First Day of School

This morning was the first day of school for Noah and Jude. They were both super excited! They were all smiles on our way to school.





Noah ran right into school and barely said goodbye to us. He was so happy to see a lot of his friends from last school year. Jude was not too thrilled about his new classroom or teacher. He was screaming when I left him, but everyone was all smiles when I picked them up.

Beach Day!

We have been having a blast this week hanging out with Aunt Sarah, Aunt Heidi and Cousin Bodie. Monday we spent the morning at the beach and the pool. The boys had so much fun (the adults did too)!

Family Camp 2010

We spent 4 days at Camp Greenville's family camp earlier this week. It was such a wonderful experience for all of us! Uncle Shawn, Aunt Regina, Jack and Emma met us there and we had so much fun. This was the camp where Dad spent his summers as a child and he was so excited that we all wanted to visit it with him. We got to swim in the lake, canoe, shoot rifles and bow & arrows, play horseshoes, hike, go tubing, roast marshmallows and go to a square dance. We also got to watch the sun rise one morning at the camp's chapel, Pretty Place- and it was amazing! We opted to just do the half week option this year- since Mom had never been to camp before and Jude is only 2- but we are ready for the full week next summer!

Fun with Friends

Here is Noah and a few friends having fun at church on Sunday. They had built a "boat" and were cruising to Disney World.

Nice Long Weekend

We had the chance to do a little relaxing over the long holiday weekend. Dad has been pretty busy recently setting up his new business, but he did take a little time off to hang out over the weekend. We did a little swimming, hanging out with friends and even went out to the beach to visit Noushin.

It was a really great weekend and gave us time to think about how thankful we are to live in such a great place and for the many men and women who have sacrificed so much to protect our freedom!

While Mom & Dad were away...

Grandma let the boys play!



Thanks to Grandma and Papa (and Chester the dog), we got to get away for the weekend. Congratulations to Jennifer and Chuck- it was a beautiful wedding and we were happy to be there to celebrate with you!

Summer Fun

We can't believe summer is already half way over but we've been having lots of fun with friends recently. We met lots of friends at the park this week to have popsicles and play.


Jude and Eli are driving the fire truck!


Jackson and Noah are holding on!

Happy Independence Day!

Jude's first crush...

Jude's girlfriend Margaret came over to play this morning and I caught a few pictures of them together...

Weekend of Fun!

The fun started early on Saturday when Daddy and Noah decided to plant their vegetable garden. They managed to get the zucchini planted before we headed out to our friend Jackson's 3rd birthday party.

All of the kids loved the firetruck!



Everyone went for a ride around the block and then they got to test out the fire hose!



Then we finished off with pizza and cupcakes... all that by 1:00!



After the party, we drove down to Grandma and PaPa's house to visit with them and celebrate mother's day (a little late) and Papa's birthday. The kids had a blast running around outside and Noah learned how to fish! It was a great Saturday!

Big Boy Haircuts

All of the boys got their haircut last weekend, including Jude for the first time. Noah volunteered to go first and even let them use the clippers- it was truly a momentous occasion!

Here is Jude showing off his haircut and his play skills at the park. He now goes up the stairs and down the slide all by himself!





But he still likes to swing more than anything else!

Christmas Vacation

Since Dad took the week off, we decided to take an impromptu family vacation. We headed up to The King and Prince on St Simons Island for a few days of fun.



We made it to the top of the lighthouse.



We also visited Fort Frederica.





We had such a good time and can't wait to go again. Noah keeps asking when we can go back to the hotel. Maybe it will become our new family tradition? I think we would all like that!

the life i've always wanted

My home has become a sacred place. When I come home from work, I have come to anticipate the great, great joy of hearing ...

"DADDY, You home!"

... followed by the blur of a blond haired two year old streaking to crash into my legs and wrap himself around them.

That moment is precious.

Since Noah has started pre-school another thing has started showing up that provides me constant amazement and insight into his development of cognitive skills that are manifested in his weekly crafts projects.

I LOVE HAVING HIS ARTWORK ON MY REFRIGERATOR.


They are so simple, and that is what makes them so beautiful to me. I can loose myself in them, forget the stress of work, and just ground myself in the fact that the most important thing I do every day is to help shape my two little men.

In the above picture, we have our family tree (sans Bells), his owl inspired from reading Owl Babies, and his dog house from last week's Pet Week.

I meant to post this a long time ago, but below is Noah's first project. He did it with Sherry back in May at the Jacksonville Public Library, I hope it at least makes you smile :)



Note: While proofing this post before I published it, I felt like I was bragging and I don't want that to be the perception. I use this blog as a place holder (a pensive if you Harry Potter fans will allow me) for the great things about each day as I know there will be tougher ones ahead. Having posts like this available for me to go back to will someday be invaluable.

Fall is on the way

It has finally started to cool down so we have been spending afternoons at the park and in our backyard. Hopefully the weather will continue to cool down so that we can enjoy the outdoors! Now that Jude can walk, he is happy to chase Noah around the park. He is proving to be more and more like his big brother with his love of the outdoors.

Noah still loves to slide!


Jude doesn't mind crawling in the grass!


They are getting so big, so fast!