Memorial Day Weekend at the Lake

CR, Charlie and I packed up the car on Friday afternoon to spend the holiday weekend at the lake. The forecast earlier in the week called for thunderstorms all weekend long... WRONG! We couldn't have had a more beautiful weekend! We had lots of visitors and enjoyed our family time by the water!

After unpacking and grocery shopping we took Charlie down to the water to play until sun down.

CR testing out camera settings :)

Yikes! Mommy looks like she scrambled around packing all day...oh yea, SHE DID!

Searching for the perfect rock

Charlie's FAVORITE lake activity... throwing rocks!

BLUE STEEL

CR's newest lake find...Icicle sunglasses! Stay classy Lake Chatuge!

A gaggle of geese...look at the little babies :)

Morning snuggles with Uncle Z!

The kids showed up on Saturday afternoon and stayed through Sunday afternoon. My pregnant BF Melissa arrived on Saturday night and stayed through Monday with us. And my parents stopped by on Sunday afternoon after their weekend get away for a yummy Memorial Day Weekend cookout. But do you think I took a single picture??? Of course not! The lake makes me lazy...picture taking came to a halt on Saturday. Oops...I'll try harder next time.

This morning Charlie demanded that I put on his life vest...somebody wishes he was still at the lake!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend with your families and friends! A big thanks to our troops for all that you do for our freedom!

Love to you all!

JP

Paper Towels and Margaritas

Last Friday night my sweet friend Holly and I decided to ditch our husbands for a girls night out.

We spent the evening at our favorite BYOB painting spot, Canvas By U. As we sipped on Skinny Girl Margaritas (amazing by the way), we made our best attempt at Paper Towel Trees. The entire painting was done with crumpled paper towels and your finger! I am still scraping paint out from underneath my fingernails.

We had so much fun! If you live in the Atlanta this place is a must try! Stacy Abston and her team of teachers are wonderful!

I am actually pretty happy with my creation and think it will be a nice addition to my blank dining room wall.

Here's to a much needed night out! Thanks for joining me Hollz :)

Love to you all!

JP

A Teeth Chattering Good Time

Have you ever gone swimming in a North Carolina creek? That is how frigid our neighborhood pool is! Hopefully this 90 degree weather will do some work to the pool temp soon!

While I sat on the side of the pool in the warm sun and snapped photographs, CR tried to coerse Charlie into the pool.

CR: "Come on Charlie...jump to Daddy"

Charlie: "Fool, you better check yourself!"

Charlie: "Dip my toes in that water and you are a dead man!"

CR: "OK son...just keep my neck warm to ward off the hypothermia"

Cruel and Unusual Punishment:

CR: "Wasn't that fun Charlie?"

Charlie: "I know where you sleep!"

All kidding aside, we really did have a fun afternoon at the pool. Charlie actually demanded to jump into the pool with Daddy several times. He would look at CR and say "2"...the only part of counting to three he has grasped :)

We look forward to a fun summer of pool days!

Love to you all!

JP

God Is Good!!!

We have been attending Buckhead Church since January and are so pleased with our experience. Andy Stanley is an amazing speaker, and we always leave Sunday Service feeling re-charged for the week to come.

One of my favorite parts of Buckhead Church are the baptisms. The presentation of the baptisms are like nothing I have ever seen. The person being baptized actually gives a testimony through video before the live baptism occurs in the service.

Take a look at last weeks baptism...very powerful! God can move mountains!

"That Was I. That Was Calvin"

Love to you all!

JP

Wee School 2010 - 2011

Today was Charlie's last official day of his first year of Wee School. Take a gander at the difference one school year can make!

Day 1: August 19, 2010

Last Day of School: May 19, 2011

Wow! What a drastic change!

We couldn't be happier with Charlie's first school experience. I have fridge front and drawer full of Wee School memories (toddler art). Maybe I should post some of these little gems.

It makes me so happy to watch Charlie walk into his classroom with a big smile on his face! He (and CR and I) has truly come leaps and bounds from day 1! Read here if you want to take a look back.

Love to you all!

JP

21 Months Old Today!!!

My little munchkin turned 21 months old today...3 more months and he will be a 2 year old!!! Where does the time go?

I am happy to say that since mid April I have been a full time stay at home mom. Charlie and I are now able to move at a slower place, and are able to really enjoy our time together. My house doesn't look like the disaster area it once did either ;) He is learning and progressing so quick these days, and I am so happy to be home for ALL of these moments!

Charlie is weighing in around 29lbs, and is getting taller and losing allot of his baby fat. His thighs are still chunky, and the chubby feet are holding strong. I refuse to cut his curly mullet and will hang on to these baby features as long as possible!

Charlie's last day of Wee School is tomorrow :( I am so glad that we enrolled him in the MMO program...his first year has been wonderful thanks to Ms. Karen and Ms. Kim. Charlie was moved into an older class a few months into school, and it has been the perfect environment for him. I feel like he has had the full pre-school experience a year early. Art, creative movement, music, and social exposure. He has really grown in to an independent little guy! He will start his 2 year old pre-school class 2 days a week in August (Thank you grandparents for making this possible!!!!!)

Charlie is full of PERSONALITY!!! He loves to dance, Imagination Movers Live In Concert is a daily routine! He loves to listen to music, all kinds, and can bang out a drum beat (He has Papaw's blood). He loves to sing into his toy microphone and has even used the bed post as a make shift microphone on occasion. You must clap and cheer or he gets angry :)

For Mother's Day my boys woke me up with a homemade card, and took me to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Charlie was in heaven when he tasted the glazed goodness. see below :)

We have anxiously awaited the opening of our neighborhood pool, and have had our own water days in the back yard. Atlanta has had scorching temps the past few weeks, so the baby pool has been a must for outside playtime.





Charlie is all boy and wants to be just like Daddy! The love to play catch, baseball, golf and lacrosse. They have overtaken the living room T.V., and watch Sports Center daily. You can not enter a single room in our home with out finding a ball somewhere. We look forward to little league in a few years.

Charlie is a little sweet heart and gives the best hugs and kisses! He will pat your back mid hug and it is just so cute! This past weekend he practiced saying "I love you", I could just melt.

Charlie now sits at the table with Mommy and Daddy. The high chair has been cleaned (sprayed down with the hose) and packed away in the garage. He now has a fancy booster seat at the big boy table.

Books have finally made their way into Charlie's interest. He of course loves his Elmo books, but is also into Dr. Suess books. The favorites of the week are Go Dog Go, and The Hair Book. He can successfully go through his first words picture book and identify every picture. Our next task will be to learn our colors. he knows blue...I think ;)

We have a nightly ritual of movie watching! CR is finally able to share his love of movies with Charlie...we have quite the collection. Recent favorites are Peter Pan (Disney version and the Universal Studios 2003 version), Lilo and Stitch, Ratatouille, Mary Poppins (he loves the penguins), and Spiderman.

We are so proud of our little guy! God blessed us with such a fun loving, neat, and energetic little boy!

Love to you all!

JP