Trip to New York (Canada)

Over Memorial Day weekend, we headed to see Eric's family. We actually spent the entire trip up in Canada, at his parent's cottage. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone, and the boys loved playing with their cousins! On that Sunday, their was a big party for his Dad's 60th Birthday. The boys partied it up!

Drake and Lacey went for a ride in the bike trailer.

Such a sweet smile!

Oma was in heaven with everyone there!

Eli was by far the sandiest kid there.
A fun afternoon! Oma hung with the kids, the boys chilled in the grass, and the girls chilled on the porch.
Blurry, but heart be still! I love these boys!!!!!!
Drake really wanted to hold Nora. He also kept taking her food while she was in the exercauser, so we had to watch him closely!


An early morning walk down to the beach was amazing. Perfect temperature, and the water was so calm and pretty to look at. The older kids had a blast running down the dunes, while Eli contently sat and chewed on a sandy stick. (Mommy ruined his fun).




Birthday Boy!
During Denny's party, all the ladies took a walk to the beach. Drake wanted to go, and did until he realized I wasn't coming. Someone had to walk him back:-)

The boys had on precious matching outfits for Memorial Day.

Look! One of the cottage neighbors (Hi Linda!) has a cup from our reception a few years ago.
Drake was SO EXCITED about the wheelbarrow of sand.
Serious Eli
This is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Drake and Gavin were having a ball swinging.

Drake learned to play disc golf. It was serious business!

Lacey and Drake were in a serious conversation.
Lacey slept in a tent, in the closet. She LOVED it!
Played hard, slept hard
All the boys headed for a wagon ride. There are three boys, and by the end of July we'll have three girls!

Santee Trip

Last weekend Eric was out of town, and the boys had gone to my parents for two days. On Friday evening we all met up at my Aunt and Uncle's lake house. And let me just tell you, it was a hit. Drake loved everything about it. It was so much fun to watch him having so much fun. Eli thought it was all okay, as long as I was nearby. He is such a stinker- he is always fine with my family if I'm not around. But as soon as he hears me or see me, he does nothing but whine until he's in my arms. Drake has finally perfected saying "Grandma" and "Grandpa", rather than some variation. And it's super cute!

Enjoy some photos!

What better use for sticky sunscreen hands than to give your kids a mohawk?

HE HAS HAIR!!! It's about darn time. See the mohawk?
Cutest little face ever!
Drake had two obsessions: The boat and the jetski!
So cute!
This is Eli's "please save me from the waves" face.
Poor Drake wasn't quite awake in this picture. He'd just woken up from a nap.
I love this face.
Off for another boat ride.
Eli L.O.V.E.S to eat. In a serious kinda way. He even tries to steal Grandma's snack.
The closest I came to a picture of them together.


Drake was obsessed with the boat, in a major kinda way.
Time for a boat ride!
Drake was co-captain on the boat. He was quite talented at blowing the horn.
This little one loves his Grandma. Unless Mommy is around. Then all bets are off.
Tired boy took a nap, right in a tent in the middle of the living room.
Grandpa taking Drake and Eli back down to the water. The wagon was very handy!
Late Sunday afternoon we were about one of the only families left. The lake was so quiet and calm. We decided to take Drake for a little ride in the tube, and he LOVED It. It was one of those tubes you sit down into, with two spots. Fran went with us!

And someone enjoyed a snack with Grandma while we were off in the tube!"Shovel it in!"
I wish I had a recording of Drake's squeels. He LOVED it!

We are headed back down there over the July 4th weekend, and this time Daddy's coming with us!

A reminder :-)

We have a separate blog for sweet Tessa and our journey to her.

Click here

Summer sprinkler Fun

These temperatures have required some sprinkler time! Eli hates it, Drake loves it. So Eli ends up hanging in the shade with his toys..... I can only imagine next summer when we have all three running around in the sprinkler together!

Fun with friends

Supper club for May was a Ryan and Michelles super cool loft in NoDa. This supper club ended with five of us girls (plus one guy "chaperone") going dancing uptown. Fun times!

Carmen and I went to the beach for a girls get-a-way, and it was heavenly. Absolute relaxation and laziness. I missed my boys, but a few nights away was perfect to recharge my batteries. And in turn, Drake and Eli had some quality time with their Daddy.


Last week was the Kenny Chesney concert with my girls. I don't even really like country music or Kenny, but his concerts sure are fun. And it's become a yearly tradition with my girls. Good times! The pics are from the Hipstamatic app on my iphone.

Eli!

The kids are at their grandparent's, so all of you out there in blog land are finally gonna get some pictures and updates. And just maybe I'll finish blogging about our Disney trip that was 3 months ago:-)

Here is sweet Eli in the last month. So stinkin' cute! This picture is from the carousel at Concord Mills.

He found a way to entertain himself while I cooked dinner. Two entire shelves of the pantry got cleaned off, but dinner was made!

Sweet Eli-bo-beli

We call our littlest little Eli-bo-beli ALL the time. I'm not really sure why, we just do. He has suddenly turned from a baby to a toddler. I cannot believe how fast he is growing up right before our eyes. He is 13 months old now! At his one year old checkup, he was in the 3rd percentile for everything. He's obviously following right in his big brother's footsteps when it comes to be small.

Eli waves, claps, and is chattering away. Drake didn't do those things quite as purposely at that age. However, Eli is just now walking really well, compared to Drake walking by 11 months. It's funny to me how different they are developmentally. Eli's wave is the cutest thing. He moves his fingers so slowly and deliberately, as if to not mess up the wave goodbye. Dr. Dorsey got to see him in action; he waved and said "bye" at his checkup.

Our peds office does 15 and 18 month checkups, so we'll see more of Dr. Dorsey soon. Then we'll have everyone on the YEARLY schedule. I can't wait. I know Tessa will have to go more frequently when we first get home, but hopefully they'll all be on the same schedule within a year. Eli has also become a major Daddy's boy!!! His molars are coming in, so he's been waking up during the night this week. Eric gets up now, since I always did it to breastfeed. After about ten minutes, Eli was still crying, so I got up to check on them. I took him and all was well.....until Eric walked out. Eli LOST IT. Completely. Eric had to come back. My sweet thing loves his Daddy. I'm so glad they have that bond now, since I always get it immediately with breastfeeding.

I just wanted to take a minute and brag about my sweet baby. I sure do love that stinker! I thought it was time he had an update all to himself!