SWINGING

Murphy is just big enough to sit in the swing outside. He LOVES it and it is nice to be able to put him in there and give my arm and hip a break from carrying him around all the time because he is HEAVY- 17 pounds to be exact!

INSANITY Sweat

OK! So I have completed month 1 of "INSANITY". As I said before it is VERY hard and I sweat like crazy- just look at the photo above. I have only lost about 3 pounds (BOO HOO) but I have definitely lost some inches which is much more important to me. My knees and hips are a little achey by the end of the week from all of the plyometrics and power moves but what do you expect at my age! I am a little nervous for month 2 because the workouts are longer and harder- UGH! Wish me luck.

Tacky Tuesday

This is "RED RIBBON WEEK" @ the middle school and TUesday was "TACKY" day. This is the outfit and hair-do Carson came up with. Quite lovely isn't it!?

The time has come

Now that Murphy is 6 months old it is time to start feeding him solid food. Most people start much sooner but I am too lazy. It is much easier to just deal with bottles. He does seem to enjoy his cereal and fruit but he does get messy!

Super Moves

Brett is still a big fan of Super Heros and he is always running around pretending to slash, smash, punch, kick and devastate the "Bad Guys". Here he is in action punishing some invisible menace.

Fall Foliage

The leaves are slowly starting to change colors and the weather is starting to cool off- at least in the evenings so we are spending a lot of time outside. Brett and Whit have taken to tree climbing and I often find them dangling from branches. Whit can't really climb any of the trees yet but he thinks he is climbing if he wraps his legs around the tree trunk. That is a good thing because before too long he is going to figure it out and I am going to find him at the top of a tree ready to jump!

Random Sunday

 The girls had a "CLOSET PARTY"

 Whit & Brett played some computer games

Carson & Brett hanging on the sofa 

Are weekends are so crazy that when we have a few hours without an activity we find ourselves just hanging out at home. The kids played with each other most of Sunday morning while we caught up on chores.

Photo Phobia

I have proof- He does exist! Why is it that teenage boys NEVER want their picture taken? It is very frustrating to me because I can easily take 100 pictures in a week and when I download them I realize that there is never a shot of Griffin unless I try to sneak up on him and this is usually the result- A HAND!

Young Apprentices

Kevin painted our bedroom this weekend and he had 2 willing helpers. They waited patiently for their turn to use the roller. They each got several turns to put paint on the walls and a little on themselves and the job was completed with only one pair of pants ruined! Check that off the "honey-do" list.

Beer Inventory

5, 9,11... (that is how Whit usually counts)

 Cheers! Willing to share his brew- how nice!

I think he has had too much if he is drinking from the wrong end!

Apparently, Kevin has enlisted the "help" of his trusty assistant to keep track of his beer quantities so as never to let the supply get to low. He might want to think about cans because 2 year olds and glass bottles are not a good mix.

WHY???

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

Life with a 2 year old!

All day long

All I hear is:

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

DORA: My new BFF

As per my last post- Whitaker is a ball of energy that rarely stops. However, recently he has fallen in LOVE with a cute little girl named DORA the EXPLORER! He will actually sit and watch an episode which gives me a little break. He likes to eat his CHICKEN NUGGETS on my bed (UGH!) while he watches but I just let him so I can get something done. Not great parenting but this is a "pick your battles" moment. I just want to say a big THANK YOU to DORA or should I say GRACIAS?!

Physics 101: AN OBJECT IN MOTION TENDS TO STAY IN MOTION

This principle most definitely applies to Whitaker. He is a ball of energy and motion from sun-up (actually before sun up) to sun down. He will wear you out! He has been described as "BUSY"! I think that is just a nice of saying "A HANDFUL"! So sweet but soooooo 2!

Fall Break

Colin was on fall break from USC so Grandpa Bill came down to visit him and us. Colin and Griffin usually spend their time playing XBOX, watching sports and avoiding my camera- hence the reason they are not pictured. Grandpa Bill is the early riser so he takes over breakfast duty in the morning and gets thrown in to the carpool mix ferrying the kids to their various activities- lucky him! I am sure he is glad to get back to his quiet house after a weekend at our loud and crazy house!

It's Hammock time

Whenever Kevin is on "backyard" duty with Whit he always seems to end up in the hammock. Whit will climb in with him for a minute or two but then gets out and wanders off to play in the sandbox or mow the yard with his bubble mower. Apparently, "Go play with Whit in the yard" has a different meaning to Kevin than it does to me!

Murphy @ 6 months

Hard to believe that Murphy is 6 months old already. He is such a sweetie and soooo HAPPY!

He is still rolling a lot and can sit up unsupported for a few seconds but usually falls over trying to get his feet.

He still likes to get up once in the middle of the night but he has made it from 9 pm- 5 am a few times.

He is very squirmy and he is always wiggling around when you are holding him unless you get up and walk around.

He is still a great traveler and a trooper- enduring many, many soccer games in the blazing heat.

Overall, I would grade him out as a B+. If he would start sleeping he would definitely be upgraded to an A! JUST KIDDING!

Little soccer

 Brett the Defender

 Hadley

Hadley's "Lucky" Ribbons

I know more soccer photos-UGH! But these are the 1st ones of Brett and Hadley. Brett has found himself a new position- Defender! They don't play with goalies yet but they can keep a defender back by the goal to defend it. He actually did really good and he was so excited that he didn't have to run as much! Hadley also played good and is getting better with each game. She was also a defensive force (must take after MOM) and she insists that it was because of her "lucky" ribbons. She now claims that she has to wear them in every game!

We Rolled the Tide!!!

 Griffin and me @ the game

 Final score: USC 35   Alabama 21

Game Day on the Horseshoe

It was a BIG day in Columbia on Saturday! ESPN'S GAMEDAY was in town for the big showdown with #1 Alabama. Griffin went down to campus at 7:30 am to soak in all pre-game hoopla. He even managed to get on tv! The real fun was at the game itself. The COCKS had NEVER beaten a #1 ranked team and if you are a COCKS fan you know football season can be a lot of promise and hope followed by sub-par play and disappointment. That said, the COCKS faithful were out in force and very LOUD! The team came out and put it to Alabama from the start. It was sooooo great to be there and Griffin was so excited to be a part of the GREATEST victory in GAMECOCK football history. We were both tired and hoarse from all of our screaming but it is soooo worth it! GO COCKS!

Hardest thing I've ever done!!!

OK! So I have played Div. 1 Field Hockey,  run marathons, lifted thousands of pounds of weights and given birth 7 times so I think I am qualified to know when something is physically challenging. This workout is by far the hardest 40-60 minutes of physical activity that I have ever attempted to do. If you have ever seen the infomercial and you see the sweat pouring off of them you might think that they just watered themselves down to make it "look" like they were working hard but trust me, it is REAL sweat. I am in full dripping mode just during the warm-up. I dread doing it everyday because it is so challenging but I have managed to do it for 10 straight days so far. All I can say is this better work at getting those last few baby pounds off of my butt because I am going to be really MAD if I am working this hard and it doesn't work! So far my clothes feel a little loser and since I don't like to get on the scale I will just assume that I am losing a few pounds. I'll let you know how it goes- 10 days down, 50 more to go!

Who Needs Toys?

Who needs toys when you have a pile of scrap wood? We have some extra wood left over from our bench project so Whit likes to play with it. He stacks it and re-stacks it. He paints it, colors with chalk on it, pretends to cut it, makes "stuff" with it etc...you get the idea! So instead of buying toys just go to the lumber yard and get some scrap wood. It provides hours of entertainment.

Yes- more soccer

Carson in the Goal

Are you sick of soccer photos yet? The girls had a tournament last weekend so we had lots of games! Their teams didn't do so great as far as winning but they did play well and are continuing to improve. Carson's coach decided to put her in goal for a half of one of the games. She has NEVER played goalie in her entire life but managed to do quite good- several saves and no goals allowed. She said she felt like the "Hamburger Helper" guy with those big goalie gloves on her hands!

Finally Fall

It is finally fall around here! It is so nice to be able to go outside and not sweat to death. We have been spending lots of time playing and running around. Sometimes I wish the kids could go to school in the summer when it is so miserably hot and then have their break in the fall when the weather is so nice and we could be outside doing lots of fun stuff together!

Little Boy Blue

It has been a little cool here in the mornings- HOORAY!- so I have had to break out some cool weather gear. Here is Murphy all snuggled up with his blanket and hat while we were outside at 7:00 am playing!