Spring Break

George had a big time playing at Grandpa's over Spring Break. Dad and George left mom at home (where she enjoyed having nice, quiet, peaceful time to enjoy a good book) and went to Lavonia for two days. Seems George did not want to come home. As a matter of fact, the next day when mom asked for a kiss, she was denied. George told her he wanted to go back to Grandpa's.
Who could blame him? They played ball, bubbles, rode the tractor, read books and even took a mineral block out to the woods for the deer...not to mention enjoyed some of Grandma's good food. Who needs mommy when you've got all that?


Playing ball


Posing with the tractor


Enjoying a good book


Driving the tractor

Easter

I could start by saying I have been a terrible blogger and give you all kinds of excuses....but I think the main thing that needs to be said is "He's a toddler." Yep, and that brings with it all the joys and all the tantrums. I've really taken a step back and just been taking it all in. George is a funny boy, and it's a joy to watch him. I will try to do better in sharing not only for you, but so I too will remember all these details when he's older.

We are wrapping up a wonderful Easter weekend. We started with a beautiful Friday afternoon outside. George was really enjoying playing outside with bubbles. He's still absolutely in love with bubbles. It was time to start dinner and I could easily see that making him come in for dinner was going to lead to a complete meltdown and no dinner being eaten anyway, so mom decided to just keep it simple and pick your battles, right? So, I made my life easier by making hot ham and cheese sandwiches and serving them on paper plates on a picnic blanket in the front yard. George thought it was SO much fun and he ate a big dinner, partially just because of the novelty of it.

Saturday was the Easter Egg Hunt at church. George caught on pretty quickly. Inti ally he wanted to stop, open each egg and eat what was inside, but pretty soon he caught on to the idea of just getting all the eggs he could find and opening them later. The Easter Bunny was there and although we initially thought that was going to be bad (there was much screaming when he first arrived) it turned out to be his favorite part of the whole day. He ended up following the Easter Bunny around the rest of the morning. When Bunny finally went inside for a while, George ran over to me and announced to everyone in earshot that the Easter Bunny had gone inside to go potty!

He continued to talk about the Easter Bunny the rest of the day. We even had to call him before we went to bed! This morning was fun, too. The infamous bunny did come visit us during the night and brought goodies. He's particularly attached to his Lightening McQueen car and another little "generic" truck that he likes to refer to as Tow Mater. I suppose you just have to use your imagination sometimes. Of course he had to take them to church....and hold tight to them in all the Easter pictures! Below are some family shots as well as an adorable picture of George and his buddy, Cooper.

Tractor....Truck....Tractor....Truck

George is a little stubborn. And a bit argumentative. Just ask the Colonel.


We were visiting last weekend to celebrate a pretty big birthday and the Colonel and George had an argument on one of their outings. The neighborhood there is still undergoing quite a bit of construction. On a walk back from the "weeee" also known as park or slide or swings, George saw a large piece of equipment. (Just the night before he got to check it out up close with his buddy Mr. Barnes.) So, George was still pretty interested in this equipment and pointed to it and said "Truck!" Now, it really has some sort of more technical name that Colonel tried to share but then thinking that was a little too advanced for George, he said to George, "Tractor." To which George replied, "Truck!" and then Colonel said, "Tractor!" This went on all the way back to the house. (Although Colonel said George slipped up once and said tractor.)
George thought it was funny. Colonel printed pictures off the computer of a tractor and a truck and took them to G to show him and George would just grin and say "Truck!"

So, yesterday before George left for school he kept pointed to this little car he's been attached to for the last week and said "Truck!" I said, no, actually that's a car. He was quiet, then looked up at me, grinned a huge sneaky grin and said, "Truck!"

Conducting

A brief video of George working on his conducting skills. He's just about in a complete daze as he conducts Vivaldi...

Two

I know we've been too long in blogging. I apologize for the delay. That seems that I can't get to a lot of extras these days. I think that has something to do with being the mom of Mr. Independent. He is two and going on 21. He wants to do everything by himself. He has some obsessions...vacuums (still), bubbles and now he can't get enough of the bubble mower cousin Brian sent. I guess it's a combination of the two. We just celebrated George's 2nd birthday last weekend with a party at the park by the lake. It was a beautiful day and George had enough fun to make up for not enjoying party number one so much. Last year, poor George was sick at his own party. Here are a few pictures. I promise to try to not slack off so on my blogging again.

Easter

George had fun. He still didn't "get" most of it, but he had fun anyway. Here are pictures of us all dressed up for church.

George's big musical performance

This is George's performance of "The Wheels on the Bus." Please excuse my very messy house. I think it's funny that there's even a shoe on the TV stand. George likes to try different shoes on, so sometimes you just find that they've been put in random places. We've learned to ignore it I guess...till we need the shoes back.

He also does a little "Deep and Wide" on this video too.

Only in the South...

This must be the only place where you have snow one weekend and shorts and bubble blowing weather the next.

Mom went to Birmingham last weekend to catch up with her Zeta sisters and George got to hang out with the Colonel, Grammy and the rest of the Birmingham crew. He had a big time on Saturday playing on the slide and getting muddy with Uncle Jim. Mom came back from the reunion on Saturday night becuase of the expectation of some white stuff. We got about 3 inches where we were, but poor dad got none back at home. George did not seem very fond of snow. We tried to go out and play in it twice and both times he took enough time to check it out, see that it was just cold and wet and headed for the door to go inside. (He's must be Southern through and through.)

This weekend we spent the morning running some errands that included getting some very large shoes for George. Wonder if his feet will ever slow down? We actually moved over to the side wall of Stride Rite where they have the shoes for "big boys." After we got home, it was such a pretty day that we went out side in our shorts and bare feet and enjoyed some bubble blowing. The only downer all day was the fact that there came a time that the bubbles had to go bye bye...and George had a 10 minute temper tantrum about it. Welcome to the toddler years.

George helps feed the dogs

Well, he didn't help so much as make a mess. At least he didn't try to eat it himself. (Not today at least. He did that a couple of months ago.) George likes to try to drag the bag of food over to Emma's "carpet" to feed the dogs. We have to help. And, yes, my dogs eat off a rug. That's not because of Molly but because of Emma, the little princess. She does not approve of eating her food out of a bowl. No, that's not a joke. She makes us dump it out. So, we don't even start with it in the bowl anymore. Just got her own little rug to eat on. On this particular night, George just got down there to spread the food out so everyone could get some.

Sing, dance and the infamous "rooster"

I've compiled some video taken over the weekend. One night we "danced" to Itsy Bitsy Spider and then the video in the car is while we were waiting on dad. We had a busy day Saturday with a birthday party, getting the car fixed and stopping by the school in between to for the drumline to load and unload the truck. While we waited, George "sang" Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and I also got the newest animal sounds on video. The rooster is already a favorite in the family for those who have gotten to hear it. The pig, not so much sound but it's cute. We also don't say "bye" anymore. Instead we say "See you!"
Enjoy!

Happy "Belated" Birthday, Dad

Or, as George has called him a couple of times recently...Bob. More on that later.

Tonight we celebrated dad's birthday a few days late. Poor daddy wasn't actually here on the big day, so we postponed the "party." We went for some dinner and then came home for cake. George was very into the cake. He managed to get his fingers in it a few times before we did the singing and candles. Yes, I'll admit...those are tea lights on the cake. Around here, we call that improvising. It wasn't until we were ready to do candles that I realized we were out. We always have spare birthday candles it seems, but not tonight. Since it's snowing, dad came up with this alternative rather than have me go get some. Anyway, George LOVES cake and I think he's ready for his 2nd birthday. He practiced blowing out the candles a few times after dad already had them out.

Oh, and the name thing. One night last week when I was bathing George and trying to get dad's attention because I needed some assistance, I yelled out..."Daddy!" He did not hear and did not come. So, I tried again..."Daddy!" Still nothing. So, I tried, "Bob!" He heard, and came. I asked dad to bring us an extra towel and as soon as he stepped away from the door, George yelled out..."BOB! BOB! BOB!" I wish you could have seen the look on his face when daddy stuck his face right back into the bathroom and said..."You call me daddy, not Bob!" George giggled and yelled Bob some more.

Fearless

I think that with 5 stitches under his belt, George may be more fearless than ever before. I truly believe that he thinks he can jump furniture in a single bound, run at the speed of light and perhaps even fly. Where does he get this? It couldn't be me. I've always been overly cautious. Perhaps it comes from dad? I've heard some stories about some pretty wild things he tried as a kid. But, no, I still don't think Bob was this bad. George even makes his teachers nervous...and they have had dozens of wild kids.

Then I saw this. I know which side the "invincibility" gene is on now. I guess I just didn't get it.


We're going to have to have a talk with Uncle Jim when he gets home. He shouldn't scare his mommy like that. She'll lock you up until you turn...40?

All Boy

Yep, there's nothing else to say but he's all boy. I had to pick George up about 30 minutes after I got to work today. Got a call from school, George had fallen. Apparently he was not all that upset...but they thought I should look at it due to the proximity to the eye. I never really felt much panic. I think I'm used to all the bumps, bruises and cuts now. And George, well, it doesn't get to him either. He took a bad fall on the playground this past weekend and I just watched a little cautiously while the mother next to me let out a huge gasp. George got up and ran off laughing. She just turned to me and said..."tough kid!" That is often a blessing, but sometimes a curse because it's hard to tell from his reaction if something is really bad.

Well, it was pretty easy for me to see, this one was a bit worse. The bleeding didn't want to completely stop and it was just too close to his eye for my comfort level. We called the doctor and he sent us to the ER. George got about 5 stitches. Wow, that was a lot of screaming. I still don't think it hurt....he was just absolutely MAD. I think he's going to have quite a shiner. He looks like a boxer...ha ha. Anyway, this is not a great picture but he was pretty wound up when we got home. I managed to get him to hold still with the lure of a couple of goldfish and got this picture with the cell phone.

A boy and his dogs

I have to say that sometimes Emma and George are in a love/hate relationship (George loves Emma, Emma hates George), but then there are times like this where she really enjoys him. We certainly don't spend much time throwing a ball or toys for her anymore. Most of the time she's trying to get a toy only to be told, "No, Emma, that's George's toy." Molly is always a bit protective of George, and defends him against Emma from time to time. (Emma gets jealous because she was the first baby and she thinks she's royalty and now George is the one with all the cool toys.) Molly has been protective since he was a little baby. If you wanted to hold him and Molly was around, it was best if you just stayed in one place and let one of us bring George to you. She got upset if someone new approached us while we were holding the baby.
Anyway, I think some of the arguing between the dogs you hear in this video is Emma trying to tell Molly that she's really just playing, and Molly trying to say..."well, you better be."

But, it's the giggles that make this worth the watch...make sure you have volume...

George's Christmas

We still have more celebrating to do...but we wanted to update you on a visit we had last night. We actually had a couple of visitors, Granddad and Grandma Joyce came and went to the early church service with us. Then we ate dinner, opened some great gifts and after they left I FINALLY dozed off just before dad was heading back out for the later church service. Since I was asleep, mom decided to tag along. I slept through all but about the last 10 minutes of the service. I woke up in time to see all the lights out, candles lit, and everyone singing Silent Night. I fell right back asleep on the way home. Then this morning (after sleeping in until 8:30 much to my mommy and daddy's delight), I found out we had ANOTHER visitor. I came downstairs to find a pile of new toys in my living room. How exciting! My mom and dad tell me that man in the red suit with the white beard that I met a few weeks ago brought them. What??? I wasn't even all that nice to him. He was a little scary and made me cry. How did he get in the house? Don't we lock the doors at night? Well, maybe I'll be nicer next year, and try not to cry when I see him because he was certainly nice to me! I got a Little People Farm, a Sit n Spin, a microphone, a train set and (one of my favorites) my very own dustbuster. I do love to vacuum.

After playing we had a nice big breakfast with pancakes and eggs. I do love pancakes. I also had lots of fun today turning on and off the lights. Who knew...all Santa really needed to entertain me today was to move a chair right under the light switch. My mommy also made a nice big lunch. However, I fell asleep after about one bite. I was just exhausted from the excitement. I got to eat when I woke up instead. My favorite was the sweet potatoes!!!

Here are some pictures! There were a lot, so my mommy just put them in a slideshow for you. She also put some pictures on here from my trip to the merry go round in Valley.

Love,
George

Cupcakes and animal sounds

Thank you Ms Sharon and Hannah for the delicious cupcakes. My mommy and daddy let me have one since I ate all of my peanut butter and apple jelly sandwich at dinner. My mommy said she ate that very same sandwich every single day of kindergarten and loved it. It seems to be my new favorite as well. My mommy and daddy had some wonderful homemade chicken soup from a dear friend at church...but I did nothing but spill that all in my lap. My mommy is finally feeling better after having the flu. Yuck. I'm just glad I didn't get that. These ear infections I keep having are enough. Well, here's me after enjoying my cupcake....my mommy is quizzing me about the animals.

Pink Pig

We took a trip down to Lenox Mall tonight to try out an "Atlanta tradition." It has not been a tradition for our family, but I think we may make it one. It was fun! We took a ride on the Pink Ping. We rode twice. George did not want to get off after either ride! He loved it. Not the best pictures or video, but you'll get the idea.