"Ish!"

The Georgia Aquarium is awesome! I heard a lot of different things about it but it totally exceeded my expectations. In fact, I think that it's been the place that the kids have had the biggest reaction to so far. Since school has started, it wasn't overwhelmingly crowded and we went in the middle of the week too which probably helped.

Everything was an "ish" (fish) be it a beluga whale or a sea lion. Neither of them liked to be too close to the glass and Wyatt was terrified of the penguins. Callie named one of the yellow seahorses, "Banana" which made me want to get a new pet just so she could name it. Wyatt's favorite thing was the guy in the orange fish character outfit. He stalked that dude even outside of the aquarium. Callie enjoyed hanging out with her grandma and eating lunch on her lap. We had so much fun there yesterday! I'm looking forward to going back!

Afterward, we let the kids play at Bum Piss Park (what we so lovingly renamed Centennial's play ground because of the way it smelled). Then, we headed back home. The quick getaway was so much fun that I wish we had decided to stay a little longer!


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Hump Day in A-town...

On Wednesday, we went to Atlanta for a lot of reasons, but the funnest reasons were Imagine It, Centennial Olympic Park, and the Georgia Aquarium. The kids did really well on the road and watched Elmo videos on repeat until my ears were bleeding. (If I ever complain about the traffic in Bluffton again after being in that white-knuckled crap in Atlanta, then I have problems.)

We went to Imagine It first, which is supposedly a "children's museum" but was really just a big play area deal. The babes had tons of fun but Brent and I always get creeped out by other people's out-of-control and rotten little punk kids. My babies got knocked over and had things ripped out of their hands. I wanted to drop kick some of those little skidmarks. It's true.


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Then, we went to Centennial Park and played in the fountain rings. Callie got clobbered by one of the water spouts when she fell on top it. It shot her in the face and poor thing probably got an enema from it too. She was soaking wet so we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and headed right back out to Ikea because I never get to shop at awesome places like that. We got some cool stuff too.

The cutest part of the night was when we got back to our hotel room with a really awesome view of the skyline and we cut out all the lights and looked at the view with the kids. They loved it and kept saying, "Ooooooh!" I know they enjoyed it as much as we did because when we got home tonight, they kept looking out the window while pointing to the lights on inside and saying, "Off! Off!" I love those little squirts. They light up my life.

Brent and I had dinner at the top of the round building the night we got engaged. If you look closely, you can see some residual damage on that building from the tornadoes that ripped through Atlanta in the Spring.

So, I'll tell you all about our day today, tomorrow. But for now, we are all home and safe and enjoying the first night of football! I'm so happy and foaming at the mouth in anticipation of Saturday. I'm going to kick some ass in pick'em this year! Guaran. Ballz. Teed.

By the way, Lou Holtz is precious!

We got to see them setting up for the first College Game Day of the season on Centennial lawn for the Clemson/Alabama game! I'm sad we didn't get to stay!

Happy Anniversary!

Wordle

This is a cute little thing from wordle.net. You can enter in your blog address and it produces this cute artsy thing using the most common words that appear in your blog.

Overcompensation.

Wow. I really don't know what to say about this weekend. We went to a tailgate party thing that started out so innocent. Three beers later, I was hurling into a porta-potty. I think that my cobwebby, middle-aged body is straight up starting to reject alcohol because I puked my guts out after we got home too. Brent was drunk. I could tell because he invents jokes that aren't funny and he tells stories with no purpose. He spent the night on the bathroom floor.

We are done. We've hung up our party hats for good and have strapped on designated driver hats instead. What is the point?! We both feel like total crap today.

But, as for my babies... they had a big night. They had a sleep over at grandma's and probably loaded up on tons of sugar and who knows what else. Supposedly, they did really well so this might have paved the way for a future sleep over. But, you better believe that I was over at the folks house just past 7:00am this morning to see them despite my three-beer-hangover. I can't breathe with out my babies.

Today, we went to the beach to meet up with one of my old friends from Atlanta. I was telling Brent this afternoon how nice it was to visit with people who really know you, who you never have to feel nervous around, and never put up any kind of a guard... people who love you for who you are. I felt lucky to be able to get some of that this weekend!

I don't think I'll be awake to eat dinner tonight.

Wanna little bang in your ying yang?

College football starts soon!!!! WHO'S EXCITED?!?!

Other than that, I feel pretty boring today and the fact that taking the cat to the vet was the highlight of my day is proof in and of itself.

My poor monkey dude is teething so bad. Today, he asked to take a nap. I thought he just wanted to climb the stairs but the little man went straight to sleep once we put him down. Callie and I "played" together like real little girls today. She was lining up princess figurines and then chucking them into her potty. We were counting them and laughing each time a princess fell to her doom. They are getting so big!

The weather here is fabulous! We are getting tons of residual rain from the hurricane in Jacksonville so it's all dark and comfy and the sound of the rain hitting the windows all day was so relaxing. It makes me anxious for fall and pumpkins and sweaters and thick soup. Good good!

That picture has nothing to do with this post; I just like it. Someone asked us before if he was a hyena. I actually think we considered it for a second!

Best Friends

This week we are trying to transition the kiddos from their highchairs (lowchairs) to a kiddie table that my brother and I grew up eating on. It's my favorite piece of furniture in this entire world and when the sunlight hits it just right, you can see where my brother carved "Heather Sucks" lightly into the varnish circa 1986. It warms my soul.

Anyway, they ate their first lunch at that table yesterday and did really well (for most of the time). Of course, they get a little restless and can easily get up since they aren't strapped in, and after several warnings to sit, Callie ended up in her lowchair. Once that happened, Wyatt decided he'd rather keep her company in his lowchair too than continue to sit at the table. It was cute. Those two are best friends.

Whenever Wyatt is in time out, Callie sits in time out too to keep him company. When I take a toy away from Callie that she has stolen from Wyatt, and return it to Wyatt because he's crying and was playing with the toy first, he'll correct me by deciding to share it with her anyway. I sometimes feel stupid for intervening because they usually find a way to work it out by themselves and completely contradict me. Watching their closeness is just incredible.

P.I.M.P.

Random Pics From the Week

Playing with knives at Cracker Barrell like all good parent's let their kids do!

Flowers from Brent just cuz. He's precious.

Getting into a surprise care package from Grandma Harbin!

Hiding in the corner with their loot!

Miss Thing and Monkey playing at the "beesh" today

Digging for gold (not of the nasal persuasion).

We've been dragging ass this week because we have been staying up so late to watch the Olympics. We do record it so we can watch it whenever, but holy crap... watching the Olympics in high-def is so worth the pain of getting up in the morning! Also, I'm such a huge Phelps Phan that I can't help but stay up and watch. Not only do I love watching him because he is literally the greatest athlete of all time, but watching all that swimming floods me with nostalgia. Even to this day, chlorine is my favorite smell in the whole world because it is that comforting to me.

This has nothing to do with this week, but the kiddos had their 18 month checkup last week and they did great! Here are their stats:

Callie

Height - 33.5 inches (90th percentile)

Weight - 25.7 lbs. (65th percentile)

Wyatt

Height - 31.5 inches (25th percentile)

Weight - 22 lbs. (7th percentile)

I don't understand why Wyatt is barely making it on the weight chart. He is our garbage disposal and eats more than I do almost every day. Callie plays with her food and might eat a morsel or two, but Wyatt pounds food like it's his job. I still think he's going to be really tall because his feet are huge!

Callie started stringing words together last week and her vocabulary has exploded! Also, she counted to five this morning! I was completely blown away. That's Sesame Street for ya! Wyatt's new thing this week is trying to snap like Mister Rogers. (Thank goodness for edumacation TV!)

Run Forrest Run!

For those of you who don't already know, Brent is an IT geek and works all along the coastal region of Georgia. Yesterday, we tagged along with him to one of his sites and got to see the place where they filmed the 'Run Forrest, run!' scenes for Forrest Gump. It was really beautiful! I love this part of the country because of all the huge water oaks and the natural tunnels that they form, but this was just extraordinarily beautiful and incredibly long!

Dirty Diaper Spelunking

Rule #1 - No painting yourselves or your momma with poop.

This rule comes courtesy of Wyatt who was just a sliver shy of being put up for adoption today. He will also be wearing onesies until he gets his drivers license. He's not responsible enough for just a tshirt and I sure as hell don't have the stomach for it either.



Also, this is completely off topic and probably not appropriate to post along with the above, but I have a great recipe for squash casserole courtesy of my friend, Heather. It's something I know I will be making all the time and even the kids loved it! (You kind of have to pretend that you are Paula Deen when you are making this because of all the mayonnaise. Believe me though, it's worth the calories!)

I know I've been posting a lot of recipes lately but it totally comes in waves so I'm loving the fact that I'm finding such great ones right now.

Squash Casserole

2 lbs. fresh squash
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
pepper to taste

In a large bowl, mash steamed squash and drain. Combine drained squash with next six ingredients and mix well. (The consistency will be like cake batter at this point.) Pour into 9x13 baking dish and bake 30-45 minutes until the center is set and firm.

Here's a cute video that I took of Wyatt tonight. Brent is sitting all crouched weird so it looks like he has the biggest beer gut ever (it's only a little smaller than that). So, you'll have to look past that and the wife beaters that my men are wearing too!

Teared me right up!

Excuse my bloggy hiatus

Monday, I don't remember.

Tuesday, we played nudist colony in the backyard.

Wednesday, I went to Charleston to hang out with my old pal, Ape. We had fun catching up and just being the way we are when we're together. It's always surreal when we spend time together because we've been friends since we were 5 and here we are... almost 30... and still a pair of big dorks. She makes me feel like me.

Thursday, I went Summerville to spend time with my Heath. She and I also have tons of history. We went to middle school, high school, and college together. In fact, we were even roommates in college for awhile. Her hubby is away so we had a day just to ourselves. She showed me around downtown Summerville and took me to the cutest little tea room for lunch. It was precious. She is precious.

Friday, Brent left really early for work and was able to get home earlier than normal. We didn't do anything exciting, but the four of us had fun being together and running errands. I know that sounds silly but it was nice puttering around as a family.

Yesterday, we had a cookout with some friends.

And this morning, we were at the beach bright and early!

Happy 85th Birthday, Oma!

Today was my grandmother's 85th birthday! My aunt and my mom put together a little surprise party for her and it was so cute. She was so happy just to be around us and she kept welling up with tears. She is precious. We got her loaded up on mimosas too so she should be ready to party at the old fogie home tonight! Woo Hoo!

This afternoon, in the midst of shopping about, we decided to make a pit stop at the beach and the kids tore it up! Callie is fearless! She was running into the waves and crashing over and falling down and laughing the whole time. Brent and I had our butt cheeks clenched tight because she was making us so nervous but she really was doing pretty well on her own. Wyatt, of course, was more interested in befriending everyone at the beach. He's such a social little dude!