Becoming Human

Some of you may remember my post last year A Year in the Life of Daddy's Phone. It was fun for me to look back at all the pictures he had taken that year, especially because I wasn't always there when he took them. Well, I recently uploaded another year of Tim's pictures to our home computer and here are my favorite Daddy pictures of the year...

Owen eating a pickle

Ethan and the scuba diver at the aquarium

touching hands through the glass

I think these pajamas were too big for him

Ethan's choice out of the prize box

after giving lots of blood for another set of tests

At the zoo in Columbia, SC

apple picking (and eating)

Mommy giving Owen a ride on her new bike

Mommy, Daddy & Ethan on the ferris wheel

at the Rock Hill Christmas Festival

Trip with Daddy to the mall during Christmas time

(so mommy could have some non-kid time...thank you, Daddy!)

Ethan wearing his new cowboy boots from Grandpa at Christmas

at Cheraw State Park

boys jumping on Mommy

The World's Largest Snot Bubble

a side view

playing with Avery at Jessie's birthday party

the snow on top of all the gumballs on our driveway

I was away both times it snowed in Fort Mill this year.

The second time I was volunteering at a consignment sale and this just happened to be Owen's first time seeing snow.
I was so sad to miss it, but glad that Tim took lots of pictures.

No pictures of Ethan in the snow 'cause he was sick and stayed inside on the couch.

Owen is not a good eater.

I used to stress about it, but now I just try to accept it and move on.

However, whenever we go to a Mexican restaurant he eats TONS of food!

He especially loves the chips and salsa - even the hot stuff!

sporting his new crocs from Grandma

Tim took Ethan with him to speak to a church about Habitat.

Afterwards, on the way back to the car,

Ethan started waving to everyone driving on Oakland Avenue.

Tim said the traffic slowed on both sides of the street to wave back at him.

lots of leftover balloons from Ethan's birthday party

make Owen's hair stand straight up in the air

Yaya's face painting at the strawberry festival

We went to a park this spring and Owen went right onto the basketball court and started playing with a few of the guys. They were nice enough to show him a few pointers.

For some reason Owen liked laying down on the Merry-Go-Round.

This was also the trip to the park when we lost Owen. It was the first time (and hopefully the last time) anything like this has ever happened and it was absolutely horrible! I thought Tim was watching him and Tim thought I was and all of a sudden we realized he wasn't with us. We quickly scanned the playground, but couldn't see him anywhere. We started toward the parking lot when a woman came from behind a car holding Owen in her arms. He probably wasn't gone more than a minute, but it was definitely one of the scariest minutes I've ever experienced.

wearing Daddy's hat

Ethan LOVES bounce houses. They are really good physical therapy too!

Here he's trying to stand by himself.

more chips and salsa

And last, but not least, I couldn't post pictures from Tim's phone without at least one shot he had taken of his food. He said he was in a hurry eating his sandwich from Jimmy Johns and he looked down and noticed he had eaten it in the shape of Kentucky. Only Tim would accidentally eat his sandwich in the shape of Kentucky and only Tim would then take a picture of it.

We Are Going to the Beach, Beach, Beach!

At the beginning of June we went to Surf City, NC (near Topsail Island) for a week-long family vacation. Last year, before our trip to the beach my dad started a little chant to get the kids excited. Needless to say, it worked. At random times, when I least expect it, Ethan will call out, "WE ARE GOING TO THE BEACH, BEACH, BEACH!"

Last year we also came across a wonderful little BBQ place

in Pembroke, NC called Papa Bill's Ribs.

They have a little playground outside for the kids,

so we played while we waited for our food.

My favorite thing to do at the beach (besides taking lots of pictures)

is to sit and watch the kids play in the sand

Tim and Ethan swimming in cold, cold water

Owen poured the bag of goldfish into the bucket full sand & ocean water,

but the kids didn't seem to care.

They just ate the soggy goldfish right out of the bucket.

Another of my favorite beach activities - being buried in the sand.

Most important job of the adults during the week

was keeping the buckets filled with water for the kids.

One of Ethan's favorite activities - going out for ice cream!

Cara getting a pedicure from Aunt Terre

For some reason, Owen thought the fingernail polish should go in his nose.

Watching Funniest Home Videos with Pop

Owen got to stay up late one night and watch a movie in bed with Yaya.

Even though he only lasted a few minutes in front of the TV,

he was very excited about his special time with her.

We decided to bring Ethan's walker onto the beach so he could have some independence and he LOVED it! It was the first time I really saw him smile on the beach.

Cara fixing Ethan's hair

While we were shopping for groceries at Food Lion, we decided to buy a kite for Ethan and Cara to play with on the beach. We didn't realize we had bought a kite with two strings, which is much harder to fly. Finally, Tim was able to get the thing in the air and the kids ended up loving it! They each got a turn flying the kite (with Tim's help).