It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Just hanging around, waiting on Santa!!

It's been so long since I have updated this blog. We have been really busy and I just have not taken the time to update what we have been doing.

As Christmas nears, and 2011 comes to a close I have been reflecting on all that the boys have done this year!

Andrew and John have finished half of their kindergarten year already. It's gone by so fast and they have learned so much! Andrew has grown so much since the beginning of school. His handwriting has improved so much and his confidence has grown tremendously too. John has started reading and writing sentences. Wyatt knows the alphabet and numbers and is already getting prepared for kindergarten too! It's amazing to watch their little minds soak everything in.

So many exciting things have happened since school started:

Nana and Papa moved to Lexington! We love having them so close! It's been wonderful being able to pop over to their house in 5 minutes!

Granny Meg and Pop moved from Florida to Atlanta! Driving distance...woo hoo!

Andrew and John finished another season of soccer! The Green Lanterns had a great season and it was such a joy to watch the boys out on the field. Both of them have just started Upward basketball for the first time which they are super excited about. Ashley is not coaching basketball and I am selfishly happy that we will be able to sit and watch their games together.

The highlight of our Halloween was Wyatt getting stitches. Unfortunately he fell in the tub after the Anne Pitts Halloween party and had to get 5 stitches in his forehead. He was a good patient and got this awesome headband.

Thanksgiving was wonderful too! It's a tradition that my brother and his family come spend the long Thanksgiving weekend with us and each year it gets more and more fun (and easier). We used to dream of the days when our kids would be at the age that they could be left alone in a room to play while the adults sat in another room enjoying adult conversation! Those days have officially arrived. Andy, John and Wyatt had a ball with their cousins.

I have the week of Christmas off from work and it is s nice to be home with the boys. We started our holiday by heading to Atlanta to Granny Meg and Pop's house to celebrate Christmas together. It was so fun. The boys got many wonderful presents and had an awesome time at the Georgia Aquarium!!

Now we are getting ready for our Christmas celebration with Nana and Papa; the boys can not wait! I've been baking and wrapping; my helpers have been eating ingredients and taping random things to walls. :) I love seeing the Christmas season through the eyes of my children. It's easy to get bogged down with the pressure of life but when I take the time to think about the gift of Jesus' birth and the gift of my own three children, it certainly puts things in perspective. Humbling.

I can not wait to see what 2012 has in store for our family.

Countdown to 5K

We are less than three weeks from the first day of school. Today was class assignment day and I saw a girl from our old church. She said, " your boys should be three and sitting on carpet squares; are they really starting school?". Dude, tell me about it.

Andy and John are in two different classes-Ms. Cagle and Ms. Thomas. I filled out paperwork and bought t-shirts today. Exciting stuff!

I'm still trying to get used to the idea of my child spending his day with someone whose references I haven't personally checked. Maybe it's the recruiter in me?

So, I've got three weeks to get my game face on!! My boys are ready.

Wedding bells are ringing

I love weddings. I can cry at a wedding even if I do not know the people exchanging vows. Just remembering that feeling of saying my own vows to Ashley and reflecting on the excitement of starting off on our life together is such a sweet memory...love it.

Two of my youngest cousins are getting married this summer, this month, two weeks apart. I am so excited to see extended family, share this exciting day with my cousins and also reminisce about my own big day (8/18/01).

The boys are invited to one of the weddings. The inclusion of those three names on the invitation has proven to be the source of added excitement (and anxiety) for me. We let them sit in big church with us for practice (I keep telling myself that the wedding ceremony will likely be shorter than the church service) and we are doing some serious role playing at night. I should probably relax.

When I started telling the boys of my excitement that they were going to go to my cousin's wedding, they asked why I love weddings. I told them that weddings are sweet and touch a person's heart and that I also like to dress up.

Me: I am so excited for us all to get dressed up and share this special day with Kathryn.
Andy: (hands up in the air) I am going as buzz lightyear!!!

WOW! That would be hilarious. I won't allow it even though I could probably use the comic relief. It'll be so crazy to see these two, who I used to babysit, get MARRIED. I remember when they were born for goodness sake.
This takes me back to what seems to be the central theme of most of my blog posts. Life goes by so fast....seems like you can't look down for five minutes or you miss something.

The More Things Change...

To say that our hall bath needed a redo would be a gross understatement. Pun fully intended. The old pedestal sink was stained. The bronze fixtures screamed 1984. The toilet- well I won't go into detail about it, but it needed replacing.

I told Ashley that I *really* could not handle that bathroom anymore and that man went to work. He went to Lowe's and picked out new stuff, painted (walls and ceiling), dealt with the subs from Lowe's who so efficiently installed the toilet and sink (yeah, right) and installed new light fixtures, TP and towel holder and a mirror himself.

This kind of reminded me of a guy I worked with 15 years ago who helped me remove wallpaper and repaint my DISGUSTING Gregg St. room in my college apartment (although "helped" implies that I pulled my weight) which required sanding with an electric sander and hours of elbow grease. It was WAY more work than most guys would do for a friend. But then again, Ash is not like most guys. Lucky for me.

I love my new bathroom! Thank you, Ash! You're the best.

June highlights

We have so much to celebrate in June...

June 3rd- Ashley's parents celebrated their anniversary.

June 16th- I turned 29 again. :)
June 17th- My dad turned 49 again. :)
June 18th- Father's Day
June 24th- My mom and Kenny celebrate their anniversary.
June 26th- Nana's birthday- 39 again?? :)


The week of June 11th, we went to the beach. This year marked a lot of firsts for us on our beach trip. This year was the first time we took our boat down to the beach (Ashley trailered it down and we put it in the ICW). Even more exciting, this was the first year that the relaxation outweighed the work on our vacation. Andrew and John can swim now (almost) in the shallow end. That takes the stress level at the pool from a 12 (on a scale of 1 to 10) to about a 5. (Wyatt still wears a puddle jumper at all times!)


This was the first year that the boys enjoyed each other on vacation. They were so cute- playing soccer on the beach, holding hands jumping in the pool, building sand castles together, etc. It was so wonderful.


This was the first year that we didn't have a wagon strapped to the top of our car. We didn't have a pac-n-play; we did not have any sippie cups or bottles and we did not have to bring high chairs. I guess I am a glutton for punishment because when we packed the car without any baby items, I actually felt a little sad. Ridiculous, I know.


Ashley and I enjoyed the week immensely! Nana and Papa were with us most of the week and we all had a ball together.


As we wrap up June, our house is cheering on Carolina in the CWS!! Two games away from another championship...go Gamecocks!
My sweet babies eating ice cream at Barefoot...celebrating Wyatt's success on the potty while on vacation! Whoop Whoop!

Little Graduates

May 27th marked a special day for Andy and John. They graduated from Anne Pitts CDC and officially became rising kindergartners. The production that their class put on for graduation was wonderful! Their class has had a circus theme all year so of course, the graduation ceremony was circus themed as well. After the parents watched a slide show of Mrs. Ashley's three ring circus, all the kids came into the gym dressed in their gowns and clown collars (sans caps since all good clowns have crazy hair) with painted noses. They paraded around a bit before taking their places in their seats at the front of the gym.

Then, in front of an audience of 75, one by one they each took the microphone to perform their speaking part of the program. Each child got a chance to show off a little something that he/she learned over the year.

My precious Andy started the presentation by asking the audience to join in the pledge. Then, of course, he let everyone know when it was time to be seated!

Halfway through the presentation John took center stage and recited numbers; he counted by 2's, 5's, 10's and backwards! It was so impressive.

Later Andrew took the mic again and gave us all a lesson in the alphabet (and in stacking cards in a very organized manner). He did amazingly well!

My cheeks hurt by the end of the presentation from smiling so hard. I had shed so many tears during the week that led up to graduation day, but during the ceremony I held them beneath the surface. Ashley and I watched our boys in awe of all that they have learned and in disbelief that the time has come for them to begin elementary school.

August will bring many more tears (from me) but for now we will just enjoy the summer, revel in our little graduates' success in pre-school and reminisce about the morning of May 27th...when we saw The Best Show on Earth!

Take me out to the ball game

This was Andy and John's first season playing tee ball and it has truly been a blast. They have grown so much over the course of the season. Their skill has improved dramatically since we started and their confidence has grown as well. It's been a wonderful experience- we have a great team with very patient coaches and I am a little sad that the season is almost over.

May 3rd, Andrew won the game ball! Here he is with John and Ashley (asst coach!)...I love these boys!

May 11th, John won the game ball! Wyatt got in the picture with the MVP that week!

With all the the excitement in the house related to baseball, we decided it would be a good time to take the boys to their first Carolina Baseball game! It was a wonderful night (Gamecocks won) and the big boys thoroughly enjoyed watching the plays. Wyatt mostly enjoyed seeing Cocky and hitting the concession stands...but a good time was had by all.