Jumping In at the Lake

It's premature to say for sure,
but this may end up being my favorite picture of the entire summer.

The lake was great!

As expected, Memorial Day weekend with the Pressleys in Hayesville was absolutely awesome. Jeremy and I first spent the holiday at Lake Chatuge when I was pregnant with Jones. We've been back ever since - a tradition I hope continues in perpetuity!

Part of that tradition is attending the Memorial Day Parade on the square in Hayesville. This year didn't go as smoothly as last - either for the organizers or for us. They got started late, and Jones was in meltdown mode for much of the mid-morning for reasons I still don't understand. He did get to pet some dogs (even a Great Dane, to his daddy's delight), though, and the tailgate seats in our new van got broken in, both of which were great. 

After the parade, we went to lunch at the Country Cottage. The food was awesome ... the wait for it, however, put ME in meltdown mode.  Then, the boys took naps followed by Freddie's first boat ride. Jones has settled into his role as Captain of the Pressleys' pontoon. He sat in his Pop's lap almost the entire time. When he wasn't manning the ship, he was wearing a hooded towel draped over him like Obi Wan Kenobi. The child didn't have a drop of water on him, but he kept wearing that towel, walking around on his knees like he had good sense.  He'd done the same thing in the house earlier in our visit.

For Freddie's part, he hated the life jacket as much as Jones did last year (though we got Jones a less uncomfortable Puddle Jumper this year, he still doesn't love being "vested"). Once he got resigned to the reality of it, though, Freddie settled down for nice naps every time we set sail.

Another favorite lake tradition is going to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. Last year, Jones would stay home with Nan and Pop, while Jeremy and I went to church. This year, though, he went with us, and Freddie stayed home. He did great in the nursery, and I loved having him with us there! They have a really big VBS every year, and Jeremy and I have talked about making it a tradition that we spend VBS week at the lake every year, so the boys can go there.

But I digress.

Here are a few more highlights of our trip:

• Freddie ate his first cereal ... if you call spitting cereal out "eating it." He's been eyeing table food for a few weeks now, so I figured it was time, even though the doctor said they're recommending waiting until six months now (with Jones, they recommended four; why the change?!). We set him in his Bumbo on the table on the porch and fed him oatmeal cereal, mixed with formula. With an audience of five, Freddie didn't exactly love the cereal, but he didn't cry like Jones did the first time, either, so I'll count that as a victory.
• Jones got to "ride" a pit bull.  No. That is not a misprint. And no. I didn't have anything to do with it. Jeremy and his dad were talking to the neighbor's granddaughter. The granddaughter breeds pits, one of whom ... Slayer (brother to "Outlaw;" I couldn't make this up, if I tried) ... was with her. She said she wanted to come and see the boys, so here they all came. As soon as Mr. Pressley said that Ashley was bringing the dog over, Mrs. Pressley and I, knowing what breeds she had, bee-lined for the deck, where everyone was. Though I can surely see the strength of pit bulls - Slayer, for one, looks like an offensive lineman - he was perfectly nice and gentle, obviously well-trained by Ashley, and at no point did I ever feel like any of us were in danger. Still, it was more than a little scary to think about your 19 month old face to face with a breed known for threatening babies! Needless to say, we are NOT considering pitbulls in our search for Jones's dog.

I'm sure there are other things I'd like to remember, but since I can't think of them, I'm just gonna stop and let these pictures do the talking.

Nan was holding Freddie. When Jones saw this, he
insisted she hold him, too, which reminded me of how
my sister and I used to fight over who got to sit beside our
Mayme out at restaurants ... and anywhere else.

They're in the wrong hue of blue, but seriously.
I'm not sure it gets any cuter than
these two in t-shirts and ball caps.

Our wait for food at the Country Cottage
was long enough that Freddie was able
to catch a cat nap.   

Captain Jones & his Crew

Jones has just started to lay like this - to watch TV, usually,
or, in this case, to talk to Brother about something. 

Jones LOVES wearing Pop's hats. He especially likes it when
Pop plops it on his head. Just after this picture, Pop took the
hat off of Jones and put it on Freddie, which Jones thought
was just HILARIOUS.

He's handsome. AND sweet.

See? Sleepy Bear. 

Jones has developed a bizarre interest
in playing with condiment containers
and empty milk jugs. We allow this,
because it keeps him from screaming
while we eat.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

If Freddie looks particularly proud of himself, he should. 

This morning, he rolled from his back to his tummy for the first time, just days before turning five months old! He's been rolling tummy to back for about two months now, but this is the first time he's made it all the way in the opposite direction. 

I think he's gonna want a Krispy Kreme to celebrate. No, wait. That's what I want. 

Happy Easter!

So, Easter happened.

I'm sure you all knew that, though you couldn't tell it by this blog, as I am about as frequent a blogger  as I am a cook. There were a few super cute things, though, that I wanted to remember about the holiday, so I'm adopting the "better late than never" philosophy and posting this nearly a month after it all happened.

1) When I picked Jones and Freddie up from the nursery after church, the workers had a tale to tell me about Big Brother. Apparently, Stella Hyatt, who is incredibly affectionate for an almost two year-old, kept going over and kissing Freddie on the arm. Whenever she would, jealous Jonesie would grunt at her and stick his cheek out her way for a kiss of his own.

2) After church, we went straight to lunch at the Pressleys'. I was outside, taking some pictures of Dolly's family, and when I came in, Jones was standing on the sofa barefoot, pulling off his pants. That's the way he stayed for the rest of the day - in nothing but a dress shirt and a bowtie. It was pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.

3) Uncle Brian taught Jones the sign for "more." He still does it to this day. It makes me sad that I didn't teach him signs when he was younger, as they'd be a whole lot easier to understand than his jabberwocky talking (which, by the way, is growing! Yesterday, he grabbed a football and said, "ball," and this morning, when we pulled in from taking Jeremy to work, he saw Daddy in the garage. He breathed in an excited sigh and whispered, "Poppop!").

That's all I have to say about Easter. This weekend, we're celebrating Memorial Day at Lake Chatuge. If I can find some wifi to rip off of a neighbor, I'll post some pictures. If not, I'll write again when we get home.

It may just take me nearly a month after it all happens.

2013 Family Annual

I should be ashamed of myself.

For the past ... I don't know, 8? ... years, I've been making a photo book to commemorate each year in the Stultz family. We call it "the Family Annual," and for each of the last ... 8, is it? ... years, I've had the book ready to publish as soon as I plopped in the holiday pictures on Christmas nite.

This year, things changed. This year, I was awaiting Freddie Bear on Christmas nite and dealing with a newly independent Jones every other day of the week. This year, the last thing I wanted to do after the boys were in bed was ANYTHING. That's why I'm just now hitting "send" on the 2013 edition.

I am so ashamed of myself.

Not only is the book being published way later than usual, but it's also way more centered on the Pressley family (me, Jeremy, and Jones) than the Stultz family. That's because, thanks to chasing around a baby of my own, I had way less time to chase around the babies of my sister, so pictures of the Four I Adore were far fewer this year than they've been in years past.

Fear not. I have plans to make up for this by creating the World's Greatest Photo Book of our upcoming trip to Pawleys Island.

Stay tuned.

And enjoy this in the interim.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

photos of Freddie

Freddie turned four months old yesterday. That makes four months of loving on the sweetest, smiliest, happiest, most kissable boy I have ever met. To celebrate the start of another month, we pulled out Jones's walker, and Freddie took to it like he took to the new exersaucer we put together a few weeks ago. He especially loves to be in these things whenever Brother is around. He could sit and watch Jones all day long.

For my part, I'm really thankful for these new additions to our repertoire of distractions. Without them, Freddie pretty much prefers to be held a good chunk the time, which is fine and fun and snuggly, until I try to do something, like make the bed or fold the laundry. 

I guess I have no more excuses for not doing those things anymore.

Maybe I'm NOT so excited about Freddie's new play things.

What's Cup?

Jones can drink through a straw!

This probably shouldn't excite me as much as it does, but if I had a nickel for every time we've been out and unable to hydrate the child, because I'm too stupid to bring a sippy cup, I'd probably not shop at consignment stores as much as I do!

I'd been working with him on it with no success. Then, we went to Cracker Barrel on Tuesday, and Jeremy offered Jones a drink of his to-go lemonade. He took to it like drinking from a straw was his job!

Tonite, we again offered him a straw, and presto! Hydrated child ... with apple juice all over the front of his t-shirt.  Obviously, Jones's next life lesson will be learning that a regular cup doesn't get up-ended like a sippy. 

But still. Success!

Hymn of the Month

Today starts a new Hymn of the Month!  I'm also posting the Hymns of the Month, since January, since I haven't exactly been a faithful blogger.

May - "Because He Lives"
April - "Near the Cross"
March - "Lord, Here Am I"
February - "Love Lifted Me"

National Day of Prayer

I'd totally forgotten that today was the National Day of Prayer.

When the boys and I were driving Jeremy into work this morning, Focus on the Family was on, and as part of the broadcast, people were praying. That's what reminded both Jeremy and me about the day. I immediately remembered seeing that Taylors First Baptist was having a service at noon, so we made plans to be there.

We made it through the first ten or fifteen minutes before Jones started jabbering. He wasn't being ugly. In fact, his little voice was just adorable. Still, it was enough to make us leave out of respect for the occasion. I wish we could've stayed, though, because it was shaping up to be a totally beautiful service.