WOW

I can't beleive it's been over a month since my last post! There is a good reason though. The summer has been SUPER busy, and trying to keep 2 kids busy, especially one who is 2 years old is quite a task!

We went to the beach for the week of the 4th and had an awesome vacation. Just spent most of the time relaxing and cooking in at the house. I HATE trying to deal with all of the traffic and waits for dinner, so it worked out well to plan our meals ahead and cook in. Joyce, Kerry, and her kids joined us, so it was a fantastic week! We laid out on the beach all day. Brennan was not a fan of the water, so he stayed by our side the entire time. It was nice not to have to run after him 24/7! Some friends of ours were staying in Ocean Lakes also, so we hung out with them nearly every day and night. They have children that are very close to Brennan and Ashlyn's age, so there were plenty of kids for them to play with. After the beach we would normally head to the pool for about an hour to let the kids play in the splash zone. This was their fave! If Ashlyn would have had it her way we would have gone to the pool every day and skipped the ocean. What is it with kids wanting to go the pool at the beach when they have a pool to play in anytime at home?

Updates on the kids:
Ashlyn has started this whiney stage again if she doesn't get her way. So annoying! She's fine as long as every thing goes as Ashlyn has planned, but if we vary off the course be prepared for a huge breakdown! She has had strep throat in the past year so the doctor referred us to an ENT. We met with him on Friday, and yes she is going to have those bad boys removed. She is scheduled to go in August 5th for the surgery. If everyone could please say a prayer for here it would be greatly appreciated! I know that it's a routine surgery, but this very worrisome mommy is going to be a basket case that day! Hopefully she'll be feeling better by campmeeting........at least the second week of it!

Brennan..............where do I start with him. Ashlyn completely skipped the terrible two's and went straight to the three's, but Brennan has already started. He is such a handful. You tell him no and he does it again. You put him in time out, he gets out and does it again. You pop him, he gets right back up and does it again. You get my drift. =) He can be the sweetest, loving child, but he can be a little hellion too! He weighs 27 lbs and is 36 inches tall. A little low on weight, but he makes up for it in heigth. As you can see from the picture above he is into EVERYTHING! This was baby powder that he found and decided to dump the whole bottle on our coffe table and make artwork out of it. I walked in the den and nearly freaked out, but I couldn't help but laugh! That's the best thing to do in these type of situations.

Above are some random pictures from the beach and other various pictures.

Time For a

Beach

Dance Recital

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Wow! I can't beleive that it's been a month and a half since I've posted! We have been crazy busy these days! School is almost over. I can't believe that my little girl is almost a first grader! It's funny that at the beginning of the school year she cried every morning for nearly 2 months straight and now she's crying because school is coming to an end. She's made so many friends. I've been able to meet some of the parents and exchange phone numbers so that we can get the girls together over the summer. I'm just hoping and praying that she has some of her close friends in her classroom next year. Lord knows I can't handle another 2 months of crying every morning!
Brennan is such an amazing little boy! He has the cutest little personality! He is a little jabber box. Talks non-stop. He loves to dance, and his favorite song right now is Huntin' the World by Colt Ford. I've got to get a video of him shrugging his shoulders and bouncing to the beat. Funniest thing I've ever seen! He loves his sissy and wants to do everything that she does. Of course this just annoys Ashlyn. She really is a great big sister though. She talks to him with this motherly voice. It's the sweetest thing! Brennan is starting to sit on the potty. He hasn't actually used it yet, but at least we're headed in the right direction. He loves giving kisses and hugs, and he's the first to make sure no one is left out. He would hug everyone in sight if I would let him. =)
We went to the beach over Memorial weekend. The kids had a great time. Ida, Bradley, and Brooklan met us down there Saturday afternoon. It was nice spending some time at the beach with them.
This past weekend we went out on Lake Norman. It was Brennan's first time on a boad. He loved it! He's definitely all boy...........love all things that have to do with balls, cars, trains, and boats. Ashlyn went tubing for the first time. She did a great job. I took a turn tubing, and man am I sore this week. I forgot how much work it is to try to hold on while being pulled through the main channel!
Yesterday Ashlyn, Brennan, and I all went in for a hair cut. I was just planning on having a few inches cut off of Ashlyn's because it has become unmanagable, but we ended up cutting of 10 inches and sending her hair to locks of love. It's still just barely long enough to pull up in a pony tail. I was worried that she would freak out after we cut that much off, but she loved it! And so do I! Now bath time will only take 10 minutes instead of 30 because of all the tangles every evening.
Pictures will be up shortly.

Cody Happenings

I apologize for the time lapse between posts! It has been crazy busy around our house! Here's a quick recap with some pictures to follow.

Easter was a pretty eventful weekend. Ashlyn woke up Easter morning with a stomach bug, so we had to skip church and just hang out at home all day. The kids were up early to see what the Easter Bunny had left them. By Sunday afternoon she was feeling a little better so we decided to do an Easter Egg hunt in the backyard. Then it was off for some icecream for a funfilled afternoon.

Mine and Brennan's birthday was jam-packed. First I went with Ashlyn on her fieldtrip to the Baa Moo Farms in Olin, which is just north of Statesville. If you've never been I highly suggest booking a trip there! Ashlyn got to experience many firsts.............milking her first cow, bottle feeding baby calves, going on a tractor ride, seeing all of the amazing farm animals first hand, and much more. It was by far the best field trip of the year! After the farm we headed over to Brennan's preschool for a class birthday party. He thought he was King of the class! Then we went to Kobe's for our birthday dinner. My choice of course since I absolutely LOVE that place! Once we got home it was the kids bedtime, but since it was Mama and Brennan's birthday we all piled in the bed for a little play time. Brennan loves to tickle, and since we were having a tickle fest he was in heaven! He climbed on my back, and I thought he was going to tickle me, well to my SURPRISE he put his face on my back and bit me. I'm not just talking a little bite.........he bit a good chunk out of my back! I screamed so loud that it scared him and then he started crying hysterically. That was probably the worst pain that I've felt in a very long time.

That weekend we decided to have a girls weekend at the beach. NO BOYS ALLOWED! It was my mom, Mammaw Sherrill, Annette, Christi, Ashlyn, and me. We had a great weekend! Ashlyn was a hoot! She kept telling us that we all needed a beach boyfriend. Her main mission was for Annette and Mammaw. She told Mammaw that she needed an old boyfriend and Annette needed a fat one (so not true!). You know how kids are though. Then she told Annette that she had "wild" hair and she needed to do something with that hair before she could find her a boyfriend. Saturday we laid out on the beach all day and then went to Broadway so that Ashlyn could enjoy the rides since it was our last night there. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back!

This past weekend was Abernethy CDC's 30 year anniversary. They had all kinds of food, games, and rides for the kids to enjoy. It's hard to believe that it's been up and running for 30 years! I once attended there. That tells you how long they've been open! I ran into one of my teachers there from when I attened............Mrs. Linda! I just LOVED her! I talked to her for a while and looked at some old pictures of our class when I was a little girl. It brought back some great memories.

That afternoon we FINALLY had Brennan's birthday party. It had been cancelled a couple of times due to sicknesses. We had good food, good times, and alot of laughter with good friends and family! He has played and played and played with all of his new toys. He was one tuckered out boy by the end of the night.

Skateland

Catching up

Wow! Sorry it has been so long since my last post! I've been meaning to get on here the past couple of weeks, but I just haven't been able to find the time. Life is good. I'll start by telling you what the kiddos have been up to lately.
Ashlyn is loving school. We've had birthday parties and some sort of adventure almost every weekend. She has grown up so much since starting school back in August. She is reading on her own, simple books that is, and is able to count to 100. Now that it's warming up, she loves to play outside nearly every afternoon if the weather permits. Her favorite activities are coloring and doing anything crafty. She loves to dance and do flips from one room to the next. Her favorite TV show is Spongebob. She has a fit if she isn't able to watch at least one show before bed. (insert eye roll) She is my quiet, but very sneaky child.
Brennan is my VERY LOUD child! He has no idea what quiet means. ha! He absolutely LOVES music, and would dance to anything! His favorite song is Imma Be by the black eyed peas. I am so tired of hearing that song because if he hears it once you have to play it over and over again unless you are prepared for a major meltdown! =) He loves any and every kind of ball. We have hundreds of nice expensive toys, but he doesn't even know that half of them exist. All he cares about are balls.................basketballs, baseballs, footballs, soccer balls, bouncy balls, any kind of ball and the kid is happy as can be. His favorite activities are dancing, balls, EATING, and anything that Ashlyn is doing. He wants to be just like his big sister.................this annoys the you know what out of Ashlyn!
The pictures above were taken at Skateland. Oh the memories! Startown had skate night this past Friday night. Ashlyn got the hang of it pretty quick. Brennan on the other hand did not like the fact that he could not control his feet from rolling instead of walking. He didn't want anything to do with those skates. ha! I figured that I would be able to skate with the best of them....................I mean we used to go there all of the time when I was growing up. Boy was I wrong! I was TERRIBLE! It took me a few rounds until I felt ready enough to be Ashlyn's crutch. I mean................. I didn't want to be the one making her fall! LOL!