California meets Carolina

For the past few years, every time I have seen my dear friend, Kelley, one of us has been pregnant.  Since we’re finally both not pregnant, Kelley and her family decided to fly to the east coast and get these babies that have been growing in our bellies to finally meet!  Kelley and I were roommates in Physical Therapy school in Boston and she moved back to California after school.  Kelley and I have talked a lot about how much fun it would be to see our kids interact.  She is braver than I am and loaded up her husband, Eddy, son, Ryan (3 years old), and daughter, Kaitlyn (10 months) and flew for hours and hours to visit us in Charleston for a long weekend.  Man oh man, did we have a good time!  Ryan and Aiden got along smashingly.  Court followed along behind them not matter what they did, except for when he was cuddling with Kelley (who he called mama a few times during the weekend) or when he was trying to hug baby Kaitlyn.  We played in the pool, in the ocean, on the sand, in downtown Charleston, on our bike ride, on our many walks beside the alligator pond, and everywhere in between.  I value Kelley’s friendship so much and it makes it even easier that our kiddos are so close in age.  It’s nice to journey through motherhood with wonderful friend who is dealing with many of the same triumphs (and struggles) as I am.  To the Bayer family, we miss you, come back soon, loveyameanit!

We started off our weekend with the bouncy houses at the Charleston Farmer’s market

Ryan got creative with his sliding

Introducing Kaitlyn to the pool. She was a champ because it was freezing!!!

The cold water didn’t stop the boys from a fierce game of pool basketball

Kelley and Ryan taught Aiden how to play Crazy 8’s

Court stealing some post-breakfast snuggles from Kaitlyn and Kelley

The crew

Bruno got along with everyone and loved his beach trips with the kids

I always love Court’s bionic digging arm (thanks for that one Grandma and Grandpa!)

Court and Ryan in the depths of the sand pit

The girls on the beach (Kaitlyn looks beautiful in her new UNC attire!)

Ryan found a comfy spot under the coffee table

Court saw another opportunity to snuggle with Kelley and took it

Look at these handsome boys

Group hug (Aiden and Court attacking Kaitlyn…with love)

Hide and Seek

“Ready or not, here comes Court!”

“Ahhh, this is the life!”

Thanks for coming Bayer family!

Columbia

A few weeks ago, our family took a day trip to Columbia, SC.  Bubba and Pop had purchased tickets at the Reese Holbrook charity auction to see a USC baseball game.  The connection:  Jennifer Holbrook use to work for Pop in the UNC basketball office.  Her husband, Chad, is now the head coach for the University of South Carolina baseball team.  And, man, are they good.  They are always ranked top 10 in the nation and recently won the national championship. So, we tagged along to see some great baseball (they played Vanderbilt who is also a top 10 team this year).  Jennifer, Chad, and their family friend, Stephanie, were great hosts to us and especially to Aiden and Court. The boys were great during the game – ate chicken on a stick with a smile and then took stellar naps during the game allowing Scott and I to fully enjoy the game!  We had so much fun during the day that we decided to stop by the Columbia zoo for a quick visit before we headed back home to Charlotte.  It was easily the best trip we’ve ever had to Columbia, SC.  Thanks again to Jennifer and Chad for taking such good care of us! And thanks to Bub and Pop for letting us tag along on their trip!

Lunch at the ball park

Naptime

The sweetest couple was sitting behind us and shared their huge blanket with Aiden when he got cold.

We got a chance to hit the Gamecock’s batting cages after the game. What a treat for us and the boys!

Jennifer fitting Aiden with a helmet prior to hitting

This kid loved batting practice!

Pop even threw a few balls to Scotty

Then it was off to the zoo!

Aiden and Court’s first trip to the zoo!

Mother’s Day

On Sunday morning, I woke up to Aiden bringing in a big bowl of strawberries.  He said, “Mama, you are going to be so impressed.  We made you breakfast in bed!”  Scott following right behind Aiden with a tray of pancakes and OJ.  Bruno was right on Scott’s heels to greet me. And Court came toddling behind them all holding the syrup saying, “Rup, Mama, rup.”  Am I the luckiest girl in the world or what?  Lots of love to all the mothers out there, especially Grandma Wolford, Grandma Coulson, Granny, and Bubba.  I hope all you Mamas had an amazing Mother’s Day just like I did.  

Competition

At the age of 33, I never thought that I would be competing in gymnastics in a leotard (that even came with a scrunchie!)  But, a few weekends ago, that’s just what I did.  Ridiculous, I know.  My parents, my brother, Cara, Lindsay, Ryan, and Scott all came out to cheer me on.  How sweet of them to spend so much time of their Sunday afternoons!  I’ve been taking gymnastics since the fall with a group of other “ladies” (most of whom are still in their early 20s). We competed at the AAU competition held at our gym.  I got the gold medal on floor, bronze on vault, bronze on bars, silver on beam, and silver all around.  It was so much fun and made me feel like a kid again.

Thanks for the great photos Dad! And for the gold medal performance (you’re allowed to laugh):

 

Bit of a change

Yesterday, I had a haircut.  I have been growing it for months to donate it to Locks of Love for pediatric cancer. And finally, those 10 inches are gone.  Let’s see if Scott notices when he comes home from London tomorrow.

Before

Any idea how hard it is to take a photo of the back of your hair when you’re alone?

Meet Harry

Aiden and I escorted Court to the passport office yesterday in preparation for an upcoming trip this summer.  I can’t wait for him to forever be immortalized in the international travel world as “Harry.”  For his next passport, maybe I’ll pick a different shirt.  Or just a shirt with a different name.

In person, this really is an adorable shirt from Bub with a picture of one of Court’s favorite books, “Harry the dirty dog.”

 

Rainy days

It has been raining here, a LOT recently.  So instead of staying inside 24/7, we’ve been making good use of the rain jackets and rain boots (Aiden’s were a gift from Granny/Granddaddy and Court’s are hand-me-downs from when I was a girl thanks to Grandma Wolford).  Let me tell you, Aiden and Court are now addicted to wearing their rain boots, whether it is at the dinner table, for a ride in the wagon, or with their pajamas upon first waking up (as they did this morning).

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos…the iphone in the rain leaves a little to be desired, but you get the idea

Lover boy

Court has a little girlfriend at school.  Her name is Evie.  Ask him who his girlfriend is, and Court says, “Ewie” and just smiles.  She’s a good girl.  We approve.

Race to the top

A few weekends ago, Scott raced to the top of the Duke Energy Center which is one of the huge skyscrapers uptown.  It is basically a race up 50+ flights of stairs.  He did it in about 8 minutes and came in 17th out of over 500 people.  Impressive, very impressive.  Even more impressive to me is that two girls beat him, one of which was 57years old!  But this post is about my amazing husband…way to go Scotty!