I had Thursday off work because I had to work over the weekend. And man, did Aiden, Court, Bruno, and I have fun!
We slept in.
Took a lesson in photography.
Explored the Van Gogh Alive exhibit at Discovery Place which was amazing!
Built some skyscrapers.
And somehow ended up needing a change of clothing.
All in a day’s work…while away from work 🙂
On Sunday afternoon, we decided to take the boys to experience a bit of culture. We went to the Charlotte Youth Symphony Orchestra’s spring concert. Those kids were amazing! The boys loved it, or at least the first half. It was very entertaining but a two year old can only sit still for so long, you know?
Our balcony seats
Court got a little too into the photos during the warm ups
Last week, Scott was out of town and the boys and I did a great job entertaining ourselves, if I do say so myself. We had 90 degree temperatures at the start of the week and then a LOT of rain. We actually woke up to a tornado warning Thursday morning and spent a bit of time in the downstairs closet…Scott always misses the fun. Nevertheless, the boys were so well behaved and we legitimately had SO much fun. It’s kind of a crap shoot when Big One goes out of town. I either get perfect little boys or terrific little terrors. Score one for Mom this time!
A wicked water fight to cool off in our heat wave
What to do on a rainy day? SLIME!!
Thanks to Aunt Cheryl for the slime recipe!
We hadn’t had enough messes, so then we painted
When we got restless indoors, we braved the rain with boots and brollies.
A handsome ensemble
I don’t know how to explain the outfit but it seems to work!
On Mother’s Day, I was showered with love as well as wonderful handmade gifts and flowers. What more could a mom ask for?! I am such a lucky mama with a healthy and happy family who show their appreciation for me everyday (even though sometimes they need to be prompted). I hope all the mothers out there felt as lucky and as appreciated as I did on Mother’s Day. I also felt very thankful to have three wonderful mamas in my life. Love you Mom, Bubba, and Granny!!!
We spent the evening of Mother’s day with the Ripples in celebration of Chatham’s first mother’s day!
My mother’s day gift extravaganza
And two days later, we met another new mama in the park for a picnic – Jenn with baby McKenzie!
Me and my crazy boys. Love love love
Court’s vocabulary has really come a long way in the past 6 months. He can carry on a pretty impressive conversation even with people that don’t hear him speak on a regular basis. Since we can now understand what he’s saying, we’ve discovered he’s a pretty funny little kid! Here are some examples:
Court got invited to a birthday “dance” party at the YMCA last week. He said, “A dance party? Like ‘Everybody Dance Now’ dun da dun da dun, like that kind of dance party?” (As he sung to the beat of C&C Music Factory’s 1990’s hit. If you can’t remember it, youtube it, and you’ll be right on board). Hilarious.
Everynight after his shower, Court goes to get on some underroos (because we are finally out of pull ups for both of our boys for all day and all night – knock on wood!) And every night, he says, “I want to wear my boxer briefseses.”
We took Court to the doctor for a cough about a year ago and they told me to give him honey to help it. Now, anytime he sneezes, cough, and burps, he says “I need some honey.”
Anytime we hear a siren, regardless of the actual kind of vehicle, Court says, “I wonder what the emergency is?”
We let Court and Aiden come to the real church service AKA “big church” rather than going to the nursery for the first time a few weeks ago. It’s a contemporary service with lots of music. The choir started to sing a slow song and Court turned to me, excited, and said, “Mama, is this ‘Let it go?'” (from the movie frozen). Sorry, buddy, not quite.
Court’s new favorite food is salad. The kid hates french fries but loves spinach. We’ll see how long that lasts 🙂
Last week, Scott was out of town on business (AKA eating curries all through the city of London and visiting our best London friends, JoAttLotte – short for JoAnn, Matt, and Charlotte Etherington). But that’s neither here nor there. So Grandma Wolford came to keep us company! She kept us busy too! When I got the boys home on Monday afternoon, she had baked cupcakes in ice cream cones and set the boys up to decorate their treats! YUM! Then she and I went to Ikea on Tuesday for a little mother/daughter bonding over housewares. We had so much fun browsing around that huge place. She and the boys played tic-tac-toe until I thought her iPad would break and she read them about a thousand stories. It was great to have you here as always Grandma!
Watching the airplanes take off at the airport overlook after we dropped Big One off for his flight.
Court got the takeoff sounds down pat.
Aiden could have stayed there for hours.
This was the one they deemed “Daddy’s plane.”
Cupcake cones!
A little game of Raccoon Rumpus before dinner.
In early April, the Charlotte Knights (our minor league baseball team) moved into their new stadium in uptown Charlotte. It is really close to the Panthers stadium and is right next to a big green park perfect for the boys to play. The stadium is beautiful and has an even more fantastic setting at sunset with the city in the background. Well done Charlotte city planning! Our supper club went for a game last month and had a blast. Helmet sundae anyone?!
Sunset reflecting off the city buildings
Scott with Jess and Scott Davis with the city behind them
Silly selfie
The view from our $8 seats – not too shabby!!
So I am a little behind on my blog posts; I’m trying to catch everyone up so here it goes.
The first weekend in May was a big race weekend for Scott and me. Scott has been doing the Race to the Top for the past few years. It is a stair race to the top of the Duke Energy building uptown which is over 50 stories tall!!! They had a huge television screen set up so the boys and I got to watch Big One climb up those stairs and cheer him on from the outside. There was an individual and a team race. Scott’s team won first place and Scott took 10th place! We were so proud of him!
Bagels make all morning races much more exciting
The boys screamed at the top of their lungs when they saw Big One on the big screen!
I think this is the 26th floor
and still running up the stairs
This is the top, however. Scott is in the front of the TV screen somewhat doubled over…way to give it your all Big One 🙂
The boys loved watching the firefighters put on all their gear to race to the top. Amazing
Yep, can’t even get the whole building into the photo
The celebration afterwards
Later that afternoon, Aiden and I went to watch Lindsay in her softball tourney. We got there at just the right time to hang out with Lindsay a bit before the game started and got to cheer her on through some of her game before heading home for dinner. So proud of that girl! Such an athlete with a wonderful coach (my brother, Mike)! They ended up winning her tournament too! Way to go Lindsay!
Let’s go 12!
Aunt Cara treated Aiden and Ryan to a slushy – Aiden’s first and he loved it…can you tell?!
Aiden and Ryan playing in the dirt. True boys 🙂
Playing in the playground on the way out to the car for a hot second
Aiden’s first selfie with blue lips and all.
The next morning, I got up bright and early at 4am for my big triathlon of the year. I have never done a long tri before, only short sprint ones. So I decided in my 35th year of life that I would give an Olympic Tri a try! It was so much fun. I hate open water swims (i.e. in the lake versus in a pool) but this was my first one with a wetsuit and man, do you fly in those things! Might be my most favorite purchase of the past few years. Anyhoo, it was a beautiful day for it with perfect weather. The boys somehow found me on the bike to cheer me on and then again 3 times during the run and they all ran to the finish with me! So sweet! They were screaming “Go Mama” so all the other fans started screaming “Go Mama” for me too! So fun! I finished just under 3 hours which was well under the goal that I had set for myself. I gave it everything that I had and had no injuries – score! I finished 2nd in my age group. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty proud of myself and expecting Sports Illustrated to call anytime for my cover shoot until I realized that there were only 4 competitors in my age group. Talk about taking the wind out of a girls sails.
My medal and my 2nd place prize – a visor. Eat your heart out SI!
Relax…not for this family of four (five if you count Bruno). But as far as our extended friend family goes, there are babies everywhere. Recently, we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with baby McKenzie (Dave and Jenn Kennedy) and baby William (Charlie and Chatham Ripple). Aiden and Court finally have a honorary little brother and little sister who live in Charlotte. Although Aiden likes to play with them both, Court is really the one who is enamored by the babies. Everyday, he picks something out of his room and says “I too big for dis. I give it to baby William. And whenever he is around baby McKenzie, all he wants to do is hold her, kiss her head, and figure out what she eats 🙂 So sweet and curious. He’s a tender heart that Court.
Court holding baby McKenzie for the first time
Aiden was amazed by Jackson instead
Sweet girl looks just like her crazy daddy!
A few weeks ago, my niece, Lindsay, turned 10. TEN! Man that makes me feel old. She toddled down the aisle at our wedding holding my brother’s hand because she wasn’t even old enough to make it down the aisle herself! I mean, she’ll being going to college in less years than she has been alive! Anyhow, I digress. We had a big party for her with friends and family all there to celebrate how amazing she is. Because she is amazing – smart, talented, funny, and a super athlete. All the time, I just kept thinking how beautiful she is! Just look!
Happy 10th Lindsay!! We love you!
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