Nemo, Shark are his two favorites

Jules arrived last Wednesday to stay through the weekend. Walker loves when Jules comes to visit because he loves staying home from school with her. They were able to enjoy the beautiful weather outside on Thursday and Friday. They found a huge sand pile to run up and down, watched the concrete trucks in the neighborhood and listened to the construction workers use hammers and saws to build houses. Actually, on Thursday when we finished up with his bath the water was brown. You know its been a good day for a little boy playing outside when the water is so dirty:):)

On Saturday we headed to the aquarium. "Nemo" and "Shark" were Walker's two favorites at the aquarium. We had so much fun watching Walker run around taking in all the exhibits. Our local aquarium is nothing spectacular, but perfect for an almost 2 year old.

Walker's famous fish face. They have a large fish exhibit when you walk in the doors. He did not want to leave the fish. I knew the visit was going to be a blast seeing his first reaction to the fish:)

Here he is trying to touch one of the sting rays. I think if Daddy would have let him he would have jumped right in the water. Not good with a pool of sting rays.

He loved looking for the sharks. At one point he was calling everything a shark. On our way out of the aquarium Jules stopped by the gift store and bought Walker the cutest little stuffed shark. He calls him "Shark"...imagine that and he loves playing with him!!

Walker loved riding on the "magic carpet" through the aquarium. In this picture he is trying to figure out how he is moving....so funny!!

After we left the aquarium Walker wanted to show Jules what a big boy he is and we rode all the rides again. He rode the motorcycles, the boats, the cars and the whales. He is not tall enough, so Jules accompanied him on the whale. As you can tell they had a great time:) We love you Jules and can't wait to see you again. We were hoping you would turn around today and come back.....we are still waiting:)

Adventures in the Spring Time Sun!!

Now that Walker is getting bigger and able to do more we are looking for more ways to explore. One of the great things about living here is you really never run out of things to do. Now is the time to really enjoy it before the vacationers arrive. We decided to go to Broadway at The Beach last Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and we had such a great time together. We walked around, ate lunch and watched Walker enjoy the rides.

Daddy and Walker are too cool for school in their sunglasses. Look at my two handsome boys......what a lucky girl I am:):) Girls, don't get any ideas....they are both taken:)

Walker loved the motorcycles, but he wouldn't take his hands off the handles for anything. They actually moved pretty fast and went up and down and he LOVED them.

He was much more relaxed driving the car. Probably because they just moved around in a circle. He would smile, wave and blow kisses at us:) He definitely thought he was big stuff.

He loved going on the boat ride and ringing the bell. He also loved riding the frog with Daddy. We had such a great time and look forward to doing it again really soon. Jules is here now and we plan on taking her on a new adventure this weekend. Where will we go....stay tuned!!

P.S.- Did you notice his big boy haircut? I hate it, seriously I hate it and Patrick loves it. Of course, we can never agree on his hair. I promise it will not be this short again for a long time. Patrick was out of town when we went to his appointment and when Daddy saw him for the first time he said, "I love it, you look like a 4 year old".....my heart fell in my stomach...a 4 year old....no way, not again!!

Happy Spring!!

Wow, it's finally Spring and we have hit the ground running. The weather has been so nice and it's staying light outside until 7:30pm...Yippee! We've had so much going on lately that I have not had a chance to blog in two weeks. I will try to do a little recap over the last two weeks....more will come in the next few days. We had another busy weekend at Broadway at the Beach and a fun play date at the park.

Moppy came to visit us for five days almost two weeks ago. We had so much fun with her. It's always nice when she comes. Lots of shopping and yummy food is always prepared...especially the desserts. This trip she made us her famous chocolate miracle cake and chocolate oatmeal cookies...yummy!

These days its so hard to get a good picture of Walker, because he is always too busy. Moppy was able to grab him for a quick shot before she left. We were sad to see her go, but we also knew we were headed to her house the following weekend. We tried to get her to stay the rest of the week, but she had to go back to work. Walker really thinks Moppy should retire:) so we can all spend more time together:)

Moppy brought Walker his first Easter gift. Donald Duck is one of his favorites. Donald Duck sings and waddles around. So cute and Walker loves him:) Thank you Moppy for visiting us and we can't wait for you to get back here in April!! There is always such a special feeling when Moppy comes to visit...less worry and lots of love!!!! We love you MOPPY!!!

Moppy was baking again when we arrived at her house. Walker loved pulling up the chair and watching Moppy make her yummy pound cake and he patiently waited to lick the batter:) We went to Moppy's house to help her host a baby shower for my Bestfriend, Megan last Saturday.

We had so much fun last Saturday. Megan and I have been friends since meeting in middle school a very long time ago:) I am so excited for her little girl to arrive in April. Walker can't wait to meet his new girlfriend:) Megan received so many wonderful gifts to help her get ready for the arrival. Walker also attended the shower and I was so nervous about him being there, but I might say I was sooooo proud of him. He did absolutely wonderful and I enjoyed watching him visit with everyone.

It was so nice to catch up with old friends too. I was surrounded by pregnant women...let's just hope I don't catch the bug:) We were missing one of our dear friends, Diana. Diana just gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Anna Claire and could not attend.

Finally to end the weekend we stopped over the see Diana, play with Mason and meet Baby Anna Claire:) We look forward to The Hall's visiting us at the beach this summer. Anna Claire is so precious and the boys played so well together. A little "MINE" was said, but Mason was so good at sharing his toys!

March Madness

The month of March so far has been total "Madness" for us. I feel like we haven't stopped to take a break the entire month. Yes, we have only been in the month for two weeks, but we have been very busy little bees. CCU hosted the Big South Basketball tournament this past week/weekend. Unfortunately, CCU lost in the championship game. We have also started baseball season. Walker loves to go to the games to see the mascot, watch the band and D-A-N-C-E. He loves to stand on my legs and dance with his arms and shake his head. He is totally obsessed with our mascot and band. If you ask him what the band says and he will say "Toot, Toot, Toot" while shaking his head and smiling....so cute!! We've been to so many games the past few months that if you ask him if he wants to go to a basketball game, he goes immediately to the door. I have to make sure I'm 100% ready before asking him:):)

He LOVES to play on the court after the games. This was the first time he actually got to play with a basketball. The basketball is almost bigger than he is:) He knew exactly what to do with it, especially watching the big kids play. A few weeks ago we were at Dick's Sporting Goods and we kept trying to buy the smaller basketball for him, but nope he wanted the BIG basketball. We didn't get it for him and you would have thought we were killing him trying to leave the store without the basketball:) Daddy and I learned a big lesson very quickly.

I don't believe I've introduced you to the BEST Babysitters in the entire world:) This is Rachel and Megan, who we absolutely adore. The top picture is Rachel and she babysits for us on a weekly basis. Her sister Megan some times comes along too. Walker LOVES when both of them come over, because he gets twice the attention. We also get to see them at all the games. We are so blessed to have Rachel and Megan in our lives. The reason Walker looks upset in both of these pictures is because you can't stop him from playing on the court:) It is so cute to hear him say their names...he tries so hard:)

He had so much fun on the playground last weekend at the baseball game. It's going to be very difficult to get him to sit and watch a game. He and I might only go to a few games this season. I think Daddy is hoping he loves the sport just as much as he does. Daddy tried to teach Walker the correct way to swing a bat this weekend using his tee ball set. I think Daddy is a little obsessed and I'm sure it will only get worse...haha!!

Jules, Jules, Jules

We are so lost we don't know what to do....we walk around the house calling for Jules, Jules, Jules, but no answer:):) Jules came to visit us last Thursday and sadly left early Tuesday morning. We had such a wonderful visit and Walker enjoyed her so much. He doesn't get to see Jules and Pops very often and for the first time he recognized her as soon as she got out of the car. I know it melted her heart and caused me to get a little emotional. Just another hint of him growing up and becoming more aware. He immediately ran to her and gave her a giant hug....WOW!! It's awesome to hear Walker call for her. She couldn't leave the room without him calling, "Jules, Jules, Jules" until she answered him. On a sad note, we came home on Tuesday afternoon and he walked around the house saying, "Jules, Jules, Jules....it actually sounds like "Ules, Ules, Ules":(

She came just in time for some fun in the snow too. She thought she left the snow behind in Kentucky, but instead it followed her. We always get so spoiled when she's here. Great food is cooked, laundry is done and it's just something about having a "grandma" around that makes life so much easier. Jules if you're not busy, please come back really soon:) We love you and thank you for everything!!

Fun in the Snow

Who says it doesn't snow at the beach? The excitement was killing us on Friday night with the possible snow fall during the night. Everybody was talking about it and I was so sure it wasn't going to happen, but starting around 7:30pm the snow began to fall and continued through the night. With much anticipation on Saturday morning, we jumped out of bed to find a little over 4 inches of snow outside. We bundled Walker up around 7:30am and headed outside to play in the snow.

Walker was showing Jules the way to see the tractors

Baby Keeley made her first snow debut:) How adorable does she look!! Walker wasn't sure why she couldn't run around and chase him in the snow.

Some more of Walker's friends came over to play for a while. It was so much fun to watch the kids play and hear their laughter all around. They also enjoyed chasing the dogs around too.

Laughter, Love and Endless Fun

I feel like my title truly says it all about this wonderful little guy. He is so full of laughter, love and endless fun. It definitely wears us out some times, well most of the time, but I love ending the day with just as big of a smile on my face as he always has on his:) He continues to talk up a storm and learn new words every day. On the way to school yesterday I really wanted to turn around and tell him to hush....that sounds ugly, but as most of you know I'm not a morning person and usually don't speak until about 10am:) He is really good at telling you what he wants and REALLY good at telling you what he doesn't want. He continues to be an excellent eater and a really good sleeper. He has started to make a face when he doesn't understand or when he's in trouble. He crunches up his eyebrows and looks up at you with these big eyes...it's quite funny, but it's hard especially when we are trying to discipline him. I have yet to catch a picture of "the face", but as soon as I do I will post an example. Speaking of discipline, that continues to be a big challenge for us. We are working very hard to stay consistent, but some times it feels like nothing is working, hopefully, it's just the age:):)

Walker loves to lick the beaters. I really don't bake that often, but when he hears the mixer he comes running. I can hear my mom saying, "Don't let him lick those, it has raw eggs in it" well Moppy, it never hurt us, right? And excuse the hair, he had just gotten up from a nap:)

Walker is obsessed with the tractors in our neighborhood. Every morning and every afternoon we have to do a "drive by" to see the tractors. Before we even turn in the neighborhood he is already pointing and saying, "Tractors, Tractors, Tractors"...over and over. I'm sure the neighbors think we are stalking them. He also loves seeing the school buses. He gets soooooo excited to see the buses in the mornings.

His three favorite things to do at the basketball games is watch for our mascot, dance to the band and run around wild after the games on the gym floor. He is so funny to watch and the faces he makes watching the bigger kids run around is priceless. He loves to run around in circles while sticking his belly out and waving his arms. I really don't think he knows what to do with his arms:):)

We've had lots of rain lately and what better way to show it than running around with no pants on in his frog rain boots:) Moppy and Papa gave him these frog rain boots for Christmas. We have definitely put them to good use with all this terrible weather.

We are really enjoying playing with our Ribbie girl. Walker loves to play fetch with Ribbie. He thinks she is hysterical. Also, check out his second haircut. It's getting easier for me, but it makes him look like such a big boy.

We have a special guest coming on Thursday to stay for the weekend and we are so excited we can hardly wait. Jules is coming, YEAH!! We can't wait to see you Jules!