Wow! So it has been a month since I really updated the blog. I'm sorry for being such a slacker. In the forth coming posts you will see why...we've been super busy this month on top of completely remodeling the kitchen. Needless to say things have been chaotic and we are doing good to make it from day to day. Here are some highlights from the last month:

~AG had his first birthday party. We celebrated Emma and AG partied so hard he had to take a mid-party nap. I really enjoyed watching AG begin to play with Emma and Briggs. I'm very excited that AG has two friends close in age because I had two friends like that growing up. And the wonderful thing is that those two people are still a huge part of my life today. I hope that Briggs and Emma are to AG what David and Laura were to me growing up. (By the way congrats to Laura on her engagement to James!)

~We took AG's 6 month photos in front of Mirror Lake out on mountain campus at Berry. Samson enjoyed keeping the ducks, geese, and swans at bay while we took AG's pictures. I can't believe how big he is now when he sits in the rocker. Before I know it he'll be trying to climb out of it while I'm trying to take his picture.

~We enjoyed having family visit us this last month while dropping off/picking up my cousins. AG's Great Aunt Denise even made him some special tie-dyed t-shirts while being the arts and crafts mom at Camp.

~Ginny and I went during tax free weekend to do some shopping for Emma and AG at the Calhoun Outlets. We racked up and made good use of our coupons. I'm excited about AG's new big boy clothes for the fall. I'm also hoping to find a few more things at the huge consignment sale that we have twice a year here in Rome. (Twice is Nice.) AG continues to grow like a weed and so everything I bought was 18 to 24 months in sizing. I'm just hoping that he'll be able to wear everything through Christmas. (I know he'll get new clothes between Christmas and his birthday a few weeks later. Did I just mention Christmas in a post? Ah. These next few months are going to fly by and it will be here before we know it.)

~We've been remodeling the kitchen in the middle of all of this...I'm planning to do a big post on it later this week when it is all back together. Hopefully! Stay tuned for that.

~Andy and I also took our first trip without AG a week ago...AG enjoyed his vacation at the farm with his Aunt Misty, Uncle Michael aka Coach, and cousin Bernie. I'll post about that too this week.

Update on AG's new milestones:

~We can say Ma-ma-ma-ma and Andy is pushing hard for Da-da-da-da but so far no luck. He's been "talking" for about two weeks now. Once he gets going he won't stop. We are enjoying listening to him babble and chat with his toys.

~We've also cut our first tooth! On the bottom and the one next to it doesn't look far behind it. We seem to have turned a corner and are doing better. The first few nights were rough but we are making it. We are back to sleeping through the night and we all are grateful for that!

~We are bouncing around when we are sitting and rocking back and forth. We are also "army crawling/sliding" backwards and so we should be crawling before we know it. In addition we are trying to figure out how to pull ourself up when we are sitting. Andy says the baby proofing should commence once we move back in to the kitchen. And not a moment too soon because I think our days are numbered with him not being completely mobile. We are already rolling around and sliding to get the object of our choice.

~We haven't tried any new foods these last few weeks due to the lack of a kitchen in which to cook. I'm excited to start making some new foods in this next week. Fortunately, we've been well stocked and using the stash of food in the freezer these last few weeks.

Looking ahead:

~Monday we go for our appointment with the specialist about AG's clogged tear duct. We are looking to have surgery on it and do another treatment on his hemangioma at the same time. It will be better for him since he'll already be under anesthesia...so we are just going to double up and kill two birds with one stone.

~Our college students are slowly trickling back in and we are very excited to see them. Everyone should be back and things will be in full swing by next weekend. AG and I are looking forward to another year of college night at Moe's while Andy is coaching. Along with Grey's Anatomy and dessert post Moe's. Before we know it Mountain Day will be here! We are looking forward to showing AG off this year at Mountain Day.

~Soccer is back in session and practices are underway. A few more weeks and then games start. Andy can't wait till AG is big enough to tag along with him to the fields while he coaches. This year Andy is coaching U19 and he is looking forward to the season. He coached them last year when they were U17 and is already enjoying building upon the success they had last year.

Sorry for such a long post in my attempt to catch everyone up. I have a list of several posts to do this week to get up to date. We'll see how it goes between painting and moving back into the kitchen!