Mid-Summer Catch-up...

So here is the mid-summer catch-up on the Edwards crew...

AG

-Talking and babbling up a storm.

-He loves to copy whatever Andy and I are doing around the house.

-Two weeks ago I was standing at the sink in the kitchen and heard the water on the fridge flowing. So I turned around to see that AG had figured out how to use one of his golf clubs to press the lever. Water was freely flowing everywhere. Thankfully, our fridge has a lock button on it's control panel! We are now putting it to good use. Ha.

-Speaking of golf clubs AG loves to carry his clubs around the house and hit balls. For the most part he does a good job of only hitting balls and not the furniture, Samson, us, etc. AG also loves to throw and kick balls. We have a wide assortment and he even will borrow a ball out of Samson's toy bin.

-AG is a drummer already. (Just like Daddy) He does it everywhere we go much to the delight of his father.

-At the moment he's cutting 4 new teeth on the bottom and one on the top. He's lots of fun right now. Ha. :-) We'll see what the ped says in a week and a half when we go for his 18month check up. Which by the way I can't believe he's already that old.

Andy

-Is busy at work and playing on a company softball team. We've enjoyed heading to the fields this summer to watch him play.

-Has done some more work in the yard and cut down two small trees in the front. I'm hoping we'll do a bunch of work this fall once this heat wave passes. We've got some big ideas we just need to get them going.

Katie

-Working around the house by purging and throwing stuff away. Organizing whatever makes the cut. It amazes how quickly things can spiral out of control if you don't stay on top of them. Especially, in this last year and a half with AG's stuff. Between clothes, equipment, and toys I feel like I'm constantly re-organizing as he hits new milestones. Plus, every so often you just need to do mass purge of stuff.

-Speaking of re-organizing. I re-arranged our den last weekend with the help of my Aunt Joy. (Thanks Joy!) We don't have a playroom in this house (it'll be a priority in the next house!) and AG has out grown the original play spot we designated as "his". Since we are not moving in the very near future I told Andy we had to figure out a way to restructure the living space because I couldn't handle the chaos! Ha. Toys everywhere, shoes and bags by the back door piled up since that is the main door we enter/exit from, dog toys/bones, AG's table and chair set, and his personal arm chair that he drags around. By flipping things around AG has now gained an entire corner of the den to call his own. I have reclaimed my green bench that we were using as AG's play space to use for an entry way piece once again. So shoes go below it, blankets go under the lid, and my purse/diaper bag sit on the bench. We finally got my mirrored wall piece that I refinished from the antique mall hung above the bench. (I think it looks fabulous but I might be a tad biased?!) It has several sets of hooks on it...perfect for keys, Samson's leash, hats, and I'm sure it'll get lots of use once cold weather returns with coats and scarves. Once I get it all organized to  my liking I'll post more pictures. the house:
-I love changing out displays and one of my favorite display pieces is the long window that is in the den. It has a pretty wide shelf. In the fall it usually has pinecones and leaves, Christmas brings fresh greens and stockings, etc. I change it with the seasons and my moods. Currently, I am loving my newest display! I've got some of my Starbucks city/state mugs in a wooden segmented piece that Andy's granddad used to organize some of his tools in the barn at the farm. I need to photograph it, too, and post pictures. When we travel we pick up a mug for that location if they have one. His sister, Caroline, is responsible for this collection because she use to work at Starbucks. We both have a pretty decent collection between these and our ornaments that she started for us. :-)

-I've cleaned and scrubbed the doors that I'm making in to a headboard for the guest bedroom. I haven't painted them, yet. Last week I went to visit Andy's Caroline at their new house in Macon. So my project hit the back burner...which I was fine with since it meant that I got to spend some quality time with the Perkins clan! I am hoping we get to work on it this coming weekend. We've got the supplies all  ready to go it's just a matter of carving out the time for it. Which because I've decided I want to crackle it will take several days as opposed to just painting it and distressing it. Stay tuned...it'll be an adventure because we've never done a piece in this way before. I'm excited to see the finished project.

-Projects, projects. As if we don't have enough of them already I'm already dreaming up a new one for when we finish the headboard. I saved all the old kitchen cabinet doors last summer when they demo-ed the kitchen for the remodel. I've got an idea to use some of them in the kitchen on one of the walls that needs a piece of art...we'll see if it works out the way I'm picturing it in my mind.

Looking to the fall:
-I'm so ready for football to be back! Andy got his new NCAA '11 Football today and is already putting it to good use while I type this post.

-Our students officially return in a little over a month... hallelujah! I'm so ready for them to all be back. We miss them greatly during the summer! We've got several new students that will be rising freshman that we've been put in contact with this summer and I'm hoping they will come join the mix this fall. Speaking of the fall one of our students, Thelms, and I sat down this weekend and planned all the themed "family dinners" that we'll host once a month for them this year. We are kicking off the school year with a pirate theme! Should be highly entertaining. (For those who don't know we have a group of students that we've developed relationships with. Once a month we host them for "family dinner". We cook a big home cooked meal for them and we drag all the tables in the house together so that we all eat together as a "family". The evening usually wraps up with a family photo. The photo at the top of the blog was taken at the last family dinner of this past school year.) Family dinners are hands down one of my favorite things each month. This started out with us entertaining 3 or 4 students for dinner...at the end of this last year we were hosting between 12-15 students a month. They invite their friends and our "family" grows. I've enjoyed watching them bond and grow over this last year together. I'm really excited to see the new dynamics this school year will bring.

-I'm already starting to map out the rest of the year on the calendar. The fall is always super busy for us and then it seg-ways in to the holiday season. Hard to believe but it will all be here before we know it! July is almost halfway gone and back-to-school supplies are starting to appear in stores. Wow.

-Like said earlier I've got big plans for the fall when it comes to the yard! We just need to get the ball moving once the weather cools off a bit.


As always I'm sure there I forgot something...but there's plenty here to catch y'all up. Till next time...