Saturday, June 28, 2008

Our Weekend in Pictures (updated with short videos)

We loaded up and went to Albany this weekend. Allison celebrated her 2nd birthday and the Soles' came up. We got to love on precious Grant! We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends.

Allison's 2nd Birthday and 6 week old Grant

Thursday, June 26, 2008

lovely flowers


The other night all of the girl neighbors were out talking and we were admiring the flowers on the mailbox down the street. We were all saying how we wanted to do it, but thought we'd be copycats. :) So, we all together decided we are going to copy so our street will be lined with pretty hanging flowers. I went to walmart tonight and got my $6.88 hanging basket and $6.50 flowers. I really like the way it turned out.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Cleaning Sippy Cup Parts


I have never done a works-for-me wednesday post before because I could never think of anything. But, Monday I thought of the perfect thing to share.

When Bryan was drinking out of bottles, we always had a stash of Dr. Brown's cleaning brushes. ($3.99 for 4 and they last a long time.) They made it so easy to clean all of the little parts. Once he started drinking out of sippy cups, I found that they are WONDERFUL for cleaning all of their little parts. The bottle brush just couldn't reach all of that dried up milk.
The brushes also work wonderfully on the straw type sippy cups.


For more helpful tips visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

Monday, June 23, 2008

22 months and growing

We have had a crazy couple of weeks! Sug and Pops came to visit two weekends ago and we had a wonderful time with them! We celebrated Penny's birthday, went to an antique auction, played outside, and ate good food. We had a wonderful time and can't wait for them to visit again. Towards the end of their trip I, Jamie, got sick :( Saturday night my nose clogged up and by Sunday night I had a fever. Talk about fun! Bryan had had a runny nose and I thought I had just caught a cold from him, but was hoping it was allergy. I guess it turned into a full blown sinus infection. Matt stayed home from work to take care of me and keep Bryan fed and happy. What would I do without him!?!? Thankfully we are all better now!

Last weekend we celebrated Matt's second Father's Day. We went to the early service at church so we could have a whole day together. Bryan and Matt have really bonded and it's so sweet to watch. (Bryan especially likes it when Matt turns on TobyMac's CD and let's him jump up and down on the bed!)

Monday we went to Phenix City to visit with Granna and PaPaw. We had not spent time with them for a long time so it was a nice visit! While we were there Bryan got new tennis shoes! He is now wearing a size 7 1/2! Just a couple months ago he was in a 6 1/2.

B and I had planned to come back home on Wednesday, but Mary Lynn called and said she and Allison were coming up Thursday so we decided to wait so we could see them. Bryan and Allison were so happy to see each other. They kissed and hugged and then chased each other through the house until their...well, i should say Bryan's...legs couldn't go any more. :) I've never heard so much squealing! This weekend is Allison's second birthday and we'll be going down to Albany to celebrate. (We'll also get to see baby Grant!!!) After that, the Englands will be moving to Winston Salem, NC. I am excited for them, but am sad we won't get to see each other very much. Thank goodness for web cams and telephones!

Saturday Matt and I took Bryan to the Birmingham Zoo. We let him roam around by himself for a little while and he did a good job following directions.


The cutest thing to us was when he saw the lions he roared at them. Then he motioned for them to come here. He also wanted the giraffes to come to him too.

After the zoo we went to our new Sonic and got Bryan his first corn dog. I honestly wasn't sure he'd like it because he doesn't eat plain hot dogs. But, he LOVED it! I think it mostly had to do with the breading and it was on a stick. :)

In just two months Bryan will be 2 years old. It seems like from the time he turned one until now time has zoomed on by. The first year seemed much longer. haha He LOVES fruit and calls bananas "me-nas" and apples "appies." Grapes are also appies. So are tomatoes and oranges. haha He learned to put an "s" on things so everything is plural these days. :) Last week I asked him where something was and he said, "I dono." I couldn't believe it! He's said it several more times since.

He has also started answering questions by saying "no". Like, are you ready to get out of the bathtub. "No!" :) If someone asks him if he wants to go, you better be ready to walk out the door at that second. He says "go, go" over and over until you leave. He also does that if you ask him if he wants to play outside. He says, "side."

We are amazed at how fast he's learning things. He can match shapes on the tupperware ball. He knows the color blue and yellow, and we think he knows red and green. He LOVES to dance and tries to sing. He especially likes to hold out the end notes until his little body shakes! I'll try to get a video of that and post it soon. It's HILARIOUS! We might be able to win money for it! :) He cracks us up daily. One funny thing he learned on his own is to pick up our cell phones and turn them around and say cheese. haha! He thinks he's taking his picture.

Bryan is getting too smart for all of his toys. He seems bored with them. I'm sure he is because he's had them for a while. I went to Toys R Us yesterday and got him a big new toy that will probably keep him entertained for about a week. :) He loves it right now. It's the Fisher-Price Learning Home and it teaches him opposites, shapes, colors, numbers, time, etc. So far, I highly recommend it. I'm glad his birthday is soon so he can get more new things to play with. (speaking of recommending, I highly recommend the book he's reading with Matt in the above picture. It's called First 100 Words. Bryan got it for his first birthday. Matt and I would point to things and tell them what they are. Now he can point to them and say a lot of them.)

A new challenge we are facing is that Bryan likes to hit when he's upset about something. He doesn't hit hard, but it's his attitude we don't like. We have introduced him to time out and he does not like it. He's such a turkey because he'll hit me and I'll put him in time out and when he comes out, he hits something. It could be the wall, couch, table, or me again. He's a tester!!! I'm trying my best to be consistent. Also, if something doesn't work like he thinks it supposed to, he'll throw it. If the square peg won't fit in the round hole, watch out! It'll be flying your way.

We love our little man and are excited about his future. He's growing up so fast and is definitely no longer a baby.

Matt and I are good. Matt's staying busy with work. We're always glad when he gets home.

Oh, I do have a question. I'm looking for some good summer reads. Any suggestions?

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Outreach

Read about this awesome outreach opportunity NorthStar Community Church did yesterday! What a blessing for everyone involved!

http://www.wtvm.com/global/story.asp?s=8535951

Friday, June 13, 2008

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Summertime Fun

We had some fun this weekend with Sug and Pops visiting from Albany. Click on to view the album of Bryan playing baseball and splashing in the pool.

SummerFun

Monday, June 09, 2008

Sick

Everyone in our house is sick. Jamie's got a fever, B's got a runny nose, and I've got a headache and a stuffy head.


Yay.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

How He Loves Us

Hayley posted this video on her blog and it moved me so much that I knew I needed to share it with you all. What is your cardboard testimony?

Monday, June 02, 2008

boomin out the stereo system

We've gotten on our web cam a few times to talk to family members. One way to do that is by using these headphones. As soon as Bryan puts them on he thinks he's talking to someone. :)