Sweet Bruno

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Scott and Katie

Brylands Weekend

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Scott and Katie

The “Brylands” are a combination of The Brady family (Chad, Iman, Carter, and Caroline) and The Ryland family (Jay, Sandy, Gus, and Max). The Brylands live in Charlotte but on the outskirts and on a weeknight it could take us an hour to get there after work. So, we never see them. We decided it would just be easier to inundate ourselves with each others company for an entire weekend. And what better place to visit? Bub and Pop’s mountain house! We totally invaded Bubba on her summer vacation. We also invaded Granny and Granddaddy’s farm (luckily Aunt Cheryl and Grandma and Grandpa Wolford stopped by for a visit as well). We played in the pool, played on the farm, rode bikes, cooked yummy food, and enjoyed good the company of good friends. Those Brylands will keep you laughing! The kids were all great and got along wonderfully well. Aiden kept calling himself “the Red Ranger” (from the Power Rangers, which he has never seen) since he was the oldest kid. Can you tell we gave him some pep talks about being a good influence on the younger kids? And Court just loved making the other kids laugh at him and his silliness all weekend long – that one is such a ham. Thanks for letting us invade Bub and Pop! And thanks to the Brylands for making the trip!

Dance Party!! Scott and Caroline (AKA Ginger as coined by Scott). By the end of the weekend, all the kids were calling Caroline Ginger 🙂

Court and Aiden dancing to “I like to move it” in a blur

Carter’s dance moves

On The Farm of Three Sisters

Granddaddy took everyone on a hay ride! He is such a cool dude.

Gator rides

Gus picking veggies in the garden

Caroline was so proud of her tomato and held onto it continuously for about 5 hours until she squished it by accident. So sad!

Carter tried to pick anything in sight – whether it was ripe or not. An inpatient farmer, that one is.

Court and his yellow squash which he ate at dinner and actually liked!

Blueberry pickers

Selfies on the gator

The more responsible gardeners (Cheryl, Bub, Scott, Angus the dog, Granny and Granddaddy)

Aiden lounging in the pool

Hotel Williams

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Scott and Katie

This last week was a series of wonderful reunions with old friends. On Monday evening, my dear friend, Sarah (a fellow UNC cheerleader) came to town with two of her kids, Will and Charlie. Aiden and Court loved meeting them (and so did I!) We had a sleepover with them on Monday night after an evening at the pool. Our other partner (cheerleader) in crime, Mindi, also came over to swim and visit along with her kids, Addison, Grant, and Carson. It was a fabulous evening! All the kids were so well behaved and made everything so easy on us. Thanks for making the trip Sarah!!

We wrangled the kids to sit still for one second before they jumped back in! Charlie, Aiden, Will, Addison (you go girl!), Carson, Court, and Grant.

Sarah, me and Mindi. UNC Cheerleading never looked so good!

Of course, we had to reminesce about the old days.

Of course, we had to reminisce about the old days.

Teaching Charlie shoulder stands

Stories before bedtime. Can I just say that Scott is an amazing story teller – he had these kids in stitches!

Then on Friday afternoon, the Fredericks came to stay the weekend with us from Chapel Hill. It was nice to have their undivided attention for the whole weekend since we normally only see them for short snippets when we go to Chapel Hill. We were able to celebrate Jocelyn’s birthday with her on Friday with a pizza and ice cream party at the pool. Charlie and William came to swim and Dave, Jenn, and MacKenzie also stopped by to visit. Such a fun evening with great friends!

Baby MacKenzie and her first pizza!

Carson and Brad

Ben and Scott

Aiden and Sawyer

We went to Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville on Saturday morning. It’s like a huge petting/feeding zoo where you ride a wagon (or your car – yikes) through the animal enclosures. Tyler, Melissa, and Baby Trey (only 3 months) old were visiting from Kansas City as well so they came along too.

Carson, Ben and Court ready for the wagon ride

Aiden and some camels

Court and camels

Katie, Aiden, and Court with the lemurs

This ostrich meant business. We had to hold onto those buckets tight!

Court, Charlie, and William holding on for the ride

Tyler, Melissa, and baby Trey – look at that cutie! He is such a chill little man.

Thanks to everyone coming into town the same weekend for a big ole reunion! Hope we can make this a yearly event!

Yellow necklace

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Scott and Katie

At the local YMCA pool, you have to pass a swim test to get a yellow necklace in order to go down the water slide. Court was super brave and tried to pass but didn’t quite make the full 5 seconds on his back float. But we were both super proud of Aiden who did pass! Way to go Junior! Let me tell you, he wore that slide out!

Court

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Scott and Katie

When Court gets in trouble, he tries to immediately do something nice in order to cover his tracks. So tonight, he was misbehaving. After disciplining him, I noticed he had an eyelash under his eye. I picked it off and told him to blow it off and make a wish. He did and then told me that he made a wish for me! He sat there beaming proudly and said, “I wished that you were a better mommy than you are now!” Gee. Thanks, Court.

July 4th

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Scott and Katie

Aiden was the first in our family to celebrate the 4th this year with a parade with his class at preschool. Isaac’s Mom and Dad brought in a bunch of military shirts (since they are both in the military) for the kids to dress up in. They decorated shakers, made a flag, and paraded through uptown Charlotte. Aiden was pumped because he got to carry the flag!

On Thursday before the 4th, we meet Uncle Mike, Aunt Cara, Lindsay, and Ryan in Kannapolis for the symphony, picnic, and fireworks.Afterwards, Aiden and Court had their first sleepover with their cousins. Scott and I were not invited! I thought for sure we’d get a 2am wake up call with one of them wanting to come home but they made it all night and didn’t want to come home in the morning! Thanks Mike and Cara!!

Court, Lindsay, Aiden, and Ryan riding the train around the park before the symphony

Aiden and Court brought ear protection so the fireworks weren’t so loud. Note that it is still light outside…the boys were prepared early for the noise!

Lindsay and Court playing with our new friend, Caroline.

The symphony was great – lots of patriotic music and the kids marched right along.

Then we brought out the glow sticks

This was the scene the morning after the sleepover - three dirty boys in a tub!

This was the scene the morning after the sleepover – three boys in a tub!

For the actual July 4th weekend, we went to the mountains to see Scott’s family and my parents. We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their house since Grandma is recovering from some surgery (Go Grandma Go!). We also got to see Granny and Granddaddy, Uncle Larry and Aunt Sandy, Aunt Kimmie, Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Ken who all came to Bub and Pop’s mountain house for swimming and a cookout. Later that night, we went into downtown Hendersonville to dance to the music at the street party and watch some fireworks.

All set for the 4th of July parade through Kenmore Country Club (where Bub and Pop’s house is in Flat Rock)

Kimmie and Duncan came too!

Court and a festive Duncan

Dancing to the band downtown

This year was Court’s first year watching fireworks. He kept saying “This is just amazing!” He was so excited about the day that he was exhausted and fell asleep in the car on the way home (almost 3 hours after his normal bedtime). When we got back to Bub and Pop’s, Scott set him on the potty before getting him to bed (since he drank an enormous lemonade). This was how he closed out his July 4th.

Ladies Man

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Scott and Katie

In case you can’t understand what he’s saying from his little voice, he is claiming that all the girls in his class want to marry him.

Wild Dunes Weekend

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Scott and Katie

Ahhh, summertime at the beach! No shark attacks – check! Boggie boarding – check! Huge holes in the sand – check! Pruney fingers from too many hours in the pool – check! Smiles and laughs galore – check!