Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Princess tent in the bed



Paige had a scary dream on Friday night and has been a little scared to go to bed on her own. Recently she feels the most safe when her big giraffe is in the bed to protect her, but giraffe wasn't enough this time. We let her put her princess tent in the bed, and she was looked so cozy in it last night I had to get a picture.



Graydon slowly warms up to us


This Saturday was Amanda and Ryan's sixth wedding anniversary and we volunteered to babysit Graydon so they could go out for dinner. We were a little nervous Graydon would be sad to see them go and that he wouldn't enjoy himself. Paige said that she wanted to be the babysitter, so we let her be in charge for a while. She took Graydon up to the toy room and they got out all the kitchen toys, the legos and the princesses. Graydon enjoyed playing princess, and liked to put the different princesses in the castle so the music would play. He and Paige danced together a few times and I got a little bit of their dancing on video.


So beautiful!

He liked jumping on my back, wrestling and he really liked it when Andrea held him upside down by his feet and swung him. He'd count down "4,3,2,1 GO" and she'd pick him up. I did the same with Paige a few times too and Paige loved it. Unfortunately Paige loved it a bit too much and when we tried to get a video of Graydon doing the swinging, Paige just had to be in the middle of it, trying to get her turn.



It was fun to have the little man over and it really makes us realize how big and mature our two kids are. Connor and Paige are hardly any work any more and so easy to take care of. Graydon had a good time and he is such a sweet little guy. He likes to come play at our house and it's fun to get to spend time with him and get to know him.

Beach day with Longs and Gobles


We went to our beach club on Saturday and the Gobles and the Longs met us there for a fun day in the ocean. The waves were the biggest I think I've ever seen in Jacksonville. I was jumping in the waves with Ryan when a really big wave came our way. I jumped to swim with it, but it crested perfectly on me and ripped my favorite sunglasses off my face. I was very sad to see them go, they've been with me all over the world for the past 5-6 years. We played football with Gail's father, Cole, Reid and Clay in the waves. Andrea and I were pretty preoccupied throughout the day, but Gail snapped a few pics, which turned out cute and were perfect to post on the blog.




Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Busy week - Moving in the Gobles and Working on the Playroom

This has been a busy week for us, but we didn't end up with many pics or anything really exciting or noteworthy to post. The Gobles got their stuff unpacked, we did quite a bit of work on the playroom in our house, and we kind of got back in to our regular routine for the week.

Paige went to her school for the summer camp. She looked especially cute one morning with all her fancy jewelry, so I took a pic of her when I dropped her off.


Connor had a fun week at soccer camp. He dressed really silly one night for bedtime, so I had to get a pic of him in his crazy outfit.


On Saturday, Nick across the street from us had a birthday party. They had a bounce house, a clown, and best of all a game truck with all kinds of video game systems to play. Connor enjoyed the party and hanging out with some of his friends he hasn't seen in a while.


Graydon and the Gobles are getting settled in. We went over a couple times to bring stuff over to their place and to hang out a little. Paige and Connor liked playing with Graydon and his trains.






On Sunday, we played at the beach club for a little while and then had lunch. We intended on spending some time at the beach and at the pool, but a pretty big storm rolled in and when the lightning started up we decided to leave. Andrea took a picture of a castle and "pond" that Paige, Ryan and I had been working on.



Andrea is decorating and redesigning our playroom upstairs. It was really the only room in the house that hadn't had much thought in to it. We got a new couch, had a few things built for storage and seating, and it's in the process of being painted. We had a lot of boxes and trash this week and I was a little sad to throw out the small black table that I'd built for Connor when he broke his leg. We'd kept it around after he got better and it even made the move to the rental and to the new house. Unfortunately it's not the prettiest bit of furniture and it was time to get rid of it. Connor helped me with the trash, so I snapped one last picture of him with the table before it was hauled away.


On Saturday morning, I was chilling with Connor and we decided to do some little Ninja Warrior obstacles in his room. Paige wanted to be the trophy girl and they were both very particlar about what the "announcer" said.


Saturday, July 5, 2014

Anders summer visit




This past week, we had a full house with visitors. After our cruise, Abby and Nate stayed in Florida and Grandpa Garry, Grandma Genie, Allison and Drew flew in on Monday June 30th. Ryan, Amanda and Graydon started their drive down on Sunday June 29th and drove pretty much straight here (just stops for gas) and arrived at 3am Monday morning. The Gobles were actually coming to stay and this week they took possession of their new rental, received their moving truck, unloaded the truck and started moving in. It was a crazy week with lots to do, but we still did lots together and had a bunch of fun.

On Tuesday, Ryan had to wait around for their moving truck to be delivered and I had to work. Everyone else went to the beach club and swam at the pool at the club.






















The kids loved swimming in the pool, of course. Graydon was crazy about the pool and the "wa-wa".




On Wednesday, we all got dressed up for family pictures. Grandma and Grandpa wanted studio style pictures, however they couldn't find a studio with availability and our normal photographer Jenn Hopkins doesn't have a studio. We did our best to accommodate them and moved everything out of our dining room so we could use it for pictures. The blue walls and wood floor hopefully will look nice for the photos and we had some nice natural light coming through the windows. We haven't seen the pics yet, but we hope they turn out. It was a difficult process, especially with kids and baby Graydon. We can't wait to see the pics!





The weather was a bit hot, but we still played outside whenever we could.



We all played quite a bit of tennis together. Andrea, Genie, Abby, Nate, Drew and I all went out and played doubles a few times. Nate and I had so much fun we played every chance we got. We had a pretty epic match on Saturday before they left. I won the first set 7-5, but Nate got his lob figured out and beat me 6-3 and 7-5 on the last two sets. My back hurts and I'm exhausted from all the tennis, but it was worth it.

Connor played with us too whenever he could. We brought out the kid balls and hit them around with him quite a bit. I got a cute video of Nate playing with him and they got to 14 hits back and forth. Unfortunately the video is a little shaky because one of those terrible yellow flies was drinking my blood while I was trying to film.


Graydon had fun playing at our house, and Paige loved doing iPad with him. Amanda and Ryan did a ton of work unpacking this week and cleaning up their new place. He was a good little boy, and I think he enjoyed his time with everyone around.


Nate took Connor and Drew to Latitude 30 on Thursday and they did some bowling and video games.



Nate got a cool slow-motion video of Connor picking up a spare, but unfortunately it's not slow-motion when I put it on Youtube. It's still a cute video though.





On July 4th, we took Allison and Drew to the mall to do a little shopping and for lunch. We got Allison a purse, Drew some new shirts, and then ate at Cantina Laredo.





One of my favorite parts of the week was when Connor was doing some dancing by the pool. A storm was nearby, so we all had to wait and make sure the lightning got far enough away before we got in. Connor put on Nate's sunglasses and then Nate started laying down a funky beat called "Boots and Cats". Connor's dancing was so cute and hilarious. I got a little of it on video, and it always makes me smile to watch it. He has the cutest moves.







Connor rested for a little while and then he danced with Allison and Abby.


Their dance together was pretty darn cute too, but I promised Allison I wouldn't post it online.



The night of the 4th, Andrea and I went to the clubhouse to celebrate our neighbor Clara's birthday. She threw a great party and it was fun to see a lot of our friends and neighbors that we haven't seen in a while.


On Saturday, the 5th, everyone got packed up and then we ate at Ted's Montana Grill on the way to the airport. Uncle Nate and Allison made some cute glasses with the kid's meal toys for Connor and Paige while we waited for our food.


It was tough to say goodbye to everyone today, especially for the Gobles since they're getting ready for a big adjustment in to their new life as Florida residents. At times, it was a bit crazy around our house this past week, but we appreciate everyone coming all the way from Missouri to spend some time this summer with us.