Weekend

Julia and Dylan took over the camera, Juju took this one
The forbidden bean bags. (That's Dylan's legs)
The exciting "find the book" game
More bean bag fun
Dylan's turn with the camera
Bobby Dews
Juju eating one of many snacks. She must have ice cream at Jane's!
The kids LOVE Missy. Dylan was pretending to be asleep.
"Chilling out"
Couch potatoes
More chillin'
Julia likes to sit beside Alex
AJ eating some peas and bananas
Messy face

We had a fun, somewhat laid back weekend. Saturday, we went to the Georgia Literary Festival at Bainbridge College. We took Alex to Jane's house, picked up Dylan, and met our friends, Chris and Lisa and their baby, Madison. Bobby Dews (longtime Braves bullpen coach) was a featured guest. He's written a few books. We were thinking that he might be there signing books and we'd be able to meet him, but he did sort of a lecture in the auditorium. The kids were real troopers, but we knew they were bored. They also had a room with "activities" for kids, but all they did was hide a book and the kid that found it won a prize. Julia did it one time and said she didn't want to do it anymore. I got kinda mad when the lady doing the games told the kids they couldn't play on the several bean bag chairs they had set up in the corner (why were they there?), so we left pretty soon after that. Anyway, it was something different to do. We went back to Jane's after that and caught the second half of the GA-LSU game. They blew LSU away, so that was fun. This has become a weekend tradition and we always have fun with Glenn, Missy, Dylan, Jane, Lesley and all the dawgs!

Sunday, we had no plans, so we just had a lazy day at the house. I got some good pictures of Julia and Alex "chilling out" on the couch. Julia went to Grammy's house for a couple of hours and got to ride in Grammy's new Jeep.

Also, we've started feeding Alex baby food. He took to it right away. Anything would taste better than that formula, I guess!

R.I.P. Pappy

We just realized that tomorrow will be a year since our precious dog Pappy died. He was the absolute best dog ever. He was rescued by a friend from a horrible situation and he always appreciated his second chance at life. We still miss him so much. We're so lucky we had him in our lives as long as we did. I hope he's having a great time in doggie heaven. We have a million beautiful pictures of him but most were taken before Juju was born and they're not on the computer. I guess these are better than nothing. We love you, Pappy!

Beautiful Weather Sunday

Juju and Daddy enjoying the picnic

Juju gettin' crazy on the playground

Me and A.J.

Matt and Juj eating the expansive gourmet picnic spread. Zebra cakes and pickles, anyone?

A cool old boat that's on the shore at the river

Little man with the best view of the river behind him. He's barely able to contain his excitement.

A fish that was in the river. You can't tell from the picture, but it was really long. I have no idea what kind of fish it is.

Ahhhhh, this is the life!

An emu

Matt and the kids at the beginning of the emu walk

Last Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. It was one of those very rare days where the weather is pretty much perfect, we call it "California weather" because it feels like it does in California. Perfect temperature, pants are good but no need for a jacket. It was almost cool in the shade and there was a wonderful breeze blowing. Okay, I'm starting to sound ridiculous but these kinds of days are few and far between, and are especially awesome after making it through a summer in South Georgia. Anyway, we decided to take advantage of it and go to the emu walk at the river, one of my favorite places in Bainbridge. Then we went to the baseball field where there is a tiny playground with the most modern equipment in town (most of the playgrounds here have the same equipment that was there when Matt was growing up) and had a picnic there. We all had a blast, including Alex. But his little baby nose got a little windburned or something because it was red the next day. It was a great day and I hope there are more to come soon!

Bulldawg Party!

Julia and Dylan playing "flitball" as she calls it. He accidentally zinged her in the face and head a couple of times but she never got upset. I think she has pretty good form! Oops, I just realized Dylan's not even in this picture. He was there. Sorry Dylan!

Jane and Alex. There were a couple of toys on the floor for him to play with...

Julia and Dylan on Stoney the bulldawg. I couldn't get them to be serious for me.

Alex wearing Jane's hat. Sooooo cute!!!

One of the cutest pictures I've ever seen!!!

Matt, Alex, Juju, Mallory and Amy

Another potential girlfriend for Alex, beautiful little Mallory! She was a doll! They really liked staring at each other.

Today we went to Jane's to watch the UGA game. It had been a while since we had been so we were very excited about it. We ate lots of yummy grilled food (shrimp, chicken, burgers and dogs!), baked beans, chips and other stuff. Julia and Dylan played outside a lot and had a blast. Aunt Missy and Jane took turns holding Alex and playing with him on the floor. Uncle Glenn even played with him! We had a blast, plus the Dawgs won so that was good. When we got home our friend Amy came to visit with her precious baby Mallory. Amy and her husband grew up here but live out of town now so we don't get to see them very often and we had never seen Mallory. She is about 6 weeks older than Alex so it was really neat to see them together. He was, of course, bigger! It was a very fun day!

Fall Break- Trip to North GA

The girls under the "peacock" (pecan) tree as they
called it.

Holding hands walking back to the house

Watching a movie

Sweet girls

This isn't from the trip but I threw it in because it seems
there aren't many pics of him

RayRay LOVED holding her baby cousin. She took very
good care of him and is going to be such a good helper
with her new baby sibling!

Julia taking Alex for a stroll. At one point, she took off running-
the stroller wheels were wobbling and it scared us all
to death! Luckily, she slowed down before anything
bad happened.

Best cousin friends. They picked out these "beautiful" shirts
during separate trips to Panama City without the other one
there! They love the same things.

A snack in the bright sun

Bradley doing his own thing- he found this baby toy in the house,
no one has played with it in a long time, but it seemed super
cool to him this day!

TADA! Pop's super awesome swing set

The girls enjoying the tire swing

Alex in the baby swing. He really was enjoying it
even though it doesn't look like it. We just can't
get a picture of this baby smiling!

Lots of fun activities going on!

Juju holding cousin Thomas' hand on . She loved being the boss of
him, and since he is younger and a sweetie, he didn't mind!


I know it has been a while since I posted. The days just seem to get away from me! Plus, I had a stomach virus over the weekend (luckily no one else has gotten it). Everyone is doing good. Alex is still feeling good but has his days/nights of not sleeping. Julia is still enjoying school even though a lot of the kids are a-holes, she doesn't fully realize it and I'm hoping it will be better next year. I definitely miss the sweetness and innocence of her church preschool. But she is learning so much and I think overall it is a good experience for her.

The weekend before last was Julia's Fall break at school so we took the opportunity to visit my family and some friends in Loganville/Monroe/Athens. We had so much fun! The first night was spent at Aunt Angie, Uncle Nick, RayRay and Bradley's house. We ate delicious Chinese food (I hadn't really had any since we moved) and the kids had a ball playing and going nuts. It is so sweet how absolutely overjoyed Julia and Rachel always are to see each other. They are such sweet special cousin best friends. The next day, the weather was pretty nice so we all went outside and the kids played on R and B's awesome playground and in their beautiful yard. We were just thrilled to have a break from the bugs of South Ga! Later, we went to Nana and Pop's where Pop showed us his new swingset! He built it all himself and it is just awesome! It's a good thing for them to have with 8 grandkids! Julia got to try it out before the other grandkids since we were there first and she loved it. That night, Nana and Pop were kind and brave enough to watch both kids while Matt and I went to Athens to hang out with Uncle Kevin and lots of other friends. Both kids did great and slept great. Then, Sunday was the big swing set reveal!!! All of the grandkids came over to play and we ate hotdogs. Since there is something for every age, all the kids just had a blast. Pop did a GREAT job on that thing and it will be enjoyed for many, many years. We stayed one more night and then headed back to B-town Monday at lunch. It was a wonderful trip. Everyone was so kind, generous and accomodating like always. The hardest part is always leaving, especially for me leaving my family. Going up there always makes Matt and I very homesick for Athens. But it was so much fun and both kids did great on all the car rides...oh, yeah, partly because we were driving Pa's awesome truck! Anyway, more to come soon...