AWANAS

Joshua and some fellow Cubbies from AWANAS

Joshua receiving his certificate

Daddy and other AWANAs teachers

This year Joshua participated in AWANAS as a Cubbie and Daddy was a teacher for the TNT - Truth-n-Training group (3rd - 5th grade boys). I was so proud of both my boys for their commitment at memorizing scripture and growing in their faith. It truly made an impact on Joshua who loves quoting scripture and talking about God and Jesus. Mommy stayed home with Noah who was too young to participate but when he is bigger I'm sure he will follow in their footsteps. Joshua got a certificate for completing his book. And Daddy was appreciated for volunteering to help. The week after appreciation night, there was a family night with pizzas and water slides. It was so much fun!

Joshua was genuinely surprised when there was a pool at the bottom of the slide.

Bubbles! Bubbles!

Wheeeee!

A Wedding, Dancing, and fun

My pole dancing machine

We went to Birmingham over the weekend to attend a wedding for a family friend. It was a beautiful wedding and a fun reception. We wish Elizabeth and Michael the best. Joshua was a dancing machine at the reception. His favorite part was pole dancing on a pole that supported the lights. It was a proud moment for mommy, especially with all the "Did your mommy teach you to dance like that?" questions he got. Noah also ran and danced but then got tired and fell asleep. The bride's dad (Joshua's "other" fishing buddy) taught him some new moves which we have video of. He taught J how to go fishing on the dance floor. It was a lot of fun.

My handsome Noah

John Davis and his lovely daughter, Elizabeth

Dancing with Mommy

The boys' personalities are really starting to shine through. It's interesting to watch them grow and develop into curious toddlers. Joshua recently told me "Mommy, I'm not a little boy anymore, I'm a big kid."

Also I'm amused at the way Noah is combining two of his favorite things - the word "No" and his grandpa - so he can call my dad "No-pa!" This is even funnier when you consider my dad never tells his grandsons no.

Lastly Noah has a strange habit when he is in the car. He likes to take off his shoes and his right sock, never the left. It's so strange but he does it every single time we are in the car.

Check out the gigantic slide Joshua slides by himself. That's him on the steps.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

We took the boys to their first baseball game on Tuesday. We had an employee appreciation night at the new stadium for the new team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Joshua's favorite part was pretending to catch and throw the balls at the players during the warm up between innings. Noah's favorite part was walking around during the game. My loyalty was a little conflicted because they were playing the Birmingham Barons, a team Matt and I grew up watching. The stadium is beautiful, located right on the water so there's a nice sea breeze the whole time. We're definitely going to go back and do this again!

On another note, Grandma and Grandpa just moved into their new house. We helped them move in over the weekend. It's a great new house that is one story and has a neighborhood pool. We are very happy for them and hope the boys get to enjoy some pool time this summer.

Love this pic of Joshua and Daddy!

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day from New Orleans!

New Orleans Trip

Chatham Family in the French Quarter

New Orleans with Grandottie and Jerry Pop

We decided to take a family trip to New Orleans.The boys got to see the Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium. Grandottie and Jerry Pop came with us which made the trip extra fun. We started out the trip going to a restaurant just off Boubon Street for dinner. As we were leaving there was a street performer playing a 5 gallon bucket that had Joshua mesmerized. Then he heard the noise and saw the lights of Boubon Street and said "What is that? I want to go to the fun place!" Matt and I decided to exercise some questionable parenting and took them on a stroll down Bourbon Street. The boys collected quite a haul of beads. Joshua and Noah learned quick enough to wave at the balconies to get beads.

Gimme some beads!

We made two trips to Cafe Du Monde for Beignets and cafe au lait. Both boys LOVED the beignets. As Joshua put it "You can't say beignet without saying 'Yea!'" Noah ate beignets until his eyes were glazed over. It was a delicious treat.

The zoo looked really nice. The only drawback was that it was raining most of the time and the animals were seeking shelter from the rain and probably laughing at the silly humans that stayed out in it. Joshua's favorite parts were a family of orangutangs and the sea lions. He liked the orangutangs because because there was a mommy, daddy, and baby and the baby climbed into the daddy's spot when he got up to stretch. He liked the sea lions because they made burping sounds.

Elephants say Roll Tide (even in LSU territory)

Nap time at the zoo

Noah loved the aquarium. When we got there he clapped and pointed at the fish. It was fun to see him so excited. Joshua also enjoyed the aquarium. He got to pet a sting ray with daddy and feed some birds. Another highlight of the trip was dinner at Emeril's. We had a great time and delicious food. Overall it was a fun, memorable vacation.

Day at the Beach

We took the boys to the beach. It was a lot of fun. There has been a lot of talk about seeing the supermoon tonight. The moon is supposed to look bigger because it's closer to the earth. Anyway, we said the supermoon came early because Joshua could not keep his swimming trunks up and he was mooning everyone all day. It was his first time wearing a swimsuit without a water diaper and his tiny hiney could not keep those 3T shorts up! It was a great day at Pensacola Beach!

On the way home Joshua was asking for if we could go to the store and buy a Scooby-Doo dvd. He told us that it only cost 7 coins of 8. We were like 7 pieces of 8? When did you become a pirate?

Blueberries and Spaghetti

Noah has a lot of personality. I love this picture of Noah eating spaghetti. He loved it as much as it shows! Also his new favorite word is "Alrighty! He walks around the house saying "Al-right-y! Al-right-y!" He's even got Joshua saying it, and mommy and daddy too.

"Oh there you are eyebrows! I've missed you!"

Joshua is in need of a haircut, but rather than ask for one he asked me to pick him up so he could look in the mirror. When I did he said "Where are you eyebrows?" Then he pushed his bangs back and said "Oh there you are. I've missed you!" Okay, okay message received loud and clear. Mommy will get you a haircut!

We found a blueberry farm near and house and took the boys blueberry picking. It was a lot of fun. Joshua really got into it and Noah, he preferred to take a berry out of mommy's basket and run to daddy and put the berry in his basket. Then he would take a berry out of daddy's basket and bring it to mommy. Needless to say he took a great nap afterwards. The blueberries were the best I've ever had. We'll definitely be doing this again.

One funny Joshua story:
Recently, after the usual bedtime delay tactics, i.e. one more kiss, one more water, Joshua changed up his routine and went all religious. It put me in the difficult of supporting his excitement about Jesus but also making him go to bed.
Me: Go to bed, Joshua.
J: But Mommy, Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
Me: I know. Go to bed.
J: ...and Jesus loves us very much.
Me: Isn't that great? You still have to go to bed.
J: but Jesus is alive!
Me: I'm so glad. No more words. Go to bed!