Yesterday was a good day. The kids and I haven't seen my friend Kara in a while because she started a new job from home. We decided that we were going to kidnap her and go to lunch because she's been working so hard and needed a fun little break. She lives near Destin so we picked her up and went to Destin Commons to grab lunch at Panera and let Christopher run around in the play area. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! It started to rain when we left her house, but knowing how it tends to rain off and on at the beach we didn't let it stop us. It cooled everything off and stayed overcast the whole time, sprinkling every now and then. When we got back in the van to leave I looked at the temp and it was an amazing 76 degrees outside!!!! The kids didn't nap very long, but we had fun. Since I never take photos of the kids I thought that I would make an effort to, so here are photos from the last two days. There isn't much to say about what happened and I didn't feel like carrying the camera with me to lunch, so I just thought I'd talk about it and show the rest. Enjoy!


Sophie is learning to hold her own bottle. Sometimes we have to prop it up to help her out.

I bought a curtain rod and Christopher grabbed the insert and started using it as a track for his cars. Pretty smart, huh?

The kids making each other laugh at lunch. This is one of their favorite times together.

Sophie always wants what Christopher is having.

Sophie after having a great lunch. She loves to eat! We haven't found anything she won't eat. Her brother was, and still is, much pickier.

The kids at bath time. Doesn't Christopher look evil? He wasn't, he was just trying to rinse everyone off. It just looks like he's about to hurt her.

Now he loves to rinse his own hair, which is great. I don't have to!

Sophie sits up without any assistance now. But we still use backup just in case sometimes.

Just siting around in the morning watching Go, Diego, Go!

Brandon had to work nights for two weeks and I knew there was no way I could keep the kids quiet or be gone long enough every day for him to sleep during the day so we loaded up the van and headed to my parents' house for a week. Christopher was so excited about going on a trip that as soon as Brandon walked through the door Tuesday morning he ran up to him shouting, "Grammie's house!!!!!!" in the little man voice me uses when he's very excited about something. He basically ran past Brandon, straight out the door and into the backseat of the van refusing to get out because he was ready to go now! I hurriedly go everything into the van and we took off. I was really hoping to make it to Montgomery without them waking up and then we could grab lunch, hit a store or two so Christopher could run around, but like it goes with kids, didn't happen. But that was fine. Except for the part where he was almost in tears that we hadn't arrived to our destination yet, so we had to start counting down the turns we had left to make to keep him happy. It worked. So here are photos of all the fun that was had while we were at the lake. We didn't get to go visit anyone else because our schedules never matched up and Sophie was getting over a virus so I hated to spread anything to anyone else. (Nothing serious but you never like to be the one to start something.) The kids always love to see their family and I do too! More photos to come, just can't get them to attach right now.

Aunt Jenny and Uncle Trey came by to pick up their dogs and Christopher got to build something with his architect uncle, which made him very excited. This is us later that night building our own tower. Not nearly as interesting, but he is only two.

Christopher found a little boys room decorated with diggers and he would sit out on the patio staring at it throughout the week. It was hilarious! He kept calling it, "MY room."

He does love to help clean. But we've mentioned this before. Vacuuming is one of his favorites.

Ok, so I tried to get a new template for our blog because I was bored with the one we have. I have seen some really cute ones out there and thought I'd try it myself. Well, I didn't realize it until I switched it that it won't let you have a list of links to other blogs and now I no longer have our friends blogs!!! That's what I get for doing it while watching tv and after a long exhausting day! If you have a blog that has been on our blog before or want yours to be added to it, please email me your link and I'll get it fixed. I check everyone's often and I don't know what I'll do if i can't see what your up to! Thanks!

This morning we had our 6 month checkup for little Miss Sophie. Brandon had made it for 8:00 in the morning, which I thought we'd be late for, but we were actually a little early. I couldn't wait to see what the doctor had to say about how big she was and I was curious myself. We go back and she is stripped down to her birthday suit and put on the scale. Here it comes.... a whopping 21 pounds and 1 ounce!!! (Remember, that is first thing in the morning and with only one bottle in her belly.) Then she's measured, 27 inches. I knew she was big, but come on! I know she's not the biggest baby in the world, but for a girl, she has some nice size to her. I am told that she falls into 90% for height, over 95% for weight and her head is still at 50%. I go home and look up to see what Christopher was at 6 months because I remember him being bigger too, but I just have a feeling Sophie has him beat. She does! By almost 2 whole pounds!!! She's 1/4 of an inch longer too. But I'm not worried. Christopher has really slimmed up and actually wears the same shorts he wore last summer and they fit him better now than they did then. So there you have it, my babies are big. But I love it! I think they are adorable!

Today Sophie is 6 months old. And it's funny because it's one of those times where you thought they'd never get here and you can't believe they are already here at the same time. She has learned a lot in her 6 months and yet has so much left to learn. But I don't mean that in a negative way, I love watching my kids learn things. It's the highlight of my life, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what she will learn next. We have been sleeping through the night for a while, roll over both ways, we can sit up on our own, we love eating vegetables and sometimes fruit, we have outgrown a ton of clothes, we are scooting backwards all over the floor now, so I'm guessing that crawling is just around the corner. On Wednesday, we go for our 6 month checkup with our new doctor and I'm very curious to see what he says about our "healthy" little girl. I love hearing people comment on how "she looks like she never eats" or that "she's a healthy looking baby" and then how surprised they are when they hear how old she is. I'd much rather have a chubby baby then have worry about making them eat because they aren't getting enough. We love our blonde haired, blue eyed little girl so much and can't wait to see what she will be interested in playing with and wearing and doing when she is her brother's age. Happy 1/2 Birthday, Sophie!!!

We have been working on and off with Christopher on potty training and we've had some ups and downs with it. As anyone who has been through this before knows, if the child isn't interested, it's a battle. You just have to decide whether you feel like fighting it. Well, I'm not a fighter, so I'm not forcing it on him, just suggesting we try it at least once a day. Most of the time I get a "no" out of him. The good thing is, he has become more aware of when he goes #2 and so he has started coming up to me and telling me that he has gone. Last night I was sitting on the couch eating dinner and Christopher comes running out of his room, jumps up on the couch, turns around backwards with is bottom in my face and tells me, "Poo poo!" Thanks little guy. Just ruined my dinner. Gotta love being a mom.

This morning I was trying to hang Christopher's new curtains in his room and, as usual, he wanted to help. He is in a phase where he doesn't really want to wear clothes all that much and so some days he's either in just a diaper or changing his clothes all day long. Well, he was going through his closet and found his old tennis shoes from last fall and had to wear them. We tried telling him they were too small, even put them on Sophie to show him they fit her better (they didn't, but we were dumb enough to think we could fool him), but we had to put them on his feet to prove it. Then we had to put on his Home Depot apron so he could get to work.


Later this afternoon Christopher found a bin filled with his baby clothes and on top happened to be an orange outfit with Tigger's face on it. He loves Tigger and wanted to put it on. I tried to tell him that it was too small for Sophie and there was no way it would fit him (it's a 6/9 month outfit!), but he insisted on putting it on. Surprisingly we got it on, enough to make him happy. I was laughing so hard I could barely get a photo. But I did the best I could.

Then later tonight I took Sophie's bib off and he tried to put it around his neck by himself. Once I helped him get it on he wandered around the house with it on. Again I had to get photos and he was sitting in his room on the floor working on a puzzle. He looks like either the largest baby in the world or just a 2-year old who is a little confused. I know when he's older he'll probably kill me for doing this, but I just couldn't help myself!

Ok, so I'm not sure if I'm posting all the things she tries, but nobody probably even cares what she's eating so it doesn't matter. I do it for me I guess. I just bought a bunch of stuff and try it out. so far fruits are not her favorite and like her brother, loves veggies!

Food: Green beans

Result: At first wasn't sure, then loved them!

Food: Bananas (Ok, so we've tried these before, but whatever!)

Result: Not quite sure about them, but is getting used to them the more she eats them. These I've actually made myself, everything else I buy first because I'm not about to go to all the trouble for something she hates.

So I don't know whether to laugh or be mad, but the kids were so funny at lunch time today that I just couldn't help but write about it. We had gone to run some errands and by the time we got home they were both hungry. I got lunch together for Christopher and then made some cereal with sweet potatoes and apples for Sophie. Well, she's not real crazy about the apple part because it's still a little too tart for her. She has also learned how to stick out her little tongue and spit. She thinks it's hilarious and this time Christopher did too. He got to laughing so hard I thought he was going to choke on his mac and cheese. One would spit and then the other one would. They both looked so happy I couldn't help but laugh, but was getting sprayed by all kinds of food at the same time. Once Christopher started spitting his mac and cheese I had to draw the line. He of course didn't listen because he was having too much fun and so I had to take his food away and put him in time out. A lot of good that did! Sophie kept smiling and spitting at me every time I tried to feed her and Christopher is in the other room facing the corner laughing every time she does it. I tried getting on to her, but the more I said no the happier she got and the more she spit. So much for that battle!

Kids: 1

Mom: 0

Christopher and Nicholas going for an early morning dig.

Burt giving the boys a good swing.

Sophie and Joshua sitting and playing together.

A day at the beach with the kids.

Christopher getting his head shaved.

The boys playing at the waterpark and playground.

Our pretty little girl showing off that beautiful smile of hers.