Bocce Ball

One night after supper we went out to the beach and played some Bocce ball! I don't like to admit it, but mom and dad killed Pol and I on the field!

Liam was unsure what he thought of this game... so he played with a somebody's old sand castle until he decided to join the fun.



Liam pouting that he doesn't have anything to throw.


Of course grandma took care of that right away...


Then he got his dad to give one over..


and his granddad...


Action shots...





cute grandparents...


cute parents...


oh yeah... remind you of baywatch? haha.

As an extension to the birthday fun we took the kids to enjoy some rides! Liam has never been to such a magical place... boats and cars and giraffes and lions! What more could he dream of!

His first ride: boats!


sign language for "more"....


Then off to the bikes! He wasn't really a fan of these when they started moving.. the bumped up and down and freaked him out a little. But he enjoyed sitting on it.


He loved the carousel... had to ride it twice... once on the Lion and once on the Giraffe!



Josh enjoyed as well!


I taught Anna to stick her tongue out for pictures! Her parents will love me for it!


Anna leading Liam around...


Here I am trying to teach the art of sticking the tongue out... but Anna just wanted to laugh instead... so I look like a goof ball. haha.


Anna and grandma cheesing it up for the camera!


Anna got to ride on a big kid ride!


Liam discovered they had cars... and it was all over. He was in love.







Liam trying to lead grandma back to the cars...


Liam has never really talked about anything in the past... like remembering something we have done. But the whole way home that night he talked about the giraffe and the lion and the rides.

Even now he will still talk about rides and giraffe and lion.
Liam: "Ride? Giraffe? ROARRRRR. Yeah?" (and he will shake his head yes here)

TWO YEARS!

This is an extension of the beach trip... breaking the trip up into segments. To check out putt-putt see my sister's blog.

July 15th did not only mark opening night of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, it was also a celebration of a little life that entered the world 2 years ago. I could go on and on about how I can't believe our little man is two, but at the same time I feel like he's been with us forever. Or I could go on and on about how I feel like every other day he changes drastically and we are just doing our best to keep up (and not ruin him in the process). Or I could tell you about tantrums (mine, not his) or I could tell you about the best sweet wet kisses and hugs in the world (this time his, though mine are pretty good too) or I could just show you pics from his 2nd birthday... and so I shall, because, well I am the mama and that is my right...

For his birthday dinner, we had his favorite.. PIZZA (my fav as well)! We knew if we had pizza there would be no dinner meltdowns. He wouldn't even look up for the picture.. MUST EAT PIZZA!


Liam LOVES anything with wheels... so the theme of the party was Thomas (in case you can't tell from the pics below)

Check out that loot! If you wrap every single thing separately it really looks like a lot! First gift was PJs... he wasn't exactly excited about those.


oooo.. and shake 'n go Lightening!


ooooooo TRAINS!

Not really sure what possessed us to try to get all the kids together for a picture... because you know that right after opening presents first thing a 2 yr old wants to do is pose.

Liam watching Anna touch his trains

Keeping an eye on that train

Josh getting in on the action!

Liam with his presents and birthday cupcakes... by the way... he would not eat them. So I stepped up allowed the cupcakes to take up residence in my belly!

First thing Liam did when he woke up the next morning...

The Beach!

The annual Buckingham, Moore, and Everette beach trip took place last week! It was so great just to relax by the ocean and to be with family. Wait, scratch that.. it was great to be with family, but there was very little relaxing for ole Aunt 'chelle.

Anna.. LOVES ME (I do believe her mom eggs it on so she can do some relaxing herself. haha). Of course... really, what kid doesn't love me... I'm such a natural with the wee ones. Anna and I played and played and played and played some more... mostly with princesses... (oh how grateful I am to have a boy). One night Anna did get mad at me... because I had accidentally left Jasmine in the other condo (later to realize Jasmine had actually been buried in Joshua's diaper bag, so this llama drama could have bee avoided if I just dug a little deeper in the bag.. oops.) No worries, her anger did not last and I was quickly back in good graces. Anna is a true child of the Everette's... she had no fear of the ocean and was quickly riding the waves... this basically meant she sat on a raft way out in the ocean while we held on to her tightly. (before you ask, no life jacket was worn.. i know... i know.. no need for preaching.. we Everette's believe in the old sink or swim method). Even when she would get cold or salt water in her eyes she did not want to go back in. A true beach bum in the making!

My son on the other hand.. hails from his father's line.. a true Midwestern who would not even place his toes in the water. And he would wail as though being tortured if we dared to make him walk on the sand. Luckily, he did enjoy sitting and playing in the sand.. go figure. So he spent most of the week filling buckets with sand. As this post will quickly become too long if I include everything.. I will give an update of Liam's progress with the ocean on his birthday post... and yes, praise the Lord, there was progress.

And the forgotten child.. Joshua, who is 15 mns old and the cutest little dude, has zero fear. I have never seen a child fall over more and not even notice. With the water he would just walk right on out not even caring if a wave knocked him over.... needless to say someone had to watch that little guy at all times.

As for what the adults did.. mom worshipped the sun god, dad made friends with everyone sitting around us, Dawn read her book (and helped peel Anna away from me at times), Anthony juggled Josh, Pol played in the sand with Liam, and I - as if you don't already know, played with Anna and body surfed during her "rest time".

The Moores did leave Tuesday night, so I had Wed and Thursday to relax... in which I took the time to learn how to skim... by the way, there is a reason you only see 12 yr old boys doing this. I was terrible at skimming.. I think I only achieved actual skimming once. Oh.. and I re-read HP6... will save my review on the movie for another post as well.

OH... and let me also point out this is the very first year ever that I DID NOT GET BURNED!!! If you listen closely you can hear my freckles cheering!

Many pictures to come... will break them up over the next few days so as to not overwhelm.

Here is a sneak peek:

A Fourth weekend!

Weekend started out with perfect, no humidity weather.... so a trip to the park was necessary!

bye bye (translation, stop taking pictures mom!)

We met up with friends at a splash pad... completely free. Free + water = a happy Michelle. Not so much for Liam, he stayed as close to the fence as possible and waved bye bye to the water for the first 30 mins.

(Jon, please take special notice of the car)

I am having a heart to heart with Liam here... trying to convince him the water is not the enemy.

He did finally touch the water... but he preferred to play with his car.

As usual, we hit up the zoo... as my mom says "the animals must know you by name.."

The evening of the fourth we were headed to hang out with friends, and Liam was going to Evalia's to hang out with the ladies and Satchel. Of course during his nap he did not sleep a wink, but he did a lot of talking! So as soon as we got in the car he went out like a light! Good thing Evalia's house is a bit of a drive!

Wrapped up the weekend by making whole wheat rolls from scratch! I am a domestic goddess.

The view..

Here is my view from my desk...


and this is what I see when I walk out of my office.

CMT FEST!

I cannot believe I have not posted about the week my parents came to visit! My mother WORE me out... which is probably why I haven't posted... I had to regain my energy... that woman is a country music loving machine! I have lived in Nashville for 10 years now, and ever since I moved my mom and I have wanted to go to CMT festival week (used to be Fan Fair). This year I won an auction for CMT award show tickets, so I called my mom up and told her she had to come and go with me... so she did!

Highlights of the week:
Thursday - Concert at LP field.. we had general admission tickets so we hiked to the very top of the stadium, where we were super dizzy if you look anywhere but at the stage. Then after we see Reba sing 3 songs they stop the show and say a thunderstorm is headed toward nashville, so we all have to go to the first floor. REALLY. so we hike back down, luckily they let everyone leave the stadium, so we sat in the car.. for 3 hours. We fell sound asleep... at one point I woke up and said"OH NO, They turned off the lights!" Mom said, "The stadium is the other way." haha.. I was looking at a gas station. So at midnight I run up to the stadium and they say they are starting the show in 10 mins. I go grab mom, and they let us sit anywhere at this point... over half the people have left. So we ended up with pretty good seats! Show was pretty short, but Brad Paisley still put on a good show for everyone! So all in all it was a success and we got to bed at 3am.

Friday - up at 7:30.. because with Liam there is no sleeping in. Then around lunchtime mom and I head down to watch the concerts on the riverbank... we planned on only being gone for a few hours. Well we end up staying under the last artist sang! Out in the heat, sitting on the banks of the river, people watching, and listening to country music.. good times! To make it a true CMT fest expericence, we bought cowboy hats to keep the sun off us, and so we would fit in with the crowd! That night we had tickets to see the Nashville Sounds... so off we went! By the time we got home we were exhausted! Good full day!


Saturday - I was worn out. But not my mom! She took my dad down to the riverbank to listen to more music!


Sunday through Tuesday ended up being a lot of Liam focused time. Which he LOVED. Can you tell who dressed him? He looks like a mini golfer. haha.






Tuesday night was the big show. Mom and I had a great time!! I need to win more auctions!