Catching up...

Things have been a little hectic (per usual) here. We've been spending most of our time either chasing Liam around or trying to plan/make decisions regarding our kitchen remodel. We're not changing the layout of the kitchen, or getting new appliances, but we are getting new cabinets and counter tops. I am looking forward to the final product but definitely NOT looking forward to the chaos that not having a functional kitchen will cause during the transition (among other things like re-locating breakables in a house with 2 kids).

I will post before and after pictures when we're done, but until then here are a few other pictures from the past few weeks. Note the bump and bruise on Liam's forehead in the bathtub picture- one of the casualties of cruising...







Liam had a check up yesterday. He is 8 months, 21.7 lbs and just under 28" long. Looks like he'll catch up with Abbi Kate soon.

We've also registered Abbi Kate for pre-school next year. She'll be in the 3 year old class. Here in VA, the cut off date for starting school is September 30th. That means that as long as you're 5 by September 30th, you can start that year. In every other state we've lived in the cut off date has been September 1st. So, Abbi Kate is being "held back" when before it wasn't really something I'd considered since I'd always planned on her starting Kindergarten at the same time (age wise) that I still plan on her starting Kindergarten (her birthday is Sept. 13th). We toured the school last week and she is beyond excited.

Under the Sea...

We finally got around to ordering our photopass pictures from our trip to Disney. We ordered a lot of them in hard copies, but purchased one as a download. Here is Abbi Kate with her favorite Disney Princess, Ariel. (It should be noted that Jasmine is a close second.)

Éire go Brách

Anyone who knows anything about Shawn, knows that he loves all things Ireland. So, when by accident we had Liam in an orange shirt and pulled out the festive green shamrock bib, Shawn had to get a picture. I thought it'd be best to take it before he ate and got messy, and that is where things went downhill.

Have I mentioned that Liam is even more strong willed than Abbi Kate and while he doesn't get upset very often he is very adamant about his food and his toys. In Liam's world, those are things you don't mess with, just so you know.




That same day we'd made a trip to Babies R' Us and Abbi Kate found some Buzz Lightyear pajamas in the clearance section. When we got back home she changed into them immediately and insisted I take her picture....

Hook 'em?

Mack bought both Abbi Kate and Liam some Navy gear, and we had Abbi Kate model her t-shirt. She stood on the bed and as soon as we said we were taking a picture for Mack, she immediately said, "Hook 'em Horns!"

Back Story: We taught her that a few years ago to be funny since she was born in Texas. During football season, every time she sees the Longhorn symbol she starts saying it and doing the hand sign. One afternoon Mack was here and caught her doing that and told her "No, no Hook 'em Horns." She was skeptical but went along with it, especially when he said, "Hook 'em Horns in the air," raising his hand, followed by "down in the ground," putting his hand down. That became a simple "Hook 'em Horns in the ground." It wasn't long before she caught onto him and told him "No, Mack! No Hook 'em Horns in the ground!"

So, here's Abbi Kate in her Navy shirt (and Hello Kitty biker style gloves courtesy of H&M).

Someone is Crawling!

I may or may not have mentioned it, but Liam started crawling recently. It started out innocently enough, he'd raise up on all fours and fling himself forward. After a few days of that he implemented a modified version where he would go a few "steps" and then fling himself if needed. And then the real fun began. He now is crawling non stop and if he knows you're coming to get him and wants something (take a shoe for instance since that is something he seems to always go for) he turns on the speed. And EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. Needless to say, the past week or two has been fun. Each day he gets faster and better and now, if he's got anything to do with it he's pulling up on his toys and on me.

Dear Liam,

You are 7 months old. Stop trying to grow up so fast!