Katherine & Harper’s Wedding

On Friday and Saturday, Tim and I celebrated Katherine and Harper’s wedding! Katherine lived across the hall from me freshman year and now we live only 30 minutes apart! The five of us have gotten together often since we moved to Charlotte, so we’ve been especially excited for this weekend.

While Alex would have looked quite dashing in a tux, we chose to leave him with Baba & Papa and take advantage of two date nights. Friday night, I picked Tim up from the airport just before dinner and Katherine’s pre-wedding reception.

College besties – Allison, Katherine and me!

Alex enjoying a picnic with Baba & Papa while Mommy & Dada enjoy a night out.

Saturday night was the wedding and great reception at Dressler’s Restaurant. It was so much fun to have two nights out with my best friends and their guys! Of course, it was even nicer to have two nights out with my hubby – especially before this baby arrives!

We clean up rather nicely, don’t you think?

Amanda and me discussing due dates (Amanda, May 11 and me, July 11)

A quick hug with the beautiful bride before heading home.

Alex spent the evening playing with his new car “whee”, aka slide. No, we didn’t trade Kovu in for a black dog – my parents were puppy-sitting my sister’s dog, Onyx.

Feeding Dinosaurs and Ducks

We spent lots of outdoors time with Baba and Papa last week. I guess we were getting in all the sun we could before this crazy wet weekend we just had.

Alex had a lot of fun showing Baba all his tricks in the back yard. They played games like: 1,2,3 run down the hill, or 1,2,3 run and throw pine straw in the air. We also created a really awesome system of roads and railroad tracks on the patio with sidewalk chalk. I’m so bummed that I didn’t take a picture before the rain washed everything away. At least I did get a picture of Alex helping his dinosaur (which used to be Tim’s) eat a tree:

While waiting for Papa to drive up on Thursday, we explored a park in the neighboring county and stopped by a consignment store for a little shopping. Good thing I always travel with a bag of goldfish, because Alex really wanted to feed the ducks that were following him around.

 

Big big thanks go to my parents for cutting the grass, weed-whacking, pulling up weeds, changing the air filters and generally taking care of Alex and me (and baby!) while Tim was in Mexico! I was relieved to have extra hands around and Tim was glad to have the clover in the backyard cut before our 2 inch rainfall this past weekend!

 

Kings Mountain

Last week, while Tim was in Mexico for work, my parents came to spend time and help out with Alex. We started by meeting them on the NC/SC border at Kings Mountain National Military Park. Alex loved walking the trail and climbing the monuments. After our hike, we brought Baba back home with us. Alex thought it was the best thing ever to have Baba in his car!

Big Boy in a Toddler Bed!

Although our good boy still hasn’t tried getting out of his crib, he is several inches taller than the general guidelines that say it’s definitely possible for him to find a way out. We’ve been talking about putting the toddler rail on the crib since we moved and finally bit the bullet yesterday after Daddy came home. To make the occasion extra exciting, I let Alex eat his snack and juice in the crib while Daddy converted it. Alex was immediately in love and put his trucks to sleep.

Tim and I were both very curious how bed time would work out, as we’ve heard several horror stories. Since we decided to start with the toddler rail, as opposed to a different bed, and left his bedtime routine exactly the same, we had no problems! Tim read Alex his stories, then asked if he was ready for bed. Alex jumped out of the chair, climbed into the bed, laid his head on his pillow, and asked for Tim to pull up his blanket! He was sooo good about it! I watched from the camera and cried like a baby!

I checked him several times during the night and left a soft blanket folded up under the opening in case he fell out. We had no problems! Alex fell right asleep and didn’t wake up in the middle of the night (not that I’m aware of anyway)! In the morning, he called me as usual and waited for me to come get him. I don’t think he even remembered he could get out on his own until I opened the curtain. Now the big question is … how will he do when we move the crib to the baby’s room and give him a “big boy bed”? I think we’ll try that towards the end of May.

Here’s a picture from today’s nap:

Brie, Jared, and the Raptors

Aunt Brie and Uncle Jared paid us a visit over the weekend. Since the weather was beautiful, we looked for something fun to do outdoors, and found the Carolina Raptor Center. We had a lot of fun walking the trails and viewing all the large birds. Alex’s favorite (just like his Daddy and Aunt Brie) seemed to be the vultures. I didn’t take many pictures, but I do have a few to share:

“Whoa … birdies!”

Searching our clover field for 4-leaf-clovers.

On Sunday, we were rather lazy and hung around the house with Aunt Brie and Uncle Jared. We had so much fun with them!

Alex and Daddy showing off their stunts!

I love how he looks like he’s about to turn a cartwheel!

Alex Driving Kovu Crazy

Last Friday, Alex drove Kovu crazy ... literally! We pulled out his PowerWheel and Kovu, who has never liked anything on wheels, must have found it to be quite a threat. Watch this:

We had so much fun encouraging Alex to drive and watching Kovu make a fool of himself. We all slept very well Friday night! Here are a few more pictures of the fun:

Checking under the hood.

We added a cushion to soften the blow - every time Alex hits the gas, he’s jerked backwards.

The Jeep also serves as a jungle gym …

We played “tow truck” for quite a while!

Click here to read the post I wrote back in August when we first brought the Jeep home.

Playing With Food

Sometimes, we get pretty creative when it comes to convincing Alex to eat. It’s not even that he won’t eat – he just prefers a pretty limited diet. Daddy started this trick the other morning with waffles and Alex insisted we continue the tradition with his strawberries and bagel.

Another “let’s play with our food” moment came earlier this week when I finally succumbed to the terrible cold Daddy and Alex had last week/weekend. As beautiful as it was outside earlier this week, I couldn’t bring myself to face the pollen, or even to spend much time off the couch. So … we turned the Mega Bloks table into a construction zone…complete with a big box of stale Cheerios!

I’m so glad my mom suggested this table over my original idea of a cookie sheet on a towel!

Almost every vehicle had a turn with the Cheerios – as did Alex.

At some point, Alex decided Kovu must want Cheerios.

The entire downstairs was covered in Cheerios! Thank goodness for our furry vacuum cleaner!

Diaper Cake

Last weekend, I co-hosted a small baby shower, or “sprinkle” for my friend, Amanda. Since we were eating brunch at a restaurant, we had to keep the decorations to a minimum, but I was insistent on making a diaper cake. Luckily, I had a great helper!

A cool trick I learned from a friend in Wilmington – use a bottle of wine for the center. Barefoot brand is especially cute because you end up with a foot print on the wine label.

My helper, carefully positioning a rubber band.

The finished product!

Amanda’s baby boy will be here in a month!! I can’t wait to meet him!

Papa Art Comes to Visit

Alex woke up from his nap to a great surprise yesterday – Papa Art had come up to visit for the night! Alex had lots of fun running around showing off his toys.

Precious Cookie

Alex loves to go grocery shopping with me for three main reasons:

1. Samples in the produce department

2. Driving the race car shopping cart

3. Cookie!

About half way through our list, he starts chanting, “cookie, cookie” and points down every aisle towards the registers. We almost always go to Harris Teeter for this very reason. They keep a box of cookies just past the register for “kids of all ages”. It’s pure genius – instead of a cookie in the bakery, you keep reminding your child to be good and they get their sweet reward at the end. Alex is always very happy to devour his cookie while I’m loading the groceries in the car and strapping him in his seat. He even bites the cookie into a crescent moon shape and tells me it’s the moon (sometimes he makes a flying bird instead).

The other day was different, and I’m not sure why. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I looked back and saw that Alex had proudly propped his cookie on his window sill.

He left it there for the 4 minute drive back to our house.

He still hadn’t grabbed it until I had come around to open his door. Tim said he must have been testing my driving skills. I sure wish I knew what he’d been thinking!

Being Silly for the Camera

In an effort to get out of the house during last week’s bout of illness, Alex and I walked around the mall, rode the choo-choo, and ate lunch at Chili’s Too. Here are a few fun pictures we took while were waiting on our food.

Hide & Seek

Can you find Alex?

His new favorite place to play is between the back buses and the back fence. He figured out he could get there by following Kovu. Notice that his dump truck is back there with him. Silly boy!

Showering with Trucks

Alex has a new game to play while I shower… he brings in Hess trucks from his playroom and simulates crashes with them on the bathroom counter and in the sinks. I always forget about the trucks, then crack up laughing every time I walk back into the bathroom throughout the day. Yesterday, he got a little extra creative and set up a towing simulation on the edge of the tub:

Cracking Eggs with Papa

Check out Alex learning how to crack eggs with Papa!

Easter 2013

We spent Easter weekend with my parents in Spartanburg. For the most part, PaPa and Tim worked on the patio while BaBa, Alex, and I visited with Aunt Beth and my Grandparents. We also took a trip over to Greenville to see my other Grandmother and Aunt Mary. We were quite busy! Since we wouldn’t be around for Easter dinner on Sunday, PaPa smoked a turkey for Saturday night’s dinner and Aunt Beth made a homemade strawberry chocolate chip cake! Yummy!! Aunt Beth gave Alex bubbles and my parents gave him a Mater shirt (you can see it in the first picture), Cars stickers, and more bubbles as Easter treats.

Luckily, the Easter Bunny was still able to find Alex on Easter morning before heading back home. This year, Alex found my old Easter basket!

I wonder if he remembers playing with that school bus all through Super Target a month ago?

The boys were passed out on the way home – Alex fell asleep with his hand still in the Goldfish bag!

We got home and found more Easter gifts from Grandpa Art & Ms. Karen.

Peeking at the next basket of goodies from Great-Aunt Cyndi. He also got a card from Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Strunck.

Helping me re-stuff the eggs!

Building a Patio

Last weekend, we ventured down to Spartanburg to help my parents with the next phase of their stone patio. You can read about our adventures during the first phase here. Since this phase involved lifting lots and lots of stone pavers, BaBa and I supervised Alex while Tim and PaPa worked way too hard. Alex was a huge help – he collected rocks and moved dirt in his dump truck. I don’t know what the guys would have done without him!