Lately...

We haven't been up to too much lately. As much as I absolutely LOVED traveling to see Mops, Nashville friends, NaNa and YaYa and so on...it was nice to be home for a weekend. Last week we got together with a couple of girls (Leanne and Katey) from church who have kids the same age as Sam and went walking. We are going to do it once a week now. It was a nice change from our usual daily trip to the gym. We walked (and talked) for an hour...and then it started to rain so the kids were not too excited about that and we had to get back. We were going to let the kids play on the playground and have a picnic lunch, but since it was raining we opted for the mall play area and food court for lunch. I felt weird bringing in our own lunch to the mall, but it worked out perfectly. I attempted to make my mom's chicken salad and I think it worked out pretty well. It was actually quite yummy.
This past weekend, Ben and I cleaned out one of our flower beds. We haven't touched it since we moved in...we just talk about how much we hate it and need to do something about it. Well, we finally did. You couldn't even see the ground for all of the overgrowth (I know...we are terrible). But, I got in there and pulled almost every last thing out of there. That was definitely some hard, back-breaking work. My shoulders and back are still paying for it. It felt so good to clean that thing out. We still have a LONG way to go. We have another bed to clean out still and need to plant some flowers and lay pine straw. We are used to pretty black mulch, but it seems like most people do the pine straw down here in the GA. That's what was there so we are sticking with it. I'll post some pictures once we get it in better (picture-posting) shape.

So, our family room, breakfast area and kitchen are all open so if I am cooking I can see exactly what Sam is doing. Well, one night last week, I was fixing his dinner and I guess I wasn't fast enough for him. I turned around and this is what I saw...yep...he climbed up in his chair all by himself. It scared me big time. Needless to say, from now one...the tray will be on there at all times to prevent this little monkey climber from climbing.

Here is a picture of the kiddos from our "picnic" lunch in the mall after walking in the rain (Sam, Alayna and Jackson). The mommys were not in the picture b/c we were wet, dirty and sweaty! :)

This is their favorite thing in the mall play area. They climbed up and slid down that thing the whole time. You can see happy, little Jackson in the background.

Sam and Alayna

Here is a little video I took this morning (mainly for the grandparents). Trying to show you all of our tricks! Note...he calls the Wonder Pets "deedahs". We have no idea where that came from but that is what he calls them...and he talks about them (or is watching them) all the time. They are his favorite for sure! He is talking a million miles a minute...we just don't really know what he is saying. So far the main things I have interpreted are...Baawaa (= ball), DiDi (= diaper), NiNi (this stands for multiples...water, crayons and vaccum), BaBa (= bath...his favorite), MeiMei (Mickey Mouse, Mops), Deedahs (= Wonder Pets). He says "HI" to everyone too...it's really funny. He can say "owl" really well and RANDOMLY...the other night we were brushing his hair after a bath and he said "brush". Hasn't said it since but we thought it was funny.
Okay, sorry for all of that...I try not to write about every little thing that Sam does, but I figured that if I use this as a scrapbook of sorts...that someday I'd want to know these things. :) Thank you for humoring me!