My precious...

The boys and I spent most of last week at CJ and Leigh's uncle's lake house in Greensboro. They were so extremely gracious to invite us as well as the Migliori clan. There were no husbands on the trip since it was during the week. Our little ones had a blast running around and swimming while we girls had a blast playing games and visiting after the babes were in bed.

The first night we were there while I was getting the boys ready for bed I heard what sounded like someone trying to open the door to the bedroom. Tiger, being the gentleman he is, said "Come in!" and no one did. Assuming it was just a little one, I forgot all about it. That is...until I opened the door. I heard a hollow sounding "thunk" and looked down to see what it was. That is when I became truly horrified. At my feet laid the creepiest, most disturbing thing I've seen in a long while. Staring coldly up at me with deep set, dark, soul less eyes was THIS:




































Terrifying, right? I can thank Leigh for leaving her (or him) on my doorknob. That night we had a long discussion about this heinous little doll and after scaring ourselves half to death we decided it would be best for her to spend the night on the porch. The next day I took her back inside and gingerly put her in Leigh's bed. Leigh discovered her like this:




Then I found her lying in the hall by my bedroom door. That afternoon I put her to bed in Rex's crib. Later that evening she appeared (courtesy of CJ) in Eli's bath seat. The next day Lindsey took a picture of her and texted it to me while we were playing a game. I honestly don't know what has happened to her since. I do know that whomever created her was seriously disturbed. I thought her name should be "Precious"-a reference to "Lord of the Rings." But CJ and Leigh came up with a more human sounding name that I can't remember now. Regardless, I am not sure whose possession she is in now-I just have a feeling we haven't seen the last of her.

Besides torturing each other with her creepiness, we made some other memories as well. Poor Leigh woke up Wednesday morning with a migraine so she spent some of the morning trying to rest on the back porch. Kids were running in and out of the house the whole time but she did her best to sit still with her eyes closed. She said she heard Tiger say "So delicious!" and she barely opened her eyes to see him holding Lindsey's empty Corona bottle from the night before. I came out and smelled his breath and sure enough-he smelled like he had been to a frat party. There was nothing but a few drops left in the bottle so he had only gotten a little taste. Just another reason why he is the funniest 2 year old ever.

Eli did really well rolling with the punches that come with hanging out with 8 kids under 3. He spent some time lying next to Rex on the play mat. He slept by the pool while we swam. He also swam a little bit-while I held him, of course. All in all he was my happy little guy!

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip:

Top 27 reasons why Tiger and Eli are the best.

There really are too many reasons to count why my boys are the best, but I have narrowed it down to a small list over the past week or so. It was incredibly difficult since I could literally sit here and type for days on end why they're so wonderful, but for the sake of the blog I gave myself a limit. Here it is in no particular order:

27. I heard the song "Paparazzi" on an episode of "Dancing with the Stars" a while back so now when I take pictures sometimes I'll sing it. Every now and then Tiger will clearly say "Paparazzi, Momma!" What kind of hilarious two year old says paparazzi?

26. Often times while Eli is nursing he will stop so he can look up at me intently and smile. I just hope years down the road I can remember that look on his face.

25. While Tiger was dancing the other day our Brussels Griffon, Bengal, was lying next to him on the floor. He kept looking at her saying "Sing a song, Bengal!" because he wanted her to accompany him with some music.

24. Every time one of us goes to get Eli up out of his crib he looks up at us with the biggest, sweetest smile he can muster. His eyes just light up when he sees us. And have I ever mentioned he is the cutest 4 month old I know?

23. When Tiger leaves a room a lot of the time he will turn to whomever is there and say "Bye guys! Gotta go. See ya!" and wave. Sometimes he'll even say "Adios."

22. For a while when I would take a picture of Tiger he would say "Jesus!" (Sounds sort of like cheese, right?) instead of the usual "Cheese." That changed to "Queso!" and now he is saying "Cheese!" and hamming it up the whole time.

21. Lately Tiger has been pretending to call 'Nette and Papa Mitch on his phone. Here's how the one way conversation goes: "Hello, 'Nette? (or Papa Mitch) No! Okay, bye!" followed by him slamming the phone down.

20. Tiger's favorite joke right now is to look at Aaron and I, point at each of us, and say "One Mommy, Two Daddies!" Then he cracks up with laughter like he is Chris Rock.

19. At bed time now Tiger likes to be tucked in like a mummy with the blanket very tight around his whole body. He always says "Tuck in real tight" and if I go in to kiss him after he's been put to bed he just looks around with his eyes-he doesn't even move his head because he's so confined.

18. Also at bed time lately he'll say "Lay down, Momma" and I'll lay down next to him and talk to him for a minute. I have tried to sneak out without giving him an excuse and that didn't go over so well. So now I tell him "Mommy has to go potty" and since he understands the urge to potty now that he is potty trained this is an acceptable reason for me to leave. So every time I leave now he automatically just says "Go potty Momma."

17. The other day we were getting the boys into the car and it was sweltering hot so I emphatically said "Aaron, do you have the keys? It's hot!" And the next day Tiger walked around saying "Aaron, hot!" all day. My little parrot.

16. Tiger calls his private parts "pirate parts." How cool is that?

15. Lately he likes to say "Happy!" and make an excited, happy face...quickly followed by him saying "Saaaaad" and making a very contrived little sad face. He loves for Aaron and I to do it with him. Sooo cute!

14. Sometimes if he's feeling wild he'll say "CRAZY!" and run around like a crazy man, his feet dancing as fast as they'll go. All of this while he's tickling himself.

13. So I have turned in to THAT Mom. When Tiger is doing something unfavorable I find myself saying "Tiger Mitchell!" with a tone of disapproval. Now he's been walking around randomly saying "Tiger Mitchell!" with the same tone. Hilarious.

12. When 'Nette was here a few weeks ago she was giving Tiger a special bath in the big jetted whirlpool tub when he suddenly stood up with a concerned look on his face and proceeded to go number dos in the water while the jets were going. I won't go into detail but I could probably create a new entry on urban dictionary...poop soup.

11. The other day Aaron and I were sitting in the loft next to the play room upstairs talking while Tiger played. Aaron's cell phone rang and when he looked to see who it was he said "You're calling me!" When he picked up, Tiger was on the other end just chatting away.

10. Eli is now rolling all over the place and getting his knees up under him to thrust himself forward. He's also holding his upper body up with his arms when he's on his stomach.

9. During his after nap TV time Tiger often requests Christmas movies, and it's July! He'll say "Watch Christmas tree!" (Rudolph) or "Watch Frosty!" That's my boy.

8. Every time he uses the potty now he comes out of the bathroom and excitedly says "Check it out, Momma (or Daddy)!"

7. In the car the other day we were pointing out different animals and saw a field with cows. I said "Tiger, what does the cow say?" and when he said "Moo!" I repeated him but gave the cow a country twang...so now when Tiger mimics a cow his "Moo" sounds very southern.

6. Instead of crying like most babies at his 4 month check up the other day Eli laughed through almost the entire exam. I am pretty sure he made the Dr.'s day (and mine!).

5. Sometimes Tiger will make the most angelic face and lean in for a kiss only to trick you at the last second with wild face tickling instead. Where does he come up with this stuff?

4. Tiger will randomly say "Hug family!" and want Aaron or I to pick him (and Eli) up so we can have a family hug. Just today he started saying "Dance family" wanting us all to dance together.

3. While he and Aaron were dancing like crazy men this morning Aaron would say "Dance like you're mad, son" with a British accent so now Tiger says "Dance mad, son!" while he's dancing.

2. Eli's favorite past time is watching Tiger do whatever he is doing. When we went to St. Simons last week if Eli was awake in the car his head was completely turned to look at Tiger, even though he was also just sitting in his car seat. Sweetest thing ever.

1. Tiger now says "Love you" every night to both Aaron and I before we leave the room. Melts my heart every time.

Well, there you have it. Aaron and I are constantly in awe of the gifts God has given us in our sweet boys. Our hearts are truly full.

Our trip to St. Simons and Savannah and a little lagniappe...

Last night we returned from a trip to St. Simons Island and Savannah and had a blast! I must say though, that vacationing with 2 babies can be exhausting...particularly hotel sleeping. When we drove up in the driveway I looked over at Aaron and said "Man, I feel like we've been gone for weeks!"

The first night we were away Tiger slept on his little air mattress in the same room as Aaron and I and he was very interested in the fact that we were all sleeping in the same room. It took quite a while to get him to go to sleep, which is quite unusual for my good sleeping boy. Eli slept in the pack and play right by the bed. Well, during the night Tiger kept waking up and yelling out for Aaron and I and I would spring out of bed as quickly as humanly possible to run over to him to calm him down before he woke up baby brother. After about 5 or 6 times of doing that I was just too exhausted to do it again and that is when Aaron rolled over and said "Should we just put him in bed with us?" to which I responded "YES!" So Aaron brought him to bed and put him in between us and that is when Chatty Kathy came alive. The rest of the little bit that was left of the night was spent listening to him saying "Oh, look Momma!" and a very excited "Hi Momma!" and even a few "No, not Rosie...No, not Kya...No, not 'Nette!(it's a game we play)"...etc. This was all accompanied by a few pats on my face by a sweet tiny hand, a few playful kicks by sweet tiny feet, and even requests for hugs. It was sligthly entertaining but I think I would have been more entertained by uninterrupted sleep at that point. :) Amazingly enough, he did not wake Eli up with all of the shenanigans.

We spent the morning in the hotel pool and then went to Chick fil A (or Chick-a-lake as Tiger calls it), which is currently Tiger's favorite restaurant. While we were there Tiger was walking around the dining area and ran face first into a hard steel chair and got a little black eye. It was very, very sad. It prompted the man behind the counter to ask me if I had a double stroller to which I replied "Yes, but not on me!" Then for nap time I dragged Tiger's air mattress into the hotel bathroom and he slept in there. It was a trial run for the upcoming night. After nap we went to a delicious restaurant called Blackwater Grill that was recently featured on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" and had the most scrumptious meal. After dinner we took the boys to the beach and all took a dip in the Atlantic for the very first time. It was actually Tiger and Eli's first trip to any kind of ocean/beach so it was really, really cool to see how much they BOTH loved it! Even at 4 months Eli had such a good time. He sat in my lap on the edge of the waves coming in and just talked and talked in his sweet little voice. It was a great time for all of us whities to go since the sun was going down and it wasn't too hot/bright for anyone. Tiger and Aaron spent their time getting knocked over by waves and in Tiger's fearless style he loved every minute. As we were leaving he kept saying "Enjoyed that so much, Momma/Daddy!" What a love. That night Tiger spent the night in the bathroom and woke up around 5 AM crying, so Chatty Kathy made his reappearance in the bed with us.

That morning we packed up and headed out to Savannah once Aaron came back to the hotel. Once we got to Savannah we checked into our hotel, which had separate rooms (hallelujah!). Then we took a drive downtown and ate at a delicious French restaurant where Aaron said it was the best food he has ever eaten. It was really, really yummy. Then we drove around and saw the sights (we couldn't walk because it was raining) and went back to the hotel where the boys went down for a full, uninterrupted night's sleep. It was wonderful. The next morning we woke up and took a very long drive home.

On a side note, Tiger has been potty training for the past month or so and is doing really, really well. I never knew how exciting it would be to hear little feet running off to the bathroom, a pause, then a flushing toilet. It is fantastic. The past couple of weeks when he has gone number 2 he sits there with a sweet little smile on his face and whispers "Good jooooob!" to himself as he is going. Aaron and I have both witnessed this and of course both thought it was hilarious, but kind of puzzling. Well, we figured out after talking about it why he does this funny quiet little pep talk. It's because the first few times he did his serious business on the toilet it kind of disturbed him so Aaron and I would try to calm him down by quietly coaching him through it and saying things like "Good job, buddy!" in a whispering voice so we didn't disturb him even more through the process. So now he coaches himself through it...that's my little independent boy!

And Eli is just getting sweeter and cuter by the second-as if that is even possible. He did SO well in the car which was surprising considering up until now he has been the only baby I've ever known of who actually has gotten mad when riding in the car instead of being lulled to sleep. He seriously would get so worked up that when I would get him out of the car seat he would be sweaty and red faced. My poor boo boo! But he rode like a champ for our trip and spent his time awake looking over at his big brother which was the sweetest thing ever to witness! As we were bathing him in the hotel Aaron swears he heard him say "Momma" and I think I heard it too but was distracted by something at the time. He is a very content little guy who is now spending some of his time during the day in his exersaucer and jumperoo. He is really working his hands lately-grabbing onto stuff and playing with his toys. I laid him on his back on the boppy pillow the other day and he sat halfway up kind of like he was doing a sit up. He is just a joy to watch and we are trying to soak it all in!

Well, that's it for now! Here are some pictures of my little men:





Tiger LOVES giving Eli kisses! He put that toy that is next to Eli by him and said "Here go, Eli!" So sweet.




Here is Tiger patting Eli on the head as gently as a two year old boy can. He kept saying "So sweet!" while he was patting him.




Eli and Momma on the beach at St. Simons-his little outfit is so precious! And yes, I did crop my lower half out of the picture. Having 2 babies in 2 years really does a number on you. :)




Tiger loved the waves-I think he is saying "So cool!" in this picture.




Sweet Daddy with his boys.




We had to be tourist-y and take a picture in front of the autographed picture of the "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" guy at the Blackwater Grill.




'Nuff said.



Daddy and Eli in front of the playground on the water front. Aaron was trying to mask his snow cone stained blue teeth.




Tiger burning some energy on the water front playground at St. Simons.




Eli being cute in his jumperoo after we got home.

4th of July festivities

Here are some pictures of our 4th of July festivities with 'Nette, Papa Robert, Granddad Floyd, Keith, and Angela. We had such a fun time with everyone!




Keith and Angela with us in the backyard. So glad they live so close!




Granddad Floyd with 3 month old Eli.




The fam at the square in Dahlonega. Couldn't have asked for better weather!




Tiger eating a chocolate bear on a stick in Dahlonega. He was saying "Queso" when I took this picture...that is what he says instead of "Cheese." Check out the teeth.




A shot of us before church. It only took about 20 pictures until we got this sort of good one. :)




Sweet Eli with his sweet Daddy. No, he's not a birthday boy-that was just the nearest clean bib.




Papa Robert and Eli.




This was just too cute not to put on here.




Mommy lovin' on Eli.




Tiger loves him some Granddad Floyd!




'Nette and Eli.




My boys love their 'Nette!