Lucky Strike!

Yesterday Noah and I did something new. We went bowling. They actually have little kid bowling, how cute is that? The lanes are shortened, with bumpers of course, and the balls are miniature bowling balls. We joined some of our neighborhood pals and Noah had a blast. He announced on the way home that he really thought we should "go bowling again tomorrow!" Here are a few cute pics....

Hannah and Noah wait anxiously to see how many pins Hannah will knock over.

Abigail wants to know when it will be her turn!

Clayton and Hannah ham it up for the camera while waiting for Ann Connolly to bowl.

Noah's bowling form? Questionable to be sure. He went with the overhead throw, which, when using a bowling ball, is a little on the dangerous side. Good thing the balls where small!

Boot Camp

So up until now this has pretty much been our only use for underwear...

....wearing them as a fancy head decoration. But this week we entered potty training boot camp and have been using our underwear in a proper manner.

We have been trying off and on for several months to get Noah potty trained but our little boy has the hardest head in the world and has brutally rebuffed all our efforts. So, I told him Okay, we will play hardball then!

Starting Monday morning we switched to underwear and I informed him that was it! No diapers, no pull-ups (except when sleeping of course) - we were going cold turkey. I would like to say that I had some sort of master plan for this but I would be lying. I have been flying by the seat of my pants with this whole potty training thing. I haven't felt so unsure of myself as a mother since Noah was a newborn. I mean, the most advice I can get from anybody is, Oh, just be patient and consistent or They'll let you know when they're ready. Well, thank you very much (not) but if I wait until Noah tells me he is ready, he will be on his way to college. He hates change and he hates having to stop what he is doing to have to go to the bathroom, hence his desire to just stay in diapers. He considers them more convenient.

Well, much to his disappointment the diapers are gone. Although, I do think he is coming around on the underwear, especially the Thomas ones. He has been doing pretty well too. A few accidents here and there. Day 2 was our breaking point. He totally tested my resolve by informing that he would rather piss himself (my words, not his) than go to the potty. I will just pee my pants Mama, and you can get me new underwear. He said this calmly and matter of factly and I went downstairs and cried. I mean, how to you motivate someone with that kind of attitude? Thankfully, I think he was just testing me to see if I would cave and pull the diapers back out. I did not.

So, today has been the best day yet. He has voluntarily peed on his own three times this morning and I am hopeful that this means he has finally accepted the underwear as part of his life!

**PS - i realize that there are no spaces between my paragraphs - it won't let me fix them and i am getting frustrated so you can just read it like it is!

"Fly Snuka!"

Over the weekend our friends the Bedenbaughs came from St. Louis for a visit. We haven't seen Jeremy and Amy for almost two years and we hadn't yet meant their newest addition Baby Sam. (Sadly, 3 year old Jude was at his Grandma's house and couldn't come be Noah's playmate. We wish he could have come but we do understand how the Grandmas get about seeing their grandchildren!)

We had a great time visiting and catching up over wine and cigars and Noah had a great time learning wrestling moves from Mr. Jeremy. His favorite was the move that Jeremy told him was based on Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Basically you start out with a jump...

Followed by landing on top of your opponent, who then gives the "double pump"....

And sends you flying through the air to crash on the couch!

It was quite the hit, and Noah spent the whole weekend begging Jeremy to play his new favorite game, "Fly Snuka".

We also spent some time at the beach. We drove out to Morris Island Lighthouse (yes, Jeremy it was worth the drive!) and wandered on the beach at sunset. It was really beautiful and we lamented the fact that we hadn't thought to bring the wine with us to the beach! Noah had a great time running around in the waves and Sam enjoyed being there, despite not being a fan of the wind.

And look, you can even do Fly Snuka at the beach!

We left as it was getting dark - and Noah was getting cranky - but I couldn't pass up taking a picture with this guy on the way out.

Sadly Noah missed out on all the Mr T action as he was completely passed out.

We were sad to see the weekend be over - thanks Bedenbaughs, for making the trip to see us. We had a blast! See you in Memphis for the half!

Hot Child in the City

I think this is the perfect way to beat the summer heat. How cute are they?

The Park With Six Flags

Last weekend Noah and I packed up the car and braved the 5 hour drive to Atlanta to see my Mom. We made it there despite the fact that 5 hours turned into 6 and 1/2 hours due to crazy Atlanta traffic. All I will say about the car trip is this...turning around to pick up lost trains/change the DVD in the portable DVD player while whizzing past huge trucks at 75 miles an hour is not wise. Don't try it anytime soon.

Our main reason for going was that my Mom was taking us to Six Flags because they have a new addition to the park... Thomas Town.

The morning we left Noah came running into my room after Bebe got him up. He started punching me in my bed and saying, "Mama, wake up. We have to go see Thomas at the park with six flags on it!" Needless to say he was very excited. Thomas Town was our first stop when we got to the park. It was, however, all the way at the back so Noah very excitedly pointed out all the things that he wanted to do after Thomas. We almost didn't make those things because he really didn't want to leave Thomas town once we got there. We rode Thomas the train countless times, played on the playground, and stalked all the trains in the gift shop for a couple hours.

Noah and Bebe play on the playground with Bertie the Bus.

Riding in the coaches behind Thomas.

When we finally made it out of Thomas world I was pretty sure that the rest of the park would prove of little interest to Noah but he proved me wrong. He wanted to ride all sorts of things and was even brave enough to go on a ride all by himself.

Not the greatest angle, but you can see his little face peeking over the top of the plane. He was so brave and got all buckled in and waited for the ride to start all by himself, and then waved and smiled every time the plane circled around. It was soooo cute!

We ended up staying for 5 hours - a lot longer than I had predicted - and Noah finally agreed to leave when he got so tired that all he could do was be carried by me and put his head on my shoulder. As we left, he did announce that the next time he came he was going to ride a roller coaster. He meant it too!

Big Daddy

At least once a day Noah says something that cracks us up. Today he did not let us down.

Wes brought home some little foam baseballs from work - probably from a drug rep or something - and Noah was throwing them around. Wes and I were trying to get him to practice catching but he didn't want to because it is something he is bad at, and he doesn't like doing things he is bad at. Anyway, Wes and I were throwing it to each other, hoping to show him how to catch. "See", said Wes as he caught it in an exaggerated manner. "That is how you do it."

Noah thought about it, then shook his head and held up his tiny hands.

"No, I can't. I don't have regular hands like Big Daddy does."

Then he marched off, leaving Big Daddy and I in a fit of hysterics on the floor.

Dolphins and Cookies and Fireworks, Oh My!

We had a pretty busy fourth of July weekend. It started on Friday when, wonder of wonders, Wes had a half day off! That just doesn't happen in our house folks. When Wes doesn't work, Wes doesn't get paid, hence, Wes works a lot. But not this past Friday so we opted to celebrate by going out on the boat. Not our boat of course, the in-laws boat, which meant we did no work and simply enjoyed riding around. Noah had a blast swimming and we saw a ton of dolphins which he is still talking about.

Saturday we joined some other people from our church for a cookout that we were hosting at a halfway house in North Charleston. It was the first time that we had partnered with the staff and residents for an event and it turned out really well. Hot, but fun and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Especially Noah who ran around with his friend Olin and spent a lot of time squirting people with his tiny water gun. (Not usually acceptable behavior but in the heat we were all thankful for a few squirts!)

That night we had birthday dinner with Uncle Cy and the rest of the family, which was fun but Noah was a smidge disappointed that Cy wanted birthday cookies instead of birthday cake. ("Why doesn't he want cake?" he kept asking.) Oh well, I guess we will forgive Uncle Cy for his dessert choices!

Finally we headed home listening to Noah's request for fireworks the whole way. We decided to pull over and buy some sparklers for him to play with when we got back to the house. It took some convincing, ("Mama I want the ones that fly in the air with the loud noise!") but we managed to get him to believe they were real fireworks. He used the whole package and threw a minor fit when they were all gone. By far his favorite part of the day.

Hope everybody had a wonderful 4th of July!