Seagrove - The Beach

We had the best time at the beach this year! After months of worry that our trip would be ruined because of the oil spill, it turned out to be as beautiful as ever. And it was our first time to go with friends which made it all the more fun. Wright loved playing with his buddies Lanie and Eleanor for a whole week! He is still asking where they are and remembering the entire Harper and Woodard family in his prayers every night. Spencer did great overall, but definitely did not love the sandy beach as much as the pool. Here are my favorite pics of all of us on the beach.

After a long 12 hour drive, we were all dying to get our toes in the sand.

Wright was drenched and stripped down to underwear in a matter of minutes.

This is how Amelia and Spencer spent most time on the beach, in the shade with toys.

Lanie and Eleanor found a wakeboard and were "surfing".

Precious Amelia loved to show off her clapping.

Running on the beach.

More running - chasing a seagull.

Building/kicking over sand castles provided hours of entertainment.

Wright loved the water and had no fear of the waves even when they were rough.

Wright and Eleanor sitting in the water.

We took this pic right before I had to take Wright's shorts off to dump out a bucketload of sand.

Daddy was by far Wright's favorite water play mate.

I love this pic - I just happened to look up and notice that Wright had left his friends to play football with the dads. Just all the boys hanging out :)

The three kiddos.

Wright's Swim Lessons

Wright had his last day of swim lessons today and did great. He has learned to jump in on his own, dive with assistance, swim with noodles, do all the correct arms, kick, roll from back to stomach, climb out of the pool and dive for toys at the bottom. He graduated to the next level and earned a cool rock with his name on it. He also has been going around telling people "Neber, eber, eber, eber swim in a pool OR lake by yourself." We like that rule!

Happy First Half Birthday Spencer!

Spencer is 6 months old! It is amazing how much bigger he has gotten in the last month or so. He started wanting 5 8-oz bottles each day, so we decided it was definitely time to start solids. Here are some things he is up to:

• Still laughs and smiles ALL the time, especially at Mommy, Daddy and most of all Wright
• Is really good at rolling from back to stomach, but gets stuck on his stomach a lot which frusterates him
• Sleeps 12.5 hours every night, we have to wake him up to eat in the morning so we can get the day started!
• Takes 2 big naps each day (first morning and after lunch) and 2 catnaps in between (a lot of time in his car seat)
• Coos a ton but is not making consonant sounds quite yet
• Loves singing/dancing with mommy
• Loves his exersaucer MUCH more than laying on a blanket with toys around him
• Likes sitting at the table with us while we eat dinner and watching us

On another interesting note, our "preemie" baby is actually bigger than his brother was at 6 months. He is 16.8 lbs, 26.25" length and 17.5" head. Wright was almost exactly the same but slightly lighter and longer. So funny because he doesn't seem to be as interested in food as Wright was, yet he is somehow getting plenty to grow like a weed.

Big smiles :)

Here he is with his first cereal.

Here is mostly what he does so far...

The Fourth 2010

We had a great 4th of July with the Croffords. It was the first time we have all hung out since baby Wesley arrived, and we had so much fun swimming, cooking out and playing with the kiddos. Everyone was very impressed (including me) with Wright's swim skills. It is amazing what 4 days of swim lessons has done for him. He was so confident in the water and could swim all over by himself with a noodle under his arms.

Spencer and his buddy Wesley. Only 5 months apart :) We know they will be fast friends.

Three boys doing tummy time. Wright is really good at it ;)

Spencer in his patriotic colors.


Family swim photo.

Big Brother

Spencer absolutely adores Wright these days. If Wright is in the room, Spencer just watches everything he does and laughs constantly. Tonight I captured the two of them in their doggy pjs - these pics show exactly what I mean.

Wright talking to Spencer while he looks at him adoringly.

Spencer chillin' by himself.

Wright kissing Spencer's head.

Wright always wants to "hold" Spencer. Can you told how comfortable Spencer is?

Aspen

We went to Aspen last weekend and had a fabulous time enjoying a much-needed break from the kiddos. Randall and Amanda's wedding could not have been more beautiful and it was great getting to spend time with lots of friends that we don't get to see very often.

Heading up to the top of Aspen Mountain on the gondala.

We hiked up to the highest point of Aspen Mountain. Isn't it gorgeous!?

This dog followed some people and their dogs up the mountain. We had to get a picture with him because he was HUGE and cool looking.

The bride and groom.

All their ceremony music was sung by a gospel choir - very neat.

This was the view from the Oudt's house where the wedding was.

Their dogs were in the wedding. Here is one of them dancing!

5 Month Comparison Shots

Spencer (top), Wright (bottom)

Lake Weekend

We had a great weekend at the Lane's house at Cedar Creek Lake. Thanks Jennie and Patrick for being wonderful hosts!

Relaxin' with some drinks on the awesome deck.

The Blakeslees brought their awesome pool which was a huge hit as always.

Wright was a little better at the slip n' slide but mostly army crawled down to the bottom.

Owen played football with Brendan. It was so cute to see him with a football instead of his normal basketball :)

Wright LOVED baby Finley and wanted to hang out with her in the small baby pool.

Finley and Spencer were pretty cute together.

Wright all ready for the boat.

Wright and I rode the waverunner and he kept screaming "Go faster Mommy!" Guess he is a little daredevil.

Brendan could not ride the boat cause of his back but he swam in the lake with Wright.

Jennie and Jake on the boat.

Spencer's New Favorite Toy

Sports Camp

We had sports camp today and Wright had a great time. He seems to be learning a lot about sharing, teamwork, following directions the first time, waiting his turn and of course hand-eye coordination, strength training, etc. It is really a wonderful camp and the teacher is so great with the little guys. After camp, we stayed and played in the Blakeslees backyard blow-up pool. The boys had the best time and did not want to get out!

Tug of war, trying to pull Mr. Donovan into the "mud"

Having a pow wow...

More tug of war.

Pool time!

Wright's Prayers

Wright's prayer tonight before bed went like this...

Me - Wright what do you want to thank God for?
Wright - Um, Jesus, Murray, Jeff, Greg, Anthony (the Wiggles), all my cars...and my other car.

This about sums up his loves these days :) At least Jesus made the cut!

Wright's First Baseball Game

We went to the Roughriders game last weekend and Wright had a great time. The big highlights were the food (hot dog, chips and ice cream) and the mascot which he thought was a yellow dinosaur who must be friends with Dorothy the Dinosaur from Wiggles. This was big talk the whole night. He also really liked the playground area where he was almost trampled a million times by kids 4 times his size. The part he seemed least interested in was the actual baseball playing. I quickly realized why Brendan wants to put off Wright's major league debut for a much later date. It was funny that when we got there he kept talking about how he wanted to go to the baseball game, we have to hurry to get to the game, etc. We realized as we got to our seats and he began to throw a fit that he thought he was going to be playing in the game. No wonder he wanted to bring his bat. I am sure this line of thinking came from a Dora episode where Boots has to hurry to play in the baseball game. Poor kid is so warped by TV!

Lovin that hotdog, bun, mustard and all.

Cheering - this interest in the game was short lived.

Us with the yellow "dinosaur" who is "not scary mom, he's not scary"

Dad and Wright.

What We've Been Up To

I have been so bad about blogging recently. Summer is here and we have been super busy. Brendan had back surgery a few weeks ago and while I was supposed to be home being a nurse to him, I got horribly sick with a stomach virus. It was awful and we had to pawn our kids off to anyone who would take them :) Once I was better (about 4 days later), Brendan was pretty self sufficient. I felt terrbile that I was basically no help at all.

The kids are doing great. Wright is doing one day of school this summer, and we started sports camp last week which I think he is going to really love. We started potty training last weekend and it was a HUGE disaster - he was just totally not ready, or at least not acting ready. So we went back to diapers all week and decided to give it another try this weekend. He has been like a completely different child. We started back up yesterday and he only had 2 accidents. Then today, he had none! And we even took him to a baseball game tonight where he went 3 times on his folding portable potty seat in the public bathroom. We are very proud and trying not to jinx ourselves by getting too excited.

Spencer is as easy as ever. He is seriously the happiest baby. All you have to do is talk to him or smile at him and he just laughs and coos loudly. He is starting to really love his big brother too and notice him a lot. The other day we were swinging in the backyard and I was holding Spencer and pushing Wright. Everytime Wright would come toward us, Spencer would just laugh hysterically...that wonderful deep belly baby laugh. You just can't help but smile around him. He is also so easy to take care of, as long as he gets fed, he is good to go. We are so blessed to have another easy baby :)

Some funny things Wright says these days...

"Are you kidding me Spencer?" - when he spits up
"Just a moment, Mom."
"Dad, are you ok? You hurt your back? You need to go to the hospital?"

There are so many more that I can't think of right now...