4th of July!

The boys and I were lucky enough to spend almost a week in Greenwood with my parents for the 4th while poor Jamey was stuck in Charlotte for a class over the holiday! We missed him so much but had a great time doing anything and everything that we could find! We saw Toy Story 3 in 3D, which they both liked and did great in. Carter took it all in and was quiet during the movie but has since been a motor mouth with questions about every last detail of it! He was a little freaked out by the security monkey at the day care and had a few days and nights where he didn't want to be alone but that was thankfully a short phobia! Cooper probably left a bit confused because he wouldn't wear his 3D glasses the whole time so bits were quite blurry for his little eyes. Cooper slept in a queen-sized bed while we were there and did great for the most part - we'll get to that part in pictures shortly! He would yell for me when he wanted to get up, which was a bit earlier than crib time but it's hard to resist a sweet, sleepy voice saying, "Mommy, mommy, need you" regardless of what time it is!

Here's Coop getting up after his 1st night in the big boy bed!
We played outside a lot and the weather couldn't have been any better! It was much cooler than the normal 100 degree, humid SC summer I was expecting so we made the most of it with lots of pool time, sprinkler time, and bike rides.
I was trying to get a few "good" ones of the boys together after playing in the sprinkler while they waited on Nunu to bring them popsicles. I missed out on the joke going on between them but they were laughing so hard that I couldn't help but keep taking pictures.
I love how Cooper is snuggled up to Carter in this one.
These 2 just make me happy and make me think of summer, my favorite time of the year! What's better than warm weather, sunshine, your bathing suit, and a popsicle?!

This is morning #2 of the big boy bed. He slept later than normal so I was ready and waiting when I heard the first mommy call. Not quite where I was expecting to find my sleepy boy and I don't think it was quite where he expected to be either judging from the look on his face in the next picture!
He told us all day about how he was silly for sleeping "unda" his big boy bed!
These bubble fans were great when they worked and made huge bubbles that the boys had fun watching, chasing, and popping!
It looks like hard work!
We spent 2 days at the pool and they swam until they could swim no more! Cooper did great and was much more independent with his wings and Carter is now swimming solo and attempting tricks off the diving board! I can't believe how far he's come this summer with his swimming but it's awesome to see him getting the hang of it so quickly!




They had a low dive and a high dive and Cooper did the low one a few times with helping hands from me and Pop.
This is Carter's attempt at a dive! He watched some much bigger boys a few times so now he runs off the board and jumps, does cannonballs, can openers, and dive attempts.
Greenwood has a train museum that Nunu has been trying to take them to for quite some time so we were happy to get the chance to go on the morning of the 4th! Carter loved ringing the bell on the train, while Cooper preferred being held and covering his ears.

We went to a small town near Greenwood for a street festival and they had such cute stuff for the boys to do. This is riding a Thomas train and was probably Cooper's favorite part, even though you can't tell that from his face!

Carter did this trampoline where they put you in a harness and let you go really high. He loved it but got tired pretty quickly and told the man he was done because his legs were really tired of jumping!

Cooper wasn't too sure what to think of the trampoline so we let him watch!
Before we went home the boys had shaved ice that took a good 30 minutes to eat. We expected them to gobble it down but wouldn't you know when you're ready to go they savor every drop!

Carter has really toned down his clothing choices lately but saved this outfit that he picked out specifically for the 4th! He makes me smile most of the time:)


Carter and Pop went for a bike ride around the block with their dog, George and he rode the whole way, hills and all. The only stops were to fight the bad guys and princesses according to my dad!
You clip your lightsaber to your bike when you ride, right?
Showing off his 4th of July tattoo.


Snap n Pops were a hit with both of them surprisingly!
They both loved the sparklers too!

Carter wears these rain boots every day as a part of his makeshift police outfit.




Checking out the neighborhoodl fireworks after grumpy Cooper went bed! Mom and Dad, we can't thank you enough for having us and taking such good care of us while we were there! We can't wait to head to the beach in a few weeks and have more fun times!

My Little Swimmer

I'm so proud of my big boy that I don't know what to do. This little 4 year old fella decided this summer was the year he was going to try to tackle the slide and diving board at our pool. To be able to jump off or slide, you have to be able to swim the length of the pool by yourself, which is a little bit further than 25 yards. We practiced several times but he couldn't quite make it our first few practice runs. We took a break and ate our lunch to try and regain some energy and after our little break he did it two times in a row for me. The next step was getting the lifeguard to watch him do it a third time and that would obviously be the one that counted. He was so cute and went to ask if he could take the swim test all by himself and she took him to the deeper end to start his try. Cooper and I stayed in the shallow end and watched from a distance so we could cheer him on. He made it easily across the pool, granted with a combo of freestyle, doggie paddling, and controlled drowning as we like to call it, but he was so proud of himself for what he had done. He now has a fancy white band he has to wear to the pool to let the lifeguards know he can do the slide and diving board but it has definitely made several appearances around the house and on errands as well! He was a little timid initially on the diving board but watched a few bigger kids have a turn and decided it wouldn't be too scary. Now he does them both over and over and loves every second of it.

As a mom, watching him do the swim test was just a glimpse at what it will be like to be nervous, scared, and excited for your children to try something new and hopefully do so successfully. It reminded me so much of how nervous I would get watching my brother play baseball when I was little. I wanted him to get a hit and do well so badly that it almost hurt me to watch if that makes any sense at all. Watching Carter, I knew he was nervous but he was also feeling courageous enough that he'd be just fine. I wished so much I could take the nerves away and give him the confidence he needed to do it because to know your child is stressed or anxious in any way is such a hard feeling to accept! I'm sure it's the first of many times I'll have this uncomfortable feeling for him or for another little fella down the road where I want to be able to shield them and take away the uneasiness and fear of failure in trying out for a team, or taking a test, etc. but I know that's a part of growing up that will help them learn winning and doing well aren't always easy and that you can't win every time. Now if someone could just teach me and my competitive family that we'd be good to go!

Father's Day Fun

For more selfish reasons than Jamey's actual desire to spend a day at the beach, we decided to make a day trip to Wrightsville on Saturday to see what the boys thought of the sun and sand this year. After worrying with how they would do and logistically how it would work out, it really couldn't have gone any better. They had so much fun playing, both took naps on the beach, woke up happy, and to top it all off we stopped at Dockside on our way out of town for dinner, which happens to be one of our favorite places to eat! It was an awesome day together as a family, which is something we unfortunately don't get the opportunity to do very often so it was a much needed little break for all of us!


Waiting patiently on Daddy to dig a big hole.

My little tan man...I put the same sunscreen on both of them but their coloring is as different as night and day:)



Cooper was scared to stand at the edge of the water and kept saying the waves would get him if we tried to put him down but he kept asking us to take him to the "deep end", meaning out into the water past the waves!


The many faces of Carter after a nap when you ask him to smile for the camera.



I didn't get a picture of them sleeping together but they were side by side under an umbrella and out like lights once we had them settled. When Cooper woke up, he sat up and looked around for us and asked Jamey, "Daddy, me sleep?" His face was priceless as you could tell he was a little confused but felt pretty sure he'd taken a nap and wanted to make sure it was ok to get up!





Carter is quite into Star Wars these days and has decided princesses aren't so bad after all if her name is Princess Leia.
We still have our bug-catching routine every night we can so I'm thankful the daylight will be getting shorter as our bedtimes have been getting later!
I had good intentions of taking a picture once a week or so of my profile to see the baby bump grow from week to week but thus far we've failed miserably! I'm 21 weeks and feeling good and hope that continues! If I didn't feel the baby move or see my ever expanding waistline I probably wouldn't know I was pregnant so I consider myself pretty lucky at this point. I've just in the past 2 weeks started to really be able to feel movement from the outside of my stomach and Carter is so anxious to get his turn to feel him kick! I didn't realize how cute Carter would be about this pregnancy but he loves to look at my belly and tell me how big it is and has a million questions about the baby. I was taking off my scrubs from work this morning and had indentations in my stomach from where they had been tied. As soon as he saw it he asked me if the baby had toenails because it looked like he'd been scratching my tummy! As happy as I am to be 21 weeks, it's definitely a little bittersweet because it's already going at lightning speed!

Nightly Routine

Every night for the past couple weeks, we've spent our time outside catching lightning bugs for Carter and Cooper's bug cages. They love it so much and we've had so much fun watching them enjoy themselves and helping out with the catching a little here and there too! Cooper is more of a spotter and will yell to Carter when he sees one so he can come catch it for him. We've been letting them take their cages to their rooms at bedtime so they'll have a natural nightlight for a change and that's been a big hit! One thing I've learned about lightning bugs is that they're great at playing possum and Coop has learned this too. The other morning I went to get him up and asked him if they lit up for him during the night and he told me, "No Mommy, lightning bugs nap time!" It was pretty cute and fortunately for the bugs they regain their spunk when we free them from their temporary confinement!

On the prowl with their friend Keelin

This one was just a little too high...


Sad we had to call it a night and bring our bugs in

Our neighborhood pool finally opened today during daytime hours so we took advantage this morning. I wasn't able to get too many pictures since I was also trying to keep them above water solo but the ones of Coop are cute. He's getting braver every time we go and has gone from clingy and scared to independently swimming out where he can't touch and coming back on his own, with his wings of course! He's so proud of himself and will look at me and say, "Mommy, me fish!" I don't think I'll be able to get a single picture of Carter without his goggles on this year unless there is a major bribe involved. He's definitely getting more confident and independent as well - I think the slide and diving board will be popular spots for us all too soon!