A Few Random Things

ONE --We celebrated McCord's birthday this past weekend with family at my in-laws house.  What a great day to be one year old!  It was a red, white and blue birthday party and everyone dressed accordingly.  McCord loved watching his cousins jump into the pool from the diving board, and he enjoyed splashing around the shallow end.  I left my camera at the party, but here are a few shots my mother-in-law sent us. 

A great snapshot of McCord and my Dad ("Doe Doe") goofing off by the pool.

A great photo of my sister and my mom (otherwise known as "Aiya")

McCord wasn't too sure what to do with the birthday cake, so he tried a little bit of icing, and then he decided I should try it too.  He stuck his finger in it and then put it in my mouth!



But he LOVED the homemade strawberry icecream that Gee Gee made!



This is a needlepoint sampler that my mom made for McCord with his name and birthday on it.  It is truly a labor of love.  I remember her working on it right after McCord was born.  She'd bring it with her whenever she came to visit, and we were able to view the progress.  Now here it is complete and ready to make a special wall hanging for McCord's new room.

Thank you Papa and Gee Gee for letting us celebrate at your house!

 The older I get, the more I realize how special it is to be able to have our family together.  In this case, it was special 2 times over, because we had both sides of our families together to celebrate Mc's 1st birthday - 4 grandparents, aunts and uncles, and 4 cousins!  It was such a gift for us to spend that time with them. 

TWO -- We closed on our new house yesterday, so we are no longer renters, but home owners!  We plan on celebrating by ripping out the carpet in the playroom on Monday.  The hardwood floors will be delivered today so they can get acclimated to our house before the installation.  Here's a before picture of the playroom.  Once this is complete, we'll be installing a new exterior door and completely gutting both of the bathrooms, insulating the attic and installing a fence.  We can't wait!

THREE -- My dad is coming up today to help us with lots of homeowner repair stuff like hanging a smoke detector, blinds, drapery rods, and McCord's swing.  Exciting stuff, right?  We're just glad to get on his calendar because he's been pretty busy lately writing articles for the local newspaper.  Here's his first article and the one published most recently about "beaver fever." And when he's not hanging drapery rods and writing articles, he makes grills out of old tires.  Here's a video my mom shot in their backyard of his contraption. 



FOUR -- Last, and certainly not least.  Thank you so much to those of you who read the last post and commented on the photoshoot.  You are all a thoughtful bunch of readers and we're humbled by all of your comments.  We are able to order an extra 5 x 7 because of the number of comments we got, and that helps tremendously when you're a sentimental mama like me who wants to order every photo taken of her child (will that make him stop growing up so fast?!!! ).  Many, many thanks!

The Photoshoot & A Favor, Please...

Saturday was a really fun day. 

We had Nicole Rogers Photography out to take a few pictures of our family in our new house.  Oh, how fun it is to be one year old!  We loved watching McCord flirt with Nicole as she captured his smirky little smile on camera.  Here's a link to the sneak peek she shared with us this a.m.

And, we need your help, fellow blog readers.  We are trying to get as many comments on Nicole's blog post featuring Mc's photo shoot as possible.  Now, don't be shy.  Even if you've never posted on this blog, we'd love, love, love it if you'd post a simple comment on Nicole's blog.  If we get a certain amount, she'll allow us to get a free print.  That would help us out tremendously!

Happy 4th of July

: : a post by McCord : :

A year ago today was my due date, but I surprised everyone and was delivered 3 days earlier.  Look how much I've grown since my first July 4th!

This year, I've done all sorts of fun things to celebrate the holiday. 

I've played with my favorite toy of all time - the Dyson.

I also had my one year photo shoot with Nicole Rogers (more on that later!).  Mama says that I flirted with her the whole time!

I mowed the lawn and never took my eyes off of Daddy the whole time - you can see him just outside of the fence doing something very-manly-and-cool-with-a-really-big-tool-that-makes-a-lot-of-noise.  Isn't he impressive?!

 And here I am helping Daddy fix the weed eater.  Just in case you ever have to fix a weed eater, it really helps if you get your booty in it like I'm demonstrating here.

 ...and this morning I got my first taste of orange cinnamon rolls.  I almost ate everything off of Daddy's plate!

And speaking of food, our neighbors knocked on our door this morning to tell us that they are leaving town and would like for us to pick their garden while they are gone.  Here's our first bag of fresh veggies. 

Hope you have a happy 4th of July!

Love, McCord

1 year old

McCord is One Year Old!

...and he's absolutely stolen our hearts. 

1-year-old McCord standing next to the maple we planted in his honor when he was just 2 weeks old

A few things your Daddy and I love that you are doing at 1 year old:

• the way you play with my hair when you're tired
• the way you look at your daddy with such admiration
• you've recently discovered that you can walk on your own if you use your walker (on wheels).  I love how your tiny body waddles through the kitchen without hardly bending your knees.  Sometimes, your Daddy and I think you look like a little old man hobbling to the cafeteria as you'll see from the sideways video below. 
• You love being outside and especially enjoy watching birds and playing with sticks.
• Your favorite toy right now may very well be the Dyson vacuum.  Since we moved recently, it hasn't found a good home yet - and it's hanging out in the playroom.  You couldn't be happier. 

McCord, you have made life so grand!  Whatever did we do without you?!!  We love you so much and are so thankful for the past 12 months.  We consider every day with you a true blessing.

This slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Goodbye Surrey Lane

Our first house. 

You've been a place of escape for 6 great years. You sheltered, shielded and gave us a place to grow our family.  We will remember you fondly. 

We met your new owners today at closing and they are perfect in every way.  I know that you will be loved under their care.  We'll give you some time to get acquainted with them.  It may be too painful for us to drive by the neighborhood because we'll miss you, but know that we are your distant admirers.  And we'll be back in the fall to visit when we pick up McCord's Maple. 

So long, old friend.

Moving

We did it with lots of help from my parents.  And we're exhausted! 

Here are a few before photos my mother-in-law took followed by some shots of the inside after a coat of paint (but before we unloaded all the billions of boxes we brought)!

Living/Dining area



Playroom



Standing in Playroom looking at Kitchen

Master BR and sitting area

Laundry

Guest Room



McCord's Room




Sewing Room

 
After photos:



Living/Dining Room

Downstairs hall

Love this cedar closet!

Guest Room

McCord's Room



Peanut Butter Toes

Those last few months when our house was on the market were tricky.  How to keep it clean with a crawling, sticky, dirty little boy who likes to leave piles of chaos everywhere?!  I found myself constantly cleaning up and cringing when Mc would pull things out of the kitchen cabinets and leave them strewn across the downstairs (or splash in the dog bowl, or pull all of the records and CDs off of the shelf, or ..., or... or......).  And that's not the kind of mom I want to be.  Instead, I want to encourage his curiosity and let him explore, play, learn, and discover.  So a couple of weeks ago, we went outside and played with peanut butter.  Our intention was to make one of those bird feeders you probably made as a kid - you know the kind, with a pine cone, peanut butter, and bird seed - and we eventually got our mission accomplished, but it was the playing with peanut butter that McCord enjoyed so much and what made me feel like I restored my sense of motherhood.

Our birds like Peter Pan peanut butter.
We found this pine cone a couple of months ago when we vacationed at Mansfield Plantation.

Here we are getting excited about peanut butter - Rocky of course wanted to be a part of this project!

And how peanut butter ended up on his toes, I'll never know!

We hung the feeder right outside our kitchen window.

 It took our birds about 2 weeks to find it, but when they discovered it, the feeder became quite the hangout.  We learned that the little birds preferred it over the regular feeder.  We had Carolina Chickadees, Tit mouses, and Wrens.  What a joy it was to watch these birds.  McCord - as busy as this little guy is - would immediately quiet down and get real still when watching the birds.  He enjoyed watching so much, I would pull his highchair in front of the window so he could sit and watch while he ate. 

Update on our house:

We've been packing!  The official move date is IN TWO DAYS.  The washer, dryer, and fridge are coming tomorrow, and we've already had Terminix and a maid out.  Bo's been taking loads of boxes to the house every night. The painters came yesterday and did the first coat of paint on the walls, and I can't wait to show you the before and afters.  Pictures soon, promise!