Wednesday, May 30, 2012

It Was a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

We couldn't have asked for a better Memorial Day weekend.  The weather cooperated and allowed us to enjoy much lake and pool time.  We had friends come in town from Wilmington, Atlanta, and the DC area, and Uncle JP came in from Durham.  The kids were rockstars, taking very few short naps, and staying up WAY later than normal.  I got to wakeboard (I'm a little rusty, but since the boat is running awesome, I look forward to more and more practice time this summer!), paddleboard, and Payton got to go on a jet ski.  Again, I say, if anyone has about $1500 cash burning a hole in his/her pocket, Brian and I would LOVE a paddleboard and paddle.  What an awesome past-time!  We wore poor Payton out so much that she FELL ASLEEP at the wheel...yep.  She was helping Daddy drive the boat.  I looked down and her little head was bobbing back and forth.  See the video.  Very cute.
Here are a few pictures of us with my friends from the DC area, Aaron, Anna, Connor, and Sophie Kinworthy.  This was my first time meeting their adorable kids, and them, ours.  The girls had SO much fun playing together, and we even let them stay up until 10PM!! Saturday night.




 Paddleboarding:



 Fun on the lake:

Crashed out! 

Our weekend boat driver

Jen D, Payton, and Heather
Jenn M, Yours Truly, and JJ



Griffin's personal hair stylist...

She loves her little brother!

Seriously?

Griffin, not surprising, loves the boat :)  I feel so thankful that our kids have the opportunity to grow up on, or around, the lake.
Fun with Uncle JP



Payton made jewelry with a torn up Koozie
This is what they teach you in law school?!?  JP...doing some MUCH needed relaxing!




Fun at the Kennington's

One tired out little girl

Andy and Griffin

JJ, Jenn, and G

Andy & Sweetness



Serious boat driver!

Sleeping boat driver!
Mattie, Julie, and P

Payton and her friends, Saylor and Mattie
On Saturday afternoon, Payton and Griffin had a birthday party to attend for their friend, Eva, who was turning 2.  It was at "Little Gym" by Cotswold.  The kids had a blast, and finished off the party with their favorite part: CAKE!  Griffin even got a little taste.  Yum Yum!  Happy birthday to sweet EVA!
The birthday girl: EVA!

Griffin flirting

BUBBLES....


I want CAKE!
That's more like it people!




Well, our little swimmer is BACK!  Payton ROCKED it this weekend, learning how to move around the lake in her lifejacket (she was too little last year to actually swim in one, and I don't let her wear one in the pool because I have never wanted her to use it as a crutch.)  Her friend, Mattie, was like a little fish in the lake, swimming around and jumping off the dock.  Payton wanted to follow her and copy, so that gave Payton her confidence back.  By Memorial Day, she was swimming halfway across our pool by herself.  We're very proud!  The videos are listed below.


I couldn't leave Griffin out, now could I?  He is a little hesitant to just "jump in," but he loves the water, doesn't mind going under or "swimming" without our hands on him, and he just splashes and splashes.  He also likes riding on rafts, and LOVES the boat.  Here is a picture of fun at the pool with Rae-Rae, Baby Camryn, and Madi: (I didn't have the camera out there, plus I was in the pool, so this is all I got!)

Potty training took a backward step this weekend.  Since we were on the lake so much, I allowed Payton to pee in the lake.  And she continued that trend by peeing in our house, in my parent's garage, and at the dentist office.  Awesome.  Payton had to visit the dentist yesterday to check out a tooth that has a little chip.  I wanted to make sure it wasn't decaying (which it isn't).  I "prepped" Payton on what was going to happen, and bribed her to be a good girl.  Whoa.  She HATED it.  Wouldn't hold still.  Wouldn't let the dentist in her mouth.  Fought tooth and nail to get out of my lap.  Poor thing...before the dentist came in, Payton enjoyed pressing every button she could find, and put on a pair of surgical gloves.  After the visit...she showed her "thanks" by peeing in her pants.  Woo-hoo!  Good morning :)  and the day only got worse...but you won't want to hear about that!  To put it lightly, it was FULL of poop!
Griffin has been trying really hard to get his top 2 teeth in.  He hasn't been real fussy, but he does this fake cry/whine thing that's funny.  I caught it the other day with the camera:
Cute things:  Payton says "catch 'em Mommy!"  When Brian and Griffin left in the car the other morning, Payton and I had a different destination, but Payton says "Catch 'em!" and smiles.  Anytime someone is in front of us, she says the same.  Griffin is a big cuddle-bug and I love it.  He's loud.  He flirts with cute girls. He's crawling everywhere FAST, and soon will be walking.  He has 2 of the smallest teeth I've ever seen, and they are like razor blades.  His personality is awesome.  Laid back.  Smiley.  Happy.  God, I love our kids.  We are so blessed.  Thank you for letting us share our story with you :)

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Fun on the Mountain...



We spent the weekend up at the Sugar Mountain house with the Brantleys.  We had a blast!  The kids all played well together, we went on mini hikes, visited the Grandfather Winery (my favorite place to take the kids!), Britt and Dan met us up there, cooked great meals, and played games.  Payton slept until we WOKE her up at 10:15am on Sunday, then once we were home, she took a 3.5 hour nap!  I think we are going to the mountains more often!!!  Also, she only had ONE accident the entire weekend, including the trip up and back!  She's doing awesome with the potty training, and actually woke up Tuesday morning dry for the first time.  We're getting there!  She has been an angel for almost the past week, so I hope that continues...after the week(s) we had before that, we needed some good behavior!
Helping Daddy change the smoke detector battery

Off for a hike!

Counting to 10...playing hide and seek

Payton kicked Griffin out of the carrier and hitched a ride with Dad


This will be a good measure to show how tall the kids get from year to year

Who needs snow?


My sweet boys :)


2 of these 4 eggs hatched while we were there!

Momma bird wasn't too happy about us being near her babies...

Geoff and Knox (20 months)


Grandfather Mountain...See?

The Brantley Family
Little Monkeys


Look at this cutie!

                    Then I got these really cute shots of Knox and Payton in the little ski house...




It was all cute until this big scary guy popped in ;)


We ran into these guys on our way to the car...they were going mountain boarding.  NO brakes.  Freaking crazies!

Who needs a Q-tip when you have a Christy?  lol
On Saturday afternoon we headed down the mountain to Grandfather Vineyard.  They were having their one year anniversary party, so it was a PERFECT day to visit.  Many kids, a band, and 10% off their wines :)  We ALL had a very good time and didn't want to leave...
Notice Payton in the background...she was checking her Facebook account ;)

Baby Abby even had a good time!



Payton has been really sweet to Griffin lately...moreso than usual

CHEERS!















This cute little girl, Madison, had her eye on Knox all day!

Our pretty girl running through the vineyard...
What an awesome daddy!  Making use of nature while changing a dirty diaper :)  Hey, when nature calls...


Unca Dan having playtime with P

Mommy's sweet boys :)

Taking it all in...
The dog was going under the fence, so Payton decided to follow


Dan and Britt missing Madi, but getting some baby love :)





I love this shot of Dan!

Mmmm, I smell a bouquet of raspberry, tobacco, and a note of licorice ;)





We don't feed Payton much, so she was fending for herself, lol!  She was actually trying to get Knox's shoe on her WAY too big foot
What a cutie!
So, for those of you who don't know, I HATE motorcycles.  They are dangerous and I've known people who got REALLY hurt on them...so, for me to get on one is rare.  Dan, Britt, Christy, Geoff, and Brian totally peer-pressured me into a ride up Sugar Mountain with Dan.  I did it.  I survived.  I may have even smiled once or twice.  My outfit wasn't exactly motorcycle friendly, but I made the best of it...Britt gave me her riding jacket, and Geoff gave me the sunnies...
Fortunately there wasn't a helmet small enough for Griffin, so he had to be happy with just sitting on the motorcycle!


Check out this weird mountain bug?  Anyone know what this is?  Enlarge it and look at its "face."  It's like an alien!

While we were gone, we had our upstairs painted.  We are still in the midst of getting everything cleaned up and furniture put back, but here are a couple pics.  We are very happy with the way it turned out, especially after having white walls for almost 14 years!  We still have a few house projects to complete, including cleaning out the kid's toy box, switching out fans, etc, but we're getting there...the house will be just the way I want it about the time we move out.  But I'm OKAY with that :)


And the last couple of pics to round out the last week...it's been so pretty in the afternoons.  Most of the time we'll play outside or go to our pool, but this day I put a tiny inflatable pool on our porch.  This way I could get some things done, ie-water plants, while the kids played safely.  They LOVED it, even though they could both barely fit at the same time.  I'm all about anything that entertains them, especially together, so this was a score...thanks, Target, for my $5 pool :)

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!  We'll be working hard getting the boat cleaned up so we can finally get on the lake.  I'm looking forward to seeing many of our friends, relaxing, and wakeboarding...I just hope I can remember how!  Cheers!