Turning One is Lots of Fun!!

on sunday we had a little family birthday party to celebrate james' turning one! as you can see...he had a ball. this is just a "sneak peak" of the mauling of the cake.

hanging out with poppy

deuce and uncle evan...two of our favorite uncles!

there is some kind of discussion ensuing here about whether or not the cake was within arm's reach and if so, should they go for it??

big brother enjoying his cupcake

lots of "helpers" when present time rolled around

kurt...still considering a quick getaway with the cake!!

have at it, james!! i would like to title the next following pictures:

HAVING YOUR CAKE AND EATING IT TOO!!

in case ben david didn't already have enough icing on his face

mandatory hosing of after cake mauling

pizza picnic!

tie-dye shirts for everyone...thanks aunt anna!!

Houston...We Have Lift Off!

...and so it begins! james officially took his first few steps on monday and it would appear he has joined the ranks of two vs. four limb movers! his first few steps were a little shakey and appeared to be at a 90 degree angle as he catapulted towards me, but they were steps nonetheless! since then, he has taken a few more and is getting steadier by the minute.

on that note...we are excited to celebrate james first birthday today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!

our "mr. smiles" has grown into quite the little charmer...full of life and energy. he is on ben david's tail all the time and already wanting to do everything his big brother does. he has a few words: bye-bye (accompained with a little wave, if you are lucky), ball, ma-ma and da-da. oh, and likes to echo the "hooting" sounds of the owls on his baby einstein movie.

while starting out as a laid-back, mild mannered little guy...he has rather come into his own over these last few weeks. i am pretty sure he is going to follow in his brother's footsteps in terms of energy level and ability to assert himself quite strongly. needless to say...he is quite able to "fend for himself."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BABY JAMES!!

here are a few pictures of this first wonderful year of life...

just born!

6 months old!

one whole year!

Summer Surprise!

we live in complete suburbia, and i confess...i love that! while one day, it might be nice to not have neighbors within eyesight and acres of land all around...that day is not today. i appreciate the fact that we can get practically anywhere in under 10min. this is crucial in our current stage of life in order to: avoid kids falling asleep in the car prior to naptime, make a quick getaway to my sister house for an emergency "we are all about to lose it over here" playdate, and get to the store for milk and eggs at 5pm without hitting any traffic at all.

that being said, i have also come to appreciate this little "slice" of nature that is across the street from us. the boys and i love our morning jogs around this pond! it has provided many a fun wildlife lesson from animals such as: turtles, fish, bunnies, cranes, geese and ducks.

in the spring, ben david especially enjoyed going to see the "baby quack-quacks." since that time, however, he has been a bit confused as to where all the babies have gone??

SO...we were all especially excited to see these little guys on our run a few weeks ago. they had already gotten so much bigger than the"fluff balls" they started out as before i finally remembered to take my camera with me. enjoy this summer surprise!:)

Party Like It's 1999!! (or rather) Party Like "We Don't Get Out Much!"

our friends, gray and elli got married this past saturday evening and in so doing, afforded all of us an evening of fun, food, fellowship, and yes...

even an opportunity to bust out some CRAZY DANCE MOVES!!:)

amy and i trying to act like we knew what we were doing. we did not.

i continued to embarrass my husband throughout the course of the evening by staying out on the dance floor pretty much the entire time.

just the two of us!

the girls, chatting it up all evening!!

Davis LG Reunion!!

the very next evening, we had the pleasure of hosting the davis life group reunion at our home! here are just a few pics of the crew that came..

quite a large number of us attended the "davis life group" hosted by phil and shanna for some period of time prior to their move to prague where they have since planted a church! http://philnshanna.blogspot.com/. we all reaped so many wonderful benefits from this fun group! for many of us, that included our spouses!:)

phil, ben and mark

(ben and mark were too of the VERY LUCKY men to meet their matches in this LG!:)

paul, jeff and baby piper (who belongs to phil and shanna)

phil and t

(the recently engaged couple...congrats guys!!)

christen, shanna and t

almost all the little peeps....(from the left) ruthie, lucy, piper, clark, ben david (requesting adamantly to hold piper with a very convincing..I DO IT, I DO IT!!) and stella p.!

and finally...thanks to sweet ( and very brave) shanna, ben david got his way!! here he is, holding on to piper for dear life. as he assured us all along...he could "do it!:)"

WE LOVE YOU PHIL AND SHANNA!!

COME BACK SOON!!

Happy 4th from Holden Beach!

we sure have had a wonderful time here at holden beach! ben and i were able to enjoy the first few days all to ourselves while our very gracious parents took care of the boys. it was wonderful to have some time as a couple!

here were some of the more stressful moments during those first few days:

-realizing our chairs were facing the wrong direction on the beach and required rotating to achieve maximum sun

-trying to decide where to eat that night for dinner

-whether to play minature golf or go to a movie

all in all...we had a great time of R&R:

here are a few pics from those first few days:

just call me tiger woods! here we are at the 18th hole... i beat ben for the first time ever in minature golf! shocking, i know, as my husband can pretty much ace any sporting event he tries the first time. i even got 2 holes in one (hole in ones??...golf lingo is beyond me)

romantic, delicious dinner at captain pete's...our favorite!

AND THEN THE TROOPS ARRIVED!!!

we sure missed our little guys and it was great seeing them again. they had a blast at the beach! james tried to eat both sand and seashells at least 50 times in spite of our attempts to stop him. we discovered that he enjoyed "face planting" in the sand on purpose also. ben david loved the "sand pit" daddy dug for him and enjoying stealing other peoples shovels and pails too.

our mode of transportation to the beach

(this does not show that the wagon containing the boys was, in fact, tied to a motorized scooter that ben rode while simaltaneously pulling the wagon behind him.) i was on a second scooter following behind, praying for a safe ride and preparing to jump if necessary to catch anyone who decided to bail last minute.

ben david couldn't wait to get down to the beach!

the cutest little beach bums ever!

lots of fun with marmie and poppie at lockwood folly pool!

hurricane-like wind contributed to our appearance in this shot...

and that's a wrap!:)