both evan and joel have changed and developed in these last couple of months. evan continues to have an appetite, and even tells us, "i'm hungry". it's such a welcome thing to hear! he's even trying new things. when grandma and grandpa came to visit we stopped at wendy's for a quick bite, and he wanted to try a hamburger. well, he said he didn't like it. oh well, we are thrilled that he even wanted to try it! that's a huge step. when we were home over the summer i tried to spend a couple of hours each week going over skills he'll need for 4k. we practiced our cutting with scissors, tracing letters and numbers, and just building hand strength with playdough. joel practiced too. we'll, he tried everything his brother did. :) joel is talking a lot more. he is still pretty quiet though. you've got to really listen to hear all the cuteness that comes out of his mouth. he says everything just a two year old should...super adorable. you just want to squeeze him! we've also noticed he's also way more stubborn/strong character than his older brother. let's just say that he sits himself in timeout. lol! we also discovered that joel loves being in the water, and he also has no fear whatsoever. swimming for evan has been a slow progression this summer, but we have improved. he took swim lessons for two weeks straight after our florida trip. he was able to make the first level of swimmer for swimamerica. he started out the summer afraid to swim with swimmies on his arms. now, he doesn't need them, and wears goggles to see underwater. it's good to see him enjoying the water. joel loves wearing googles too, but he's still got swimmies.
a couple days a week we took "field trips" to our favorite places. we made it to basspro, the mcwane science center, the zoo, the splash pad, ijump, and the parks. we really only had a couple of weeks at home before we left for a florida adventure. our first stop was in columbus, georgia where we were able to spend some much needed quality time with susie and the kids. the boys had so much fun playing with fia and david. they were a joy to watch when susie had to work, or go pick up gabby. we went on bear hunts (imaginary) :). we played in their fabulous backyard which includes a pool, inflatables, sandpit, ect...
good morning cuties! what shall we do today?
a bear hunt! great idea.
then we'll have to play in the sandpit.
time to wash off the sand...woohoo!
peekaboo baby david (aka sweetest baby ever)
you're my buddy.
the incredible flying fia!
gabby's back...yay!
let's get ready to go to see lauren.
at the end of the week susie and i drove all the kids down to panama city to see the berrys for lauren's 2nd birthday party. we managed and conquered flowing each other down to florida, getting to the potty, feeding the pack, and checking into the hotel.
we had a fabulous time with the berrys (i know, this gets repetitive)! lauren's birthday party leaves nothing to want. tricia made it extra special with all the details that a princess should have. the kids loved dressing up in costumes. the mommies loved it too. it's like you're transported to the barbie doll age, but our kids are our dolls/kens, whatever. we were able to spend some time with our sweet friends from dental school, like the ashys and the bongiornos. it's something we never get to do, and we all were trying to keep the night going...until our kids were on the verge of passing out on the couch. we called it a night, and went back to our hotel. poor evan had a fever when we got back. i would find out a couple days later that he had tonsilitous.
we all cheer for wendy's in dothan!
the catwalk at the party
the dental kiddies
starting to fall apart.
evan took this one.
he took this one too.
not bad evan, but i'm not sure mary will hire you.
the next morning we arose bright and early...cause that's what you do when you are sharing a bed with two little ones. we enjoyed a yummy breakfast, and then we were off to say our goodbyes...boohoo!
as we made it to i 10 we were excited to be at mima and pipo's house till july. they convinced us to come to see them, and join them for three days at cresent beach, near st. augustine.
before we made it to the beach we always stop at one of our favorite air conditioned playgrounds we know...chick-fil-a! we also got to meet up with wendy and the boys, and our good friend melody and her boys at sun country sports center. we played a while that morning, and then went on to enjoy lunch at moe's before heading back to my parent's home. it meant the world to us to have our family and friends want to meet up with us. we hadn't all gotten together in a very long time. we had also never met baby noah grant. what a sweetie, just like his mama. i know i have pictures, and video from the flip. gotta get those on here.
oh how i wish i had packed them socks...
double cringe.
oh good, you still have your feet intact!
time for some soft serve, and don't tell mima that i'm not sharing.
thank goodness that after about four days evan's infection got better, just in time for the beach! on the way to the beach we drove a while through the ocala national forest. you see a lot in there...the locals are a bit interesting sometimes, but the coolest thing we saw was a brown baby bear crossing on the road. i think i'll second think camping there for a while, or at least till i can be behind an alluminum door of an rv...lol(mima, lol means laugh out loud)! i didn't stop to take a picture. do you blame me?
let me just tell you that cresent beach is a very relaxing and off the beaten path kind of place. i think there's only two restaurants and a dollar general, something like that. there's basically only condos, so most people are cooking their own food, or going into st. augustine beach for their needs. it's a great place for kids. we stayed at a place called, summerhouse. they had pools and playgrounds. todo, we aren't in south beach anymore. each day we put together the canopy on the beach and just went in and out from beach to pool, to beach, to eat, to pool, to nap, to pool, and that was basically our stay there until we check out and went to the old towne st. augustine before driving back to my parent's home.
look mami, beach.
joel was our beach baby
very close to our condo was marine land, so we went.
waiting for an encounter to start...
still waiting, and getting cranky.
so, if you paid way more $ than we did you got to do this.
pool time with mima and joel.
pipo took on the job of motivating evan.
showing me their bubble blowing.
evan really enjoyed swimming with his pipo.
in front of the oldest school house in america.
about to make a wish in the fountain. i wonder what he wished for?
pushed that honkin double stroller all the way to the fort...whew!
this would be a nightmare if we went back in time!
they so look like twins here.
fourth of july was celebrated back at my parent's home the next day. it kind of stunk that florida was under a burn ban, so sparklers for us. it was so nice to spend time at their home. they really do try to make our stay so enjoyable and stress free. i even got pampered! my dad took my to my first father/daughter pedi. that's something that i hope we can do again. see even grandpas like pedis.
a couple of days later we left for our nine hour treck back to b'ham, but before we got to i 10 we stopped in chiefland to see our grandparents, uncle pete, and our cousins aidan and benjamin. it was nice to get out and play for a while and get all the willies out.
we even got to play with bubbles outside. joel enjoyed cleaning uncle mark's drive way with the solution. he really just spilled it everywhere, but we'll call it cleaning.
couch photo take 1
couch photo take 2
couch photo take 3
the boys were troopers on the drive back to b'ham. it was our longest drive alone with out any adult copilot for me. let me just tell you that now that i have kids driving through thunderstorms cause major anxiety! we drove through three, but getting to see papi was worth it. i had to pull over once just to be safe. while we were gone a lot had happened. we got new counter tops in our kitchen and hall bath. i am so liking it. amazingly the house was in way better shape than i imagined. papi did a great job while we were away. we spent the rest of july going to bible study groups a couple times a week, and meeting with friends to play. the following week from out trip vacation bible study started for evan. the big apple was the theme, and they even performed for everyone at the end of the week. it was a really fun experience for evan. they even had a yellow taxi cab in front of the church announcing the vbs. evan got a really cool vbs shirt too. he thought it was cool when i told him that his aunt maggy and uncle adam live in the big apple. his classroom was decorated like central park. the young ladies from the youth group there helped everyday. they really got attached to evan! it was really sweet.
who doesn't love coupons to cpk!
family shot from dinner that week at cpk...i just wasn't in the mood to cook when i got back from our trip.
the big apple program (squint and you'll see evan on the bottom left)
at the end of the week we were bummed vbs couldn't continue for another week, but we were excited that grandma and grandpa were on their way to visit us all the way from sarasota...quite a drive.
we really enjoyed their stay. the night they got here we drove them to one of my favorite bbq places here...and we've tried many. we visited and strolled the botanical gardens on saturday, and i even got to get out that afternoon to have a massage (my present from mother's day)! they even suggested that we get a date night, and boy did we take the time to celebrate at the melting pot and a movie. the following day was sunday, and we all went to mass together. grandpa later treated us to a ticola favorite...olive garden. throughout their stay they worked so hard to help in whatever they could. their love, hugs, laugh, help was missed when they headed back on monday.
ah, young love.
lost count on what take this was.
this one's my favorite mami...that's what evan said.
art in real life.
hugging on grandpa.
this is the best!
these last three weeks has been getting ready for school, and just taking it easy. we made it to montgomery one day to swim and play with our good friends the snyders while papi was working in talladega. matt's been working a lot this summer in his moonlighting job. although, woohoo...he did get asked to be chief resident of the pedo program, and run the sparks clinic too. that means we get a little more dough...which will be eaten up right away! lol! we feel really blessed about that.
ok, friends my hand is cramping...
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