Kiawah -Day 1

We came down to Kiawah with Bebe & PopPaw for the July 4th week. Mikey was able to come down for a few days too but we missed Jen!




Upon our arrival on Tuesday afternoon, we beelined it for the beach and both boys had a ball playing in the sand, wading in the surf and spotting the wild deer that came curiously close to us.




Wednesday morning, we were on the beach bright and early at 8am. What we thought was an early morning seashell hunt turned into a "we are on the beach so we may as well swim, get sandy and set up shop." Three trips to the condo and back later, we had our towels, umbrellas, toys and bags cordoning off a good 10' x 10' section.












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After a day on the beach, we rode bikes down to the July 4th festival here on the island. Jackson got his face painted, saw Uncle Sam on stilts and played on the playground. We capped the night off with a fantastic firework show.
















We had two failed attempts at a family picture:








And we capped off the night with a pitch-black bike ride back to our place. Good thing for the flashlight app on our iPhones!




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We went a birthday party last week & the kids ha a blast with these....






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Jackson's 3rd Birthday Party

Last Saturday, we celebrated Jackson's 3rd birthday with a party at Dillard's Farm Ice Cream Parlor. This local favorite is one that we frequent weekly during the summer and we were thrilled that they were willing to open up outside of the normal hours in order for us to have a party.

For months, Jackson has been telling us he wanted a Spiderman party. And I am not a big one for novelty-themed parties...but he is the birthday boy. So I was able to find unique invites on Etsy that I liked despite them being heavy on novelty:



Going with the superhero theme, I made capes for each of the kids (yeah, yeah, I know Spiderman doesn't actually wear a cape...or fly). The kids decorated foam masks as a craft at the party and most all of them actually wore the costumes.







Everyone went through the ice cream line & got to pick out what kind they wanted. My one & only chance at getting to hug on my big birthday boy was when he needed my help peering into the ice cream freezer to pick out his mint-chocolate chip :) But I'll take what I can get!















The little girls were definitely outnumbered, but they rocked their butterfly capes no less! Jackson says that "Maze" (the one on the left...who's name is really Maeve) is his best friend at preschool.






And Westie was definitely a hit with the girlies :)



After everyone ate their ice cream, we sang Happy Birthday & cut the cake.
I was going to let Jackson pick out his cake but he really wanted a Star Wars one when we were at the bakery. So together, we "picked" the one & only Spiderman one that they offered.
(I love how Jackson wore the mask to blow out his candles...and then pushed it up like sunglasses when it was time to eat the cake.)









Next came presents and Jackson got lots of great games, action figures and other toys that he was super excited about. This is the first year he's really gotten super excited about opening presents and its so much fun to see.




Jackson had a great time at his party and we are so thankful for all of our family, friend and neighbors who helped make his day so special!




{And while Ben is not in a SINGLE picture, he was there, mainly taking video! Sorry honey!}





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Three days of celebration!

Its so hard to believe that Jackson is THREE! It seems like just yesterday when we were bringing home a tiny 4 1/2 lb. baby, so happy & yet so overwhelmed. Fast forward 3 quick years and we have a very active, sweet, imaginative boy who loves to climb, pretend and love on his baby brother.




Jackson woke up on Friday morning to find his door decorated, as I always do for his birthday. He was super excited that the big day was finally here. After all, we've been celebrating it for several weeks now!

We started out the weekend-long celebrations by opening up gifts from Oma & Opa as soon as Ben got home from work on Friday afternoon. He is really into Star Wars, so he loved the Star Wars jammies, light saber and R2D2 figurine.



Uncle Mikey & Aunt Jenn came in town for the weekend and Jackson was so excited to see his Uncle Mikey. Weston was undecided :)






We spent Friday evening at the Greenville Drive game. Ben had planned it so that Jackson's name would appear on the marque, wishing him a happy birthday. Of course Jenn & I were chatting and missed it. But apparently someone sitting beside him saw it and pointed it out to him.













Saturday morning, we had his party at Dillard Farms Ice Cream Parlor, which is an old-school fruit-stand/ice cream shop that we frequent every summer. It was perfect for our gathering and nothing is better than having 12 pre-schoolers to a party that is not at your house!
(I'll do a separate post with the bday party pictures)

After the party, we, along with Mike, Jenn, Dad & Linda, came back to our house and had some homemade crock-pot BBQ waiting on us. We spent the afternoon trying to beat the heat in the backyard, with 2 sprinklers, a kiddie pool and of course, the waterslide. We starting calling our backyard the "Hammett Grove Country Club". The picture speaks for itself :) I'm not sure which is funnier -- Dad's shirtless swagger or Linda and the plastic wine glass.



We got a flash thunderstorm so we moved inside to cool off. Weston loved to be held as long as he was being fed.










We all headed to Bimini's Oyster Bar for dinner around 6. Jackson insisted on wearing his yellow Lance Armstong cycling jersey that Poppy brought back from the Tour de France for him, along with padded bike shorts. Topped off with his cape. He rocked the outfit all evening.


















Sunday morning, Mike & Jenn left to head back to Raleigh. We spent the morning at church and indulged in Bojangles for lunch and lots of time playing in the yard that evening.

We had a great weekend celebrating Jackson and are so thankful for the friends and family who were able to be there with us!


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9 & 10 Months

Poor Weston...his milestones just slip by and are just aren't documented nearly as well as Jackson's. I guess that's part of the deal if you aren't the first child.

At 9 months, Weston cut his top two front teeth. He continued to eat anything we'd offer him and started shrieking...alot! We are quickly teaching him what "NO" means and he is slowing getting the concept. His first word (other than "da-da") is clap. He'll say, "Clap, clap, clap" and clap his hands.




At 10 months on the dot, Weston started crawling. And pulling up. And cruising. All on the same day. He's been on the verge for a couple weeks, but finally got all of his limbs working in tandem last weekend and just took out. Now its definitely time to baby proof.



He now cutting his 3rd & 4th top teeth and has bitten me quite hard a time or two. He still nurses as much as I'll let him and I do realize that its time to start getting him on some sort of schedule so that weaning will be easier.


We've been to the pool several times and I've been dunking Westie under the water. He looks startled but doesn't object. He loves bathtime as well, and gets super excited when he sees me running the bath water.






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