Some things you're just born with....

Springer's love of shoes for example. You could say she inherited that love from me, but I'll give all credit to my Granny. She is the queen of shoes-more pairs and colors than you can imagine. As a child I loved to play in her closet and try on all her shoes. I especially remember a pair of bright green sandals with a great cork heel. I'd love to have those today! Anyway, Springer has taken to shoes and anytime she finds an empty pair she quickly tries them on for size. "Soos", "soos", "soos". It's so funny to watch her get so excited. Here she is trying on a pair of mine.

Outside Fun

The weather over the past week has been delightful. As the cool breezes increase and the mosquitoes decrease, we've enjoyed a lot of outside time. I pulled out Carver's car from years past and let Springer take it for a spin. As you can see, Carver took great joy in showing her the ropes-and then hitching a ride!

What's WRONG with this picture?

So G's gone to a meeting, Springer's napping and I am feeling quite productive as I breeze through my little to-do list. Where's Carver? He is quiet. Not usually a good sign, but it's so hard to think of disturbing him when I'm getting so much done. You know the drill.... After some time of him "playing quietly and creatively" (my assumption) he came to the sun room and spoke the words that make all mother's stop dead in our tracks..."Mama, come see what I did in the laundry room." Here you have it-our little handy man. Thankfully he decided to show off his work prior to retrieving his stool which he claimed was needed in order to finish the upper part of the door! Daddy, I'm sending him your way!

Saturday in the Park

One of our favorite September activities is Festival in the Park. It's a great event held around the lake at one of our larger parks. They host various artists, food vendors and carnival rides for the children. We spent our Saturday morning strolling along the lake and then headed to the rides. Carver was very excited and begged to climb the rock wall (it must have been 50 feet tall). I managed to talk him into a carousel ride with his sister and then the slide. They both loved the carousel and he thought the super slide was tons of fun. It was a really tall slide (especially as I stood at the top) that we rode down on potato sacks. G and I each took our turn accompanying him and I think we enjoyed it as much as he did!

SOCCER SHOTS- a week in pictures part 2

After waiting through the rain last week, Carver finally began his soccer clinic, Soccer Shots, this week. Although we 'played' soccer with this same organization last year let's just say that Carver preferred running off the field to give me a play by play over actually following Coach Jeremy's directions. I was a bit hesitant this year, but boy does a year make a big difference in a little guy! He did really well and only came off the field once (and that was at the end after he had been hurt). I can't tell you how cute it is to see all these 3 and 4 year olds running around in soccer shorts, doing drills and learning how to dribble (our word for the week). While it tickles me, it THRILLS G to see his little man following in his footsteps. Needless to say we are counting the days until next Wednesday!

Springer enjoyed a big time of her own...she loved playing with (and attempting to eat) the balls and served as Carver's official 'water girl'. If her daddy has anything to do with it, she'll be out there playing with the best of them in no time!

A Week In Pictures Part 1

Our week was packed full with way too much for just one entry. So here is part one...Nona (G's mom) came for a week's visit and we had a great time. Springer learned how to say 'nona' and said it almost constantly for 5 days! Nona was her most favorite companion this week. Carver enjoyed listening to books that Nona read to him and learning how to make boats out of paper. Yesterday, Carver said, "I wish Nona could stay until November!" We miss you, Nona!

A few more...

For some reason Blogger is not allowing me to post any more pictures with my entry below. So... read below first and then these will make sense!

Carver's sad face has to do with the fact that he didn't get to go to soccer!

A Week's Worth of Pictures

We had a busy week around here and each time we headed out on a picture worthy excursion I left the camera behind. Nonetheless here are a few shots from our mid week. On Wednesday it rained ALL day. I really don’t think it stopped for more than 5 minutes. Unfortunately Carver was scheduled to begin soccer on Wednesday. He wore his soccer t-shirt all day in hopes that it would dry up. No such luck. G was out of town for the day and by late afternoon we were all coming unglued. I let Carver get in Springer’s crib for a while and that seemed to do the trick. They jumped and wrestled and head butted one another (that would be at Springer’s initiation-she thinks it’s the funniest thing although I know it must hurt!). After the fun wore off we headed off to our favorite pizza spot for dinner. Carver insisted on bringing the camera along to “take pictures of the city”. I have included the shot of Fuel Pizza taken from the car. Needless to say we were all thankful for bed time at the end of a very long day!

On a completely different note Carver has begun noticing that I pronounce some words differently. For example most words that have a strong “I” ending come out softer and with an “ah” sound. When I read to him he cracks up whenever I say “Ah” for “I” or “mah” for “my”. I finally told him, “Carver, Mama is from Georgia and that’s how we say it there!” Well yesterday he caught me yet again saying “mah room”. He laughed and laughed but then composed himself and said, “That’s ok mommy, that’s just how you say it in Columbus, right?” So from me and Carver, “good bah” and “good bye”!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!

WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

School Days

Yesterday marked our official beginning of fall-Carver started back to pre-school! He was very excited about seeing all his friends, but also a "tiny bit nervous" about his new teachers. We spent the past two years of school with the same wonderful teachers so this year's switch upset the apple cart a bit. By the time I picked him up yesterday he declared "I love my teachers" and "I'm not nervous at all any more". I think that's a good sign! Springer started her Tuesday mornings with Miss Joneen as well. Joneen is a fabulous mother of five (!) who helped with Carver when he was Springer's age. Four other friends and I (with children close in age) "share" her each week. Springer loves the older children and seemed to enjoy her time away from me yesterday. It probably helps that we're hosting it so she didn't go far! I certainly enjoyed the morning to myself. It always amazes me how much I get done when I'm not loading, buckling, stopping to potty, etc. (And it's so quiet in the car!) I hope y'all enjoy the shots of our first day back in the swing of things! Here's to fall!

A Little Taste of Fall...

After a pretty insanely busy week we headed up to Blowing Rock, NC for a little R&R. Blowing Rock is one of our favorite places to relax and just let that cool mountain air rejuvenate our souls. Even Carver and Springer seemed to enjoy the change in the air. With a high of 67* we all were able to pull out some sweaters and enjoy the breeze. We found that falling asleep to the falling rain and taking more than one visit to Kilwin's for ice cream, caramel apples and 'puff cones' (that would be Carver's selection from the homemade candy case-basically a mini ice cream cone with a marshmallow on top- he LOVES them!) began to revive us. There must have been something in the air as well that caused Springer's renewed fervor for her shoes. She really took off even tackling the uneven terrain of the playground like a pro (well, perhaps a slightly wobbly pro!). Here are a few shots from that great little park on Main Street.

We're home now, re-adjusting to temperatures that don't quite say 'fall' and looking forward to a not quite so busy week. Happy Labor Day, y'all!