Summer Concert Series at Freshfields

On Friday night, we ventured down towards Kiawah and Seabrook to listen to the end of the summer concert series at Freshfields Villages.  Throughout the summer on Friday nights, they have a live band play on the green from 6-9.  People bring picnics, coolers, chairs, blankets, etc and have a great time just relaxing, listening to good music and watching the kids run.  To tell the truth, I had totally forgotten about this until the Steeds and Murphys invited us on Friday.  We had a blast.  Hughes and Conley danced (by that I mean ran around) until the music stopped.  We had Cold Stone to help beat the heat.  Banks finally gave out and used David's shoulder as his bed - which made for a very hot dad.  It was a great night especially considering David had been in school the four previous nights.  It was a perfect night!

Playground Fun

Recently, it has been our routine to go to the playground in the afternoon.  This helps fill the time between end of nap and dinner time.  We have the most beautiful view from it - right on the IC Waterway, boat landing right beside it, across from the firetruck station.  Can you ask for anything more for boys?  Hughes goes from the boats, to the firetruck to the slide.  Banks hangs out and tries to eat all the mulch.  You will see yellow tape in the background.  This week they are replacing the swingset with a bigger swingset - YEAH!  Anywho, I just thought I would post some pictures from the great playground that we venture to - a lot!  Oh, the name of it is Plymouth Park and it is in Riverland Terrace.

Brothers Who Bathe Together, Stay Together

Well, it's one for the record books - Hughes let Banks take a bath with him.  Well, actually it is the other way around.  Our routine has been to bathe Banks first, then put more warm water in the tub and let Hughes take over playing while  I dress Banks for bedtime.  However, tonight, while Banks was playing in the tub Hughes wanted to get in and start playing with his toys.  I was shocked.  It's not that we haven't tried to get the boys to bathe together before - Hughes just won't have anything to do with Banks - and the bath is way too close for comfort for him.  So, imagine my surprise when Hughes jumped in.  Maybe this is a turning point?  Anywho, let's celebrate the small victories!

Diaper Bag Fun

Why is it that babies love to go through bags?  It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have so much JUNK in it - receipts, spoons, change, diapers, wallet, random papers, etc.  This was the beginning of his exploration hence why there is nothing else around him.  I've seen this trick before so I quickly diverted his attention to something else.  However, if I had let it continue he would have been entertained for at least 15 minutes - and sometimes I need a good 15 minutes!

He's Talking!

Just a quick update on Banks - he has found his vocabulary!  He says byebye and sometimes mama.  He likes to give David hugs but no one else.  He pulls up on everything and so desperately wants to walk.  He loves nothing more than to be in his brother's room and bang on the train table.  He sleeps wonderfully (two naps that equal 5 hours of sleeping and still goes to bed at 7:15 and waking up at 7:00), eats pretty good (loves yogurt, cereal bars, cantaloupe, grits) but makes a huge mess most of the time requiring a bath afterwards.  He's just a wonderful baby and I can't believe he'll be a year old next month!  Where did the year go?

A Little Remodeling

So, those of you that have facebook accounts have probably seen my status updates griping about sawdust and construction.  Well, I thought I would post a few pictures.  When we decided to stay in Charleston for David to go to law school, we knew we had to do something about the storage problem in our house.  So, up came a garage and built-ins in the den.  I'm already in love with my garage and refuse to ever live my life without one again.  Some may ask:  Are you parking your car in it?  And my response:  Are you crazy?  With a double stroller, wagon, tricycle, and many, many other things, it is basically a huge storage shed.  However, we knew building a garage would add value to our house.  As far as the built-ins, they are not complete yet.  There will be doors across the big middle whole where the new tv will go.  We're trying to get all ready for football season.  I'm also already in love with my built ins and can't wait to put the shelves all the way up and all the toys and games in the cabinets!

Bike Gang

These are the best buds in the neighborhood: Wyatt, Conley and Hughes.  We play with them almost every afternoon.  They live right down the street from us and we love it!  Their moms are a huge help to me when I need it and I try to reciprocate the favors.  Ignore the dates on the pictures, I didn't set my camera.  But I just wanted to show what we do most sunny afternoons:  ride bikes, play with balls, and sweat a lot!

Peek-A-Boo

Hughes loved the reaction he got from Banks while playing peek-a-boo with him.  This is probably the most interaction the two have ever had.  Hughes basically ignores Banks until Banks starts making a move towards Hughes' toys.  At that point, we hear a scream followed by a baby crying.  There is no physical contact.  Banks can be 10 feet away and just look in the direction of the cars and Hughes freaks out and screams.  In turn, Banks either gets scared or gets mad and cries as well.  

4 Years & Counting

We started a new phase of our lives this weekend.  David had law school orientation all day on Saturday.  For the next four years, David will work during the day and go to school from 6-9pm Monday - Thursday.  There are pros and cons to this:  

Pros:  I don't have to cook dinner M-Th all the time - the kids can eat hot dogs every now and then, I can watch what I want to on NetFlix and cable - that's it, those are my pros.  I'll have the most educated husband on the block!

Cons:  No help with bath time, dinner time, bedtime,  a stressed out husband

There are 50 night school students.  We had a barbeque Friday night to meet some of the new students.  I ran into a girl that went to Auburn her freshman year, pledged ADPi but then transferred to USC her sophmore year.  She is also starting law school but is going full time.  So, I know David is going to kill me for posting this BUT  this is him on his first day of law school.  Maybe I should start a scrapbook of all his first days of school (we'll have K-12, College, Grad School, & Law School).

Child-Free & The Boss

This past weekend, Mom and Dad had the boys for several reasons.  

    Reason #1:  My house was a disaster and it desperately needed my full attention.

    Reason #2:  Banks had clothes in his drawers size 3 months (he's now 11 months) so I had to go through all the clothes and switch them out which them made me also do Hughes' drawers.

    Reason #3:  I wanted to get the garage attic packed full of all the baby paraphenalia that I was tired of seeing in the hallway upstairs.

    Reason #4:  David had law school orientation all day on Saturday and I wouldn't be able to get anything above accomplished with the boys by myself.

    Reason #5:  We had tickets to see Bruce Springsteen Saturday night.  It was awesome!  

Do those sound like good reasons?  I got everything accomplished plus a trip to Goodwill to donate 4 bags of children's clothes.  Thanks Mom and Dad for keeping the boys.  I know they are always in good hands while in St. Matthews.  

Katie & Jackie

My grad-school roommate, Katie Houston, had a baby girl, Jacqueline Mae Houston, on Thursday.  I went to visit them at St. Francis Saturday morning.  Jackie is beautiful and I'm already claiming her for Banks!

Beach Babes

This morning our neighborhood playgroup had a playdate at Seabrook.  Beth's in-laws live right on the beach and invited us out to play.  When we got there, they had about 10 chairs out, toys galore, umbrellas opened, and to top it off - a cooler packed full of water, juice boxes, and snacks for everyone.  All we had to bring were our kids and towels.  Hughes ran his little heart out and, once again, Banks ate half of the beach.  There is just no stopping that kid.   From my pictures it doesn't look like there was anyone else out there but I promise there were other kids.  I guess I need to work on my photography skills and not just focus on my own kids.  OOPS!

Progress in Speech

Today, we had a ton of things going on at the house.  We had people pouring concrete for the garage parking pad, workers inside the house putting up crown molding, pest control spraying, Banks laughing and making all his cute little squeaks, and Hughes having his weekly speech therapy session.  Hughes and Miss Joyce had it on the back porch (thank goodness it wasn't 100 degrees).  Hughes did fantastic.  He didn't leave her side once and stayed focused the entire hour.  At one point, I was feeding Banks outside not really paying attention to Hughes and Miss Joyce when I heard him clearly say "elephant".  Now, normally when you point to an animal and ask Hughes what it is, he will make the animal sound.  I couldn't believe my ears when I heard my son say a three-syllable word without any prompting except "what is this".  I'm so proud of him!  He is saying more and more but typicallly it is only things David and I can understand.  We go for our speech evaluation for the district next week.  I'm curious to see what they say.

WOW - He's Growing Up!

This is a picture of Hughes' last year's First Day of School (2007).  Look at the difference a year makes.  I don't think I realized how much of a baby he still looked then and how much of a big boy he looks now.  I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing next year.  My baby is growing up!

Back To School

Banks saying, "wait for me, don't leave me"!
Hughes thought it was necessary to take two trains with him to school.  This is also a rare shot of him with his bookbag on.  Last year, he wouldn't even touch it.
Here is our best bud Conley.  Conley came right in and started working.  He has been very excited about going to "Hughes' school".  Conley also wanted a "worm bookbag" like Hughes.  I love these boys together.  I hope they remain fast friends forever.  And it's always a plus when you like the parents just as much.  Maybe our next joint vacation the boys will get to come.
So, The Island School started back today.  Of course, Hughes only had one week of vacation between summer session and fall session but I still made a big deal about it.  David did not understand why but I made him go to drop-off with me.  We got to meet the new teacher and take in all the supplies (I now know what parents feel like when they're lugging in all these school supplies).  The school moved to its new location and it looks great.  Hughes had no problem with drop off and immediately started playing (with a dollhouse but who's telling).  He'll move to the 3 year old class come October.  I asked if they had to be potty trained to move to that class and the director told me no.  Thanks goodness b/c potty training has taken a back seat.  We decided that maybe we weren't ready.  We'll give it another shot a few months from now.

Firetruck Museum

Today we went to the Firetruck Museum for Jacob Daniels' birthday party.  Olivia did a fantastic job organizing this event.  We had the museum to ourselves which meant plenty of room for lots of 3 year olds to run around and we had Marble Slab ice cream with all the toppings to choose from.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I'm pretty sure Hughes and Banks did, too.  David had to go to a law school orientation for older students so he did not get to enjoy the festivities.  Law school starts next week and we've got to go back-t0-school shopping for him!  I never thought I would say that when I married him 5 years ago!

Long Lost Friend

 I haven't seen Sherry Line McIntyre since she and I were both pregnant with out first children.  Since then, we have both added another.  She was traveling to Myrtle Beach to visit her in-laws last week and I was able to meet her in Mt. Pleasant at the Chick-fil-a for a little playtime.  Above is a picture of Calvin and Mary Catherine.  We had a great time.  Hopefully, it won't be that long again before we see each other.

Blazing Hot Summer Day = Indoor Jump Castle

Banks laying claim to his ball.

Conley and Hughes wearing themselves out!

It has been so hot here lately that going outside just about melts you.  So, Suzie and I took the boys to Jump 'n Jacks (indoor jump castle) one morning.  We had to wait while the 97 daycare children cleared the place but after that the boys had it basically to themselves besides four other children.  There were 6 jumpcastles so there was room for everyone.  Banks crawled around following the boys.  It wore them out!