JULY

July has been a BUSY month for us. On July 2nd- I read someone's blog about how they let their son run around the house naked and it helped him potty train so I decided to give it a go ( even though we were supposed to leave July 4th to go to the beach for the week with my parents). Well, it worked- Tallon ran by me while in the house ( running around with no clothes on) yelling- " gotta go poopy" and where did he head...... Right to the toilet---- WHEW- round 1 done- poopy in potty- HOORAY!! so sort of potty trained- we headed to the beach with my parents. We just let Tallon run around the condo with underwear on and he did SURPRISINGLY well and now I am please to say that we are in BIG BOY UNDERWEAR all day long ( including naps). still wearing a pull-up at night- time, but that is OK with me!! My parents were a huge help and encouragement to Tallon and I ( in the whole potty training process that week)- Thanks mom and dad!! so now that the BIG announcement is over- on to our week at the beach. I had "supposedly" fixed my camera only to turn it on at the beach and it not work AGAIN!!! Thankfully, my dad had his camera- so we took plenty of pictures! He has even agreed to let me "borrow" his camera until I figure out what to do with mine!! THANKS DAD!!!

Reeves got to spend the weekend at the beach with us- well, we were at the beach but we prob only spent a grand total of 4 hrs MAX ON the beach- Tallon is NOT a beach fan- he LOVES the pool though and is quite the fish!!

Tallon thought he was such a big boy in his goggles!!

This is how mom and I spent a good bit of the week- bouncing back and forth watching Tallon go from hot-tub to lazy river then back to hot-tub and then to pool! This kid wore himself out swimming every morning and evening!! Quite the fish!

Somebody ADORES his Daddy!!

Our little fish!

The only picture I have of the beach- we managed to get Tallon out to beach 2 mornings to play in sand while the pool was closed for cleaning!!

Tallon playing with Pop's hat!

Pop carried us to the Waccattee Zoo in Socastee 1 day ( we all needed a break from the pools!!) I have never heard of this zoo but it was really cool- LOTS of animals and most of the zoo was in the shade which was really nice!! We forgot to get the stroller out of the car before Reeves' left so Tallon did LOTS of walking ( and riding on Pop and Mimi's back and shoulders!)

There were peacocks EVERYWHERE- soo pretty!

I can not get over how "big" my little boy looks in the above picture!!

With the deer

Pop with the camel

Enu's

Checking out the zebra's

Riding on Pop's shoulder- we are truly blessed to have such hands on grandparents.
My dad is soo patient with Tallon- he lets him help him mow grass or fix whatever ( even when I am sure it takes him atleast twice as long to get the job completed!!)

We went to broadway 1 day and Tallon played in the "splash pad"

being silly

We recuperated for a few days at home and than Reeves had a training conference in Atlanta this past Friday thru Tuesday so I headed down to the lake with my parents for the weekend. It was soo nice to have help with Tallon and to see my sister and her husband who are in town from Kentucky. Let's just say that Tallon LOVES his Uncle Mike and Aunt Liz.

Pop bought Tal some worms so he could "really fish"- hook and all- thankfully- no one got hurt in the baiting, casting and reeling in and Tallon found a good bit of amusement out of the worms!!!

Showing his new buddy "Uncle Mike" a worm!!

Tallon constantly asks to 'go on the boat"- this kid LOVES the water!!

Helping Mimi make icing and ice the cake

YUMMY!

We are now back home and ready for Reeves' to return from his training. It has been a busy but FUN month- I am not sure where this summer has gone to.

Baby Update: I am now 20 weeks along!!! I can not believe I am halfway thru this pregnancy. Baby girl is quite the mover and I am loving being able to feel her move around!! Last weeks Dr visit and ultrasound went well- only gained 4 lbs so far ( I am keeping my fingers crossed- we shall see!) and baby girl looked healthy and "perfect" as the ultrasound tech said!! I can not wait to meet this new little one!!! Although I think Tal is going to be in for some MAJOR adjustments!! He is used to getting all the attention so this could be an interesting winter!

Cannon Beach Week

My camera has been acting really funny lately- a few weekends ago- we went to my cousin's wedding in Mississippi and it would not work- I thought that I had used up the life of my rechargeable batteries so when we got back home- I immediately went and bought new batteries. Well- ever since than- even with new batteries that are FULLY charged- my camera won't let me take any pics- the screen keeps flashing up "Change batteries"!!! YIKES~ I sure do hope we can figure out the problem. I love being able to take pics and really missed out on some fun ones of our time with Reeves's family this past week. Thankfully, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-laws ALL had camera's and have graciously allowed me to use their pictures on our blog. Thank you Aron for letting me borrow some of your pictures- you ( and Collin too), both are fantastic photographers and I always love the images you grab of my son and our family!! Thank you for being willing to photograph my child too!!!! Be sure to check out their blog for even more fantastic pics depicting our week at Ocean Isle!!

I have never been to Ocean Isle before but Reeves grew up vacationing there and kept telling me how much I was going to love it. Well..... he was right. Reeves's parents rented an AWESOME house on a canal ( which you could SWIM in at high tide- sooo fun), it had a pier that allowed the kids to FISH ( one of Tal's favorite activities of the week) and a pool ( we spent lots of afternoons hanging out at the pool)- sooo fun!!! PLUS- the BEACH was only a few blocks away. Tallon swam, played, laughed, cried, ate LOTS of food, napped and headed straight back out to the water or pier to fish. He is 1 exhausted little boy ( and I am pretty sure my neice and nephew are pretty worn out also!!) I love having the 3 kids soo close in age -Makgill- 4 yrs, Tallon ( almost 3) and Clara Beth- 2 yrs. They really loved swimming and fishing together, chasing each other and just hanging out. Nothing like family!!!

I just "borrowed" a few of Aron and Collin's pics to show you a small taste of our week at the beach!

Reeves and Makgill throwing the ball on the beach!
Sweet, Spunky Clara Beth!

Fishing on the pier- The boys actually got really good at casting their rods

Swimming in the canal-
I am not usually a huge fan of swimming in the ocean but the canal
was so refreshing to jump into in the afternoons!

My happy boy playing in the sand
( see Aron's blog for pics of what shortly happened afterward!)

I think I transferred this pic funny- but Tallon loved playing with Makgill!

The whole Cannon Crew hanging out on the beach 1 evening after dinner~

The guys (and Clara Beth) buried Uncle Collin and Makgill 1 morning~

My child rarely eats fruit- especially apples but I would carry an apple with me to the beach to eat each morning and quickly had Tallon and Clara Beth asking for some.
I learned to carry 2 apples- 1 for me, 1 for Tal and Clara Beth to share!
The Grangers came down for a night and Lilah got in on the apple sharing also=)

I think this might be my new FAVORITE PICTURE OF TALLON!
Thank you Collin!!

Thanks again LiLi, Boom- Boom, Andrew, Erin, Collin, Aron, Makgill and Clara Beth
for a fantastic week hanging out at the beach
and
for all the attention, hugs and love you shared with Tallon!!

Cannon Beach Fun

Collin, Aron and the kids had a place at the beach this past weekend. So when we woke up to a BEAUTIFUL sunny day with the temp predicted to be close to 70 degrees. We quickly loaded up the car, picked up Uncle Andrew and Aunt Erin and headed to the beach. The kids played on the beach for 2 hours! They had a blast- running around, chasing the birds, digging and playing with the sand toys! I really wanted a picture of the 3 cousins together- they are soo cute and for the most part- play really well together!

Mak and Tal

Tallon really wanted to get in the water- thankfully- he stayed on dry land!

Chasing the birds with LiLi
Tallon loves his "Yeye and Boom Boom"

My little boy with his FAVORITE THING right now......
TRUCKS

Tallon LOVED having Uncle Andrew and Aunt Erin to play with

This girl has got some spunk- she had BOTH buckets FULL of sand
and was carrying them around!

Everyone took a LONG walk while Linda and I stayed and watched the kids play


The following pics are some of my favorites-
Tallon ran straight towards his dad as soon as he saw him coming down the beach-- sooo sweet.