Go, go, go with Grandpa Mark and Grandma Betty

Grandpa Mark and Grandma Betty drove from Illinois to visit us this past week. It has been a treat having them here, especially for Mr. Caleb! Upon arrival, they had an early birthday present for Caleb to play with throughout the week. Caleb likes to go, go, go in his new car, and he has put many miles on it already. Though it may appear, we do not encourage drinking and driving -:).

At first they took it easy with him because he was getting over a stomach bug and it has been 100+ degrees outside, but he was ready to go, go, go by day two. Their first outing was a nice drive through the country to a town to the west called The Plains and a trip to the famous Manassas Battlefied.

The spotted a mom and baby deer pulling into our neighborhood on the way home.

The next morning Caleb was the first kid on the playground...probably around 6:30am -:). He had fun riding the panda? and going up and down the slides.

On the 4th of July we went to Leesburg to walk around, look at antique shops, and eat some ice cream. It was HOT that day, and we all enjoyed some lemonade with our lunch.

The next day the troops went to Fredericksburg, Culpepper, and Warrenton. They really did get around this trip! You may be wondering what the next pictures is...last week I showed Caleb how to say hello and put the phone by his ear...now EVERYTHING has turned into a phone -:). This is a shoe phone. We have also had cup phones, pizza phones, pea phones, leaf phones, mulch phones...pretty much anything is fair game!

Our Good Buddy found a caboose to play on.

Then our little monkey went for a climb in the tree. He loves heights and climbing. We are going to have to watch this little boy!

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On their last outing, they went to Sky Meadows State Park and the Arboretum. The pictures from their trip turned out great! I see where Nathan gets his eye for photography.

And here we have a leaf phone....hello?

Since the three musketeers explored together this week, we finally managed to get a picture of them together.

Thank you so much for the great visit! We have had a wonderful week with grandpa and grandma, and we are so thankful they came to spend the week with us. My parents are on their way, and will be with us for the next week. Tomorrow we will celebrate his FIRST birthday one week early with all the grandparents in town. This is one lucky little boy.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! Grandpa Mark and Grandma Betty are visiting this week, and we are having a great time. Stay tuned for another blog on their visit.

25 weeks pregnant?!

How did 25 weeks fly by so fast??? It has gone so fast that this morning when checking my pregnancy tracker, I realized that I am actually 25 and not 24 weeks pregnant -:). Thankfully, I have been feeling great and have a good amount of energy...15 weeks to go! Last pregnancy I tried running as long as I could, which was about 6 months, and the last month was a really a sloppy jog. This pregnancy I have been swimming a few times a week, which feels great, and I should be able to continue throughout the pregnancy. I have not had any odd cravings, and like just like last time, I wanted a few extra cheeseburgers and cokes. So far I have gained 22 lbs, which is about on par for my weight gain first time around. I lost all 45 lbs last time, so I'll hope for the same...and hope I do not gain that much again.

I am feeling Baby Boy #2 a lot this past week during meal and quiet times. I can't wait until Nathan can feel him kick, and just maybe Caleb will be able to feel him when my belly bounces and dances towards the end of the pregnancy. The doctor wants me to get sonograms every month to track Baby's growth, since Caleb was small, so we will get to see him in 2 weeks. We have not done anything to prepare for the baby yet, so we plan to get some things ready in the next few weeks. With Caleb, we had everything ready 3 months in advance. Good thing is this baby has no idea either way!

Stay tuned for more pregnancy updates in the coming weeks. Happy Tuesday!

Head First!

Caleb is fearless. At a 6:30am park visit with daddy today, he went down the slide head first. Check our fun boy out...

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday when Nathan was in school, Caleb and I met Erin and Jenna for lunch, cupcakes, and we walked around a town center with the kiddos. During lunch, Jenna ate her rice so nicely off of the plate. I was lucky that Caleb didn't toss the plate right off the table...he had his rice on the table. It was cute to see Jenna and Caleb observe each other, I think they even had a few baby exchanges:). I had my camera in the stroller and forgot to take a single picture.

On Sunday afternoon, I had a little photo shoot with Caleb while he was playing outside.

A little later, he decided to check out the grill.

Where's Caleb?

Really, where is he going??

A few weeks ago we planted our garden, and it is growing very fast. We reused the square foot garden that Nathan built last year, and the special soil mixture. Click on the link if you want to learn more about this easy gardening method. Your garden will never have to be fertilized and it grows like a weed (but without any)! This year we planted cucumber, tomato, edemame, eggplant, and chili peppers. Everything should be harvested before Baby Purcell #2 arrives in the early fall. 

Loving the summertime!