labor day weekend

Momma and Jim came over the weekend to see the favorite grandbaby, of course..

H sitting with Jim, saying "cheese!"

We finally used the new patio set and braved the heat, gnats, mosquitoes and flies. I'm thinking about putting up sheers to keep out the pests- how purdy would that be!

Although it was a short trip, Hartley enjoyed visiting with her Grandmommie "Wibby." Wibby learned how to read every book and all the sounds dogs make. And Jim learned how to color. 

When H was only 3 months old, she got a picture with Wibby on the front steps. Back in April, we happened to get similar pictures so I've continued the pose..

Hartley never smiles for these shots though..

There's that Bulldog cheese-grin!!

Momma and Jim left Sunday afternoon and H and I napped while Marshall got called-in to work for hours.

We finally relaxed on Monday with a cold trip to Splash and Hartley took a good 3-hour nap! We spent the evening looking through magazines and pulling out inspirations/ideas for our future home- ya know, what we all did before pinterest started...

happy fourth!

We had a busy, yummy-filled weekend with our Athenian friends the Bates and Gurleys. It was one of our many attempts to get Hartley and Hudson closer to their future boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. 

This weekend was a failure. They're still not so sure about one another.

 

We took our friends to Splash in the Boro and it was a hit, despite the incredibly long line to enter.

Hudson did great in the water! Hartley did great as usual, until she got stung by something. She also suffered some horrible teething and we did not have our normal sweet child.

We celebrated Jonathon's birthday with some chocolately goodness and Mexican Train, along with PIT the next evening.

Sunday morning called for a photoshoot before church. Good idea, Erika!

Jonathon, Mollyanne, Hudson, Matt, Erika, Amanda, Marshall, Hartley

This was the only candid photo of H & H together. They got along, they just didn't interact too much with one another.

We are so glad our friends came to visit us! We always enjoy hanging out with them and playing games late into the night!

Shortly after they headed back to Athens, Hartley began celebrating Independence Day. She likes her nakey-freedom.

 

I thought this was a cute picture with her Daddy. They look so much alike to me. :)

T@ste 0f @thens

We went to Athens over the weekend to visit this kid..

It had been almost four months since we had visited with the Gurleys.. and even longer since we saw the Bates.

The remainder of the post is dedicated to Erika, who either took the picture or made it into the picture.

She busted out the bubbles, which Hartley hasn't seen before.. and she loved them!

 

"Blowing" the bubbles, too.

Of course she had to find shoes throughout the weekend.

Mollyanne was a great hostess and put Marshall to work right away. When we visited them in August, Marshall was cutting the grass shortly after we arrived. This weekend he helped put their fence back up after a tree fell, and then he decided to chop down more trees due to an invasion of caterpillars.

After the kiddos went to bed we invented a new game- Truth or Dominoes. Maybe we need to change it to Truth or Dare-minoes. Just a thought. The night included wedgies.

Ice in your pants. Or shirt.

Pesto eating.

Thumb war and other friendliness.

And many wardrobe changes..

Hartley had a great time with Hudson- who named her Hotdog. She really enjoyed climbing up their stairs! Speaking of climbing- this is what she does all the time.

She's been scooting her chairs around and climbing on them. Yesterday I was sitting at the computer and turned around to find her peeking over the top of the couch- she pushed her chair behind it, crawled up, and was trying to get even higher. I panicked and got her, but I was so tempted to get a picture. It was the cutest thing.

Hartley got a new tooth over the weekend, without much trouble! She's consistently been taking 1 nap a day.. until yesterday. She made it 8 days. Around 5:30pm yesterday she was getting fussy and rather snuggly with me. I opted for a nap. Plus- I was able to get dinner ready. She's also taking a morning nap right now. Teething + snotty nose = fussy, clingy baby. And I have laundry to do!

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas!

from our little family of 3

our middle sized family of 10

and our big family of 14 (and none on the way)

We headed to Arabi Thursday morning to spend Christmas with Marshall's grandmother and family. As usual, there were lots of kids, food, presents, and crying. :)

I love how close all the grandkids are, in age and friendships. They get along so well!

I also love how we, the parents/aunts/uncles, love on the other kids just as much as our own. The Moore's are a close knit family and I'm very blessed to have been accepted. :)

Hartley had a fun time opening presents and playing with everyone's toys. She did get fussy, but of course it was past her naptime. She took a really good nap amidst all the loud kids noises.

We went to visit the goats. But it was really cold, so we didn't stay long.

We left for Columbus later that afternoon to see my family. On Friday my brother's twins, Jayden and Emma, came over for a photo shoot! Momma insisted since we didn't have any pictures of the 3 grandkids since Hartley was 2 months old. (And she's 11 months today!)

 Hartley clapped the majority of the shoot. It was really cute.

I love this picture of Emma. I made her some hairbows and she enjoyed them so much!

We opened presents with the grandkids on Christmas Eve.

Emma wearing two of the bows I made her. :)

Hartley got a jack-in-the-box from her cousins and she loved it! Jayden also liked it, too.

Marshall and I opened our presents with my mom and Jim on Christmas morning. Then we went over to my dad's that afternoon to visit him. He got a little trampoline for the grandkids and Hartley really enjoyed bouncing on it. She's been practicing on our bed and on Mema's trampoline, so she was a pro!

We headed home Saturday evening, right as it was beginning to snow. We made it home safely and Hartley slept most of the way.

And it started snowing Sunday morning at our house! Marshall let me sleep in until 10am!

We planned on not buying gifts for each other this year, since we just got the couch and Marshall got a bike. We didn't even get anything for Hartley; we knew she would get plenty from family (plus her birthday is in a month!). I secretly got Marshall a little gift- pliers. But, he surprised me! Wednesday night I was making a batch of apple sauce and had already stabbed myself once with the paring knife. Marshall then walked out of the house and came back with my first gift- an apple corer/slicer.

As we were getting everything together Thursday morning, I was emptying Hartley's humidifier. Marshall told me we didn't need it. I was aggravated with him at the moment, so I just dumped it in the sink and stormed off, uttering something about him having to "deal with Hartley and her naps" because it also doubles as white noise. When we arrived to my Momma's and was putting Hartley to bed, I noticed a little noise machine by the packnplay. Gasp! Momma got it for the grandkids! Wrong. Marshall got it for us! My second gift.

My third gift was also a wonderful surprise! A "multi-use sprayer!" It can be my personal bidet.. or a diaper sprayer. Mainly the latter. But I will probably appreciate it with the next baby (after delivery.. no one warns you about that).

So, we had a wonderful Christmas with family! We'll be welcoming the New Year with Marshall on call.. and eating Krystals of course!!