Random Pics

I had hoped to find time this week to post these randoids, but I'm either super busy or super exhausted each week that Brent is gone. So, these are still from last week (not this one).

"Paygound." (Playground) Again.

Last week, Brent sent me a fruit bouquet. But, he didn't give me a heads up, so when the delivery guy came, I hit the floor like the house was under attack. I had no idea who was pounding on my door and since I'm usually crusty, makeup-less, and freeboobing it, I hide when strangers knock. Literally. Hahaha! This dude wouldn't go away though so I had to surrender to see what the hell he wanted. I felt like the biggest dumbass when I realized he was just trying to deliver something. I swear though, my scrawny butt can barely defend myself and my babies from a wet mosquito, so I'd rather play it 'safe than sorry' anyday.

This is why magazines aren't considered acceptable naptime reading material anymore.

Strolling through the mall and holding hands... totally one of those moments that takes your breath away in proudness and oozing cuteness! How did this much luck come to me!?!?!

Coligny Beach Park

Saturday was fun! We took the kids to this new little splash park thing in front of the beach on the South end of the island. Miss thing sat on the bench with me and Brent the whole time instead of playing because, "Bannaids fall down in water." Wyatt had a blast and was so cute each time he unexpectedly got shot in the face with water. He played until he was done and then was ready to leave.

They didn't want to go home yet though so we took them to get icecream. Please believe that Callie would not share her banana icecream. She hugged it close to her until she was done eating every bit of that melted icecream soup. Wywy, on the other hand, willingly fed us spoonfuls of his "ice cweam comb". He's my sweet boy.

After that, they still didn't want to go home so we took them to the park. I had fun playing with some settings on the camera that I had never explored before.

SO CUTE! SO JEALOUS!!!!

Angel Oak Tree & Charleston Tea Plantation

My mom and I loaded the kids up this morning and took them to Angel Oak Tree on St. John's Island. It's 1500 years old and supposedly the oldest living thing East of the Mississippi. It was a big tree for a Water Oak, but I was much more impressed by the gnarliness of the thing! The kids had way more fun running around under the branches than I was expecting. Maybe it was because they had been in the car for well over an hour.

After that, we drove over to the Charleston Tea Plantation which is the only working tea plantation in the entire United States. I didn't know what to expect but it was actually pretty cute. The little tea shop was precious and the actual factory was super nice and clean. Wyatt showed his enthusiasm for the joint by dropping his cup of peach iced tea all over the floor.

The kids liked looking in the windows and seeing all the gadgets working and grinding and stuff but it was still a pretty old lady thing to do. So, I let them go wild because it wasn't crowded at all. When we left, the lady in the tea shop said, "I could hear how excited your kids were about the factory tour!" Oops!

Heath and Caleb

Last Sunday, my good friend, Heather, came into town with her little boy, Caleb. Caleb is only 8 weeks old and I had been chomping at the bit to go see them in Charleston. Well, their air-conditioner crapped out and after a torturous week of being in a hot house with a newborn, she decided to seek refuge at our house until the unit was fixed. We were lucky enough to have them here through Thursday.

This little dude was so cute and totally gave me a bit of baby fever. He's at the perfect age where he loves to smile and tries to coo when he's super excited. He was such a good baby too and only fussed when he needed something. I hated to see the little dude go because I know he's going to be so much bigger the next time I see him. I really can't handle how fast they all grow!

Heather and I had a great time rehashing middle school, high school, and college. I still can't believe that we went to all three together! It was such an awesome experience to see her as a momma too now! So proud!

We all loved having you here so much, Heath and the kids are still asking, "Where baby go?" I hope it's not too long before we get to spend that kind of time together again! Here is the recipe you asked for:

Not Yo' Momma's Banana Puddin'

1/2 box vanilla wafers
3 bananas, sliced
1 cup milk
1/2 (5 oz.) box instant French vanilla pudding
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 (12 oz.) container whipped topping

Line bottom of a 8 x 11 dish with layer of cookies and layer of bananas on top. In a bowl, combine milk and pudding mix with an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine cream cheese and condensed milk together until smooth. Fold whipped topping into cream cheese mixture. Add cream cheese mixture to pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour mixture over cookies and bananas and cover with remaining cookies. Refrigerate.

(I would love to take credit for the above, but it's a Paula Deen specialty. Fair warning - this 'naner pudding is r.i.c.h!)

Beaufort Water Festival

Last weekend, we met some friends down at the Beaufort Water Festival. It was just as cute as it is every year with the typical craft booths, face painting, and food. They also had a water skiing performance and one of the dudes was 76 years old! He was precious and the whole crowd seemed to gasp and worry about him each time he fell off his skis. Here are some pictures we took down there; we had such a good day!

What a slacker!

Wow! It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post and I think that it might be the longest that I've gone between posts since starting the blog. Bear with me because I'm going to catch up in several chunks.

Brent was out of town last week (big shocker) and I am at the point where I'm trying not to have a nervous breakdown from him being gone so much lately. I was on a roll at one point, but after we had him home for an entire week, I REALLY hated for him to go again.

Callie has been pooping on the potty a lot lately. Infact, I think she is going on the potty more than not. We have been rewarding her with tattoo bandaids which she likes to line up on her thighs. I don't even recognize that it might look weird to other people, but we've been getting stopped in the stores quite a bit by people who want to know what happened. Heh.

One night last week, I was loading Callie up into her carseat and buckling her in - at which point she 'vurped' (vomit-burped) inside her mouth. My dad and I started to laugh uncomfortably as her eyes teared up and she began re-chewing and swallowing. At that point, my dad struck up a song of his own about how food tastes better the second time around and as we watched Callie swallow the last bits, she choked out the words, "Coggie yike it!" We died!!!!

Of course, we hung out at the beach a lot and I took Callie to the movies to see "Up" again. We left early because she was missing daddy and Wywy. I had no complaints. This is just a cute little picture I caught of my big girl with her own drink and popcorn. Too bad she almost ate the whole bag just by herself!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a really nice weekend and so much fun on the 4th. We met some friends at the pool and the kids had a great time. I had vests for both of the kids but Wyatt was doing so well trying to float that I decided to let him ditch the vest and go for waterwings instead. He did awesome! There was a lazy river and Wyatt insisted that he go around all by himself in his waterwings without me touching him. He was such an independent dude and when I would reach out to touch him he would pull away and kept saying, "No Mommy! Wywy do it!". He ended up going around about 6 times all by himself. We were blown away! Callie on the other hand wasn't having it. She wouldn't go in the water deeper than her ankles. She's our overly cautious kid.

After the pool we went to a bbq and played cornhole and drank beer. There were tons of kids everywhere and our runts got tuckered out really quickly. Wyatt was so cute when he introduced himself to one of the little kids he had never met before. He ran right up to her and said, "Heyo! I Wywy!" It was just precious!

We didn't get to stay for fireworks because the twinks were bordering on a double-meltdown. So, we left and stopped by my parents house for a minute and then headed home. By the time we got home, it was dusk and there were fireworks everywhere. Callie was enthralled and kept wanting to see more. Wyatt was a little bit scared but was warming up to them the more he saw. Brent had already bought a pretty good pack of fireworks, so we decided to let them stay up and light some smaller ones off in the backyard. They watched about 10 of them, got bored, and asked to come inside to watch Curious George.

Yesterday we went to the beach for awhile and then grilled out in the backyard. At one point, the kids ran over to the swingset and saw a pile of dog poop. Callie stopped dead in her tracks and didn't know what to do. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "Callie? Did you go poo poo in the grass?"

Callie: (with huge grin on her face) "Nooooooo."

Me: "You didn't?"

Callie: "No, Mommy. Two, free (three), manys! See!"

(Translation: It couldn't have been me mommy. See! There are many turd segments in that pile. Mine don't look like that.)

Brent and I were rolling! And I still haven't shaken, "Two, free, manys!" It's playing on repeat in my head and keeps making me smile. I love it! I think I'm going to refer to piles of dog poop as "two, free, manys" from now on. I dig it.

Oatland Island Wildlife Santuary

We didn't make it to the zoo. It ended up being way too hot to leave the dogs outside all day and we figured that the zoo animals would be hiding in the shade if we didn't make it there the second the gates opened in the morning. So instead, we ventured to this little wildlife park in Savannah and it was actually pretty cute.

These birds are our favorite little guys and there was a whole sanctuary devoted to them. Brent and I call them "trash pickers" because basically, they play in the medians and along the sides of the roads eating garbage and bugs. They are basically equavalent to coastal pigeons but we love them because they are so dirtbally.

This is a precious type of crane because they find their soulmates and stay together for life. It's the sweetest thing ever! I'm pretty sure that penguins and lobsters do this too. Hits that soft spot in your heart!

We saw a cougar and a red fox, a pack of wolves and bald eagles and deer. There was a bunch of other stuff too but Wyatt fell in love with a big white goose who just kept honking at him. (Too bad the goose was only interested in wanting to eat Wyatt's fingers.)

We had a really good time and the habitats for the animals were really big which always makes me feel better. I think that most of them were being rehabilitated. It was a cute park.

Dose of Normalcy

Brent has been home this week and it's just been pure bliss. I mean, I've been sleeping in until 9 almost every morning and waking up to a hot pot of coffee. It feels like spa quality indulgence. When he's not here, I'm way too lazy to make coffee and on the rare occasion that I do, it gets cold before I even have a chance to drink it. A caffeinated momma is a happy momma.

He's also been taking it easy on the work front this week and I have taken full advantage of having him home during the days. I have hit every store and mall known to man from here to Savannah. I don't even need anything but I'm determined to shop until I puke so I don't feel deprived anymore. It's been awesome having some time and personal space to myself.

In the afternoons, I've been hiding out and catching up on some tv. I haven't cooked a damn thing either since he's been home with the exception of a blueberry pie which is, by far and away, our favorite summertime treat up in this piece. (We took the kids blueberry picking over the weekend.) Here's the link to the recipe and believe me, it's a must try especially if you have access to fresh blueberries!

Tomorrow we are headed to the zoo. It's going to be hot as balls but it will be worth it just to get away for a minute as a family. It's been horrible being torn apart for this long. The kids were starting to miss Brent enough to tear up when he spoke with them on the phone. It's been really hard on all of us but hopefully it won't last too much longer. We're just happy he's employed!

If I don't post again before the weekend, I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July! Love!