WELCOME BABY JOSIE!

(sorry the picture is blurry!1)

Josie Ellen arrived Fri Morning before noon! We are soo excited for our friends Stacey, Lia and Big Sis Abby! Rebecca and Steve joined us for dinner Fri night so we headed over to say Hello to the proud parents!! Unfortunately, Josie dropped her blood sugar so she had to spend some time in the NICU but we are praying she will be home soon!!! Although we have not gotten to see Josie yet, Collin and Aron were able to go see her and the family and took some amazing pictures of this beautiful baby girl! Check them out at their blog!
Tallon has really gotten attached to Mr Steve!! He totally enjoyed hanging out in his arms while at the hospital and playing with him at our home Fri evening! We are so excited because Mrs. Rebecca is having a little girl in December and she is going to come play with us 2 days a week for a few months while her mommy finishes up the school year!!

Gamecocks, Elephants, Dawgs ( as CB calls them) and Cousins

We started off our Saturday bright and early by heading to Columbia with Reeves' family (minus Aunt Erin- we missed you!)! Reeves Mom had prepared a yummy brunch so we enjoyed tailgating before the game- except for the part of continuously having to chase our DARTING son- this kid is FAST!!! Then the Men headed into the game and the kiddos, LiLi, Aron and I headed to the Zoo- I think every other mom whose husband went to the game had the EXACT same idea- the zoo was very busy! The kids had a blast and Tallon seemed to enjoy seeing each of the animals although I think his FAVORITE part of the zoo was the carousal ride ( THANKS LiLi!!)

Can you see Tal's hands peeking out from behind the stroller-
he LOVED helping LiLi push the stroller!!
Clara Beth calls all animals " Dawgs" right now!! It was especially funny as we were watching the big Brown BEAR and Clara Beth was shouting DAWGS!!!
such a sweet girl!!

Makgill and Aron watching the giraffe's!

Can you tell it is the end of the afternoon from my face!

yummy snowcones! Grape for Tal and Mango for the Smith kids!

We ended the day with some extremely dirty kids so we let them have a "cousins bath"!! Boy- did these kids have fun- splashing, giggling and playing in the water! It was definitely a nice way to end the day and also get some clean kids!!!

I absolutely Love Magkill's face in this picture- playing peek-a-boo with Tal.

SPLISH SPLASH!

Check out Tal's hair!

Tallon is in a HUMONGOUS Daddy phase right now- He loves him sooo much!

Digging in the Dirt

Tallon's 2 yr birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we were able to celebrate on his real birthday- it is crazy to think that 2 yrs ago he was only 6 lbs, 15 oz and we were in the hospital!!!

We celebrated by having our small group and their kiddos over for a "digging in the dirt" birthday party in my parents back yard. The weather turned out to be perfect and it was soo fun having our friends there- everyone was really generous and Tallon received some AWESOME big boy toys- mainly TRUCKS, TRUCKS, TRUCKS! He is constantly rolling them around the house or out in the sandbox- he is definitely ALL BOY!! As per my mom's tradition of always making my birthday cake- I made Tallon's dump truck cake and was quite pleased with how it turned out.Tallon helped prepare for the festivities by helping daddy mow the backyard ( can you believe he FELL asleep in Reeves' arms?!?! Guess he knew he had a busy afternoon coming up!

The finished cake!!

Everything is set up and Ready for the partiers to arrive! We missed Tal's Aunt Liz and Uncle Mike and Aunt Tiff and Uncle Rob but were thankful that the rest of both sides of the family made the party!

I decided to attach balloons to the sand buckets ( our party favor) for the kids... only problem was that it was windy and we had a hard time getting the balloons and buckets untangled- oops- it was a cute decoration for a few minutes though=)

Mimi and Tallon checking out the cake!
One more picture of the cake with the dirt cupcakes at the top!
Tallon LOVED his gift from Lili and Boom- Boom- THANK YOU!!
Tallon also LOVED his gift from Mimi and Pop- 2 new riding toys- oh the fun we have had racing down the street and around the yard in these vehicles!!Tallon's great- grandaddy and Pop
Makgill and Parson playing hard!The WHOLE CREW- thanks for coming everyone and helping us celebrate Tal's birthday!
The kids loved chasing Oscar around the yard!
Mimi and Nana

Susan, Isabella, Jessica and Kristen
ok- so I did not take very many pictures because my sister in law was SUPER kind and volunteered to Capture the party for me and she did an AWESOME job- unfortunately my computer skills are lacking so I can not get the slideshow up on my blog but check out her blog to see more FUN pictures!!

Still here...

We are still here..... it has just been a busy week and a half between Tallon's birthday, closing on our new home, painting our new home, moving in and Reeves continuing to still work. I LOVE our new home though and it is starting to "look" more like a home although I still have a lot of things to unpack and find a place for!! Here are a few pictures of our new home- it is sort of funny because the first home we bought (right before we got married) was khaki with black shutters ( I am going to look for a picture), then we moved to Dallas and did the apartment thing, well then we moved back and rented a khaki home with black shutters so what color do you think our new home is-- KHAKI! we must have a thing with khaki houses! Anyways- we are soo thankful for this home God has blessed us with and look forward to having many people in it for FUN times of food and fellowship!!! =)

If you want our new address- send me a note and I will email it to you- don't trust some of the people out there on the web!

This is what you see as you walk in the front door- Tallon's bedroom is toward the right and the spare bedroom ( nursery) is on the left- no pictures of these rooms bc Tal is asleep and the spare bedroom looks like a tornado hit!
The guest bath is the first door on the Left that you can see- I will post pics of it when I finish it- we ( well my parents) painted over the wallpaper a COOL blue and I am doing lime green accents! I LOVE IT- now I just need a shower curtain!

Our den- it still needs A LOT of work!!!

This is our computer area across from the den- I LOVE it- especially the new bookcase we got a Lowe's yesterday- doesn't it look Potterybarnish!!

and lastly- our kitchen with eating area!

I will post pictures of the bedrooms and rest of home once we get it completed!! but that may be a while seeing as we have a very busy toddler at home who is getting into EVERYTHING! I can not wait to fully get Tallon and our bedroom completed- we painted our walls a chocolate brown and I bought some fabric and mom is making the bedding- soo soo exciting and beautiful- I am hoping to help her some when I get some time!!

Hope the pictures help Liz- everyday this week I have thought I would make it on to blog and update everyone but life has been busy!!

Almost Two

I can not believe that in 2 days my baby boy will turn 2! It feels like just yesterday that I was humongously pregnant in the HOT Dallas heat wondering if this child would ever come out!! and hear we are... 2 years later.... back in SC.... with a toddler! What a blessing that God has graciously given us 2 years with this child and I pray for many more, yet know that ultimately God is in control of Tallon's days! Thank you Lord for this sweet boy, for his health, for his love for life, his deep boyish voice and laughter! I never knew being a mom could be soo much fun ( yet so very challenging!) I pray that we will raise Tallon in a way that Pleases YOU alone and that he would come to know you personally, love you and serve you! Give us Wisdom as we start down this toddler temper tantrum roads!!! I just love this picture ( and the one up top)!! My sweet little boy!

Our weekend is full and we have so much to be thankful for- along with Celebrating Tal's birthday on Saturday, we close on our home in Florence tom (Friday)!! so it is sure to be a busy weekend but hopefully I will get some pictures up of Tal's birthday party and our new home sometime soon, but for now.... enjoy these few pictures that I took yesterday as we played outside- Tallon loves to drive his car!!!!


Tallon contemplating where he should go next....
FAST.... very fast! He now yells "fast" as he takes off zooming down the street!
A little adventurous!

A FUN SATURDAY

Reeves and my parents ALL LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL! I enjoy watching it some but I don't really HAVE to watch it which is good... because someone has to keep up with Tallon!! =) We had not seen my parents in a few days and they were missing Tallon so we headed down to the lake late Friday night and spent Saturday hanging out, going on a walk, washing the car, and... watching football!! Reeves was very stressed watching the Gamecocks but they pulled thru and we had a NICE, CALM car ride home late Sat night (or early Sun morning as we did not get home til after midnight)!Our little family washing the car

Tallon loved helping Mimi grill out!

Many of you have witnessed Reeves during USC football games- he gets very tense, is focused on the game and usually does not eat during the games- he just LOVES USC! Most of you also have seen plenty of my blogs about blue bear which is Tallon's friend but Reeves held on tightly to blue bear throughout the USC game and my parents and I got so tickled watching him!! Looks like blue bear might have a new friend!

WELCOME BABY EVELYN

Brian, Jennie and Big sister Carlisle welcomed sweet Evelyn yesterday afternoon. Tallon and I visited Jennie and Evelyn this morning! Jennie looked amazing to have birthed a child less than 24 hrs earlier and sweet Evelyn is a GREAT baby- she just laid in my arms for the longest time! She truly is beautiful and I can not wait to watch her grow up!! This couple has been committed to our small group since last Spring and we are so thankful to call them "friends"!! We love you guys and WELCOME BABY EVELYN!! We are so glad you are here!