Traditions

One tradition we are starting with the boys is their ornament collection.  Each year we will take the boys to pick out an ornament for the tree.  Chuck will choose one and Smith will choose one.  Instead of just buying one of the ornament they choose, I will buy two.  I will write the year on the bottom of the ornaments.

When they boys move out of the house, they will take their ornaments with them that they have picked out over the years.  We will also have a set of their ornaments so we won't look at our tree and miss all their ornaments!

Does that make sense?

So today I took the boys to pick out their ornament for this year!  Smith picked a green "roar" (dinosaur) and Chuck picked a Santa Claus that is dressed like a superhero...we think. Actually, we really aren't sure what he picked but he had to have it.

Holiday Spirit

I KNOW!!!! It has been a while!  Five months maybe?  I had a hard time posting from my phone because it wouldn't let me post pictures.  I never ever have time to get on an actual computer to blog.  So here I am.. Trying again.

We are decorated for Christmas!  Lights are up, tree is up and our Christmas blow ups are in the front yard!  Chuck has taken the time to make some wonderful (and flammable) ornaments for our tree! 

Following footsteps

Well, if you have been here awhile, you remember the picture of Chuck, when he was almost two years old, laying in the middle of Lowe's.  It's happened again but this time it was his brother and in the middle of Kohl's.

New Home

So the real reason I downloaded all my pictures and just wrote a gazillion posts.....

We are buying a house!  Wahoo!  Dr. came home one day and was finally fed up with being so close to our neighbors and having no trees in the yard.  I figured we would look and be in a new house in about a year.  We looked at a few and actually found some great ones.  Tomorrow we have the inspection on ( hopefully) our NEW house!  So I had to download all my pictures so I can take a bunch of pictures and measure tomorrow! We will wait until we move out of our current house to sell it (ain't nobody got time for selling a house with two crazy boys living here!).  So send all of your positive house inspection vibes our way tomorrow!

Audubon Zoo

So on the way back, we headed back through New Orleans.  It rained the entire 2 1/2 hour drive.  We got there and decided to do lunch and wait for the rain to stop.  It didn't.  We drove and sat in the zoo parking lot and waited for a little bit so the rain would stop.  It didn't.  We finally decided we didn't care about getting wet and headed into the Audubon Zoo.  As soon as we got in the zoo, it stopped raining!  We were the only ones there ( besides maybe one or two other families).  That meant Smith could walk the entire way and there was no chance in either of the boys getting away from us!  It actually was so wonderful to have the zoo all to ourselves!

Granna and Bob Bob were troopers 

Smith made sure no puddle was left untouched ( He even sat in a few... another reason and empty zoo was a good thing.)

Chuck has a thing for Tiki heads

I wish I had gotten a picture of the kitty cat trying to eat Smith's head ( through the glass of course.)

Our (not so) successful attempt at a photo booth.

Back to Mobile

After the beach we headed back to Mobile for a couple more days.

Aunt Leicia introduced Chuck to his first raw oyster at Wintztell's.

We hung out with the cousins one last time.  We forgot the matchy outfits..... actually for some we forgot an outfit all together!

Bob Bob and Smith continued their early morning breakfasts before everyone else got up.

Gulf Shores

Last year when the boys and I went home, we went to the beach for the day.  This year we decided to rent a condo for 3 nights and 4 days.  It was just perfect.  The porch was covered and in the shade.  It looked over the road so the boys could people and car watch.  It had access to the big beach but also had a small beach on the lagoon ( and a pool) which was absolutely amazing for the little kids to play on.  We had an amazing time!  We got to spend time with friends and cousins!  The boys both LOVED the beach.  We couldn't keep either of them out of the water.

Small lagoon beach that was calm and perfect for little kiddos.

( We "investigated" the first day.  That's why we were not in our swimsuits yet.)

Chuck removing the eyes off a sand crab.

Going to explore and look at the "big beach".

Ate every meal on the porch ( yes it was beautiful but we also have a messy eater on our hands!).

Visiting with our friends who live at Gulf Shores and came over to play!

Having dinner at our friend's house and letting the children play.

The sequence of Smith, Camille, and the watermelon.  Once Smith fed Camille some watermelon, she followed him around with an open mouth until she got more.

The best picture we could get of us and our children.

One day the cousins came over for the day and brought the kayaks 

( or as "kazoo" as Chuck likes to call them.)

Mary-Allison and I got to go to dinner, just us girls.