Thinking outside the (lunch)box

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I needed to branch out from the boring sandwiches that I fix for the children for lunch every day and start making other healthy lunches for them. Sandwiches were starting to get a little old (for both them and for me), and I wanted to be sure that they were getting a variety of healthy foods as well as branching out and trying some new things. So far it's been a success! Whitt eats pretty much everything that the older two do (with the exception of choking hazards like raisins and celery), I just cut it up into smaller pieces. I documented week one in pictures for your enjoyment... :)

Day one: Kashi whole wheat crackers with cream cheese, pretzel sticks, cheddar cheese slice, "ants on a log" (celery with peanut butter and raisins), carrot sticks, and hummus.

Day two: carrot sticks with peanut butter, tortillas with cream cheese and turkey rolled up and sliced into bite size pieces, pinwheel pasta, and grapes.

Day three: we went out of town right after school to visit friends so I cheated and took the easy way out---Chick Fil A drive thru. :) Older two had chicken nuggets and fruit and Whitt had a Kashi bar and some grapes that I brought along.

Day four: rolled up ham, strawberries, raisins, pretzel sticks, and cheddar cheese slices.

Day five: cheese (one wanted string cheese and the other wanted American), carrots and sunbutter, cucumber slices, and pretzel sticks.

Grayson and EC have really enjoyed the change in their lunches and I've enjoyed taking a break from making turkey and PB & J's every day. I'm open to more suggestions for lunch ideas if any of you have some, too!

It's that time again...

Soccer time! This year both Grayson and Emma Claire are playing, although it's not going as well for EC as we thought it would. The pictures are pretty self explanatory. The first game was yesterday. Here they are, in chronological order:

Before leaving for the game, EC was excited to go and Grayson just wanted me to leave him alone. :)

We got there, and Grayson was happy to pose for a picture...

Grayson was awesome, participating in the game with his team, although he did stick pretty close to his coach's side for most of the game. We have no idea who won his game--and one of the best things about this league is that it doesn't place emphasis on winning/losing. It's a Christian soccer league that teaches different core values that help make every child feel like a "winner".

But not really sure how Emma Claire can feel like a "winner" when she's not even on the field during her game....she would rather climb fences

and sit on the goal. A bit frustrating at times but I just kept reminding myself that she's only three, and she looked pretty darn cute in her uniform even if the only interaction she had with her team yesterday was eating a snack with them. :)

Tigertown!

Last weekend we took Grayson to his first official Clemson game, if you don't count the game he went to when he was nine weeks old. He had a BLAST! Ben and I had so much fun showing him where we went to college and experiencing the excitement of the day through his five-year-old eyes.

I love this picture---we were walking to my friend's tailgating spot and passed this truck with a tiger tail hanging out of it. Grayson yelled, "Mommy! You HAVE to see this! Come look!!!" and proceeded to pose next to it and ask for his picture to be taken. Ha ha!!! :)

I think this might possibly be the first picture taken of the three of us in over four years.... :)

The most exciting 25 seconds in college football....the players touching Howard's Rock and running down The Hill. I get goosebumps every time I witness this!

Grayson was in awe....love this!

Such a tired little Tiger. He had a great day! :)

Sunday Funday!

We were actually in town with no plans this past Sunday, which is a rarity, so Ben and I decided to take the kiddos on a little adventure down the road to Botany Bay Plantation. Botany Bay is a hidden gem that was just recently opened to the public (in 2008, I believe?) and is absolutely worth a visit if you're ever in the Edisto area. It's filled with majestic live oaks, 200 year old ruins, beautiful wildlife, and 2 miles of an undeveloped beach with loads of gorgeous shells that unfortunately must be left there (or you will be presented with a hefty fine, as the signs everywhere point out). It was so hard for Grayson and EC...okay, and me too...to leave those enormous conch shells just sitting there on the beach, but we had a great time checking them out. :)

The live oak canopy you drive through to get to Botany Bay....

sweet babies

Whitt's new funny face--I love it because Grayson used to make the exact same face when he was a baby!

The mosquitos were out in full force--check out the sucker on EC's cheek! :)

Back again!

I'm back! After taking most of the summer off from blogging, I have returned. :) I hope some of you have stuck by me and will remain readers, and I promise I won't stay away for so long again. Like I said in my previous post (over a month ago! How did that happen??), our simple summer was anything but simple, but it was a fun one. School is now back in session and we are regaining somewhat of a routine in our lives. My three little monkeys are all happy and healthy, and for that I am thankful...

I had a grand plan to catch up on all the blogging I meant to do over the summer and do a recap of everything we did, but I may just scratch that plan and start from here. Who knows, we'll see! Happy August, everybody!

Simple Summer

Long time, no blog! :) Ben and I had grand plans for a "simple summer" that involved a whole lot of nothing. We had the cable turned off and decided to go "unplugged" for the summer. We envisioned a simple summer of lazy days at the beach, nights in with the children, and spending most of our time at home as a family. Well, reality hit and those plans went right out the window! Our simple summer has been anything but. It's still been wonderful and fun, but simple is not the best word to describe it.

Our last month, in a nutshell....

Whitt still has therapy every morning, and in between that we've managed to squeeze in Emma Claire's third birthday, Whitt's first birthday, a trip to Gee Gee and Pop Pop's house, a trip to Nannie and Granddaddy's beach house, a new kitten for two weeks, losing that new kitten (so sad!), Whitt's first haircut, six stitches in Grayson's chin, and lots of play time at the park, beach, and pool, among other things.

So sorry I haven't blogged in the past month, but I do have lots of new pictures from the birthday parties, beach trip, etc. that I plan on uploading very soon! Until then, here are a few pictures of my cutie pies. I hope everybody is having as fun of a summer as we are!

Little fish

It's been quite the week for learning around our house! Grayson started swimming lessons on Monday, and this video was taken on Wednesday. His teacher is amazing--she says that he was ready, but I know it had a lot to do with what a great instructor she is, too. Today he was jumping off the side of the pool and swimming to the ladder all by himself--what a little fish! Way to go, Grayson!!!

Lilly lover

I've been meaning to blog about my friend, Liz's, business for awhile and now it ties in perfectly with another blog's giveaway, so I'm kind of glad I waited! :) Liz is the extremely talented creator of Brookie Cookie's Bows, one of my favorite Etsy shops. I've ordered several bows and hair pins from Liz, and she's even done some custom bows to match Emma Claire's outfits. Liz has now outdone herself---she has started making Lilly Pulitzer hair pins and clips!! Does it get any cuter than this??? I think not! Please go check out Brookie Cookie's Bows and see for yourself how beautiful the bows, clips, headbands, and necklaces are---I promise you won't be disappointed!

Now, for a giveaway! I'm a sucker for Lilly. I even had an entire Lilly Pulitzer-themed birthday party for Emma Claire last year, and I promise it was adorable and I would have taken pictures if I hadn't been a little over a week away from giving birth and missing half of my brain. Anyway, I was so excited today when my friend, Jen, blogged about Pink Preppy Lilly Lover's awesome giveaway. Go check it out and enter to win this awesome Lilly loot!

Look who's CRAWLING!!!!!

Well, Whitt is just full of surprises! He started crawling the day after he turned 11 months old and is ALL over the place now. So proud of our little dude! You can see him modeling his stylish "jiaper" by Huggies (yes, I'm aware that this is not cute at all, but they were on sale and I was so curious as to what they looked like that I just had to buy a pack. We have had the best time laughing at his jiapers but I'm ready for the pack to run out so I can start putting him back in regular diapers) and zooming across the playroom. This is just three days after he started crawling for the first time---not bad, if I do say so myself! :)

Twinsies

I keep meaning to post some comparison shots of Whitt and Grayson, and this is the best I have right now since I'm too lazy to get our external hard drive out and look for more old pictures of Grayson. Isn't the resemblance uncanny? Whitt truly is Grayson's little twin. On days when I have him dressed in one of Grayson's old outfits, I feel like I'm looking at Grayson four years ago--I still can't get used to it! I just love these boys! :)

Case in point.....

Whitt

Grayson