Weekend in Wrightsville Beach

We unofficially had our 2nd Annual Talbert Reunion this past weekend in Wrightsville. It was a blast and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with cousins, second-cousins and watching the next generation of Talbert offspring playing together.

We spent the first day on the beach, then moved to the inland side in the late morning. From there, we could chill in the "kiddie jacuzzi", play on the waterway beach, ride jet skis, go boating, you name it!


Jackson was our little fearless adventurer. Not only did he hop right on the tube, but he also went wake surfing behind the boat with Ben...standing up and actually holding the rope himself. (We are waiting to get those pictures)















Uncle Jon & Opa arrived shortly after lunch and the boys were excited to see them.





Aunt Judy aka Meme rocking the water belt :)


And Westie enjoyed playing in the fresh water sources -- hoses, kiddie pool, tub.

















Ben's cousin Jay & his wife Jenni have 3-year-old twins that Jackson became fast friends with. It was precious seeming them play together and Jackson & Jack have some very definite resemblance!











The jet skis were also a hit, and Jackson could not get enough of it. After Jackson's turn, Ben and I took off for a ride. He knew better than to try to throw me off or flip us over, but we did get it up to 55 miles per hour with our cheeks flapping in the wind.






And the second-cousins (maybe...or first cousins half-removed?) all had a blast playing on Meme & Buddy's beach.


And in the hammock...


Aren't these Jack & Eliza absolutely beautiful?


The three 3-year-olds stuck together!


Our last night in Wrightsville, we put the kids down and Bud & Judy offered to babysit while we went out to dinner. What a treat!

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11 Months Old

On July 17, little Weston turned 11 months old. And the older he gets, the harder it gets to capture his monthly sticker pics. This time, it took both Ben and I (along with about 45 outtakes) to actually get one with him looking in our direction while remaining on our backdrop. His exasperated expression says it all. And forget actually keeping the number on his belly...I'll have to sweetly ask BFF Alisha if she can photoshop the number onto him this month :)
This month, Weston stopped eating baby food, preferring to eat whatever the rest of our family is eating. He has enjoyed eggs, PB&J and shrimp (yes, we have managed to try every food on the "do not feed until baby is 1" list). Westie still nurses as much as I'll let him but weaning is underway {kinda}.
He will sip milk & juice out of a sippy with assistance, but definitely not in adequate amounts.




Preschool starts next Wednesday and we are all so excited! It will definitely be a difficult transition for W since I can count on two hands the number of times he has been away from me since he was born. Separation anxiety will definitely be something his teachers will be dealing with that morning for sure. I wonder if they will up-charge me for a fussy baby? Add to that: the 1K class requires the kiddos to be drinking from sippies (no bottles) and self-feeding finger foods. No spoonable items yet. Weston will be just a week over 1 year old when school starts so he is the youngest in the class by a long shot. It will certainly be a transition from getting to nurse on demand to self-feeding cold cows milk from a fluorescent cup. We'll see how that goes. And not to mention, good luck getting 6 1-year-olds to lay down on that nap mat and actually fall asleep. Maybe that will guarantee a good, long nap once we get home that day!




Verbally, Weston has seemed much more advanced that Jackson was at this age. He clearly calls for "Mama" or more like "MAMA...MAMA....MA..MAMA" when he wants me and he calls Jacksons "Bubba" for Brother, which we just love. Other words he uses consistently are "more", "dog", "DaDa", "cat", "cracker", "bagel", "snack". He repeats words pretty well and also signs "more", "all done", "milk" and "water".




And have I mentioned that Weston is in to EVERYTHING?????












Some accomplishments this month:
1. Found dog bowls and loves to sample the dog food and
drink from the water bowl. GROSS!
2. Pulls up and cruises on everything.
3. Crawls like a pro and despite having a crab-style crawl, he is super fast.
4. Likes to sneak of the stairs where we aren't looking...
5. Loves bath time and gets pretty spastic when we start the water and start stripping him down.
6. Moved him forward facing in the carseat and he is much more content being about to see where we are going.
And as a Mommy of a nearly-1-year-old, I am struggling! This little angel's first year has absolutely flown by and as hard and as long as the days may seem, the seasons and years fly by. I am so proud of the little man that Weston is becoming but it is bittersweet because my baby boy is growing up.

Camp Cousin

Last week, our 9-year-old niece Cora came to Greenville for the week. We had been looking forward to her visit since we first mentioned it last Thanksgiving and we definitely had a fun week packed full of outings.

Monday, we started out with a trip to Costco, only to realize that my wallet (aka money, debit card & Costco card) was in my "other purse". Go figure. So we ran home and got back to Costco just in time for a jumbo slice of pizza for lunch. The cart sure it heavy with a third passenger.




I had asked Cora if she would like me to teach her to sew and the night before, and she had spent hours pouring over my fabrics, selecting the ones she wanted to use to make a pillow. I was expecting to create a basic square pillow, with coordinating fabrics on the front and back. Cora, however, wanted to sew a complicated patchwork design and was eager to create the design I sketched out.



However, after struggling with precision cutting using my rotary cutter, Cora realize my reluctance at such a complicated pattern and agreed to a much simpler, 4-square layout. After a day full of sewing while Jackson was in school on Tuesday, Cora was the proud new owner of 18" square pillow.






She had completely cut and sewn the entire pillow herself, with the exception of the minky plush backing. She was so proud of her pillow!
On Wednesday, we went to Discovery Island waterpark with a few friends and everyone had fun on the slides and pools.



Thursday morning, we headed to the zoo and Cora was so excited to see real-live giraffes, elephants & lions, followed by lunch at Runway Cafe.





We headed to Wrightsville Beach on Thursday evening to return Cora to her parents and to spend the weekend with Ben's extended family.
We enjoyed having a sweet little girl in the house for a week and look forward to Camp Cousin again next year!

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Mountains & Tweetsie

Following a fun day at Kool Park last week, we headed up to Blowing Rock to Poppy & Gigi's "Tweetsie House" to enjoy a couple days in the mountains. Despite over 50 pictures taken, we were unable to get one where all 3 kids were looking at the camera and/or not screaming.



On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon hiking & biking around Julian Price Park. We ended the outing with wading in the stream and despite the fairly hot temps, the water was still frigid. Unfazed, both Jackson & Parker ended up completely wet by the end of it.


Wednesday morning, we hit up Tweetsie first thing. We were literally the first people in line for tickets, which is a first for us since we are habitually 15 minutes late for everything!




For those unfamiliar with the NC Mountains, Tweetsie is a train-themed amusement park in Blowing Rock, NC and features Tweetsie the train, which happens to be the last operating coal-burning train in NC (I think I heard that fact...) Jackson has been obsessed with Tweetsie ever since Poppy & Gigi took him last fall so he was beyond excited to go back.


Armed with a fully-loaded cap gun and new holster, Jackson was quick to draw his gun any chance he got. Weston preferred the much quieter Indian headdress.






After a chairlift ride to the top of the mountain, we rode several rides. The boys loved the excitement!


We also visited the petting zoo. Upon entering the gated area, we were swarmed with baby goats. Jackson looked up at me with the expression of crisis and told me that "Oh no Mommy, the baby goats got lose!!" Meanwhile, Poppy was letting Weston snack on the cake cone that was used to store the goat food.


The highlight of the day was without a doubt the ride on Tweetsie. The trains pulls 3 large, open-air passenger cars and makes a 3 mile loop around the mountain. Each car is outfitted with a real-life cowboy and every mile or so, Tweetsie stops for a little performance as the cowboys defend the train from the wild Indians, etc. At one point, the Indians sneak up and run through each car on the train, making the kids scream. The boys loved shooting their guns out the window, helping the cowboys get the bad guys. And Jackson is still toting around the souvenir bullet from the cowboys gun.


We had an awesome time and both boys slept for 2 of the 3 hour drive back to Greenville. Thats hard to beat!

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Pudding Paints

Pudding Paints

Step 1: Put several spoonfuls of vanilla pudding in each cup of a muffin tin. Add food coloring to each.


Step 2: Strip baby down to his diaper and put in high chair. Cover surrounding surfaces.

Step 3: Let baby play, paint, taste, feel and mush the paints. So much fun although a bit messy.



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