Baby Shower

My good friend Becky is expecting a baby girl, her third child, and it really could be any day now. Her sister Mary and I hosted a shower for her yesterday. Abigail Rose, or Abbie as she'll be called, will be set with a lot of cute and practical things when she arrives.

I didn't get a lot of photos because I was too busy chatting with my friends, which was a good thing. Since MOPS isn't in session during the summer, I hadn't seen some of them in a while. I think we all enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time together.

Mary stamped these darling onesies for little Abbie. So cute!

Becky and her tiny baby bump

Me, Becky and Mary

Strawberry Pickin'

A couple weeks ago we went strawberry picking with Nana and Papa at a strawberry farm near their house. After picking a couple strawberries himself, Tyler wanted to just be in charge of holding one of the buckets. I guess he didn't like getting all the red juice on his hands. He is more and more like his dad every day. Nathan held the other bucket, until it got too heavy. He looked so tiny among the rows and rows of strawberry plants.

It was a nice, cloudy morning for taking pictures. Here are a few.

Racing Day

Tyler had a race today. Actually, Tim had a race, but there was a kids' dash, and it was free to enter. The race was about 40 minutes away, so I had to wake up the boys before 7:00 to make it to the starting line by 8:00.

Tyler was so excited about his race. He even had a race number to pin to his shirt. He looked like such a big boy, even though he looked pretty small next to the other kids, who were mostly 5-7 years old.

Warm-up strides

Strides with DaddyThe cutest member of brother's cheering section

The start was kind of confusing because the starter counted down from 5 and then blew a whistle. I mean, really? These are little kids. What's wrong with "ready, set, go!"? Most of the kids started before the whistle blew, but there were no officials to call the false start. Tyler stood at the line until he saw the other 11 or 12 kids take off, at which point he began racing down the street. When he heard all the people cheering, his little tongue appeared out the side of his mouth, which happens when he's feeling shy or embarassed.

At the starting line--a few more kids joined right before the start

Racing away with his tongue sticking out

He ended up finishing second-to-last, but he was the youngest one and he did pause for a moment to say, "Hi, Mommy!" All the kids received a prize bag containing a McDonald's coupon and a pencil. Of course he was pumped about that. When I asked him if he had fun, he said, "Yeah! But I not win at the tape." We told him he was the smallest kid in the race and emphasized that he finished the race, which is most important. On the way home he told me that when gets bigger, he's going to go back and beat the other kids. If I had to guess, I'd say someone is going to be just as competitive as his daddy.

The prize bag

Speaking of Tim, did I mention that he won the 5K? And he's only been running for about a month after several months of no training. Good job, Hon.

Tim waves at his boys at the start of the race

1-year and 3-year photos

We had professional photos taken of the boys on Memorial Day and Beverly, the photographer, sent us the slideshow today. It will only be available for a few weeks, so take a look if you have the chance. She does excellent work and there are so many great photos. Of course we're going to have a very difficult time deciding which images to order since we love those sweet little faces so much.

On a different note, I'm really behind on my posting from May. On top of being just super busy with various things (including Tyler's birthday party), our kitchen remodel disrupted our lives quite a bit at the end of the month. Hopefully I'll get caught up soon!

Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

Today our biggest little boy turned 3. Since we went to the zoo for Nathan's birthday, Tyler wanted to go for his birthday, too. So, we loaded the boys into the car and headed to Asheboro to see the lions. (That's what Tyler wanted to see the most on this particular visit).

Checking out some turtles

Alligators Sea lions

We had great weather for most of the time we were there, although it did rain on us a bit. The boys barely got wet because the sun shades on our Bob stroller provide excellent coverage. Since it was our second visit to the zoo in just 5 weeks, we knew what we wanted to see, so we were pretty effecient in the four hours we were there--or, I should say, as efficient as we could be with a 1-year-old and 3-year-old who are easily diverted.

Playing at the KidZone

Riding the tram--one of Tyler's favorite things about the zoo

Tyler really surprised us today because he actually wanted to ride the carousel at the zoo. He has always been afraid of carousels up until now. When we went to the zoo last August, he refused to go on the carousel, even though his cousin Brooke rode it. He has changed so much in the past year. He went from being our shy little guy who would barely even glance at a stranger to chatting with just about anyone. He's still not super outgoing, but he has definitely emerged from his shell.

When we got home from the zoo, it was time for Tyler to open his presents from us. He was super excited about the new freight cars for his Diego train set and his new Diego rescue center. We also got him a Diego watch, which he wore to dinner, and a Diego video game for his Smart Cycle. Yes, he LOVES Diego. When I asked him if he liked his new rescue center, he said, "Yeah, it's awesome." He already sounds like such a big boy.

Here's a list of Tyler's favorites at 3-years-old:

Toys: Thomas trains (the plastic ones), his new Diego train set and rescue center, board games (especially Cariboo), jigsaw puzzles, his new Handy Manny toolbox (also one of Nathan's new faves), his new golf clubs, dump trucks

Books: Smash Crash! and Melvin Might? by Jon Scieszka; I Am Invited to a Party and There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems; The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle; any book with trucks, trains or race cars

TV/movie friends: Diego, Handy Manny, Lightning McQueen & Mater, Thomas & Friends, The Backyardigans
People: (On any given day, Tyler will declare up to 4 different people as his best friend, some of whom he doesn't actually know, such as Danny Gokey from American Idol. These are the ones he mentions most often). Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, PJ, Cooper, Kay-Kay, Nana, Papa Rudy, Grandma and Grandpa

Today at the zoo

Activities: riding his bike (which is really a trike), playing frisbee, throwing and kicking balls, hitting any kind of ball with a long object (tennis, baseball, golf), dancing, singing, running (seriously, he still likes to just run), playing what we at the Surface house call the "sheet game"

Songs: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Jesus Loves Me"Any, any song from The Backyardigans, and any song by Danny Gokey

Word/Phrases: "Nice, cool, awesome!"; "Woot!"; "Mommy, I want to tell you something."; "No, Nathan! That's mine! You can't play with that."

Food: cheese sticks, anything from Chick-fil-A (or "Chick-a-fay", as he pronounces it), strawberries with whipped cream, cookies, goldfish, mango, chocolate milk