Aquarium of the Americas

Today, we headed to New Orleans for the day. We hit up the Aquarium which the boys loved! Then we drove over to Magazine Street to shop and eat. We ate at La Petite Grocery. The crabmeat beignet, iceberg wedge, and gnocchi was fantastic! We then went shopping. Mignon Faget is always a fun place to go. We hit up Orient Expressed as well. We ended at Perlis where I got a seersucker dress. It was a wonderful day and the boys were so sweet. Thanks for the great day, Big Norm and Vic!





Victoria, Chambers and Big Norm watching the fish.





Moseley (& his new iguana) and Big Norm walking down Magazine St.

Ten Months!

How is it possible that my baby, my youngest is closing in on a year! I am baffled at where the time goes. I blinked and he was crawling. Here he is at 10 months. It is getting harder to wrangle him in these pics which is why they are kind of lopsided :)



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Associate Golf Par-Tee

Kevin and I hosted a party après-golf outing last night. I love throwing parties and DO NOT get to do so as often as I would like. (Wonder why that is?) So, when KRG asked of we could host this party, I said, "Absolutely!" It was golf themed and so fun to do. I am terrible about taking pics right before the party but took these much earlier in the day. Hopefully you get the gist.

The "Watering Hole" KRG bought all kinds of strange beer and sundrop. And we served Arnold Palmers as well but the container was in the fridge when this was taken.

Table centerpieces.

Food table. We served BBQ "club" wiches, "Chip shots" (chips and dip) and "Sand trap" salad (a potato salad and pasta salad). We also had doughnut hole in ones- which were white-chocolate covered doughnut holes on sticks. They were stuck down in the grass of the yellow bucket. The sign said "19th hole."

Closeup of the dessert- shine golf balls on tees stuck in the green shredded paper. Wish I had taken a picture!

Party favors. Apple-o's and golf tees that said "Par-tee like a Garrison"

It was a fun party and great to be able to hang out with the Summer Associates and Kevin's co-workers alike.

Baby Wyatt

Kevin and I are godparents to an amazing little boy, Wyatt Freeman Guitar. His parents are our best friends Caroline and Steven. Also fondly known as Aunt CiCi and Uncle Stevie. This past weekend was his baptism at St. Luke's Episcopal in Atlanta.


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Carousel!

We bought a LivingSocial deal for the Galleria's carousel a few weeks ago. When my friend Micah asked if we wanted to go today for lunch I figured I could use my deal and enjoy great company! Micah's little boy, Christian and Chambers are BFF's so they had a great time as usual. Moseley is pretty equal opportunity so had a good time talking to the younger boys and checking on Addison (Christians baby sister). We were at the park before the carousel so the A/C'd mall was a nice change!

Chambers

Moseley

Christian

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Happy Anniversary to us!

Saturday, May 4th was our 6 year anniversary of being Mr and Mrs. Kevin R. Garrison! Memorial day was our TEN year anniversary of being together. Wow, time flies! It truly in some respects feel like we just got married.

We celebrated the entire weekend. Thankfully, Kevins parents (they are saints!) came in for the weekend to watch the children.

Friday night we went to the Associates Party hosted by Jennifer Johnson and her hubby in Greystone. They have a gorgeous house and so sweetly opened it up for us. Afterwards, we went to the 9;50p showing of Hangover II. It was about how I expected it to be and because we wanted to just enjoy a thoughtless movie, it was great.

Saturday morning we went to Pepper Place to meet up with Jessie Tuggle and her children. Jackson is Chambers age and Johanna is 4 months old. We only took Roe since we were taking full advantage of the babysitters.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Magic City Brewfest. It was fun. I don't drink Beer but it was fun for me to go up and ask for something then hand it over to KRG. We also got to see Kevin's brother John for a little bit and his roomie Steven.

Saturday night we had reservations at Hot-n-Hot. It was wonderful. I had a strawberry Mojito, Salmon with a summer salad (divine), and then a salted caramel cake. Kevin had the sirloin on a potato cake with rapini and gelato for dessert.

But wait, there's more. We went to a surprise party for one of Kevin's friends from law school. It was fun and she was so surprised. After all of that we were pooped. We got home (after a quick stop by Sonic) around 11p and crashed. We didn't get up until after 8am this morning! It was a wonderful Anniversary.

Oh and presents, I gave Kevin a Brooks Brothers leather belt (reverses black to brown) with a custom belt buckle. He also got a hankerchief from Lyonstate.

Only picture we took the whole weekend going through the Sonic drive-thru. Our camera is broken so I blame that!

Happy Memorial Day! (weekend)

This weekend we don't have much going on. Saturday morning we went to Pepper Place to get some veggies. Last night was KRG and my TEN YEAR anniversary of dating! Whoa! We took the children out to a romantic Mexican meal :) Next weekend is our wedding anniversary so we will do something nice... Alone. Not sure what the rest of the weekend entails but I am enjoying the family time!

Roe is getting into things he ought not...

I had fun with my pancake pen Saturday at breakfast...

And my sweet little Chambers isn't feeling well.

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It's Friday and the livin's easy...

My afternoon cocktail (need a refill)...

My lovely company (Moseley is still asleep)...

And the gorgeous view of this beautiful day...

Now all I need is my shooby (KRG) and life will be perfect!!

p.s. Good news helps also. My brother passed the bar in a third state! AL, SC, and now GA!! Yay for Staples!

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Potty Training Recap

We started potty training last Sunday, May 15. We had half heartedly tried once before but the boys were still in school and life got in the way. This time, Kevin wad the catalyst. He put Chambers on the potty to tee-tee and C was successful! This was the "connection" we were missing the first time. Monday morning we took away the diapers and put him in underwear. He went potty successfully about 5 times before naptime. Twice in the Dr office and once at Publix. I couldn't believe how well it was going so at lunchtime so I didn't make him go potty before he ate his sandwich. He was whining about it and so I gave in. Well sure enough after lunch his pants were damp. Not wet but damp. We had a nice talk about how uncomfortable that was and he finished going in the potty. It was evident he started going then stopped. The next 3 days were pretty awesome. He had one accident at school. As they said, "they didn't tell us he needed to go." No kidding? The first few days we gave him a vanilla wafer or small ginger bread cookie for going tee-tee. Even if he was forcing it out. I figured it was working those muscles of control. On the 4th full day we left for Chattanooga. He ha only ha those 3 accidents the whole time so we only brought undies for him. We spent the entire day out on the town and he did perfectly! We also stopped doing treats. He just stopped asking for them and I stopped offering. Somewhere in that madness he just mastered #2. We never had THAT kind of accident.Life with only one in diapers is AMAZING!



After seeing my boys in diapers, I just LOVE how cute they are in undies!

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We heart McWane!!

Believe it or not, this is where I take the boys when I need a break. Somewhere we can go where the house isn't being dismantled :) It helps that they LOVE it and burn a ton of energy here. We try to go at 9a and I usually pack lunch so that once we are home, it is straight to naptime :)

Chambers playing at the water table.

Roe in the Just Mice Size area.

Moseley playing at the water table.

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Easter/Roe's Baptism

Easter weekend we baptized Roe at St. Paul's Episcopal, my home church, in Mobile, AL. This is the very same weekend we baptized Moseley and Chambers, just 2 and 4 years before respectively. We also go to the beach every Easter which is a wonderful way to recharge!

Open Tomb Sunday

Our wonderful church, St. Stephens Episcopal, hosted Open Tomb Sunday this past weekend (May 22, 2011). It was such a wonderful event. There was only one service, at 10am, OUTSIDE followed by our Easter Egg Hunts and then a potluck lunch. There is NOTHING quite like a church potluck! I have never seen so much good food in one place. We brought brownies which were good but lost among the other fine desserts. It was such a good experience especially since our church, located in Cahaba Heights was recently ravaged by a tornado.

Roe enjoying crawling around outside DURING the service. He kept trying to take these HS boys water. They thought it was funny (or pretended to).

The churchgoers during the service.

Chambers playing among the trees during the service.

Moseley having so much fun playing while we listen to the Sermon.

Moseley trying to disrobe Kevin during the service.

Here I am and Chatty Town...

I am going to blog once a week. At least. Amen.

Ok so the boys and I went with Kevin to a conference in Chattanooga, TN this past Thursday-Saturday. Kevin was going to be booked solid during the day and night but I still wanted to go so the boys and I could play around the town.

Thursday night we got in around 8p and had dinner and headed to bed. All five of us in one small-ish room. The Chattanoogan is great but we really LOVE our 4 bedroom house :)

Roe napping in one of the hotel beds while the boys played (somewhat) quietly around him.

Friday Kevin headed off to his day of workshops and the boys and I hit the pavement. We (I) decided we should just walk everywhere since it would truly be easier for me than driving.

Momma, it looks like a couch!

It was a little over a mile to our first destination. The Tennessee Aquarium. Getting there right at opening time, we spent 3 hours there at which point Roe fell asleep and took his morning nap.

Roe napping so sweetly at the Aquarium.

Giant 4 ft crab scared the heck out of the boys.

There is just something about touching wet and slimy things that fascinates boys.

The butterfly room and my sweet Roe.

I then strolled us over to Rio Picante restaurant where I realized Chambers had fallen asleep. Roe was now awake but quiet and content. Moseley and I had a wonderful lunch together talking and joking around.

My Chambers napping.

I had promised the boys ice cream if they were good so after lunch we hit up Ben and Jerry's. Chambers woke up and after he ate some of his quesadilla he and Moseley had some sorbet.

Ben. And. Jerry's.

Next up: The Children's Discovery Museum. This place was awesome. If you are in Birmingham, I liken it to theMcWane Center. Very impressive exhibits, a lot of funding is pouring into this place. Roe took his afternoon nap while here. I was so impressed with my childrens ability to adapt. Makes me think of other places we could go... Disney?

The water exhibit at the Childrens Museum. Awesome.

I purchased the combo pack of tickets and after it was all said and done our tickets totaled $65. Not bad for an entire day of fun for 4!

We headed back to the hotel around 5-ish. It was a long day but SO worth it. the boys had so much fun.

The next day after Kevin's half day we went to Warehouse Row. Here we ate Lunch at Public House (delish!), did a little shopping at Kayce Hughes (Pears + Bears!!) and drooled over the findings at Revival: Uncommon Goods. Afterwards we decided to head home so we wouldn't get in too late. We had so much fun and I cannot wait to go back. This was our 3rd trip to Chattanooga but I can never get enough!

Normalcy?

Now that the Holidays are over I am hoping I can start blogging again. At least once or twice a week. Things are going well for us - we have a pretty good schedule going on right now.

Roe is 5 months old and is rolling around and grabbing things. And of course he chews on EVERYTHING. It's funny how I forget the little milestones from child to child. There is such a stark contrast between Moseley to Chambers and Chambers to Roe! Roe is also a very content baby. He only cries if he is starving or has a dirty diaper. Since he prefers to have a blowout ever 3 or so days you can imagine he doesn't cry often. I try to pay him special attention since he just sits in his carseat while toting the boys around.

Roe's surgery has healed very nicely. Hard to believe it has been two months since his surgery. At our checkup the Doctor thought he saw marked improvement in kidney drainage so we go back in a few months. Hopefully the drainage corresponds to function :)

Chambers is talking, talking, talking. I was thinking (HOPING) that since Moseley is such a talker, Chambers would be on the quiet and pensive side. No such luck.

Things he says:

-Momma, bubba's not being nice!

(bubba = Moseley. He also says momma and daddy aren't nice if we don't give him something he wants)

-Momma, bubba hit me/pushed me, etc.

-Momma, I love you sooo much!

- Yoohoo, Daddy. Daddy, yoohoo. (b/c he always wants his daddy :)

-Daddy no home. Daddy go work! (pouting b/c he hates when Kevin isn't home)

Moseley is a wealth of information. He also likes to speak in generalities. I think he is trying to figure out the "rules of the world." He says things like, "Momma, if someone gives some of their snack to their brother then that means they are a really good boy." He asks questions about everything and talks non-stop. Kevin and I actually call him the mouth of the south not to his face). We know he is about to fall asleep in the car b/c he starts talking really fast right before passing out.

It's been awhile..

So... life is super busy around here.

Moseley is now four, Chambers is two and Roe is four months. Things are starting to really fall into place. The holidays were hectic but so much fun. We LOVED watching Moseley and Chambers enjoy Christmas!

Moseley

Height: 44" tall (off the charts)

Weight: 41# (25% for height)

Chambers Moseley@2 year

Height: 37" tall M - 37"

Weight: 28# (60%) M - 32#

Roe Chambers@4 months

Height: 26.5" tall (85%) C - 26.5"

Weight: 15# (50%) C - 15#, 10oz

*Moseley and Chambers Christmas morning waiting to see what Santa brought. Notice the Halloween socks on Moseley's feet :)