2nd Annual Cousin Fun Week

On Tuesday night, our second annual cousin fun week commenced and we kicked things off the right way with a dinner at Chuy’s!  We quickly discovered two high chairs and 3 kiddos under the age of 5 makes for a pretty chaotic meal…and we didn’t even have any outbursts or fits!  We did, however, have to have extra extra bowls, plates, forks, and napkins!!!  After dinner, Emily and I went to a hair bow party and really racked up!  The 3 kiddos stayed at home with Gramma and had lots of fun playing inside and outside and enjoyed some Charley’s Cowgirl Cookies. Kobey drew a circle with sidewalk chalk and made Gramma run around it 5 times…twice!  Sure wish we could have watched her do that!  Gramma snapped some pictures of the fun she was having with her great nephew and neice and her granddaughter.  Go glad they could enjoy some quality time together!

After breakfast on our second day, we packed up and headed up to the pool!  It was much hotter than we expected, which probably explains why we pretty much had the pool to ourselves for a while.  After a couple of hours of playing and trying out her newly learned skills from swimming lessons, Gramma and I took Charley home for a nap while Emily and the kids stayed a little longer.   We enjoyed a yummy lunch at home, then went to Cheekwood to see the summer exhibit called Tree Houses.  There were 7 different tree house exhibits set up throughout the gardens at Cheekwood.  We had a great time playing on them, and Kobey and Charley especially enjoyed the ones with slides….Laney wasn’t really a fan.  It didn’t take long for all of us to get really hot and sweaty.  After a cooling off trip to the gift shop for some drinks and toys to remember our day, we decided to pack it up and go to Sweet CeCe’s.  We saw 6 out of the 7 tree houses…which is pretty good considering the 1,000 degree temperature!  Needless to say, cousin fun week will not be in July next summer.  On a good note, we may have a cousin fun weekend this fall and enjoy a trip to the zoo since it was way too hot this time!

On our last day we had planned to go to the zoo and tried to come up with some other ideas of things to do indoors, but we ended up having a fabulous breakfast at the Pfunky Griddle to end our fun time together!  We made pancakes in the middle of our table.  Kobey ate his plain, Laney ate hers with blueberries, and Emily, Charley and I enjoyed ours with chocolate chips….definitely a new tradition we will have to add to our list of things to do when we get together! 

I’m so thankful for the amazing relationship that I have with Emily, and that the kids are so close and how you can just tell we all love each other so much!  On another note, Kobey informed me that we would be Super Star Best Buddies forever all the days until we get to heaven where we will continue to be Super Star Best Buddies…pretty sure that one melted my heart!  

2^nd Annual Cousin Fun Week = SUCCESS!!!

Swimming Lessons

A few months ago, I was pushing Charley up at the swings.  Other parents were talking around us and when the topic of swimming lessons came up, my ears perked!  I overheard one dad saying he was taking his little girl to Brendan Sweetman Swimmers, and when the other lady replied, “oh, that’s the good one,” I couldn’t get home fast enough to Google it!  After calling and asking a hundred different questions, I signed Miss Priss up for lessons.  The lessons were from 3-4, Monday through Friday during the second week of July.  Gramma was able to go with me the first three days, and Daddy went with me on the last day!  Even though the teaching method was quite different than how I learned at the Red Cross, I am a firm believer in the process and will be signing Charley up for two weeks next summer!  They basically combine survival techniques with learning how to swim.  By the last day, they threw Charley into the water and she managed to turn over to her back and float...five times!  All the instructors and other mommies cheered along with us...since we were outside of the gate, Miss Priss could hear them better!!!

3 Fun Facts about swimming lessons:

1.  I was so excited for Charley to be able to wear all of her swimsuits, or so I thought, because on the last day I noticed she had 6 instead of 5!!!

2. Charley crossed her ankles every time she floated on her back...just like a little priss!

3. I have no clue how the instructors got her to sit on the side of the pool with the other kids and when she had to wait her turn...they must have secret powers!

Happy 4th of July

Even though there is no question how we celebrate the 4th of July, this year’s fish fry at Granddaddy Charlie’s house was a little different for two reasons: 1. It was the hottest 4th EVER! 2. Diana and Ron Underhill got to come for the first time since they sold Belew’s earlier in the year!  The food was fabulous, like always, and we counted 43 as the grand total of people who were able to attend! 

2nd Annual Cousin’s Picture (Kobey and Laney are precious...Charley is filthy...and precious!!!)

Kobey kept telling us where to sit and who was allowed to be in the picture, so we nicknamed him “Olan” for the day! 

A little pirate action...ARGH!!! 

Workin’ in the Garden

One of Granddaddy Charlie’s favorite things to do is work in his garden, which works out great for us, because we love eating all the yummy vegetables that it produces each year.  I always knew that he and Granny put in lots of hard work...but I don’t think I realized how much work it actually took until this year when I started helping!  Gramma and I helped put cages on 100 tomato plants, we did corn, dug potatoes, picked tomatoes, made and canned tomato juice and salsa.  Craig and Granddad helped too, which was a new experience for Craig.  He may not be the quickest at silking corn or cutting tomatoes, but he is definitely the most particular and gets an “A” for effort!  Needless to say, we are all allowed to eat this year since we earned our keep!  Charley was a big help, too!  She put the cleaned ears of corn in buckets, nibbled on the corn, picked up the dug potatoes, and handed us tomatoes when we needed them.  I doubt we could would have been so productive without her help!  :)  
  

15 Months

We may not be doing monthly photo shoots anymore, but 15 months is a good time to catch up on all the latest changes with Miss Priss.  Since making a list is one of my favorite things, I think it’s only appropriate to sum up these past three months with a list!

Height: 30 ¼ inches (40%)

Weight: 23 lbs 2 oz (80%)

Teeth: 10 (at 15 month check-up)

Words: “Momma”, “Dadda”, “Gramma”, “Granddad”, “Justin”, “Papa”, “da” (dog), “sh’s” (shoes), “ball”, “baby”, “night-night”, “hi”, “hello”, “no-no”, “bye”, “Donald Duck"

Clothing Size: 18 Months

Favorite Foods: biscuit (Chick-fil-a, to be exact), black beans, cheese, Ritz crackers, strawberries, ham, ketchup, chicken strips…anything sweet. 

Drinks: whole milk, water…and all of our fountain drinks whenever she manages to get a hold of a straw!

Sleeping: Bedtime is between 7:00 and 8:00 and she wakes up at completely random times!  She takes between 1-2 naps each day…but always sleeps with her cat!

Favorite TV show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Tricks: runs, rides Whoa! Boy, shakes her fist, points out several body parts, and names all of us in pictures!

Favorite Person: Gramma

Favorite Restaurants: anything from Chuy’s and Olive Garden (I wonder why?)

Buddies: Harper, Keyton, Sam, Parker, Lily, Hadlee, Hunter, Logan, Alec, Kobey and Laney

Favorite Animal: dog (just about every animal is a “da”)

Favorite Toys: purses, bracelets, sunglasses, Cozy Coupe car, Whoa! Boy, books, empty tubes of lipstick, baby dolls, balls…and anything she can use to make a mess!

Here are some iPhone pics taken between 12 and 15 months!