Vacation Pics

So, even though this is my third vacation post, I don't feel like I have that many great pictures. I guess I'll have to be better about that next time! It seemed there was always something going on that took my attention away from getting the camera out. (:

In case I haven't made this very clear, the family we went on vacation with is the Keppler family, consisting of Nan, Matt, and Will. Will, as I've mentioned in many previous posts, is exactly one month older than Quinn and is his best friend. Nan and I became the best of friends through figuring out this whole mom thing at the same time. I don't know what I would do without her! Matt and Andy get along great too and loved golfing in the Hilton Head area, even though it was 99 degrees both of the days they went! So, while it was an adventure with two toddlers and we actually didn't get to see that much of the Kepplers some days since the boys were on opposite sleeping schedules, it was still a very wonderful trip.

I think this might be the first picture of Nan, me, and the boys. How crazy that it took 18 months to take it! We met up in Savannah, GA, which was only about a half an hour away from where we stayed. It was really, really hot that day, so I would love to go back at a cooler time of year and without a little one.

I made sure Quinn wore his seersucker pants to Savannah, which Andy didn't quite get until we saw several other little boys in seersucker. Come on, I read John Grisham books! I know that's what guys wear in the South (Right, Jaillene and Lindsey?) ! ( :

Cutie-patooties Will and Quinn

And so I can include Matt, here's a pic of the Kepplers, even though Will is in the middle of eating a carrot in this picture. ( : A wonderful perk of vacation with other people is we traded off babysitting nights. Andy and I were able to enjoy a delicious meal on the waterfront on the island.

And I discovered that sunscreen on the head means fun hairstyles later in the day!

I just like this picture of my guys in their matching towels.

Pool pics

Throughout the week, we visited a pool in a nearby development, since the pool hasn't been built yet where we stayed. Nan and I sooo wish we had a pool like this one here at home. It had 2 gradual entrances into the water (like a beach), and it also had an awesome sprinkler/wet deck, where once the kids hit a button, sprayers went off. Quinn called them bubbles and LOVED playing in them. The water was a bit cold for me, but he and Andy had a blast.

Beach pics

I love beach pictures. There's just something about the lighting and water that makes them all seem more special. Maybe it's because I love Quinn's chubby belly in his swimsuit. Or maybe it's just because it's so wonderful to be near the ocean since we live so far away from it! We were able to go to the beach twice. I wasn't sure how it would be, since our last beach experience was right before Quinn started walking. He loved it, though, and we had so much fun watching him enjoy the waves and sand. We didn't stay right on Hilton Head Island, but we really liked the island and hope to go back again sometime soon to explore it more.
Oh, and I'm just going to post a bunch of collages because it's so much easier and quicker to write captions under a bunch of pictures. Every time I sit down to post, I want to be more clever and creative, but it doesn't happen. Throughout the day, I'll think of things to say, and then they all leave me when the moment to write comes. You'd think more of a former English teacher, wouldn't you? (: I love my friend Heidi's blog (see DeKorne family link). I aspire to be as refreshingly witty as she is. (:

We're back!

We're back from our vacation to Hilton Head. This is the only family picture we got, which I obviously took myself. Even though we were on vacation with our wonderful friends, the Kepplers, we still didn't get a picture of all three of us together. Try as I might, I seem to always get back from trips or events and realize what pictures I didn't get. Oh well! It was a great trip, and I learned a lot about how different a "vacation" is with a toddler. The relaxing part that used to go along with a vacation is certainly not there; I think I didn't really relax until we got back home! But, the fun part definitely was there, and I'll post pictures of it in the next few days.

Happy Father's Day!

In honor of my wonderful husband--Quinn's awesome daddy--I thought I'd post a collage of some of my favorite pictures of the two of them from the last few months. I feel truly blessed to have such an amazing partner in parenthood. Andy is above and beyond what I could have ever hoped for as a father of my child, and Quinn and I love him so much!

Our Wills

Quinn really is a lucky little boy. Not only does he have two good little buddies who live near us that he gets to play with often, but they both have the same name--Will! As a result, Quinn learned how to say Will awhile ago, and he just loves saying "Hi, Will!", "Bye-bye, Will", and "Will's house" whenever we drive by the Will who lives in our neighborhood. These pictures are of in-our-neighborhood Will. I was so happy to become friends with his mom, Shannon, after we walked past each other many mornings last summer on our walks with the boys. It is a wonderful thing to have a friends just down the street from us. Will is a couple months older than Quinn, but Quinn is catching up to his size quickly. They are still learning how to share with each other, but they have a lot of fun together.

I won't be posting again for over a week because we are going on vacation with the other Will and his parents! We're going to the Hilton Head area. It will be quite an adventure traveling with two toddlers, but I'm sure we'll have a great time and lots of pictures to post. Till then, Happy June, everyone! : )

Bye Bye, Mullet!

See, I told you I'd have more interesting things to post about this weekend! ( ; Today we decided the mullet just had to go. I realized I was choosing Quinn's clothing to minimize the mullet, and that meant things had gone too far. So, we went to Andy's hairdresser at Big League Barbers, and Quinn did wonderfully! He watched t.v. and looked at all the sports stuff. We only cut the back and sides, and honestly, it looks like it did when he was 10 months old. I was so dreading "the big boy" look, but it really just looks more little baby again. Still, it was a big milestone, and as my sticker calendar shows, there just aren't too many baby milestones left, so this was important.

And here's the dancing video. These aren't his finest moves because it was right before nap time, but I thought I'd just take it while I thought of it. My dream is for Quinn to be on my favorite summer reality contest, "So You Think You Can Dance" someday. Just kidding (kind of). (:

Why not?

What do you do on an unseasonably cool, rainy afternoon? Have Daddy push you around in a diaper box, of course!

It's been awhile since I posted, so I apologize to those who faithfully check this blog! We are doing well; we just aren't doing anything too blogworthy. We did have a very nice visit to Papa Bruce's house on Sunday. Quinn is obsessed with basketball and all things ND, so he had an especially wonderful time going there!
Quinn has learned all kinds of new things in the last week or so, one of which is he knows two letters on sight--Y and B. Why those letters, you ask? Well, because those are on the lids of Yobaby yogurt, of course, which is Quinn's favorite treat. (: He has started linking words together to make short "sentences", which is fun because it shows us even more the thoughts he's having. And guess what my little hip-hop baby's favorite, favorite song to dance to is? I shouldn't admit that his precious little ears have heard this song, but he heard it one time, ONE TIME, and now always asks for "low low". That's right--his favorite dance song is "Low" by Flo Rida. Please don't think badly of us as parents for letting him listen to it! ( : I'll try to post some video of the moves he's got to that song.
That's our update. Hopefully after a nice, warm Memorial Day weekend I'll have some more exciting pictures to post. (:

Please be praying for this family. Tyson and Leslie are Taylor grads and they have a little boy, and my heart just breaks for all they are going through. Their testimony to God's faithfulness is beyond words. Please pray for them.

http://forleslie.blogspot.com

Mother's Day weekend

Mother's Day itself was a rainy day, so after church, we spent most of the day just bumming around the house. It was a low-key day, but I still was able to reflect on how much richer my life is now that I'm a mom. Andy taught Quinn to say, "Happy Mama Day!" which was a great gift. Quinn continues to blow me away with his personality and his knowledge. I know I'll have to always stay on my toes to help him learn and experience as much as he can, and that's a very fun challenge! Being a mom is the best . . . I highly recommend it! ( :

Cuddling on the couch after his first nap (he still takes 2 a day)

Saturday was a nicer day. This picture represents much of our time outside--waving to everyone (and everything) that goes by: buses, trucks, cars, birds, the neighbors, etc. Quinn is an extremely outgoing, social kid, and if you know Andy, you know exactly where he gets it from. It's not that I'm unfriendly, but the two of them seek out people to greet.

And here Q is "sniffing" the flowers, although it's really sniffing in reverse (blowing out instead of sniffing in). Oh well. It makes for a cute face. ( :

Sweet boys

an after-bath pic . . . i love my guys!

Q wants to be just like . . .

His daddy! Quinn pulled this shirt of Andy's and one of A's socks out of the clean laundry pile and brought it to me, saying, "Daddy on, peez!" We just cracked up at how cute he looked. He wore it around until I made him take it off because he was tripping over it. If Quinn wants to be just like Andy, that's fine with me! :)

It was so fun to see Quinn's Aunt Amy yesterday! Even with gas at almost $4 a gallon, she drove down to spend the day with her nephew. I told her she would be mightily entertained by him, and she definitely was! Thanks, Amy, for visiting!

Quinn LOVES books (Thank heavens, says his English teacher mom!) and sat down to read with Amy as soon as she arrived. (He's wearing a hat because he likes to wear them around the house sometimes.)

Being silly with Mommy's sunglasses.

I dare you to look at this picture and not laugh out loud! The Oh! face is still around, and as his face gets chubbier and more expressive, it cracks us up more and more.

And I have to comment on this picture. My friend Bethany, who has a son, and I have talked quite a bit lately on the whole nature vs. nurture gender stereotype debate. We laugh at how even though our kids have had equal exposure to "boy" and "girl" type toys, they naturally gravitate to "boy" toys, like trucks, balls, etc. Quinn is so attracted to machinery, such as trucks, planes, buses, etc, and can't get enough of playing with basketballs, footballs, bouncy balls, etc. He does have a baby doll, a boy, but he really isn't very interested in it yet, even though my niece, who is 6 weeks younger, carries her identical girl version of the doll all over the place. So, I bought him this navy blue baby stroller at a garage sale, mostly because he likes to push things around but also because I thought someday when there's another baby in the house, it will help him to adjust. So, I tried to put his baby doll in it--he immediately tossed it out on its head. What has he enjoyed pushing around? No joke--he loves to push around his footballs, and yesterday, I was cleaning up and found TWO REMOTES in the stroller!!! Does it get any more stereotypically male than that? This picture shows him pushing around a balloon, which is like a ball in his mind. Okay, sorry that was so long, but I had to share that because it just cracks me up! :)

Outside Pics

Boy, do I love having outside as an option for play time! It's crazy how fast time flies when we're just roaming around the yard. Today it was really cute watching Quinn mimic Andy mowing the lawn. I also pointed out all the dandelions in the yard (before Andy kills them all!), and we walked around sniffing them, picking them, and blowing the seeds.

Last but not least

Since I had my little camera with us at the game, the one with which I take videos to post, I thought I'd take some video while we waited in the car for Andy to get Subway sandwiches for dinner. This video is of Quinn, seeming mildly bored, running through his list of animal sounds. My personal favorites are his elephant and pig sounds. :)

Love My Daddy!

Walking back from the lacrosse game, Quinn got to hang out on Daddy's shoulders for awhile. I thought these were some very sweet pictures of my two favorite guys.

Lacrosse Game

Today we went and watched Aunt Carolyn coach her JV high school girls' lacrosse game. Quinn thought it was so cool that she let him hang out with her for a little while and watch the game up close. My sister is super busy all the time with everything, from being a special needs assistant to a barista at Starbucks to tutoring to coaching lacrosse. I'm really proud of her for how well she does it and balances it all.

Not too much to report from here. We're just doing our usual things: having play dates, playing outside, and enjoying guests who come to visit. After a weekend of wintery weather, spring should be sticking around for awhile. We definitely love playing outside.

Quinn is starting to cheese for the camera, as you can see in this pic with Daddy.

Cousin Fiona is walking now too, so let the good times roll! Here, they are playing at the water table at the Children's Museum.

Playing ball with Daddy . . . Thousands of hours will be devoted to this activity, I'm sure.

It was so fun to have Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dennis here. We didn't get any really good pics, but Quinn was so happy to see them.

Happy Days

Spring has finally arrived in Indiana! I've lived long enough to know that doesn't mean a snowstorm couldn't happen next week, but I choose to live in today's sunshine and not worry about those kinds of realities! Here are just a couple recent pics.


Why do I love being a mommy so much? Moments like these. During dinner tonight, Quinn reached over and put his arm around my neck for the longest time, just giving me love. It was long enough for Andy to get the camera and capture one of my favorite moments ever so far.

Little kid, big ball . . . In Quinn's world, the bigger the ball, the better. The majority of our time outside is spent walking around carrying, throwing, then chasing various balls. This one is his favorite.

We were so happy to see the lovely DeKorne ladies on Sunday. It was our first time meeting little Ava, and it was hilarious to see how much alike Q and Ava looked, although Q is a good almost 9 pounds heavier. (Quinn weighs almost 29 lbs, by the way. That's the 91st percentile, or as I call it, an A- in weight! ( : ).

I also really liked this shot of Quinn "watching" music playing on the stereo and dancing along (see the blurry hand?). His favorite cds right now are West Side Story and Music Man.