BBQ with the Neighbors

Our neighbors, Conni and David, had us all over for a big neighborhood BBQ. It was a lot of fun and a great way for us to get to know our neighbors more. There were lots of older kids and thankfully they gave the younger ones a little time in the jump castle. Three of us have boys very close in age and they were so cute crawling all over each other in the jump castle. Grady was trying to pull up on them (he doesn't understand they aren't as sturdy as the coffee table). Luke is in the stripe outfit and Rivers is in the overalls. A little blurry, but it's the only one with all of them looking.

Trying to stand up.

He thought it was funny to try and get me through the mesh.

Look What Grady Can Do!

Grady is changing every day and his smiles brighten all our days! I love all the personality he is getting, the look on his face when he is trying hard (concentrating) to do something and the excitement in his face when he loves what he is doing. Here are some pictures of our day to day together. I love that I have been able to stay at home with him this first year!

One of his favorite things to do is going to the swings!

He first started pulling up on his knees, but now is standing up on everything and cruising around while holding onto tables.

Whenever I need to do something on the computer, the first thing he wants to do is crawl under the desk and pull on my mouse cord.

He loves crawling across the cat walk and looking at his toys down below. I'm sure that he'll be throwing his toys over the side very soon.

He lunged forward and hit his face on the spindle. When this sort of thing happens he gets very mad at the object and grabs it or tries to bite it. It won't be so funny when it's another kid though.

Grandmama Nettles sent him these cute cars and he loves them. Here is an example of him concentrating. He always has his tongue sticking out.

He loves to bang his toys on tables. BAMBAM!

Of course he loves to put everything in his mouth.

Concentrating to walk over and get my phone.

WHEW, I got it Mama!

Got it again. Seriously, his tongue is always sticking out!

Finally, a cute smile!

Another new thing he loves to do is play peek-a-boo with me through all sorts of things. He especially loves kneeling down to see me under things. He also loves to take his bib off and look at me through the neck hole. He thinks that is hilarious for some reason.

Here are some videos. Make sure you pause the music to the right so you can hear them. The first two are of something he loves to do .... turn around in the chair. He almost fell off the chair at the end of the first video, but I caught him!

This one is of him trying to get my cell phone. He starts to walk to it down the coffee table, but decides it would be easier to fall down, crawl closer and then get it. I had another one of him walking all the way around the table, but it won't upload.

Water Camera

When we were in St. Croix we used a water camera and I finally got them developed and put on a CD. Here are some pictures we took while in the water there! Most of them are from the tidal pools and a few from snorkeling.

Richard is relaxing in the tidal pool. Getting ready to jump in.

Me relaxing in the tidal pool. It was an amazing place!

Jumping off together! I don't know why my face always looks so terrified. It was only about as high as a high dive.

Crazy Richard

Snorkeling at Buck Island

We saw many colorful fish, but most of the pictures didn't turn out so good.

One of our favorite corals.

Can you see the sting ray hidden in the sand?

Jamie and Sarah's Baby Shower

Last weekend there was a baby shower for Jamie and Sarah in Spartanburg. It was at Debbie and Dallas Cone's house. They had a beautiful pond in their backyard with huge coy! Jamie and Sarah got lots of wonderful gifts and it was so much fun to celebrate with them!

The soon to be parents! We all LOVED Sarah's cute maternity Maxi dress.

All the hostesses and Sarah

Sarah and I

The yummy food and gorgeous flowers.

The pond

Sarah with her cute diaper corsage.

The sisters! Rosanne, me, Sarah and Irene

My favorite, handmade bibs with James' name on them.

Rosanne and Irene (I know you two are glad I picked this one and not the double chins! haha!)

Grady had fun at the shower, but was exhausted after all that passing around.

At Nana and Papa's house Grady was constantly the center of attention. Here Grady was copying everything Uncle Jamie was doing. It was so funny. We can't wait for James to get here and there will be two babies to share! =)

Grady, Jake and Lauren

Last week Lisa, Kristen and I got together at my house with Grady, Jake and Lauren. It was two days before Lauren's 1st Birthday so Kristen and I had gifts for her. The toy Grady gave Lauren was a musical/talking ladybug thing. You could tell the kids were sick of their current toys and very excited to see something new. They were all over the toy and Lisa could hardly even try to take it out of the box for them crawling all over it and her. It was hilarious to watch them! We talked and said it would be brilliant if we all rotated toys! We really should. I know the kids would love it! It's hard to believe when the three of us started getting together the kids just slept in their carriers while we shopped and had a nice lunch. Now we have to just hang out at someone's house so they can all crawl everywhere! Grady and Jake

Later that week I went to Kristen's house for Bunco with our teacher friends. Richard was late coming home (Gene had flown into Charlotte and he was seeing him), so Grady had to go to Bunco with me for a little bit. The boys played in a gated-in area and Meredith decided to join them!

They just talk to each other in their own language! It's so cute!

The next morning (are you getting that Grady and Jake are really best buds and love to hang out, plus Kristen and I enjoy each other's company too), Kristen and Jake came over to my house. I was making a carmel cake for my friend Katy (that just had Harper) and Kristen wanted to make a chocolate cake for her sister's birthday. Then the boys were dressed exactly the same and we got some really cute pictures and a video (pause the music on the right before you play it).

A little blurry, but Jake was really excited and this was so cute!