Chef Charlotte

Charlotte spent each morning this week at Cooking Camp at her school. She loved it - well she loved Mon, Tues, and Thursday. However, Wednesday they made pizza. She's the only child on the planet that doesn't like pizza.

Other than telling me which people her class didn't know their manners, I didn't get too much out of her about what they did. I'm sure I'll hear snippets come out over the next couple of weeks. Random songs about pizza and chocolate pie were being sung tonight, for instance.

Camp wore her out. Going to school every day takes a toll on a 3 year old. She crashed tonight around 6:30 and wanted to go to bed. You know it's bad when your 3 year old comes to you begging to be put to bed. I held her off until 7 PM, not wanting to be up at 5:30 tomorrow morning. I'm wondering if signing her up for 5 days a week next year was the right thing to do? hopefully she'll be able to handle it.

Painting Nails

My Grammie transformed her carport into a nail salon one afternoon each summer when we visited. I remember her pushing back my cuticles, trimming my nails, and then painting them. She always had manicured looking nails. I remember how much I wanted mine to look like that.

When I saw my mom painting my daughter's nails - all I could think about was my Grammie and that carport.

Baptism

Sunday morning Max was baptized. What a special moment in a baby's life. Not only are your parents promising to bring you up in the church, but the church promises to help them. The church promises to teach Max in Sunday School, to be there when he is confirmed, to support him as a youth.

Every time I walked in to teach the 2 year old Sunday school class this past year, I thought of all of the babies that are baptized. I thought of all of the times I repeated the words promising to be involved in those lives.

He was surrounded by family and friends - and just so loved.



(His outfit was smocked by my mom. She smocked Charlotte's & Jacob's - they all match)

After the service, we headed back to our house for some lunch. My parents, Judd's parents, Emily, Frank, Katie, Lilly, and Allison. Max ate his weight in watermelon and pasta salad. The rest of us chowed down on Judd's amazing pulled pork. The three older cousins played and then went to the pool to swim while Max snoozed for a bit.

A great day centered around a great little guy.

Rubbin' Butts

Max was baptized today. We had a wonderful day with friends and family. After church, everyone came back to our house for lunch. Judd used the opportunity to smoke up some Boston Butts for the occasion.

Charlotte was his buddy yesterday. She went to the store to get the meat with Judd, then, came home and helped him prepare the meat for smoking. She loved it. He explained everything as he went and she really paid attention. I'm thinking she'll be taking over Big Green Egg duties one day.

8 months

Maxwell turned 8 months on Wednesday.

The biggest change in him over the past month is his mobility. He is really crawling now. He is getting fast. He follows me from room to room - his favorite room being his sister's. He is pulling up on everything that he can. He hates having his diaper changed and it usually ends in a wrestling match with high pitched screams. I remember this stage with Charlotte and it isn't fun. But, he is such a sweetie. Loves to cuddle. Loves to laugh. Loves to smile.

9 Years

Today Judd and I celebrate 9 years of marriage. 9 years ago, I was getting ready to marry my best friend. If this is what 9 years of marriage will get me, I'm gonna sign up for 99 more years:



Shot today after lunch. Not sure what's cuter - Max's laugh or the way Charlotte shakes her tush trying to hula hoop.

Lazy B Farm

Last week, I packed the kids into the car and headed up towards Athens for a Homestead Tour at Lazy B Farm. We met up with Cyndi - who runs the farm. She has 6 kids, which she home schooled - I'm really not sure how she has the time to do all of this. It was amazing.

We first started in the "classroom". We saw some baby turkeys. (See the dog protecting them? she was like that the entire time we were around the turkeys)


The kids learned about wool, where it comes from, how you can use it.





Then, it was time to get going. We learned about some goats and horses.



Then, it was time to talk about bees. This was a pretty interesting. The kids were so good, and very attentive.


Max thought it was pretty entertaining too.


Cyndi tailors her tours towards the age of the kids touring - we had all 3-4 year olds. So, we weren't able to put equipment on and see what the bee hives looked like inside, but we did get a very good explanation of everything.



After the bees, the kids got to brush some goats, sheep, and a calf. Then we headed over to the garden. This was my favorite part. The vegetables were amazing. She gave us some herbs to taste right out of the ground. It made me want to start a garden next year.

After the garden, we headed over to take a look at the chickens. We were able to watch Cyndi collect a few eggs.



From there, it was time to see the pigs.



After the pigs, there were a few kiddos that were getting tired and hungry, so we pulled out our picnic lunches and ate under her shade tree. Cyndi had just harvested honey, so I bought some honey. She also had some grass fed beef for sale, so I bought 2 lbs of that. I'm interested to try it and see how it tastes verses the corn fed beef we're so used to.

It was a great trip. While I don't think I'll start homesteading any time soon, I admire people that do. It looks like a lot of hard work. But what a reward!

A Frog

Yesterday, Judd went out in the backyard to fire up the Big Green Egg. He called back inside to tell Charlotte there was a frog in her little pool. She acted quickly and ran upstairs to get her bug catcher. She didn't hesitate to stick her net in the water and scooped up that frog on the first try! She dumped him into the bug catcher, put a little water in it, and put the lid on. I was impressed - it's like she had done it a thousand times. He was her pet for 20 minutes. She released him back into the backyard without a scratch on his body.

One of these things

is not like the other.

Poor Oliver. He needs Max to get bigger soon, so that when this group gets together he has some back up.

Around Here

Tap, Tap, Tap...Is this thing on?

What's going on around here? Why hasn't anyone posted to this blog? I wish I knew the answer - oh wait, I do - it is summer. I have two kids that are home everyday. One of which no longer naps. Both of which wake up before 7AM.

I've also just felt uninspired. I've just felt really "blah" lately. I'm not sure if it is lack of sleep, or the fact that I just don't use my brain for most of the day, but I just have been feeling like I can't put two thoughts together.

I was starting to lose sight of why I write this blog. I was starting to think things like, "Who cares if Max is eating finger foods" or "So, Charlotte wrote her first letters yesterday - who wants to read about that?"

Then, the 2009 & 2010 blog books arrived at my door last night and this morning. I opened the boxes and slowly opened the books. They are beautiful and I couldn't love them more. 3 years of our lives documented. Almost 600 pages of the story of our family. Books that Charlotte and Max will read when they are older, maybe with children of their own, and know all of the little details of their childhood.

Now I remember why I write this blog. I'll write about whether Max is eating finger foods or not. I'll write about Charlotte being so proud of herself that she wrote an "H" and an "S". It doesn't matter if anyone reads this or cares about it. Because I care about it and one day so will they.

So, I'm back on the blogging wagon. Get ready for some posting - if anyone is actually still reading.

Oh - and guess who strapped on arm floats, adjusted her goggles, and jumped off of the diving board for the first time yesterday? My brave, beautiful girl.

Tent

Now that Max is on the move, he loves to figure out where his sister is. When he saw that she was at the end of a tunnel in a princess tent he laughed and giggled all the way through the tunnel to her. She thought it was pretty funny too.

How I Get Things Done

I finally figured it out. I figured out how to get blocks of 10 minutes a couple of times a day to do something productive - like vacuum - but let's get real - surf the web. Today Charlotte said, "Mom, I think Max wants to get in his crib and play." Translates, "Mom, I want to get in Max's crib and pretend I'm a baby with him."

So, I scoop 'em up, plop 'em down, throw a couple of toys in there and pour a big cup of coffee.

Playing

Maxwell,

Friday night, your sister and daddy stayed at the pool an extra hour. It was your dinner time, so I brought you home. I fed you dinner, bathed you, then we played in your room. It was just you and me.

You have started to pull up on things. While we played after your bath, you pulled up to your knees on the rocker's ottoman in your room. I hid behind the other side of the ottoman and would then play peek-a-boo with you. You laughed and laughed. Full belly laughs. I laughed and laughed too. Then, you pulled all the way up to your feet and just laughed and laughed again - so happy with your new skill.

It was a wonderful moment, and one that's locked in my memory. I'll never forget your little smile and laugh peeking over that ottoman. One of the first times you and I played a "game" together.

I love you little man. I love your smile - it's never far away. I love your laugh. I love the personality I see developing in you.

Proud

Someone is very proud of his new found skill, pulling up. I'm not sure how it happened, but he's looking SO BIG!! Where is the baby going??

Key West

Our getaway was everything we hoped it would be and more. Judd and I had such a relaxing time in Key West. The weather was perfect. We laid on the beach under the shade of a palm tree and read books for 2 days. (I actually finished a book!) We had a late breakfast and laid out at the pool another day. We traveled down Route 1 and stopped at all of our favorite places the first day. In between we ate and slept. It was divine.

We stayed at the Hilton Reach on the opposite end of the island from our usual bed and breakfast. We were able to walk over the Casa Marina and use their beach and pool too. The Casa Marina had a fantastic beach. Guys even came around with frozen washcloths and popsicles in the afternoon.

We had fantastic travel luck. We were supposed to arrive in Atlanta around 9PM Monday night, but instead we were able to non rev out of Key West earlier in the day. After traveling to Cordele and back Monday after we landed, we were at home with the kids in bed about the time we would have landed!



I was sent picture updates from Judd's dad throughout our time away. It was always good to open my phone to see a smiling face. From what I've been told the kids did great. It was the first time Max would take a bottle the entire day - and he didn't have any problems. In fact - he'll now take a pacifier! He's never done that before. He also started crawling the day before we got back. Charlotte had a great time playing with everyone - especially her cousin Lilly. She played so hard that one night she said she "Needed some alone time" and we to bed at 6PM!

We have been back to reality this week. So far the kids haven't had too much of a "grandparent hangover". I, however, am still having difficulties adjusting out of island time.