Are we there yet…

Nothing is more American than eating your way through a long holiday weekend. From birthday cake to ballpark food, we made every attempt to take advantage of fourth of July festivities.

G’s mom arrived late Friday night with a cooler full of homemade chicken salad and pimento cheese. For the next four days, she entertained the kids, while G and I worked tirelessly to make sure there were no leftovers.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Griffin to celebrate John Thomas’s second birthday. We don’t see the “Griffin Harvey’s” near enough, but when we do, we always have fun!

On Sunday, we were off to celebrate another birthday. This time we were celebrating our neighbors fiftieth birthday. Thanks to G’s mom, we were able to leave the kids at home to enjoy an afternoon of cold beer and bbq. It was every bit as good as it sounds.

Monday the fourth was spent at Turner Field devouring foot long hot dogs, bags of cotton candy, and handfuls of popcorn. A big win for the Braves and a night of fireworks made the day extra special. We returned home around midnight with two very tired kids.

This marked Huttie’s second trip to Turner Field. He went to his first game when he was a month old!

This is Creswell. He’s one of our favorites at Turner Field. Huttie apparently likes him as much as we do. He spent the entire fireworks show on his new buddy’s lap.

Vacation left us with loads of laundry, tons of yard work, and piles of mail to go through.

Thankfully, we had plenty of entertainment to keep us going,

a whole lot of cheering along the way,

and a dinner date with the Chick-fil-A cow to look forward to.

Our return home meant a few changes for the little man of the house. The first change was switching Huttie over to whole milk. No more formula. And no more bottles. We also decided to do away with the baby food and have transitioned him to table foods.

Best of all, we were finally able to convince Huttie to hold his own sippy cup. The whole process left me feeling like supermom. And then I was humbled by finding his sippy cup in the toilet. Twice.

A week short of his his first birthday, it’s clear that sweet Huttie is all boy. He climbs to the top of the stairs in a blink of an eye, crawls faster than I can walk, and squeals with delight as I chase him from room to room. He throws toys. Knows no fear. And loves an audience.

Above all, he adores his daddy. He watches his every move. Much like the rest of us, he too thinks that G hung the moon.

Sweet Mary Reese mothers him to the best of her ability. She is the first to his rescue if he’s hurt or in trouble. Most times, she responds by giving him a hug and replying, “boys will be boys.” She is without a doubt, wise beyond her years.

She’s also a pretty good teacher and takes credit for most of her little brothers accomplishments. Today she claimed that she taught him how to yawn.

You know those kids that sit still and smile for the camera? I do. Although they are not my own, I have seen them on facebook, so I know they exists. My two are the total opposite. They squirm, are easily distracted, and rarely quit talking long enough for me to snap a picture. They pick their nose. They whine. And they complain about having to poise for their overbearing, gotta capture the moment, mama. It’s a known fact that lots of tears are shed when mama’s camera comes out.

After 300 attempts to capture a framer of MR and Hutson together, I realized that no amount of m&m’s or “mean mama looks” would tame these two…Not even the homemade tickle stick, made from a broom handle and a duster, could help me achieve my goal.

After days of trying, I threw in the towel. I ate the m&m’s myself, abandoned my mean momma look, left behind my tickle stick, and accepted the fact that a vacation is about far more than capturing the money shot.

Vacations are about laughter,

memories,

cheap frills,

sweet hugs,

and eating whatever your heart desires…for me that included a 2 pound bag of m&m’s in a week. G and MR polished off two or three gallons of ice cream. And sweet sweet Huttie ate his weight x 4 in Pop-Tarts and sand.