the simple things

It's the simple things from day to day that make my life so good. Like my time with Joseph in the morning when I hold him as he drinks his sippy cup of milk, one of the few times he'll sit still. I love cuddling and tickling him on the couch as he laughs that cutest laugh in the world. I love looking around the corner into the playroom as the kids are playing together, communicating in a way that only they understand. I love sitting on the porch swing holding my babies. I love our impromptu "group hugs" in the middle of the kitchen. I love when we hold hands and pray as a family. I love singing to Hannah in the rocking chair in her room at night, or looking in as she sits on Joe's lap as he reads and sings to her. And I love the quiet time after the kids are in bed when Joe and I sometimes hold off dinner and can sit at the table together, or have dessert on the couch and catch up...

Mostly, I don't have pictures of these things. Tangible pictures, that is. I have beautiful pictures in my mind that will always only be a thought away.

But I have taken a couple pictures lately of such moments...

In the morning I usually take care of the kids while Joe is working out. Hannah always looks forward to seeing her daddy. I help her find the closest pair of shoes so she can run outside and catch up with him as he does his post-run walk down the street. I love standing outside the front door and watching them as they run/walk back to the house together.

 
The kids like to check the mail. You would think we have some exciting walk to the mailbox. But all we have is a driveway, a driveway with lots of cracks and one that has caused lots of falls. In the afternoons, usually after nap, we get out of the house if only for just a few minutes. We walk down the driveway, stopping at the end to "Look left, look right. No cars are coming. We can go now." Then we get the mail, and head back toward the house. Sometimes checking the mail requires the whole family. I happened to have my phone in my pocket on a recent occasion. I am glad, because this is one of the moments I'm talking about.

The simple things.

one year ago today

Our precious baby boy was baptized.

August 28, 2011 - Sandersville United Methodist Church

What a special day it was.

{Original post: here.}

by the way...

...that picture from the last post was one of my favorites from his 15-months photo shoot. Here are some more.

I think it's safe to say he's got a bit of personality.

And for two minutes we went outside (among the heat, humidity, and bugs) and gave all the effort we could muster for a family picture. This first one captures our family completely. It is now framed and hanging in our breakfast room with all of our other favorite family photos.

raffie

I don't believe you've met Raffie. That's Joseph's giraffe lovey. Hannah was given about ten loveys and she never really took to any of them. Shame too, because some of them were really soft and cute. And I cut the tags off of them so no giving them away. Instead they live in the playroom making appearances from time to time. But not Raffie. He is very loved. Raffie is carried everywhere. We must give him a bath occasionally because of this. And there is no way Joseph is going to sleep without Raffie. There is one thing that doesn't quite make sense to me, though. Oftentimes Joseph drops Raffie behind his crib or throws him off the changing table during a diaper change. I'm not sure why this is...maybe they get in little tiffs. Best friends do that from time to time. But it's a cute thing, their relationship.

Recently they played a game with Mollie...though I'm not sure Mollie understood the game. I'm not sure I understood the game truth be told. But it was entertaining to watch. It went on for a while.

two short trips

While we aren't back in school yet at our house, everyone around us is, and therefore I feel like summer has left us without even saying goodbye. Until the last few days it's been blazing hot outside and the afternoon rainstorms typical this time of year are a reminder that - uh, yes, it is still technically summer. But the weather seems the only thing still holding on to summer. Football hype has started and Halloween costumes and cool-weather clothes fill the dozens of catalogs I get every week. I love the fall, but it's August. So we've still been acting like it's summer around here, if only for just a little bit longer. What we've been up to... {A little out of order here with previous posts, but I'm sure you can forgive me.}

We went to Savannah for about 22 hours to take care of some things. We also had dinner with good friends sans kids (which means we actually got to have a conversation!) and we stayed with Gran Gran and Poppy.

Lunch at Bonna Bella Yacht Club

Hannah and Gran Gran played with Goldfish, throwing a fish to the fish below.

Joseph could neither stand eating the lemon, or leaving it alone. 


Hannah and I took a girls trip to Atlanta. On the way up it looked like this:

A lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and sugar.

 
We met Babycakes and Leah at Scott's. (Yes, where I got that children's pew. I looked at this "time-out bench" first.

Hannah fell asleep driving from one side of the interstate to the other. She was completely out of it for this diaper change. Later, she was wide-awake - and very fascinated by the escalator while shopping at Atlantic Station. Small town girl...

We visited my old Starbucks with Uncle Ben and Aunt Katie. I worked here to pay the bills while in art school.

I went to a baby shower for a girl friend (the one holding the little ADPi shirt up to her belly). There are five preggos in this picture. One of them is not me.

And on the way home, someone crashed before we even got out of Atlanta.

When we got home we showed Daddy and Joseph our goods. Joseph liked the Hungarian dough bowl...

...he just didn't want to be in it.

time out bench

I went to Scott's this past weekend and bought a children's church pew made from a really old church pew. I've had my eye on it for about a year. It happens to be made of solid wood and so my purchase doubles as a very-belated 5th anniversary gift (the wood anniversary). I asked Hannah to try it out for size and, well, it's like she knew its purpose:

The most perfect time-out spot I've ever seen.

Unfortunately when I placed it in its new home, I couldn't get her off of it. Here she's feeding Joseph goldfish.

Luckily, in the past several days as she has sat there numerous times against her will, she decided maybe she didn't like it as much as she thought.

But I do!

reunion

We spent the last week of July in Carolina Beach, NC for my mom's family reunion. This happens every year, although the location changes. But this year it was at the beach, and no complaints here. The weather was great and the drive wasn't too too bad. Lesson learned though, following advice we'd been given we decided to leave at 4 in the morning so that Hannah and Joseph would go back to sleep in the car and a few hours would be under our belts before stopping for breakfast. Did not work. We organized and packed all day Monday getting ready for our Tuesday departure. Loaded up, got the kids from their beds and hit the road. I think we might have gotten half an hour from them at most. But we got there nonetheless and had a good time.

Of course, we know by now that our kids don't exactly sleep well when not at home. We were up every day by 6 am (around 5 a few times). We watched the sunrise from our balcony. And since we've given up the idea of a restful vacation for the next ten years or so, we weren't surprised at how little we slept.



Lots of sand, sun, and swimming. Lots of chasing the littles and applying sunblock. We built castles and destroyed them, ate sand and collected sea shells.

{Swimming with the soon-to-be Aunt Crystal.}

 

I took Hannah down to the lake to play one morning while Joe was doing dissertation work and Joseph napped.

While we were there Joseph started WALKING! Up until this point it was a step here, a couple steps there. One day he decided to stand up and walk across the room. I grabbed the video camera to see if we could get him to do it again. He obliged. Yay for Joseph!

 

{Hannah loves her Uncle Peach (Pete)}

We took the kids to their first carnival. Thinking Hannah might be a little scared, we were planning to stick to the carousel, choo choo train, and the like. She surprised us...a little thrill seeker we have. Those planes and dragons went fast!

Another morning at sunrise we decided to go play on the beach.

{Hannah and Aunt Trudie playing in somebody else's castle.}

{The cutest footprints in the world.}

On Saturday morning we had our own Olympics at the annual "birthday party" celebrating our young'uns. The kids got shirts to wear and competed in a variety of events including a potato sack race and watermelon seed spitting contest (and that wasn't just the kids).

As you might expect, Hannah had her own way of playing the games.

All she needed was a little pep talk and she was all set.

I mean, just look at the determination. Tongue out and all. Wonder where that competitiveness comes from...

{High five Meme!}

 

Second time around she enlisted help from Uncle Will Will. Girl wants to win!

{The used-to-be little ones}

{Water balloon toss!}

Along with a family dinner at the hotel, we round off the reunion with family pictures.

{Newly engaged Will and Crystal}

{Brooks-Buck representation}

{Attending family members. This number can get as high as 100 or more.}

It was great catching up with the family. As the planning responsibilities rotate, my mom has the reins for 2013.