Busy with the Boys

First I wanted to share a few pictures of the boys in the snow...

Anson drove the Jeep around, but quickly got cold and wanted to go in



Daddy helped Grady build a little snowman!



A few days later I took the boys to the zoo



Checking out the jaguar





The boys and the giraffes, including the new baby!





It was a great day!

Little Engineers

Last weekend Eric took the boys to the Roper Mountain Science Center for their special Second Saturdays program. This time the theme was engineering, though the kids always have access to the animals and aquarium area too. To say the boys had fun would be an understatement. They made cement! They built machines! They held a tarantula, snake, and hissing cockroach! GOOD TIMES!

Anson checks out the baby alligator



In the aquarium area



Checking out a machine



Holding a large snake in the rainforest area



Holding a hissing cockroach (he's an old pro at this!)



Yikes - a tarantula




Viewing the sun through a telescope, safely - he saw sunspots!




The boys with the Greenville Drive mascot!



Wish I had been there!

The Prettiest Baby Girl Ever is 14 Months Old!

It's my blog, so I can give these posts whatever title I want, right? I may be biased, but to me it is totally true. Camille is not just beautiful but she has this adorable and super-sweet personality. She really seems to love people. She is always waving and smiling and saying "hi" or "bye" (always said with what sounds like a Southern accent, but it could just be her babyishness). She loves her brothers, especially Grady and is definitely a Daddy's girl. she is mostly just super happy and smiley and lovey to everyone around her.

New things she is doing include blowing kisses (with a "ma" sound), giving real hugs, lots of animal sounds (rooster-"do da do do do", dog "woof", monkey "ahh ahh ahh ahh", cow "oooo", and owl "whoo", and doing almost all the sounds in "Mr. Brown Can Moo". She is also starting to tell us when she poops, so maybe she will be potty trained before her big brother ;). She also signs some - "more", "milk", and "cookie". She picks up signs super quickly (like I show her a couple times and find her doing it the next day) but is also starting to talk a lot, so I am not that invested in teaching them.

Here are a few pictures of her...

First, it was almost 70 and sunny...







Then, the very next day, we had some freak snow. It was actually about 45 degrees but somehow snowing. By that afternoon it got much warmer and very sunny and melted super fast. So crazy. But it was the first snow in Camille's life!








She kept eating the snow!

So that's a bit about Miss Cami Lou. Other than a little teething lately, she is healthy, super happy, and just a fabulous tiny lady!

Valentine's Day 2013

We celebrated Valentine's Day BIG TIME this year! It was so filled with craftiness, treats, and love! Unfortunately, I have very few pictures to document it, but I will give you an idea of some of our fun. It started on February 1 when Grady got his first "love mission". It was a little slip of paper in a red envelope with a heart on the front. He continued to get one each day until V-Day. They included things like "play a game with your brother that he picks out" and "tell a friend something you like about them". He loved it and completed each one. On the actual day we started with homemade heart-shaped (healthy) pop tarts



The kids each had a little bag of treats, and I had a few cards from them. Camille loved her new bear! She carried it all day and still plays with it lots.



Grady and Anson each had school and brought cards for their friends. I was actually in charge of the party for Anson, which was fun. He was so excited to see me and enjoyed his treats so much. Grady had a class party (no parents) and then a Valentine's party for parents that afternoon. He showed me around his class, we ate some treats, and he gave me a beautiful heart pillow that HE SEWED HIMSELF! Yes, that's right. Got to love Montessori. My 6-year-old son can sew. For real. That evening we had a special treat after dinner - whoopie pies that Mama and Grady made from scratch. So yummy!

It was a wonderful day to share with my favorite little people and my one favorite big person.

School's Out For Grady!

Grady had a winter break from school last week. Anson still had his two mornings of preschool, however, since his school is on a different schedule. Though we had some sickness to deal with (mostly me and Anson), we managed to have some fun too. On Monday we visited a really cool children's art school where they have open art time on weekday mornings. They were even allowed to paint on the walls! They had several art projects set up throughout the house and the kids could just wander through and do things at their own pace.

Grady also went to a jumpy place, went mini golfing (and played some tier games) at Frankie's Fun Park, played some board games with Mama, and built a bunch of puzzles. It was a good week!

Grady is making some Valentines





Anson loved the sand bucket. He's a man of simple pleasures.





Grady painted our whole family (and his name) on the wall





Do you see the joy on his face as he paints on the wall?



Spin art!

Children's Museum

Now that we are members at the Children's Museum, we have been going quite regularly. It's nice because we don't have to go for a long time or feel we need to see everything in one visit. They also have traveling exhibits and are about to open a new one about pirates! I know the boys will love that!

So here are a few pictures from our most recent visit. None of Grady, unfortunately, mostly because he doesn't stay in one place for very long!


Camille loved rolling this giant tire







Anson says he wants to be a race car driver



Camille always seems to love pigs






Farmer Anson must have a carrot farm




My beautiful Camille playing in the water






Being silly in the mirror tunnel



It was fun! And we just signed Grady up for 2 camps there this summer - one about cooking and one about green living/recycling. He's so excited for those!

"The Littles"

I always call Anson and Camille "the Littles", and I just so happen to have a few cute pictures of each of them being stylish.

Anson got a haircut last week and did fairly well. He basically just told her "I no like this" the whole time (in an entirely calm voice). The ladies at the haircut place all loved him too. At the end she asked if we wanted her to spike up his hair a little, and we had never done that before, so I said sure. When they did it, and he saw himself, he got so excited! He wanted me to take his picture and even smiled huge. Too bad you can't really see the spikiness. It was so cute! We will have to do it again at home.



Camille decided she loved my sunglasses. They kept falling off her tiny head, but I tried to capture the look





Stylish Cami!

Love those little guys!