quiet triumph

this post is all about joel's latest happenings. on any given day you can find him toddling around behind his big brother. watching them have unprompted fun together is so sweet. each and every day i am thankful that they have each other. like everyone says the second one learns from their siblings, and i guess they are right. joel has been sitting on the potty like it's his little chair every day. tonight he sat down after his bath and went pee pee in the potty. we all clapped and took a photo to memorialize the moment. he's 16 months and 2 weeks old!
last night he said a new word...apple. he seems to me a man of few words, but i think it's cause his big brother doesn't let him get a word in edgewise.

ever since we got back from our trip it's been raining like cats and dogs. matt spent a lot of the day yesterday packing up the kitchen, so the boys got to play with their favorite toys...boxes! there are a couple of things we want to see before we have to leave beautiful south carolina so, after the rain stopped for a couple hours we drove some 19 miles to see campbell's covered bridge which was built in 1909, and it's the last standing covered bridge in south carolina. once again the scenery was beautiful, and the boys loved seeing the water.

shiver me timbers we're back!

well we just arrived back in easley last night from our week long cruise. we are still a little dizzy from all the traveling we've done in the last couple of weeks. the boys had a fun time with their pipo and mima. their visit with them include a trip to busch gardens to visit with elmo and friends, and a fun time at chuckie cheese. i'm sure pipo and mima are now catching up on their much needed sleep after sharing their bed with evan. i really missed the boys while we were away. i thought about them the entire time...it's a mommy thing! matt and i took advantage of all the different activities the cruise had to offer. we swam, we got sun, i drank fruity beverages, we sang, we danced, and we ate, and ate, and ate!!! there is no question we gained weight with the way we ate. my dieting has already begun! we meet lots are really nice people too. luckily we were assigned a dinner table with a very nice couple from kentucky...the peeters. they also had two children, and were around our age so we had a lot to talk about. our cruise was five days, and was supposed to go to two ports, and two days at sea, but on the fifth day we had to stop in key west because an older gentleman needed medical attention, so we got to key west just in time to enjoy the gorgeous key west sunset! in a really short amount of time we were able to see my wonderful cousin ofelita & manolito who graciously dropped us off at the port and picked us up! thank you/gracias primos. we also were able to see our sweet nephews aidan and benjamin too. we never pass up a chance to see them! we love you guys.
now i've got to get back to getting all the dirty laundry done...sigh. matt has three days off this coming week, so we've got to dedicate ourselves to the packing. he's only got six more days of work at kool smiles, and our closing is still set for june 15...soon!

two days of goodbyes

these past two days has been rough.  we've had to say, "goodbye" to our kindermusik teachers and our rock springs mmo teachers.  wednesday was evan's last day of class for his "away we go" kindermusik class.  we just recently started him in the classes several months ago, and already i've seen his musical development grow.  he picks up melodies so quickly and repeats them.  he likes to mimic the sounds instruments make, and even his teacher said that "he's a good singer".  although, evan being like me loves the social aspect of the class.  it's so neat to see his personality developing at the tender age of 33 months.  now today was joel's last day of kindermusik, and also evan's last day of his mmo program.  joel's been in kindermusik since october 2009.  he started out being "baby joel" in the class, and now he's almost as big as his class mates.  he has learned to be a good helper, and put things away when asked.  he's a sweet boy, but we are still working on taming his tantrums.  he doesn't mind putting things away himself, but really dislikes it when someone (mami mostly) takes things away from him.  evan is getting so good about it.  he'll share the toys with his little brother.  he'll say, "here joel".  school at rock springs baptist church has made such a positive impact on him.  his teachers really loved him.  you could just tell they enjoyed "little evan" being there, and they missed him when he was absent.  we will always have a fond place in our hearts for both ms. kim and ms. tammi.  evan also entered school this year being in diapers, and by february he was potty trained.  here's a big thank you to all the wonderful ladies in evan's life.  you've made a huge positive impact in him, and we are so thankful. 

it's downhome pristine

we've done a lot of driving since i last posted, and this weekend will be no different.  for mother's day we went down to gainesville for two short days to celebrate our nephew/Godson's baptism.  it was lovely, and ben did just great!  evan and joel loved playing with their cousin aidan.  i hope to post the photos once i get them from wendy.  the next week matt and i were spending nights getting ready for the neighborhood garage sale which was the following saturday.  we probably sold half of what we needed to, but hey, it's better than nothing.  we also had help from heather and stan for the garage sale.  they were so gracious to make the trip over with the two little ones (lucas (2) and carson (3 mo.)).  we are so blessed to have them as friends, and we had a wonderful time...as always.  even though we are moving closer to them (they live in montgomery, al.) they wanted to come visit us here in easley, sc. before we moved.  on saturday after the garage sale and naps, we went downtown to walk around and see fall's park.  like most visitors to greenville they were amazed by the park and the falls.  there was also a parade and celebration going on in honor of our armed forces.  greenville was the picture of americana.  something that's not found in many places in this country any more.  the park has lots of babies right now...of the duck and goose nature.  they were so cute.  in fact, all around the upstate right now you can see mama geese with their goslings.  we had dinner at wild wing cafe and called it a night.  heather and i are not fond of beer, so this place was great cause it has woodchucks (cider) on tap!  the next morning we drove to lake jocassee, where we had a pontoon boat reserved for us for four hours.  here's the website for the lake  http://www.lakejocassee.com/, if you want to check it out.  the lake is over 7,000 acres.  as a floridian, lakes were never where i thought to go swimming especially since they are usually infested with gators.  we did see one water snake by the rocks, but he quickly swam away.  the clear water with the beauty of the mountains as the background was inspiring.  it took my breath away!  i am so glad we were able to go out on one of the many lakes up here before we moved.  it was a perfect day out on the boat.  within our four hour boat rental we visited three different falls.  matt, stan and heather climbed one of the them.  the boys all loved the boat, and they did great.  evan would just watch the water go by as we went.  he even went swimming twice.  he loved the water!  
the snyders left on monday morning :( and evan has been asking for his tio.  stan played dinosaurs with the boys which quickly became their favorite game. so today is wednesday, and it was evan's last day of kindermusik "our time".  tomorrow is his last day of mother's morning out at rock springs baptist church.  he will surely miss his sweet teachers.  he's the little one in the class, so he's been very well taken care of.  tomorrow is also joel's last day of kindermusik, so needless to say it's gonna be bitter sweet.  friday we leave for florida to drop off the boys with pipo and mima.  they've graciously offered to watch them so that matt and i can go on a cruise together.  we leave on saturday!  lot's of photos to follow...