A.T. Walker

Spring is mating season at the zoo and the giant turtles decided to procreate while we were there last Thursday. Of course my super-observant almost 3 year old noticed them piggy-backing and was full of questions.




So my first response to his "Mommy, what are they doing?" question was "They are playing A.T. Walker like you and Daddy do". For the non-Star Wars fans (like myself), AT Walker is some sort of robot that the jedi's ride on {I think}. As a child, Ben's Dad would get on all 4s and Ben & Jon would climb on his back and they would play A.T. Walker Now Jackson & Ben still play it. So now, Jackson has referenced "playing AT Walker like the big turtles" at least 3 times.
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Weekend in Cola

Last weekend, we went to Columbia to visit Sally & Justin and help throw them a baby shower for baby Lucy, who is due in August.

Let me start by saying that Jackson idolizes Jay & Betsy. He emulates Jay, down to wanting to stand up to peepee because he saw Jay doing so. He talked about them non-stop all week and was thrilled to get to sleep in Jay's "big boy bunk beds". Sally & I were watching the kids play and realized that technically, they could all be siblings based on their age spacing. Holy Moly! Talk about a handful. I have a new respect for parents with 4 kids under 6!!

Friday afternoon, Justin & Ben took Jay & Jackson to Jay's tee-ball game while Sally & I took the other 2 kids to Betsy's end of year school pool party.

Saturday morning, we got up bright & early (7am?!?) and managed to make it out of the house by 10:30 to head out to the lake. Yes, it took 4 adults over 3 hours to feed, dress & pack up 4 kids. We were super excited to go out on the Brown's boat, as Ben has been itching to get back out on the lake.




Having grown up on Lake Hickory and wakeboarding every single day, Ben really misses not having convenient lake access (or a boat...) where we are right now. But he was able to dust off his skills and after a few warm-up runs, he was nearly landing his 360 and getting some good air.


{Sorry honey, this picture doesn't do you justice}

The kids made for a great cheering section and were pretty much mesmerized. Jackson definitely thought his daddy was the coolest! :)




Justin had a go on the wakeboard, too, and popped right up on his first try. Jay & Betsy were definitely proud! We couldn't convince Sally (and Lucy) to give it a go.


After lunch, we floated around and enjoyed the relatively calm water. On the ride back to the landing, the 3 big kids fell asleep on the boat. They were pooped! Other than the fact that Jackson peed in the boat and Weston's baby float had a hole in it, it was a great day!



After quick baths, showers and fresh clothes, we headed over to the shower.



Sally & Justin are blessed with a great group of friends who have similarly aged children. We had yummy BBQ and sides and Sally's friend Brantley made this gorgeous cake. Yes, she MADE it. And it was equally as yummy as it was pretty.


{Weston was going on 8 hours of naplessness so my hands were pretty tied up with him so this was the ONLY picture I took}


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Movin' on up

Last Thursday was Jackson's last day of preschool for the school year. Although he will attend one day a week for the summer session starting next week, they are going to go ahead & move him up to the 3's class. We have loved Ms. Betsy & Ms. Jackie this year and he has grown & changed so much since August.

First day of school (Bebe & Oma took him because I was still in the hospital with Weston):




Last day of school:



And Weston got to have a bite of last-day-of-school breakfast treat too.



And Jackson went out with a bang, having an accident free day at school. To celebrate, I let him play carwash when we got home. He loved lining up his bike and four-wheeler and washing them.






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Memorial Weekend

We had a fun-filled Memorial Weekend that was jam packed with swimming, baseball games, fireworks, backyard fun and more swimming.

On Friday afternoon, we headed to Charlotte to stay with Ben's old college roomie John and his wife, Shannon. They have two little girls who are about 6 months older than each of ours. {It certainly is a different world with little girls and little boys}




After a cookout Friday night, we put the "big" kids to bed, only to hear loud pounding upstairs shortly thereafter. Shannon & I snuck up there and caught them redhanded. Jackson had coerced Felicia to get out of her sleeping bag and join him in jumping on and off of her bed. Boys will be boys.

Saturday, we spent the day at the pool. Jackson is definitely a little fish and was jumping face first into the water and wanted to do it all by himself (in his puddlejumper). Weston preferred to be held {by me} but was willing to hang out in the water as long as he was within 6" of his food source. On the potty-training front, Jackson not only once, but twice, got out of the pool and went to pee....on the fence. Yes, that is my son that pulls down his trunks & tee-tees in the fenced in pool area. At least it wasn't in the pool itself. Guess I need to work on that.





Five hours later, we left the pool and headed back to the Kempters for disco naps and showers before heading out to the Charlotte Knights baseball game. We were pessimistic about how well this would go with two little ones who had spend the entire day playing in the sun. But who doesn't love a pleasant surprise? Both boys were awesome at the game. It started at 7pm and by 8pm, the kids had lost interest in the game itself but the lure of the post-game fireworks kept their attention.





After 2 trips to tee-tee in the oh-so-tidy public potty, following by 2 carousel rides as potty-prizes, the game was in the home stretch and we eagerly sat back down to watch the fireworks show. It did not disappoint. Weston was pretty tuckered by this point - it was after 10pm - so he was snuggled up in the Bjorn. Jackson was wide-eyed in Ben's lap, just taking it all in. We drove back to Greenville after the game and spend Sunday & Monday just hanging around the house.

Gotta love a long weekend!


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Say cheese!

As if I don't have enough pictures of the kids, I couldn't resist buying this years school pics. They let me get Weston's photo taken too, even though he's not in preschool yet. And I was glad they also took pictures of them together.












One of my all-time favorite photos of Ben as a child was one taken of he & Jon when they were pre-schoolers. I plan to res-stage this photo down to the shirts and poses in a few years when the boys are that age. Aren't those the most precious smiles?




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Mother's Day Weekend - Take 1

On Mother's Day weekend, Mom & Bruce came to Greenville to spend some time with us, or more specifically their grandbabies. Saturday afternoon, we headed downtown to Artisphere and enjoyed the great art & music and of course the kiddie crafts. {hence the mask}


We ran into the McGriff's downtown and Slade & Jackson made a beeline to the fountains and both ended up soaking wet.










After a few hours, we headed back home to make homemade icecream and get the kiddies to bed. Homemade ice cream is the bomb and we were eating the dreggs for sure.


Sunday started off with a real bang after Bella left us "presents" in the dining room, which Mom stepped in and inevitably tracked throughout the house. Then we found our biscuits in the pantry. It kinda went downhill from there. I did, however, get a precious gift from Jackson that he made at preschool. He was so proud of it and had been dying to let me open it since he brought it home on Thursday.







And we finally remembered to take a family picture!







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So Weston's been playing in the tupperware lately. And reaching for things lately. And is so quick to grab things that we can hardly get a picture that's not blurry:



{Notice the close proximity o the fridge door...}

Well last night, just as the fridge door was shutting, he stuck his tiny finger in that door jamb with lightening speed. We had to literally open the door to get his finger out. It was a bloodbath, but thanks to our combined years of scouting, we gauzed and taped it up and then were reassured by the on-call nurse that we didn't need to rush to the ER. Nothing hurts more than when your child is in pain!




Thursday, I took Weston by the pediatrician just to confirm that he didn't need stitches and his finger would not be crooked for the rest of his life. All was well & we are well on our way to healing. He wouldn't leave the bandaid on so this is what we got to look at:




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