Family Portraits

The slideshow above is from our family portrait shoot several weeks back. These were a surprise for my parent's anniversary a little early. I have worked with Dana for over a year and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She has the patience of a saint and was so tolerant despite the fact that the boys were all over the place. If you live in the Raleigh area, check out her website www.danajophotos.com or click on the link to the right. She also coincidentally did engagement pictures for a friend from high school and they turned out beautiful as well. She definitely is talented!

Let the Games Begin!

I mean that literally! Austin has started back with sports full swing. He is involved in T-ball and flag football. Every Saturday we have games and then have t-ball games at other times during the week as well. Football practice is on Tuesday nights. Caleb and I are getting a lot of time to hang out together although he is more interested in running around or trying to get into the dugout to see Austin. He will yell "Run, Austin, Run!" Sounds more like "Un, Au-ten, Un." Austin does like T-ball better than football but I think that is because he does not like to play defense. We will see how things pan out.

Just to catch everyone up. Austin will be graduating from Pre-K next Friday. He is excited but we still don't know which school he will be attending next year. He has mastered riding his bike without training wheels. We took a walk to the Farmer's Market in town on Saturday morning and he rode the entire way there. He is reading well and really likes reading to Caleb. Other than sports, he is his same old self.

Caleb is 18 months now. He is talking at times and say things like cup, cheese, outside, please and thank you. He is also getting better at saying people's names. He is very active and does not even sit still to watch TV for very long. He is intereseted in anything that his brother is doing. He will hit a baseball, play hockey and golf, and ride his tricycle with his helmet on. He especially enjoys our neighbors and their little girl who he plays with almost daily.

We are having great fun playing outside every day. I am becoming more proficient in my sports skills. I have to keep up with the boys. Summer should be fun but I imagine we will be tired after running around after everybody. By the way, the pictures above are random through the past several months. Carter (my nephew) had his first birthday and there are some pictures included from that event as well. Until next time...

The Dust Has Finally Settled!

Well, it is the beginning of a new year and where have we been? The better question is where have we NOT been! Our holidays were once again full of hustle and bustle but we tried to keep things as simple as possible. We celebrated with family and friends all over the place. We finally took the boys to see Santa but it was different than before. We went to a neighborhood in Apex where a couple decorates and partitions off their garage to be like a living room. Santa comes out and sits with the kids, poses for pictures and just has a generally good time. His wife dresses like an elf and hands out gifts to the kids (Austin got a bookmark and candy cane while Caleb got a cute little stocking with tissues!). Caleb was not a big fan of the guy in red so he went around back and stood behind the chair so that we could get a picture with both of them (and unfortunately me). Christmas Eve we were at home and we decided to pick someone in the rest home to visit. I picked one of my patients who would be there on Christmas Eve. She has dementia and I knew she would probably not remember the next day so I called her daughter to ask if it would be ok for us to go. She was so excited to see the kids. Austin talked with her and we gave her some little gifts that we brought. We only spent about 45 minutes but she was so happy and I think it taught Austin a good lesson. Of course Santa came and the boys got way too much stuff. All in all it was a good and relaxing time.

Shane went to the bowl game in Memphis for New Year's. The boys and I went to Greenville. It sounds like Memphis was a good time, except for the game and we had fun getting in bed well before midnight to get a good night's rest. Shane went on his annual golf trip this weekend and the boys spent time with Nana and Grandpa. That left me all alone. I must admit that it was not so bad!

Austin is doing well in school. He is really learning a lot in Pre-K. He does great with his sight words but is resistant when it comes to math. He is going to sign up for more sports for the Spring and is excited to get involved. He is working on his inside voice and just being a good listener. He has really started to talk back and has become a real pain at times.

Caleb is all over the place. He is running everywhere and wants to be involved in whatever his brother is doing. He is starting to be very mischievous and will do something only to look over with this huge grin on his face. He has been cutting some teeth, ever so slowly. He has started to wake in the middle of the night and has become very hard to get back to sleep. If we let him cry, he will wake up Austin. We are hoping it is just the teeth because he seems fine otherwise. Who knows what is going on in that little head. He has had many tumbles resulting in numerous bruises on the head and scratches here or there. He seems to weather them all without difficulty!

We hope this new year brings more fun to our house as the boys continue to grow. Until next time, stay safe and keep warm!