Merry Christmas

As usual, I apologize for the lack of posts. I promise to attempt to catch up soon. But for now, Merry Christmas from the Sciortinos!

Beach Bums

Here are some pictures from our second beach trip with David's parents. We had a blast in Destin. The boys finally started liking the beach. Campbell even got brave enough to ride some waves in the ocean. I can't tell you how many leaps this is from last year! I guess Campbell started feeling really comfortable at the beach because one day David and I looked around to see him standing in the ocean with his swim suit pulled down peeing into the water right in front of everyone! :) Boys!

Thanks again to MeMe and Papa for a great trip. We are so blessed to have parents who like to vacation with us.

Andrew goes to school

If you've spent much time around me the last few weeks and I've seemed a bit more emotional than usual (how can you tell, my husband would say), the reason is that my little baby Andrew started preschool last week. Campbell started at this same age, but for some reason I was way more emotional about Andrew starting. I guess because Andrew has been my little sidekick for the past year and a half, and I am just so used to having him with me. But I knew he was ready to go. All summer long I had to pull him out of Campbell's classroom while he's said, "No, I tay (stay) Tampbell!" (he can't say his C's). And he has adjusted well to preschool and seems to really like it. I, on the other hand, am still trying to adjust to having a few hours to myself. Don't get me wrong, a trip to Walmart (or any store for that matter) without kids is fantastic, but I do miss having him around all the time. I really cherish those days we spent together while Campbell was in school, but I know he's having fun and enjoying some time away from Mommy.

Here are some pictures from the pre-preschool photo shoot.

All ready for school!

Being goofy, or normal if you live here

I love how Andrew is looking up at Campbell here

Sweet Campbell is starting his 3rd year at preschool and has moved up to 3 days a week. It's been an adjustment, but he LOVES school and would go every single day if I let him.

The big man on his very first day. I can't believe he's this big.

So then I started wondering about Campbell's very first day, and look at this--he looks like a BABY! Is it just me or does Andrew look so much more grown up than Campbell did at that age? Time just flies!

The Big 3-0

David turned 30 on August 14, and we had a little surprise party for him at his mom and dad's house. He absolutely LOVES my parents' fried catfish, so they were sweet enough to drag all the stuff up here to fry fish for everyone. He says we got him, but of course, in the next breath he'll say that he knew something was up. Either way we had a great time celebrating his birthday. I know I'm just glad he hit that milestone before I did so I can tease him for the next few months when I will join the ranks of the 30's. A big thanks to David's parents for hosting us at their house and to my parents and my brother for cooking the yummy fish. It was a great party.

This is the present the boys and I made for him--I was so nervous, but I love the way it turned out. It's a picture of David and the boys walking away and he's holding both their hands. They had lots of fun making Daddy's present.

preparing the fish (that's my dad and brother)

waiting on David to get there--kids everywhere!

our chef for the evening

the girls look scared!

arriving at the party

the "you got me" look

family shot--who knows where the kids were

checking out the food

getting lots of help blowing out the candles

Andrew ate his fair share of Daddy's cake!

end of summer fun

I know it's been forever and a day since I posted, but I get so caught up reading everyone else's facebook and blog happenings that I don't have time to update. Always an excuse, I know. We've been really busy in July and August, but it's been the good kind of busy where you hang out with friends and play outside. Here are some pictures from our recent happenings.

Both boys ended up with a bad cold in July, which turned into croup (no idea if I spelled that right) for Andrew, so we were getting a little stir crazy. We decided to take advantage of the unseasonably cool night and took the boys to the golf course to play a few holes. This was Andrew's first time on the real course, and despite being sick, he had a BLAST. Needless to say, I don't think Daddy will be hurting for golf partners any time soon.

I just love this picture

Andrew's first golf lesson on the course

taking a full swing, and a sizable divot, too!

Mommy and the boys--I better get used to this

Campbell using his "whacker wood" as he calls it

Why do I love pictures of them from behind so much?

time for a water break

posing on the final green

Then in late July we took a little trip to see our great friends Andy and Bethany. They took us out on the lake for the boys' first boat experience. You can tell in that first picture that Campbell is not so sure about this. He kept saying, "What time is it? I'm ready to leave." But we all had a great time at the lake and had a great visit to Georgia.

looking a little worried about this whole boat thing

it took 3 tries to get this shot, and they still aren't looking, but oh well

Mommy and Daddy on the tube. The boys had a total freak out when I fell off.

Andy showing off his skills

Bethany and I rode by ourselves for a while, and then the kids joined us. This is Campbell--as you can imagine, he didn't love it. But I did catch a glimpse of a smile once or twice.

Andrew, on the other hand, kept asking for more!

Then in early August we took a beach trip with my family. Unfortunately my camera somehow never made it to the pool or the beach, so these are the only pictures I got. We had such a fun time. The pool was definitely the favorite spot, but I'm still holding out hope that at least one of my boys will be a beach bum like me.

Andrew sporting Russ's Batman shroud. He didn't love it which means Halloween could be interesting.

Family shot at the beach--not thrilled about my hair here, but anyone with naturally wavy/curly hair will totally understand that your hair has a mind of its own at the beach.

The whole Russell/Lambert/Sciortino crew

I want to make a flip book of all the shots we took trying to get these three monkeys all smiling.

Lots more posts to come, hopefully soon. Thanks for checking in.

Crazy Day

So last night Campbell and my nephew Russ spent the night with my mom. This morning Andrew and I drove down to pick them up and have lunch with my grandmother. Something about being at my grandmother's house makes the boys go crazy!! They run around like maniacs, and get into so much mischief. Once they picked up everything from her dinning room floor and transfered it to her table, including all her crystal candlesticks and other really nice serving pieces. Luckily nothing broke.

But today hit a new low. You see, my cousin Bryan spends a lot of time at my grandmother's house, and he keeps some stuff in her guest bathroom, including his deodorant. Well, today the boys found the deodorant and decided it would be a great idea to "paint" each other. The deodorant was that Axe stuff that is apparently known for its smell. Well, I can definitely attest to the fact that the smell is STRONG. You didn't even have to wonder where they were because their smell left a trail.

So, we said a quick good bye to my grandmother and rode back to mom's house with the windows down. They kept saying there was too much wind, but I told them it was too bad and they shouldn't have made themselves smell like this. Campbell said that he didn't know it was "stinky stuff." We threw them into the tub immediately upon arriving home and I left the windows down in my car for the afternoon.

And so friends, Campbell has learned an important lesson today: If you don't know what something is, don't put it all over you in case it might be "stinky stuff!"

Fun on the Fourth

This year we celebrated the Fourth of July all weekend long. Friday night we went swimming with some friends. Andrew is so brave in the pool--he swims around with his floaties on thinking that he is big stuff. Campbell is a little more cautious, but he is really making a lot of progress. We've had lots of fun swimming this summer. Here are some pictures of what everyone likes to do when we go swimming.

Campbell loves playing on the steps and shooting water guns.

Andrew wants to be doing whatever the big kids are doing.

And this is what the big kids do, they throw balls at each other as hard as they can!

Can you tell Andrew has learned how to say, "Cheese!"?

Then Saturday morning MeMe and Papa took us to Chuck E Cheese--one of the boys favorite places in the whole world. We had a great time, and pretty much had the run of the place.

Here is MeMe and Andrew beating Papa and Campbell in a shooting game!

David found his nitch--he rolled his token into the 60 ticket slot several times and got lots and lots of tickets for the boys.

MeMe and the boys

Campbell loves playing skee ball.

Andrew loves to play it, too, but you gotta really watch him. He throws those balls with all his might!

He also loves Whack a Mole, but really, who doesn't?

Daddy and Campbell shooting hoops.

Me and Chuck E Cheese

Campbell wasn't scared of him at all like I thought he would be. However, he did smack Chuck E seconds after this picture was taken and had to go and apologize.

I believe that Chuck E had a little crush on MeMe!!

After lunch and naps, we headed out to Jamie's house in Spring Hill. They had gotten this great blow up water slide on sale and we planned on trying it out. We also wanted to go down there because you can actually shoot fireworks in Spring Hill (unlike in Franklin--well, some people do it, but you know what a rule follower I am). Campbell, Russ, and Hannah (Russ's friend) loved the water slide. I couldn't believe how brave Campbell was about it. They wore themselves out sliding again and again. After a while they even started going down head first. Andrew didn't want to do the slide, but he did enjoy standing in the pool and clapping for the big boys as they came down.

When it got dark, we went outside to shoot our fireworks. Jamie had told us about how all the other neighbors shoot these huge professional fireworks, but I had no idea how great a show it would be. We sat and watched for quite a while as we shot our fireworks. Again, I couldn't believe how much Campbell liked the fireworks. He was totally into it and not the least bit afraid.

Here is Uncle Clark helping Campbell light a race car.

Daddy helping him with a sparkler

This was the spectator section. Andrew nearly fell asleep several times and was a total champ staying up until nearly 10:00 that night.

We had a great July 4th weekend. I kept trying to explain to Campbell that we were celebrating America's birthday, but every time I tried it either turned into a confusing discussion of what America is or he switched gears and began planning his birthday festivities (a favorite topic of conversation). Hope you all had a happy Fourth, too!