Fun in NC

We went to Winston-Salem, North Carolina this past weekend (home of the Deacs and birthplace of Jenny!) to visit Grandma and Grandbirdie Eschen and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with them. Jason and I stayed with Jaime and John Gallimore who have settled in to their beautiful new house there. On Saturday, the boys went to play golf and the girls took Harrison to the mall. Then we went to Olive Garden that night for dinner, it was delicious!

Here is one of Harrison's many girlfriends, Miss Jaime. Jaime gave Harrison a t-shirt that says "I Love the Demon Deacons" for his birthday. See how he can't take his eyes off of her!

The Hanes Mall had a really neat carousel. This was Harrison's first ride on a merry-go-round! He seemed to enjoy it, but was ready to get off when it was over.

Here is the long-married couple waiting for their table at the Olive Garden.

How cute are they!

My dad and his mom.

Megan is also one of Harrison's girlfriends (don't tell Jaime......or Will!). He reaches out to her a lot and wants her to hold him. He flirts with her shamelessly!

Are we still waiting to eat? I'm hungry!

Ahhh, much better. This pizza crust is delicious!

Harrison really enjoyed spending time with his great-grandparents. On Sunday morning, he climbed up into Grandbirdie's lap and shared his breakfast with him. They also played games with socks, GB would put one on his foot and Harrison would pull it off!

Topping the big meal off with some anniversary cake!

My parents came back from NC with Harrison on Monday, and we went over to Will and Megan's house on Monday night to have dinner and meet their new puppy, Maggie Mae. She is a beautiful yellow lab. Their dog, Bailey, really likes her and they have had so much fun playing!

Here are the proud parents.

Harrison didn't know what to make of the little puppy. He wanted to pet her and climb on her as if she were big like Vegas and Gracie, so we had to watch him closely!

Want to play ball?

I think Poppy needs a puppy!

Walking!

Harrison turned 13 months old today, and he also happened to choose today to make walking his primary means of getting around! He took his first steps about 2 weeks ago, and since then has been making great strides (ha ha) in taking more and more steps. For the past few days, he has been doing sort of a 50/50 deal, walking half the time and crawling half the time, but today he's really started just mostly walking. It has been so much fun watching him learn. Here are a few action shots (no stunt doubles were used).

I think these are my favorite PJs!

Mowing the carpet



Trying to get the camera.....



It is so convenient to carry things in my mouth instead of my hands!



He has also really enjoyed getting used to climbing on his castle.



Well, and through the castle too!



Shimmying up the slide!



I had a REALLY fun day walking!! Now when does the running start??

Anniversary Weekend

Jason and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary on July 12th and had a wonderful "date night" this past Friday. Nana and Papa Carter came to Atlanta on Friday to watch Harrison while we went to the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead for dinner and to stay overnight. We had an absolutely decadent, five-star meal (that was a world away from the cold, burnt pizza we had on our actual anniversary on Thursday!) at the Ritz that we will always remember. We also "slept in" on Saturday (until 8:00!) which was nice!

Our table at the Ritz had couches!! We were so impressed!



Meanwhile, Nana and Papa Carter took Harrison and Caitlin to Alabama on Saturday morning for Hadley Grace Carter's 1 year old birthday party where they enjoyed playing with their cousins and seeing Brian and Brooke's beautiful, brand new house. Then on Sunday, Nana and Papa helped us set up a birthday present they gave Harrison, which was a little playcenter complete with a slide and swing!

Here are the men working on it as Harrison took his nap. Our plan was to surprise him with it when he woke up, and it worked - he was wide-eyed and thrilled!



We were teaching him how to go down the slide and it was hilarious. Sometimes he would just try to pitch himself forward, other times he would slide down the normal way but would surprise himself by how fast he went. His expressions were priceless!



He likes the swing, but later on was more interested in just pushing the empty swing himself, and not being pushed in it!



Here's a random picture of Vegas and Gracie. They usually nap on different couches, so I had to publish one of them trying to nap together! They are so cute!

Howell Family Reunion

Quick Harrison update before the weekend update........he had his one year appointment last week and weighs 23 1/2 pounds (50-75th percentile) and is 30 inches tall (75-90th percentile). As usual, his head was in the 90th percentile (48 cms)! He is off the bottle now and loves drinking his whole milk out of his sippy cup (and Mom and Dad's pocketbook loves not having to buy formula anymore!).

So, we went to Montgomery this past weekend to visit with Jason's cousin Simuel and his wife Jen, and their two ADORABLE little girls, Ellie and Gwen. Jason and I haven't seen Simuel and Jen since our wedding, and we went to visit them in Pittsburgh about 6 years ago, but it really has been a long time since we spent some quality time with them. They were down visiting Simuel's dad, Uncle Jimmy, and his twin brother, Uncle Jerry, in Mobile and ALL the Howells came to Montgomery for a big visit with the Carters! We had a great time despite the rain (which was very much needed). Jeremy and Susan Carter came to visit as well (Susan is expecting their first child in January!), and there were croquet matches, grilling, frozen drinks, and many, many Yahtzee games!

We picked Daddy up at his office on our way to Montgomery!



Taking a bath in Nana and Papa's big tub. Ellie, Gwen and Caitlin helped!



Bartender, can I have another?



So what are you guys talking about over here?



Harrison loved going out in the morning and watching the birds eat out of the bird feeders. There were so many of them!



Helping Daddy set up the croquet course. It was fashioned in true Carter style, with ramps and everything.



Ellie and Gwen gave Harrison some birthday presents which was so sweet of them! Harrison loved watching the girls, and Gwen was so cute - she would walk around beside Harrison and pat him on the head like a doggie!



Here is an antique high chair that Jason, Simuel, Caitlin and Harrison have all used in their lifetimes! They all took turns sitting in it!



Uncle JC is a big dude - I'm glad I'm related to him!

Happy Birthday U.S.A.!

July 4th is not only America's birthday, it's Christine's too! So we celebrated both events on our holiday. We spent the morning at the Dunwoody 4th of July parade which was pretty fun. Harrison really enjoyed all of the people watching, the different floats and the bands playing their instruments. His favorite was the fire trucks!

Then we went to lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise to celebrate Christine's birthday. We met the Sagers and Almstedts there, and everyone had a cheeseburger (Jeff had a veggie burger!), they were yummy! Even Harrison had a mini-cheeseburger. It was a great 4th of July! God Bless our Troops!

Here we are at the parade. Harrison can't take his eyes off all of the kids!



Getting ready for the action to start.........



Harrison enjoyed the Marine Corps band and the drums they played.



I'm a lil' Firecracker!



Here's the birthday girl with her little girl!




Lauren was very nice to share her puffs with Harrison. They were so cute sitting next to each other, both of them wanted each other's food!



Cheers!



Anna Copacabana with her Daddy. She was also very nice and let Harrison play with some of her toys (Harrison was a liiiiiittle fussy during lunch, he must have been tired from the parade.....he fell asleep as soon as we got in the car on the way home!).



What a pretty birthday smile for her Mommy!



Harrison loves to give hugs, and Sara was one of his lucky recipients!

Mom's Morning Out

Sara, Christine and I had a Mom's morning out this past Saturday and it was so nice. We went to brunch at J. Christopher's and then went to get pedicures! Rob and Lauren, Jeff and Anna, and Jason and Harrison were all having a play date at our house while the mommies were out playing themselves. Here are a few pics from the day -

Lauren is everywhere now, rolling around and crawling......and Anna is sitting up! Every time we see these girls they're doing something new.



Harrison was so glad his friends came over to play, but had to be reminded to be gentle with the girls, they can't wrestle with you like Daddy can!



Anna didn't mind sitting next to Gracie. Gracie loves her new friends too!



Harrison is getting used to the four wheeler he got for his birthday. He wasn't sure about the whole sitting astride thing for a while, but now he's starting to get it and loves it!