This weekend we had the boys went to the grandparents and Brandon headed to Alabama while I enjoyed some girl time to celebrate a baby shower and bachlorette party (not the same person). We had lots of fun at the Big Bang piano bar. Now headed back to school this week for training and for the boys to get some much needed energy out.
Cash doesn't know what team to cheer for so he wears the Ole Miss shirt and Bear Bryant hat. I am working hard with him on the Hotty Toddy chant and hoping to have it ready for the Ole Miss/Alabama game. He had his 18 month doctor's appointment and he measured in at 29 lbs 10 oz, 29 3/4" and 48 1/2 cm head. The doctor talked to me about growth hormones because he is still below the growth curve, but I have opted out of even going further with discussions on it as of now (she said if he starts to plateau then we will have to discuss it more, but she is fine with my decision as she comes from a short family too). My thoughts are we are short, our kids will be short, everyone in our family is short it's hard to get away from it and if there's no other reason for the discussions then his height then we feel he will have the self confidence to succeed in life if the need changes then just his overall height we will discuss it further and go from there. So needless to say he is great and has hit all the marks he is suppose to at 18 months. He's starting to really get his own voice and definitely is not afraid of letting it be heard (usually while we are out at a store). I have had to start time out with him...the problem though is he enjoys it. Here's Parkes and Cash on the time out rug. Parkes was sent there and Cash happily followed and sat down. I might need to come up with a new game plan.
We had another important doctor's appointment this week for Parkes. If you read this then you are family and friends and know we have struggled with the bathroom with Parkes for about a year and a half now. It has definitely been the hardest challenge of parenthood for us so far definitely surpassing 4 and a half months of Cash being colicky and not sleeping (I'm know there will be harder challenges to come and we are so blessed that these are our only problems). We've got some hard and slow work ahead of us to help him, but the doctor did know what his issues were and doesn't want to jump right into invasive measures to scare him more then needs to so hopefully we will get some progress this weekend and get to then start towards fixing the problem after that.
While it is 90 degrees outside this is the response Parkes gives me when I ask him to go get dressed and he comes out wearing this. He went to the grocery in this because somethings aren't worth fighting over and he was going to be the hot one not me.
This past weekend we enjoyed the last big outing of the summer by going "camping" (we did have a cabin with kitchen and bath...nothing fancy, but no tent). We went to the same place we went in February, but there was a lot more to do in the much warmer weather. So the boys enjoyed swimming at the "beach" and digging in the sand.
Here are the boys minus Cash watching the sunset behind the trees. They were eagerly awaiting for the sun to set so they could pull out the marshmallows and start making s'mores.
Parkes was not so thrilled about having to get so close to the fire to roast his marshmallow so I ended up doing his roasting.
Then the next day we headed out to the piers to go fishing.
This is how Cash fished. Parkes was more concerned that Cash was going to fall in the lake then wanting to hold his fishing pole.
Here's all the boys afterwords with no fish to show from the outing, but they still had fun. These five boys are going to get into all kinds of trouble growing up next door to each other. They have become more like brothers this summer spending almost every evening together.
Next we hit the pool and had fun splashing around...it was a tad bit cold for me though.
Then we walked over to the putt putt course where they had a serious game playing with clubs that were way to big and not even putters.
After a quick lunch it was off to the track to ride bikes.
Then a very happening ice cream social
And back for more bike riding where Parkes took his training wheels off, but do to his crazy steering issues the training wheels have gone back on. He is a little too concerned trying to see what everyone else is doing then focus on actually steering the bike so he spent the majority of the time riding down through the grass with his head turned back yelling, "Hap what are you doing?" "How's Sonny riding without traing wheels?". I'm a little concerned about when he turns 16. But we did get a picture that shows him riding and his crazy steering.
We've got a few weeks off until school starts back so we are going to take it easy and hopefully I will be able to utilize nap/quiet times to get a few more projects around the house done.
Climbing on furniture (Cash finally learned if he lifts the cushion he can get up on the chair. Short legs are a blessing to not have toddlers who are climbers)...
Baking biscuits for breakfast...
Showing off our muscles...
And playing on our "new" chalkboard table. I painted the table with chalkboard paint and the chairs with my free glidden paint that came in the mail.
Well since our front porch had been in the weather for awhile it was time to finally stain it this weekend, but being us we decided to take on a few more projects as well. The shutters needed some major help from the upstairs work and porch addition, but we couldn't find what we wanted at a price we were willing to pay so as a solution I had seen these shutters in a magazine and decided to have my wonderfully handy husband build them...he loves me a lot to put up with all the things I come up with. Anyway they turned out beautiful and took no time.
Well then the other side of the house needed a little something and I had always wanted a flower box in front of these windows so while Brandon was at it he put this together for me.
But the trick is I had him put holes so I could put pots in it and make it an easy maintenance flower box. He really loves me.
I was not sitting around twiddling my thumbs though I helped out by staining the deck and spraying the rest of the furniture black. And then Brandon last Thursday called and told me he was bringing me a present home and this is what he brought...
most people might think we are crazy, but I was excited about it. He has plans to turn it into my outdoor chandelier that I've been wanting to hang over our patio table so stay tuned for pictures. Don't know when it will be completed because I know there is welding involved. He also brought me a mantle home from the house they are gutting and redoing in Franklin as a present....we are lucky we found each other.
Here's Cash asking "What's that?" his favorite phrase. He is an exclamation and questions child. The majority of words out of his mouth are "yeah!" "wow!" "what's this?" "ready, set, go!".
Then we had fondue night with the neighbors where the boys enjoyed getting nice and messy.
The night ended with a fireworks show since we forgot to take all the fireworks with us to Brandon's parents on the 4th.
We fit in some other things like junk store shopping where I picked up some kid's chairs for next to nothing and spent lots of time a centennial park riding bikes and feeding the ducks. The big event of the week was a trip up to Holiday World. And I must say I have not been a parent ready to tackle Disney with my kids maybe because they are extremely active and don't sit still and the thought of waiting for longer then 5 mins for anything gives me nightmares...that said Holiday World was very nice. We stayed for 9 hours and when we got in the car we really did not feel exhausted. Here's a few pictures from the day...
We ended the week with Serving Saturday at church. Every few months our church goes out in the community to give back which is one of the things that really drew us to this church when we were looking for a change. It was nice to be a part of it for the sense of community and getting to know others, but at church on Sunday they showed the video and pictures from the day where 450 members went out into the surrounding community and helped with businesses and people's homes and it really gave me a huge sense of pride to be a part of a church that is focused on helping and serving the community and something I really want my boys growing up doing. I took this picture from our pastor's blog here.
After the morning there was a special Kid's Stuff service and then a carnival for the church and neighborhood kids. It started raining, but that didn't stop the boys from having fun. Here though Parkes is pouting because he wanted a different pony then was available. 
And then the boys at the end of the day/week...tired and wet.
Have a great week!!
He might not know it yet and she doesn't seem to sure about the idea, but they already have an arranged marriage. This is Cash's first meeting with Evie when my friend from high school was in town visiting the other weekend.
and Cash watching as he eats his cookie...he goes crazy if he just senses there's a cookie around.
Hope all the Dad's out there had a great Father's Day. We had lots of fun. We woke up early and went to Waffle House (I think Brandon gave into to Parkes breakfast choice), then off to church which we also did nursery for the 11:45 service so did not get out until late and headed straight over to the church picnic which was hot hot hot. Parkes ran around on all the inflatables, but I don't know how he made it because just getting near them made me hot. Brandon and a friend of ours played in the cornhole tournament, but didn't make it past the first round. Then we came home and relaxed on the porched and listened to the music from a band playing down at a neighborhood event and Brandon changed out his brake pads (not real exciting for him for father's day but he said it had to be done). Here's what the boys gave him...
And here's the boys at one of there favorite places in the house. Parkes doesn't leave the art center at school and Cash is becoming to love it too...he can't climb into the chair by himself because of his short little legs so I just here him screaming when he goes over there to let me know he wants up.
