Thursday, June 20, 2013

Climbing Trees

Wednesday, after the boys naps, we took them to meet some friends at the park near our house. We ended up waking the boys from their nap, so they were pretty grumpy when we got there, but our friend and her two daughters were there and two other sweet girls were playing. They all ended up playing together and having a great time.

The boys started climbing a tree while we were there. They've climbed this tree before, but I wanted to get some pictures of it. I can't believe they're old enough to climb trees now! :(

The girls had found a balloon on a stick, so they put it in their "secret" clubhouse under some bushes, where there was a strict "no boys allowed" rule. Evan thought this was hilarious and decided to stop climbing the tree and do his best to get that balloon, so I didn't get as many pictures of him climbing the tree.

Carter had no fear and made me so nervous. he'd just hang on a branch and swing. I didn't get any pictures of that because I was too busy trying to get him to stop trying to give me a heart attack.

You can see Evan peeking into the "girls secret area" They were so cute, I love the little games that kids come up with on their own.

Evan managed to get by the girl who was keeping watch and grabbed the stick and took off laughing.

It was funny to watch the boys being such "boys"--climbing trees, annoying the girls, running around.


The girls had to have a "meeting" to discuss how to protect this stick from Evan. haha. The girls were so sweet to the boys. One of them pushed Evan and Carter on the swing and told me my "babies" were so cute. :) The girls came up with a plan to take the boys to the other side of the park and tell them they were going to "the splash park" and other random places. They'd walk the boys over there and then run back to their hideout. The boys would chase them over and they'd do it all over again. The boys LOVED the attention! They loved the girls holding their hands and walking with them, chasing them, etc.

Evan's outfit came as a shirt/short set that I got on clearance at Kohl's. Evan refused to wear the shorts that came with it. The boys are definitely getting more and more opinionated about what they wear. They went through a phase where they would fuss when we'd change them out of their pjs, but they've never really cared what we put them in. Now, I have to give them options of what to wear. Evan is especially picky. Greg is dealing with this much better than I am. He could care less what they wear. If it were up to him, he'd let them go out in pajamas, but I love picking out their outfits for the day and matching things up and coordinating them. :(

Every time we do something now, I know it's the last time we'll be doing it before we move. I don't think we'll get another chance to go to this park before we leave. I remember taking the boys to this park for the first time before they could even walk. It was a moms club picnic and I brought a blanket and snacks and spread out. The boys kept trying to crawl over and eat the mulch. It's been fun to have places and activities that we've done over the past 3 years, to be able to see how much the boys have changed.

Pen Park and Our Last Week

Saturday after nap, we took the boys to the Discovery Museum. I bought our family membership just before Greg was offered the job last year. I thought we had wasted the money on the year long membership, but I was wrong. I'm so glad we got this membership. It's been a great place to go on a rainy day with the boys.

This has been Evan's favorite thing to do here, take the mail and put it in the mailbox. He could do this all day long.

Carter's favorite part has been these blocks, he can sit over there forever working on those blocks. Greg and I usually split up so the boys can each do what they want while we're here.

Sunday morning, we packed up the boys bikes and went to the park. We thought it'd be fun to let them ride around. Both boys love their bikes but we haven't given them much time to ride them.

Carter does SO good. He understands how to use the pedals and how to steer. He just takes off.

Evan on the other hand, just has the hardest time. He's not very patient, so I think that's some of the problem, but he just cannot get the pedaling and steering. He would just get frustrated and want to get up and push it or run. He started to get a little better at the end of our time at the park.

The boys love finding bugs, playing in dirt, etc.

They are also always together. One would get off the bike to go play, the other one would too.

The boys took turns pushing each other on the bikes.

We brought snacks and the boys sat in the shade and ate.

It was warm out! We all took good naps when we got home.

Both boys started coughing at the beginning of this week. That was their only symptom, and we think it might be due to allergies. Carter started coughing first, it didn't seem to bother him, but he was coughing a lot! So, we gave him a breathing treatment to see if that helped. I think he looks so pitiful when we do them. :(

Monday, Greg had job training in DC and we had our only morning home all week. The boys have had Vacation Bible School on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, so Monday was our only day to sit around in our pjs (or in Evan's case, his diaper) and watch cartoons and get some moving stuff done.

The boys were in such a silly mood on Monday. I was getting so stressed with all the moving stuff we have to do, but they made it impossible to stay stressed out for too long. They were being really cute.


We went to Taco Bell to meet some friends to play. Because of the rain, we've gone there a lot lately. It's so close and it's big and the boys burn off a ton of energy. I'm actually embarrassed when we go in there now because we've been there so much this past week.

The boys were having such a fun time in the bath, I had to get a quick picture of them playing. They make up little games and just have the best time most nights.

Wednesday, while the boys were at VBS, Greg and I met for a quick lunch. I'm going to miss him when the boys and I leave on Saturday, so we thought it'd be nice to have a quick lunch date.

After VBS on Wednesday, a couple of us went to Taco Bell to get the kids lunch and let them play. It was raining, so the kids didn't get a recess, so we thought getting out some energy would ensure that they all took nice naps. I seriously wanted to explain to the person taking my order why we've been there so much lately. But, I didn't. I think that was our last time going, so I don't have to worry about it. Until we get several days of rain in Augusta and I'm at Chick-Fil-A all the time and start to feel just as embarrassed there.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Splash Park

We have been staying busy with our upcoming move to Georgia. The house is a mess, there's boxes of stuff that I'm taking with me when I leave on Saturday, things that Greg needs to take with him when he comes down (10 days later), I've organized some things so the movers would pack them together, and I'm packing suitcases for me and the boys of things we'll need for at least 2 weeks. Plus, we're trying to have play dates and see our friends and let the boys spend time with their friends as much as we can before we leave. We're exhausted! I want to keep my blog updated with moving updates, so I can look back on all of this, but I also have a few posts to do about what we've been up to the past few days.

Saturday, we took the boys to the splash park for the first time this summer. We have a really good splash park here that's free, so we wanted to take advantage of it before we moved. I'm really hoping to take the boys again, but we only have 3 days left. (eek!)

Carter was a little slow getting into the water. It took him a few minutes to warm up to the idea.

Evan, on the other hand, just jumped right in. He's always been like that with the splash park, he just takes off running and gets soaked as soon as we get there, he loves it.

This was our first time going on a weekend, but as you can see from the pictures, it still wasn't crowded.

I'm so glad we got a break from the rain. It was so nice and warm out.

Both boys had such a good time. Evan seems to just really, really light up when we're at the splash park. He just loves it. His favorite thing is for us to spray him with the water hose, so he just has such a ball here.

Greg got in there with them and they loved it.

The boys bathing suits look so huge to me in these pictures. I think they're too tall for 2t, but the 3t's look so long on them.

I didn't bother bringing my good camera, so these pictures aren't the best, but I wanted to get a lot of them playing here.


So happy.


Greg is such a trooper here, he always get right in and plays with the boys. The water was COLD! But, it made them so happy for Greg to be right in there with them.


The boys looked so cute in their pirate towels that Mamaw bought them. Evan went around saying "Argh! I'm a pirate"



Afterwards, we went to Chipotle for lunch. It's one of my favorite places and there's not one in Augusta. :( So, we went for one last Chipotle burrito. They have the cutest little kids meals. Carter gobbled up the quesadilla.

Evan loved the chips.

I really feel like when we move, we aren't going to have any regrets about not doing enough with the boys while we lived here. We've really tried to take advantage of everything Charlottesville has to offer. I'm so glad we got to go to the splash park as a family one last time before we move.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Greenbrier Park and Taco Bell

Friday, we took the boys to a new park that I have been wanting to check out. It was on the way to another one we go to, so we figured if we drove by and it was small, we'd skip it and go to the other one. It's at a school, but it's also open to the public.


The boys were very excited to go to the new park. There was a lot to do there, lots of climbing. There were several benches and picnic tables. The weather was so nice, it was in the 70's and there was a nice breeze, it was the perfect morning to be outside.

There were two other kids there. All the kids immediately became friends and started playing. The younger one, was a boy who was four and his name was Evan too.

I love how kids can just go up to other kids and start playing. The brother and sister that were already there, just came up to Evan and Carter and started talking to them and playing right away. The boys do the same thing. I love that! It makes me so happy to see them playing with other kids.


This girl was so sweet, she really liked Carter.

How cute is this!?



The boys loved the bridge, they kept crossing it.

The boys are happy at any park that has climbing.




I loved this shaded spot that had picnic tables. Greg and I were able to sit there while the boys played some.

Both boys wanted to sit next to daddy.

On the way home from the park, we stopped and Greg and I got a slice of pizza for lunch. This is one of my favorite places in Charlottesville--they have the best pizza. I normally get the tomato, feta, and avocado, but they didn't have any ready. The boys had played so hard at the park, I wanted to get in and out before they fell asleep in the car, so I got a slice with fresh mozzarella and basil. It may be my new favorite. Mmmm... 


After the boys naps, we ran errands and then took them to Taco Bell to play a little. We all took really good naps and we wanted to make sure the boys got some energy out before bedtime. Greg and I are always talking about the things we say that we never, ever thought we'd say, but have to because we're parents. Well, while we were there, Evan decided he didn't want his shorts on and took them off. Carter brought them down and we see Evan in just his diaper. I actually said the words "put your pants back on or we're leaving Taco Bell" never thought I'd have to say that. He for some reason, just didn't want them on, but I put them back on and rolled the waist down and he was happy and left them on the rest of the time we were there. Thank goodness.

Both boys wanted to sit next to daddy. I had the whole side of the booth to myself. :)

The boys stuck together the whole time. I love how close they are. They may fight, but they really are best friends.

We had a nice day as a family. We didn't get a ton done or do anything super exciting, but it was relaxing and nice.