Full of Guilt for not Posting

So......... I know that I have posted lately and I honestly feel horrible. My excuse is that my camera is still broken and I find it really hard to post without fun pictures of my little buddies. We have had a fun few weeks and it is just so crazy to me how much time flies. Both Hanky and Ella Kate just seem like they are growing too quickly and that time just slips away from me. I try to just step back, take in all in, and not let a moment pass us by. Sometimes it is just so hard to not be pulled in 800 directions, keep up with the little ones, and then make sure that the laundry is done.:) I guess that is just the way life is with a little big man and a baby girl. I have just learned that time with them and Hank are most important and that it is okay to let the house be a little dirty and let the piles of clothes pile up a little more (poor big Hank)! They are just so wonderful and worth it! I honestly can say that being a parent is my favorite role in life. There is just nothing better!

I hope that I get my camera fixed soon and I will be able to get new pictures of them out!

Love to all!

Camera has been broken

Happy Halloween everyone! I am so sorry that I haven't posted lately. My camera has been broken and I honestly haven't had the time to fix it! I promise to post this weekend with new pictures of the kids. Hope all is well with everyone!

Just a Few of our Friends.........

Speaking of playdates, Mommy, Ella Kate, and I have gotten to play with so many of our friends lately. I just wanted to put some pictures up! Here are pictures of a couple of my favorite buds to hang out with! Maddie Sanford (AKA Captain Elizabeth), Cate Carmichael (for generations our families have been friends - Ella Kate and I are destined to be best friends with her),"Baby Hannah" (still can't stop calling her this), my new best bud Austin (we get to hang out once or twice a week - I love it! - Austin's aunt is one of mommy's good friends from high school and college), Colin Wright (I love this kid - we met last year at school and love to get together to play), Caroline Doyle (Ella Kate and her love hanging out! Ella Kate rolled over on her once - poor Caroline), of course Cordo and Baby Brother (my favorite cousins that live next door), Walker Kirkland (he is going to be the greatest football player ever - I think he is already as big as me and he is only a few months old), and last but not least our friends Tripp and Jack O'Bringer who have moved and we miss them so much (thankfully they come in town a lot and we get to hang out then). So that sums up a few of our friends! We love playing anytime anywhere!

Playdate at Emerson's House

Mommy and me got to go over at play at my new friend's Emerson's house last Friday and I had the absolute best time. I got to see my very favorite boyfriend, Andy Madden. Here we are sharing the best toy in the house - mommy's water bottle. I also got to hang out with Corinne Dunlap, Britain Bridgers, and Porter Hamiliton and of course our host Emerson! I had so much fun sharing my bow with Corinne (she has such fun hair), feeding Emerson her bottle, poking on Britain in her beautiful dress, and pulling everything out of the baby bags with Porter. Porter likes to pull up on everything too! I can't wait to have many more fun Fridays with this crowd. Oh, and Daddy thinks that this playgroup is too cool because so many of the kids are the children of people that he went to high school and college with. Gotta run - Hanky trying to steal one of my toys again!

Rough Week!

The past seven days have been pretty tough on our little guy. Hanky woke up on Thursday (of last week) with a high fever. He kept a fever from 102 to 104.7 until last night. We have been watching all kinds of movies and visiting the doctor:) I am happy to report that this morning is the first morning since last week that he has woken up without a fever. He is still pretty weak because he hasn't been eating, but looks like Hanky is finally on the upswing. Thank goodness he is feeling better and that none of the rest of us caught this nasty bug! Just wanted to give a quick update - hopefully I will have something more fun to blog about at the end of the week! Hope everyone is having a great day!

Go Dawgs!

How could the Dawgs not win with cute fans like these? Hanky loves to call the dawgs and go "down set hut" for every play while the dawgs are on. Training them early!

Whoa..... Here she comes.....

Miss Ella Kate started crawling about a month ago and has mastered the art of getting into stuff (drawers, under tables, finding anything on the floor, finding all of Hanky's toys that she should not have, etc). Back to babyproofing for mommy! Ella Kate is trying her hardest to keep up with her big bro. Speaking of which, Hanky told us today that he loved his baby sister and wanted "to pet her." Poor little girl with a brother who thinks she a puppy. Too cute - might have to do some explaining to do soon! Here she is on the chase and loving life. Isn't she too cute? Spoken like a mother, right?

Our Captain Hanky Turns Three!

After months of chatting about my third birthday, the day finally arrived and I officially turned three on September 2nd. I know I couldn't believe it either. And the best part is that mom and dad threw me a pirate birthday party because I love pirates so much right now. I honestly don't think that I have ever had that much fun! Thanks to all my friends and family were there to make the day the best!

P.S. I now like to be referred to as Captain Hanky or sometimes Captain Jack (Sparrow)!

Catching Up - Summertime!

This summer has flown by! I can't believe that is already coming to an end. This summer, in particular, has been so incredibly fun. It is so amazing to watch Hanky become a little man and exploring the world around him. Ella Kate has totally blossomed this summer and her personality shows more and more everyday. She has made the transition from sitting up at the beginning of the summer, to scooting around, to now she is full blown crawling everywhere (I'll post a picture of that later) and is in to everything! You just forget how quickly they grow.............Life is good:)

We decided to join the swim and tennis club in our neighborhood this year, and it has been so much fun going swimming in the pool, playing on the playground, and fishing in the lake. Hank and I have been amazed at how much Hanky loves to fish. He will stay out in the boat for hours before he is ready to come in. Hank went down and brought the John boat back from Lake Burton and it has found it's home in the garage. I don't know if Hanky likes going on the lake in the boat better or he would rather hang out in the boat in the garage with his best friend and cousin, McCord. They will spend hours in the boat in the garage pretending that it is their pirate ship. Imagination is just the neatest thing and it is so much fun having full conversations with Hanky. He has truly become such a little boy!

Hanky with McCord (his cousin, neighbor, and best friend)

Here are some pictures of hanging out the pool and Trey and Katie's going away party (we already miss you guys) with our friends Caroline and Hannah!

While I go to work on two days a week, Hanky and Ella Kate have gotten to hang out with my mom (SuSu), my aunt Lisa and cousins Elizabeth and Mary Kate, Pop and Mimi, and Kriner helped out some too! During the year, Pappy and CeCe are awesome taking over the Tuesday duties while Susu covers the Thursdays. The kids have a blast and I can't begin to tell each of you how thankful I am to have you to help out while I go to work! Leaving knowing your children are in great hands is such a wonderful feeling! Plus, it's fun having family dinners (Nana, Charlie, Kirk (Charlie's roommate), and the Grices get to come over) on both nights to get to see and catch up with everyone! And we all know Susu makes the best dinners ever!

We have gotten to go down to my Dad (Pop) and Susan's (Mimi) (my step-mother) house some this summer. The kids even stayed there one night while Hank and I went to my high school reunion (I can't believe we graduated ten years ago!) Hanky and Ella Kate have loved hanging out in the pool, riding around on the four-wheeler, feeding the horses, and just playing in the mud. Pop's house is a child's heaven (especially little boys, but I have to say Ella Kate was holding her own). It is also so nice to be able to see and spend time with Susan and her daughters and granchildren.

Here Pop is with Ella Kate, while Hanky has no fear jumping in the pool! He's a little fish in the pool!

Will and Summer were so sweet to invite the whole fam up to the lake for a weekend. We had the MOST fun and can't wait for their wedding this fall!

We were so fortunate and got to take two wonderful trips to the beach (thanks to CeCe and Pappy). We went over the Fourth of July with the McCord clan and had such an amazing time. Hanky loved getting to spend all day everyday hanging out with his cousin, McCord. During this trip, Hanky was much more into the pool than the ocean. So, we spent so much time just hanging with the fam at the pool. It was also so much fun because we got to celebrate Uncle Michael and Aunt Jami's (yea - we can finally call her this) engagement!

Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jami shooting engagement pics! So exciting:)

Then we got to have more fun and go back to the beach with Rebekah, Peter, and Maddie Sanford! Bekah and I went to high school together and have remained extremely close since then and I am very proud to say that Maddie is Hank and I's goddaughter (we love her so much!). Everyone had such a blast and amazingly Hanky and Maddie slept in the same room the whole week. Hanky's first spend the night party!!!!! Peter has the best camera, so we have lots of great shots of the week!

Our crazy little fam!

Well, that gives a brief overview of our fun summer so onto more updated events! I don't think that my future blogs will be quite this long (it's way harder to do than I thought), but it is really fun:) Hope everyone is doing good and look forward to hearing from each of you soon! And no worries, Will and other singletons, I won't expose any bad stuff (well maybe):)

Love,

Kristen