. We are truly fortunate to have childcare that I love so much!

Callen's party was on Tuesday. Her class is a little harder to corral for these types of celebrations, but they seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.

When I got there, she was being a little tentative with her food, which is a tad unusual for her. However, she did find the cheese puff and decided it was worth tasting.

Then she realized that there was some icing on her cupcake!

After she licked all the icing off, she was pretty much through with the eating portion of her party. We exchanged valentines with her friends and hung out for a few minutes before heading home.

On Valentine's evening, Nick and I celebrated with frozen pizza and red wine. Hey, it is the company, not the food right? ;) Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Alabama Basketball

2011-02-13T18:58:00.003-06:00

For a while, Nick has been suggesting that Carter would enjoy going to Tuscaloosa for a Tide basketball game. Last week, we got serious about planning a trip. There was a 3:00pm game yesterday against Ole Miss, so we decided we'd take the whole crew and make a family trip to watch some UA basketball.

I wasn't too sure how everyone would do. I thought there would be enough going on to keep Carter's attention, but I was a little leery about how Callen would do.

True to form, Carter enjoyed watching the game and cheering.

Callen, however, was my surprise.She loved it {although she didn't want to sit still to watch it}! She would cheer when everyone else cheered ~~and sometimes when they didn't~~, she clapped, she laughed and had a great time.

Of course, nothing was more entertaining than digging into some snacks.

Animal crackers that were brought along in case of emergency {although this was not one}...

Enjoying skittles for the first time...
We left with about 10 minutes left in the game and met Big Al in the concourse. Of course, neither of our children wanted anything to do with him, so I have no Big Al pictures. After the game we met Clint and Meredith for dinner {thanks, Clint, for the tix!} and enjoyed a fun night.

Roll Tide!

In case you were wondering

2011-02-11T08:05:00.002-06:00

My 18 month old thinks Her.shey's kisses are pretty fantastic.

And I think she and her big brother are pretty fantastic.

My cup runneth over.

It's been a cold winter

2011-02-09T19:48:00.004-06:00

I'm not a meteorologist and this isn't a studied fact, but it sure seems like we've had more snow/ice this winter than we've had in Alabama in a while. Our children like to watch it fall, but we aren't big on getting out in it--and to be honest, we haven't had enough to really play in. I guess it just seems to fall frequently without sticking in significant amounts.

I digress...

So, this past Saturday morning, the white stuff was falling again, this was going on at our counter:

While this was being organized in our pantry:

...not by me, I might add. Yet another reason I have such a wonderful husband.

Oh, and it is snowing again as I type this...really? I moved back here to escape this! ;)

We LOVE Warm January Days

2011-01-30T14:46:00.005-06:00

To be honest, we love all warm days...but the unexpected 70 degree day in January is VERY much appreciated. While we spent our morning running errands--grocery shopping, haircuts, etc, we spent our afternoon after naps playing in the sun.

Carter started out riding his bicycle {with training wheels} that he got for Christmas, but after a scary backward roll down the driveway {he had stopped pedaling so the bike rolled backwards...he hung on like a champ, and I stopped him before there was any sort of tragedy}, he abandoned the bike in favor of his trusty hot wheels.

Callen wasn't too far behind in the push-around buggy.

Carter wanted to play Light.ning Mc.Queen and Chick Hi.cks. He was Lightning, but he'd turn around to check and see if Chick {Callen} was close on his tail.

Then, he'd ride a bit and "spin out in the infield." His words, not mine.
Dad let Callen go to travel down to where I was, and Carter was in hot pursuit.
We had such a great time playing outside in warmer weather...it was nice to get a taste of spring. I can't wait for it to be warmer all the time!

Good Things and Small Packages....

2011-01-27T19:36:00.001-06:00

...and all that.

Pretty much my idea of "precious in a box."

Visit to Indianapolis

2011-01-25T07:29:00.001-06:00

The Thursday before the MLK holiday {which is really only a holiday for Nick, who works at the bank...the rest of us have work/school}, we headed up to visit friends in Indianapolis for the weekend. We had planned to take this trip after Christmas, but it got de-railed, so we rescheduled for MLK weekend because I had to be in Indy for work the following week.

We made the uneventful {always positive!} trip up there on Thursday and stayed the weekend with our friends, the Murphys. The Murphys were so gracious to have us for 4 whole days in their home! They have had a new addition to the family since we moved, so we were so excited to get to meet baby Erin during our visit! She is such a sweet baby, and I can't believe that she was almost 4 months old before I got to meet her! Well worth the wait, though!

Friday morning, Deanna and her two and Nick, me and our two went to Mon.key Joe's. Connor loves Mon.key Joe's, but Carter had never been. He was in heaven. He loved all the bounce houses and warmed up to the slides. Callen, however, may have liked it even more than Carter. There were bouncy areas for 2 and under, but she didn't want any of it. She wanted to be in the big bounce houses with Connor and Carter.

She had no fear...sliding down a medium-ish slide on her own...

...and down the really big one with Dad. Please see the look on her face. She was delighted!
Carter and Connor playing.
Daddy and Callen playing in the same bounce house as Carter and Connor.
It was really fun, and a great way for the kiddos to get a little energy out on a VERY cold Friday morning. Both of my children were basically asleep while they ate lunch and then slept for about 3 hours.

That night, we had dinner more precious friends, the Habeggers. They made a delicious dinner and we were all able to visit and have the kiddos (all six of them!) play. It was so much fun and so great to see them. It makes me realize how much I really miss our friends in Indy!

5 of the kiddos eating dinner

sweet Erin snoozing on Daddy

Carter, Connor & Miles...sweet friends! These boys were born within 3 months of each other!

Callen playing with John {Miles' little brother}

The moms...my precious friends Sarah and Deanna

We spent the rest of the weekend visiting and catching up and even made it to one of our favorite spots, Cafe Pata.chou. Thanks to the Murphys for hosting us, and the Habeggers for having us to dinner! We had such a wonderful time and miss you all! We can't wait to see you again soon!

The Ice Storm of 2011

2011-01-23T11:14:00.003-06:00

...which is what it was at our house--a thin layer of ice over everything. So, while our friends in north Alabama were playing in 7-8 inches of snow, we had this outside our front door:

The layer of ice covering our back porch.
The ice skating rink that was our sidewalk.
The table on our back porch...don't be deceived--what looks like snow in the chairs probably started out that way, but quickly froze into big hunks of ice.
Not to worry, we still enjoyed lots of family time, we just decided to forgo getting out in the ice to play. We played with toys, games, watched a few movies and enjoyed some time away from school/work!

Strange Bed-places

2011-01-05T07:49:00.001-06:00

Sunday afternoon, I put Callen and Carter down for naps shortly after lunch. During our school/work break, Carter would fight his nap about every other day, so when I didn't hear him talking or walking around, I determined that he was asleep.

After folding some clothes, I went upstairs to put them in the children's rooms, and when I got to the top of the stairs, this is what I saw in Carter's room.

Sure enough, just his "friends" were on his bed...but, strangely, all was silent, so I knew he was asleep somewhere.

I didn't have to look far. The "friend" trail was my clue. Do you see him in this picture?

He slept this way for 2 hours. At one point, I went up there to check on him and he had repositioned himself with his head where his elbow is in this picture.

There is never a dull moment around these parts!

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-02T08:25:00.005-06:00

Happy New Year to all! We are gearing up around here to go back to work/school (for the children and me, anyway) after a 2 week vacation. I can't say I am ready to go back to work, but I am ready for us to be back in a routine...wonder how long that will take?!?!

Over the course of our two weeks off, we spent lots of time together, baked, cleaned, played, and took some exciting adventures.

Right before Christmas, I took the children to the Mc.Wane Center. The secret to going when school is out...get there when they open the doors. We were about the second people in the doors and by the time we left, there was a VERY long line of people at the ticket counter and there were LOTS of people playing.

Piloting Santa's sleigh

Standing in the tornado

This is so fun to see in pictures...it is basically a green screen, where the children can play soccer, play in a band, and be IN an arcade game. This is what you see in person....

...this is what is on the screen. {sorry for the quality...decided not to lug the nice camera that day.}

Carter loved this next exhibit...you roll the balls down the bowl and the water picks them up and lifts them into the air...or you can put them on the water and watch them bounce around. He was having a blast. Callen was a little to short to see what was going on, but she loved throwing the balls in there.

Water play is always a hit

After Christmas, Aunt B called to see if we wanted to go to the Gall.eria and ride the carousel. The answer from Carter was, "I don't want to ride the animals, I just want to ride on the chair." O.K.

Not so sure why he doesn't like to ride the animals, but he never has. Nonetheless, we had a good time riding the carousel with Aunt B in the sleigh.

After that, we headed to Chik.Fil.A for a yummy lunch and with the intention of Carter's playing in the playplace, but he wasn't so into it because there were many other children also playing. So, we headed home, where !!everyone!! took long winter's naps to recover from our busy morning.

Since we wrapped up 2010 with lots of excitement, we were excited to see the Tide usher in 2011 with some excitement, too. Those are the kinds of wins we like to see!

We are looking forward to all the fun and happiness that 2011 has in store for us!

Debbie's Special Treat

2010-12-28T07:00:00.005-06:00

On Christmas night, after we ate dinner, Debbie had a special treat in store for us. She ushered all the children upstairs with the help of Stacey, David and Tina, and told all of us to sit tight.

About a half hour later, we hear some rumbling on the steps and get a peek at what Debbie has in store for us...

Our very own "cousin" nativity! She had all of the children costumed for their parts and had Aunt Stacey read the Christmas Story from the Bible. How precious!

And, while we were one person short...which meant we were out a wise man...we were also down a wise man...

Owen decided to protest instead of participate.

Callen wasn't really sure what Leo was doing in the basket. I guess she's a little young to understand Jesus in the manger.

Carter, although a participant, was a bit of a reluctant one. David came downstairs before the children descended and told me that he thought Carter looked a bit like Yo.da. Then he said, "Don't tell him, though. I had to tell him it made him look like Buzz Light.year to get him to put it on."

My Angel! Don't be fooled, she didn't leave that halo on for very long!

Thanks Debbie for a wonderful, fitting end to celebrating Christmas!

Christmas Re-cap

2010-12-27T09:42:00.018-06:00

Our Christmas celebration actually started on Thursday (the 23rd) night with a family dinner at Emily and Steve's. They were heading out on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Emily's family, so my whole side of the family was there for dinner. My sister has many more pictures from the evening posted. We had a wonderful time and ate a fabulous dinner that Emily and Steve cooked for everyone!

On Christmas Eve, after church {those were the pictures in the post below}, my mom and dad, sister and brother in law all came over for a yummy dinner that Nick cooked of gumbo and muffaletta calzones. The kiddos also got to open their gifts from Bamma and Big Pat and Aunt B and Uncle Ken.

They were loving it. Carter got some Woody boots of his own and had to show them off.

Callen was at first a little unsure of the baby doll that Bamma and Big Pat gave her {though she's made a full recovery and is now loving her baby dolls!

Both of them were really into Uncle Ken's assembling of them Weebles treehouse.

Callen especially liked trying out Carter's new camera. They both love to say "cheese," and then ask to see the picture. Now, they can get us to say "cheese" and then show us the picture. It is a hoot.

After dinner and visiting, all of our guests went home and we went to sleep so that Santa could stop by if he wanted to.

It appears he wanted to. This was the scene before the kiddos woke up.

Once they were up, they hit it full force. First, diving in shoulder deep to see what was in their stockings.

Then, moving on to see {with a little help from Dad} what Santa left under the tree.

Carter received a bicycle, {and in his words} a Woody with a hat off and you can put it back on, a Buzz that has wings and a light on his arm, and a dinosaur {Rex}. It was a Toy S.tory Christmas for him, with a little Cars thrown in, too {the bicycle is Light.ening McQueen}.

Callen received a PBK chair, a dress up trunk, a baby stroller and several other odds and ends. She loves the chair, hasn't totally figured out the dress up trunk {though she does like the bracelets}, and has yet to stop pushing the stroller around the house--with everything from babies, to bubbles to Buzz in it!

Then, after we opened presents, Bamma, Big Pat and Aunt B came over for breakfast and to check out all that Santa brought.

While we were enjoying our breakfast and our Christmas morning cozied up in our house, this is what was happening outside our window.

And here is what the house looked like after about 5 hours of snow. Not quite Midwest-worthy, but pretty nonetheless.

After the children took {3 hour} naps, we headed up to Decatur to celebrate Christmas with Nick's family at his sister's house. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and delicious desserts and a special treat from Debbie {another post all to itself!}

When my son finally ~~melted down completely~~ made it to bed, he completely crashed...with his newest friends...

...and to all a good night.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:58:00.002-06:00

There are so many more pictures and stories to tell from our Christmas celebration, but the children are napping and we are enjoying celebrating the Savior's Birthday!

So, for now, Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Cards

2010-12-23T08:18:00.000-06:00

I have had a Christmas Card holder since the second year Nick and I were married. I liked it fine, but I found that when it gets to about this time of the season, I was having to make choices about which faces I covered and which stayed displayed as cards rolled in each day. Maybe it was just because my card holder didn't have enough "holders," but, whatever the reason, I always hated that some of the sweet faces were covered.

Either last year or the year before, one of my friends in Indy--Becky--had a lovely display of Christmas Cards across the windows in her sunroom. All of the cards were displayed on ribbon that she had attached to her windows with suction cups. It was simple, beautiful and, best of all, you could see every precious face!

So, I shamelessly stole the idea.

daytime

nightime

Now, I can see precious faces of those I love and don't get to see nearly enough...

And the sweet faces of those I do see more frequently...

and the precious ones that I haven't yet had the joy of meeting ...

It is perfect for me and very cheerful in our breakfast nook!

Zoolight Safari

2010-12-22T17:01:00.004-06:00

Monday night, we headed out with Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily to a cool, but fun night at none other than...

Our first stop once we got into the zoo was the train so that we could get a good view of all the lights before we struck out walking to see everything. We had a little bit of a wait, so Uncle Steve did some entertaining.

All Aboard! Carter was excited to get to ride the train with Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily. Nick, Callen and I sat in the seat behind them at the very back end of the train {Carter's choice}. Except for losing Callen's sippy cup {which bounced out when she dropped it towards the end of the train ride}, we had a fun, albeit cool, train ride around the zoo. Carter loved pointing out the different animals and looking to find the ones that Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily pointed out. Callen just kept trying to stand up the whole time.

They had cute cut-outs where you could take pictures of your family/friends as different Christmas characters...elves, frosty...even some animals, too.

Callen couldn't quite figure out how it worked at first.

Luckily for Callen, Daddy stepped in to show her how it works...

Now, she gets it! Thanks, Daddy!

On our way out, Uncle Steve spotted the jolly old man himself {Carter had been dying to see a "real, live" Santa}, so we stopped to let Carter and Callen visit with him. Carter walked right up, sat down and rattled off a list like he'd been practicing for days. Callen gave him the stink-eye and walked in the opposite direction!

After we left the zoo, we headed to a quick dinner with Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily before taking our two home to bed. Thanks to Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily for braving the cool weather to go to Zoo.light Safari with us! We had a great time!

Merry, Merry!

2010-12-21T08:53:00.002-06:00

Wishing all of our friends a Merry Christmas!

Thanks to Rachel for designing our card!

Class Christmas Parties

2010-12-18T06:53:00.003-06:00

Carter and Callen had their Christmas parties at school on Thursday and Friday. I honestly didn't take too many pictures and the ones I did take were with my phone...a combination of choosing both to leave my good camera at home and to focus on being "there," rather than trying to document it for posterity {or blogging}.

Carter's was first on Thursday. He was very excited about it all week. His class got to wear PJs the day of his party and all of the children looked so precious. When all the parents got there, they sang two songs for us and then had a book swap. After the book swap, we ate some snacks to wrap it up.

After unwrapping his book. He loved it more than it looks like he does in the picture. He was just watching everyone else unwrap.

Callen's party was on Friday. They had some yummy snacks and showcased all of the Christmas art they had been doing. Callen was ORANGE after eating a few cheese puffs. We had to all but put her in the sink to get her clean.

We enjoyed celebrating with their teachers and their friends and are so thankful that we are blessed with such fabulous childcare for our children!

Callen's 15 Month Visit

2010-12-12T14:24:00.001-06:00

This sassy sweatheart had her fifteen month checkup last Wednesday morning. Dr. Smith said he learned all he needed to know about her development watching her play with her brother and walk into the exam room from the waiting room! She weighed in a little over 23 lbs {I am not 100% sure of the exact weight because I lost the sheet} which is right about 50th percentile and was 31 inches long which he said was slightly above 50th percentile. He told me that she is on track to be taller than I am.

Callen is such a delight to our family and has a precious personality. She is not afraid to stand up for herself with her brother, and there is usually no doubting what she wants! She is learning and growing and talking so much that it is hard to believe it at times! And, I have found that it is just as wonderful watching and witnessing all of the firsts with a second child as it was with Carter!

Christmas Ornaments

2010-12-11T14:11:00.004-06:00

Growing up, my family always had a tradition of giving the children/cousins Christmas ornaments each year. As a result, when we all moved away and started our own families and Christmas traditions, we each had a complement of ornaments as a starting point.

We've kept this up for Carter and Callen. Each year, they typically get at least one ornament from us, my parents and my sister.

So, last Monday night, Big Pat and Bamma stopped by to help me with a car issue I was having {Nick was out of town for work}, and they brought Carter and Callen their ornaments. Carter got a boot {see Woody Boots, a few posts back if you are scratching your head about why} and Callen got a purse {probably because anything she can get over her arm turns into one}. Here are a few pictures of them hanging them on the tree with help from Big Pat and Bamma.

Lucky for my children, Aunt B stopped by the same evening, so they got to run through the routine twice in one night! Aunt B and Uncle Ken gave Carter a swimming Santa {since Carter learned to swim this year} and Callen a bell that was made into a crab.

Everyone hanging ornaments...

Hopefully one day they'll have as much fun going back through all of the memories ~~and boring their spouse to death~~ as they hang these ornaments on their own trees years down the road!

Kicking off our Christmas Season

2010-12-07T12:06:00.000-06:00

We've been a little slower than usual this year getting our house into the Christmas spirit. I think having some sick kiddos and being in a new home where there's no "usual" place to put all the Christmas decorations has caused the slow-down.

One of our Christmas traditions arrived right on time.

If you can't tell, that's Mickio, our friendly elf from the North Pole. He came back to our house this year the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Carter has really enjoyed finding him every morning and telling him all about his day.

We picked out our Christmas tree on Friday night, and Nick had ordered this tip-proof, no-fail, better-than-all-the-rest Christmas tree stand to use since we needed a bigger tree this year than we've had in the past.

Well, within 24 hours of putting our tree in the stand (which, in concept, is really a great stand, but, in reality, is plastic and not weighted enough to deal with our tree), it toppled over. Luckily, we were letting it fall out a little, so no lights or ornaments were on it, and no children or pets were harmed in the toppling.

So, we are now back to the $20 special that Nick bought one Christmas before we were married that has successfully kept all of our Christmas trees standing tall.

And, as I type, Nick is hard at work stringing the tree with lights so that when the children wake up from their naps, we can decorate it. He threatens every year to get an artificial tree with lights already on it, but we always end up with a real tree. I guess we are suckers for that frasier fir scent! :)

It appears that although Santa's best elves were working hard to our north, they must have dropped off just enough Christmas magic to get some magnolia wreaths crafted and on to our front doors, as well.

For the last several years, we've enjoyed the Highland Santa brunch with our precious friends the Murphys. Unfortunately, not being in Indy anymore caused a change to that tradition. So, Sunday morning, we headed over to the VCC to have a family brunch and visit with Santa. Carter took a great picture with Santa, but I had to hold Callen to prevent the inevitable screaming that occurs at her age. So, this is the better picture from the morning:

They were both exceptionally well behaved, and I have no doubt that Santa noticed. Of course, if he missed it {with all of the other children who were there}, we have Mickio to fill him in!

Woody Boots

2010-12-05T14:01:00.002-06:00

When Nick and I were getting ready to go to Decatur for Thanksgiving, Carter and Callen were playing in our closet/bathroom. Carter says, "Look, Mom, I have on Woody boots!" and this is what I saw:

(PS: I know that I haven't been a regular blogger of late. My apologies. In addition to just plain old life, we have also had computer issues that are now resolved thanks to the App.le technicians. I promise to try to do better!)

Chest Bumps

2010-11-17T12:01:00.000-06:00

About a week ago, Carter came up to me and said, "I want to jump up."

I said, "Ok. Jump up."

His reply? "No, Mommy, like this."

He proceeded to hold his arms over his head, his hands in fists, and jump up pushing his chest out.

Me: "You want to do a chest bump?"

C: "Yes."

Me: "Where have you seen that?"

C: "When they play football and they win."

It was so matter-of-fact, I couldn't even laugh. It continually amazes me what they pick up on.

Here are some action shots of the chest bumping.

The approach

the bump

the landing

Fun Birthday Party

2010-11-14T14:43:00.003-06:00

Today, we went to the Mc.Wane Center to celebrate HG's birthday. HG is a precious friend from Carter's class at school. He has been excited about her birthday party all weekend. So, after church and a visit from Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily, Carter and I headed out to the party.

HG was VERY excited about her princess cake. I must say, it was very impressive and VERY yummy!

Carter was pretty excited about it too!!! He was lovin' his party hat! He kept taking it off, putting it on and then tried to make it into a unicorn horn.

After the party part was over, we got to enjoy the center at our leisure. I am sad to admit that this was the first time I have been there since we moved back. Although we used to be regulars at the Child.ren's Museum in Indy, I just haven't managed to get my act together enough to get Carter down to the Mc.Wane Center.

His favorite parts were the submarine (which he kept calling a spaceship) in the Kindergarten and under area and the trains.

This is Carter trying to get in the tank with the fish...hilarious!

Practicing being a paleontologist...
Letting a butterfly land on his shoulder!

Thanks, HG, for letting us celebrate your birthday with you! We had a great time! Carter especially loved getting to explore the Mc.Wane Center for the first time with so many of his friends!

Phone Photos

2010-11-08T18:57:00.003-06:00

I have been meaning to post these for a while, but they were on my phone, so it has taken me a while to remember to upload them.

The Friday before Halloween, Callen's class had their Halloween party. I got there probably about 5 minutes after it had officially started and this is what I found:

Callen was perfectly content sitting at the table with her friends, eating cheese puffs and a cupcake. When I walked in, she started shoveling her cupcake in double-time...afraid that it was time to go home and that she'd have to leave some behind.

She was so proud of herself! And please take note: she is indeed the only child in the class whose shirt has been removed!!!
Also, later that weekend, we went to a friend's house. Callen had her first experience in the bounce house {much earlier than Carter had his...if you'll recall the fall festival post}, and she LOVED it. At one point, the entire Willis clan were the only ones in the bounce house and we all had a ball!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:22:00.004-05:00

Our Halloween weekend started off Saturday morning with these Halloween treats from Kris.py Kre.me.

Yum. Yum. {nothing like prefacing a weekend full of sugar with chocolate covered doughnuts!}

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to the house of some friends from Carter & Callen's school for a Pig Roast, some football, and a bounce house for the kiddos. It was a nice time, and while I didn't document it with any pictures, Nick managed to bring home a strawberry on his arm from the bounce house!

This afternoon, after Carter and Callen woke up from their naps, we donned costumes and headed out to our block party. My Die.go and lamb were ready to go!

We really enjoyed the block party. Our neighborhood has lots of children, but our particular stretch of street doesn't have that many, so it was nice to get to meet some of the families in the neighborhood. Sadly, though we have been here almost a year, we haven't been able to make it to any of the neighborhood gatherings before now. At the block party, there was face-painting, a treat walk, a bean bag toss game, and lots and lots of food.

Coloring their bags at the block party.

After the block party, it was time to head home to eat dinner and get ready to trick-or-treat. {Carter helped Daddy get Callen home}

When we got back home, Carter & Callen were excited to see that Bamma and Big Pat had come by to see them! We also had Aunt Emily, Uncle Steve, Aunt Stacey & Uncle David come over, too!
Then, it was finally time to trick-or-treat. We probably went to about 8 houses. Carter had the gig down. It was pretty funny, though. I mentioned that there aren't many children on our stretch of our street, and I think we were the only trick-or-treaters most had. They kept encouraging Carter to take LOTS of candy and then he would grab LOTS of candy for Callen's bag. I had to pull him away at two houses! Our neighbors were very kind.

Finally, we made it back to our house to trick or treat, and Aunt Stacey let them pick through our stash of candy.
Of course, they had to inspect their loot!
And...this is about as good as it gets for a family Halloween picture.

We hope you and your family had a happy, safe Halloween!

Halloween Preview

2010-10-25T19:24:00.006-05:00

Sunday evening, we had plans to go to B.oo at the Zoo with friends. One someone in our family was very excited to dress up in costume and one was not. I'll let you decide which was which.

Callen, while not at all interested in having her costume {which is ridiculously cute, BTW} put on her, was all about walking around ~~like the diva she is~~ toting her treat bag.

She also condescended to pose for some pictures with her costumed brother. I couldn't help but wonder how cute this picture would have been had she left her costume on.

Then it was off to the zoo. Carter and Carson posed for a picture.
This was my best attempt at getting a costumed picture of them both. Callen WAS. NOT. a fan of the costume. She didn't crack a smile the entire time that she had it on. {only when I finally changed her out of it just before heading home} I am sure it didn't help that the costume is probably pretty warm and it was 80 degrees outside.

Carter and Daddy on the train ride through the zoo.
In the Child.ren's zoo area, they had activities for the children to participate it--football toss, bowling, etc. There was also a DJ and a "monster mash." This is Carter while dancing in the monster mash!
Before we left, Carter and Dad posed with Big Al to celebrate a Tide victory over the Vols this past weekend!
While I don't have any pictures of the animals, we did see some of them. We also got to trick-or-treat a bit. It was a nice adventure, and we were glad we got to kick off our Halloween festivities with our friends, the Lillys.

Reading

2010-10-22T12:25:00.003-05:00

Since Callen has been a little under the weather the past couple of days, Nick and I have been ~~frantically juggling our schedules so that one of us can be~~ home with her. Tuesday, while I was home with her, I was working in my office upstairs when she disappeared.

Usually when she disappears and I call her name, she'll giggle--giving up her location. However, this time I called and called and she didn't make a peep. I got that panicked feeling and jumped up to go find her. I looked in her room, the playroom, and the bathroom. Finally, I looked in Carter's room and found her perfectly content, sitting in his chair "reading" a book.

She was so proud of herself!

Fall Festival

2010-10-21T12:07:00.005-05:00

Tuesday night, Carter and Callen's school had their Fall Festival. Callen had been sent home sick earlier in the day {and has been home sick since! yuck!} so she and Daddy stayed home, but Carter was raring and ready to enjoy some fall fun!

First up...the bounce house! To say he loved it is an understatement. He is still talking about it. They had it at the school all day, so all of the classes got time to jump on Tuesday before the Fall Festival, and then he jumped in it twice that night! It was, believe it or not, the first time he has ever been in one. Not a conscious decision we'd made...we just realized on Tuesday night that it was his first experience. {the picture's not the greatest, but he was having a grand time!}

Next while the big kids were bouncing, Carter went to dig for critters!
He enjoyed finding them and showing them to me. When he found a roach and he tried to show me, I shivered {hate them!} and he proceeded to chase me with it. What a stinker!
We went inside to enjoy a dinner of chili and grilled cheese while visiting with friends and their parents, both of which were delightful. Then, one of the teachers came in with funnel cakes for dessert. It was quite a hit with Carter.

In his classroom they had a cake walk. This is Carter's idea of how to maximize your chance of winning. Smart child we have here! Everyone was laughing that he straddled two numbers. He did, in fact, win a very cute El.mo-decorated cupcake!

Other than the bounce house, his favorite activity was bowling with pumpkins {any time he can roll/throw/kick something inside, he is happy}, but it was crowded and I couldn't get any action shots of his bowling skills. He didn't have any strikes, but he managed 2 spares!

Each room had an activity, so he also got to paint pumpkins, stamp Halloween stamps on a small canvas goodie bag, get a tattoo {he chose a football player}, play the duck pond game, and play in the tunnel & ball pit.
At the end of the night when we were on our way out, one of the teachers was making witches' brew bubbles that the children could hold and pop. Carter thought it was pretty neat!
We really enjoyed the Fall Festival and were sad that Daddy and Callen couldn't be there to experience it with us this year. We hope she'll be up for it next year!

Blackberry Jelly Biscuits

2010-10-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

This post has been a while coming. I've just been waiting for the morning when I serve biscuits with blackberry jelly so that I could capture the aftermath. You can compare with her dad's first blackberry jelly experience here.

I am not kidding when I tell you this girl likes to eat.