Tech Game

This past weekend we took Wyatt to his 2nd tailgate and home football game. It was a looooong day for Wyatt (really for all 3 of us) but he did so great!

We hadn't ever been to yellow jacket alley in the past, and decided that it would be fun to take Wyatt. This was mostly at my insistence as I really wanted a cute picture of Wyatt and Buzz -- its ALWAYS about the photo opportunities, right?

First we got one with Wyatt and the cheerleaders. Although I'd love to call him a ladies man, he doesn't really seem interested. He's just playing it cool though, right?

Then we got one of him and ole' Buzz. Its not great but we're going to try again this week. Oh and you see that man in the background giving the stink-eye? Yeah, he was doing that the whole time. I guess he doesn't appreciate the paparazzi (aka Ben and I with our giant camera)??!!

We had a little time to kill before the players arrived, so Ben took a few of Wyatt and I. We couldn't quite get a smile out of him but we did capture this sweet expression.
Eventually, the team buses rolled in. We set this part of the photo shoot up incorrectly and we intend to get it right this weekend so that we can have pictures of Wyatt actually greeting the players. (Sidenote: I did feel kinda bad though because the whole point is to encourage the players before the game and give them high fives and such. Not to stand there with a camera pointed across the street. So we'll see how it works out this week!)

After Yellow Jacket Alley, we went down to our tailgate. Speaking of, WHERE HAVE ALL OUR FRIENDS GONE???? There is hardly anyone at our tailgates anymore. We enjoyed it nonetheless.

And finally, here is a family picture. Difficult to get it right but we did okay! (If I win the lottery I'm going to hire 3 people: a "toter" to carry all heavy baby equipment, a photographer to capture good photos, and a jester to make Wyatt laugh when we are trying to take said photos!)

Papa's 80th Birthday

If you read my sister's blog this is all old news. But still you should read what I'm going to write because I do have a cute story to tell!

Last weekend we celebrated my Papa's 80th birthday! Quite the milestone for him, and amazing to me because he does not act like your typical 80-year old. At all. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the celebration. We were fortunate enough to have the WHOLE family there including all 10 grandkids and 4 great-grandkids. This hardly ever happens simply because our family is so large so it was nice to have everyone there to celebrate.

Papa with his 4 kids

Papa with all 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren

The 4 great-grandchildren. Tough to get them all smiling and looking at the camera at the same time so this is the best we could do!!

Now for the story I promised you. As I previously said, he doesn't really act his age and I love that about him. He still travels both internationally and stateside and plays golf several times a week (well, not quite as much in the winter months but you know what I mean ...). Apparently he has a pretty good drive and always hits the ball pretty far (I don't talk in terms of yardage). Anyway, he was golfing one day and the guy with him was in his 60's. So a good 15-20 years younger than my grandfather. Papa hit his drive and it was a good one. The man said "Wow, Bob, that was a great shot! I wish I could drive the ball that far". Papa's response: "Yeah maybe one day when you grow up you'll learn to drive the ball just like me!"

Awesome!

Thanks, Zach Galifinakis

I love The Hangover for many, many reasons. (Can't wait for The Hangover 2 to come out ... pretty sure we'll be seeing that one in the theater!) But one of my favorite things about The Hangover is Zach Galifinakis (am I spelling that correctly? who knows!). He is hilarious and all, but really I love him because he made the baby bjorn cool.

Ben rocked the bjorn this past weekend at the Braves game and will be sporting it again this Saturday at the football game! So, thanks Zach. Thanks for taking a functional piece of baby equipment and turning it into something trendy!

the past few weeks ...

We've been MIA the past few weeks .... busy, busy. Instead of actual content, I'm just going to do a picture overload for yall today! (Let's be honest though, when has my little ole blog ever been really about content though? Ha!)

Wyatt celebrated his 4-month birthday by eating rice cereal. He did pretty well and now we have introduced sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash (well that will be happening today about 1:00)!
The next day, Wyatt went to his very first Georgia Tech football game! Ben went to the tailgate a little earlier than Wyatt and I so we had this little bathroom-mirror photo shoot before we left! He looked so cute.
This is bad lighting but a rare photo of Ben and I so I had to post it!

Wyatt fell asleep while we were still at the tailgate and here he is with Ben before walking into the stadium. Neck is a liiiiiiiitle crooked there ..... but we really don't torture him. He loves to sleep with his neck all whonkeyjawed.

This was the only picture I took inside the stadium. It was SO HOT that we didn't stay very long. Also, I heard from a friend recently that Ben was telling people that I put a fleece hat on Wyatt in the 100 degree heat. This picture is proof that no, this hat is NOT fleece. Thick cotton, yes. Fleece, no. (He has a few baseball hats, but I thought the brim of this one would be more shady)

His hat is slightly tilted east. He's cool like that ....

The next day, Wyatt and I went out to Meme and Papa's house for his 4 month pictures! His little smile just gets cuter and cuter each month (to me). Enough cheese though!

This past Saturday Ben, and I took Wyatt to his first baseball game. We went to Bobby Cox day at Turner Field. Wyatt LOVED being there and totally fought falling asleep because he didn't want to miss out on anything!

A Story

This is not a Wyatt story. Its not a Katie story. Its not even a Ben story. But its a cute one!

I'm sure you probably cannot read this newspaper article so I'll re-tell it and do my best not to completely plagiarize the original article ...

Once upon a time when my mom was just 4 years old, she was outside playing in her neighbor's yard and found a small bird that had fallen from its nest. Naturally, she went and found a shoebox to put the bird in for safe keeping while trying to figure out a way to get this bird back into its nest. She eventually convinced her father (my grandfather) that he needed to climb up into the tree and put the bird back in its home. My grandfather worked for the city electric company and climbed power poles for a living, so scaling a tree wasn't really a big deal to him. Grandaddy climbed up in the elm tree and Mom was of course right under the tree watching to make sure the bird was safely returned to the nest. Grandaddy was about 14 feet up in the tree a limb he was standing on snapped and he came tumbling down. Because Mom was standing right underneath the tree, he landed on top of her leg and of course broke it. As soon as he realized what had happened, he picked up my mom and headed to put her in the car to take her to the hospital. When he picked her up he realized that he had also broken his arm in the fall so he couldn't even drive her to the hospital! Luckily, my Grandmother was right there and able to drive both of them to get casts put on!

This story was printed in the local newspaper a few days after it happened. It comes to mind now because that same newspaper does a Memory Lane segment from time to time and re-prints articles from way back in the day. This particular article was re-printed this past summer and I just came across it earlier today. (I already knew the story but it was fun to hear it again)

Now at the risk of being too cheesy (If you know me you know that i just don't "do" feelings or emotions. Unless that emotion is pissed off. Well, nevermind.) I just have to point out how typical this is of my mom AND my grandfather -- Mom is a fixer by nature. She goes to any and every extreme to make sure others are taken care of. She isn't out rescuing birds these days but she certainly over-extends herself for family and friends. Some people are talkers and some are doers. Grandaddy is a doer - he has always been very active and loves undertaking little 'projects' .... always has been very active and looks for little 'projects' to undertake. Anyway, this story may be of little interest to anyone else but I think its fun to hear old family stories!

** I just realized that this article tells the year and my Mom's age at the time. So basically I've just announced to the tens of people who read my blog how old she is. Sorry, Mom! You're hip and with it and don't really care about these old traditions such as "never tell your age", right?!?

Labor Day Weekend

Some of the highlights from our Labor Day weekend ....

We visited with GrandMeme and GrandPapa! Ellie and Wyatt had such a great time at their house and my grandparents enjoyed spending a little time with both kiddos.

We took several Kubota rides. This is one of Ellie's favorite things at the lake and Wyatt usually gets to ride along too!

Wyatt rode the fake deer with Ellie. Ellie usually asks her Papa for a ride on the 'bota' and one day they discovered these fake deer in a neighbor's yard. For a while she would just ask to get out and pet the deer and now she's started asking to ride them. Luckily the neighbors are nice and don't mind Dad taking Ellie up to the deer several times a day. (Or maybe they don't notice) I was riding with them and decided that if Ellie was going to ride the deer, Wyatt was going to do it too!

Wyatt doesn't look too impressed, does he? ha!

Ben did go on a little fishing excursion on Saturday morning but due to the cool front the fish were not biting. As Bill Dance splained' to us, when fish sense a cold front coming in they eat a lot the day prior then once it hits they quit biting for a few days. So, no fish for Benny this weekend ... sad panda :(

Wyatt had his very first boat ride this weekend!!! This isn't a great picture, but we did have to document the occasion. He was asleep in the boat when we decided to go, slept the whole time while I was putting his life jacket on and slept for the whole ride. So I guess he enjoyed it!
When we got back to the dock, Wyatt woke up and Mom took this which is one of my most favorite pictures of him ever. (Although I will admit that I have A LOT of "most favorite pictures" of Wyatt)

Ellie doesn't understand why sometimes she can't get Wyatt's attention by calling his name so she resorts to grabbing his face and trying to turn it toward her! I'm pretty sure that is what she is attempting to do in this picture.

Wyatt and I enjoying a little boat nap. The weather was so great -- in the shade it was almost cool so lying in the boat under the shade of the dock was a perfect napping spot!

We worked hard to get a picture of both kiddos smiling. I think we took about 31,217 pictures before getting this one which isn't perfect but it works!

I'll leave you with one last picture of the little monkey. He's usually very generous with his smiles but I was having a hard time getting one out of him during this photo session. Its like the kid knows when I want him to perform!

Big Boy!!!

Not much to say today, but I just wanted to share these pictures of my baby acting like a big boy!!

Wyatt is doing so much better with tummy time - he's holding his head up higher and for longer periods of time. Quite a change from the days of him just laying down and sucking on his hand! He can roll over but doesn't always care to. I've found he rolls better when he isn't on his play mat and is just on a regular blanket on the floor with a few toys there to motivate him.
He is starting to slide down too far in his bouncer seat, so I can't really trust him in there anymore unless someone is sitting right next to him to make sure he doesn't fall out. Soooo, I decided it was high time to put his highchair together. We've put him in it a few times and he does okay in it. I think it will get better though once we introduce solids in a month or so!!