Grayton Beach ~ day 4...part 2

After a movie and a nice nap during the thunderstorms we were able to enjoy the beach in the evening followed by an amazing Cajun dinner....gumbo and jambalaya!! Though a little windy, still a lot of fun!!

Gus holding his prize possession....a lime!!

Me, Gusley and Vivian!

Evan and his new spectacles!!

Sweet baby girl!

Watch closely

Cinco de Mayo

A little dinner date with his best gal pal! The kids had "American" food while the adults had authentic Mexican food! A great time by all that attended!!

Just because....

I just love this picture of Gusley. It was taken almost 2 months ago, but I love it. I love the look on his face!

Happy Father's Day!

I know Father's Day is to honor the daddy's out there, but I sure do enjoy the good food that comes along with it!! We had a nice relaxing day. We slept late, had a good breakfast, swam, took a nice nap, swam some more and had yummy steaks for dinner! It was truly a great day.

You can just see the pure happiness on Gus' little face. I am so glad that he loves the water, however; he does not have very much fear. Please excuse the potty in the background.....potty training and that comes with the territory!

Lending a helping hand to Pops!

Salsa Sunchips are the bomb!!

And so is Pinki's homemade Guacamole! Down to the last bite!

Happy Father's Day, Jake! We love you and hope you had a great day! Thank you for all that you do for us to make our lives comfortable, fun, enjoyable and entertaining! You kick ass!!

A little entertainment by Gusley....he loves to wear "goooo-gles"!

Buttercup not very thrilled to be in Gus' pajama shirt, but I thought it was cute! The shirt says, "Can't Catch Me", which is very fitting for her!

Oh What a Night!

Danny and Bridgette and their children came to visit over Easter holidays. We had a wonderful visit with them and did not want to see them go home! Their one request was that we had to eat at the old spaghetti factory. We figured Good Friday would be the best day. Jake and I got off around 2 or 3pm and we met D & B in downtown Nashville. We were a little early so we took Gus to the playground at Centennial Park. He had a blast! Once they got there, we parked and all walked around the pond to the Parthenon. Everyone was very impressed and we had worked up an appetite so we agreed to have an early dinner.

We got to the restaurant, waited about 10 minutes and we were at our table. Here is where the fun began. These will be short concise sentences. The waiter was AWFUL. He talked to himself. It was HOT as Haiti in the restaurant. I was sweating, Gus was sweating, Jake was sweating. Gus was a wiggle worm. He did not want anything to eat. Somehow the waiter got the orders almost completely right. He withheld giving us seconds, thirds, etc of the yummy bread. I ordered Gus milk. When the milk didn't work, I asked for his scoop of spumoni ice cream. Bad move, very bad move. Jake inhaled his food. I got mine to-go. D & B's kids ate everything on their plates. Bridgette was in heaven with the mizithra cheese. So was I. I think we all were!! Jake takes Gus for a walk outside while waiting for our check. They come back with a flower for me. As soon as Jake's butt hits the chair Gus begins to spew. The entire place is looking at us like we have 17 heads and like they have never seen a little person vomit. Funtimes. My poor child looked so pitiful. Jake takes him back outside with Evan and Lucas (who starts to gag!). I clean the vomit as the bus boy proceeds to tell me how he watched it all go down and how gross it was. I KNOW it is gross. Shut up and get me more towels, pronto. Who in their right mind thinks there is anything great about vomit, I do not know. Gus sleeps the entire ride home. Enjoys a bath and little down time with his cousins and he is off to dream land. This my friends, is by far the worst restaurant experience we have had as parents.

Gus had a runny nose a few days before and I should have known that vomit was on the horizon. The mucus just gets the best of him and he has to get it out. That dear readers, was how our Good Friday went down!

Daddy and Gus on the steps of the Parthenon!

Danny, Bridgette, Evan, Lucas and Vivian ready to eat mizithra cheese. Pre-vomit!

Spumoni.....not a good idea. Nope, not at all!

A bottle?

Lately Gus has been very vocal. He may not enunciate each and every word, but he does convey to us what he wants and will let us know if it is NOT what he wants! Today he helped me unload the dishwasher and as we were putting his cups in the cupboard he kept reaching and pointing to a bottle that I had tucked away. I gave him the bottle thinking he just wanted to play with it at his kitchen. Oh no, he had other plans. He stood at the sink pointing and raising the bottle saying something along the lines of "wa, wa, wa" that can only be water. I asked him if he wanted water in the bottle and he beamed ear to ear. I filled the bottle for him and he carried it around while I fixed lunch. Mind you he never took one sip of the water out of the bottle. After lunch he was over it and reached up and put the bottle in the sink. Not sure what that was all about, but I did get a cute picture of him and is prize possession of the day!!

Snowed in or Shut in??

WINTER: is the coldest season of the year, between autumn and spring. The season includes the time of year with the shortest days and longest nights.

I have a love/hate relationship with winter. I LOVE being inside all snuggled up and warm eating warm soups and sipping hot chocolate. I LOVE the snow and fires burning in a fireplace. I LOVE being in a cabin when it is cold out. I HATE having to get out in the cold and more so having to get Gus out in the cold. So far this year we have had snow 5 days. Nothing heavy, but enough for the schools to close two days in a row. So I digressed with the definition and winter and my few complaints....here is what I really wanted to say!

What a lazy, cozy weekend we had! We spent quality time as a family in the house all weekend long. We had nothing to do, no where to be and it felt good. We had snow Thursday afternoon and all day Friday and Saturday. It was so peaceful watching the snow fall. I found Jake, Gus and I sitting in front the window watching the snow come down several times during the last few days. We had enough snow to cover the ground and stick, but the sun came out today and melted the majority of it.

Technically we were not snowed in. We opted to be shut ins for the weekend!! We watched movies and LOTS of football (all 4 wildcard games), ate too much junk food, had a few drinks and stayed in our pajama's all day both days. The most productive thing we did all weekend was take our Christmas tree out of the house and rearrange a little in the living room! Oh and vacuum the needles from the tree!

While we were 'shut ins' Jake cooked two delicious dinners and some great pancakes for breakfast! (I love Saturday mornings.....I know I am not responsible for breakfast and I look forward to his yummy pancakes)!! Friday night Jake made quesadillas and they ROCKED! Today he put a roast in the crock pot and it came out really good! Thanks for the meals, Jake! I love when I have a few days off from cooking. By the end of the week I tend to get burnt out. I feel refreshed and am looking forward to the start of a new week!

Buddies

So....this should have been posted oh back in September when we went on vacation, but it will just have to go here!! This was our last day in Louisiana before we headed to Destin. We were so stoked that we got to see our pals North of the Lake! Gus and Nash really had a great time playing together in the evening and the next morning!

Here kitty, kitty, kitty....Gus was very interested in the kitty door....I'm sure he is wondering if he can fit through there!!!

Getting comfy and cozy to watch a little Yo Gabba Gabba!

These two were so cute eating dinner together, they were more interested in talking than eating!!

A little rock band session after dinner!! This is a must when we visit, since both their daddies are musically inclined it is only fitting that we start them young!!!!

Eat more Chikin!!

We found out that every Tuesday night is kid's night at Chick-fil-a!!!! It is a great deal, for each adult meal you buy, you get a free kid's meal, plus each child gets a free ice cream cone!! Doesn't get much better than that!!!

Gus loved the cow! He would shake his hand then turn and look at me with a huge smile, but I just couldn't snap the camera quick enough to get the smile!!! There will be a next time!!!

Eat more chicken!!!

CHEERS!!!

Thanks, Endi for teaching Gusley 'CHEERS'!! At every meal he now raises his sippy cup for 'CHEERS' at least 15 times! It is the cutest thing! I couldn't be prouder that his best friend taught him such a happy and fun gesture!! I will try to get some pictures, because he, just like Endi, is so proud when our glass and his sippy touch!!! Cute stuff around here at mealtime!!

CHEERS!!!

Rainy Day Schedule

While Gi-Gi and Paw were here during the summer we had an entire day of rainy day schedule. Gus and I took a long nap, Jake and Paw watched a movie and Gi-Gi got to explore the new Kroger Marketplace. Which if you have never been to one they are FABULOUS!!! We did manage to get out and have dinner to celebrate Jake's birthday, but other than that we just hung out around the house. Here are a few pictures from our day!

Gus playing hide and seek!

Watching the rain fall......

Playing peek-a-boo with Paw!!!

Reading his favorite book at dinner, Puppies and Kittens! It just cracks him up every time!

So scared of the strings on the hat....not even the hat, just the strings. Notice, Jake had to put them behind his ears!!

Much better......

Flan is YUMMY!!!

Gus and Paw with their almost matching shirts. Gus really took to Paw on this trip!

Showing off before bed time!

Buttercup trying to get some of the attention!

Such a little cutie pie!!

Mr. Big Stuff

We have decided to "ween" if you will, Gus from his highchair and use a booster seat at the table so that he can eat with us. So far, so good. We still use the highchair every now and then, but for the most part he eats at the table with us. It is so cute, he goes to where I keep his bibs and tugs on a bib, then goes to the chair with his seat on it and tries to pull the chair out from under the table. This is his way of saying I am hungry and I want to eat now!! He has been feeding himself for quite sometime and is doing really well with a fork. I decided to let him have at it with his applesauce yesterday. I am so proud of him!! Yes, a mess was made, but for the most part he ate almost all of the applesauce!! He would scoop some on his spoon then take it to his mouth, then he started dipping his finger and bringing it to his mouth!! What a big boy he is becoming. As I type this I am smiling ear to ear! Sometimes I just have to pinch myself. I can't believe I am a mother and I love every minute of it, more and more each day! I longed for this day (to be a mother) and now that it is here, I just can't believe it. I can remember playing with my baby dolls, naming them, changing their diapers, rocking them, etc. and now to have a real baby doll, is a dream come true to me. I love you, Gusley! Keep on rockin'!!

01.14.09 ~ 11 months and CeAna's

So a little back blogging.....I had the pictures uploaded just forgot to write about it!! Oops, darn mommy brain! Anyway, these are from Gusley's 11 month birthday while we were in Houma for my grandfather's funeral......sound asleep in his nanny's bed looking like such a big boy!! We decided it was time to take him to our favorite down the bayou restaurant, CeAna's. It is on the bayou and they have a really good shrimp po-boy and before I even knew I was PG Jake, Jay, M'Lyn and I went down there for a bite and I pigged out on chili cheese fries (I usually am turned off by those things) but that day they were AMAZING, so we had to share that with Gusley and this, my friends is the day he had his first french fry!!

I love his reflection on the table!

Gusley and his "sign".....would have preferred to eat it than hold it!

Fake fussy face......

First bite of french fry!

This was ironic...I went out to take a picture of the shrimp boat to show our friends here in TN and check out the name of the shrimp boat!!

Gusley watching the boat pass from inside the restaurant!

Finger lickin good!!