Late summer, where does it go?

I got a catalog that said Late Summer 2010, and I hear people saying that "s" word alot...school? Already? Macy and I were discussing the topic of where does the time go...and that was over a week ago! Where does the time go? Well, some of it goes to fun! Yes, there are also the days of working inside & out. However, this post is meant to serve as a reminder to me of the fun stuff we've done and answer the question, where has the summer gone?

My aunt, Aunt Big Sister, has invited us to swim with her, which is so much fun and has taken up more than a few days! I think she has made a point to see Carter no less than twice a month since he was born! She brought Granny to his band class this spring or came out here to visit or we went to her house. Carter loves her patio and fountain with rocks in it. (I realize some people don't know the origin of her name, and I love how she got it, well probably because I had something to do with it. She's my mom's older sister, so they all called her "Big Sister" growing up. When I came along, I thought that was her name, so I affectionately added "Aunt" thus you get the whole name, "Aunt Big Sister" and it stuck.) So thanks Aunt Big Sister for our fun relaxing days with you, especially when Jimmy is able to join us!

Another fun thing Carter enjoys is to visit Granny where we watch the firetrucks next door and the trucks, cars and bikes go by on Hwy 231. Watching traffic is quite entertaining and surprisingly relaxing, too. I just hope we never witness a crash. He has to check on the lawn mowers and garden out back before we leave.

Carter enjoys his Bobo & ZZ, Ben & "X" (Ben's girlfriend, Alexis, who Carter thinks belongs with him not Ben). We've been here and there with them, and sometimes they go with us swimming or we just hang out or shoot fireworks...well, that's for another time. For some of the best times,and if you haven't yet been to Lanes, Trains and Automobiles, grab some cash and go! It's so much fun!

Carter also enjoys seeing his Papa & Gram Gram. He's been over there where he loves to feed the birds, and we all enjoyed a good supper for Jimmy's birthday along with fireworks on July 4th!

It's been fun going to the Chattanooga Aquarium, Farmer's Market to get Mrs. Molly's strawberry jam, Miller's Grocery to hear the music and eat supper. Then back here, Carter enjoyed swimming with cousin Hayden. We also enjoyed Uncle Dave Macon Days and many nights just coming home to sit on the back porch and listen to the frogs and crickets.

So over all, late summer is welcome, we've been busy enjoying all the fun summer offers!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We love you!

Father's Day

Father's Day follows the very busy week of VBS. In case you don't realize, VBS is next to Christmas for us. That's why I didn't want Father's Day to slip up on me. I have been thinking for weeks for how to make Jimmy's day special so he knows how much I appreciate him. He really went all out for my combination Valentine's Day~ Birthday~ Anniversary package for our trip to Louisville on my birthday weekend. Mother's Day was sweet, too. He had Carter walk in to our room where I was getting ready and hand me a card with a gift card tucked inside. We celebrated with our moms that weekend, too.

A few weeks ago as I'm brainstorming how his gift and day should be something practical, useful, but something Jimmy wants, too, a thought seemed to be eluding me. What is it that keeps dancing in my head, but not making itself known? Then it occurs to me that I not only have him to think of, but I have a daddy, too! Wow...glad I was thinking on the subject for a while. The gifts, just so you know, were for Daddy Bobo (my dad) a Life is Good shirt, "Father Mows Best." He loves these, and I do, too. I just haven't found one I can't live without. (Future gift idea folks...hee hee!) I got Carter one with a soccer ball on it. He loves balls! For Jimmy I found a replacement electric razor, but included a Starbucks gift card to keep it fun. Jimmy prefers practical useful gifts. Yes, he actually was very happy about it! But that's not all. I wanted his whole day to be good.

I set my alarm for 5:45 a.m. to get up and get ready then make his favorite breakfast of biscuits, bacon & eggs. After church I made another favorite meal for lunch, eggplant parmesan with a side of pasta and sweet tea. Then I baked homemade chocolate chip cookies. (Thanks again, Jen, I'm forever indebted to you for sharing the recipe for these amazing cookies!) I had frozen some coffee in some ice cube trays to make frappucinos. This little snack tasted direct from Starbucks without using the gift card. So all that to say, Jimmy was a pretty happy dad. So happy in fact that in the course of conversation, I asked him, "So what did you do for your dad today?" He got sort of a sheepish look and replied, "What? Well in all this celebration for me I guess I kind of forgot about my own dad...Whoops!" We had a good laugh about that one, and I shared with him my thought process from a few weeks earlier about how I knew I had someone else to remember, but couldn't. I guess having your own child and spouse to think of and show appreciation for takes up quite a bit of time & energy. I'm just really glad Jimmy was enjoying himself; he certainly deserves it. I think he & his dad have lunch plans one day this week. Thanks to Jimmy, Daddy-Bobo and Papa Don for being great dads and granddads! We couldn't make it without you!

Fried Squash and VBS

Does life get any sweeter than fried squash from your garden and VBS? I didn't know it could...

We always sit Carter in his high chair with bib on before we prepare our plates at the stove and then sit down to eat. Tonight as we fixed our plates, we heard him jabbering, rather seriously, and looked over to see what he was doing. He had his head bowed and his hands folded to pray! He was saying the prayer for our supper! I just think that might be the cutest thing he's done yet. Saying "pleasies" for more vegetables last night was pretty cute, but the prayer tonight takes the cake! I'm thankful he's made the connection between fried squash & VBS.

Busy month of May

Wow! Is Memorial Day weekend already here? Where has the month of May gone? I realized it is almost over since "ZZ's" birthday is Thursday and then we have the School's Out Party Friday at Barfield Crescent Park! These have to be a couple of my favorite things marking the beginning to summer! Mama will have chocolate cake, and of course we love to hang out with them, but she will have chocolate cake. Oh, sorry did I already mention that? We also just love BCP (the park) and sharing a meal and spending time with friends there. By the way, Carter can go down all of the slides by himself now! This accomplishment is big to me because it wasn't 2 weeks ago that he wouldn't go down even the smallest one alone. He braved the twisty one all by himself today! He's growing up so fast!

The month has been so busy, and we have something planend everyday for the rest of it! I guess that is what makes time fly by! Jimmy & I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary! Our friends from Orlando, Rachel and Paul, were in around the middle of the month to visit their Tennessee friends, and stayed with us a couple of days. It was Jill's 30th birthday. I was so sad to miss the big birthday celebration because I sprained my ankle on the day of the party. Jimmy helped me rest so I could be ready for our next big week--Sara was home!

We got to see her a few times, and she and I took one big shopping trip to load up for her next adventure--Honduras for 10 weeks! We have some great pictures from the park of Sara & Carter that may get posted by the end of summer since they went with her on her camera. We got to visit with Granny & Aunt Big Sister, and enjoyed getting to eat out a couple of times and then all together at Bobo and ZZ's house. Thanks to ZZ for giving me a pair of tennis shoes she didn't want anymore so I could manage to keep up. I think I owe it to those shoes because I have a full recovery! No more ankle pains!

With the new shoes I have found a rejuvenated spirit to exercise. I had started walking with my friend, Beth, and her son, who graciously share a pew with us on Sunday mornings, along with books, toys and cars to keep the boys occupied during service. Thanks Beth! We just happened to be at the park a few days at the same time, so we decided to start getting in a couple of laps. Well, I thought, I can manage the other 3 days a week on my own to get fit. Another friend shared with me about running in her driveway when her daughter was a baby to shed some pounds. She'd make a lap and check the baby monitor. Great idea! So, here I go outside yesterday at nap time. I laced up my "new" shoes, put on my IPod, propped the monitor in a chair by the garage and set out to do some laps. At some point I felt motivated to do jumping jacks...perhaps it was the shade by the garage or one of my favorite work-out songs. Just as I'm really getting into them I notice a red truck out of the corner of my eye coming up the drive. (I had felt safely out of sight of anyone up to this point!) It was the meter reader! Agh! Yikes! He saw me exercising! I could have crawled under a rock and died! I stopped abruptly and "fiddled" with the monitor out of the way while he checked the meter...oh my goodness...could that have taken any longer? Needless to say, I kind of lost my motivation by then. As he drove away, I managed to push my way through the rest of my playlist to get my time in. Thankfully our walk at the park this morning will count for today, and I still can't believe someone saw me working out! Isn't that the way it goes? Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back out there, but if you're coming to visit, call me first! Hahaha!

Sneaky Sneaky

Remember the butler on Mr. Deeds? The one who liked "to change your socks"? Jimmy and I had a little laugh about his "sneaky sneaky" expression one night last week with Carter. Jimmy was refilling a cereal container, and I was washing dishes. Since I'm with Carter everyday I have recently discovered his affinity for oatmeal creme pies, and his inclination to sneak one if the pantry door is left open for more than 2 seconds. So I have learned to predetermine what I need from the pantry before opening the door, grab it and shut the door quickly. Sometimes this fast maneuver sends Carter fussing into the other over a missed opportunity at retrieving a cookie from the low shelf. Well, the other night as Jimmy half-concentrating on pouring and half-listening to me, which is called multi-tasking, finished with the cereal, he wondered aloud, "Where is Carter?" As soon as he said it, we looked around in time to see Mr. Sneaky Sneaky peer around the pantry door and then trot happily across the kitchen, oatmeal creme pie in hand! He shook it at us to open for him with a victorious grin across his face! "Why you little sneaky sneaky! When did you learn to do that?" Jimmy asked him. Of course Carter just grinned backed...and enjoyed his sweet treat.

The Zoo

Well, I'm not keeping up so well...once a month it looks like. We just get so busy, and then when I have "free" time blogging is either at the end of my "to-do list" or I'm just procrastinating. Today it's me procrastinating because I don't really feel like swiffering the bedroom, which means crawling around on my hands and knees to reach under the bed and all other dark corners. I know I need to do it, but yesterday was so much fun that I would rather share that experience than clean!

We set out for the zoo around 9 a.m., and found ourselves at a nice little zoo safari restaurant on Nolensville Road. Ooops! We entered the wrong address in the GPS. While technology is great, it has it's disadvantages, like human error. Another 20 minutes and we arrived. I couldn't help but wonder the whole time we were there what Carter was thinking. I look forward to when he can tell me. He can make the sounds the animals make, mostly from mimicking his See & Say and us, but he's never heard most of them. He plays with the animal toys everyday putting them in Noah's ark, in the barn and driving them around on the tractor, but he's never even see them in real life. So, I was really getting ancy for him to see all the animals.

I wasn't totally surprised, however, that he seemed most excited to just be exploring a new place and to walk around independent of Mommy & Daddy's hands. I think his 2 favorites were the monkeys and the meerkats, perhaps because they were the most active. The meerkat exibit was right at his level, so that was fun! Carter enjoyed the farm section, too, making all the animals' noises along with them. Of course, I was the one to spot the carousel, so we put Carter on not knowing if he'd like it or not. Well, the verdict is in: he is like his Daddy. He hated it, and I ended up just holding him as we went 'round and 'round. After touring the Africa exhibit we got our choice of any picnic table under a huge shade tree in the middle of a huge lawn. We and 3 other groups were all that were there...wow! Jimmy & I love going places on off-days! It was so quiet! We ate a tasty lunch we packed at home. When we finished, Jimmy and I headed one way, and Carter headed the opposite direction toward the birds, nearly running and flapping his arms! We went in, and they swooped all around, scared of the hawk overhead. There is a metal net to keep them in, but they didn't know. The birds' screeching made it so loud in there, but Carter loved it! We then walked over to the Savannah area. While the zebras, eland and ostriches were really interesting, we just had to have some Dip'n Dots. The "ice cream of the future" was more a treat for Mommy & Daddy, but Carter enjoyed it, too. He had a lot of fun walking around the bamboo paths through the China section and occasionally spotting some of the animals. He really got excited about the red panda. Nothing crazy or extraordinary happened, but just enjoying a beautiful day with our family was so relaxing and so much fun! I hope we can go again soon!