Photo Catch-Up Sept. 2012

spotted a deer running through our yard

chopped my hair

Tyler's teacher, Mrs. Rebecca

sitting in his assigned seat

watching the First Friday Parade

Bailey Beth loves to "read"

Tyler's 1st soccer coach.......Daddy ;-)

most of the team hanging out at half time

Tyler in action doing a free kick

Tyler wrote his name in the tub with a bath crayon

Tyler's preschool class at Chattooga Belle Farm for a field trip....he is 4th from the right

isn't it beautiful.....picked muscadines here

she liked carrying the fruit

heading back to the barn after a fun day

Clemson vs. Furman........running down the hill

NYC Trip

Financial District Skyline from the Statue of Liberty Ferry.....the new World Trade Center building is under construction - it's the tallest one.

My sister, Shauna, and I recently went on a weekend trip to New York City.  We had a great time in the city together!  Our trip was actually a surprise gift from our parents.  My dad originally came up with the idea, but Mom was immediately on board and they were both excited to tell us what they had in store for us.  Yep....our sweet, thoughtful parents sent us on an all expenses paid trip to NYC!  On top of that, they even gave us shopping money!!  Without a doubt, Shauna and I were beyond excited and thrilled. 

Our parents' main objective for the trip was for Shauna and I to be able to get away and spend some one-on-one time together.  Since we live about 5 hours apart we don't get to see each other often enough and when we do we're typically busy with our Mommy duties so it leaves little time for us to simply hang out together.  

So....off to NYC we went and we didn't waste 1 single minute while there.  On Friday we visited the Empire State Building.  We got the "Express Pass" ticket up to the observatory and it was oh so worth it!  We were treated like celebrities with those passes.  The view of the city from the observation deck was impressive.  It was nice to see the entire city without obstructions.

Next, we did some shopping.  We went to Joe Fresh, H&M, and Century 21.  The crowds in the stores are incredible and the fitting room lines are crazy long.  You pretty much have to shop the whole store (like 3 different levels) and just do one big try on session or you'd waste a ton of time waiting in line.  After shopping, we went back to our hotel and got ready for dinner and the show.  We stayed at The Westin in Times Square and it was a lovely hotel with a great location!

That evening, our aunt, Denise, and cousin, Gaines, who live in PA met us for dinner and the show.  We ate at Robert Emmett's and saw the Broadway musical called Memphis.  The show was AMAZING!  The talent of the singers was outstanding.  We all really enjoyed the show.  Later, we walked around Times Square to see all the lights and some street shopping.

Saturday morning, we took the 1st ferry to Liberty Island so see the Statue of Liberty.  The ferry ride was one of our favorite things - it was so peaceful and offered wonderful views of the skyline and bridges.  The Statue itself was beautiful.  Due to renovations the inside is currently closed so I'd like to go back one day to go up in her crown!  

We spent the day working our way back up to Times Square.....hitting Chinatown and Little Italy on our path.  Chinatown was the only area where we felt slightly uncomfortable.  It was definitely different from the other areas we visited.  All the illegal street vending was a bit sketchy.  

I enjoyed a tasty slice of New York pizza for lunch.  This was Ben's only request of the trip......that I have a piece of pizza for him ;-).  Later that afternoon, we visited Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral.  The cathedral was being renovated and we came during a service time so we weren't able to do a complete tour.

We used public transportation while there and found it to be quite user friendly.  We rode on 3 different Subway lines, didn't encounter any problems, and felt safe.  I was proud of us for never getting lost!  We took 1 taxi (from our hotel back to JFK on Sunday) and our driver was also very friendly.  He was from Africa and explained to us that once you live in the city you never want to leave.  I have to say that I was absolutely impressed with the hospitality we received in the city.  Everyone we interacted with was warm and pleasant.  

Ben took off of work on Friday and kept the kids all weekend.  He did a great job while I was gone.  He did Bailey Beth's hair twice (with a bow ;) and took the kids to buy a goldfish.  He made several yummy meals for them and even did some cleaning!! 

Shauna and I had a fabulous time seeing the city together and spending time with each other!  Thanks Mom and Daddy!!

People everywhere!

42nd Street

 

Walking to the Empire State Building

Observation deck of Empire State Bldg.

 Our hotel is the tower with the jagged top and single steel "stripe" going straight down

Broadway Musical with Aunt Denise and Gaines

Times Square.....see the new year's ball?

 

World Trade Center - Tower 1

I ate one slice and gave the other to a homeless man.....he loved it

 One of the less crowded Subway stations

Rockefeller Center

Where the Today show is filmed

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dinner in Times Square at Ruby Foo's

Preston's Baptism

Cousin Preston at his baptism with parents, Lucinda and Trey

Johnson Family

4th of July

We watched the Seneca fireworks show last night and they were great.  The kids liked the finale!  Tyler never stopped talking through the entire show and had a comment for every single firework shot (plus questions).  Bailey Beth lost interest about halfway into the show and started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" out loud for everyone's entertainment.  They were both fully engaged in the finale though.  Seneca really puts on a good show.

This is the only way he'd "smile" for the camera last night.

Bailey Beth is 2!!

Our baby girl is 2 years old!!  She is such a sweet "cupcake" and we love her so very much.  She makes us laugh and smile all the time and we are blessed to be her family.  Here are 24 fun facts about our 24 month old Bailey Beth:

1) She calls herself Dada or BB, but refuses to say the words Bailey or Bailey Beth.  So, if we point to a photo of her and say "who is that?" she responds with "Dada" 95% of the time and "BB" the other 5%.

2) To better explain fact #1 you have to know that Bailey has her own "Russian Baby Talk" language as we call it.  She talks constantly, but probably only pronounces 20 words correctly.  Everything else she puts her own personal spin on and sometimes we can't understand her at all and just play along as best we can.  For example: yes = "S", please = "eese", star = "tar", cup = "tup", bye = "buh bi", duck = "duc kuh", heiny = "eye knee".

3) She recently started calling me "Mommy" and Ben "Daddy" - though she still uses mama and dada also.  She calls Tyler "Diddy" which is how she pronounces Diggy, his nickname.  Her current favorite phrases are "all done" and "pea pie" (how she says peek-a-boo).

4) She likes to jump and semi-skip.  She can't quite do a complete skip alternating legs, but she semi-skips circles around our kitchen island.

5) She LOVES music!  Her favorite songs are 5 Little Ducks, The B-I-B-L-E, I'm a Little Teapot, and The Farmer in the Dell.  I sing to her as often as possible because it makes her so happy.  When she gets really upset the best way to calm her down is typically singing.  She can sing several songs to the actual tune, but of course she uses all her own pronunciations.

6) We count to 10 on our fingers.  As I count she usually chimes in with #s 2, 5, 8, 10.  Her favorite # is 2 - how fitting for a 2 year old.

7) She can say her ABCs up to letter G, and then she just randomly picks letters ;-).  Her favorite letter is B (for Bailey).

8) Since she is such a big fan of music, she naturally enjoys dancing.  It's so funny and cute to watch her and Tyler dance around.

9) Reading is one of her favorite pastimes!  She will sit and flip through books for a good 20 mins. and constantly brings me books to read to her. 

10) Her current favorite books are: Daddy's Lullaby, Peek-A-Who, 10 Little Ladybugs, Dora books, Hand Hand Fingers Thumb, Brown Bear Brown Bear..., Wheels on the Bus, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

11) She has 3 "lovies" that she likes to sleep with: Wylie the white bear, Hoho the purple hippo, and Pippa the pink mouse.

12) Bailey likes to make animal sounds.  She knows what sounds the sheep, cow, chick, donkey, cat, dog, duck, pig and goat make.  Her donkey sound is adorable!

13) Favorite foods: pizza, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwich, chocolate, yogurt, bananas, green beans, broccoli, ice cream, cheetos

14) LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to be outside

15) She can follow simple directions now

16) Bailey Beth can walk up and down stairs by herself now, but of course we are always there just in case

17) Favorite toys are dolls, teddy bears, and figures......or things that open /close

18) She adores The Wiggles!  We have 2 of their dvds and she gets completely absorbed in them.

19) She is a cuddlebug!  She cuddles and loves her dolls / bears and lays all over us.

20) Her days of being ultra laid-back are history!  She is a professional now at having meltdowns and throwing tantrums.

21) Bailey is most certainly a Daddy's Girl, but I don't think Ben would have it any other way ;-)

22) She often sleeps sideways in her crib with her feet hanging out.  We've tried to "fix" her position many times and she usually just goes back to her preferred position

23) She likes to rub my legs when sitting in my lap, but I definitely don't mind

24) She hasn't gone for her 2 year check-up yet, but according to our home scale she weighs 24 pounds.  She wears size 2T in clothes and a 6 in shoes.

Some of her presents

Playing with her new Sesame Street figures

Happy Birthday Girl!

Throwing a tantrum because we wouldn't let her hold the cupcake with the candles lit

Ok....all better now

Family photo on her birthday at cousin Preston's baptism

Bailey Beth's 2nd Birthday Party

We had a family party for Bailey Beth at our church and she had a great time playing with her cousins!  The party was cupcake themed since "Cupcake" is one of the nicknames that Tyler gave to her.  We used cupcake decorations and party supplies and had a cupcake bar instead of a traditional birthday cake. 

I made 4 flavors of cake - funfetti, orange, chocolate, and red velvet.  We had 7 frosting flavors - vanilla, chocolate, cream cheese, orange creme, cotton candy, mint chocolate, and white chocolate raspberry.  For decorating and added flavor combos we had lots of different toppings.  All the kids (and adults) seemed to have fun choosing their cake and frosting flavors and then decorating their cupcakes however they wanted. 

Of course, our kids had the most fun running around and playing in the gym.  It was fun to watch all the kids from both sides of our families play together.  Bailey Beth was happy and had a fun time - success!

 

Birthday girl!

 

Frostings

 

Cupcake toppings

Playing in the gym

Johnson Family

Gaines Family

Our Family