Random moments from the last week or so...

Davis is growing up so fast. He's eating oreo's and drinking from a straw. The first I can do without, but the straw thing is just so much more convenient!!!
We had a great time at our friend Olivia's birthday party and decided to book Andrew's there as well.
My grandparents were in Gatlinburg for the week with my great aunts and uncles. So Friday mom and I took the boys to Dollywood again and then had a short visit with the family. We had a great day and of course the boys were beat!

Kicking off Summer!

So what do you do in the summer when it's 90 degrees and humid outside... play in the pool on the deck in the shade of the big rotating umbrella!

It was too hot today to bear the thought of going out front and playing on bikes in the sun, so I had to think of something else to get us outside but yet have some relief from the heat. I decided on setting up the small inflatable pool on the back deck and putting the big rotating umbrella out to try and give us a little shade. Even despite the very frigid water, the plan was a success and seemed to keep everyone happy for several hours.

The boys had a blast jumping in the pool, squirting each other, and then having a picnic outside too. We may have to make this a new part of our summer routine!

Hello Pappy Fairy...

Bye bye pappy!!!! It's official, as of this morning Andrew now has no more pappy's to comfort him at night. He hung them all in a little bag last night over his bed for the pappy fairy to come take to give to a little baby and left some money for him to go buy a toy of his choice with.

I'm sure most of you are thinking that we are absolutely crazy to still have him using a pacifier at night anyways, but there is good reason I promise. We talked to the pediatrician about it and they assured us better to have him sucking on a pacifier than his thumb, which is what happened if we took it away from him. My dad noticed a while back that his teeth were starting to get a little messed up from the pacifier and so we decided to get tough. It helps that Davis has never been very attached to his pacifiers, and we just decided to take his away as well. So a few nights ago we made the big step and then last night we gave them away for good.

It took him a little longer to fall asleep and he ended up sucking on the tail of his stuffed animal monkey to fall asleep, but at least he did so and there was not a tear shed over the whole thing. This morning he woke up grinning from ear to ear and looked up to check his bag for the money the pappy fairy left. So needles to say we will be heading to Toys'R'Us later today!

First Trip to Dollywood of the season!!!!

Yesterday was my first official day of summer vacation and what better way to spend it than at Dollywood!!! We had a lot of fun and had several hours with our friends to ride rides and run around and act silly before the rain started. Here are a few pics of the day and one of the worn out boys soaked on the ride home!!!!

Graduation

We went to Andrew's preschool graduation last night. He in the Preschool class and sang for he kids in the PreK class that will be going on to Kindergarten next year. The whole thing was really cute and Andrew actually danced and sang a little.

The theme was songs across the decades and they were in the 90's singing Blue. The best was the twos class doing YMCA though:)

Davis' 1st Birthday Party!

We decided on a monkey theme first because he isn't really into anything right now, and secondly because the monkey theme just fit him. His nursery is done in monkeys, his clothes all seem to have monkeys on them, and we call him little monkey or some variation of that. So once we decided on the theme, the planning began. There is more and more planning that goes into birthday parties each year it seems, and although a little stressful at the time... totally worth it! Davis had a great time and we have some great memories of his first birthday! Here are few pics of the occasion.

The Decor-The Cakes-The Banana Split Bar-The Birthday Boy-Happy Birthday To You...-Andrew feeding Davis-"This isn't half bad after all"-Opening Presents-Why is everyone else playing with my toys?-Opening more presents after the guests left-The Birthday Boy's First Bite of Pizza-We had a great time with Davis' first birthday party and thanks to all those that came to help us celebrate!!!!

Now if only I can survive his actual birthday with no tears...

Easter Festivities

We had an absolutely wonderful Easter weekend!

Friday we kicked off the weekend with some shopping since I was off work and then had a nice family dinner.

Saturday we spent most of the day at Nana's house hunting Easter eggs and eating a yummy lunch. Nana and Davis got to spend a little extra time together while we took Andrew to go see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. We left there and went to G-dada's & Mimi's house to "play golf" and got our first real golf lesson from G-dada. Later the boys went "swimming" in the hot tub. This was an unexpected event, and so they swam in the buff.Sunday we woke up to find our Easter baskets full of goodies. The boys were equally excited about what was in their basket as well as each others.
We went to a lovely service at FUMC, Oak Ridge and then back to G-dada & Mimi's for our second Easter egg hunt.
We had a nice lunch and then back home for yet another Easter egg hunt. Then we had a lazy day playing with toys, organizing closets and switching out seasonal clothes, and watching the Masters.

It was a great weekend and the boys are already looking forward to next Easter!

A great day...

Today was beautiful!!!! We spent most of the day riding our bikes at various parks. Andrew got to ride his bike while Davis rode on the back of mine at one park. Later we put both boys in the bike trailer and took in a little more of this fresh air and sunshine. We had so much fun that I forgot to take some pictures of the boys riding around. We did manage to get a few pictures of the boys at one of the parks going down the slide. Andrew loved taking care of Davis and helping him slide, and Davis loved going down the slide over and over (even despite the sometimes choke hold)!

So far so good...

Davis had tubes put in his ears on Wed! Although people assured us he would start sleeping through the night immediately, he hasn't quite made it there yet. He has however slept much better than before. He woke up twice the night before last and only once last night (minus waking up with a very nasty diaper at 6:30)! All in all, the tubes have been a great success thus far. He's sleeping better, eating better, no longer shaking his head and pulling on his ear, and his overall disposition is great (all this despite a nasty battle with a stomach bug right now too)!

Here are a few pics of him before surgery. They aren't great and we didn't get any of him snoozing after the surgery, but you'll get the idea.
Thanks to everyone who sent us their well wishes before and after surgery. It was definitely not something I want to go through again... handing your baby over to someone else to put under is NO FUN!!!