Wesley's 1st Birthday

A couple weeks ago Wesley turned 1!  We drove up to Nashville for his birthday party.  The kids were pretty excited to celebrate with Wesley and the rest of the family.  Grandma, Poppy and Aunt Lyndsay finally got there and the fun began!

Grandma brought presents (Grace enjoyed her goggles).   Poor Grandma had a hurt knee but we had lots of fun anyway.  Climbing all over her and running around.

Wesley and Grace played together for a while. 

Finally it was party time and you know what that means!  Cake!

Happy Birthday Wesley!  We had such a fun time!  Hope you got lots offun presents! 

Jake Goes to Kindergarten

Ok, it's been a while.  Forgive me.  But I must go back in time and talk about our KINDERGARTNER!  I don't think a day went by all summer that Jake did not talk about starting Kindergarten.  He was so excited, mostly about riding the school bus.  There are two other kids starting kindergarten in our neighborhood and Jake was VERY excited to learn his friend JP would be in his class.  Yeah! 

The day before school starts kindergartners get to do a practice bus ride with a parent.  Nothing I wanted to do more at 7:10am than ride the bus.  Let me tell you the school bus has not changed a bit.  But Jake loved it so that's all that mattered. 

The first day of school arrived and Jake woke up bright and early (5AM!).  He got ready in his favorite red shirt and new Captain America shoes and off we all went to the bus stop.  His friends JP and Ella were just as excited to start school.

The bus came and Jake hopped on the bus without even looking back. Definitely a bittersweet moment for this mom!  Turning to leave all I could think was in 4 years I would be standing in this very spot sending all three of my babies off to school.  Sounds like a long time away but I know it will pass in a blink. 

That afternoon the girls and I trudged back up to the bus stop.  Jake jumped off the bus full of smiles.  Of course, he had the best day!  He told me he would love to go back every day.

Nana Was Here!

Nana came for a visit on Wednesday.  The kids were anxiously awaiting her arrival.  Chuck E. Cheese's was our first stop.  There are tons of things to do in Atlanta but Chuck E Cheezits is always at the top of the list. They had lots of fun showing Nana their favorite games and rides.  Nana might have even played a few games herself!

 
The next day we were off to the zoo.  Another kid favorite.  I do love our zoo, it's not terribly big and the whole thing is in the shade.  It's just a wonderful place to take the kids.  We saw tons of animals, they all seemed to be out.  Jake read all the animals off to us, his reading ability is amazing!  Of course, riding the carousel was the highlight.  It was Grace's first ride.  She loved it.  Just smiled the entire time.

The next day we took Nana to the Aquarium.  This is probably Julianna's favorite place.  She loves the sea otters.  She could really stand there for an hour and watch them.  Jake will not have that, he is always asking "what's next."  He could probably tour the entire place in 15 minutes.  But we enjoyed ourselves and finished the morning with the dolphin show (my personal favorite).  Now you have to go in 30 minutes early so I try to bring snacks but Grace is miserable for the entire 30 minutes.  But once that show starts all three kids are mesmerized.  Grace claps for the dolphins it is sooo cute!  On the way out Nana said they could pick out a souvenir.  Jake instantly picks a snow globe because he has "always wanted one."  Julianna heads straight for the pink stuffed dolphin then insists Grace also needs a pink dolphin.  So off we went with a snow globe and two pink dolphins.  Everyone was happy!

Yes, happy until we got home and Nana had to leave.  Jake cried.  Julianna cried.  Grace just waved and blew kisses.  We had such a fun time!  Nana come back SOON!

Beach Trip

Today we drove back from St. George Island.  If you remember last year we went there for our beach vacation and a hurricane ran us home.  This year, no hurricane but lots of rain.  We made it to the beach a couple times and swam in the pool, so the kids were happy.  

Jake and Julianna LOVED spending time with their cousins, John Payne and Kimsey Grace.  They shared a room and took turns sleeping on the air mattress.  Grace and Logan (just 2 weeks apart) terrorized each other.  Logan is very vocal and RUNS everywhere.  Grace has a little more chunk to carry so she isn't so quick but would snatch his toys and look totally sweet and innocent.  She was pretty happy chasing after him.  They even shared snacks on the beach.

In spite of the rain we managed to get to the beach three times.  Julianna was a little skittish at first but warmed up quicker than in past years.  Grace, however, showed no fear.  Would walk straight into the waves.  And let me tell you the waves were rough.  She just laughed and went further out.  Fell in the water came up sputtering but with a big smile.  

 Jake had lots of fun adding to his seashell collection.  Aunt Anna told him he could hear the ocean in this one...he was amazed.  He always has lots of fun at the beach jumping in the waves.  I asked what his favorite part of our beach vacation was he said "well, the beach of course!"

 

We also had to do our annual beach photo shoot.  We waited until the last day and it rained.  Of course.  But we got a few so this is the best.  Maybe someday my kids will all be willing to look at the camera and smile.  

Cincinnati Trip

I finally have a chance to update the blog.  It has been insane since school got out!  I posted some pictures from their school website.  Jake's teachers were obviously not as camera happy as Julianna's.  There are lots of little bunny pictures.  So check those out and sorry there are tons!

After school let out we were home for a couple days and headed to Ohio for a week.  Thankfully the 7 hours drive went fast and that DVD player was worth every penny!  Once we arrived we hit the ground running.  We headed to the zoo our first day.  They saw lots of animals we don't have here so that is neat.  Of course Jake and Julianna had to ride the train.

Now my kids say funny things all the time and I remember them about 50% of the time.  But we had two zingers back to back and I will never forget.  So, they have an animal called an Okapi, looks kind of like a horse but with zebra print legs and butt.  Jake was reading the signs and telling me it was from Africa (I think) and "its an o-ka-pee you know like an o-copy of a zebra."  Hilarious!  Then the very next animal is a rhino and it was just lazily hanging out in the pool.  He was pretty dirty.  Julianna looks at Grandma and says "Grandma he needs some soap in his bath."  I love my funny kids.

Then next day Brian flew in and we went to a Reds game (after buying Jake the appropriate hat and shirt).  I hadn't been to the new park and was so excited!  It really is a beautiful stadium.  And a great game!

Julianna also had her very first Skyline 3-way.  She liked it...didn't eat much but she liked it!

Let's see what else.  Oh we went to the butterfly museum.  The kids splashed around in the pool.  We saw my best friend Lisa and her kids.  Jake went bowling for the first time.  Then finally Aunt Shana brought Wesley.  He is such a doll.  Julianna was all over him...probably a nice break for Grace.

Then our last day we celebrated Poppy's 60th birthday.  We all met at our favorite, Montgomery Inn and had a small celebration.  There was cake and balloons (because Poppy had to have a baseball balloon!) and presents!  We had a great time.  Sadly we had to leave the next morning but summer is a busy time and lots of fun to be had!  Thanks for letting us invade for a week Grandma and Poppy!  See you next year!