Happy Birthday to...

...a father that knows how to have a good time...




...a man that after 10 years together I enjoy spending time with more than ever...


...the "captain" of our family...


Thank you, Graem, for being the best husband a girl could ask for and for being our boys' hero!

I love you.

Big Boy

I took Roper to the doctor on Friday for his 2-year check-up. Before I share his stats, I must say that I was a little surprised. He has really thinned out over the past year...don't you agree?

From this...


To this...


So I was thinking that he probably dropped some in the charts. Nope...still 93rd percentile for height (same as at his 1-year check-up) and 78th percentile for weight (down from the 82nd percentile last year). I remember our pediatrician telling me at Mason's 2-year check-up that at this point you can project how tall they will be as an adult. Only time will tell!

Just for comparison's sake, at Mason's last check-up in September, he was in the 81st percentile for height and 65th percentile for weight.

Progress

Our kitchen renovation is coming right along...I think we are about halfway through with everything, or at least a third of the way. Hopefully at the latest they will be done by the end of next week.

It has been really hard to live without a stove or an oven. It is also hard to live with only a tiny bit of counter space. But the hardest so far has been living without a kitchen table. Our dining room table is not an option either because all of the stuff from our empty cabinets is currently being stored on the dining room table. It is really difficult to eat out with a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old...but without a table we can't really do take-out either! Over the weekend we set up a little kid's table for the boys which has helped.

I'm told that by the end of this week all the cabinetry and painting will be done, so at that point we can move our table back in. Next week the new countertops will be installed.

Here are some pictures from the end of last week. The cabinets have all been primed...



This is the little bit of counter space that we have to work with, which is mostly taken up by the coffee pot, sink and microwave. You can also see our new can lights in this picture {even though one bulb is not working}. Oh what a difference the new lighting makes! I love it! This week they will put in a pendant light over the sink.



The island has been wrapped in beaded board, the legs of the island have been tapered and they added a bookshelf {love}. You can see Ro in the background coming through a freshly painted white door {used to be stained}. All of the formerly stained doors are now white, this has really brightened up the rest of the house.



This cabinet is where our double oven will live...it has already been painted Benjamin Moore "Sundial," which is what all of the cabinets will be in the end, except for the island and the bench seat, which will be BM's "Chelsea Gray." The walls will be BM's "Boardwalk." Note the white doors in the background.



Sundial...it looks lighter in person...


Chelsea Gray...


Boardwalk...


They have built our bench seat and wrapped it in beaded board and primed it. It has two flip-top lids and Mason keeps calling it the "new toy box."



Less than two weeks and hopefully it will all be complete!

Roper's Second Birthday Party

Here in South Carolina, mid-July is HOT. So for Roper's birthday we decided to do something to keep the children cool. Graem's cousin Brannon owns a company that rents out big inflatable toys...bounce houses, slides, etc. We decided to get one of Brannon's waterslides for Ro's party.

The party was from 11-1...we invited family, friends and our small group from church. As everyone started arriving, I was looking around for Roper. I found him in the dining room all by himself enjoying a slice of orange! I don't think he realized the party was all about him, which is fine. :)









The youngest party guest, baby Camden...


My sweet cousin Margaret...












Group shot of all the children:


After everyone finished eating we inflated the slide. Brannon & his son Evan delivered the slide late Friday night...and I'm so glad the boys were already in bed because if they had seen it they would not have wanted to go to sleep! The slide was HUGE. Probaby 10 times bigger than I expected it to be. It almost took up our entire backyard.



I'm pretty sure all the children loved it. And I love that Roper wore his birthday hat even when sliding.









...well, later he handed it off to Uncle Houston. :)







































Yall remember how hard we worked on the swing set a few weeks ago? It got some love too...





We took a break from the slide for cake...here is the cake that I made for Roper.



I got the idea here. We didn't really have a theme, but the invitations had a lion on them so this worked.









For Mason's birthday party last year, I bought cookies to use as party favors. This time I decided to attempt them myself, and I think they turned out really cute and were also really tasty! Kate helped me {thank you!}. I will definitely make these again. I used this cookie recipe (which next time I will try rolling out a little thicker) and this icing recipe.



Would you believe that at 9:00 pm they we were still sliding?!? That's right, the party turned into an all day affair. All of the big kids (aka adults) saw how much fun the children were having and had to get in on the action.







The first time I went up my little Lily followed me up the ladder! And she slid down. Once was enough for her. :) I can't believe she climbed the ladder. Hilarious!









The birthday boy loved giving kisses to his Grandaddy's new puppy. Daddy came down for the party and then headed down to Charleston to pick up the puppy. He stopped in on his way back to the farm to show off the puppy and of course we were still sliding. :)





All that sliding makes you work up an appetite. :)



The big kids (aka men) started a contest to see who could have the biggest splash at the bottom of the slide...I think it was Justin that ended up spraying water all over my Daddy and his new pup...





I think we finally pulled the plug on the slide shortly after 9. What a fun day! I asked Mason how many times he went down the slide. His reply: 5,345. That's probably pretty accurate! It definitely took my boys several days to recover!

Happy Birthday, Roper!