I promised G that we would slow down once we got done with MR and Huttie’s birthday celebration. I promised him home cooked meals. Less Petey Pie’s. And more time sitting on the couch. I lied. Not intentionally; it just sorta happened….
The weekend after the big birthday bash, we headed down south to St. Simons Island to celebrate another birthday. This time we were celebrating Uncle Jimmy’s sixtieth, and while the only animals at this party were four kids under four, there was definitely plenty of food and fun. If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to attend a gathering put on by Aunt Diane, you know that she pulls out all of the stops! She’s one of the few that will drop everything to make you a toasted piece of pound cake smothered with peanut butter.
We returned home late Sunday evening exhausted and five pounds heavier from our weekend of fun. Running on fumes, we knew we better rest up for MR’s “real birthday” on Monday.
MR politely reminded us throughout the day that it was “ok that we forgot to get her a present for her real birthday.” Apparently she thought the big party we planned a few weeks earlier was a “practice party”. Thankfully, we had a trip to the North Georgia State Fair to look forward to. This year we joined our friends Jamie and Ryan and their girls Ali and Rhodes.
This would be MR’s third trip to the fair and Huttie’s second. Hard to believe how much the birthday girl has grown since her first visit two years ago…
Wednesday night was the usual–choir practice for MR and family music for Hutson. G bravely took the kids so that I could stay home to catch up on Petey Pie orders. The fact that he didn’t utter a single complaint, despite being the only male in a room of a dozen or so mamas and toddlers, confirms that I married one hell of a man.
His efforts were rewarded on Thursday night with a babysitter and night out with Hannah and Brantley for drinks and music at the Botanical Gardens. The best part of the night was finding out that we will have a NEPHEW joining the family in February! Hannah baked this sweet little cake to reveal the baby’s gender.
On Friday we hit the road again to spend the weekend with “Grance” and “Bigs” (formally known as Gran C and Big Daddy). Much like her mama, MR has adopted a love for nicknames. Friday evening was spent enjoying perfect weather and pizza in downtown Athens.
We spent much of Saturday cheering on the dawgs at the Harvey tailgate. Thanks to Big Daddy and Gran C, the kids stayed behind so that G and I could enjoy our first football game of the season.
We had more baby fun at the tailgate…Hannah brought a box filled with blue Hershey’s Kisses to reveal the baby’s gender to the rest of the Harvey’s. Kristen (holding the box) is also due with a little boy; her and Hannah share the same due date!
With a big bulldawg win behind us, G and I officially declared the next two weekends to be spent at home with nothing to do. We’ll see how long that lasts. After all, this is the time of year where Halloween runs into Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving runs into Christmas…Time sure does fly when you’re having fun!
Notes: Hutson officially became a true walker after the big birthday bash. Just as I suspected, he went from crawling to running. He loves trucks and balls. He continues to smiles constantly and still loves to be held. Mary Reese adores her little brother and spends much of her time managing him. If he gets hurt, she’s usually the first to his aide with a big hug and a good ol’ southern ,”bless your heart sweet boy”. MR loves school. She also loves being the “tallest in her class”. I’m willing to bet she would also win the award for “most talkative”. Her mouth runs nonstop; we are constantly amazed at her growing vocabulary. With age, we are seeing that our sweet girl is internally motivated. She operates on her own watch, which means that we occasionally butt heads. Nevertheless, sweet MR keeps us all in check!