October 2012

The month of October came and went before I even realized it was here!  I figure since we just celebrated Thanksgiving, I better get in some October pics before I post Thanksgiving pics!
The month started off with a last minute spontaneous visit from my good friend Maria Rafalco and her sweet daughter Eliana.  Maria and I used to work together and I miss her dearly, so I was pumped when she had a few free Delta tickets that she had to use before they expired.  I quickly convinced her to come visit and we had a fun few days together catching up and letting the kids play.  We hit up a playground, hung around the house and went to our old favorite restaurant, The Fickle Pickle.  Davis and Eliana had fun playing, she could definitely hold her own with the big boys...

We had such a fun visit, but it went way too fast and of course, I didn't take near enough pics!  Thanks Maria for coming to visit!  I SWEAR I WILL make it to your house sometime soon!!

The weekend after Maria left, I had high hopes of making it to a pumpkin patch.  Lance had promised a friend that he would help him move, so instead we just planned on going to a local biscuit restaurant and then I was going to drive Lance down to help his friend.  We ran into our friends, The Nesmiths', and they were heading to a pumpkin patch and so generously invited my boys and I to join them.  We took their offer and hijacked their family day. :)  Unfortunately I was completely unprepared and my kids looked a little mismatched, but we had a great time anyway!  Harrison wanted the biggest pumpkin that he could find...

 but since I didn't have Lance to help, we settled with a more manageable sized pumpkin.  Thankfully Davis was content with this pumpkin...

 

Davis and James had fun on the swings and Mary was such a big helper, pushing Davis for me!

Since Lance had been gone a lot recently, we made sure to take a family day down to Stone Mountain's halloween festival.  

The boys had a blast and I think the ropes course was the highlight of the day for Harrison!

 

I couldn't believe how well Harrison did with these obstacles, especially this one...

He also love swinging across the zipline!  I think he did this one 6-7 times!

Davis had fun here for a few minutes...

 The kids also did a scavenger hunt, played in a big sandbox, and played in the Great Barn.

Harrison's tennis lessons started back up and he has been doing great at learning to play this sport!  He can whop that ball across the net!  This video isn't all that great, but you can see him hit it...

We also made a trip to Tuscaloosa for the Homecoming game.  We had a bunch of family in town for the game so it was such a fun weekend!

We got to Tuscaloosa just in time for the bonfire on Friday night.  Trey had come down with pnemonia, so he had to sit it out, but Jack, Harrison and Davis had fun playing football on the quad, chasing each other, and watching the big fire.  Both of mine were a little frightened by the enormous flame, but had fun nonetheless!

Sweet cousins!

The next afternoon, we went out to watch the parade.  Jack and Harrison loved it!

Davis had fun too, but had more fun with his balloon gun! The boys were dancing to the music from the parade so it was hard to catch a good picture!

Davis had fun playing with  baby Isabela...

And since I stayed home during the game, I got some fun snuggle time with the princess!

Jack and Trey made sure to setup some comfy seats to watch the game and made sure to set one up for Harrison too.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Kim, cousin Emily, mom & dad or Elizabeth!  

Next up was Halloweeen!

I didn't get very many great pictures of this either, but we did have a great time!  Our neighborhood always has a pizza party before trick or treating, so we went up for pizza, which the boys loved!  They had fun playing on the neighborhood playground while we ate, and it took a lot of convincing them to leave!  You would think getting candy would have had them running!  Grandma and Granddaddy Randolph came to help out as well!  Harrison spent most of the night running to the next house, while Davis insisted on riding in the wagon in between houses.  I did get them to walk together for a few houses...

 Come on, hold my hand big brother!!

It was a fun month, but just went by way too fast!  We are getting a new camera for Christmas so hopefully next year will be better documented with non-blurry pictures!

Davis' Big Boy Bed

This past Saturday, was a big day in the Randolph household...well, it was the day when we realized a big change was about to happen.  Davis was napping, I was cooking and Harrison was playing trains, when I heard Davis wake up.  Harrison said he was going to run upstairs to keep Davis company until I could come get him.  I finished what I was doing in the kitchen and as I turned the corner to go upstairs, I saw our little buddy standing on the steps with a big smile on his face.  Harrison said, "Mom!  Davis climbed out of his crib all by himself and I saw him do it!! Can you believe it!?!  He is getting so big!"....a little too big if you ask me!  I knew this time was coming, but I had convinced myself that Davis, being my little wild man, would have a difficult time with this transition, so I have avoided it as long as I could!    The Alabama vs. LSU game was that night, so we went to Lance's parents house that evening.  Since we were out late, we waited until the next morning to turn his bed into a toddler bed.  For some reason, Harrison was really upset that we were changing it.  He kept saying, "But Davis has to stay in his crib when he is 2 and when he turns 4, like me, he can sleep in my bed with me".  I thought it was so sweet, but I told him it had to be done so he didn't get hurt.
They both thought it was fun and silly, watching me take the front of the crib off and put the toddler railing on.  Davis didn't know what to think at first, and wouldn't climb in because he thought we were trying to make him go to bed.  Once he saw Harrison climbing in though, he was okay with it.  Of course, my little monkey, was able to climb in and out of the front, but this is what he insisted on doing...

For his nap that afternoon, he did much better than I had anticipated.  He laid right down and fussed for maybe 5 seconds, and then fell asleep and stayed in his bed until I came upstairs and told him he could get up.

Unfortunately, that night, right after his bath, he got sick and he threw up all night.  He did great with his bed and I just put a towel down and would change it when he got sick.  I ended up sleeping next to him that night, but overall he did great. 
I hate to jinx myself, but the process is going much smoother than anticipated.  I think this picture from this afternoon, sums up how relaxed and comfortable he is in his big boy bed!

I kept the towels down in case he got sick again, but he has been his normal, wild and crazy self today, so I think it was just a short-lived bug.  Such a big boy, growing up too fast!

Busss! Bussss!

Davis has been slightly behind in learning to talk, but he has an amazing preschool teacher who has really been helping him in this area.  In the last few weeks, I have noticed a huge improvement in the number of words that he says, or tries to say.  He has even been singing some of the words to his favorite songs.  There are few things that compare to the pure joy a parent feels when their children pick up a new skill or learn something new.  My favorite new word that he says is "bus".  For the longest time,he has referred to buses, trains, and trucks as a "buh".  He just figured how to put the 's' sound at the end of words, so now all of these things are referred to as "bus". He says it with a slight lisp, which hopefully will go away eventually, but I think it is the sweetest sound right now.  He gets a big smile on his face when I praise him for picking up a new word and I can just see in his face how proud of himself he is.  I took a quick video of him saying it so I wouldn't forget this sweet sound...

Roll Tide Roll

What a whirlwind of a weekend we just had!  Lance and I headed to Tuscaloosa for the weekend and I think as each year passes, we feel older and older as we tailgate and reminisce about our amazing years that we spent as students at the U of A.  Lance went over on Thursday because he had his "guys weekend" and annual golf tournament with his fraternity brothers.  I dropped the boys off with their grandparents here and headed over to Tuscaloosa on Friday.  I would have brought them with us to join in the fun but their cousins were going to the game (which didn't START until 8:30 pm CST) and I thought it might be a little bit of a meltdown situation if they weren't able to go to the game too.  Needless to say, they were more than excited to get to have TWO spend the night parties with grandma and granddaddy. 
Lance had a great time and actually won the tournament!  He has such a great group of friends and I'm glad that they get to catch up and just be boys a few times a year.  The boys also had a great time and even got to visit a little petting zoo that was setup at Bloomingdales (random!)!  Harrison got to pet a rabbit...

and Davis got to meet a Blue Tongued Skink

It was also a very big weekend because my parents closed on a house!  We are so glad to have them 3.5 hours away instead of 8!  As soon as I got into town, I drove straight to the new house to get the tour.  They found such a great house and I can't wait to cozy up in a chair on one of their decks and enjoy this view!

 

I am so happy for them because they have always loved the water and I know that this is their dream retirement location!  I told my mom that she just has to get a hammock and I will be in heaven!  Of course we had to celebrate with a fun dinner!

And we couldn't pass up a Catch 22 Bloody Mary!

On Saturday we had a loooong day of tailgating but I had a great time hanging out with my family, catching up with some old friends, and tossing the football with my nephews.  There was a 60% chance of rain so we were a little nervous, but it rained for about 30 minutes, an 1 1/2 hours before the game, then it cleared up and didn't start raining again until after we got into our car after the game.  Aside from the humidity that gave me some lovely, lovely hair, it was perfect cool, breezy football weather! 
It was such a fun weekend, but I was so happy to get back to see my boys!  I headed over to Lance's parents house to pick them up this evening while Lance picked up Oakley and when I walked in, Davis just looked at me and said, "Daddy?" and gave me the pouty lip.  He is in such a daddy phase, which I know Lance is loving and I love to see such a special bond between them.  It was a fun weekend and I'm looking forward to tailgating with my boys in a few weeks!

Funny Kids

Staying at home with kids can be frustrating on some days, and others, like today, can make those frustrating days totally worthwhile.  Both boys have put a big smile on my face today and I just wanted to write it down so I don't forget:
Davis: 
We got home from taking Harrison to school this morning and after we got home I ran into my room.  Within the 30 seconds that it took for me to walk back into the family room, Davis had made himself a peanut butter spoon.  I laughed at the fact that he figured out how to open the jar by himself and get the peanut butter on the spoon.  I then walked into the kitchen to see what kind of mess he had made doing this.  To my surprise, I found the peanut butter jar back in its spot in the pantry with the lid (partially) on.  I might have scolded him for getting it without asking had I not been so impressed with his fine motor skills and his ability to clean up after himself!

Harrison: 
He was drinking his cup of hot chocolate today after school and he looked over at me and said, "mom, do you know what my favorite kind of hot chocolate is??   Its hot chocolate cherry.  You can buy it at www.hotchocolatecherry.com."  He is obsessed with the dream lites that you see on tv right now and he is always telling me that you can just go to www.dreamlites.com to buy them.  I guess he assumed that you just have to type in the name of whatever it is that you want on the internet to buy it...and technically you can!

Love these boys and love the time that I get to spend with them while they're so little and sweet!

Our Family Vacation

We just got back from our first true family vacation.  We spent the week in Destin at one of our favorite resorts and we had such a nice week!  It is rare that we get to spend more than 2 days together at a time as a family, so we soaked up all of the sun, sand and togetherness that we could.  Since hurricane Isaac was coming through right before our trip, we were nervous about the weather, but we ended up having 2 days of rain and the rest was perfect sunny, breezy, beautiful Florida weather!  We were there for a full week and we made it down there last Sunday, right at 4 o'clock.  We unloaded our stuff and headed straight for the beach.  It was so nice because both boys loved the sand and water.

Davis loved smashing sand castles, so I gave up quickly on trying to build a big castle for the boys.  He had a little love/hate relationship with the water.  He would run up to it and then run away.  He was okay being in it if I was holding him, and would crack up when the water came up to his toes.  He got lifted off of his feet one day from a small wave which freaked him out for the rest of the week, but I have to say, I think that having a little fear of the ocean is a good thing, especially for a 2 year old!

Harrison also loved riding on the boogie board.  The ocean was pretty rough so I was impressed that he could hang on!

Our condo was right next door to The Back Porch, so we walked over for dinner one evening.  They had to get a picture in the big chair

One of the themes of the week was "the boys side of the table".  It would always start out as "the big boys side of the table", but Davis would inevitably want to sit on his daddy's lap so he could be "one of the boys" as well.

(On another note - this is a great resort to stay at with boys b/c it is really close to Destin airport so planes would fly right over our buildings as they were landing.  It is a busy little airport, as you can tell from the boys getting side tracked at dinner!)
The best decision I made in packing for the trip was to bring the wagon!  Our condo was right on the beach, but with the kids, it took a lot of "stuff" to make it the beach and pool each day.  This wagon was our life saver, and thankfully I had a little buddy to help pull!

The next 2 days were rainy, but we found ways to entertain ourselves!  We hit up one of my favorite breakfast spots - The Donut Hole

 After breakfast, we went over to The Emerald Grande to look around at the marina and all of the boats.

Davis loved it, but the lack of fencing around the dock made us a nervous wreck!

The rain cleared up long enough for the boys to practice some fishing skills.

Davis started coming around to the water on his own...

On our way to dinner that night, Davis was cracking us up, walking around with one hand in his pocket.  Such a cool dude.  Sorry, its a little blurry!

 

We hit up my fav restaurant, The Red Bar since we couldn't enjoy too much of the beach due to the rain.  Harrison said he needed to wear his hair spikey that day because a little boy at school wears his hair like that.  I couldn't resist!

 And Davis wanted to make a funny picture like his brother...

The next night, we opted to pick up some steaks and just eat at the condo.  I think it was our favorite dinner of the week!  The weather was beautiful, and we didn't have to worry about keeping the kids contained at a restaurant!

The next day, we went over to the Baytown Wharf for dinner and got to see a gorgeous sunset over the bay

We got a nice bystander to take a picture, but I don't think he was used to the iphone, because they all came out blurry...

They had a big grassy area for concerts and after dinner, the boys ran their hearts out.  Needless to say, there was not an issue that night getting them to sleep!

The Emerald Grande was having a big SEC football parade on the last day we were there, so we put on our Alabama gear and headed over.  First, we found a girl on stilts making balloon animals for the kids. 

 There weren't too many people there, so once the parade started, the boys racked up on some beads.  They started out with a few necklaces and were so excited...

About halfway through, I started thinking, what are going to do with all of these beads??

And by the end, Davis couldn't walk because they were so heavy!

I turned around and didn't see Harrison...not to worry, he had found a lady doing facepaint...

He told me that he was getting a tiger on his face so I had to clarify with him that it was a Cincinnati Bengal tiger, NOT an Auburn tiger!  

Here was his reaction when he saw the face paint:

And Davis needed his painted too!

They also had a juggler and a New Orleans band, so the boys had a great time!

The last two days, I decided to get up early, before the boys woke up, to sit on the beach, drink some coffee and read a book...this is the one time that I was glad that Lance is not a morning person, so I didn't have to fight over who got to go down!  I wish I would have done it every morning, because it was so nice and peaceful!

We had a fantastic trip and while I was sad to say goodbye to the beautiful ocean, I was glad to get back home to my own bed!  We made some fun family memories that hopefully the boys will grow to cherish and remember!