Evening Stroll

Meet Frank. He is our 9 year old, 110 pound "first child".

I use quotations only because he was treated as a "first child" for the first 6 years of his life. Once Bella arrived, Frank was demoted to family pet. Don't get me wrong- he still has a pretty nice life for a dog. He sleeps most of the day in the air conditioned house and regularly gets petted and loved on. But, one of Frank's favorite activities has been drastically reduced since the arrival of the little people in our house. He used to get walks almost every night, and now he's lucky if he gets one a week. Recently, I have made it a goal for him to get more regular walks. So, now a few nights a week we head out as a family to let Frank enjoy his favorite activity.

Our evening strolls are enjoyed by everyone. Bella usually starts off the walk on her tricycle. But, she usually ditches it and joins Austin in the wagon before we get to the end of our street (even though I tell her that Santa will likely not bring her the bike she wants if she doesn't ride her tricycle more). Bella and Austin enjoy the ride in the wagon. And I enjoy my mini-workout by pulling them.

Look out Austin, looks like you've got a tailgater. Austin needs to do proper safety checks before we get going.

Ready to go!

And now he's joined by his sister...

Bella has to explain the rules of the road.

Poor guy has to endure many, many head pats during the ride...



One of Bella's treasures she found along the way. She didn't understand why she couldn't bring this one in the house...

Hopefully, we'll make it out for another walk again tonight! Frank is visibly happier when we're out- and so are the rest of us!

Beach Baby

We just got back from our annual beach trip this past Saturday. We go to Indian Beach (between Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach) with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and neice for a week each year. Unfortunately, my brother and sister-in-law were only able to stay one night, but my neice was able to stay for the entire week! We loved watching the girls play together each day. Along with play were a few (or more) squables, but they really love each other. Austin is too young to notice that he's odd man out, but he still had a good time. Were were all filthy and exausted at the end of each day, but I think it's safe to say that we all had a blast.

Grandaddy and the grandkids...

If we were inside at any time, chances were that either Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Tinkerbell was playing on the TV. Here, Bella and Layla were dancing to "Once upon a dream" from Sleeping Beauty :)


My mom brought a tent for the kids to play in on the beach. Unfortunately, the wind didn't allow us to bring it out each day, but when we did- they enjoyed it!

Austin assumed the official "beach bum" position at least once a day! I would've loved to join him!!

Bella never understands that birds don't like to be caught...

Even after 11 months, the girl can't get enough of her little brother...

Austin thought he'd give it a whirl and try and part the sea.

He loves to "walk" now! All he needs is at least 1 finger...

Austin took a break from eating Scott's hair to take a picture...

He loved his "swim" in the ocean!

Austin figured Scott's chair was fair game when he went for a swim...

It wasn't long before Bella squeezed in there with him...

Searching for shells

Grandma's good for leaning on at the end of a long day of playing...

My mom also brought a baby pool with hopes of corralling Austin a little. As you can see here, it didn't serve it's purpose well. But, it was fun!

Don't worry- someone was always very nearby when he took off crawling towards the ocean!

All they need are a couple of glasses of wine...

By the end of the week, we all felt like doing this...

It was another good year for sure! There are always mixed emotions when the week is over. On one hand, it feels good to get back home to our own beds and routines. But on the other, it's always a little sad to know that the days of simply playing all day without a care are over... Bella said on our last day "just 2 more weeks, please Mommy?" But, she passed out as soon as we put her in her carseat to go home. I'm sure she didn't have 2 more weeks in her to play as hard as she had been... For sure though, some wonderful memories were made!

11 Months

Austin was 11 months old yesterday. 11 months. Wow. 4 weeks from Saturday is his first birthday party. It blows my mind. It doesn't seem like it's already been a year since I watched my belly in amazement as that baby boy moved and kicked. And now I watch him in amazement as he seems to do something new everyday.

• He still wears some 12 month clothes, but they're getting snug. He's been wearing lots of 18 months clothes for a few weeks now.
• He still wears size 3 diapers.
• The boy loves to eat. I think he would eat all day if I let him. He enjoys his stage 3 baby foods, but really enjoys feeding himself. Everything he has tried, he has liked. Except for ice cream. I figure it must be that it's cold, because it can't possibly be the taste! Who doesn't love ice cream?!
• He enjoys clapping his hands. When he does something that I'm proud of (which is all the time!), and I clap and say "Yay, Austin!", he smiles and claps for himself.
• He says Mama, Dada and Ba. The first day he was crawling towards me and saying "Mamama" I was so excited and proud! Especially since he's been saying "Dada" for a while now! He uses "Ba" to refer to lots of things, but he will say it when he's looking and reaching for his big sister, Bella. Bella loves that! He also refers to a ball as a "ba".
• Speaking of balls, throwing and retrieving balls is one of his favorite games. He'll throw a ball, crawl after it, pick it up and repeat the whole process. Over and over again.
• He's cruising! And he loves to "walk" with his sister. Scott and I have to constantly remind her to not walk so fast with him, but he seems to enjoy walking fast with her.
• He will stand on his own for several seconds. But, when he realizes what he's doing, he quickly eases himself down to the floor.

What a fast and wonderful 11 months it's been! Happy Birthday Austin!

Saturday in the park...

Saturday was a good day. So good, in fact, that I was still smiling long after putting the kids to bed. It was one of those fun days where it seemed like the kids were enjoying themselves all day. And I enjoyed watching them. We started the day at a joint birthday party for a big sister who was turning 3 and her little brother who was turning 1- they're perfect playmates for my crew! It was a pool party, so Bella and Austin really got to enjoy splashing around for a while. Good thing, because it was a HOT day! It was a mermaid/pirate theme and Bella has enjoyed playing with both her and Austin's party favors... I try to explain that it won't be too much longer before Austin won't want to give away his party favors. I don't know how much she gets though...

The birthday boy and girl's mom had made "marshmallow lollipops", which were big marshmallows on a stick covered in colored sugar crystals. So cute! The boys' pirate lollipops were black. It did a number on Bella's tongue... Nice eyepatch, Bella- ARGH!

Bella was trying to look like a mean pirate here- doesn't look like she's too threatening to me!

We enjoyed the hot afternoon indoors playing with toys and letting Austin get a nap. After his nap, Bella and Austin played for a while in Austin's room. They have really started playing more with each other, which is fun to watch. Although, sometimes the interests of a 3 1/2 year old girl and an almost 11 month old boy don't always mesh, they do enjoy each other's company.

I went in Austin's room to check on them at one point and found Bella sitting in his toy box throwing all of his toys out to him. He was just sitting there squealing in delight as each of his toys whizzed by his head.

Got anything else in there, sis?

After Bella got bored and left, Austin was trying to figure out how to get in there and get the rest of the toys.

Seriously, how'd she get in here?

Forget it- I'll just sit here and yell like I usually do.

She's back. Austin gets frustrated that she can get in there with such ease, so he decides to pull her hair to get even. I intervened, but not before I got a picture...

We decided to pick up some dinner and take it to the park at Wrightsville Beach for a picnic. Scott wanted to try this Pita place we've never tried before, and it was pretty good. We all enjoyed our dinner and played at the park for a while...

Getting ready to slide...

What kid doesn't climb back up the slide after they're done?

Bella wanted to try swinging on her belly.

When Bella was a baby, she hated to swing. Austin, on the other hand, loves it. And the higher the better.

This kid is crazy about his Daddy.

Bella thought it would be fun to leave the playground area and run around a bit...

But was eager to run to meet her brother when he finished swinging...

After playing a while, I wanted to go for a walk on the beach. Just before sunset is probably one my most favorite times on the beach. The sand has cooled off and feels so good on your feet. It's not as crowded and definitely not as hot.

We have a basket for shells on our back porch. Bella enjoys finding shells to add to our basket each time she gets out on the beach...

This little guy was getting tired.

But he was happy to walk with his Daddy out to the ocean.

Even though we told her to try and stay dry, she just couldn't help herself. Then she just couldn't understand why she just couldn't get naked and play.

Like I said, Austin was getting tired. But, I thought he might like to get his feet wet. Turns out- he did not. At all. He wanted his feet to stay dry. And then his mean ole Mommy went a took a picture of him crying.

This is probably one of my new favorite pictures. Definitely frame worthy.

Scott making sure his girl doesn't venture too far out in the ocean...

I love my boys.

The south end of Wrightsville is where we tend to hang out when we go. This time we ventured out at Beach Access #41. Good spot.

Playing in the dunes.

On our way home, Bella's favorite song came on the radio. She loves to sing along to "Hey, Soul Sister", but she doesn't like an audience so much. This was when she told me "no" that I could not take a picture of her singing.

But when the chorus of the song came on, she just couldn't help but sing...

Yep, it was a good day. A great day, actually. Life is good!