My Favorite Thing About the Weekends

I love our weekend mornings.  To wake up to realize that you do not have to face the hustle and bustle of the morning routine is the most glorious feeling.  Knowing that you can just take you time and enjoy your family, cook a big breakfast, and sit down together to enjoy it at the table with everyone is the best.  We really take our mornings slowly on the weekends at our house if we don't have anything planned.  Now, I've said that I feel glorious....I did not say, however, that I looked glorious, so please excuse the 6:20am look I've got going on here.  This particular morning sure was nice.... all cuddled up with my son and my beagle.  Life only could have been better if Daddy was with us instead of the other side of the camera.... but somebody's got to do the dirty work.

Scrub-a-Dub Dub.....A Bigger Boy in the Tub

There is nothing sweeter than bath time before bed time.  I absolutely relish in the moments after the bath when we are going through our night time routine.  Bath time itself has now gone over to Daddy because I can no longer put Drew in or lift him out of the tub, but oh how I enjoy our time together afterwards.  Drew smells so sweet, looks adorable, and we both get so cozy together as we read a book in our favorite blankie (thanks to Margo for that one).  I just love this time.
Our little man loves his bath time!

Take a look at those ears

Hey Mama, look at this cool waterfall that is coming out of Noah's Ark!

\m/>.<\m/ Rock On!!!!

Drew is such a "rocker!"

 Here's the list of reasons why I think he is such a rock star:

 * He claps to the beat of the music he's listening to 

* He is always "up" for the party (regardless of time) 

* He claps when the crowd claps on any live CD's that I play 

* He has a shirt that says so

* He loves all of his musical toys 

* He sings into the microphone on his keyboard 

* He always gravitates toward our guitars from guitar hero (we're going to have to move them soon) 

* He LOVES LOVES LOVES music 

* He is his father's son 

* He is a dancing machine 

* He's super cool!!!!

  These are just the reasons that I came up with off the top of my head. I couldn't even begin to tell you all of the reasons Drew is such a rock star!

Drew looks at this guitar with his "ahhh....one day" look

It Takes A Village....

You know the old saying.  Well, while we find that it may not really take "a village" to raise a child, it sure does help!  These are my "village people."  haha.  I don't know what I would do without them.
Michael, Daniel, Brandon, Mary, Melinda, and Jill.... I just wanted say thank you to you all!

Drew's first Bo Bo

Our little boy has now reached this right-of-passage. He is truly a little boy now. After running around on the concrete for a bit, he fell and scraped his knee. It broke my heart to see him go down and whimper, but it warmed my soul to watch him brush himself off and move on like boys do. But of course, being the mama, I had to worry and fret about it. We washed it right up and put Neosporen on it. It healed up just fine. His knee is now back to normal and now ready for many more trips.

Pickin' Punkins

Drew went with his buddies and Mrs. Tonia to the Pumpkin Patch for Halloween. They were too cute. Mrs. Tonia is too good! It's amazing what she is able to do. Of course, this little field trip took the help of her husband, Nick, but still. As you can see, the boys had a great time. Then, the next day they carved some of the pumpkins together and played in the goopy, seedy, mess. Drew loved it as you can imagine.
Zander, Tanner, and Drew hanging out

The boys had a great time
Look at my little Drewbers over there on the right

A Day on Lake Norman

I'm sorry that these entries are so out of order, but they will be for a while until I catch up.  Our friends, Woody and Tammy, have a gorgeous place on the lake, so we went up to visit them one day this past summer.  We swam around and just relaxed.  It was great.  Drew really enjoyed being in the water.  I have to admit, he took to this a lot better than the ocean, but that will come with time.  Here are some pictures of him with his daddy in the water.

Let Them Eat Cake: Drew on Weddings

Drew has been invited to two weddings already, and he's only 16 months old. It's amazing. Our little man is already learning the ways of the southern wedding. He's seen more rose petals, candle light, and cake than any other 16 month old I know. He has also cut some serious rug at some receptions. Now that he's seen some bridesmaid dresses in action, he doesn't have to wonder what all of those dresses in Mama's closet are all about.

His first wedding was Shay and Kristen's wedding in Chimney Rock, NC. It was such a beautiful day. Then last night he made his second at Mary and Brandon's wedding. It was a beautiful day n the Catawba chapel at the wedding, and we danced the night away at the historic train station in historic downtown Salisbury. It was such a beautiful time. I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed ourselves.

Here's a family shot of us right after we sent the bride and groom off through sparklers at Shay and Kristen's wedding

Daddy and Drew dancing.
His daddy really loves a great southern wedding too. Such a romantic at heart.

Melinda, Sadie, Drew, and I at Shay and Kristen's wedding in Chimney Rock

Our little guy is so very handsome.....I just have to brag. We let him have the paci b/c it was a pretty overwhelming situation for him. He did so well though!

Daddy and his little man danced the night away too.

Sweet Drew really knows how to cut a rug!

Mrs. Jackie took Drew out for the Electric Slide.....boogie woogie woogie

Daddy and Drew walking along the train tracks. It was so neat because as the reception went on, trains kept passing by.

All the girls and, as Crystal said it, the most eligible bachelor in the room.

Mary and Brandon in the limo of balloons.

Good Table Manners are the Ultimate Symbol of Who You Are, and How You Were Raised

Growing up I learned that social graces were often emphasized over achievement. In the South, where manners were so important, we were tamed early. Now, I'm not so sure how my mother did this, and since I can't ask her, I'm going to have to wing it a bit. Although I will make sure that my children are well-mannered, it might be a while. Drew is not quite ready to know how to use table linens...how to just dab and fold away from you rather than smear and crumble.... it might be a while as you can see.

Halloween 2008

This year we had a blast for Halloween. It was on a Friday night, so we were able to really let loose with some of our friends. Our neighborhood, as ya'll know, is pretty crazy on Halloween. This year we had about 425 trick-or-treaters! It was amazing. Some of the highlights that I didn't get pictures of were the apes chasing the banana down the street, and the group of young "hoochies" that ended up hanging out in front of our house. I don't understand how these girls' mothers let them out of the house looking the way they did in their "costumes." Michael ran them off pretty quickly with the spotlight...it was funny. He acted like the old man running the "young'uns" away, they thought he was serious, so they left. It worked for me.
Anyways, everyone came over that night for our yearly tradition of "tailgate trick-or-treat" and we had a ball. If you didn't have on a costume, you had to dance for your candy! The trick-or-treating went on until about 8:30 and then we went in to watch the App State game (Crystal went to App. so we couldn't miss that) and just hung out with good friends, good food, and for those who aren't pregnant like me, good drinks.
Drew had a great time. He was a lion this year. His costume really made him look pretty plump.... which he is a bit anyways, but it was adorable that he looked so incredibly round. Sadie Claire was a flower. She was as sweet as she could be. They had a great time DJ'ing the party. Because of Drew's "mad" DJ skills, we ended up listening to Ghostbusters about a trillion times. I thought Darian was going to go crazy. After we came in, Drew was so tuckered out that he went fast asleep. Sadie stayed up to party for a little while....talk about role reversal. What a night to remember.