Nostalgic photos!!

I recently stumbled upon a CD that grammy (Juju's grandma) made of her 2nd birthday. The pictures of the girls were so precious, I wanted to post a few for nostalgic purposes! I'm used to seeing 2 year old Bradley...but I can't believe how much the girls have changed in 2 years!!! They were chubby-faced little cuties and now they're beautiful little girls! (In the photos, Rachel isn't quite 2 yet, since her birthday is in May.) So many of the expressions I see in these pictures of Rachel, remind me of Bradley. It'll be neat to see how much of Alex's expressions are like Julia's!

Bradley's new bed

We're considering making this Bradley's new bed since he falls asleep here so easily. He sure isn't like his sister was at 2...we were lucky and thankful if we got her to nap in her own bed. Also, once he's out, he's out...there's no waking him up until he's ready!! :)

Pumpkin Carvin' Time

Yesterday when we went to Wal-mart, I realized that it was already mid-October and that we hadn't gotten or carved a pumpkin yet. So, we looked at the huge stack of cheap pumpkins and "picked" two to take home. We're actually going to the pumpkin patch this Saturday (for a b-day party) and Monday (with Rachel's school), but I decided to go ahead and get some at good ole Wal-mart. Of course, the kids were excited and we carved them last night. I drew the awesome designs on them (haha!) and Nick carved the mean-faced one and I carved the goofy-faced one. The kids mostly ran around and acted silly. Rachel wanted to help scoop out some of the pulp and seeds, but after a few handfuls, she decided she didn't like the gooey, slimy feel. Bradley didn't want to touch the pulp at all, but he tried and tried to get my carving knife, obviously not understanding that he would seriously hurt himself with it. He was furious when I wouldn't give it to him. They both decided to sit with the pumpkins right before we were going inside to get a bath. I didn't have time to put a candle in them last night, so I'll do it tonight and take a picture to show the final product. I'm sure you'll be impressed! :)

Fall Break

Bradley trying the flimsy bridge

Rachel trying out the flimsy bridge

Bradley wanted to slide down backwards

Bradley on top of the "mountain"

Rachel on top of the "mountain"

Rachel on some sort of balancing circle

Bradley spinning in the cool wobbly seat
(He giggled the whole time he was on this!)

Rachel's school is out for Fall Break this past Friday and tomorrow (Monday). So, Nick and I decided to have a family day on Friday. He only had to work for a couple of hours in the morning and then came home. I wanted to go to Stone Mtn. or something to ride the train and see the mountain. But, with gas prices so high, we decided to stay local. I couldn't justify spending the money on gas and then paying to get into the park and then paying a very hefty price to ride the train. So, we just went to one of our cool parks in Athens and then ate pizza and then went home. We had a great time and since it was so overcast, we didn't get too hot at the park. The park we went to is so cool...lots of castles, climb on toys, slides, tunnels, swings, balance beams, etc... Both kids had a blast! It was nice just doing something simple as a family.

Saturday

Asleep and looking uncomfortable!

Curly the gorgeous golden

Well, Nick and I had so many ambitious plans for things we could accomplish around the house on Saturday, but none of them happened. We were just too tired to follow through on anything. We even started a few minor things and then didn't feel like finishing. We ended up outside, on the playground enjoying the awesome, windy weather. Then, we got out our cool kites, Buzz Lightyear and Hello Kitty and soared them way up in the air. Rachel and Bradley liked this for a few minutes, and Rachel lasted longer than Bradley, but in the end, Nick and I were the ones out there flying the kites. I'm sure we looked ridiculous to the neighbors. We can't make fun of the kites too much, though...they fly very well for only $1! We came in and rested and Nick watched the UGA game while Rachel and I played Littlest Pet Shop. Bradley was so tired that he fell asleep on the chair in the den and looked so uncomfortable that Nick rescued him and held him while he watched the game. Then, we discovered that there was a beautiful golden retriever in our front yard, so Rachel and I went out to investigate. The dog was so pretty, so sweet and such a reminder to me of all the goldens that my parents used to have. He had long, wispy hair with curls on his back. He had a gorgeous full face and Rachel really fell in love with him. She threw an old ball around for him for a long time and kept giving him water and petting him. He was so well cared for that we knew he belonged to some great family. Since he was having such a great time and didn't want to go home, we called our neighbor who said he lived across the street from him. The dog didn't have a collar on, though, and our neighbor said his owner was out of town, so he came and got him last night and took him home. Rachel was disappointed, but glad that she got to play with such a sweet dog. She also decided to name him Curly, because of the curls on his back. So, it was a fun day and a nice treat to play with a precious golden retriever.

What a great weekend! Pt. 3

What a fabulous swingset!

The girls loved the tire swing!

Wheeee!!!

Wheeee!!

I like this thing!

We love the sand!

The final part of our busy, fun weekend was a hotdog lunch and the big playground reveal at nana and pop's house on Sunday. Pop worked so hard on the swingset and the kids were very excited when they saw it! They all had a blast playing on it and playing in the sand underneath it. The slide was super-fast, which the girls mastered quickly, but the boys had to be stopped so they didn't collide with the ground. The majority of the day was spent outside in the beautiful weather on the cool swingset! The only sad part was having to say goodbye to Wen, Matt, Juj and Alex...we always enjoy our time with them so much and miss them when they leave!

What a Great Weekend! Pt. 2

Rachel is enjoying playing putt-putt...her favorite game!!!

Bradley is conked out!!

Yummy!!! Can't have too many sweets!

Another fun slide!

Bradley is sharing with papa

Whee!!!!

Rachel loved all the inflatables

the kids are having a great time!

daddy is helping Rachel make a basket

Papa was brave enough to ride these swirling

bucket-things with Rachel...she loved them!!

Bradley liked hitching a ride on daddy's shoulders

Rachel loved riding Blondie

We really enjoyed all these yummy sweets!

The second part of our Great weekend was the ERSnell picnic. We met Papa and Gege at a great park where ERSnell had all kinds of rides, face painting, music and food. We missed the BBQ dinner, but they had plenty of popcorn, sno cones and cotton candy. The kids really loved all these tasty, junky treats...and so did I! Both kids had fallen asleep in the car on the way over, but Rachel woke up ready to go. Bradley didn't wake up for quite awhile after we got there even though it was loud and he was being carried around on Nick's shoulder. He woke up very unsure of where he was, but recoverd quickly when he saw his bag of popcorn! Rachel had a BLAST playing putt-putt, jumping on the inflatables, riding in the spinning buckets and riding on a pony. Bradley was a happy observer...he didn't participate in any of the activities, but enjoyed the sweets and watching his big sis do her thing. It was a great picnic since it was like our own private fair. We didn't have to wait in any lines to do anything and everything was free!