The LAKE!!!

Well, we made it to the "lake!" I will just call it the "lake" because I still really have no concept of where we were. I do know we enjoyed a wonderful weekend with great friends that we don't get to see enough and we RELAXED! Well, as much as you can with 3 kids around. I think I sat down a few times. :) It was so nice to arrive at our destination Friday afternoon and not get back into the car until today. I don't think I even wore shoes until we left to come home. Thank you, thank you, Eaves family for letting us visit and enjoy your lake house! We had lots of fun and made lots of memories for Kennedy and Whit. She kept calling it Turtle Lake (from Dora). Crazy girl! Here are some of my favorite pictures...so many to chose from!

The boys and Sarah on the boat. Whit was usually happy as long as the boat was in motion!

The boys...so big!

Kennedy and Banks...Don't expect a picture of all three of them. It never happened. I am surprised I have any of two kids together!

Kennedy tubing...ok, ok, she did not like it. Maybe next year! :)

Whit...tired baby fell asleep on his evening boat ride!

A super soccer star in the making! Watch out Aunt Courtney! Please remember she is half my genes so don't really get too excited!

Whit and his Daddy...he LOVED riding in the little boat with Greg. A daddy and his boy....love that!

He STANDS!!! This one he stood for about 10 seconds. He is up to about 20 seconds at a time. Then he decides to sit down. I will stop counting seconds soon I promise. It is just so weird to see your BABY stand on his own! One year ago he wasn't even here yet!

Loving life as usual!

The perfect dive...for lessons call 555-GREG

Our sweet tired kiddos...watching a little Dora together. :)

What a great weekend!! I am glad I now know what the "lake" is that Sarah talks about all the time. FUN, FUN, FUN!! Now, time to bed down and stay home for a while. We have a big 1 year old birthday to celebrate soon...gotta get ready for that! :)

"Daddy's chasing us!!" says Kennedy

Well, the boys acted like they were young again and got up on those skis again...the first time in years for old Greg-O. :) Kennedy thought it was great! She yelled, "Mommy, Daddy's chasing us!" How funny is the world through a 2 year old! Here are a few pics of my man beast husband. I would like to add that my camera is freaking awesome. Seriously...I was far away from this first pic and it is pretty great. So is the man beast in it...:)

He only fell once! Ha!
Jonathan attempting a hurkey...couldn't quite do it on the water! Keep trying J!

A moment to remember

There are moments when parenting is so hard. Then there are those that make my stomach jump and a tear comes to my eye. Sometimes I even have a few more tears than that. I love to have happy tears for my kids. :) Drew and Kennedy had one of those moments for me tonight.......

The kids are playing in my room. They both run out so excited about something. They are both talking SO fast I cannot understand a word they are saying. So I say, "Stop talking and we are going to talk one at a time." Kennedy went first and said, "Mommy, can we go get some ice cream at Mr. Boyd's?" Now, here I am a bit shocked that they came up with this so I ask Drew what he wanted. He says, "Can we please go get some ice cream from Mr. Boyd's?" This is when my heart melts because they have never come up with something like this on their own. This meant they were talking about it together and decided together to come ask us. I told them to ask the daddies and they begged and begged. The daddies are now at Bruster's with those precious babies. When did they get this grown up? I love these two...it seems like yesterday we were just waiting on them to get here. I feel like we have a lot of trouble in the future with this pair!

Summer mornings..gotta love them!!

I love mornings where you have nothing to do. You have no agenda for the day. The world is at your feet. Mmmm....I do so love the lazy days of summer. The kids played outside this morning and they were being so cute I had to snap a few pics. Don't you just love summer mornings?

It is amazing what a few pots and pans and measuring cups can do!

Almost!

Whit is doing a lot of almosts lately. He is "almost" standing on his own. He will stand for seconds at a time. I find myself so fascinated with every little change he makes. I thought it would be no big deal this time around. I was definitely wrong on that one. I was cooking dinner tonight and turned around to find this....one foot out the door!

A good friend

Everyone needs a friend they can count on. You know...the kind of friend that doesn't care that you crawled over them and pushed them away to look at yourself in the mirror. Thanks Jay for being a good friend...:)

All the Sartin's...under ONE roof!

I have come to realize the importance of family. When you have your own kids you start to really realize how special a family bond is. We traveled north to visit all our Sartin cousins. So, we packed up and loaded up with MeMe and Pops and went for a visit. It was fun, tiring, and very eventful! It is a long trip but my kids did so great. The miles and tiredness were worth it. We are creating these memories for our kids as well as for us. I hope they grow up to be close and can lean on each other. Family is so important!

All of the grandkids...Lander, Henley, Whit, Kennedy and Paisley

KNOXVILLE!! GO VOLS!


Pops and Whit looking at the trains

All the kids...can you tell Whit is never still? Paisley just got finished screaming and then Kennedy started crying because Paisley was sitting on her dress! Oh dear! Poor things...

We visited a Children's Museum. I wish we had things like this here. They have a life size doll house the kids can play in. I think this picture is hillarious because Henley looks like a giant. She was fixing everyone lunch. Whit is helping...can you see him?

Whit..working hard to help in the kitchen!

The doll house

Paisley and Kennedy

Henley and Whit

Just my size cousins...Paisley and Kennedy...I wonder what they are talking about. :)

The "big" kids

We also went to a sprinkler park. K had so much fun!!

Whit..enjoying being dry!

Oh, and did I mention that it only took 7 1/2 hours to get home. ONE STOP!!! Two kids, a MeMe and a Pops and we only stopped once. It was a long stop but how great is that?

UPDATES!! THESE KIDS ARE BUSY!!

We'll start with K: Can we say potty trained? :) Oh, yeah...well, I would not actually say we are at 100%. I would go with more like 87.5% potty trained. One week from starting and she really only has about an accident a day. I won't publicly discuss her problem with the accidents. I am SO proud of my little girl! She even did so good on the road trip. We didn't have one single accident in the car. WOO HOO!!! All I really had to do was actually stick to the training and throw in a little bribery....love it!

Whit: Well let's see. He went for a dr visit before vacation and was 18lbs 12 ounces. I don't know if I documented that already. I also have officially stopped ALL baby food!! YAY!!! I love, love, love that!! He is such a good eater. I started him on meat last week and he is a happy camper. We are transitioning from breastmilk to real food. This is easy so far! He is much happier than Kennedy was to stop a few feedings. So, no more yucky jars of food. I just feed him dinner with us and he loves it! Yay for my grocery bill as well!! :) Stopping nursing is another whole story...this is a fun but sad process for me. I don't even want to think about it. So I'll stop talking about it now.

Way to go my sweet kiddos!

My little fish

I was hoping swimming lessons would teach her to swim. She can semi-swim already I just need her to be safe in the water. It only made her braver. Seriously, now she jumps with a smile to me. Her legs are up in the air, her arms up high, and she flies into the water. I don't have to catch her. She just bounces back up and swims a little to me. We went to MeMa's tonight for a little evening swim. I love to do that in the summer. She jumped and jumped and swam and swam until she couldn't anymore. And that little brother of hers is not so bad himself. He loves the water. He'll even fall into you from the side. My little fish....I love it! Here are some pics of her from swimming lessons last week.

That's her with her head in the water swimming across the deep end!!

Practicing that kick!
So sweet!

11 Whole Months!!!

I can't believe he has been around that long! The entire time we were on vacation this year I kept thinking about how pregnant I was last year. Now we have him here, on the outside where I like him, and the Olliff family is forever changed. We didn't know what we were missing. I wish I could put into words how special this little boy is to my family. I'll try, but it won't do it justice. I often think we need to have three children. Greg has a different opinion of that. Then there are times were I think two is just enough. Then there are the times I laugh at myself for even thinking I have any choice in the matter. We are the couple that has the doctor diagnosis of not being able to EVER get pregnant on our own. Those are the moments when I remember I am the proud "owner" of two genuine miracles. I know all children are miracles, but I am thankful for my extra special miracles that were given to me. We walked a long walk for this. I won't ever take my gifts for granted. Not even when I am covered in throw up while riding on I75 through downtown Atlanta. I might not feel as grateful, but I won't take it for granted. So, if God ever does grace us with another miracle, I'll take it. Until then, I am going to enjoy these precious children I was given.

I think Whit knows his place here. He has a job around here and takes it very seriously. He is our happy place. Are you sad? He'll give you the sweetest smile you've ever seen. Are you tired? He'll get you to get up and chase him, and chase him, and chase him. Are you needed someone to snuggle? Oh, he's not your man on that one. This boy only likes to go, go, go!

He likes to be right in the middle of the action. :)

Sometimes he finds himself in a place he is not so approving of. Shortly after this picture she shoved him into the concrete. Lovely.

He might question being a part of this family sometimes. I can see that.

But, in the end I think he enjoys it. His big sister is his world. This morning I put them at the table for the first time. Look at my big boy!!

What a big boy!! He ate and ENTIRE biscuit!!

At 11 months

*You can pull up like crazy!

*You can cruise now! You pull up and that is not enough for you. Now you can make it around the table.

*You can stand for maybe a second by yourself. Today, you stood up all by yourself. I screamed and you fell over. Sorry. I will try to let you accomplish things without interfering next time.

*You love to eat. You are not so interested in nursing anymore and that is harder on me than you. You eat all kinds of foods. I haven't found much you won't eat.

*You love trucks and anything with wheels. Your favorite toy is Kennedy's popper. When Drew gets it out you try your hardest to get it from him.

*You have a total of 3 1/2 teeth. The half is the top left that is taking forever to come in.

* You can say a few words. Bye bye, MaMa, Dog. There are a few more but they can't be determined right now. I'll get back to you on that one.

I want with all my heart to keep you a baby. I know that you are going to turn into a toddler before my eyes all too soon. My mom says you'll always be my baby, so I guess that will have to do. I love you with every ounce of my soul, my precious baby. Don't get mad at me when you are 18 and I am still calling you my baby. I am sorry in advance for that. Love, Mom

They are growing up so fast!!!

The Beach!!!

Here are some of the MANY pictures!! :) Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Beach Vacation 2009: The Preview

The Prosser/Olliff beach vacation is over!! SAD!!! We did have a wonderful time. Made some great memories with our precious babies. It was not quite as easy and relaxing as it used to be but that is how our lives are these days! :) The weather was beautiful the ENTIRE time! Yay!! We came back tan and happy. Gotta love that! Here are a few of my favorites. I took so many it was hard to choose. I am planning on making a slideshow. Kennedy and Drew loved to watch the ones from last year. Enjoy a bit of our vacation...Happy SUMMER!!!

My boys

You have no idea what it took to get her to sit next to him...his face is priceless! I love this!

My Whit

Sweet Girl

Whit and his Daddy

Drew and K...finally BOTH at the beach! I had to get out the camera fast! Soon we hear, "I wanna go to the pool!"

A late afternoon at the beach

The best of friends

Just beautiful

Lorelei and Whit
The next generation of best friends...they are going to LOVE each other!!

I like this one because Greg is so smokin hot in it! :) He..he...

Court, Greg and Whit...K was refusing pictures (no surprise there)

My beautiful family! I am so very, very blessed! I am also so glad Whit was on the outside this year! Yay!!!!

"Let's swim Drew!!! " says K

Her very first REAL pig tails! LOVE IT!

Beach baby

She loved the ocean!!

Ok, that's it for now!! :)