Memorial Weekend 2012

We had a blast on Memorial Day Weekend.  After traveling several times together as a family, Shae had to travel two weeks in a row for work.  We were looking forward to a weekend with no long car rides, but when our neighbors invited us up to their lake house in SC, we couldn't turn down a day at the lake.  So we packed up early Sunday morning and headed to the lake.  Teddy was a little excited:

Teddy and his buddy Drew enjoying a snack on the deck:

Playing with cars:

BEST part of the day: getting to DIG in the sand.  They had tons of fun:

The water was great too:

Chillin on the deck after a day on the water:

We were having so much fun e didn't realize how late it was when we finally packed up the car and headed home.  Teddy got all of his favorite things: to swim, ride on a boat, play with his friends, eat chips and chicken nuggets, and digging in the sand.  The drive was under two hours, and luckily Teddy entertained us most of the way.  He sang the same song.  Over. And over. And over again.  For at least thirty minutes this is what we heard:

Of course on Memorial Day we remembered all of the soldiers past and present who have served our country and those who have died doing so.  We will definitely teach this to Teddy as he gets older.  But for now, he seemed to enjoy the long weekend of fun in the sun.  Monday we spent the early afternoon at our neighborhood pool.

All that sun will wear a guy out:

My cousin Jamie was driving through town so we went to my parents' house for dinner.  I think Teddy enjoyed the homemade fudge sauce my mom made:

(Yes my mom keeps it SO cold in her house I need a sweatshirt in Atlanta in the summer).
Teddy and cousin Jamie:

So the rest of this blog update is not about Memorial day, but I will just put the rest of my pictures on here so for the moment I will be "caught up" on this blog.  This past week I got two cake pop orders...so there have been A LOT of cake pops in our house!

Between a baby shower and a princess party, I ended up making six dozen cake pop!  All that left over chocolate and 6 months pregnant..... so this is what I did:

The chips barely lasted 24 hours but the boys helped me eat them!

For the princess/knight party:

Teddy got into the spirit of things....

Along with Shae:

Our Trip to the Mountain House

Even though we have been traveling A LOT the past several weeks, we were excited to go to my parent's mountain house with them.  They were babysitting Violet for the weekend so we had a great time with everyone.  

Grandma reading to the cute cousins before bed Friday night:

Teddy and Violet had so much fun playing together.  At the cabin they alternated between playing with toys, shooting baskets outside, reading books, and watching Elmo in Grouchland.  Here they are watching a few minutes of  Elmo.  Of course the ducks wanted to watch with them:

Shae and Grandpa took the kids to the park on Sat. morning while Mom and I went shopping.  Here's what I missed while looking for deals:

Sat. afternoon we went to the train museum.  It was FILLED with trains!  Here we are looking at the "extra trains":

Before you get to see the huge room with all of the trains, you have to sit through a lecture from the man whose hobby turned into a HUGE display of trains, towns, and landscape.  

It was sort of a long lecture....

Wow:

This is just part of it:

On the way back from the trains.  Looks like we picked up an extra little girl.  I think three car seats fit nicely in the back of my car, don't you?

Now Teddy has officially bathed with all of his cousins who are under the age of 5.  

Teddy's favorite part of the weekend was probably playing basketball with Grandpa.  He can even dunk on this net!

Well... with a little help that is.

Mother's Day 2012

We hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.  Teddy shared his love with some of the wonderful moms in our lives: 

I am so thankful to celebrate Mother's Day with my wonderful little family.

Teddy and Violet felt the love as well: 

 With the little man who makes this holiday so incredibly special:

 We had a lovely day. I didn't change a single diaper and spent the day with my family.  It doesn't get any better than that!  Here are a few other random pictures.  Teddy in his pea patch:

 While I am  so proud to be a mother, I am definitely not Mother of the Year.  Some evidence?  I was cooking dinner the other day... well I was preparing to cook it that is, when I started a fire, in the oven.  So of course I snapped a picture of it.   Yikes:

Nashville

Last week we went to Nashville and got to spend some extra time with darling baby Maverick.  Cuddling with these two made me very VERY excited about this Fall!!!!

Maverick is the sweetest and easiest baby ever! I had so much fun with him!

Reminds me of another little guy I am crazy about:

(I am not talking about the four legged one...though he is great too).

Teddy and Frankie:

Story time with Aunt Sammie:

I got to help babysit Maverick and was delighted to find Teddy was a great helper!!  Whenever Maverick cried (which was NOT very much), Teddy immediately would ask me, "Does he need his paci? Does he need some milk?"  

 Here he is tickling Maverick's toes:

Cousins post diaper change:

Teddy holding his baby cousin:

We also enjoyed swimming at the pool:

Oh my tushy.....

Between our two road trips, Shae decided to take a few weeks off shaving.... check out my mountain man and his grizzly beard and mustache!!!!!

While we really enjoyed spending time with family on our travels.... there is something to be said for

Home Sweet Home:

Trip to Iowa April 2012

We were excited to head to Iowa not only to visit with family but also to celebrate our newest nephew Maverick James.  Wanna see it what it is like on our road trips?  Here we are....

Teddy was excited to see his COUSINS! Check out his two littlest ones.  It's fun to think that in a year from now they will be chasing Teddy around:

for now he'll have to get chased by Amy:

Teddy had a great time playing with Amy and has talked about her non stop since our trip:

They even got to play trivia together at Wild Wings:

And of course swimming together was a highlight of the trip:

Little Grant was content to watch the fun from the sidelines:

Look at these two having a dance party:

\

Snack time:

Bath time (note this bath was MUCH more successful than his first attempt at a cousin bath)

Grandma Susie and some of her babies:

The shower celebrating Maverick was lots of fun:

Look how much fun the guest of honor had:

Let's get this party started... pass the popcorn please!

Amy all dressed up and ready to party:

Two little buddies:

Cute picture of Shae and his sisters... notice the children literally running circles around them!

Everyone had a great time:

Aw.... with my little man:

Amy and Teddy are bright children... they figured out really quickly which table to stand near... they got PLENTY of cake pops!!!

Beautiful Aunt Sam and Darcy:

Go Cubs:

Lots of goodies:

Great Aunt Sara with Grant:

Family portrait in our hotel room:

Meal time at the Arrowhead Motel.... we are not used to having TV during meal time... let alone CABLE TV.... very fancy:

Teddy really enjoyed spending time with Grandma Susie:

She even played piano with him:

And let him wear her hat and play with her new puppy:

Teddy also had a blast on Grandpa's boat:

Here's our 3 generations on the boat picture:

It was a little chilly for us Georgia Peaches....

But Teddy didn't stay inside for long... 

He had to help drive!

One of the cutest pictures ever...

Amy and Teddy hanging out in the motel:

Eventually the trip had to end and it was back in the car for us.... luckily Teddy is an amazing traveler!!!

We stopped in St. Louis for lunch and got to stretch our legs a bit...

and ate at The Spaghetti Factory... yummy!

Like always, the trip flew by and while we enjoyed seeing everyone, it went by very very quickly!