Backyard Fun

Do you remember this cute gardener from the summer of 07?

Well he is still at it!
Clay plants a garden every summer and he and Jack go out every night and pick the ripe veggies. We have okra, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries and lots of herbs.
While they pick, Madeline swings! She loves the swing!

She also started sitting in the booster seat. We don't use a high chair b/c it takes up too much room and we loved this seat with Jack. It is very portable so you can take it to restaurants and friends' houses! Madeline liked sitting in this seat and playing with her spoon while she ate cereal and squash. Such a big girl!

New tricks and TEETH!

While I was gone, Madeline spent some quality time with her biggest fans, the Smiths, who gave her these fancy glasses!

She has also sprouted THREE teeth!!
And learned to hold her bottle! Now that she has those teeth, she may be getting the bottle more often!

Mom's getaway

"Madeline, can you believe Mom left us for FOUR whole days? We had a good time with Daddy, didn't we?"

Yes, it is true! I got to go away by myself last weekend for a much needed break. First, I stopped at the Wallaces and saw these precious girls. Emslie (4) and Virginia (2) are great big sisters to Sara Tabb (6 weeks). Ginger, my college roomie, definitely has her hands full! She is so not girly and I LOVE that she has three little girls!

Then I headed south to my former home- the ATL!

I did not go here - my place of work for 9 years and where I met most of the fabulous people below:

But you better believe I went here multiples times!

I got to see lots of my friends that I met in those tall buildings above.

Jenna, Ginny, Caroline and I all worked on the same floor (C-17). Jenna is the only one still there although she left and came back recently. Ginny stays home with her son James and Caroline does PR for IHG's Hotel Indigo. We had a fun night at Tin Lizzys!

I headed up north to Kennesaw to meet Jules for breakfast at The Whistle Stop Cafe in downtonw Kennesaw. Then we went back to here house to see Maggie and Sophie who are about to be big sisters to Darcy in just a few weeks! Another friend with three girls! Julie also worked in the buildings above on C-17 and got me my first job there TEN years ago! Then six years ago she introduced me to Clay (also in the buildings above). She is a true friend- Truckin loves ya Jules!Saturday I got to shop at IKEA with Cathy (who also worked on C-17) and go to a yummy dinner at Relish with her and Kyle but apparently I didn't get any pics of them. We were too busy shopping and eating!

Sunday I went over to Betsy's and got to hang out with her, James and Baby Ellis.

That night me and my old roomies - Betsy (who works at the buildings above but I met her WAY before that) and Ashley (due with Wilson in October and whose husband works at the buildings above) went to dinner at South City Kitchen.

But before we went we got to give Ellis a bath!

No these aren't his pjs but if they made smocked ones, Betsy would have them!!

I headed home Monday morning refreshed and just full of good feelings. I miss these friends so much. I love Raleigh and don't need to live in Atlanta again (so big, so crazy) but I wish we were closer than 6 hours. I joke about the SSC (Home Depot hdqtrs) but I was very fortunate to work in a place that gave me such great friends AND my wonderful husband who had a BIG weekend with the kids that included going on the lake with the Starritts and a trip to the farm in Franklin. And for those of you I didn't get to see this trip, we (the whole family) will be coming back in the fall! Look out Atlanta!

My little playground designer

KaBOOM! (the place I spent most of my working career) and The Home Depot are teaming up to build a playground here in Raleigh in October. Today was the kick-off meeting or Design Day where the kids, community and HD folks meet to plan and design the playground. I took Madeline with me and she provided lots of commentary on which slides she liked best but mostly she was enraptured with the balloons. Having been off the playground building circuit for over a year now, I am SO excited to build here in the fall!! Getting my pink toolbelt out of storage as we speak!

5 months

Time is flying with this sweet girl! We have had a busy month traveling to the beach and to Knoxville but Madeline, like Jack, is a great traveler! Some highlights of her month:
-started rolling over but hasn't figured out how to roll back yet. This has caused for some long nights b/c she wakes up when she can't get back to her back.
-Loves the exersaucer and the jump up; is into exploring everything around her
-Belly laughs alot! All you have to do is rub your nose into her belly and she will cackle!
- Smiles and coos anytime Jack is within 5 feet of her. She loves watching him and other kids.
-We took her out of the swing and put her in her crib a couple of weeks ago and it has been rough. Our 12 hours of sleep are no longer! A combination of the rolling issue, getting teeth and no swinging motion means she wakes up twice a night now.
-No teeth broken through yet but the two bottom ones are trying very hard to come through. Madeline is a drooling mess!
-Into 6-9 mos and 6-12 mos clothes and some of those are too small!

Madeline is debuting the first dress made by her mommy!!Yep, I was so proud of myself and then realized it is too short for her already! Mimi was nice enough to find some bloomers to match to cover up her bum!
Oh the cutest mouth!

Boatin

We spent the day on the lake with the Starritts today! It was a beautiful day and the water was perfect! Check out this wakeboarder:

Jack loved the lake and jumping off the boat into it!
Here he is jumping to me- no fear!

Tough to find a life jacket to fit a 5 month old! Madeline did great though!

Jonah- the cutest driver around!

Jack and his girlfriend Brooke

Our nephew Keller is staying with us for the week and he did great getting up on the wakeboard!

Cereal Lovin Girl

Madeline tried cereal for the first time recently and LOVES it. A much different experience from Jack who pushed it out of his mouth for a month. She eats it up and tries to grab the spoon.

mmm, licking her lips
I painted my toes this morning and Jack wanted his red too! Sorry Clay, this is what happen when a boy stays home with his mom!

week in Knoxville

We were lucky enough to have my Aunt Maureen fly in from NY and then drive over to Knoxville with us (me and the kids) for the week!

Who is that handsome man in the dark suit?

It's Uncle Ryan!! We met for lunch downtown where he is being all "lawyer-like" this summer.
Goose bought Jack his first baseball glove so he and Ryan tried it out.

"Gotcha"

Contrary to this face, Madeline enjoyed the pool!

And hanging out with Maeve who was practicing her big sister skills

Madeline and Aunt Maureen

And no trip to Knoxville would be complete without a visit to the zoo!

4th of July

We had three parties on the 4th but mom only took her camera to one. Daddy had a party at his store so we started the day with Kids Workshop there. Here we are reading the instructions intently!

They rented a bounce house and one of those jousting things. Here I am cheering Dad on:

And then I decided I could take him:

It was a fun day! We also had a block party on our street and had lots of fun with all of our neighbors. There were seven babies born between Jan and May so Madeline is going to have alot of friends!

In Connor Family news...

My sister is having a BOY!!!! These two girlie girls aren't going to know what hit them! But Uncle Cory sure will have fun! We are so excited for the Schupps and can't wait til November!

And my brother Ryan has more talents than just being a fabulous uncle- he finished his first year of law school at Tennessee number ONE in his class!! We are so proud of him!