Month: September 2011

My work decided to switch to a new system. After 4 years, suddenly I can no longer use my Apple. I have to be running Windows for all the software to work correctly. We tried running Parallels, but that ran MUCH TOO SLOW. The latest idea is to put back together Wade’s parents’ old computer and try to make it work. This is what it looked like when I went to bed:

(To make matters more complicated, Wade had gotten rid of most of his extra computer parts. We only have macs at our house and he convinced his parents to switch last year. He had decided he would never again have to deal with piecing a computer together – oops.)

We had a visitor tonight for a few hours – Jonah! His parents are friends from church and both doctors. Their schedules occasionally don’t mix well and they need a little help after daycare is closed. Alex loved having a playmate for a few hours.

A typical Wednesday night at the Burch house.

This tree has lived with us since South Carolina. It looks fantastic in the summer and then moves inside. Over the winter it loses all of its leaves and looks pretty bad. This past winter it really suffered because Tabit (in her kitten months) decided to use it for climbing and chewing. Here is a beginning of summer picture and an end of summer. Amazing.

We spent the morning on the beach before driving to Mobile to catch our flight. The entire flight Alex was telling us we were “up in the sky”. (Wade and I joke that Alex narrates our life.)

While we were waiting for our bags, Wade pointed out that some of his googly eyes were still in place at the airport.

We decided to celebrate my Mom’s birthday while we were all together (a surprise to Mom). Alex was so excited to give Gram the pumpkin he picked out and the card he colored (and the envelope included special crayons for Gram).

We tried to get some family pictures and some even turned out. Photographing a two year old a six month old is definitely a challenge! (Not to mention Alex’s need for sunglasses most of the day.)

We got to the beach on Wednesday and Alex hasn’t worn shoes since! He spends most of the day asking for Gram and running wild inside and out. Wade took a day trip to Atlanta for a Tech football game, but promised to bring a football helmet back for Alex.

Mom, Melissa, and I spent most of the day at the outlet mall in Gulf Shores, but we managed a few trips to the beach in the early morning and early evening.

Our house is on the beach and Alex loved going to play for a short time and then running back inside for a snack or book. Then it was back out again.

This was by far my favorite picture of the day. (I’m pretty sure Melissa gets the photographer credit too.)

Alex was so excited for our “hairplane” trip today. The minute he woke up he started talking about it and he handled the first flight really well. He played and read and played and ate.

The second flight was perfect. He fell asleep immediately and slept until we had to buckle him back in his seat.

When we got to the beach house we found everyone else playing on the beach and exploring our rental house.

I am in the process of canning pizza sauce so our kitchen is a wreck. I asked Wade to provide dinner in any way he wanted. We ended up with a Qdoba picnic in the backyard.

Wade is a great photographer (see here), when he actually picks up a camera. Unless I specifically request it, Wade only tends to take these kind of pictures:

Madison and I taking a Saturday afternoon nap.

Alex couldn’t wait for his Daddy to get home from the gym. They had previously discussed playing pinball and Alex picked out a hat for each of them while Wade was gone. Wade’s a great daddy and always happy to play along. He put the hat on with a smile and started playing pinball.

Our new fence! The owner came out today to install the gate. I love it!!

In other news, Phoenix was cracking me up with his tongue. In every picture I took he had it rolled and sticking out.

We had perfect fall weather today for an outing to Apple Holler. We got there early and there were few other people. The boys had a blast running from place to place.

When it came time to talk about dinner, I told Wade I didn’t care what we ate but it needed to be in front of the fire. He grinned and said, “Pizza or Chinese?” We placed our order for Chinese and Wade was just about to go pick it up when we caught the Strouds loitering in our front yard (actually they were comparing our roof to their new one). They heard us mention Chinese and placed their own order. The boys played inside while Nick and Wade went to pick it up. We invited them to picnic in our living room and suddenly we had a party!

I knew Alex was feeling much better this morning when he woke me up by saying, “I want milk. I want a snack. I want to play Legos.” I even determined he was well enough for school. While I was packing his lunch I told him to go wipe his nose. I found him like this:

When we got home from school Alex wanted to read books on the front porch. It wasn’t too long before Abram came to play. (And not too long after that before all the guys joined in.)

Then we had to rush out the door to dinner with some couples from church. Alex even had a few playmates for the evening (some of our friends have new additions – foster children!):

Alex has his first sore throat. I was suspicious yesterday when he would cough and then cry for a few seconds before resuming playing. Today he had a fever to go with it and was pretty lethargic in general. He got a lot of books, TV, and snuggles. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll feel better.

The worst part of the day was when he would cough, tears would run down his cheeks, and he would say, “Mommy make me happy.” Poor boy.

Madison has been under house arrest for the last week. The men came last Wednesday to set the fence posts and haven’t shown back up to finish. Poor Madison is tired of being cooped up. Hopefully we’ll have a new fence soon!

Every year he has been at MDO, Alex has had a different sleeping arrangement. The first year it was a crib. Last year was a cot. This year it is a pad on the floor. According to state regulations that means he has to have a blanket under and over him. A sleeping bag makes sense and Alex’s new one arrived today!

This conversation actually occurred Friday evening as we were walking home from Tosa Fest.
(The picture is from earlier in the week.)
Alex: I need a shower
Me: No shower tonight. You had one after your nap.
Alex: I want a shower.
Me: Not tonight
Alex suddenly decides to eat the cookies he has been holding and not eating for the last 15 minutes.
Alex: I have cookies on my chin. I need a shower.
Smart Boy. Still no shower.

Wade is always coming up with fun activities (at home and at work). At work he convinced his boss and colleagues to enter the Soapbox Derby. In the end they had enough interest for two cars. Alex and I had a lot of fun watching the races.

Wade’s car was a little too heavy to be in the running, but the designer’s red car came in second!

Yay for awesome weather! Alex wanted his after-nap snack on the front porch. While we were there he opened a box from Granny and Pop to find some people and cars. Abram joined us before too long and the boys had a lot of fun playing “fireman”. I was informed that they were going down the fire pole when they rolled down the hill and in the firetruck for the last two pictures. I’m not sure Alex completely understood but he was happy to follow Abram.

Then all the neighbors met up at Tosa Fest.

Alex is a great helper in the kitchen. When I mentioned making cookies, he ran to get the cookie sheet out of the cabinet. I convinced him we needed to mix the dough first and he got to pour all the ingredients in the mixer.

Wade came home with oranges and lemons – ingredients for Whiskey Sours. Alex was excited to help him “squish” the fruit. (He was also very interested in licking the peels. Yuck.)

We had a packed day today! We left the house early for a trip to the zoo with some friends from MDO. The zoo was pretty empty, which was a good thing with five kids running around like crazy.
(The tiger was very interested in the kids and put on a great show.)

We stopped by home for a nap and to check on the fence installation. Alex loved watching the guys work:

Then we had an after dinner treat of frozen yogurt with the Strouds!

Today Alex started back to school. On the drive he seemed a little hesitant so I was telling him about his friends and all the toys he would get to play with. He immediately said, “Mommy you play.” I told him I would play with him for a few minutes but then I had to go home to work. He replied with, “Mommy play bigger.” I said, “Do you mean play longer?” He proceeded to use the words “bigger” and “longer” interchangeably for the rest of the drive.

I picked him up happy and in the clothes I sent him in – definitely a successful day! We even stopped for some additional playing on the playground with his friends before we left.