Keric's 4th Birthday

Seems hard to believe that 4 years ago we were in a hospital room in Bellingham, Washington but I guess we were. Now here we are in Southern California with our little blonde haired boy.
I am so proud of my little boy. I am so happy I get to spend this time with him. I am grateful everyday for the opportunity to be his Momma.

Keric blowing out his candles. I tried my hand at cake decorating this year. Thanks to my friend Karrie for the cake pan and to Miss Angela for her decorating tips!

  
He is a train loving boy so we knew his birthday would somehow revolve around trains. At first we planned on taking a train ride out of town but he actually didn’t seem to keen on that. I think he is still a little scared of the enormity of a big train. He said he wanted to go to the train museum and wouldn’t you know it, it’s closed on his birthday…Well, Plan C. Let’s just go downtown to the train station. He was elated.

When we arrived at the train station there was a Coaster departing and an Amtrak getting ready to leave. We were just wandering around chatting about the train when the engineer comes down from his booth, or whatever you call it, and says, “Hey, Wanna come up here and check out the driver’s seat?” His name is Mr. Jonathan and he made Keric’s day! We only got to hang out for a couple of minutes but he loved every second of it.

After we got off the train the engineer told us to cover our ears. They were about to leave and had to blow the horn. Keric totally lost his macho and jumped about 3 feet. It was fantastic. : )
Keric was up for going on a trolley ride so we got a couple of tickets and hopped on. The kids and I have done this a few times before but hubby has not. It was fun for everybody. I didn’t take any pictures because I had a squirming Ryan in my hands.



Cut to later that afternoon…The inlaws came over for dinner and birthday cake. I made the cake this year. It was my first time trying to frost anything besides a double layer cake. It was actually kind of fun. I need some practice but I didn’t think it came out half bad. Keric and Ryan definitely approved. Keric’s Granny and Papaw got him two trains, Edward and Emily, that he has been desperately wanting for a long time. His train track responds to them and says their names which he thinks is the coolest thing ever.

Grandma and Papa got him a big boy train for his garage train set. It was the 2^nd present he opened. When I asked him if he wanted to open some more he said, “No. I’m all done.” That lasted for about a minute but it was still sweet.

His buddy Miss Sasha got him a big Buzz Lightyear. He was absolutely ecstatic. Ryan was equally excited about this particular gift which led to big boohoo tears when he couldn’t play with it. Luckily Keric was distracted enough by other presents that Ryan got to play with him for a while. I’m sure there will be many fights to come over Buzz. Thank you Miss Sasha. : ) Keric is asleep with him now so I guess he wins today’s battle.


So happy to FINALLY have Buzz Lightyear!





Ryan is none too happy about Buzz Lightyear being Keric's toy.




He's MINE! ALL MINE! At least while Bubba is in the garage. : )









  




 

Halloween 2010

Wow! What a weekend!

     We started off Friday with my Mom’s Group 5^th annual Halloween party. With all the Moms and kids we had 55 people at the playground. All of the kids were so cute in their costumes. We had Transformers, princesses, ladybugs, Woody(s), Buzz(s), etc. Tons of good food and the kids got to practice trick or treating. This is my 4^th year of participating in the trick or treating…It is just controlled chaos. The kids love it and it’s fun for us mom’s too.

Saturday was the adult Halloween party. Hubby and I were a doctor and a nurse. Pretty lame against Lady Gaga and her paparazzi but we had fun. It was my friend Maria’s house. She does an incredible job of decorating and organizing every year. We had way too much fun and after I helped out with one karaoke song, it was time to go…

Sunday was Halloween of course. Some of our friends came over so the kids could trick or treat with their buddies. I made chili. My brother passed down his recipe to me and I have to say it came out great! Hubby smoked a tri tip roast. It must’ve been good because it was completely gone. Not one piece was left and I didn’t have a bite. Oh well, I get to have some almost every weekend so I suppose I’ll live. Everybody else brought over something scrumptious to eat. Especially Angela. She made an awesome chocolate éclair cake! Yummmmy!

The kids had a great time trick or treating. When the kids were done we came back to count up the loot and turned on a movie for them in the garage. It was so cute seeing them all sit still and get locked in to the movie together. That gave the grownups a chance to relax for at least a few minutes which is always a good thing.

You would think the weekend was over by now but NO! Keric’s birthday was today! I am going to save that story for another post but suffice to say we had a great fun filled weekend. The pictures I took on Halloween aren’t the best but hopefully they paint a pretty good picture of all the fun we had.

Getting ready for Halloween

Having an almost 4 year old and a 2 year old around for Halloween has been lots of fun so far! They love all the cartoons about ghosts, monsters, and costume parties. Especially Wow, Wow, Wubbzy. Scares the dickens out of Ryan but he loves it at the same time. The boys are dressing up as Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. It started out that Keric was going to be Woody and Ryan was going to be Buzz. Well, as soon as I tried to put the wings on Ryan for Buzz Lightyear he wanted nothing to do with it. Keric on the other hand thought the wings were cool so they traded. It's about 2 weeks from Halloween now and I don't know what either of them are going to be because it changes daily. They might both be Woody before it's all over with.



At Emerson's 4th Birthday Party. It was a costume party. All the kids were adorable.



     We stumbled upon a pumpkin patch with lots of fun things to do the other day. Ryan saw the pumpkins and Keric saw a train.  We just had to stop. Keric's favorite thing to do was run through the hay bale maze. Ryan was fairly content to just sit and throw the hay. They climbed and ran and climbed some more. They also had a little petting zoo. I was too cheap to pay for them to go in but they were totally happy to pet the bunnies through the fence. Keric absolutely adored those bunnies. I see a bunny living at our house in the near future.

We did carve a pumpkin this year. It's the 1st time I have ever carved a pumpkin. Keric and Ryan wanted nothing to do with it. I made them sit or get close to it so I could take their picture but they weren't much help. : ) Maybe next year.

Ryan does love pumpkins. I don't know what it is about them but if he sees one, you better believe we are going to check it out. He doesn't say a whole lot but he can definitely say "Pummmpkin!". 

 

We are so ready for Halloween to be here and to spend it with our friends! We hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Southern Accent

For anyone who might wonder why my blog is called Southern Accent there is a pretty simple reason. I have one. From my 1st day of college until now I have heard, "Where are you from? Are you from the South? Did you just move here?" It really isn't as pronounced now but my 1st year of college I heard that at minimum once a week and I was in Montgomery, Alabama! You know it had to be pretty bad. : ) A few times when I lived in South Texas I was accused of being from East Texas because of my accent. Heaven help us.  I hope I never lose it.

I didn't put a ton of thought into the title of this blog. It's mostly just for me and a few friends and family so it probably doesn't matter much anyhow but it means something to me. This song was the 1st thing to come to mind when I thought, "Hmmm, What am I going to call this thing?"  It is probably one of my Top 10 favorites of all time even though I only first heard it a few months ago. This is a link to it in case you care to listen. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Southern Accent. Performed Live in Gainesville, FL in 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ticcOE_0sLw

Meeting Auntie Vi and Cousin Valerie

Today, Keric and Ryan got to meet their Great Auntie Vi and her daughter Valerie. Auntie Vi is 93 years old and the youngest, and last remaining, of Grandpa's Mother's siblings. She is a wonderful, sweet lady as is her daughter Valerie. They all live in Washington State not too far from where Keric was born.


I like knowing about my family history and hope that the boys, or their wives someday, will hold the same interest. I have visions of them looking back at these pictures, and the ones that Valerie took, and have some connection with their past.



Ryan had a great time handing out pumpkins to everyone.

Keric and Auntie Vi

Why I am blogging

Well....I have been a bit remiss in my duties as a Mom in keeping journals and scrapbooks on all the amusing, wonderful, crazy, random things that the boys do around here everyday. I'm hoping to use this mostly as a place to share those memories and save them for Keric and Ryan to see a long, long time from now. If you are reading this you all ready know that I take too many pictures. I just want to share the stories that go with them too.

  These will be my helpers and who most of this is about.