Sammy's 2nd birthday & other October events

My little man is TWO!  I seriously can't believe how quickly these things happen.  We celebrated with lots of friends and loved ones at a nearby playground.  Luckily the weather cooperated, though a bit chilly, so we were still able overload all the little ones on sugar.  Thanks to Aunt Eli, we have some photos of the event, since my camera battery was out (sigh).  There should be more pix to come from one of Sammy's friends' moms.  Stay tuned, and I'll post them on the soon-side.  

Daddy arranging the birthday hat and Maia focused on her cupcake.

Getting ready to sing!

Anna, Carter and Violet (it's sorta dark, but that's Alessandra and Sophie on the right - Sophie's birthday was this week, too)

A very modern goatee - he's so down

Little drummer boy loving his present from Cart Cart

Earlier this month, the Fowlkes clan had our annual outing to the Washington Farms pumpkin patch.  This is the most fun farm ever, complete with corn troughs, cow tractor trains, swings, giant rocking chairs, pig races, FOOD, funky slides, etc.  Needless to say, the kids napped WELL on the way home.  Aunt Eli put together an awesome slide show from the day.

Just a random pic of baby John.

Park and me in Boston Commons - Oh yeah! Mommy and Daddy get a vacay courtesy of your tax dollars!!!

No June gloom here

As it is June 30th and I am determined NOT to have a whole month go by without a post, here is a little catch up from June.  So, yes, many of our nights are spent watching So You Think You Can Dance in this first summer month, but otherwise, I don't think I've sat in one place for longer than 10 minutes (with one fabulous exception -- there will be a mama in miami post).

June began with a blast! We took our brood on their first airplane trip to Los Angeles. I could probably fill a whole post with just that, but needless to say, we made it, and it wasn't actually all that bad (ask Park about changing Sammy in the "lavatory"). We went for the Austin Reunion 2012, celebrating Mimi's 90th (!!!) birthday, "Big" Allen's birthday, (quotes because "little" Allen is quite a bit taller than him) Jeffrey, Clayton and Allen's 18th birthday, and Jeffrey and Clayton's high school graduation.



Gorgious Leigh and her triplets Allen, Jeffrey and Clayton.

 Lovely ladies!  Mimi and Lynn

We finally met Emily!  Proud papa, Mark (aka Stubby)

 Anna was quite concerned with the cake allotments.

 The future...

Sammy had a blast opening and closing the door a million and four times.

Isn't my girl so sweet?

Friday Night Swimming turned Indoor Extravaganza

This past Friday, the plan was to have some night swimming over at the Buerkles... mother nature decided we needed some rain (alot of it), so Ash, Anna, Sammy and I had a nice indoor get-together with Burk, Heather and Bennett, Hillary, Eric, Violet and Charlie, Peter, Katie and Ellie, Ed and Henry. There was pizza, drinks, cupcakes, chatting, tomfoolery, kids-jump-on-a-Dad competition, and general good times. Below is a shot of three of the party goers. There are many more pictures of this night we'll try and share, but here is one I can post today.

Anna, Bennett and Violet ready to go jump on Burk.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Websense filter - category nonsense

Thanks to the crack IT team at the CDC, blogspot is now blocked at work. Hence the 4 weeks since my last posting. Not to say that we were religous updaters to begin with, but this has been quite a stretch with no update. I hope yee of the blog readers haven't given up on me!!

We've got quite a bit of catching up to do. I don't mind telling you that there has been some serious cuteness going on around here! Sammy is 8 months old and now saying "mama." Though it's just him muttering, it makes me happy :) He's also a full-time crawler with red little knees to prove it. He's not terribly interested in his play saucer anymore, so keeping him out of the cat food has become a full time job.

Anna is speaking in full sentences that usually go something a little like, "I don't take a tubby today" or "Where'd the baseball go?" or just repeating from her favorite commercial "Wow! That's a low price! I know!" She also loves to sing songs - it usually takes ~8 songs at bedtime each night. She's also a car singer - I was able to record her singing away to Hush little Baby. We're slowly moving in to the potty training phase of life...oh, how fun...so I'm sure we'll have some choice moments to share.

Anna and Sammy together give rise to synergistic cuteness. Anna kisses Sammy on the forehead each night before bed, loves to make him laugh and provides excellent commentary on his status: "Sammy's crying" "Sammy spilled" (this means spit up), and "Sammy eat mommy's boobie" (when he's nursing). Never fails to entertain.
Park and punkins on Pensacola Beach - no oil to be found, but plenty of tension.

My little Sammy in his beach tent.
Playing with Omi and the weird little yellow thingy that has no purpose, but manages to entertain my children for hours.

Mmmmm....cake at Carter's 4th birthday party!

Sammy's first time on the swings.

Mummy with Mardi Gras beads

And the cutest one there ever was!

For the Halloween festivities this year, we headed up to Cart Cart's house for Anna's first trick or treating. We decided that it should be tradition that the young Fowlkes' should be mummies, since as Elizabeth stated for Carter last year, "They walk like mummies at this age, so it's perfect." The same is true for Anna, thus she too was a mummy. Except she wanted Mardi Gras beads.

The trick or treating started with Anna a little nervous about the whole thing.

But boy did she get over that quick!!!!

By the end, she had no need of her entourage.

Mommy, daddy, Omi and Grampa were very appreciative of all her fine work obtaining treats!!

Can I kick it?

Shoes, Hats and Doggy Beds

We've been very busy the past few weeks with work, family, the house and baby expecting... but wanted to post up some cute shots of the pumpkin!

Trying on her favorite big red shoes!

Trying on Daddy's Pensacola Beach hat!

And on a recent visit to Pam and Tom's, Anna found Gracie's doggy bed and loved it!

We know we've been slacking on the blog, but we hope to get back in the swing of things soon!

Pensacola: Memorial Day Weekend!

For Memorial Day Weekend, we headed down to Pensacola to get away from the Altanta rain, and have some well-deserved R&R. As Anna's daycare was closed all week so that they can prepare the facility for Anna's jump from infant to toddler, we decided to make a vacation out of it and go see Omi and Grampallen in Florida, as well as see and hang out with some old friends. Below are some shots of the weekend (thanks to Angie for several of these).

Anna very excited to be at the beach - and about her cute PJs!

Allen and I headed out to Ft. Pickens, which had been closed since Hurricane Ivan (you may remember Ivan from such times as why we didn't have our wedding in Pensacola in '04), and they re-opened the road which was slightly flooded. We walked out on the point and got a shot or two of the view. No one had been out there for 4+ years.

We went out to the Gulf and hung out on the beach for a couple days (where I got burnt to a crisp - re-application of sunscreen is very important - apparently). Here is Anna playing with her bucket - she got very sandy, after finally warming up to the idea of actually touching sand.

Daddy getting Anna used to the ocean... you can see that she wants Mama badly here, as sand was one thing, but getting used to the ocean may take a little bit.

Anna happy to be on land with her Grampallen!

Mama and Anna taking stroll on the beach in the similar suits - too cute!

We enjoyed a nice get together with Abby and her boys Sullivan and Jack, as well as Angie and Allen's friends Rosie and Pete. Here, Anna is eating crackers before we all sat down for some mean crab cakes.

And lucky for Ash and I, we got a night out to ourselves, so we walked around downtown (Palifox) and enjoyed the sights and sunset. Here is the beautiful Ash herself.

And a quick shot of the two of us.

And just to leave on a cute note, here is the FlufferNutter with bedhead!!!

Anna Cuteness

Wanted to share some recent Anna pics from the iPhone...

While Mama was away working on the Swine Flu (on a Sunday!), Daddy Daycare was in full effect, so naturally, we went to Arby's for some lunch due to Dadu's inability to cook really anything (and we were running errands). So this is Anna enjoying some Popcorn Chicken.

Look at those eyes!

And while Mama was also working crazy hours over the past week, Dadu got a chance to pick up Anna from Daycare (not the norm unfortunately!)... and of course, at red lights, Dadu just had to make sure Anna's little eyes were protected!

And of course, bath night is (finally) a fun night in the Fowlkes house... it took some doing, but Anna has come around... but we must prepare with a pre-bath mohawk!

So hopefully that gives you your daily Anna cuteness fix!

new sleeping position

Bo-nanner has found a new sleeping position that has made it to the top of the 'list of cute things Anna has done lately'. It's a long list.

Waking mommy and daddy at 12:30am and again at 4:30am are not on that list.

Piece de resistance

Daddy at the Braves game.