Gymnastics x2

Nate didn't have school yesterday (due to a teacher workday), so he got to tag along during Abby's weekly gymnastics class. And for the first time, Abby did NOT have a lot of fun. I think she was mad I was paying attention to Nate....since gymnastics is our special "Mommy & Me" time together. Oops! Nate a ball though. And though there were a few other 4 yr olds there, a few moms came up to me and asked me how long he'd been taking gymnastics! Hilarious! He really did amaze me on the rings & bars though.


Abby, on the other hand, had more tantrums than I can count. She would lay down on the floor and just pout and pout. And when she realized I was ignoring her, she'd hop up and go onto a new activity. One time I told her "no" and she hit me on the cheek. I promptly put her in timeout as she cried and kicked her legs the whole time, making a scene. She did, however, stay in timeout. So it could have been worse. A mom even came up to me and asked me how I got her to stay in timeout, b/c her 19 month old NEVER would. I said, "I'm just really mean!" :)


Anyways, Abby did crack a smile a few times, especially when she was running on the trampoline or saying "ta da" on the beams.


Both kids LOVED the "group activity" at the end of class...the parachute! Abby has never once gone to the middle of the parachute & gotten pulled around by the parents. But, of course, since Big Brother was there, she was game & all smiles!

Don't mind Michael Jackson here, he had to potty - clearly - but insisted he didn't have to!

Since it was a special day, Daddy met us for lunch at Moe's after gymnastics. Nate ate all of his kids meal, as well as most of Abby's. Hungry hippo!! Nate had so much fun I have a feeling he's going to ask to miss EVERY Friday of school! :)

Trip to TN

This weekend, Nate and I took a special trip together, back to Murfreesboro for a day. We got to see some good friends, and attend a very special boy's 3 year old birthday party!!

We arrived at Hallie's house around 5 pm and the boys were oh.so.excited to see each other!! Grant didn't waste time opening his bday present from us...a Spiderman costume just like Nate's! They were too cute for words:

While the boys played, I caught up with Hallie & got to love on her little one, Cole, who has the cutest chubby cheeks I've ever seen!! We had a yummy dinner complete with ice cream oreo cake, and then it was time for a double bubble bath!

Then the boys got into their matching Spiderman pjs and attempted to settle down before bedtime. (Didn't happen!)

I tell ya, these boys missed each other something fierce!!

The boys got to sleep on an air mattress, complete with Toy Story sheets! I snuggled between them to read a few books (fittingly: "Franklin Has A Sleepover") but it was about another hour before they settled down and stopped talking/fighting/causing trouble! Hallie & I got a kick out of listening to them on the monitor. At one point, we heard Nate say "Grant, you're annoying me!!" (Nate was SUPER tired since he didn't nap during our drive there). Poor G, he was just so excited to see Nate and wanted to chat all night! :)

The boys woke up bright & early at 6 am, and said they were ready for G's party (um, just wait for 4 more hours please!) We had yummy homemade cinnamon rolls and played Spiderman/Peter Parker 100x before finally leaving for G's party. It was at Jumper's Playhouse (like N's was) and the boys were thrilled to see they had changed some of the bouncy castles and slides!!

Both me & Hallie had to show off our "good sides" :)

Love these boys

Time to grub!!

They had the yummiest cupcakes....banana, chocolate, and strawberry with white chocolate!

After the party, we said tearful goodbyes to lots of friends and headed to our old neighborhood for a quick visit with Miss Amy & Mal Mal. Mallory was THRILLED to see Nate and they got busy playing in her room, building forts, etc while I got to catch up with Amy.

We got back to Murfreesboro around 7 pm Saturday night after an AWFUL drive (again, Nate was way over-tired and just does not know how to nap in the car). Greg & Abby were happy to see us, and enjoyed their day bonding at multiple parks and playing outside! It was a great trip and we hope to do it again soon. Thanks H for having us!!

22 Months

Abby is 22 months old today! This past month, she has earned a new nickname: DESTRUCT-O! Wow, she is into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g!! Not surprisingly, she gets into the most trouble in the morning, if we are at home and Nate is at school. I didn’t realize how good he was at keeping tabs on her until he started school everyday! :) Just a FEW of her favorite things to get into these days: Kleenex, toilet paper, ziplock bags, chocolate chips, wipes, napkins, puzzles, crayons, paper cups, and salt & pepper. And I’ve finally figured out a few of her hiding places when she’s getting into trouble. If I can’t find her, I look in one of 3 places:

1) Behind the couch, where she usually has my phone and is pretending to talk to Nanny.
2) Behind the glider in her room, where she has gathered some type of “treasures” from around the house – see above list.
3) In the bathroom upstairs, on the stool, with the faucet turned on and filling up her water cup (& proceeding to dump it everywhere)
Yes, she keeps my mornings interesting.



With that being said, I’ve tried hard to have some special “Mommy/Abby” time each day, to keep her both entertained and out of trouble! We’ve gotten into a pretty good routine lately...going to music classes at the Children’s Museum, playdates with TuscMoms friends, walking with neighbors, playing with kids in the nursery at church while I attend a Mom’s Group, playing at the park, and of course, gymnastics. Gymnastics is still – by far – her favorite activity. She’s quite the athlete! :)


I do have to report that Miss Priss had her first spanking this week. I had NO idea I would need/want to spank her this early on, but she bit the heck out of Nate’s arm one day and really really hurt him. Picture: blood, bruise, etc. I have no idea if he provoked her – I was cooking dinner and they were in the other room – but he says he didn’t. So, spanking #1 is in the books for Abby Reece. (And unfortunately, it didn’t seem to faze her too bad. She just sat in time-out for a few minutes, not crying, and waited till I came to get her. I hope she learned her lesson but I have a feeling she didn’t!)



A few more tidbits from this month:
- Abby LOVES swings. Not baby/bucket swings...no, she has moved onto “big kid” swings and can hold on like a champ. She likes to be pushed as high as Nate!
- Apparently, Abby is not a fan of the “Wiggles” anymore (which is fine by me). First, just the psychedelic puppets on the dvd scared her, but now the 4 Wiggles’ guys do too. She cries every time it’s on tv. So, she’s moved into a full-blown obsession with Elmo.
- Rarely is Abby seen without a dollbaby in her arms. She has about 10 and takes turns pushing them in her stroller, rocking them, reading to them, or snuggling with them. I love that she’s already a little Mommy!






Happy 22 months, sassy girl!! We love you!

Friday Funnies

Nate talked about kites one day at school, which led to a discussion about the beach when I picked him up.
N: Mommy, I want to go back to the beach so I can fly a kite!
Me: Well, it’s pretty far away sweetie.
N: Maybe we can find a beach here?
Me: Ok.
N: It’s gonna be tricky Mommy. You have to look hard.

On the way to the Hands On Museum, Nate saw a teenager walking his dog...
N: Mommy, you know, dogs poop outside and their parents clean it up.
Me: Yep, that’s what parents do. I cleaned up your poop when you were little, and I clean up Abby’s now.
N: That’s gross.
Me: Yes, it is. But one day you will do it for your kids.
N: No I’m not.
Me: Well then who will do it?
N: That’s gonna be you!
Me: I don’t think so. What if I’m too old to change diapers?
N: No!!!! You have to do it forever!

4 Year Check-Up

Today we had Nate's 4 year check-up (a few weeks late). I was nervous about going to a new pediatrician, but we were lucky to be able to use the University Medical Center at UA since Greg is faculty. The only downside was that since it's attached to the Med School, it's a "learning" hospital and the appointments take twice as long, since they're letting a med student do the first round.

On a positive note, Nate answered all the questions as though he was 10 years old. Seriously, this kid amazes me sometimes. What is your favorite color? Do you sleep in your own bed at night? Can you brush your teeth? Do you have any chores? What are you learning at school? What is your favorite food? Do you like to drink milk? What chores do you do? Do you like to draw? Do you wear your seatbelt? Have you ever talked to a stranger? What time do you go to bed? What games do you play with your friends? Seriously, they gave him the 3rd degree and he answered like a champ. For the first time, HE did most of the talking at the appt, instead of me! (When did he get so old!?) The only things that tripped him up were: 1) naming the color of the exam table (white) and 2) drawing the "e" on his name....yes, "e's" are tricky for him. I was super proud of him for answering the 100 questions not once, but twice. Then we had flu shots and he was, again, a champ. Abby was a different story, but we won't get into that! :)

4 year stats:
35 lbs (40th percentile)
40.2 inches (45th percentile)

Overall, the appointment took over 2 hrs, and Nate did a great job entertaining his little sister. Playing on the spinny chair, feeding her goldfish, reading her books, hiding Tweety bird....he is such a great big bro; Abby (and me!) are so lucky!!

Sidenote:
Nate came home from school today with this picture, and I think it's too cute not to share. He thought of it/drew it all by himself!

Let me explain, from left to right...
A garage
Our house
A swimming pool
Him, about to jump in the pool
And a moon above the pool
TOO CUTE!! :)

ROLL TIDE

We officially became members of "T-Town" today...and it's a great feeling! I love how this community takes the words "TEAM SPIRIT" to a whole.new.level.

Today was the first home football game of the season for UA. Even though we didn't have tickets to the game vs. Kent State, we had been told that these fans make tailgating the main event anyways. They weren't kidding!

Greg saw tents being set up Friday afternoon on the quad, and RV's starting the line the streets leading up to & surrounding the stadium. It seriously is quite the spectacle. Some of the set-ups were quite elaborate...surround sound, massive flat screen tv's, fans, catering, and oh yes - I saw one canopy that had a wrought iron chandelier. Not kidding! From what we've heard, these PRIMO spots on the quad go for top-dollar every year, and we can see why!

During an early morning run today on the quad, I got goosebumps...just seeing so many people out & about already, excited for the game, already sitting under their tents, eating, throwing footballs, etc. Parking attendants were out, Alabama jerseys were already on. Oh and did I mention this was at 6:30 am??? (The game started at 11:30 am). Craziness I tell ya! But I really do love it. You could just feel the excitement in the air.

One of the perks of Greg's job is that we get a free parking pass for games (holla!) and get to attend a catered tailgate party at the Business College that starts 3 hrs before every home game. Today's menu was brunch complete with omelets, grits, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, yogurt parfaits, and the kids fave - bacon!

We grubbed and then headed to the quad to see all the action. It is quite a spectacle and these pictures do NOT do it justice!



On the far end of the quad was the Kids Zone...lots of food vendors, games, and about 10 or more bouncy castles!! The kids had a ball despite the heat, and it was hard to tear them away from it after a few hours.







Since we *clearly* need some more UA gear to fit in around here, we headed to the Student Stores on campus to load up. Unfortunately, we didn't really find the sizes we needed, but at least our little cheerleeder had fun.

Before heading home to watch the game, we let the kids run around in the fountains outside the Student Stores. What's more fun that getting wet when it's almost 100 degrees outside at 11 am!?



SIDENOTE: I wanted to give a shout-out to my friend, Kathleen Simmons, for making Abby Reece's cute dress! I got soooo many compliments on it today.

Kathleen is super talented and can make especially cute sports stuff for your kiddos! Check out her Little Hipsters page on Facebook. Love ya Duff!!