Fun-Filled Weekend

This may have been only the 2nd time since we moved to Auburn that we have been in town the entire weekend, and we loved every minute of it. This little guy stays this happy just about all of the time now. Life is good for him!Speaking of this little man...he is starting to say several words. He actually understands just about everything you tell him but doesn't have much interest in communicating with actual words. Every now and then, he'll point to something and say what it is which reassures me that he is getting it! I ask him all along, "Greer, where is your nose, foot, etc," and he always points to the correct thing so we're good! He seems to be maturing by the minute, and it makes me sad!

Now, back to our weekend. It did get off to somewhat of a rocky start when on Friday afternoon during Ellie's "supposed" nap, I heard some rumbling around in her bathroom. I walked in to find her standing in the sink, completely naked, with a huge smile on her face along with this all over the place and her body!

That would be paint! I just stood there, completely frozen, and speechless. She then proceeds to say, "Mom, go look in my room at the mess." And this is what I found...
Isn't it beautiful? A true masterpiece. Notice her little footprints all over her rug. Oh, and you can't tell from the picture, but there are nice little splatters of paint all over her SILK bedskirt and some of her bedding. The rug is now in the trash, and I am attempting to blot out the other. Thank goodness it is Crayola and washable! Honestly I wouldn't buy anything else for this wild child. She was honestly so proud of her work! For some reason a sense of calmness came over me, and I didn't freak out. I simply threw Ellie into the bathtub, got her all cleaned up, and then proceeded to clean this mess up along with her bathroom. The entire time I was cleaning it up, she sitting there saying, "Mom, isn't it so cool? Don't you love my art?" Ellie, baby, you definitely keep us on our toes around here. Needless to say the paint has been hidden far, far away from any place she might go!

These just give you a glimpse of what our house looks like. Just a tidbit of what G does to my bathroom during the 30 minutes of me getting ready to go somewhere. On this particular day I also threw away 2 entire rolls of toilet paper that he had proceeded to chunk in the toilet. Makes you a little sick to throw something like that away, but I also threw away a Pottery Barn rug on this same day so when comparing the two I guess the toilet paper isn't so bad.

After all of the cleaning up, we headed to the pool with Daddy for an early evening swim and dinner. Then on Saturday morning, we all headed out together to run some errands. Running errands in Auburn is just so fun for some reason! We hit literally every bookstore in town looking for e's new cheerleading uniform and some other fun Auburn treats were thrown in as well. After that we all got lunch together downtown. This is just such an amazing place to live, and there is always something going on. Saturday afternoon we headed to a customer appreciation event that a local real estate company was hosting. EVERYthing was free, and I mean everything! They had bouncey houses galore, huge blow-up slides, put put golf games, baseball-hitting games, a mini train, popcorn, cotton candy, adult food, and the ice-cream truck was there giving away unlimited amounts of ice cream!

The kids loved every minute!

I think she slid down this thing about 50 times.

G was enjoying himself too!

This was at the end, her 2nd ice cream treat!

And some baseball fun...

We ended our fun weekend with a trip to church on Sunday morning...

And another evening swim at the pool. We are soaking up this last bit of summer before fall officially kicks into full swing. We cannot wait to see what fall is going to bring!

First Day of School!

These 2 both started school yesterday and had a GREAT day!

Ellie has been more than ready for school to start (and I must say so has her Mama). Greer, on the other hand, I just wasn't so sure how he would do. He has spent every single day for the last 16 months at home, but I think it is time for some socialization! He has shown signs of major separation anxiety, much more than Ellie ever had, so that made me worry more about this school thing. But, other than being extremely tired when I picked him up, his teachers said he had a great day! And today was even better they said so we are thrilled! A lot has been thrown their way with a new town, new house, new school, new friends, and these 2 are adjusting very well which makes me so happy.


I mean she was SO excited and ready yesterday!
And was so cooperative for the pictures unlike her silly brother.

Sometimes you just take what you can get...

Ellie with her teachers, Mrs. Gina and Mrs. Anne, who are great by the way!

No pics of Greer with his teachers since I had to make a mad-dash out of there to avoid a meltdown! It is so nice to be back in our little routine around here. Ellie and I thrive on a routine so we're doing great!

The Last Month

Last Wednesday, Rusty, Ellie, and I loaded up and headed to my 18-week doctor's appointment. We decided it would be fun to have Ellie with us and let her see the baby AND find out if she was going to have a new baby sister or brother! Well, we did find out that we will be welcoming another baby BOY into our family in January! I totally thought it was a girl and so did Ellie, but she is super excited about being a mommy to another baby brother. I know G and his new baby brother are going to have a blast together!

She had so much fun with us at the doctor!

And lately this little fella has been reminding me of his sister at this age. Maybe their baby brother won't be such a climber because they both definitely are! We have started leaving the bathroom doors closed at all times or else...

Notice the water running! He climbs up on E's stool to get up there.

He is also into throwing EVERYthing into the toilet. Pacis, brushes, spoons, and sometimes SHOES!

But, he does have his moments where he seems nothing like Ellie. I will find him just sitting on the floor playing with different toys for 30 minutes at a time. I can even give him a couple of cars or trains while he is in his highchair, and he will just sit there and play with them for 30 minutes. Ellie would have NEVER done this at his age!

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A couple of weeks ago we took another little trip down to the beach. This time we went to Lollie & Poppy's condo in Orange Beach. I only got my camera out for this one picture.

We ended up leaving earlier than expected due to some very sad news we received. Poppy called to tell us that we had lost our dear Momese, one of the most special people in all of our lives. She loved her great-grandchildren more than anything in the world, and they loved her just as much. Ellie has asked a lot of questions and misses Momese very much. She has lived behind my parent's house for the majority of my life, and I will definitely miss just walking over there to visit any time we are in Atmore.

Sweet Momese, we love you to pieces and will miss you more than words can say. I am so glad to think about you being with Pop! We got to visit with a lot of family the weekend of her memorial service. Ellie with her 2nd cousin Ross who sang "Amazing Grace" at the service and did an incredible job!

Ellie was pleasantly surprised to find out she has a lot more cousins! These are actually my dad's 1st cousin's children, and they were all so sweet with my kiddos.

Greer and Uncle Josh being silly...

We had a nice weekend getting to see a lot of family that we don't get to see very often.

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The weekend before that we had a nice weekend at the lake with the Briens. Ellie and Greer had a blast with these two!

Jackson and Ellie were nonstop.

J showed E how to play a little baseball...

Being silly in the tub...

Such a fun weekend, and I definitely did not take enough pictures!
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And last but not least...our Seagrove trip with Lollie, Poppy, Thomas, Josh, She She, and G.G. Mama!

I had to capture this moment...the guys cleaning up the kitchen!

And Rusty cooking our fresh snapper meal, although this wasn't that unusual.

A little ice cream in Seaside...

We had lots of bike time...

And beach time. We had this day with PERFECT swimming water, and then it got seaweedy the rest of the trip!

Our adult dinner to Cafe Thirty-A, and our photographer didn't do such a good job but oh well...

My two naked babies!

More bike time...this is how Ellie rolled the entire trip, and she loved it!

Behind her daddy...

And this is how G rolled and loved it!

Ellie having fun after lunch one day...

She was swinging on the tree branches and having a grand ole time...

until I turned around for 5 seconds to chase Greer, and this happened...

Poor baby picked a branch that was more like a twig to swing from, and it snapped, she fell face down and head-butted a concrete statue on the ground. As she was whaling, she looked at me and said, "Mama, I was only trying to be a monkey."

Later that day...ice cream always makes everything better. Especially when it's the ice cream truck with Dora ice cream pops!

Me and my babies...

We had a great trip and can't wait to go back next year.