MSU VS LSU RECAP WEEKEND

We were so excited for this weekend to get here! Not only was it our first home game and a huge game against LSU but our friends were coming from Memphis to stay for the weekend! Not only are Mollie and Wilson so fun for us to hang out with but Lizzie who is six is such a good friend to Elle and they have the best time playing and having "sleepovers."

This was shortly after they got here on Friday night and we had to get a picture 

of them together in their sweet uniforms. 

Saturday morning this is how they came downstairs.  Friday morning I picked up some new to us boots from a friend for Elle and she found them and Lizzie just happened to have the same ones.  Elle is obsessed and hasn't taken them off since that morning really.  Elle also was sporting one of her new headbands that our friend from Memphis is making.  They are blowing up! Check her out- Lolo Headbands.

Nightgowns and boots.

Since the game was a late one I cooked a big breakfast and we just hung out and relaxed.  The girls just played and play and Mollie took Will  for a run on campus.  The weather was perfect and it was an absolutely beautiful day!

Wallker checking Mollie out.

The Baird family also brought with them a real live Chrysalis.  It could hatch at any time and out would come a beautiful monarch butterfly so they couldn't leave it at home.  They had to bring it with them.  We all thought it was so neat and pretty!

Finally it was time to load up and head to the tailgate.  I was so anxious to get out there for so many reasons.  The main one being it was just so pretty outside!

Me, Margaret and Caroline- the tailgating crew!

Mollie and me

We ventured out to the kids section to see if there was anyone painting faces.  Elle said she wanted to jump in the jumpies even after I told her that she doesn't like them.  Because we always wait in line and then she gets in there with  the other kids and then gets scared and cries and we have to get right back out.  Luckily we ran into some friends while we waited so that helped pass the time.

Elle's good friend Annie.

Family picture minus our sweet Walker.

As expected, after waiting in line for 45 minutes for the bouncy, Elle got in and decided she hated it and got right back out. Sheesh.  So we went back to the tailgate to visit with our friends some more!

Lizzie, Elle, Aibgail, Annie and Shelby

Foley, Margaret, Laura and Me

The kick off was not until 8:15 and by that time it had been a long day.  Elle did okay for the first half but half time did us in and a few minutes into the third quarter and she was screaming.  Just so wiped out.  I don't blame her.  We didn't get home until midnight and for a little girl who goes to bed around 6:30- 7:00 pm that is so so so late. I have to be honest and say I was so occupied with Elle that I watched zero of the game and we got home just in time to see our team miss the kick and lose the game by two points.  What a bummer!

Sunday we tried to sleep in as best as we can with sweet Walker waking up super early.  We enjoyed some City Bagel bagels and then the Bairds headed back to Memphis.  We spent the rest of the day being completely lazy.  Watching movies, napping and playing some outside.

WALKER MONTH 10

Walker my sweet boy! He is 10 months old! And he is needs to stop growing right now!  Except he gets cuter every day so I guess it is okay.  So the big news this month is Walker is CRAWLING! He is crawling every where and we are having to stay on our toes.  He touched more light sockets the first day he learned to crawl than Elle has touched in her entire life.  He is into everything and still gets so mad when you take something away from him or move him from something he shouldn't be playing with. He knows the things that we have told him "No no" on and he will high tail it over to them sometimes and when we say "No No Walk" and start to move towards him he will start to fuss or cry because he knows he's about to "get in trouble."  

He is loving our busy days but he is not a fan of the car seat.  He loves all the attention he gets from the nursery workers at bible study and loves his teachers at PDO but he cries every time I go to put him in the car seat because he spends some time in there with going and coming and carpool for Elle. He only cries as I put him in though so that is good.  He gets over it and then is a happy boy.

He is still obsessed with food! Loves it! He eats anything and everything.  He gets upset if you eat and he doesn't have anything to eat.  Some of his new favorites are the baby yogurt melts, grilled cheese and broccoli.   

He is sleeping great at night and is rolling with the punches when it comes to nap. He gets a morning nap when he can but we always make sure we get to get a great afternoon nap.  He still goes to bed really early.  When we were at the beach he took later naps and was able to stay up a little past his normal bedtime of 6 but not too much later.  He usually wakes up around 5:30-6: 00 AM and I get him out of his crib around 6:30.

And one final thing because it has become such a sweet thing.  In a lot of his pictures you will see his lovey.  It is a raccoon and I bought it for him at a boutique in Birmingham when I was pregnant with him.  I named his raccoon lovey Rocky after the Beatles song and here lately he loves his lovey!  You will put him down in his crib and hold Rocky up to him and he will reach up to him and smile and then bring him in or a big hug.  It just melts my heart!

Okay! Picture time!

 He loves his State football rattle!  And see all smiles after a 

few tears from getting put into the car seat.

 Sitting up and taking a big boy bath.  No more baby bath that he had outgrown!

 Being silly and playing with toys!

 Our morning routine usually goes like this: Drop sister off at school and then go to gym or preschool and have a bottle in the front seat of my car while we wait for 8:30 to roll around.  So once he finishes his bottle we take selfies!

 Walker has taken an interest in Lena.  I try to always get some pictures 

because Lena is getting so old.

 These too hanging out together waiting to leave for fan day!

 More car selfies with my sweet boy.

 Action shot of him crawling.

 Sweaty boy with Mama!

 Sweaty boy with Daddy.

 I found him napping one afternoon after a long morning at the beach like this. 

Those feet kicked out his of his sleep sack just slay me.  And there is Rocky!

 Father and son!

 This I am not ready for.  Why do I feel like he is going to be pulling up in no time! We will see!

LAST FAMILY BEACH TRIP PART 3

The last few days at the beach were spent just like the previous days.  Going to the beach and going to the pool.  Eating and playing and going to bed early.  It was wonderful! Just a few more pictures to wrap it up!

Kenny and Elle would go to the pool while Walker napped and then we would walk over in the stroller to meet them and hang out for a little bit.  Once Walker got too hot we would all head back together.

Walker and Kenny hanging out at the pool.

The last night we actually braved a restaurant.  We figured we would attempt to sit on the patio of Bud and Alley's Pizza Bar and if it all went to heck we would get the pizza to go.  It ended up being a great dinner together as a family and the perfect way to spend our last night. I even made two different people take some pictures of the four of us! 

Love my family of four.

I just adore this picture because he is laughing at her.  That crinkled up face.  Love!

Team Dad.  Super Dad! She is obsessed with her Daddy.

On our last morning we hit up Great Southern for beignets one last time and then Sun Dog Books for a final souvenir and then we hit the road.

Elle cried real tears.  She loves the beach and being there together as a family. 

She didn't want to leave.

We broke up the trip by stopping in Hattiesburg for a night so my mom could see the kids, so I could go see a doctor for the sinus infection that I have had for three weeks and to watch the USM vs. MSU game.   We would of loved to go support our Bulldogs in person but the game didn't start until 9.  That just wasn't happening.  The game was a little touch and go but we pulled out a win around 1:30 AM!

We finally got home on Sunday and I was just so so so happy to be home.  I was a little homesick and was so happy to be back in my own house and my own bed! Elle was also so ready to be back at school!

LAST FAMILY BEACH TRIP PART 2

So for the next couple days we would kind of rotate back and forth on pool days and beach days.  Beach days require you to make lunches, pack coolers and lug a whole lot of stuff including children down to the beach and then lug it back up.  So we find breaking up those hard work days with pool days really works for our family! 

I love this picture of Elle.  She was patiently waiting for Walker to wake up so we could head out.

After a long morning at the pool Elle and I got out for some mother daughter ice cream.  

Cookies and cream! My favorite!

Walker took monster monster naps almost every afternoon.  I think the heat in general just wears him out.  We royally messed up his predictable schedule but I sure did enjoy the three hour naps!

Elle was sleeping soundly at night too.  Isn't she beautiful?

The next morning we headed over to Bud and Alley's to enjoy breakfast overlooking the water.  It was nice to do something a little different.

We just laughed and laughed because Walker is such a grabber! 

Please look at our table! Just a wee bit crowded on one side!

After breakfast it was time to fulfill another one of Elle's requests! The Seaside playground.  I give it to her. This playground is so cute and we had a great time!

Standing in the doorway of her "castle."

Silly face!

Walker snoozed in the stroller for a little while.

Love these two!

Elle and Kenny went to the pool later that day while Walker napped and then we met them there to hang out.  They are such twins sometimes!

Throughout this trip Kenny and I talked at length about how much work a beach vacation is with children and that we wake up early and go to bed early and really make the most of our days for our children. But it isn't always relaxing.  One day I mentioned that I can't wait to be able to 1-stay at the beach all day 2-see dusk or a sunset at the beach.  I want to walk down to the beach with Kenny.  Sit in the sand with a cocktail in hand and watch the sun set with him.  These days are very far away but they will probably be here so much quicker than I think they will.  And I never ever want to wish time away with our small babies.  So that evening after our children had fallen fast asleep and I went to close the shades in our room and I saw this beautiful sunset I had Kenny come up and join me and we laughed about how this would be the closest we got to watching a sunset together for a long time. But it still was so pretty!

TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE THIRD AND FINAL PART TO OUR WONDERFUL VACATION!

LAST FAMILY BEACH TRIP PART 1

A month or two ago Kenny decided he wanted to travel down to Seaside for one final family beach trip. We know this is really the last year that we could travel this late in the year with school having started. Elle was in school three years before we left for this trip.  She missed a full week.  But don't worry, her teacher sent her very important coloring, letter and cutting sheets with her and we managed to complete a good bit of it!

Saturday morning we loaded up and drove down for the Fairhope for the night and then kept going on Sunday to Seaside to check into our condo.  Kenny found a great place for us location wise right on the little Seaside loop right on the amphitheater.  With Walker being so young close proximity to the beach and all the restaurants is important!

On our first night Elle's first request was to just hang out and play in the amphitheater.  So we had dinner at the food trucks (Barefoot BBQ was relish) and then parked ourselves on the edge of the grass with a cocktail in hand!

This might be the only picture of just Kenny and me.  I made a special point of taking some pictures of all four of us but this it for Mommy and Daddy.

Elle was pretty pleased that her kids meal was served on a frisbee she got to keep!

We were excited to send Elle's Pre-K class a postcard from the beach so we ran into our very favorite bookstore to pick one out and then to check out the great children's section.  We have many memories in this bookstore.  I love to come back to all of our favorite spots trip after trip and year after year.

Elle looking through some books at Sundog Books.

After a long run in the amphitheater, the kids were worn out and it was time for bed.  This was our beautiful view from our window!

Another one of Elle's requests when we started talking about coming back to the beach was having beignets at Great Southern. So that was what we did the very next morning!

Elle was excited to be eating her beignet!

Walker found that he liked them a lot too!

While we were at breakfast we wrote on our postcard and addressed it for her class at school.  This is the front of the postcard.  This beach pavilion/access is the one that was right across the street from our condo.

The other side that we wrote on.  Elle having learned to write her own name signed it herself.

Next it was time to get it into the mail slot!

After breakfast, our post office adventures we let Walker take a nap and then hit the beach.  This trip was so nice because Walker is now sitting up and crawling so he was so happy to sit in his pool with water and toys and splash and play for a lot of the time.  It also helped that he was able to eat sandwiches and bananas and things like that along with his bottles.  He did so great.  Three hours was usually his limit so I would take him back to the condo while Elle and Kenny would stay down a little bit longer.

Walker playing in his pool with his toys.

This girl loves the beach so much!

Kenny let me know he and Elle were headed back so I came out to great them and wave!

That evening the theatre group was having one of their final performances of this summer's play Robin Hood.  We always make a point to see their plays because Elle absolutely loves them.  When we were here the last time it actually got rained out so we were excited to catch it.  It was funny though because being down in Seaside during this time of year is just so much calmer and quieter than when we come in the middle of summer.  There were only  a few families there to see the play when normally it is slammed!

Walker and Mommy waiting on the play to start.

We were the only ones there waiting.  For a while.

Then a few more people were there.  Elle loved the play as always.  We normally go down for pictures with the cast and she did but they wanted her to wear one of their hats and she was exhausted so that sent her over the edge.  So no cast pictures this time.

Elle and Mommy enjoying the play.

Tune in tomorrow for some more lovely days of our family vacation. Part 2!