beanbag

A few nights ago we had dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's with some old family friends. After a yummy dinner - Ryan ate a TON of meatloaf - we headed to the backyard to try out the beanbag toss that we got Grandpa/ Dad for Father's Day. While Ryan did not officially play, he had a great time and it was super funny watching him. He was very interested in the game and would grab the beanbags and throw them into the holes or take them out depending on how he was feeling. And he'd stand right in front of the goals waiting for you to throw them back which of course made it really hard to get the ball in. He also ran from goal to goal and occasionally tried to give the "balls" to the dogs. No pictures of the event, but it was just to funny not to blog about. Next time we play I'll have to get pictures.

swimming

It's taken several attempts, but Ryan is finally liking the pool again. After loving it last summer, he began this summer on a very bad note. But we didn't give up, and we've managed to convince him that it really is fun to swim. Here he is having a great time in the kiddie area of Nana's neighborhood pool. The baby pool has a beach-like entrance with sprinklers so he can ease in slowly. And then there was a mushroom fountain. It was a really cool kid's place and Ryan had a great time!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!!!!

We enjoyed a nice brunch with Grandma, Grandpa, & Aunt Lolly this morning. It was great to have Laura in town for the weekend! We also had a second brunch with Pop-Pop, Nana, Auntie Sarah, Uncle Christian, Maxim, and Vivian. Happy Father's Day to all the daddies in the family! We love each one of you and hope you have a super special day!!

Welcome Home

Yesterday night we had Maxim's official welcome home party. It was wonderful to have everyone in town for the big event and as always great to have the cousins play together. Highlights included a bouncy house, making mud, lots of yummy food, good friends, and a nice evening. We are so blessed to have Maxim in our family and we love him very much!

Summer Nights

What a great Friday evening! Tennis, Grandpa winning, eating watermelon in the back of the truck, a nice warm evening, watching heat lightening in the distance, making Grandma's evening by running to her when she got out of her car. We love summer!

bigger boy pool

Somehow Ryan's baby pool from last summer is now too small, not sure how that happened since Ryan's still my baby and all :) :) So we bought him a new, bigger pool. Ryan had a great time playing and splashing in it yesterday, as did Sammy. Ryan's favorite pool activity is throwing things in and out of the water. Wonderful fun!

cousins!

Ryan & I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with Ryan's cousin Maxim at the beginning of the week. We had a great time with little Maxim and his mommy. The cousins played together really well. Occasionally Ryan would get possessive of a toy, but for the most part they did good. We enjoyed hanging out, riding in the wagon, a trip to the playground, swimming in the pool, storytime at the library, and all sorts of other fun stuff. It was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad the cousins are becoming friends! We just wish they lived a little closer so we could see them even more!

BFFs

Ryan loves our dog and loves to play with him. Thankfully Sammy is a very good sport and is always on his best behavior with Ryan. Ryan will follow him around, climb all over him, bring him his toys, try to feed him when I'm not looking (alright even when I am looking). Basically they are best buds and inseparable most of the day. "dog!"

Columbus

Coleson, Ryan, and I spent a wonderful weekend in Columbus! It was only an easy two hour drive away, and it was so nice and relaxing. We walked along the Chattahoochee riverwalk Saturday afternoon. If you're ever in Columbus, check it out, we really enjoyed it. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. We also really enjoyed having dinner in the historic downtown part of Columbus and then walking around and seeing all the cool old buildings and the fountains and artwork everywhere.

Sunday morning we went to MyChurch, Jeff's church plant that Mountain Lake helped with and we had visited in the past. It was nice to see how far they'd come and we even got to hear Casey teach! Crazy that! It was good to be there and we enjoyed the service a lot.

Happy Anniversary my Love! I had a wonderful weekend with you and our baby and I love you!!

Yippee!!!

I'm so tired that I can barely think straight, but I'm also super excited because I won free Chickfila for a year!!! That's my pretty nugget box full of 52 coupons!! Woohoo!!

I woke up yesterday, Wednesday, at 4:45 and got to chickfila at 6am. There was more than 100 people there so they had a raffle for the first 100 spots and they took 25 alternates. I was 105. At first I was optimistic, hoping that 5 people would drop out and I'd move up. But it became apparent pretty quick that I was up against the pros. I'd say at least 90 % of us were college kids who travel to openings and are very good and very prepared. Needless to say I felt somewhat silly with my backpack and camping chair up next to tents with generators and tvs and nintendos and fans. Oh well, I guess I'm old :) So in the end only 1 person left and I was still an alternate. But this morning at 6am they did a raffle for the "leftovers" as they called us and so they actually took 105 people and I won one of the 5 spots!! They then put us in numerical order and we got to be the first 105 people in this morning. They gave us oversized tshirts and we paraded through the store with bubbles and employees clapping and banging stuff. It was quite fun! So now I'm 52 chickfila meals richer! Well, make that 51, I gave one to Coleson to take for lunch today :)

Ryan was with me off and on, mostly off. Grandpa and Grandma were a huge help, keeping him with them most of the day. It was easier that way since it was so hot and he would never have napped there. But when he was there, he had a great time. Our friends Tara & Madeleine came to visit and there was another little boy there who shared his toys with us and all the babies made friends. There were games and prizes throughout the day - I won 100 pieces of gum for being the first to identify the song I Should Have Been a Cowboy by Toby Keith and a stuffed cow for spinning on a baseball bat 10 times and then hopping with a ball between my knees across the parking lot. Not sure I would have done that game if I'd known what I was getting into! Oh well, it was fun!

Of course they fed us very well. Biscuits for breakfast yesterday, nuggets for lunch. Dinner was fun - the new employees practiced on us and we got to go inside the air conditioning! We had a #1 combo with fries and drink. And then at 10pm we got ice cream complete with a topping bar - M&Ms, oreos, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, whatever you wanted! There was a DJ there from 6-10 last night and he was lots of fun. And the cow was there too!

I tried to go to sleep a few minutes before 11 last night, but that didn't work so well. For starters it was bright as day in my tent. The lights all stayed on last night, which I suppose is good for safety, not so good for sleeping! Also the college kids didn't even pretend to try to sleep. But the worst was about 11:10 when a scattered thunderstorm struck - lightening, rain, wind, thunder. My tent kept my kinda dry, but not really. All my stuff is currently spread out in the garage with the hope that one day it will dry and not smell quite as bad as it already does. Fortunately the rain only lasted about 25 minutes. I finally fell asleep about 11:45 only to wake up at 12:12. Oops. I did finally fall asleep for about 3 hours from 1:30 - 4:30. And then we broke camp and had our raffle where I found out this was all worth it!! Of course being Chickfila even the alternates that didn't win the 5 extra spots still got a little stack of coupons. But oh so much better to say I won the first 100 ("105" I suppose!) and to get 52 of them!!!

Anyways, off to a quick shower, I'm wearing what I put on 27 hours ago and I feel a little nasty. But I did at least brush my teeth last night. Ryan should be up soon, but I'm really hope for a long nap today because for once I plan on napping when he naps!!