Silly Goose

We were headed through Fairhope this past week and decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather. Hampton loves the ducks and geese at the bayfront park, so we thought we'd swing by and see if they were there. There weren't any ducks, but there were lots of Canadian geese lounging around. Hampton was determined to get to those geese....even while they were munching on bread! We thought that was probably a good way to get bitten, so we said "bye" to the geese and diverted Hamp's attention to the beach instead!

trying to wrangle free of Mommy who was straightening his outfit

watching the geese from a distance with Daddy

Friday Photo

What's more fun than watching TV in your ball pit?

King Of The Footrest

Hampton really felt like he'd accomplished something by conquering the footrest over at Bob & Randi's house. He pushed the cushion off, climbed on it, stood up.......and then what? He couldn't figure out how to get down! So, instead he just stomped around on it putting on a show until one of us came and got him down. No wonder he liked it....it was part jungle gym, part mini-stage. And we all know Hampton loves an audience!

Out With The Old....

Sadly, January means it's that time again. Time to pack away all of the clothes that Hampton has outgrown and the memories that go with them. Tanner does not enjoy this chore, but it has to be done! So this past week, we tackled it. Hampton was quite the "helper", especially when he saw his Halloween costume! He loves that thing, and so he promptly pulled the head out and drug it around the house. Eventually, we wrangled it back and quickly packed it away. At least there is one good thing about making room in the closet.......there's plenty of room for new Spring & Summer outfits!

Hampton finding his Halloween costume

Hamp exactly one year ago this week, helping us do the same thing!

Weekend Update

We were able to enjoy the sunshine this weekend and get outside just a bit as we ran and did our to-dos.

Saturday morning, we headed straight to Publix to snap up the cereal deals. It's always so much fun to see how much we can save at Publix....this week we only spent $19 for right at $76 worth of groceries! Anyway, we just happened to run in to Grandi and Granddaddy while we were there, and we made plans to have a yummy pizza lunch later in the day. That way, we could visit while Hamp went outside and played....which he enjoyed thoroughly. Of course, we were so busy having fun that Tanner completely forgot about the kids clothing party she'd been invited to that day.....oops!

Sunday, we were the substitute teachers for 5th and 6th grade Sunday School, and we were very happy with how well it went. It was so funny to see how much quieter they were than the 1st & 2nd graders Tanner teaches on Wednesday night! Afterwards, we headed up to the outlets to swap out some shoes, and of course, pick up Hampton a new pair, too. He is just growing way too fast for our liking! We swung by our house to pick up some play clothes, then grabbed some drive-thru as we went up to Paul's house. He needed a little help on a project, and we thought he'd enjoy a little Hampton break. As always, Hampton had a great time playing with the fun things in the yard and with Grandpa. We were happy that it had warmed up to be a beautiful day. Once we got home, we got to visit with our neighbors, who we hadn't seen in a while. They are so fun, so we love chatting with them.

Of course, we may have saved the best for last......Sunday afternoon, we booked our Howard family vacation to Myrtle Beach! We're really looking forward to seeing everyone and can't wait until May.

playing with one of the awesome "outside toys" at Grandpa's house

Friday Photo

This is what happens within 2 minutes of leaving Grandi & Granddaddy's house.

Do you think he plays hard?

Happiness Is.......

...watching football while sipping milk and cuddling with Grannie and the cat!

Fun With Friends

Last week, we got to get together with several of our friends, which was really fun for both us and Hampton. We had a playdate with one of Hamp's buddies, dinner with another couple who have 2 boys, and then Tanner got to catch up with a friend over lunch. We're really quite the homebodies, so it was great to get out of the house a few days and play!

playing in Conner's indoor playground

hamming it up with Lisa at lunch

Outside Fun

Hampton absolutely loves being outside, and we love to let him get his energy out! Luckily, his Granddaddy is happy to oblige, since they have a large, flat, fenced yard that is full of fun boy things like sawdust piles and wheelbarrows. It finally warmed up enough at the end of the week to let Hampton get out there and play. He wallowed in sawdust, played with buckets, and tried to pull up the flowers.....making the day a complete success in his book!

Weekend Update

This weekend was a lazy one, and it was wonderful! After staying cooped up for a week in 10 inches of snow, Jan decided she needed a getaway and came down for the weekend. Of course, it took her neighbors to get her car down the driveway and out to the main road, but then it was no stopping her! As for us, we spent Saturday morning piddling around the house, then we headed up to Bob and Randi's for lunch and to let Hampton play outside. We came home and made dinner in time for Paul & Jan to get here. Sunday afternoon, we finally got out of our pjs to go to the beach, since Jan wanted to at least get to walk on it before heading back to snow on Monday! At the beach, we got to feed the birds, thanks to some winter guests who shared their bread with Hampton. He had a blast watching them and chasing after them, and we had fun laughing at Jan who stuck her feet in the ice-cold water!

Friday Photo

watching Josie out the window

New Year's Resolutions

So, it's the 2nd week of January. How are your resolutions going? Ours, not so bad! We have so many this year that Tanner has "action points" of how to achieve them all. So far, we've stuck to most of our plans, and had to tweak a few things. For example, it's hard to do all the stuff online when Hampton won't take a nap!

A few of ours include weaning Hampton from his bottle (done!), having a set bedtime for him (going pretty well), cooking more from scratch (Tanner made some killer homemade rolls last week), and staying on top of our emails (not going nearly as well.....). One of our goals is also keeping our other blog updated! The Monogrammed Monkey has been busy, but the blog has been M.I.A. since September. So, we're resurrecting it....or attempting to! Pop on over to check out what's new before this resolution gets pushed to the back burner!

Head over HERE to see what we're up to!

Talk, Talk, Talk

Hampton has really started talking alot recently. A lot. He can say lots of words.....hi, hey, no, go, baby, Thomas (like the train), juice, bye, red, mama, dada, up, down....but his favorites are "two" and "Elmo". The child LOVES Elmo! All he wants to is watch Elmo, play with Elmo, talk to Elmo! It's absolutely adorable. We think he gets a little frustrated, though, when he tells us what he wants and we don't understand him!

Hampton, with his beloved "Eh-mo"

Weekend Update

This weekend was a project-filled weekend! Saturday, Bo helped his dad do some construction projects at their new house, while Tanner worked with her mom on sewing projects. That meant Hampton was in the care of Tanner's dad, who didn't mind at all! We worked, worked, and worked some more, and we accomplished quite a bit! On Sunday, Bo's dad headed down our way to go out to lunch and then come back and play with Hampton. The poor boy just gets no attention from his granddads, does he?

helping Grandpa find the perfect toy

Friday Photo

yum, yum, yum.......chocolate doughnuts!

Christmas Recap

Are you tired of 2 weeks worth of Christmas talk? Well, don't worry, we're done! Christmas 2010 was a great one, filled with family, friends, and traditions both new and old. There were some hiccups, certainly, but it was a really fun holiday that we'll not soon forget. (How could we with all the pictures we took, right?). Our favorite gift that we received this year was a CD from Tanner's cousin Ben. He interviewed Tanner's grandfather about his life and gave it to everyone. What a wonderful thing to be able to have forever! We haven't had the chance to listen yet, but rest assured, after we listen, it is going in our safe with our other valuables. Which leads us to the worst gift. Well, we won't call it bad.....just strange. Bo gave Tanner this magnet. It does have a story behind it, but Tanner was surprised when she opened it to say the least! Hahaha! It is now proudly on our fridge.

Christmas in TN

We made a very quick trip to TN over the weekend, and we had a great time visiting with family. We were able to sneak out for dinner by ourselves on our anniversary....no where super-fancy, but it was the place we went on our first date! On Saturday, we headed to Tanner's Grandparents' house and visited with them for awhile. Sadly, Tanner's Grandmother was under the weather. Luckily, Tanner's dad stepped in to take over cooking duties, so lunch was saved! Hooray! The aunts and uncles came to visit, too, so Hampton had WAY too much fun playing with them and the goodies they brought him. We got home mid-afternoon on Sunday, exhausted but happy that we did get to see family over the holidays...it was just New Years instead of Christmas!

two cute boys

checking out Handy Manny's dancing toolbox

Hampton had the uncles going......or was it the other way around? We're not sure!

Playing in the mud. He had so much fun he had to have a bath before we left!

Christmas After-Party

The night after Christmas, we decided to have a very casual get-together for some of our friends. We just made a huge pot of chili and a few desserts and called them to come on over! We had a really good time....the only bad part was when baby Will got sick and had to go home early! We really enjoyed entertaining this way....very last-minute, which meant no time to stress about the house being clean or everything being super-cute. It was just 4 little boys having fun (and a little fun for the parents and grandparents, too!).

Conner trying to decide if he really saw Parker hiding in there somewhere

Parker having a blast in the ball pit

Christmas Day, part 2

After we had our little family Christmas, we met up with Paul, Jan, Bob, and Randi for brunch at IHOP. Now, we know that is a little unconventional, but since Bob couldn't really touch Hampton because of his shingles, we thought this was a great way to still celebrate with them without Bob feeling too bad (really, worse than he already was) about not being able to pick Hampton up. So, we went for breakfast and were very happy we did! The food was really good, our waitress was awesome, and we just really had a great time. Afterward, P & J came back to our house to hang out and exchange gifts. It was really low-key and wonderful!

Grandi & Granddaddy at brunch

Bo having to get food off of Hamp's head while he has a blast!

opening a fun Thomas the train toy from Grandpa & Grannie

the grandparents opening their goodies

playing with our beloved bear in the ball pit