Slide, Slide, Slippity Slide

This past weekend, we finally got to test out Hampton's blowup water slide. At first, he wasn't exactly sure if it was fun or not, but after about the 3rd slide, he was in love! He would jump out, run around, and try to climb up the slide himself...not wanting to wait for a little help! We are so excited that he likes it so much, and we're so grateful for such a fun gift. Thanks so much, Kikka!

Little Drummer Boy

If we haven't told you this before, our child is OBSESSED with music of any kind. He "sings" along to his videos and songs in the car. He bangs on everything to see what it sounds like (especially our stainless garbage can....what a racket). So, when we went to Birmingham for nephew Henry's baptism, Hampton fell in love with Jack's drum set. LOVE. Of course, being the sucker parents that we are, we discuss trying to find one on the way home.

Well, it just so happened that it went on a big sale the very next week at Target! So, we scooped one up, and Hampton has been banging away ever since. Not only is it a drum, it also came with a tambourine, a clapper thingy, a bell-covered ant, and 2 shaky eggs. So, now Hampton is his own one-man-band! He has tried using several different things to bang on the drum, and he uses the drumsticks to bang on everything in the house (we're working on avoiding glass and people). There is one thing we didn't foresee, though......that Hamp would try to stand on top of it. That's one use we don't think the manufacturer intended!

parum-pa-pum-pum

Who knew that bowling pins would make excellent drum sticks?

Father's Day 2011

We know we're a little behind the times, but we did have a great Father's Day! Sunday, we headed to the beach early, and then took a leisurely drive down the coast. Bo had been craving a steak, so we decided to hit up Longhorn as soon as it opened to beat the crowd. Hampton was wonderful during lunch, which was great since a toddler's attitude can be unpredictable to say the least! After a little playtime and a nap, we got to have dinner with both Paul & Bob. We're not very fussy around here, so it went down as a very fun day in our book. We hope all the other Dads had a great day, too!

Daddy and Baby (as Hampton calls himself) waiting in line outside Longhorn.

Vacation Bible School

Last week was Vacation Bible School at church, and since Tanner is on the children's committee, she was busy working at it. The theme was "Kamp Kaboom! Taking Care of God's Creation", which was a really neat theme that several of the church members just made up based on last year's oil spill.

Each day the children had a speaker about different ways to take care of the earth. One day it was a national speaker from the Oceanic Conservancy, and one day it was the local head of our recycling program. The best part, though, was on Wednesday when the director of the zoo visited. She was great, but the kids really loved the monkey, 2 lemurs, and baby porcupine that she brought with her! The nursery workers were kind enough to bring Hampton out to see the animals, so Hamp and one of his buddies got to pet the animals both before and after the "show".

The craft project for the week was a donation of big spindles for the lion and tiger exhibits at the zoo. Apparently, the animals love these things and used to have them to play with, but when Hurricane Ivan hit back in 2004, they were lost. So the church had them donated, and the children spent the week painting them. A couple of them needed a bit of repair work, so Tanner roped her dad into helping fix them. Of course, while assisting Bob with the project, she managed to bust her lip open with a socket wrench! Just more proof that she's not too handy when it comes to manual labor! The spindles did get fixed, though, and they go on display at the zoo today. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a picture of them in use to share later.

While Tanner was busy with all that, Hampton was LOVING "camp", as he called it. He got to sing and dance with the big kids, as well as soak up lots of attention from Ms. Amy and Ms. Pam, who just love him to pieces. They even said at the end of the week that they would clone him except for it's against their beliefs! We think they might change their minds if they got to see one of his tantrums.....anyway, it was a wonderful week, and we're already busy planning next year's event!

Hampton having fun getting filthy at the VBS picnic

New Rug

With a new baby on the way, we decided it was finally time to get a rug for the living room. We want the baby to be able to play on the floor instead of on cold tile, and we also want Hampton to be able to enjoy watching tv in the living room without standing the whole time. So a rug it was! We were lucky to find a great rug on our first shopping trip out, and Hampton LOVES it. As you can see, he didn't even let us get it unrolled all the way before he started running around on it. Since then, he's played in the living room more than he ever has, including sitting and watching his beloved Yo Gabba Gabba. Yes, there are more toys to pick up, but at least now they don't all roll underneath the couch!

Friday Photo and Week In Review

This week we.....

got both Bo's car and our old computer back, which are now both good as new....or at least, as good as they were before they broke!

went on a work field trip with Bo that took us into the deep backwoods

had our final meeting before VBS next week. We're very excited about the fun things planned, but a little exhausted just thinking about it!

went for our 14-week checkup for the baby. We didn't get to see, but the Doctor made a gender prediction. We can't wait until next month to see if she was right!

moved furniture around in our living room, some of which we ended up moving right back where it started.

visited the Grandparents' house, where Hampton learned all about cake. His reaction was "yummy!" and now he won't quit asking for it!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We planted a garden again this year, which has turned out pretty well considering the heat! The squash didn't make it, but since everyone else seemed to have the same problem, we weren't too upset. We have enjoyed several tomatoes and red peppers, and we're waiting on zucchini and eggplant to arrive. Hopefully we'll get some rain, though, or else we're going to have to sell our tomatoes for $15 each to recoup some of our watering expenses!

Hampton running around the yard with a freshly picked pepper, which he lovingly called an apple.

Birmingham Weekend

This weekend, we headed to Birmingham for our nephew Henry's christening. We were excited that Hampton was going to get to play with Jack, and we were looking forward to meeting baby Henry for the first time (not that we hadn't planned on doing it earlier, but things kept getting in the way of our plans!). We had lots of fun watching the boys play and catching up with John & Amy. We also loved the rain they got, especially since we're in a huge drought here. It's so bad that Bo even suggested that we catch some of it in a jar and take it home!

Jack & Hampton taking a play break to watch a little tv

Thomas the Train

Back in April, we had the fun experience of going to the Day Out With Thomas event at a local railroad. This annual event travels across the country to a few select railways, and we are lucky enough to be near one of the two places in Alabama that host it. Unfortunately, Tanner's brother and his family weren't able to make it at the last minute, so since we already had the tickets, we invited some friends to tag along. We had a great time riding the full-sized Thomas, seeing Sir Topham Hatt, playing with the MegaBloks and train tables, and even taking a break at the playground. We really think Hampton will like it even more next year...there was so much to do that we didn't get to it all!

What A Week!

Ok, so you know how bad things come in threes? Well, we've definitely had our share of kooky stuff this week!

The first of last week, Bo's go-to watch died. He bought a new one Tuesday that made it all the way to Friday before breaking. Then, the GPS in Bo's car died, of course, that mattered way less than when his car died on Friday! Add in the fact that our computer that holds all of our pictures & important documents kicked the bucket Wednesday, and it's been a week to remember (or not, depending how you look at it).

We're in the process of salvaging our documents and getting the car worked on. However, who knows how soon we'll be able to get our act together! Hopefully, we'll get access to some new photos to share with you soon, or you'll be stuck looking at whatever we can steal from our Facebook page, like the photo below!

Making Faces

While we were at Paul & Jan's on Sunday, Hampton discovered a new play toy. The sliding glass doors made a fun place to make faces at us. We're not sure who was having more fun, us laughing at him or Hamp getting a kick out of us. Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough to snap pics of his funniest faces, but at least you get the idea of his silliness!

Buried Alive

While we were at the beach this weekend, Hampton discovered the joys of digging in the sand. Bo dug a hole and he jumped right in! So we decided we'd cover him up and see what he thought. He loved watching his toes wiggle from under the pile and patting on the sand. Of course, we couldn't resist snapping some photos!