Summer Fun

Wally's cousin Virginia visited us for a morning. We had a lot of fun playing and talking. We're glad we got to see her before her next assignment, Germany. She insisted that we'd be welcome to come visit. I'm imagining a long plane flight with 2 toddlers. yikes! Wally has half a mind to try it out if we ever have the money which is unlikely, so I guess I don't have to worry too much. I'd love to just be teleported there.

I can't help it. It's not even August, but I'm getting the Clemson football itch. I just can't wait for the season to start. We've started prepping our kids by teaching cheers. Alden looks at us as if we've lost it, but he sure does love wearing mommy's hat.

Styling daddy's old tie. We decided Alden really needed a better option than Rhianwen's necklaces to wear around his neck. I have to admit, at this point Alden prefers the beads over the knot.

We just watched Mary Poppins (or "Mary Pompins" according to Rhi) and she's been dancing around the house wearing her apron, hat, glasses, and carrying her "umbrella". She kept asking me where her umbrella was and I kept saying, "Rhianwen, you don't have an umbrella." But she kept insisting, so I finally said, "Where is your umbrella? Can you show me?" and she pointed to the utility closet where the dusters were. It's a good thing I have an imagination too, or I don't know if we'd have ever figured it out. Of course, maybe she's thinking of the chimney sweep tools and doesn't know what to call them...hmmm, that makes more sense now.

Chim chiminey chim chiminey chim chim cheroo...

Rolling the hall...I didn't think you did stuff like this until you were in college.

Despite his sister's helmet, Alden is absolutely thrilled to be trying out the balance bike.

Enjoying her "crib" in the grass.

I don't know why she felt the need to tell me she's old enough. Maybe I had said something about someday when she's older, she'll be able to climb trees. But it's not like I've been preventing her. We've recently read quite a few books with characters who climb trees, so logically she decided to try it out. She did get higher after I stopped videoing.

Looking to make sure Alden is ok after a fall.
I don't know why summer blogs constitute a lot of pictures and little text. But probably no one minds!

Happy 1st Birthday Alden!

It's not the Eagle, but it's still fitting for July 20th.

Our little happy guy is one. He's been a sweet affectionate blessing from day one and certainly has lived up to his name as an old friend or protector. Old in that it's hard to remember life without him and we wouldn't want it without him, friend because he just loves to be interacting with people, and protector because he will still wake up in the middle of the night to check on the family and because he screams bloody murder when Rhianwen is behind closed doors experiencing correction by her firm mommy or daddy (you can laugh; it's supposed to be funny).

We had a small celebration with family at Pullen Park (our tried and true park for celebrating birthdays). We rode the carousel, train, boats, and ate a big picnic lunch followed by a lopsided airplane cake made by mommy (let's just say I'm not going into business any time soon).

"Now this is serious fun."

Multi-tasking with a graham cracker on the carousel.

Alden was not the only one having fun.

Aunt Clara and Uncle Brooks fresh from Uganda.

Alden threw out tradition and opened gifts before cake.

"My favorite! Paper!" It ended up being a cool little zebra from Uganda from Aunt Clara and Uncle Brooks. You knew he loved it when Alden said, "Baa!" (his universal animal sound) and stuck it in his mouth for a chew.

Nanny Kim made a fun sock monkey for Alden. He promptly tried to remove its scarf so that he could wear it (Alden LOVES to wear things around his neck and normally has one of Rhianwen's necklaces on all day long). We need to find that kid some mini-ties or something.

Alden didn't seem to realize the cake was food, but instead wanted to crumble it and sprinkle it onto the ground. This is the kid who swallows pebbles, eats sidewalk chalk, and crunches crayons to make fabulous colored drool. I finally had to stuff a bit of cake into his mouth before he caught on.

I think it's funny to guess whose feet are whose in this video.

Tasty!

Sunday we enjoyed a fun video call with Uncle Robeson, and on his actual birthday, we sang once again, read all of his birthday cards to him, and gave him our gifts.

He loves the toy push mower for outside...just wait until he finds out it's a bubble blower too.

Can you guess whose new favorite toy the Twilight turtle is? His big sista's. We're hoping it'll help once he starts a big-boy bedtime routine (aka no nursing).

Happy to be holding PaPa and Greatmama's card.

We got him a Playmobil car, motorcycle, and airplane (the 1 2 3 series for babes...no choking hopefully) to help him enjoy his new cool playrug from Grandmama and Grandaddy. It's a big hit!

I find it strange that each child has a different prayer focus, but early on I've prayed specifically that my little man would find Jesus to be his ultimate joy and satisfaction always and that all his life he will be loved and feel loved by those around him.

Balance Bike

A special visit

We had a special time with Uncle Robeson and Aunt Natalie who came to Grandmama's and Grandaddy's for a visit all the way from CA!

Alden was really spooked when he thought he heard daddy's voice and turned around and saw Uncle Robeson instead. It took about the entire rest of our stay for him to get used to it. Alden and Rhi had a blast getting to spend time with Robeson and Natalie, and so, in fact, did we. We enjoyed playing with FP little people, swimming, croquet, swinging, and visiting the Bush n Vine for those awesome peaches. Thanks for giving us such a fun time R & N!

"I say dear sister. That's a jolly good shot. Jolly good."

Swinging.

Once home, we settled back into the mild chaos that has become the norm. We've been reading about the creation in Genesis and decided to make a creation mobile to go along with it. Rhi loves crafts now and I try to do at least one a week. I've found that there are all kinds of washable paints to be had.

Rhianwen painting the sun and Alden joining in with a pen and paper to help him feel involved in the whole process (he'd just eat paint if I let him try his hand at it now).

Our mobile- Day one: prism for light, Day 2: the water and clouds for division of waters/firmament, Day 3: the flower for plants and the painted globe for earth, Day 4: painted moon and sun and star-shaped beads for stars, Day 5: foil fish colored with sharpies and textured using webbing from an onion bag and a flamingo for birds, Day 6: creeping thing (a caterpillar made out of an egg-carton and pipe-cleaners), more animal puzzle pieces for the animals, Adam (lego-man), and Day 7: a collage of all of creation drawn and painted by Rhianwen with the word REST at the top. (I hope I got the days straight on here...hee hee. My mind is really gone right now. I've got too much going on to even remember that much!).

When a friend asked Rhianwen who the man was on the mobile, Rhi said, "Sammy!" (which is her name for the lego-man).

I would have had a riveting video of Rhianwen on her balance bike coasting and "not falling!". But my computer is being hateful and uncooperative. She's been motivated by watching the daily the Tour de France videos. She's gotten so good that I've started making her wear her helmet.

Next up: Alden's birthday celebration. He's been working on bruising and scratching his face all up for the event...he even has an imprint of the bottom of a lego on his cheek from where he fell on it today. His one year old well-visit is going to be quite interesting!