a whole bunch of pictures from my phone

First off, I wanted to share these pictures of my boys with their little footsies on the tray of their swings...

Adam - circa 1983

Camp - February 2009

Collins - 8.29.12

Camp has adjusted well to school. He seems to just love it. He asks to stay for lunch bunch (where they stay an extra two hours) every day. I didn't send him yesterday because I was starting to feel guilty for sending him when I had really no reason to. On the way to school yesterday he asked if he was going to stay for lunch bunch again and I told him that he wasn't. Poor buddy started crying and said "but I want to stay for lunch bunch! Go back home and go get my lunch!" If he's going to school five days a week and wants to stay all day long, he must really enjoy it!! I had a teacher stop me in the hall today to tell me that she was one of the lunch bunch teachers on Tuesday and that Camp was one of the sweetest boys she's ever met...talk about making a mama's heart smile!! :) Adam and I both know we have a sweet boy in Camp, but when someone other than our family tells us that, it just makes me so happy. 

With Camp in school, I've been able to spend some one on one time with my littlest buddy...It's been a little bit of an adjustment for me to try and figure out the best way to get the three of us ready in the mornings. I just have to get up extra early and get ready before either boy gets up. Even though I try and give myself plenty of time to get everyone ready, I always feel like we are rushing and we are still 5-10 minutes late to school!! :) I'm sure we'll work our way into a better morning routine soon.

Ooh this boy is sweet!!

these s'mores bars are our new favorite dessert...I've made them three times in the past week! They are just that good!

date night #1 of the week at Bonefish...as the hostess sat us at our table, an overwhelming excitement came over me knowing that I would be sitting at the table alone with my husband, drinking fruity cocktails, eating yummy food, and having no distractions! The car ride home from Bonefish was filled with giddy conversation and we swore to each other that we would make date night happen more often. :) It's sooo good for us to get out and do things just the two of us.

Camp being a "crew" and helping pull weeds. He is so serious when he gets out there and works in the yard. He puts his hand on his hip and shakes his head and talks like a big boy! :) It's so cute. 

Camp found his suspenders and wanted to put them on...he asked me if he could wear them to school and I told him we should probably just wear them at home. :)

When we thought Hurricane Isaac was headed our way, Adam had the crews work on a day they usually have off so he had a day off of work in the middle of the week this week! After we dropped off Camp at school, we went to breakfast and Collins slept through most of our meal. :)

We also headed to Thomasville to drop off some turkey parts Adam wanted to have mounted. We were both wishing that Camp was with us...he would have loved seeing all of the animals! Adam is definitely bringing Camp with him when he picks up his turkey goodies. :)

Date night #2 of the week at my favorite of all restaurants...OSAKA!! Another fabulous date with my wonderful husband. 

Can't believe tomorrow is the last day of August...then it'll be September, my favorite month of all!!! 

first day of school!

 Camp started his first day of three year old preschool today. We've all been ready for this day a long time. The last few weeks of summer have been long and, well, boring. Camp thrives when he has a routine and so do I. I know he will have a great year and I'm so glad the school year is finally upon us!!

First day of school breakfast.

He's looking like such a big boy!

He did great when we dropped him off. He loved the red play dough!

Mama and her biggest boy!

Proud Daddy and Camper...and Collins in the background! We were so happy Daddy met us at school! We were thinking it was so early, but Daddy had already been at work for three hours at this point!! :)

After school we made our obligatory stop at Tasty Pastry for a dinosaur cookie and then we got takeout from Momo's for lunch. Collins's schedule was thrown for a loop and he barely napped this morning. I knew taking both boys out to lunch by myself wasn't going to work, so takeout it was!! 

Camp was supposed to bring a picture of his family to school today. We didn't really have any of the four of us so while we were all semi decent looking last night we snapped a quick pic. I love it...and I love my sweet family!!!!

Here's to a great school year!!

CWG's 4 month stats & pictures

Collins had his 4 month appointment today. He was due to eat shortly after our appointment was supposed to start so I planned on feeding him once we got back in our room. We waited in the waiting room for an insane amount of time with lots of people and because I'm not a graceful nurser, I held out until we could get into a room. Collins ended up falling asleep so I figured if he wasn't screaming, it would be ok to hold off feeding him. I was crazy to think we'd get back into our room in a reasonable amount of time so poor Collins was probably starving. 

I'm assuming his weight is a tad less than it would have been if I would have nursed him on time, but he's 13 lbs, 13 oz (30%...this is shocking to me) 25" long (55%) and head circumference is 41.6 cm (30%) 

He got two shots and one oral vaccine and only cried for a teeny bit after the second shot. I was so worried because Camp cried the most he's ever cried while getting shots at his 4 month appointment. Camp rode around with Adam during this appointment because I couldn't stand to see him get upset again while Collins was getting his shots. 

a happy birthday cake with the tastiest icing I've ever made...2 sticks of butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 TBS whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla. YUM.

Sweet boy cuddling with his daddy...Collins seems to be in good spirits tonight, just extra cuddly!!

camp & collins

Took this video the other night of Camp making Collins giggle. Too sweet.

4 months

Sweet Collins is four months old!!! We've been having issues with our internet or else I would have posted sooner.

• Collins goes to sleep around 8:30 and usually wakes up around 6am. I nurse him and put him right back down and he wakes up around 9. Occasionally he'll wake up and want his paci throughout the night. I can't wait for the day he can put his paci back in by himself! :)

• He's starting to grab at things when we place them in front of him. He loves playing with toys, his favorite being his zebra.

• He's liking the car a whole lot better than he did last month. He rarely cries in the car anymore. If he does, I can give him his paci or his zebra and he's fine.

• He's about as easy going as they come...I really can't believe what a good baby he is! He's always happy, always has a smile on his face. If he ever gets upset it's because it's time to eat or time to take a nap, but I'm usually always on top of his schedule. :)

• He loves his brother and is always happy to see him. Collins gives Camp the sweetest giggles and squeals.

• He's started a squealing scream noise that he does when he's happy. It's so cute! He's also started to open his mouth and give us what it seems to be kisses on our cheeks, but I'm sure it's too early for that. It's so cute though.

• He's in a size 2 diaper, but about to move into a size 3. He's wearing size 6 month clothes. His footie pajamas are size 6 month, but I think he'll be in the 9 month in a few weeks. He's wearing 9 month Polo outfits, but usually everything else is 6 months.

• He's becoming more aware of his surroundings and he knows when someone new enters the room. He can see a lot further now too. He'll sit in his bouncy and I'll be across the room smiling to him and he'll smile back. 

• I gave him a teaspoon of rice cereal the other day and he seemed to like it. I'm ready to start the solid food transition! We'll probably really start at 5 months with one meal a day and work our way up from there.

 A few of the bloopers from this month...

"Let me put Beary right in front of my face so my mom can't see me!"

1 week

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

Camp fed Collins his first taste of rice cereal. :)

A year ago TODAY I found out I was pregnant with Collins. A year ago, I stood in our guest bathroom holding a pregnancy test with two pink lines and repeated out loud "thank you, God" over and over again. What a beautiful blessing our sweet four month old boy is to us!! AND his almost four year old precious big brother!!!

buddies, boys, bbq, & booze

Hadley, Carson, & Reese came over to play the other day...I think all of the kiddies had a great time! When they come over, it's an instant party!

These friends will all be in the same class this year and I'm so excited. Rian and I both agreed that our precious children are ready to get back to school and into a routine!! :) 

When it was time to say goodbye, Camp told Reese he needed to come over and spend the night at our house one night. :)

love these little tootsies!

my sweet baby boy! I can't believe he's going to be 4 months old this week!

I say it all of the time, but Collins is the BEST baby. I just can't get over how easy going and HAPPY he is!!

And he sure is adorable too!! 

I love Collins's hand on Camp's arm...

my cutie boys!!

photography by Camp

*disclaimer* I'd just woken up...can't you tell? :)

We had Carrie Anne and Dave over for a yummy BBQ dinner tonight.

Adam made his famous Boston butt...he hadn't made it in such a long time and I'd forgotten how extremely tasty it is! Oh man...it's sooo good!

He also made his vinegar BBQ sauce and put it in these mini mason jars. He was so proud of it! He wants me to share the recipe so once he tells me how it's done, I'll post it! 

 I made this fruity cocktail and it was a huge hit! It was a version of the raspberry beer cocktail, but since I did my grocery shopping at Target today, I improvised on a few ingredients. I actually think I will make it this way from now on!!

 1 can frozen Minute Maid lemonade concentrate 

 fill the empty can 1/2 with vodka and 1/2 with water

 one bag of frozen raspberries

mix lemonade concentrate, vodka, water, and frozen raspberries in pitcher and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours...right before serving, add 3 beers to the pitcher, mix and pour over a strainer into glass of ice. I think it would be good with frozen strawberries too!