Some Things to Remember

Everett

-You are so smart! You amaze me everyday with your ability to retain small details.

-I do believe you will be musically talented like your daddy. You can hear just a few notes of a song and be able to identify it. You love the Beatles. When daddy plays you a song you always ask for the title and then declare it is your favorite one.

-I have been teaching you a few sight words and you are really picking it up! We look for the words you know in books.

-You can put together a 25 piece jigsaw puzzle with little to no help. 

You have recently learned to love the game Candy Land. 

You have completely memorized the book Good Night Moon.

-We have just recently started to have you wear your big boy underwear throughout the night.

-You are playing very nicely (most of the time) with your brother.

-You and your sister have a special bond. Out of the blue the two of you love on each other. You can tell by the look in her eyes that she just adores you.

-You have figured out how to work the remote controls. If one of your videos end, you can easily start up another (even though you haven't asked permission!)

-You love art projects.

-You still tote around little "treasures" (i.e. a Lego block, a puzzle piece, a piece of pretend food, etc) in a small bag or backpack.

-You always seem hungry!

-You are incredibly agile and athletic.

-You are and always will be a great addition to our family!

Hampton

-You are our silly boy and the comic relief in our family.

-You are still very social and everyone is your friend.

-You have quite a stubborn streak and will shriek if something is not going your way.

-With your curly blonde hair and glasses, daddy often refers to you as a cartoon character.

-You play nicely (most of the time) with your brother.

-You are a bit rough in your play with your sister though!

-Your language continues to grow and grow. It is just that articulation that I have to work on!

-You love planes, trains, cars (anything that moves really) and will make the appropriate sound effects that go with each one.

-You love the train table at Barnes and Noble and have thrown plenty of fits about leaving.

-You are still unsure about your physical gross motor abilities. You are very cautious. You want to keep up with Everett, but have a hard time.

-You love to sing Yellow Submarine by the Beatles, but only start off the first part....."We all live in a yellow......."

-You have become a very picky eater at dinner time. You often say "no this" to what is presented and blow raspberries in protest. So, it is no dinner for you. You make up for it at breakfast though!

-You love big.

-You are and always will be a great addition to our family!

Eleanor

-I can't believe you are about to turn one!

-You are a very sweet girl. 

-You make a scrunchy face that allows you to live up to your nickname as "Sassy."

-You are in completely in love with your daddy. You light up when you see him.

-You are crawling and climbing everywhere! Your favorite is climbing stairs.

-You are the least picky eater in the family. You have literally eaten everything we have ever put in front of you-from mushrooms, peppers, olives, tofu......you haven't met a food you don't like.

-You love to snuggle, but just for a short time. You are too busy!

-Because you are the youngest to two boys, most of the toys you play with are boy toys. You don't seem to mind though. 

-Lately you have also wanted to wrestle.

-You have a fuzzy pink bunny you love to sleep with.

-You are slender, but tall! And you have the Williamson big head.

-You make a mmmmm sound when you want a kiss.

-You say the words- mama, dada, and no.

-You are and always will be a great addition to our family!

Peanut #4

-You were a very welcome surprise!

-Mommy was so in shock that I took at least 8 pregnancy tests just to make sure!

-You (just like your sister) have made me have a lot of nausea (well worth it!)

-I got to see you as a little kidney bean when you were just 6 weeks. I even got to see your little heart beating.

-You are due in February! Our first winter baby.

-Your brother Everett thinks you are a girl.

-Your family is very excited about you! We can't wait to meet you.

-You are and always will be a great addition to our family!

WNC Nature Center

My mom and aunt were here the past couple of days and so we decided to take a field trip to the WNC Nature Center. We have never been there before and it was so fun! I guess you could kind of compare it to a zoo, but it was all the animals that are in this region. The boys had a great time.

Everett sliding down the slide. Hampton said he wanted to slide too, but when I got up there with him he quickly changed his mind.

In front of the otter display. 

 

 

 

It was mostly shaded and did require a lot of walking, but both of the boys did so well. Everett was running all around and Hampton was taking his time and looking at everything. And I do mean everything. We kept calling him grandpa!

And then we found a shaded spot and had a picnic lunch of hummus sandwiches, cheese, fruit, and black olives. 

I think eating lunch was Eleanor's favorite part of the adventure.

 

Can you spot Everett!?!

Hampton was red-faced and tired by the end of the morning.

Everett got to pet a turtle! 

And a snake! Hampton said "no!" when I asked him if he wanted to pet the reptiles. I don't blame him. I am always surprised at how Everett shows no fear with these types of things.

We had so much fun! We'll have to return with Eric. A successful field trip with no meltdowns!

And this makes.......

Four!!! I was able to give Eric a very special gift this Father's Day.......


 

Saturday Morning at the Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typical Day

Some of my favorite blog posts I like to look back and read are the ones just documenting a typical day. So here is another one! This is from Wednesday this week.

Everett and I got up early enough to run to Panera Bread and pick up some bagels for breakfast. We could not locate his Crocs so he decided to wear his rain boots. Rain boots and pajamas. He was a sight.
The babies and I then ate warm bagels at the breakfast table and then headed downstairs to get dress and to play.
Around 9 Eleanor went down for her morning nap and the boys watched Max and Ruby while I mopped upstairs and did some laundry.
After that I gave both boys a haircut. Everett loves getting his haircut because he knows he gets a lollipop.

The after shot. 

And Hampton had just a few wisps of hair that I had to cut, but he had to sit in the chair just like Everett.

 

The boys are such active television watchers. Whenever they are allowed to watch a video they usually stand or run about.

After the home haircuts they had a snack of applesauce and home made cheese crackers.

Once Eleanor woke up we went to the library for story time. 

The boys love playing with the scarves.

Hampton kept getting reprimanded by the story time teacher about running around. I tried to keep on top of that but he was all over the place. 

And Eleanor liked crawling around and saying hi to people.

After story time we went outside to the gazebo for some fresh air before we headed home.

 

And I caught the boys splashing in the bird bath. Boys.

When we got home we had lunch- home made sloppy joe sandwiches. Everett and Eleanor gobbled theirs up, but Hampton threw a huge fit over not wanting his. He went down without lunch and as soon as he got up later in the afternoon, the first word he said was "eat!"

Afternoon snack that day was graham crackers with peanut butter and for a special treat a juice box as well. We then played downstairs until Daddy got home. For dinner we had leftover pasta.
The days can be long and I am exhausted usually by 5:00, but they are rich!

Mall Walkers

So the temperature read about a billion degrees again on Saturday. We are already looking forward to Fall temperatures! Since it was Saturday though and the children and I barely get out during the week, we went on an adventure. An air-conditioned adventure. It was off to the mall! We maybe go to the mall a few times a year, so the boys were super excited when we got there. Who knew there was so many things to entertain small children at a mall?

The boys rode the escalator at Dillards about 5 times. Eric was a trooper and was the one who took them each time. They loved it.
 

And then this man at a kiosk was demonstrating remote-controlled helicopters he was selling. This was a big hit with the boys. He kept grazing their heads and they would jump up and down in excitement.

And Sassy true to her nature was just along for the ride!

Then we had a snack from Starbucks. It was too crowded in Starbucks and so we decided to make even more of a spectacle of ourselves and eat picnic style outside of Belk. 

But the boys pure happiness when given those little mini donuts was totally worth it. 

And Eleanor had a wheat bagel.

We did not however indulge them in the candy. They liked admiring it though.

And we did not have any cash or change to let them ride the mall rides, but soon realized it wasn't necessary. They had a ton of fun just pretending. 

 

What a perfectly good way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We ended our adventure with playing with the train set at Barnes and Noble. While we were there I left Eric with all the kids so I could run to the restroom. I then suddenly heard this blood curdling scream. I knew it belonged to Hampton. When I went to assess the situation, Eric said they broke out into a huge fight over a train. We are seeing more and more of this! They love each other big, but they fight big too. Brothers. One small meltdown though? We'll take it and call the trip a success!

Water Play

The weather has been intense lately. It is beautiful, but hot! So how do we cool off in this blistering month of July?

The boys strip down to their birthday suits and play in the pool in the backyard. It was not my intention for them to be naked, but once they saw the pool it was all over.


They had a blast with the water hose.

I love the look on Everett's face.

 

Sheer joy. I love the memory-making that when on that afternoon. I know I have a few good memories tucked away!

Then today we went to the arboretum for lunch. Once again the heat struck however this waterfall offered some relief.

And my baby Hampton kept dipping his little hands into this pond.

Everett was soaking wet by the end of our adventure and his shorts were at his ankles.

My sweet girl,

She has been all about Mama lately, but I don't mind!

 

We have not ventured to the pool (and I'm not so sure if we will) but we are finding some ways to cool off in this hot summer heat!