Rock this Potty!

Sydney loves the big people potty, mostly cause there's water in it. But we thought it would be a good time to have a potty intro. When the lid's down, it makes a great drum......and when the lid is up it makes a great Shoe!!! Of course we're not expecting to potty train her now, but we thought it would be a good idea to at least introduce her to it and let her get used to it. She even sits on it (for about 2 seconds) then celebrates by yelling "YAY!!!" and flushing the adult potty. Teeny-tiny steps! She's still in diapers, not undies or training pants. She just thinks it's a fun new bathroom toy. (Along with her favorite bathroom toy: the big potty.)

Mommy & Me Day

I realized that there are no pics of the Bug and I on our blog, so I took some.......











Just goofin' off......

Highchair-redneck style!

How cute is this? Sydney eating her breakfast like a big girl. Wait a sec.....is that a phone book?! and is it on top of a pot?!?!?! the answer is yes and yes. We had a high chair that would hang from the side of the table. It was safe, convenient, and washable, or so we thought. We've washed it in the washer (according to the directions) a bunch of times. This last time, however it did not survive. It disintegrated! Well the seat insert did anyways. Whoever designed that and said it was washable was sadly mistaken. I always thought that the insert was plastic, but not so. It was particle board in a ziploc bag-type covering. No wonder it fell apart when it got wet! Well as a impromptu highchair, mommy devised an old and high-tech redneck system: The Pot and Phone Book System. Grandmama Brant would be proud!

Sydney also LOVES greenbeans. So much that she will take the can out of the cabinet, give it to you and go " MMMMMM!!!!!!" She will also get impatient and would rather just eat it out of the can! Auntie Gigi (Ginger) would be proud. I guess it could be worse. It could be junk food.

Slow and steady.....

Progress is progress, right? When we moved into our home there was a forest behind our house instead of a backyard. Almost immediately we started yelling "Timber!!!" This was because there were several beetle-attacked pine trees and a magnolia tree that was about to bloom (Amber is very allergic to the flowers). All in all our total of downed trees is 21 thanks to my awesome Uncle Troy, and we still have 2 more to go. Now you may ask "why?" Well i'll tell you. The Pine trees drop needles year round and that creates a ground cover where nothing can grow. Also, these trees provided abou 1-3 hours of morning shade and none in the afternoon, since our house faces south-west. And finally, and probably the most important reason, so we can put up a fence to keep Sydney in and others out! (those of you who are familiar with the "narcotics and the neighbor's son" story will agree that we really need a fence.) And I've timed it...Bug can make it from the backyard to the street out front in about 3 seconds. Now our yard is a little stumpy, but again thanks to the help of Uncle Troy, we'll soon have that fixed as well. Then it's *bing* fence, *bang* grass, and *BAM!* pool! Ok, maybe not that fast with the pool, but we're getting there! And for those of you who don't know the whole story about the Neighbor's son and the narcotics, email us. We won't be posting that info here.

Our Little Bookworm!

Our local Library has a summer reading program for kids with no age limit so long as they either read or are read to. If you read "x" ammount of books you get a prize and if you read more than 15 books you get entered into thier "Hall of fame" where you get a medal and your name on an elephant. OK it's not a real elephant, it's a green paper one but it's still cute cause they put it up on the wall at the library for everyone to see. When the librarian handed her the medal it went straight into her mouth (still teething)! and it took a little persuation to get her to leave it on long enough for mommy to take a picture. Sydney just loves books and bedtime is not complete without snuggling up on her down comforter with mommy or daddy to read a bedtime story. It didn't take us long to get to 15, since we read a different one every night. We're so happy for our little bookworm! I know she doesn't even know what's going on, but I'm having fun with it! And the medal will be going in the scrapbook, so she'll get it one day.

Happy 4th Ya'll!

Daddy worked on getting up all the left over pine straw from the pine trees we cut down earlier this year. Bug played in the pool and Mommy watched. As you can see Sydney got in the pool a LOT this weekend, and unexpectedly too! She has a bathing suit, but she didn't need it to get wet. Can't you tell by her outfit and shoes? and my favorite: The almost exploding diaper! I swear that girl is such a water baby. She does need a bigger pool however and mommy and daddy are discussing getting a real big one installed, but maybe next year. First we gotta get some other stuff in the yard taken care of......

Here we have the most sacred of southern traditions: The Civil War re-enactment. Here's a bunch of pics from the first battle of Columbia. Pic 1: My Uncle Squirrel ( his name's really Terry) with the white beard looking at the camera. Pic 2: A couple of guys that have been "killed". The guy with the hat over his eyes put it there after being on the ground a few minutes, and took a nap. Pic 3: My brother Miki and his buddy Lewis. Lewis is in the wierd hat w/ the red pompom on top and Miki is to his right behind him. You can only see Miki's head above the wheel. Both Miki and Uncle Squirrel were on the cannons, and got to make a lot of noise and blow up some gun powder. Miki and Lewis' Positions were called Powder Monkeys. Squirrel was something else but I can't remember. and finally...Pic 4: General Lee, or at least the guy who played him. All in all it was fun to watch, very noisy and historical. and in case you're wondering, SC won the 1st battle but them D*#% Yankees got us in the 2nd.