Very first candy bar...

Well, I caved in and gave AR her very first candy bar...a miniture Kit Kat. Oh boy...check out that mouth and those hands. She exclaimed "It was awesome!" :)

BTW, she is going for a haircut tomorrow. ;)

The moments mommies live for...

AR: "Mommy?"

Me: "Yes pumpkin?"

AR: "You're my best friend!"

Me: Heart melting, tearing up! :)

Hope all my mommy friends are having a wonderful week!

Terrible two's...

Well, we had our first real life tantrum today. We had the pleasure of going swimming today at someone's house who is in the mom's group. It went pretty well for about 1 hour, and then I could see that AR was starting to crash. I gave her the 5 minute warning that we were leaving, packed our things, and went to get her. Oh boy...my child hit me in the head while I was putting on her shoes. Needless to say, she was in some serious trouble, having to go into time out in front of the entire group. She cried, yelled, hit the house, hit a plant nearby...it was tough. I finally got her to the car, calmed down and on our way home when she so politely asked could she please have her "gummies" now. Prior to going swimming, I told her if she behaved she could have gummies after we left. No, I did not give in...she did not get the gummies. I am not ready for this by any means!

Otherwise, we are getting back into the swing of things. P is back to work, I am home again. I have an awesome video to post. I will try in the next day or two. The video is not really worth anything, it's the sounds of Joshua laughing...belly laughing...at his big sis. It's so cute. Hope you will return to hear it. It will put you in a great mood! Love to all our family and friends! A.

Where is the summer going?

It's the end of July, and our summer is quickly coming to a close. Patrick returns to work in a few weeks and I think he is very happy that I will be returning to the "nest" from a busy summer of work. We did manage to take a vacation in mid-July. We first stopped at Pappa-dado and Meme's house. We had a great visit and Meme filled our bellies with yummy food! Then it was off to Birmingham to check out my best friend's loft that they have created in an old building in downtown Birmingham. First, thank you so much for having us! We had a blast! And I have to say that the loft is spectacular (To see pictures: http://parhamfamilyblog.blogspot.com) Then we went to Tennessee and spent a few days with P's sisters. Again, thank you so much for having us! We all had a great time! The pictures below are from our trip (except the last two). Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and getting much needed rest and relaxation! Love to all!

J with Aunt M at the science center in Birmingham

AR and G playing with a giant light bright! Very cool.

Get Ready......

SSSMMMMOOOOCCCHHH!!!

AR with her cousins at the lake

AR with her new floaties (thanks meme! they worked great!!!)

J eating some cereal for one of the first times. Not too successful!

AR after a haircut that was LONG overdue! Bella!

It's Summertime!

Well, the W Family is in full summer swing. P is finished with teaching for the summer, which means I am back to working some during the week. It gets a little hectic trying to juggle everything...kids, house, work...but we have a vacation coming up in 2 weeks. We are headed to Tennessee to spend some time with P's family. We can not wait!! It will be the first time they meet J. It should be a fun and relaxing trip. This will be our 3rd summer going, and we love it and appreciate our family for letting us come stay at their lake house. :) Here are some new pics...just a hodge podge of stuff. Enjoy!

Happy 2nd birthday!!

Happy 2nd birthday!

Papa-daddo and J relaxing on the porch

Painting with papa-daddo!

Summertime fun in the backyard! (thanks uncle p and aunt d-d for the crazy sprinkler!)

Our one lone tomato in our garden (hopefully not the last!)

AR and J hanging out together!

Jammy jam dance

Maybe we're biased, but P and I think this is hysterical. We laugh so hard it brings tears to our eyes. I hope AR always feels this confident in her dancing skills! Enjoy! BTW, you have to click on the video multiple times to get it to work. It will give you some trouble at first, but keep trying. It will finally work. (hopefully!) And have your sound up!

First Harvests

The previous owners of our house were pretty avid gardeners from what I can tell...well, much more avid that I am. There are lots of things coming up this spring that I do not know what they are. One of those things was strawberry plants. Well, once we figured out they were strawberries, we have been watching them grow and grow, only to get eaten by bugs. I recently purchased an organic pesticide (it has sesame oil and fish oil in it...it smells fishy!) and we were able to harvest 3 strawberries! AR and I ate the first 2 before I thought to take a picture. They were delicious. There is something to be said for eating something grown in your backyard. I have to admit though that I'm a little nervous. The following thoughts cross my head...what if some animals pooped in the dirt and we get E.coli or what if the organic pesticide is harmful to us? I know this is silly because only God knows what's on the produce we eat from the supermarket. I can only imagine! But I think the satisfaction of growing something to eat outweighs the possible side effects. :) Here's to springtime, a time of new growth and learning especially for my children!

Strawberry grown in our backyard!