Halloween ‘17

Jake has hunted with John a good bit this year, so it was no surprise that he wanted to be a hunter for Halloween and then I came across the most adorable duck costume and thought it would be perfect to have a hunter and a hunted!  But then Hamp refused to wear the duck costume for more than 30 seconds at a time, so I improvised and he turned out to be the cutest Clemson Tiger in the world. 
First up was Boo at the Zoo with friends Wednesday night.  Then came the Rosewood Halloween Carnival Friday, Trunk or Treat with friends Sunday, Spooky Walk at Incarnation (for Hamp) on Tuesday, and of course the big neighborhood trick or treat finale Tuesday night!


The only time I could get him in the duck costume. Adorable.

Jake had an eye appointment the morning of the spooky walk and had his eyes dilated, so he couldn't go to school.  Lucky for him, he got to join in the fun!  I didn't have his sunglasses on me, so he wore mine to protect his eyes. :)  Very cool.

Hamp and his best buddy Luke.

H

Hamp these days

Hamp is 2 1/2 and is so much fun.
He keeps us on our toes, big time.  You really can't turn your back for a second.  For example, he went in the pantry not long ago and dumped an entire large bag of Splenda on the floor.  The air was sweet to breath for days afterwards.  That stuff gets stuck in the air!
He likes to do things on his own (like climb into his car seat).  I also think he may be a good athlete.  He is agile and very physically coordinated.  He is fearless and will climb on anything.
He is not what one would call "eager to please".  He does.not.care. what we say or whether or not we approve of something he is doing, again much different from his rule following big brother.  But Lord if he isn't the most charming child on earth.  One look from him with those big brown eyes will melt any adult human.  No one is immune, I tell you.
Having said that, he isn't hard to please.  He thinks going to the store is very exciting!
He has had a big language explosion in the past few months!
He is a perfect mixture of wild and sweet.  He is very enthusiastic, loving hard and proclaiming his dislike of certain things just as strongly.
Every night, after I put the boys to bed, he lays awake (happily) just talking and talking.  We think he is just repeating things and talking about things that happened during the day.  Luckily his roommate (Jake) inherited my ability to fall asleep right when he hits the pillow, so Hamp's chattering doesn't bother him a bit.
My favorite thing that he says, which isn't often, but is so, so sweet is "I wuh loo" (I love you).  It will break my heart when he starts saying it the right way.  And also, "sugar time!" when he wants a kiss.
I haven't even started potty training yet (shame, shame.  Whatever).  His teachers work on it with him and all the 2's, but I am not starting until our construction is done in a few months, as I refuse to share our one bathroom with yet another male.  Not gonna do it.  Wouldn't be prudent. ("I wuh loo" GHW Bush). I have a feeling that it won't be as easy as it was with Jake, so we'll see.
What he loves:
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Cool Whip (he calls it ice cream "ice teen")
Being outside
Telling people what to do.
Driving Jake crazy
Asking questions
Repeating what others say
Music and dancing
Being read to (fave book is Busy Days in Deerfield Valley, which was Jake's fave at that age.  The book is in rough shape, but I'll never get rid of it)

He loves to push a buggy.

Hamp, we love you BIG BIG BIG!!!

Jake's in 1st grade!

Jake started school on 8/22!  He is loving first grade and we are loving watching him as a budding reader!  I waked him in for the first few days, but he was good to go after that!  

Edisto '17

We had a GREAT trip to Edisto last week!  We went from Sunday - Sunday this year and it was heaven.  We had such good, quality time with each other and with Kiki and Poppy.  And Shelby and Manning came for a day/night, too! 

Jake had a ball in the "lazy river" that would appear at low tide each morning and loved tubing down it and looking for cool shells.  He went crabbing with John (and his buddy Johnny and his dad) and says that was his favorite part of the trip.  He loved having Manning to play with for a day. 
He had a fever starting Tuesday evening and felt pretty bad Tuesday afternoon and most of Wednesday.  It turns out that the fever was the start of a staph infection on a scratch (turned sore) on his knee.  He loved playing pool with any willing adult and he loved riding taking boat rides with me and John.    He is one sweet, happy boy and he really loves Edisto.  And he got to go twice to his very favorite, The Sea Cow, where he loves to play the bimini ring game!

Hamp had a blast just being his toddler self.  He loved being down on the beach, too, especially at snack time.  He loved "pressure washing" Rick and Kathy's back deck with the hose and spraying anyone in his way.  I'd say his favorite thing was to take golf cart rides.  His language has REALLY exploded these last few weeks and he had us all in stitches the whole time with the funny things he says and does.  I will say, though, that having a 2 year old in a huge house (with crazy stairs, many doors to open and close, etc...) was not the most relaxing, but more relaxing vacations are in the future, I just know it.

John and I enjoyed it all!  I loved having coffee on the screened porch with the best view and eating all of our meals out there, too.  We really enjoyed having the boat down there and we took Jake for a couple of long afternoon rides (Hamp can't be trusted to enjoy himself on a boat, as he is offended by having the be held while the boat is moving, so he stayed behind with Kiki and Poppy).  John loved taking the boys to jump the waves in the surf and taking Jake crabbing! 


We loved seeing the fun of Edisto through the boys' eyes and we loved being there with Kiki and Poppy.  It was nice to have more hands on deck to help with the boys, of course, but more importantly, it was just special time together as a family.  We all ate waaaaaaaayyyy too much food, as you do on vacation, and are so thankful that Rick and Kathy are so generous to let us stay in their beautiful home year after year. 

(these pictures are all out of order, somehow)



He really needs to learn to relax

Jake wasn't feeling well for about a day and 1/2 so he got an ice cream

This is the gorgeous view from Rick and Kathy's house

Jake's buddy, Johnny, was at Edisto the same week, so the dads took them crabbing!

Kiki and Poppy took the boys to the fire station for a new t-shirt and some fireman swag!

Rick and Kathy's from the beach

Hamp loves nothing more than playing with a hose.  He was chasing Jake around and they were both just laughing like crazy (and so were we!)

At low tide, there was a perfect lazy river for the boys to tube down



No trip to Edisto is complete without a trip to King's for produce and boiled peanuts

waiting for the weigh-in for the Billfish Tournament