Picture Update

So I know it's been forever since I've posted, but I've decided to let it not reach a year.  So I'm going to start slowly updating on what I can remember over the past year, but for now here's just some pictures of a few things we've been up to and how much the kids have grown.

A few big items:
 - We bought a house!  It has needed a lot of work and cleaning, but we are learning how to do several things and Patrick is becoming a regular handy man.  We completely redid the kitchen when we moved in and he learned how to tile among other things.  And we've slowly been repainting, only a few more rooms to go.  We are taking a break for the summer on house projects and trying to focus on the yard (because it needs a lot of work too).  The yard looks pretty bad compared to the rest of the neighborhood.  But overall we love it.  It fits us perfectly and met all my requirements.  It's a four bedroom, all brick, all one level, on a little over a 1/2 acre lot.

-Baby Girl is due June 20th!  We are getting anxious to meet the new addition to our family.  Alden and Leigh are very excited and seem to understand what is happening especially as I get bigger and bigger.  Still trying to pull things together for her arrival, but counting down the days.  I'm ready to have a lap back and hopefully get a little energy back. 

-Patrick has recently changed job titles and is now an environmental engineer for the same company.  He stays busy, but I think he is enjoying it as he tries to get an understanding of the new roles.  He has been traveling more for training, but it home for the next few months for baby and then will have a few more conferences.  He was also made Young Men's president about 6 months ago and has stayed extra busy with the youth in the ward.  He loves working with them and has a good time.  We just miss seeing him several times a week when he's busy with meetings or other things.  This summer especially is already starting to fill up with camps and other activities, but I think he enjoys it almost as much the boys.

-Alden and Leigh seem to have a limitless amount of energy.  They are good friends and they run and play all day long.  I have no idea how to keep up with them, but they keep me going and laughing all day.  Alden is learning to express his independence as a three year old, which is causing Leigh to reveal her own independence and attitude as a 20 month old.  The only difference is Alden can actually do things for himself and Leigh can't always do what she wants to do.  She's just starting to talk which is a little more helpful, but we are all learning a lot of patience.

 

Watermelon picking

One morning Granddaddy took us out to his watermelon patch and was teaching all of us how to pick a ripe watermelon.  The watermelons were so good and we spent a lot of time eating them over the course of the week.  I don't remember ever eating a watermelon with yellow meat, but it was so good and I think it is now my personal favorite. 

Lucy and Alden

 Bama joined us in our search for ripe watermelons

 Granddaddy was showing them how to tell when it's ripe

 My Granddaddy

 Alden had to take a break to get a cold drink

 Snacking on the walk back home

Blueberry picking

Well it has been a crazy last couple of weeks.  Alden, Leigh, and I headed down to Alabama for our summer trip to Gram and Granddaddy's.  We were there for a little over a week and enjoyed every minute of it.  We went with Mom and had a wonderful time.  We played with Bama (the dog), and Zoe (the cat) and saw lots of other animals, feed the goats, and swam and swam some more.  This year we were joined by Mercedes, Lucy, and Cole.  It was so fun to have constant playmates and we loved showing them one of our favorite places.  Alden and Lucy loved to run together, but they also fought pretty good too.  Surprisingly Cole and Leigh got along great and always wanted to play together and tried to keep up with the others.  I enjoyed hanging out Mercedes and have missed having them so close.  We might have to make getting together with them a more regular thing.  After Alabama, we brought them back to Anderson for about five days and showed them some of our favorite things to do around here.  The next several posts will be from our outings in June.

Before Mercedes and the kids flew in, we went to pick blueberries.  We know a great place near Gram and Granddaddy's house that have amazing blueberries for a really good deal.  I was able to make a few batches of blueberry jam, and freeze a ton as well to use throughout the year.  Stocking up on blueberries is always a must every summer.  We sure enjoy those blueberry cobblers in January!

Leigh

 Alden

 My failed attempts to take a picture with both of my children

First beach trip of the season

Last weekend we were able to go down to Charleston and visit family and go to the beach for the first time this year.  We had so much fun and are thankful that we got to see family and friends.  We went to the beach two days in a row and Alden thought it was great.  We had been reading a book from the library a week before about a little boy who builds a sandcastle and then a dragon comes and lives in it.  All week he had been telling me and everyone else that he talked to that he was going to build a sandcastle for his dragon.  I love watching his imagination grow.  Leigh loved the water.  This was her first time ever, and she is definitely a beach baby.  We mostly just played in the tide pools but they are perfect for young kids.  As the afternoon went on, Alden got more and more confident in his abilities in the water.  We will definitely be going back a few more times this summer.

Memorial Day 2012

This year for Memorial Day we had Grammie, Poppy, and Sawyer come and visit us.  We just played around the house since we haven't seen them in a while.  It was a very fun and relaxing day.  Alden and Leigh got crazy and had a blast with all the attention.

Leigh and Sawyer chilling on the couch.  It looks like Leigh is eating the bag of chips too, but don't worry I'm pretty sure she's not.

Alden is attacking Grammie - the wind up

 and the follow through

Sidewalk Chalk

Alden loves to use the sidewalk chalk out on our little porch.  On this particular afternoon Leigh got into the fun as well.  (Don't mind Alden running around in his underwear.  When he just in underwear he does better at remembering to ask to use the bathroom.  I also do better at remembering and we have fewer accidents.)

Just a Friday night

Last Friday our good friend Josh came over to play with us for the evening.  Alden gets so excited to play with him, it really made our evening to have a friend.  We spent most of the time outside enjoying the perfect weather.  We played ball and ran up and down the hill.  I'm sure everyone slept great that night after all the fun times.