Beach Pictures Round-Up...

Some photo highlights from our week at the beach. Lots of eating and playing were had by all...last year Avi-Kate was 5 weeks old when we went and it's crazy how much difference a year makes. 

Take me out to the ballgame...

...And may the force be with you! We took Avi-Kate to her first Braves game at the Ted on August 3rd. Andy's cousin, Jennifer, joined us. She and Kyle have a son, Grant, that is a couple months younger than AG. We had a great time with them and thankfully the rain held off. It drizzled just a bit but we were fine because we were under the overhang. This game also happened to be Star Wars Fan appreciation night. It was hysterical because there were all sorts of costumes, Star Wars music, etc. throughout the night. Even the Friday Night Fireworks were Star Wars themed. All the music for the show was Star Wars at the end of the night. Not going to lie the music of Star Wars is perfect for a fireworks show. Avi-Kate did great but she's not in to it the way AG has been since he was her age. He loves everything about the game and the park. Avi-Kate was happy to graze along all night and finally took a nap at the end of the 7th. At the end of the night we put pjs on at the car and then headed North. The kids slept the whole way home and we got them in their beds without a peep.

Here's some fun from our night:

 Darth Vadar taking the field before the game.

 AG's favorite part of the park the Cow and Coke bottle.

 In between innings they have the Home Depot Tools Race...this night half way in to the race Darth Vadar came out for a battle.

 Grant and AG showing off their Choppin' skills.

 'Welcome to the Jungle' and Craig Kimbrel came out to strike out all three batters in the 9th. Let's face it, if you follow baseball, he's ridiculous. Almost every pitch he threw was around 97+ mph. 

A fun night was had by all. We'll need to do another game with the boys next year...maybe Ronnie and the Perkins will join us. As far as the rest of this season, we have plans to attend Chipper's last regular season homestand. It coincides with the UGA vs. UT game and so we'll make it a sports weekend.

Random Saturday Musings...

...lots of things rolling around in my head at the moment. This is the start of my favorite time of the year. Don't get me wrong as a gardner I love all the promises spring brings us each year. I also love spending time in the pool and at the beach each summer. However, with the arrival of school we have football season gearing up, the arrival of cooler temperatures, fall colors, and a season of Thanksgiving as a segway in to the Christmas season. Lots of excitement for the coming months and all that they will bring.

-In a few weeks, most likely around Labor Day, I'll start pulling out my fall stuff for the house. I need to swing by and pick up my favorite hand soap of all time from Bath and Body Works...Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Also, need to pick up a new fall candle to burn while I am there. In addition, I need to switch out the bedding in our room. (Post on that to come.) This also gives me time to finish my fall wreath I'm working on that I've put on hold the last few weeks.

-AG's first week of school went great. He LOVED it. We had no issues with him crying or being upset...clearly a sign that he was ready. This week was a little crazy and I didn't get much done around the house while he was in class BUT I can see that I will be able to tackle several projects in the coming weeks with just Avi-Kate to look after.

-Avi-Kate is enjoying having one on one time with us while AG is away. I'm grateful she gets to have this time.

-My goal this week is to really tackle the chaos in our bedroom...it's driving me nuts. I've started working on it today, actually, so we'll see how it goes.

-I went dumpster diving this week at Berry. Correction. I found a bunch of loot in a dumpster and Andy went in to retrieve it for me. :) Found some patterned metal for a project I've been mulling for the kitchen window for over a year now. Also, came up with two old doors. At the moment they are going to be regulated to the cellar but I'm trying to figure out a plan for one of them to be used in this house. The other door will just be held on to for the time being. Poor Andy he smiles and appeases me but I do think he shakes his head sometimes when I find my latest 'treasure'. Ha. I promise there is a method to my madness!

-Christmas. Yep, already started jotting down gift ideas for the kids. I've got a few things already that we've decided to do and I plan to start shopping slowly over the next few months. So as to space it out and be budget conscious. A few things we'll bring back from Disney...I'll space those out too. Buying some in October and some when we return for our Christmas trip.

-Andy has been working hard around the yard. Pressure washing everything. He's almost done and then we'll move on to some other yard projects that are season related.

-AG had another laser treatment on his hemangioma yesterday and it went well. He's happily running around the house and chasing Avi-Kate. You'd never know that he had surgery yesterday.

-I'm working on coupons and grocery lists for today. I'm trying to find a groove/rhythm for our new routine with AG in school. This includes grocery shopping, cooking, meals, etc. Over the summer I slacked in my couponing and freezer stashing of meals. I'm in the process of getting back on the bandwagon for both. I am planning to cook several things this week and stash half of it in the freezer.

There you have it...a little bit of what I'm mulling and pondering as I go about my day. Happy Saturday.

Wordless Wednesday...USA Swimming/Diving Edition.

Den Updates...

If you know me in real life you probably know that my favorite color is red. Love, love, love me some red. My grandmother that passed away last fall was the same way and she always wore something red everyday. She always said it was her 'signature color' and I guess I've made it mine as well over the years. Anyways, I've wanted a slipcovered sofa from Pottery Barn since we got married. However, it was not really in the budget then. We've been slowly saving and waiting for the right time. This summer we paid cash for my new RED sofa. We even decided to bump it to a sleeper sofa so that we have an extra bed when needed. Since sofas are custom orders we had to wait for it to be made in North Carolina before it was shipped south. Then of course they called to set up delivery for the week we were on vacation. (Timing is everything, right?!) Anyways, we arrived home on Saturday and the old sofa was gone. We told the college students that were house sitting to go ahead and take it while they were here. AG was perplexed about the sofa being gone at first. On Monday, the new sofa arrived from ATL. It is fabulous! Really. I absolutely adore it. It's been fun watching Olympics on it every night. 

Anyways, here are some pictures of the den at the moment...

 AG testing out the sleeper sofa. He makes us laugh. 

 AKs dazed and confused about having a new couch. 

 I'm in the process of changing out my throw pillows. The frame pillow is new and I'm thinking of putting a monogram on it. I need to find a cover for the other two pillows. In addition, I really need to decide on fabric for the chair so that I can get that project started. I'll be glad once it has been recovered.

As for the play area it got a much needed deep cleaning/organizing on Sunday. I keep a huge chunk of our toys in the attic and we rotate them around to help minimize the chaos. I was love how neat things are after we've rotated toys. I'm planning to do a fall bulletin board for the kids and it's currently on my 'To Do List' along with several other learning at home projects for this upcoming year. Hopefully, I'll get it up in the next week or so now that I have more time to work on stuff with AG in school 5 days a week.

I love this little shelf. It's slated for a paint makeover...eventually. One day. It's the perfect height/size to store our ever growing collection of Melissa and Doug toys.

Once I get the chair done I'll do a whole before/after post with pictures from all angles. I also need to brainstorm what I'm going to display in the window for the fall. I love that window ledge above the sofa because it's like a gigantic mantle. The possibilities are really endless. There you have it...organized play space for the kids and a new sofa. On to the next project. :)

We'll be seeing you very soon...

...Disney! Yes, we now have another trip on the books. Last minute but we are actually really excited about it and it's come together quite easily. Here's what happened. Andy's mom has a timeshare with Marriott and each year she has an allotment of points to be used/banked well they also have a shelf life and expire after so long. This summer we were looking at things and there was a bunch of points slated to expire at the end of this year. So, we booked our girls trip to Williamsburg at Christmas time and that chipped away at the total but didn't take care of it completely. Everyone else was available to go somewhere in September but due to schedules and UGA's football schedule we weren't able to go away with them. They booked a few nights at Hilton Head for late September and there were still a few points left. Andy's mom, very generously, gave them to us to use in October. I was able to book us for four nights and use up the last remaining points! We'll be there the week before my 29th birthday. We decided that if there was availability at any of the resorts during AG's fall break that we would go then since we'll be pulling him out for a week to do our surprise Christmas trip. 

We decided that since it will still be warm in October that we wanted a Marriott that has a great pool setup for the kids. Our first choice was Marriott's Harbour Lake because of their Pirate pool and splash areas geared towards smaller kids. (Click on the photos in the above link and you'll see what I'm talking about.) Plus, they have a putt-putt course on-site for us to use which we knew AG would love to use. They had exactly what I wanted and for the dates that I wanted so I booked it without delay. We're excited to try this resort out since the last two times we've stayed at Marriott's Grande Vista...just to see how they compare/try something different. We have an afternoon/evening built in to our trip to be able to just hang out at the resort doing whatever the kids want to do.

We plan to spend lots of time in Fantasyland this trip. Avi-Kate has yet to ride Dumbo and AG missed riding it last trip since it was closed due to the remodel. We are also hoping to get AG on his first roller coaster aka The Barnstormer since he'll be tall enough. We'll see. We are already talking it up. If he's tall enough we may attempt Splash Mountain with him...we know he would love the actual ride thru scenes...we just aren't sure about the huge drop at the end. ;) I have no doubt that if AKs was tall enough she would do it hands down because she is fearless!

 I was able to get all the dining reservations that I wanted for the trip. We have plans to eat at the Liberty Tree, again, because it's one of our favorite meals in the Magic Kingdom. The rest of our reservations will be new to us. We are trying out Garden Grill and Hollywood and Vine. Both are character meals. Hollywood and Vine will be for breakfast and includes Disney Junior characters. Garden Grill is in the Land pavilion at EPCOT and actually overlooks the ride Living with the Land. This ride was probably one of AG's favorite rides from the last trip. Which we found slightly humorous since it's all about gardening and you ride around a hydroponic greenhouse. AG likes to call it the Vegetable Ride...I figured he might like eating at the Vegetable Restaurant this go around. They actually serve food produced on the ride in the restaurant. The other place we are trying out is Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom. AG is all about Animal Kingdom and 'jungles' so we thought this might be a great fit. I've eaten at the Rainforest Cafe in Texas but never at Disney. It'll be a first for everyone else. Lots of great eating this trip plus we have our sites on several quick serve locations. We love Cosmic Rays and the last two trips we've not made it there so we are planning to eat there for sure this trip.

Lots of time in the jungle and a full day at Animal Kingdom since AG has really become quite taken with it. This trip we are planning to spend very little time at Hollywood Studios. A breakfast before they open and then a ride on Toy Story Mania...that'll be the extent of our time there this trip. I did this on purpose since I have us spending a huge chunk of our Christmas trip there to see all the holiday lights. We'll have two days at MK, a couple hours at the Studios before hopping over to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day, and one day at EPCOT. Obviously this is all flexible and we can hop around if the kids would rather do something else. We are also planning to try Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party one night. It's a big trick-or-treat extravaganza that they do on certain nights during the fall. AG has requested a Peter Pan costume and that Avi-Kate needs to be Tink so that's what we are going to do. They should be really cute.

 I'm really excited to see everything decorated for the fall season because it's suppose to be the next best thing to their Christmas decorations. My dear friend, Evan, absolutely LOVES going in October and so we are ready to try it for ourselves. We'll actually be arriving the day that they are leaving to come home from their fall trip. One of these days we'll actually have a trip planned together...right Evan?! :)

So, there you have it. Disney for AG's fall break. Should be pretty inexpensive since we will only have to pay for our food, gas, and the few souvenirs we buy every trip. I think a perk of being an annual passholder is we don't feel compelled to buy every single thing we see because we know we are coming back. We tend to pick up a few things but that's really it. I'm planning to start scoping out things for Santa to 'pick-up' while we are there for gifts for the kids. I can't wait. This summer has been a roller coaster and we need a few family days at the happiest place on earth with our kids. We'll see you soon Mickey!

Quick updates...

Goodness gracious where has the time gone?!

Are we really in August? So, here's a sound off of things that are going around here...

-School. AG requested a baseball bookbag for his school year and thankfully, Pottery Barn had one that was 'AG approved'. Now, I'm hoping it arrives for the first day of school which is MONDAY! Yes, school starts for AG on Monday. Crazy. I can't believe it. Tonight we have Open House to check out his classroom and meet new friends. Again, it really boggles my mind. BUT we are excited. :)

-Avi-Kate is walking every where and she is quite the monkey.

See life is really hectic at the moment...I started this post on Thursday and didn't get a chance to even finish it. So, let's try this again...

-AG loved, loved, loved visiting his school for Open House! He kept telling us that everything was "just my size!" In our haste to be on time we put Avi-Kate in the car sans shoes and didn't realize this till after we had arrived. Oh, well. Live and learn...and laugh.

-We are watching Olympics non-stop. AG pretty much imitates whatever sport we are watching at the moment. Our favorite to watch him preform is diving. He lines up the bean bags in the den and drags his little red chairs over next to them and then proceeds to 'dive' in to them. It's hysterical...the best are when he does 'backflips'.

-The new couch arrived last week and I'm going to post pictures...but it's FABULOUS. (sigh) I really think I would just like to live on it full time. After relaxing on it for a week I can undertand why Pottery Barn uses the word 'comfort' in it's name. It really is very comfortable and every evening once the kids are in bed I relish sinking down in to it to watch the Olympics. :)

-Today has been spent rotating the kids toys out of the attic and organizing the play area. I guess it's the teacher in me that wants it revamped for the school year.

-I need to do a full post on the latest with the backyard but a quick update is that we had our lot surveyed and found out some great news...our backyard actually extends 21 feet beyond the back of our fence!

-Andy and my Dad some yard work yesterday. Cutting down some small trees and clearing out some growth. Plus, hauling some stuff to the dump. I'm looking forward to it cooling off in a few weeks (I hope!) so we can get out and do some heavy yard work.

-Avi-Kate went to the GI doctor on last Monday to let him check her out after we had three random vomiting episodes over the span of a week. Basically I wanted her to be seen so that if it happens again we can go from there. He said it's highly possible that what happened that week was a CVS episode given that it was identical to AG's episodes. He was glad that we brought her in so he could look her over and document things. The plan is to just wait and see what happens...we'll go from there. I feel better about all of it now that she's been seen.

-I'm in the process of researching jogging/running strollers. My hope is to get one soon so that I can start using it during the week while AG is in school. My plan is to drop him off and then strap Avi-Kate in so I can run on campus at Berry. I just need to narrow it down and then order it from Amazon. Oh, how I love Amazon Prime.

-Avi-Kate is a full fledge Braves fan...she starts doing 'The Chop' anytime she hears the music. And speaking of the Braves we took her to her first Braves game at Turner Field this past Friday. She did great but she's not in to it the way AG is. I think his status as a diehard fan has been cemented. I had to beg him to eat part of a hotdog...he was too engrossed in the game. He loves every single thing about the game.

-Our season tickets for UGA arrived this past week! Glory, glory. We are really looking forward to Saturdays in Athens this fall. I'm glad that our first game is now less than a month away.

I'm sure there are several things that I'm leaving out but at the moment this is all I've got. I'll be back with Disney updates soon.