Just do it.

We went swimming on Sunday at a friend's pool and, though he never went under water, Miles had a blast and even jumped off the side of the pool to daddy. So I took advantage of his excitement and signed him up for swim lessons. The first was Wednesday. This is the kid who screams and wails about a hair wash despite having face and ears covered by a towel and careful water pouring. So in the pool we dunked him a couple of times and he screamed his head off. It was not pleasant. At all. But by the end he jumped off the ramp into the water. Then last night he ASKED to take a bath and didn't holler at all when Wayne poured water on his hair. So progress, maybe? We go back Saturday.

It was a busy Wednesday as we also had his 3yr checkup. He's 35 lbs & 39" (about 80% on both). He was a chatterbox, so I think impressed Dr B. It was his first "big boy" visit, complete with blood pressure, vision test and the old pee-in-a-cup routine. That part fascinated him. First, he did more that pee (ahem), then when I finally got the pee and put it in the little door he was full of questions. Where did I put it? Why? Who is going to get it? What are they going to do with it? Whew! We came out of the restroom and he announced, " I poopied!" which drew laughs (and cheers) from all directions.

After a long day, I asked him if he wanted ice cream (yes) then I remembered Raven's trip to the new cupcake place, so offered that alternative. He decided on a pink cupcake and so we were off. They didn't have pink, but had white with sprinkles (the Confetti). They were huge! and yummy! I treated myself to the Tuxedo - dark chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream frosting. Mmmm, mmm.

So now Miles has been telling everyone about going underwater, but not liking it. He even told me last night that he didn't want to go underwater again. But as "Mr. Ed" said, you don't have to want to, you just have to do it. I need to start telling myself that more when it comes to cleaning up the house.

the budding auteur

Miles has joined the ranks of amateur photographer.... one of his gifts was a super-cool kids digital camera from Mimi & PawPaw. He's enjoying capturing his day-to-day life. Check it out!
PS For more "real" photos from the weekend, click on the link at right "More pictures of Miles & Audrey"

Happy Birthday, Miles!

Miles turned 3 today so we celebrated all weekend with family visiting from far and wide. He'd picked the sandcastle cake (below) out of a magazine so we had a beachy party complete with sand(box), wavy sprinklers and a kiddie pool. But he also wanted the iPod cake from the same article, so we made it chocolate to match Wayne's black iPod.
We were so glad to have our family visit, especially newlyweds Uncle Kyle & Aunt Megan. They stayed with us on our lovely air mattress and enjoyed super-early wake-up calls from the birthday kid. We laughed with them as we all went to bed at 9 o'clock Saturday night - 8pm in their home time zone! Why did we turn in so early? The hurricane that hit us was not called Fay, but MilesEvanKateKarleyAbbyAudrey. Whew! Amazing that the mobile kids can be outnumbered 4:1 and still manage to wear out every single adult! We did our annual birthday family shot.... (I love the remote control to my camera!!)
Miles got a Big Wheel and LOVES it. He walked in on Wayne assembling it, shouted "What's THAT!??!?" and proceeded to "help". He's been riding it around our circle in the house, finally learning to not crash into things on purpose.
Here are the kids enjoying our (almost) complete breakfast nook. Many meals were enjoyed here this weekend, I'm so glad we added this! We're still going to paint the tabletop a deeper blue chalkboard paint. That will come, someday! And my stain resistant cushions were thoroughly tested by this crew:
We ended the afternoon with some sprinkler fun!
More pictures of the fun to come...

He's back!!

Miles ended up staying 4 nights with YaYa & B, enjoyed every second and has asked to return repeatedly. But this weekend is his THIRD birthday, so we will be welcoming almost the entire family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - for the weekend festivities. (We'll miss you, Uncle Shay!) We're excited that Uncle Kyle & Aunt Megan will stay with us so we can hang out with Megan a little more. I guess we're lucky that the pros of visiting with us and free lodging outweighed the cons of an air mattress and a likely early wake-up call. Maybe we'll wear Miles out enough that he'll sleep in til 7.

He's still going with the beach-y theme cake he selected a month ago, but he's added another cake to the list. Since I was going to make extra cupcakes anyway I'm going to attempt both theme cakes. I'll just leave it at that and hopefully get a picture to share next week. :)


Audrey & I had some more girl time today when we went to a shower for baby Lizzie and her mom Courtney. Baby Lizzie's already getting so big! I had fun visiting with Raven & Erin, noshing on the yummy treats. We tried to get a picture of the three girls... this is the closest I came. But I love it... look at Audrey grinning at Eileen, who obviously doesn't want some random baby in her mom's lap. And MK is just playing to her mom, "this smile?"

Here's a gorgeous one that Raven took... so much better, that's why she's the pro!

Okay, the sleep deprivation from watching Michael Phelps and the gymnastics last week is setting in and I have no creative thought left. Thank goodness for spellcheck or who knows what you'd have been reading. Off to bed!!

Girl Time

Since Miles's school is closed until Thursday, we took him to spend a couple of nights with YaYa & B. We met them halfway, at Wayne's grandpa Hebert & Lilian's house. Lilian made some delicious fried okra - which Miles wouldn't try - to go with our yummy fried chicken lunch. YaYa & B are brave - they had Miles, Evan & Kate all together last night and through today. I'm sure they're having a blast, just hope they take naps!

So with Miles gone, and Audrey going to bed at 6, Wayne and I got to catch up on our new favorite show, Mad Men on AMC. We made more veggie pizza and turned in early. It's so quiet here!

Audrey slept until 8:30 and I am only slightly embarrassed to admit that I let her be my alarm clock. It was fantastic! I don't think I've slept past 7 in over 3 years, even on a weekend (okay, maybe in Italy). I'm taking this time to put away toys and revel in the fact that they will stay put away, at least until Wednesday evening. I will probably even take the opportunity to make some toys disappear, perhaps to be held for a consignment sale this fall.

Speaking of consignment sales, if you're in Franklin/Nashville you should check out the sale my friend Heather is organizing. It's called Monkey Business and will be in September. Should have lots of great stuff!

But for today Audrey and I are off for lunch with daddy then some shopping - Lowes, not the mall. I always have a DIY project, hope Wayne didn't think it would end when the kitchen was done. Now it's chair recovering and better shelving for our closet. Fun fun!

last one, I promise

I guess I'm twitter-blogging today. Just have a few minutes and something cute to share. Miles helped me make pizza dough tonight! This was another attempt to get him to try new foods. Of course he's asleep now that we're cooking it. But he helped me make the dough, here he is kneading it. Then after it rose, we broke off a piece and played with it. He even ate a bite but I'm not sure he was convinced. Maybe we'll make a raisin and blueberry pizza and he'll try it.

Look what I did during naptime!

I love my new staple gun! I wouldn't say this was the easiest home improvement project yet, but the next chair should be easier. I actually broke a sweat working that staple gun! {But maybe that says more about my seriously poor level of fitness right now.} Anyway, need to scotchguard, and will probably treat the rest of the fabric before upholstering the next one. I also bought a coordinating floral print for throw pillows in the banquette area. No, I'm not making those. I cannot sew at all! Coming soon, I promise.

Pictures & Sound

As promised, a little video from our evening. This was actually last night, shortly before the meltdown.

Cutie Pies

Wayne came home tonight to find me on the sofa with both of these kids in my lap wailing at the top of their lungs. Audrey was over it, it was the end of her day. Miles had just banged his head/ear while trying to open the plantation shutters to watch for Wayne's arrival. I think his crying was made more dramatic by Audrey's waterworks. And I just sat there laughing. Mostly because, well, what good would crying do? but also because Wayne's mom told me of a time when she had Wayne & his sister on her lap and all three of them were crying! I'm actually surprised I haven't had the tandem criers until now.

But most of the day they were absolute sweethearts. We had our playgroup and Miles had a blast running around with his girlfriends. Audrey sat up the whole time (in my lap) watching the action and checking out Noelle, who is 4 months older. Audrey's getting much better at sitting, though needs a prop for sure. Like above, where they were wedged into the sofa together. Don't they look sweet? I swear I have video of them giggling together, just need to get around to posting it.

I've been a mommy-brain blogger... I keep forgetting to share the fun stories. Like last week when I had to take Miles with us to the grocery store. First he did NOT want to go. I tried explaining all the things that we needed to get for him... Blueberry Eggos, OJ, fig newtons, jelly, but he didn't care. I don't know what he thought he'd eat. But finally when I said we were out of milk and couldn't eat Cheerios he said, "Okay, we'll go get one milk." What a stinker. Of course once there he didn't mind picking up everything on the list. I keep trying to entice him to eat new things. The kid won't eat pasta, cheese, or a bread product unless there's PB&J on it. And forget veggies. So this trip I worked on pasta. I showed him all the cool shapes, corkscrews, tubes, stars, letters, ears. Even went so far as the Nemo shaped pasta but he didn't care. So I moved on. At the checkout he picked up some M&Ms..."Ooooooh, M&Ms! I LIKE these!" he says. So I countered, "You try some pasta that I make tonight, you can have the M&Ms." The little stinker put them back so fast, even the checker was laughing. Oh boy, it's always fun!

Finally finished

A mere 7 months after we started, the final piece of the kitchen remodel was completed this week - the back splash! Thankfully this was the only missing piece, so it's not as if we were struggling to eat. As you can see, I've made use of the crock pot this week, making beef stew which Miles used to love. Tonight, however, he chewed the cud forever before eating it. Then he got up from his seat and Chelsea cleaned his plate for him. Why do kids do that? Sit there forever with food in their cheek like a chipmunk? I have fond memories of sitting for hours at a deserted table refusing to swallow some ghastly green vegetable, holding it in my mouth thus prolonging the torture. Why? I'm sure mom tried all the explanations we tried with Miles, but none worked.

Speaking of not working, the no-nap Monday really didn't work! He was very good for his "quiet time," even stayed in reading a book after I told him he could come out. But by the time dinner rolled around he was a mess, throwing a huge fit, even trying to fall asleep on the kitchen floor. That, of course, was NOT allowed! He eventually got over it, ate and went to bed, but that hour or so was awful. Thankfully he had school the next day and they got him back on track.

And I forgot two Audrey things...
.: she loves my watch. It's the one my aunt Kathy gave me for college graduation, but it's still going strong. If she can't get my hair, that's the next best thing.
.: She loves smooches! I love the little smile she gives when you kiss her, smushing in her chubby cheeks. It makes her grin and giggle, made even cuter when she coos through her pacifier.

{I lied when I said the kitchen is finished... we do still lack our table in the eat-in area, but that's really it and that will be done next week. Can't wait to show that!}