One of our favorite recent 'traditions' is mornings at the beach with friends. Over the last few years, we often frequent the beach on Saturday mornings with the Maggiores and Saunders families - the kids have a blast together and it's one of my favorite things about the summer. We went to the beach Memorial Day and kicked off the summer! 
We've lived here nearly 5 years and I had never been to Busch Gardens until last weekend! Mark had been once before, but we took Anderson & Carter to their very 1st theme park. We joined the Maggiores who are 'regulars' at BG and showed us the ropes. After the Daddies rode the rollercoaster 'Griffon', Jen & I gave it a try -you should have seen us Mommies on that rollercoaster! We got in the single riders line and we got to ride in the FRONT ROW! It was awesome!!!
Anderson & Erin had a blast zipping from ride to ride. I couldn't believe how big they were waiting in lines together - -sometimes without any parents!!
Carter & Anna were super troopers, catching cat naps when possible. Anderson tried to steal a quick nap in the stroller at the very end of the day - he was tuckered out!
Mark & I had a date nite on Friday - what a treat! Aunt Rebekah picked up the boys so Mark & I could head out early. We had dinner at TGIF - our food was pretty good, but the ambiance was pretty bad - I think I'm done with TGIF. We then headed to the movies - I think it's been 3+ years the last time I sat in the theater... We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie - Mark & I were big fans of the first 3 flics, so we were excited to be of the first to see the latest edition.
Here's the Judd review: wait til it comes out on DVD. We were both really disappointed. Some of it was very corny and forced. All in all, it was still entertaining, but I was personally sad that this is how the Harrison Ford Indiana Jones will be remembered..... Anyway, I rarely get the chance to provide a movie review, so thought I would take the opportunity!!!!
I have on my hands 2 Daddy's boys! These boys LOVE LOVE LOVE their Daddy -and for good reason - he is an awesome playmate!! When 5:00 nears, Anderson is headed for the front door every couple of minutes to see if Mark is home yet - of course, Carter trots (or crawls rather) right behind!
Well we almost made it to his 1st birthday, but we gave in & took little Carter to get his very 1st haircut. He did great - a little squirmy on Daddy's lap -but can you blame him? He looks like a little boy now. Another milestone come & gone.... I just love love love my little blonde boy!
No, I haven't started working out (hee hee), but Carter is now officially a stairmaster!!! He has been practicing when mommy allows (under careful watch) - and just yesterday he made it all the way from the bottom to the top! By the way, I don't have a babygate, so my eyes are glued to that little guy when we are downstairs (YIKES!)
Our home has been a little more musical lately - Anderson is forever singing some song. A couple mornings ago I was downstairs getting ready for work and at the bright & early time of 5:45am, I could Anderson singing 'Oh No, you never let go' by Matt Redman. So cute -even in the early early morning! We heard it together on the radio this morning & he told me 'it's my favorite' (at least for today I'm sure) Otherwise, he is humming the Star Wars theme for Darth Vader -dum dum dum da da dum da da dum. I love that this little guy loves to sing -whether 'worship' music or Star Wars music - it's all good to me!
Last weekend we headed to the Botanical Gardens with the Saunders. It was great weather and the kids had a great time in the fountains
These days this is the sight at our house - Carter cruising around anything and everything. He pulls up on anything that will allow him to stand - it's very cute. It won't be long til he takes off!
Last Saturday, just like every Saturday morning, we were leaving our home to head for breakfast - this time we left a few minutes later than usual. For some reason we were a bit delayed - WOW, what a few moments can do. My neighborhood was extremely busy due to a neighborhood yard sale -as we were pulling out there was a bicyclist -we waited for him to pass then got ready to pull out of our driveway when I noted to Mark that I saw the biker on the ground. Instantly Mark got out to help and I stayed in the car with the boys. The bicyclist wasn't wearing a helmet and he had done a head dive when a lady opened her car door at the exact time the man was passing by. Needless to say it was a pretty gruesome sight - a big reminder that we should all wear helmets when on bikes, scooters, you name it. Mark helped the man to the sidewalk as he is moaning and groaning and there is blood everywhere. As some neighbors were calling 911 the injured biker mentions that he is HIV positive. This is where everything changed - Mark panicked as he had the man's blood on him. He only had a small splash on him but Mark hasn't been the same since - we know, without a doubt, that there is NO way he could be infected since he didn't have any open wounds or cuts, but this occurrence has really torn Mark apart. Eventhough he realizes it's not rational to be scared, he has been ridden with anxiety. I've never seen him like this before. We've shared this with many friends and family soliciting your prayers for Mark - that he would have peace and claim victory over Satan's attack. Here it is Thursday and Mark is still realing. It's obvious to me that God has a purpose in the events of last weekend and that He is trying to get Mark's attention. Anyway, I debated blogging about this, but thought it best to inform everyone so they could lift up Mark.
This morning during Carter's nap, Anderson & I were outside playing catch.... for a few minutes anyway... A snippit of our conversation:
Anderson: "Mommy, you aren't very good at this game" sternly
Mommy: smiling, giggling
Anderson: "it really isn't very funny"
Mommy: "sorry, buddy"
Anderson: "I think we should find something else to do"
Well, how about that!!!!!! Apparently my performance playing 'catch' needs improvement!!!!
OK all of you high security blogger friends - Someone may have to loan me their magnifying glass to key in the crazy letters required to let me comment on your blog. I keep entering in the wrong letters and I'd like to think it's a function of the computer application and NOT the blogger (me)! All of this in good fun, but is it just me or the letters are getting harder and harder to detect? (you'll notice that I declined to turn on the word verification!)
I'm so excited that Carter is getting old enough where I can start dressing the boys alike (sometimes). Today was the boys first day dressing alike. Anderson LOVED dressing like his baby brother. Now I just have to buy Mark the same shirt! Sunday morning just may get a bit easier now.... (we'll see about that!)
We ventured to the Norfolk Zoo yesterday with our friends Mike & Niko. Unfortunately Roseann wasn't feeling that great, so she & Tony weren't able to make it. It was a PERFECT day for the zoo - not too hot, but just hot enough! Niko & Anderson had a great time catching up and checking out the animals.
Well it will be a difficult morning tomorrow explaining to Anderson that dear little Nemo won't be joining him at breakfast. Since Nemo's water was quite 'murky', we changed his water tonite and apparently that was not a good idea.... So Mark tells me he is going to put Nemo in the disposal .... UGH -NOOOOOOOO!!! Please please please put him down the potty! Mark asks me "what's the difference"? Yucko, can you imagine the disposal 'taking care' of Nemo?????? Oh, these men sometimes! ; ) We'll miss you little Nemo!
For my benefit, I've decided to start jotting down funny Anderson sayings (& one day Carter sayings). I'm going to find a way to start keeping a tally of these on my blog, but for now - here is the first teaser. I'm not going to include the context, b/c I think they'll be more fun without. Please don't feel obliged to comment if you don't want.....
Anderson: "Mommy, you are getting tooooo heavy!!" 4.7.08
The Bad: So on Saturday we had plans to meet our friends, the Liberatores at Chuck E Cheese to let the boys play together - Anderson & Niko use to play together every day at 'school' but now we've parted ways with that childcare provider and the boys are at different schools now. Any way, we were very excited about our date with them and would be getting in the car pretty much right after naptime. Unfortunately we were unable to make our commitment - Anderson woke up from his nap on the absolute 'wrong' side of the bed. He was so mean and refused to talk to me, demanding Mark (who was out on an errand) - at any rate, given that Chuck E Cheese was all for him, we made the decision to sit this one out - I'm not going to 'reward' him immediately after he was so disrespectful. Oh well, mean mean mom. Please tell me friends, that you've had to do the same thing with your precious little 'angels'? What really stinks is that we really wanted to spend time with them too, oh the sacrifices we have to make as parents!!! Anyway, we stayed in, played puzzles and put the boys to bed a little early keeping in mind the crazy busy Sunday we had planned.
The Good: Sunday was a jammed pack day full of fun. After church we headed home to 'regroup' then headed to the Tides game in the rain, fortunately Kevin scored the NS box, so us ladies got to socialize 'inside' the whole time. From there, we headed to Alexander's 5th bday party. It was raining & yucky outside, but the kids had a blast! Eventhough Anderson hardly spoke at the party, he's been talking lots about the fun party he went to! Most exciting is that Anderson's new pet goldfish "Nemo" is still alive and kickin! (original name, ay?)
Some random photos:
I've always heard that as far as crawling goes - you have your climbers and your non-climbers. I was always amazed at friends' tales of their kids scaling the walls and their furniture. Anderson, obviously, was not classified as a climber -he always stayed on ground level. Carter, on the other hand, looks like he is turning into the little climber - most days I can find him on the bottom shelf on my baker's rack. He's still a crawling machine although his crawl isn't the traditional crawl, its the Judd style commando move.
.jpg)
