Friday Photo

Playing With Our Food

One fun-looking toddler activity we found on Pinterest was pasta sorting. You dye different shapes of dry pasta with food coloring, and then give the little a muffin tin to sort them by shape, color, or however they want. We decided to try it, even though we weren't sure how long it would hold Hampton's attention. Well, he loved it! So much, in fact, that he started crying when we went to put it away. Don't worry...we quickly put it back in front of him so he could happily continue playing with the pasta!

the ingredients: several shapes of pasta, food coloring, and rubbing alcohol

Milestones

Harrison has been doing all sorts of new moves lately. He's been sitting up in his Bumbo chair for a few weeks, and now he's rolling over onto his belly. He likes the Bumbo, but still prefers the laid-back style of his bouncy seat. As for rolling over, he's not quite sure what he's supposed to do once he gets there. His little grunts are really cute, though!

Beach Bound

The weather has been amazing lately, so we finally found time to "go to the beach & see the ocean", as Hampton says. We got there late afternoon for an early picnic dinner. We had a great time, but eventually had to leave when Hampton couldn't quit shivering from getting wet in the surf. One thing's for sure, our first beach trip of the season was definitely a success!

a beach bonding moment

under the umbrella

powering up on juice before heading out

Train Museum

On Saturday, we headed up to the Foley Train Museum to get our fill of the model trains. We've been many times before, but this time Hampton could NOT get enough of the train exhibit. They have a huge 0-gauge setup, which means the entire train display is 1/48th of full-size. Usually, we go ride the mini train, look at the model trains for about 5 minutes until Hamp has had his fill, then go outside and run around in the park. This time, Hampton stood mesmerized at the model train exhibit for over an hour. Just stood there! Harrison enjoyed himself, too, and didn't fuss once. He just chilled in his stroller & then sat on Tanner's lap & watched the people. As much as Hampton has talked about the museum after we left, it looks like we'll be spending lots more time there!

Harrison hanging out in his stroller

riding the train

Hampton telling us all about the "jobi wood" that the small train was hauling

this is how Hampton stood for an hour, mesmerized by the trains

Friday Photos and Week in Review

This week we:

had a family lunch play date at ChickFilA
met our sweet friend Kelly at the Post Office, who entertained the boys outside while Tanner mailed (and dropped repeatedly!) tons of packages
taught the 1st & 2nd Graders fun songs on Wed night like "Father Abraham" & "Baby Shark"
got caught in a rainstorm & jumped in the puddles at Sam's Club
enjoyed the awesome weather at Grandi & Grandaddy's house
headed to Mobile for the big Kidz Klozet sale
Hampton told his granddaddy that he wanted to climb a tree, so that's what happened!

Playground Picnic

On Sunday after church, we decided with our friends the Bodifords that it would be fun to have a picnic on the church playground. We brought some of the leftover BBQ that Bo had smoked for Supper Club, and they brought sides. The kids (except for Harrison, of course) ran around & played while we sat around and visited. The weather was amazing, and there were plenty of shady spots for Harrison to enjoy the scenery, too. Everyone had tons of fun and it sure was nice to have a fenced in spot for Hampton!

St. Patrick's Day

Saturday was the 60th annual Fairhope Arts & Crafts festival, so we put on our greenery & headed over to the Eastern Shore. The festival didn't disappoint, with lots of crafts to see and people to watch. We even got to watch Roman Street, an awesome local band, play. Hampton promptly wanted out of the stroller and proceeded to dance up a storm until the music was over.

After strolling around at the festival, we headed to a local shady park for a picnic lunch and some playtime. Hampton had a blast playing on the swings & slide while Harrison enjoyed laying in the shade and taking in the breeze. As much fun as Harrison had outdoors, it looks like we're going to have 2 nature lovers on our hands!

Warp Speed

It seems like ever since we lost an hour with the time change, we have been going at full blast around here. We looked back at last week and wondered "Where did the time go?". We did pack a bunch of fun in last week, so that was part of it. Since last weekend, we had several picnics, story time at the library, a park play date with Hamp's little friends, fun on the church playground (twice), dinner & shopping, Supper Club, smoked lots of BBQ, skyped with Boba & Grandpa Andy, and lots more. We are so excited that it's staying light a little longer so we can pack more into our day, but we'd also like more nighttime for catching up on some rest!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

May the luck of the Irish
Lead to happiest heights
And the highway you travel
Be lined with green lights.

Wherever you go and whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

Harrison's 3-Month Birthday

Last week was Harrison's 3-Month Birthday. We definitely didn't forget, but we weren't quick enough to get it on the blog, either. He's such a sweet boy who will give you the biggest, goofiest grin you've ever seen. It's adorable! He's pretty much always happy, unless his big brother dumps him on the floor....but honestly, who would like that? He's not big on taking his bottle, as he'd much rather flirt & coo at whoever is feeding him or looking his direction. Tanner calls him her real-life teddy bear, because he's such a snuggle bug! So if you couldn't tell, we're obsessed with him and love him to pieces!

Rolling in the DOH

Ok, so the first time we tried play-doh with Hampton, it was a complete failure. He just didn't get it AT ALL. However, he must've seen the light, because he asked to play with it next. We agreed, because Tanner loves playing with play-doh and any excuse to do so is a good one. Let's just say that now even Tanner has had her fill of playing with it.....Hampton LOVES the stuff! We play on a "blanket" (aka a vinyl tablecloth), but it still gets everywhere. And Hampton wants you to make numbers out of the dough. This week, we instituted a "no more numbers past 9" rule because our hands were getting sore from all the dough-rolling! But even with our whining, it's a great way to be creative & spend quality time with Hampton. And THAT is one thing we're all about!

Car Tunes

As soon as we get into the car, Hampton starts asking for music. It started with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song, which we have on a playlist 40 times in a row....and have listened to all 40 many times. Then, for a short period, it moved to Dr. Seuss by Trevor Hall, which we liked because it's at least it's by a hip singer. But, alas, that was short-lived. Now, we're on to the songs from the Thomas album on iTunes, most importantly "Misty Island Rescue". We listen over and over, and Hampton dances in his car seat during the entire song. As soon as it ends, we hear "again? again?" until we dutifully replay the songs. We're happy to do it, though, because at least it's not SpongeBob!

Weekend Update

This weekend we.....

started our weekend early with a trip to Pensacola
enjoyed a dinner out at our favorite pizza place EVER
went to the Orange Beach Festival of Art & played in the park
saw Newt Gingrich's bus go by as we ate yummy BBQ outside
worked in the church nursery & attended the first meeting of our new Bible study group
grabbed two more free $10 gift certificates at Tanger Outlets (we are LOVING these deals!)
played on the playground until we were too cold to stand it any longer
convinced Hampton that cinnamon rolls really are delicious!

Friday Photo

Silly Boy

Hampton has QUITE the personality, and lately he has been coming up with some doozies. Yesterday, as Tanner was getting ready to head out & drop off some monogramming, he told her that "it was time to go". She said that they weren't going anywhere, to which he replied "it's Christmas & I want to see Santa Claus!". Which was then followed by jumping up and down, cheering "Santa Claus! Santa Claus!". He's a mess, but we wouldn't want him any other way!

Week in Review

This week we....

.....had a major cooking day that ended with 8 batches of pasta sauce, 2 casseroles, 2 pounds of black beans, and the best garlic parmesan rolls we've ever had. The. Best. Ever.

.......scored 2 free $10 gift cards to the outlet mall & had a lunch playdate while we were at it.

........had an interesting day of Harrison not wanting to be put down once. Tanner's arms were practically numb from all the rocking! He was over it & back to himself the next morning, thank goodness!

.....got to enjoy the 76 degree weather by playing all morning at Grandi & Grandaddy's house.

To And Fro

We had the bright idea to break the trip to TN up into somewhat more manageable pieces since it's such a long drive. We decided to stay in Birmingham Friday & Saturday nights to make the trip a little easier. Especially since it took us 8 hours to get to Birmingham when normally it would only take 4! Anyway, the plan was to see Tanner's brother's family, since they live there. Friday night didn't work out, since our nephew Jack was sick, but we did get to see them on Sunday for lunch. It was nice because we got to catch up a little and we also got home at a reasonable time. Plus, we only had to stop once on the way home to feed Harrison, which was great. We'll definitely be doing that from now on!

Hampton having fun while waiting for dinner at The Summit

Hampton & Jack enjoying their pizzas and being entertained by Bo