Vivi walks!

(With some help, of course)

Vivian

Here's a quick video of Vivi just....being Vivi.



Conversations with Clay

I had been meaning to do one of these with Clay for awhile. For those of you who are dedicated Across the Pond readers, you might remember the one I did with Carter when he was 16 months old. Clay wasn't talking at 16 months old, so that was out of the question. But, he has LOTS to say these days (at 32 months old).
I do have to say, none of the answers he gives me are truthful, other than the bowling. Well, maybe they're truthful, but not what I would have guessed if you had asked me about him. Btw - he's only tried 'seaweed' once. And he promptly threw it in the trash.

Aunts and Uncles

My Aunt Amy and Uncle Martin came to Dallas for a Southwest function (He's a pilot). We han't seen them since Clay was a tiny baby and it was good to catch up. Aunt Amy has two boys that are the same age difference as Carter and Clay. Her boys are in highschool now, but the personalities between her two and my two are more than a little similar. She's always a good resource for some age advice (and some sanity).

Swimmin' at Uncle D's.

My Dad's younger brother lives only about a block away from them. They lived in Mississippi the whole time all us kids were growing up and we all wanted to live close. But as soon as Jeanie (my cousin) and I graduated high school THEN they moved out to Texas.
My dad and Uncle Daryl are pretty close in age (About 18 months apart) and are both very surprised that they survived 'each other'. Being numbers 6 and 7 of 7 kids, you know, they had to be creative coming up with ways to entertain themselves. This means they constantly tortured each other for their own enjoyment.
Lucky me, they survived, married and had daughters at the same time. Jeanie and I are super BFFs and were the maids of honor at each others' weddings.

We had a fantastic time swimming at their house while we were in TX. If you haven't learned this already, swimming is the best way to wear out kids. They slept like rocks after a good few hours of pool time.

Viv and Granpa

Carter's freckles really started coming out this summer.

Uncle D and Clay

1, 2, 3...go!

Clay and Grandma

Jeanie with Carter

3 generations of women

Chase (Jeanie's husband) and Clay are twinkies.

Somehow I caught the instant before the thumb goes into the mouth

YOU!

Carter and Grandma

Cryin' in the Rain

It has rained here for almost a whole week. And the last 24 hours have been constant. I don't mind the 1-2 hours of afternoon thunderstorms. In fact, they're nice.  But the constant rain, ug. However, the boys have learned that thunder and lightening aren't scary and it makes me feel better about the fact that I'm surfing facebook with a flask of wine in hand cleaning and working on my to-do list and not playing outside.
After a few days of sitting on the front porch and watching it rain, I decided on a whim that they could go play in it. And, for those of you that know me, that's A BIG FREAKING DEAL.

I hate....messes (unless said mess is occupying kids and allowing me more time to surf facebook) so naturally, wet kids falls in that category.
But, I'm a fun mom right?

I can do things that are spontaneous, and FUN! I do FUN! things all the time. Look at me! FUN! FUN! FUN!
So, being a FUN! mom, I told them, "Go ahead, go play in it. Run around! Get wet!"

"SERIOUSLY?!" Carter exclaimed. And they were off.

They ran and played....for approximately 90 seconds. Then, Carter jumped in a mud puddle, got mad because he was 'dirty', and proceeded to cry until I brought them inside. I tried to tell Carter that he can just sit on the porch until Clay was done. But he was being MISERABLE, and LOUD and MISERABLE. I couldn't just send him inside, since he was all wet and muddy. So I convinced Clay to come inside for a bath.
Poor Clay, he just has to 'go with it' most of the time. It sucks being the middle child.

This is very typical Carter. I feel like I force him to have fun. Or maybe it's that he doesn't think anything I try to get him to do is fun. He hates riding bikes, playing any kind of ball (so I'm sure the soccer lessons I signed him up for last week will go swimmingly.) or any outdoor activity. He prefers to watch movies, play any kind of pretend, do a puzzle or beat up his brother.

Well, no singin' in the Rain for my kids...