Nap time

William has been having a battle with afternoon naps. I know he's tired, but the blessed child 5 days out of 7 will just not nap....unless we get in the car. This is a picture of a trip to Costco. The kid fell asleep literally 1 minute before we pulled into our parking space and couldn't be roused for all the world. He slept peacefully all through the store amusing shoppers and clerks all around us. We've finally moved his bedtime back so now he's past his waking up at 5am gig, THANKFULLY. Now, if only we could get this nap time mess worked out... though shopping with a sleeping William definitively has its charms!

a little sillyness

These were William's favorite pajamas about a year ago. I was careful to hide them anytime I got out the boxes of outgrown/too big clothes so that he wouldn't see them. Cameron has finally grown into them. William just about had heart failure when he saw Cameron in them and insisted on getting to wear them the next morning. They barely made it below his knees, but he lovingly wore them all day. Silly boy.

It's amazingly difficult to get a picture of both boys. They're both so quick!

Cameron walking along. I love his little strut, and just wanted to capture it.


Cameron was eating piggy-style and I tried to catch it, but he caught me first. Later in the video, William comes to sit by me and is watching Cameron through the screen which is why he keeps saying "that's 'Cannon'".


A few of Cameron's words. They're difficult to hear, but he's sure adorable. His first word (besides 'momma') was 'amen'. This was likely the result of saying 'amen' 100 times after every prayer trying to get William to say it. William is just sassy like that. He'll say the whole prayer (with daddy's promptings) but then just smile when it's time for 'amen'.

It's a Boy!

20 Weeks

*will post the much sought after belly shot later*

We find out what gender the baby is on Monday. Cast your ballots now.

NC

We've just returned from another fun and adventure filled trip to the outer banks of NC. Nathaniel has family down there and it's always great to get to go see them. We all enjoyed Aunt Susan's delicious cooking and the staple boat ride out to the light house (William especially). William was in heaven wrestling with all of his boy cousins! Hopefully next time he'll be old enough to continue in the fun without biting though *sigh*. The drive down and home were a bit rough on the kids, actually Cameron mostly. William was a really great traveler this time! Who is this kid? Oh yeah, he's the kid who has recently dropped his nap and now wakes up at 5am! Well, I guess I'll take what I can get. A quiet car ride from a 2 year old was an unexpected and welcome surprise. Maybe next year Cameron will be a bit calmer too. It was so fun to see so much family (and meet so many of our blog stalkers, Hi!). Everyone instantly recognizes Nathaniel and which family line he is from. Yes, he is the spitting image of his father.
Anyway! Enough chit-chat, here are the fun pictures. There are TONS. I can never resist posting pictures of beautiful people and places.

Dang, he's cute!

Playing in an old boat. A rare smile AND look at the camera combo.

High tide (or as some on the Island say "hoy toyd"). You should be seeing a road in between Nathaniel and those wooden posts.

On the boat out to Cape Lookout.

Sweet baby. We woke him up early from his nap to make the boat.

Stopping to look at the wild horses.

The triplets. Guess I just need to make Nathaniel a matching hat too.

Nathaniel insisted on doing a super-model shoot of me (please, hold the hysterical laughter). I suck at posing, clearly. This was the most felicity-approved picture of the bunch.

William, with his self-imposed 5am wake up calls, just wanted to lay down and play in the sand. Poor kid, we kept dragging him all over to see all there was to see.

Cute picture of my William and a good shot of the hat that I made for each boy. William adores all things pirate so my hope (and accomplishment!) was that he'd actually wear a hat it if just had a pirate flag on it!

William winding down. He was asleep as soon as we sat down on the boat, less than 10 minutes after this shot.

I was so busy trying to get a shot I liked here that I didn't realize that William was watching me the whole time he was walking along to the boat. He's my dear mommas boy.

The Cape Lookout lighthouse is celebrating its 150th anniversary. At night they've been lighting it up. Nathaniel's Uncle Joel took us out to get pictures of it. Thanks to Joel's camera tips we were able to capture this. So cool!

Nathaniel, the boys and Grandma Jacque.

Me, the boys, Jacque and Ike (not to forget little gigi who both my boys terrorized the whole time.).

catch up

Last week the boys and I met up with some friends to go out for a hayride and to pick pumpkins. I love Fall!! The most exciting part was certainly the hayride. The pumpkins were huge, but I think cheaper at the grocery store. It's all just the novelty and it was fun, so it was worth it. William was in heaven just staring at the tractor pulling our wagon the entire time.

A rare blog sighting of me (and with both the kids!).

Hunting for the perfect pumpkin.

Checking out that tractor.


Last weekend I set out on my first adventure longer than 4 hours without either kid! I drove up to visit my sister Charity in NYC. We had planned on spending our Saturday catching a matinee but instead decided a trip to Ikea and Costco was more worthwhile for a poor sister without a car. It's pretty hard to haul a new bookshelf or Costco sized groceries on a metro! She's well stocked up now, and my legs were feeling the results of hauling all her new loot up to her 4th floor apartment for several days.
Charity striking a pose at the Ikea wharf (posh, huh?). If you look right below her left hand in between the buildings you can see the Statue of Liberty.

I have never seen a 2-story Costco before. So cool, but a pain with the MASS amounts of people. To get to the alternate floors you take an escalator. On the way up, the cart goes with you, but on the way down carts have their own ramp. It's really incredible how they move like that. How lame am I, but I was totally interested in how these things work.

Ugly pose... but whatever.

After our adventures in NY, Charity drove back down with me and helped me with my own Ikea and Target runs. Yay for a new entertainment center and new curtains!! We LOVE when Charity comes to visit. She is never allowed to move farther away than NY.

Miscellaneous videos for Amber and grandparents. Nothing too exciting, just the kids in action.

At the park with the boys.

What is more fun than bubbles in the bath?

Fall

I LOVE the Fall weather. I love bundling up, feeling the cold tickle my nose, and the smell and sound of the fallen leaves. The best part today though, was watching my little boys jump and run through the big piles of leaves. Such sweet boys!

(Cameron is at the tail end of a cold- please ignore his snot in EVERY picture.)