traveling with an almost 2 year old..

dear jake (and your crazy neverland pirate crew),

thank you for making our plane rides so much more fun.

we owe you. big time.

love,

your biggest fans, rob & callie

seriously though, what did our parents do without the ipad and iphone.. and all the apps. If it wasn't for jake, mickey, and peekaboo barn, we never could have made it!

robert is a great little traveler.. here are some scenes :-)

we are so glad you like flying like your daddy, sweet robert!! 

nana and benny love.. and some random pictures

i, callie, do solemnly swear to take 100 million more pictures of robert with his nana (my mama)! for some reason, i have very few pictures of them from our trip to atlanta.. i could kick myself.

robert had so much fun with his nana.. they went to parks, played outside, and chased benny around together. robert loves his nana so much!

here they are at the park.. nana taught robert the very important art of throwing things into water. robert was hooked from the start! it was so cute!!

then nana taught robert his very favorite thing.. feeding benny, the dog, treats. robert just couldn't get giggling when benny would eat the treat! it was so funny! he knew that benny belonged to nana.. so whenever he wanted something from benny, he would ask nana for help!

benny and robert have a funny relationship. they are both in love with each other.. but benny has a hard time admitting it. :-) so, it goes like this.. robert follows benny around for hours.. then he stops and benny goes to try and find him. ha.

here we all are together!

one very important thing we did while in atlanta was bring robert to visit my daddy's grave. this might be weird to blog about to some of you, but not for me. for me, it's bringing my son to see my dad. it was a big moment for me. as a side note, i know my daddy is not there. my dad is busy watching over all of us and enjoying heaven.. but visiting his grave makes me feel close to him somehow and it is a way for me to honor him.

now, this is why life is so precious. as rob, robert and i walk to the grave, rob and i are telling robert so many things about my daddy. how we think he looks like him and what a great granddaddy he is from heaven. i am, obviously, emotional.. but then, robert spots the water and the geese. and just as he should, he squirms away and goes to chase them.

my sweet boy and i.. 

and then him running to play :-)

i could see my daddy laughing. isn't that the way it should be? the best way to honor my dad is for us to be happy.. and chasing some geese sometimes :-)

suzie, the graduate..

my baby sister, suzanne elise, graduated from high school last week!

to say we are proud would be the biggest understatement ever.

i am the luckiest person on earth because not only was i blessed with the best big brother on the planet, but my parents also decided to add to our family when lanny and i were a little older. there are 15 years between the youngest and oldest in my family.

what does this mean? that lanny and i got to watch hannah and suzie grow up.. and remember it. i remember learning my mom was going to have suzie like it was yesterday. i was not thrilled.. because i would have to change rooms in the house. i was 11 :-) but man, oh man.. was i wrong. suzie (and hannah!) are two of my biggest blessings. they have shaped who i am today. they (along with my mom) are the reason that i love kids so much. i am probably a better mom because of them. for being much younger than me, they sure have taught me a lot.

with that said, and i could go on forever, i am one proud big sister. i remember holding suzie for the first time. here it is..

i remember holding her and hannah.. babysitting them.. probably bossing them around :-) ok, i definitely bossed them around..

here i am swinging suzie around after her dance recital in 2000..

so, the purpose of my rambling? this girl is very special to me. rob and i were so excited to be in atlanta to celebrate her.

we started off the celebration by going to her last dance recital. i was so excited to see her dance! she is amazing.. so much ease on stage.. she's a natural. we all cried during her solo. you just can't take your eyes off her when she dances! here she is in the middle..

hannah, mom, and mom's sweet friend, judy, all watched so proudly!

the next night, we went to suzie's baccalaureate mass. it was beautiful! this is us afterwards! that's my sweet aunt laurie on the right! we were so glad she was there!

the next day was the big day!! time to graduate!! 

my sweet family of 3..

suzie's godparents :-) my uncle bill and i! it was so fun having bill there!! 

do you guys think my mom is proud? ;-) this is my favorite picture of the weekend!!

we had such a great time! my mom threw suzie a fabulous graduation party afterwards. little robert was the life of the party and super social. he had so much fun mingling with everyone and staying up way past his bedtime!

we had such a great weekend celebrating our suzie!! suzie is headed to georgia southern in the fall where she will study special ed!

we are so proud of you, suzie. my favorite things about you? your smile, your ability to laugh at yourself, your confidence, your thoughtfulness, your huge heart... just to name a few. love you so very much.

the only thing missing from the weekend? lanny and his sweet family! we missed them so much.. but they were busy in dallas birthing babies :-) pretty great (and cute!!) excuse! love you!

georgia aquarium..

we went to atlanta to celebrate aunt suzie's graduation from high school last week! for all of you who are keeping track, that makes me very, very old. 

more on the beautiful graduate in the next post :-)

we started off our week in atlanta by going to the aquarium with aunt hannah and brad. we had so much fun! this aquarium is unlike anything i have ever seen.

we started off the day in my favorite exhibit. it has a moving walkway through a tunnel that is surrounded by a huge tank. it holds tons of fish, including manna-rays and whale sharks.

honestly, robert was more into the moving walkway than he was the huge fish. ha.

i looked at rob at some point in this exhibit and told him we were a good year away from disneyland ;-)

next, we went to a dolphin show. now, this, robert loved! it was like a real life jake and the neverland pirates episode. he was clapping, singing, and laughing the whole show. we couldn't take pictures so i didn't get to capture it. watching robert's face was better than the show!

then we had some lunch and said hi the the belugas. this sweet mama is 14 months pregnant. i wanted to offer her a drink right on the spot ;-) she should give birth very soon!

finally, we did robert's favorite part... the touch pools! more like splash pools for him :-)  he loved it! he would have loved to get in with the animals! he touched some starfish and baby sting rays.

after the aquarium, we headed out to play in a nice lawn in the middle of downtown atlanta. robert was in heaven!

it was such a fun day! i think we will go to the aquarium on every visit for awhile! 

hurst michael hall..

we are beyond excited to welcome our newest nephew, hurst michael hall, to the world.

he was born may 25th and is 8lbs of pure handsome and sweetness. 

he is his big sister's mini me :-)

congratulations to carolyn, lanny, and cate! we cannot wait to meet him and spoil him rotten. we love you!!

and just because she is the prettiest little girl in the world, here is hurst's big sister, cate :-)

21 months..

happy 21 months, robert charles!!

it's so cute because every month on the 22nd, daddy and i make a big deal and tell you 'happy 21 months baby' or whichever month it is.. and you just giggle and love it. we may just have to do every month forever! :-)

we have had such a fun and busy 21st month! you are growing up so much!

here are some fun facts about you at 21 months..

you weigh about 26 pounds and seem to grow taller every day

you wear size 18-24 month clothing and size 4 diapers

you wear size 7 shoes

you love being outside. love it. we have recently been playing in the water a lot and you just can't get enough.

you love cars. you would walk around our cars for days if we let you. just last week i asked you to say car and you said 'caaaaaaaar'. so sweet.

you love trains, especially your chuggington train set. dunbar is, by far, your favorite car. he is green and goes almost everywhere with you.

you love to move things all around the house. just in the last 2 weeks we have found dad's phone in the dishwasher (that was not running!! whew!), your train in the washing machine, your play mop in your crib, and my lotion in the living room. hilarious.

you are on all whole milk now in cups. we held onto that morning bottle for awhile, but one day, completely on your own, you decided no more!

you have a favorite blankie that you go get when you are sleepy.

you know where you are going in the car. if we make a turn away from where you want to go (the park, barnes & noble, the fountains), you let us know!

you remain obsessed with escalators.

your language is really picking up. you 'talk' non-stop in your own language now and very clearly say go, no, out, all done, and up.. as well as mama and daddy. you will repeat words now too.. like i asked you if something tasted good and you said 'gooooood'. :-)

you remain a super picky eater.. but you are so much happier to eat! your favorite place to eat is chick-fil-a, especially when your buddy, austin, meets us there :-)





you are getting blonder by the minute.. and tanner too!

we go to the park at least 4 times a week.. you just wouldn't have it any other way. you go down all the big slides by yourself and love swinging again!









you are getting all your bicuspids.. they are almost in, so that makes 16 teeth! unreal!

you are super snuggly sometimes.. freely giving kisses, blowing kisses, and giving big hugs. we cannot get enough! it is so sweet!



you are doing great in gymnastics and music class. you are starting to participate more and more. you have overcome your fear of the trampoline, but just kind of like to do your own thing on it instead of following the teacher's instructions.





robert charles, we love you so much! you continue to make us smile one million times a day.

 i cannot believe in 3 months you will be two years old. let the part planning begin :-)