Beach Pics

Surfer boy
one of my most favorite pictures......click on the picture to enlarge it and you can see the dolphin on the right side...

my boys....no idea what e was doing.....

my sweet reid

kisses!!

loving the beach.......

My baby's first day of school!!

i mean does he look two??

I am already having trouble with my BABY being old enough to go to school (k-3) but does he have to look so old??

Reid just dove in head first! He just LOVES it! I guess watching Everett go for the last couple of years got him ready, but there was no looking back once he was in his classroom. He even told me "Mommy, I will be okay...you can go now".

He also loves his backpack and lunch box....it goes almost everywhere we go. Thanks nai nai!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Better late than never....

here is a picture of my sweet KINDERGARTNER!

I can hardly believe that he is so big--i know everyone says it, but the time flies by! Although some days seem to go so slow....the years just fly by!
He is loving school and adjusting well to being in school "all day"!

his "girlfriend" Emerson is in his class, so that makes it even better!

E we are so proud of you!!!

Lovin' Sea World

Our first day in Orlando we went to Sea World and the boys LOVED it!!

They loved the animal shows and we saw most of them at least twice.

Here they are pretending like they are freezing with the penguins.....note the sweaty hair...we were anything but freezing!
Our picture with a real Budweiser Clydesdale


Daddy and E riding the crazy crab ride--E was so excited that he was tall enough to ride! Reid was just barely too short and not so excited about it......

But he was tall enough to ride the carousel on the hammerhead shark with Nai Nai

We ended the day with a WONDERFUL dinner at a restaurant in the shark tank. It was so fun to eat yummy crab cakes while we watched sharks swim in front of us!! The boys loved it...talk about entertainment during dinner! Thanks Nai Nai for a wonderful day at Sea World!!!

Trip to Orlando....

At the end of July we took a wonderful trip to Orlando with my mom, Nai Nai. We did all the Disney things (posts to come soon) but one of the boys most favorite things was the Pirate Dinner. Here are a couple of pics.....

Matt and E by the ship

Nai Nai, Everett, Reid, and Matt by the pirate ship.

This was the pirate for our section. We cheered for him in the competitions and he won most of them, the boys were so thrilled! Reid was more interested in watching the pirate than looking at the camera.....

So you think you can dance.....

Here are some pics of the boys "entertaining" the guests while we waited for the wedding party. Their job of ringbearers never seemed to stop.......

Just so you know, everyone else was sitting at their tables quietly visiting with one another while calm elevator music played while we waited.......

This is what E and R thought one should do with elevator music.....
(this is his finale...by the way)

Here we are dancing at the appropriate time (ie, when there was dance music playing and everyone else was on the dance floor). The sombrero and maracas came with the dj......a good time was had by all.

sunglasses also curtiousy of the dj.....

Wedding in Kansas City

A couple of weeks ago my cousin Greg got married to a wonderful girl, Jennifer, in Kansas City. When they asked the boys to be in the wedding and we were so excited --and a little scared! But the boys did great in their roles as ringbearers and looked SO cute in their tuxes! It was so fun to get to spend time with family adn get to know Jennifers fun family! Here are a couple of pictures.....

Nai Nai (Kadie's mom) and her boys

Do I go in this door?

Apparently Everett thought he was modeling the tux and Reid wasn't sure what to do with the pillow....


Sweet smile

Mimi and her boys

Fun at the sprinklers

This week Everett has been at KK and Papa's (Matt's parents) house, so Reid and I have had some fun "just Reid and Mommy time", as he likes to call it. We have gone to the water slide, painted pottery, watched a movie, had a picnic, played rocket ship--I have been to the moon and back so many times this week, and did you know that dinosaurs live on the moon? Ask Reid if you don't believe me!

This picture is from the sprinklers at a park near our house--it is such a fun thing to do on a HOT Charleston day.

Doesn't he look so cool in his googles? note--there is no standing water anywhere, hence no real need for "gobbles" except for the fabulous fashion statement....what can I say.....

Middle of the Night Bathroom Trip

Growing Strawberries...

Everett's First Strawberry

The boy and his prize

Showing off the good looking strawberry

And enjoying the goods! Yum!

This year we have started growing some herbs and fruits and vegetables in the yard. The strawberry was the first to come in and Reid's tomatoes came in next and they are so good!!

Graduation....

This past week Everett graduated from K-4. I can not believe that he will be in Kindergarten next year! A friend recently sent me some pictures of her and her precious new little one, Harrison, taken on their couch. The couch used to be ours--we had it when E was born. A fair amount of our pictures of Everett when he was ittybitty were taken on that couch. As soon as I saw the black and white toile (i loved that slipcover!) behind sweet Lauren holding Harrison, a slideshow of pictures of E when he was that little (1 week old) flashed in my head.....and now he is going to be in Kindergarten....where did the 5 years go?

Here are a couple of pictures from graduation. When they handed out the certificates they said something different about each child and it was fun to see what they said about everyone (see last picture for what they said about E). He had such a good time in school this year, he was sad to see it end, and is SO excited about next year. He might even get to be in Emersons class.....

Everett and his best friend from school Christopher

(christopher's dad is 6'7!)

Everett and one of his teachers Ms. Meador

Everett receiving his certificate from Mr. Wrenn

E with his certificate for being Observant in his display of academic excellence..

Strawberry Pickin'

A couple of weeks ago, ...I know I am SO behind on posts!, we went and picked strawberries. The boys absolutely LOVED it! We ended up going back a second time because they had such a good time. We had so many strawberries after our second trip that we couldn't possibly eat them all, so we tried our hand at making jam. It actually turned out great and is so much more affordable (and fun) than buying it at the store. I have no pictures of the jam making process because I was trying to supervise two wonderfully "helpful" boys as they tried to boil jars of jam. Thought the camera might be too much.......but they had a great time and now we have jam for at least 6 months and some to share!

lookin' good

Oh...i just love it when my boys get dressed up! Aren't they so handsome?!

seersucker blazers....gotta love em!

Fun with Aunt Andi

A couple of weeks ago Matt's sister came to visit on her spring break. The kids had such a good time seeing Aunt Andi and were so glad she was here. Here is a picture of them one day when we went into downtown Charleston.

This is E getting his first soccer trophy. He LOVES this thing! It is a pretty cool trophy--it has a place to put his soccer picture, on the other side of the soccer ball. He sleeps with it next to his bed and brings it down to breakfast with him......i think we will definitely be signing back up for soccer in the fall.

This is E and one of his best friends from school, Wyatt. They played against each other in their last game. E was kind of torn--kick the ball and go towards my goal, or share with Wyatt......he found an okay balance---after all "everyone needs a turn"!

Super-cool-a-saurus

UPDATED:

This is Reid by the way--several people have asked--they thought it might be Everett. I can't believe that Reid is this big either......

I'm not really sure I can even write any words for this......he is such a nut!

Easter at Mimi's House

We went to Oklahoma for Easter this year to see the boys Great-grandmother. We had a great time visting family (my aunt, uncle, and cousins live there too) and seeing all of Mimi's friends. She lives in a retirement community that is strangely similar to a college dorm--they all have their own apartments, but they all eat downstairs together (a lot better food than a college dining hall though--no offense Bolton) and they leave each other messages on boards on their doors. I loved that freshman year in college. I guess life does kind of cirlce around....

But the boys had a great time seeing Mimi--they played golf, hunted Easter eggs, read books, got "coffee" (another cool thing--they have a cappacino machine downstairs in the lobby--Everett and Reid just got hot chocolate), watching movies, and last, but definitely not least, playing games and eating popcorn. Those people can put away some popcorn. Reid steam shovels it into his mouth, as fast as you could possibly eat it one piece at a time (because that's the rule). And I know where he gets it from--my mom and grandmother were right there with him, although they could eat more than one piece if they chose to do so.

All in all we had a wonderful trip out there and are so thankful that we get to see Mimi so much, even though she is so far away!!!

Mimi showing them how it's done...

The boys playing golf (Reid really did have a good time...)

Nai Nai and the boys (again....Reid really did have a good time...)

First Soccer Game

Here is Everett after his first soccer game. He ablsolutely LOVED it! We had to drag him off the field! All of the practices this season and the first game were rained out, so this was the first time he had set foot on a soccer field. I had no idea how this would turn out--would he be that kid who was running the wrong way, or maybe not running at all and just playing with the grass? But no, he did GREAT! He even co-scored (we are not really sure whose foot actually kicked it--there were a bunch of them flying around out there)--the first goal of the game!

My boy's got some moves.......

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Valentines day!

We love and miss you!!

eternity with my baby!

This sweet little boy asked Jesus into his heart on Monday night!! And Mom and Dad's hearts exploded with joy! What an amazing blessing to know you are going to spend eternity with your child! And last night Everett told me that we needed to tell Reid so he can ask Jesus into his heart too, because he REALLY wanted his best friend to be in heaven with him.......does it get any better than this??