Our Week... and Graham turns 9 months!

March 25: Enjoyed a visit with the Atlanta family

Hugs from Great Grandmom are the best!

March 26: Getting so big. Pulling up on everything and cruising along furniture.

On the move!

March 27: Happy 9 months, Graham! Where has the time gone?

He can make a mess in no time at all. Favorite activity is pulling down all the books!

March 28: The imagination of this boy...

'Mom, put on your chef's hat and dance with me!'

March 29: Wearing Doug's sweater he had as a baby. It is so cute. It was never cold enough for Graham to wear it. It was a little chilly the other morning and I had dressed both boys in short outfits. I put Graham in this to drop Cal off at school. By the time Cal was dropped off, it was already too warm to wear it.

That face!

March 30: Driving around in my automobile. Thanks Wyatt and Eleanor for letting the boys take a spin!

The boys are excited...not so sure Eleanor likes Graham taking her spot.

March 31: Happy Birthday to King of Pops! Celebrated by snacking on free popsicles.

The popsicle thief got mine. Must feel good on those sore gums!

It's hard to believe Graham is already 9 months old. He is so active and growing so much everyday. He loves his brother and wants to be doing anything Callen is doing. He is just the sweetest and loves to laugh and smile. He waves and says bye bye (but mom better not say that while someone else is holding him...TEARS!!), cruises the furniture, crawls, starting to stand without support, and just wants to be on the go. We love you, little buddy!!

Staying Busy!

These boys are constant! Callen doesn't nap anymore, so it is hard to find him wanting to slow down these days. He's always wanting to jump, climb, run on anything in his room and around the house. His loft bed has become the newest jungle gym and climbing structure in the house. Even Graham today was trying to reach and pull up on it today...just a little too tall for him right now.

March 18: A souvenir from mom and dad's day out on St. Patrick's Day!

March 19: Callen is a mess...that is all I am going to say!

March 20: Brothers wearing matching shirts and navigating mom to the car outside of Publix

March 21: Graham is on the move on all 4s. He has been commando crawling for 2 months now, but all of a sudden decided he was ready to crawl on all 4s.

March 22: Graham's newest fascination is pulling up on the toilet paper holder and then standing there and unravelling it. I've gotten smart and take the paper off the holder, but sometimes he's too quick and gets some off before I can get to it.

What, mom? I didn't do anything. It was all Callen

March 23: Callen is obsessed with washing dishes the last few days. Too bad he wants to wash the ones that are already clean. And too bad he uses half a bottle of dish soap in the process. He asked me how so many bubbles got in there...and how were they all going to go away. Let's think, buddy! We left soon after this pic was taken for about 2 hours. When we got home, there were still bubbles in the sink!

March 24: Fluorescent Callen! He either wears a fire truck shirt or the brightest color clothing you can find. At least I don't lose the bright streak in a crowd as he goes zipping by!

A Week in Review

I hope everyone has had a great week. Pretty much the same thing here...except dealing with colder weather and not being able to get outside as much. (boo!!) With all the warm weather we've had, you kind of forget that it's winter and that we should have cold weather all the time right now!

March 11: I was going through clothes for Callen and getting out the size for him (what has he been eating lately because he has blown through 3T right to 4T?!) when I found this jacket. His uncle Dave bought this for him when he was first born. Dave was riding his bike in Italy and was so excited about Callen's birth that he bought something little kid for Cal. Well, it wasn't little enough for a baby...but at 3 1/2, he's finally starting to fit into it!

Modeling career?

March 12: The church youth group went ice skating on Sunday. I took Callen and he had a great time. He attempted to stand and skate on the ice without the walker, but that proved to be a little difficult. The walker was the way to go!

March 13: I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Callen has this thing of hiking his bathing suit up so high and giving himself the ultimate wedgie. It cracks me up...Steve Urkel in the making!
'

Goofball!

March 14: Sky Zone with his best buddy Wyatt!

March 16:  This kid pulls up on anything and everything all day long.

Future chef?

March 17: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Green smoothie for a green day!

Trying Something New

Because we haven't been going on too many adventures lately...instead we've been staying around the house and getting lots of little projects and home repairs taken care of... so, I haven't been posting anything! I try and keep you filled with pictures from trips as well as everyday happenings here at the Morris household. However, I feel I've only posted the big events and trips and not as much the everyday stuff. In keeping with showing you the everyday, I am going to try and post 5-7 pictures and/or videos each week. We take enough pictures with our phone that this should be easy, right?! Hopefully I can take 30 minutes and upload them to this blog at the end of the week so you can get a glimpse into everyday craziness.

March 4: Trip to Costco

We have another fan of the 'nack' store

He was successful in grabbing the cracker from Callen!

March 5: Cal loves making pillow piles or tickle piles...If you are in the pile, it is fair game to be tickled!

Brotherly love...before someone gets tickled!

March 7: Cal is working so hard at his swim float swim in safety rescue classes. He's finally getting the sequence!

March 8: Not sure if Graham really understands the concept of peek-a-boo, but he was doing a pretty good job of playing along.

March 9: Just so you know...Graham is not always Mr. Happy Smiles. This is what happens at our house about 5:00 everyday. Someone needs to figure out how to take an afternoon nap!

March 10: Cal has started riding his bike more and more these days. I took him to Gateway Park last week to try out the mountain bike skills course. He LOVED it, and riding up and down monster hills has boosted his confidence so much. We now keep his bike in the car so he can ride it wherever there are trails or walking paths. When we get to Furman early before swim lessons, he likes to ride the hills by the football stadium. I feel we are going to need to get a bike with pedals before too long.

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of weekly glimpses into the everyday. I will still post trips and adventures we take as a family, but this is quick and easy plus allows you to see what happens (good and bad!) around here.

Comparing Brothers

People are always telling me that Callen and Graham look so much alike. As Graham has been doing more active lately and doing more things for the first time, I have been looking back at Callen's pictures more often. I have been comparing them doing the same things side by side since they are happening at about the same age. I feel like they look so different, but I'll let you look for yourself!

Eating! They both  love to eat their solids...and wear them well!

First bike ride.

First ride in the grocery buggy like a big boy!

Swinging. Both boys love to swing at the park!

Even if you think they look identical or nothing alike, you have to admit they are cute! We absolutely love these boys and the joy they bring to our lives. The smiles and laughs they bring us each day is incredible. It's hard to believe Callen is already 3 1/2. It seems like just yesterday he was doing all these things for the first time.

Go Tigers!!!! National Champs!

This post is a detour from my normal posts about our adventures with Callen and Graham. The boys will make an appearance towards the bottom, but I wanted to have a memory of going to Tampa last week and watching the Clemson Tigers win the College Football National Championship!!!

As Doug and I sat at home on New Year's Eve and watched Clemson win big over Ohio State, I couldn't help but feel that this was their year to win it all. They came so close last year, but fell short thanks to a surprise onside kick. I felt they wanted it more than ever this year. Who shuts out Urban Meyer?...no one (except this Clemson team!!!) I looked and Doug and said we should go to Tampa. Thanks to some awesome friends for having extra tickets for us to buy and a wonderful set of grandparents in Charleston to watch the boys, we headed to Tampa last Sunday to see the Tigers play!!

Doug and I were so excited leading up to the trip. We couldn't believe we were going, and looking forward to being in all the excitement that a National Championship game brings. We felt like everyone we talked to was going to be there, so we knew the atmosphere was going to be amazing. We had magnets for our car, stamped $2 bills in the wallet, and a car full of tailgating supplies! We were ready.

We arrived in Tampa late Sunday afternoon and headed to Cigar City Brewing to meet up with my dad and his wife, my brother and sister-in-law, and her family. Just walking up to the brewery was crazy. Clemson fans spilling out onto the patio area...and an Alabama fan or two leaving! Inside was just as crazy. Standing room only and packed with Clemson fans. We then headed to Ybor City for dinner at The Bricks. I think we found the only restaurant that wasn't packed or had a massive wait in all of Tampa. The food was great and the only other people in the restaurant were Clemson fans. We even received change of $2 bills, which we gave right back to our server!! After dinner, we made our way to SoHo. INSANE! Clemson fans were everywhere...spilling out of every bar, lined up to go into every bar. It was pure madness. I felt like I was in college again! We joined some of Scuba's friends at Yard of Ale. It was literally wall to wall people inside there. I told Doug I can't remember the last time I was in a bar where I was served my drink in a 12oz clear solo cup! And then stick to the floor with each step I took! I'm sure we looked a little out of place, but it didn't matter. It was a good time and incredible to see the number of Clemson people out for a night of fun.

After minimal sleep (I'm pretty sure I get more sleep at home with Callen and Graham than I did the two nights we were away), we were up and getting ready for a day of tailgating. Lots were supposed open at 11:30am, but based on the amount of traffic we hit (and were only staying 3 miles from the stadium) and the number of cars in the lots, they had to have opened the lots a lot earlier.

We set up a tailgate between 3 cars and had about 15 people in our group. People came and went all day long. It was like being in Clemson for the day tailgating. However, this tailgate was much more relaxing without having to chase Callen around change Graham's diapers every so often. It was so nice to just sit back and relax for a few hours. As I've mentioned before, there were sooooo many Clemson people. Doug and I felt like we never saw more than 3 Alabama fans at any one time, however they all found a way into the stadium because the crowd was close to 60/40-Clemson. There were definitely more Clemson people there, but based on what we saw leading up to Monday, we would have thought the stands would have been majority Clemson.

The largest blow up tiger ever!

Our friends The Haselden's...their son Wyatt is Cal's best buddy

I ran into one of my best friends from PT school. Even though she's an Alabama fan, I still hung out with her for a while before the game! We walked over to the pregame festivities where Dierks Bentley was playing. We headed into the stadium fairly early to see some of the pregame warmups and show.

The game...Incredible! The atmosphere surrounding the game was unbelievable. So much excitement and enthusiasm...until Alabama scored. There wasn't much to cheer about on the Clemson side for a while and I was feeling kind of bummed. I didn't know how Clemson was going to come back from a deficit and win over Alabama. But then something magical happened. Clemson made a few good plays, scored, and all of a sudden the crowd was back in it. You could see the players on the sideline jumping up and down, encouraging the fans to keep it up. And we all know what happened in the end. Number 4 to number 13 in the end zone with one second remaining on the clock!! Onside kick recovered by Clemson, and Tigers Win, Tigers Win!!! What an electrifying feeling in the stadium. Pure joy and excitement on the Clemson side and shock and amazement to what had just happened on the Alabama side.

The post game celebration was so much fun. Watching the players celebrate is something I'll never forget. Christian Wilkins doing the belly roll, dancing and landing on the ground in a full split all while watching himself on the big screen was ridiculous! Watching Ben Boulware jump up and down with the excitement on his face of a little kid who was just told he could have candy for breakfast was priceless. And finally seeing Dabo lift the trophy in triumph for what all he has built and accomplished at Clemson in just 8 years. AMAZING!

People around us kept saying...Am I dreaming? Did this really happen? Like I said earlier, I felt New Year's Eve that those boys could do it (I wasn't as confident at the start of the game!). I wondered if I was in a dream actually being there. It was such an incredible experience and I am so thankful we were there to witness it.

And the celebration parade this past Saturday was pretty special too. 70,000 people in attendance to celebrate with Dabo and the team. That's something special!

 

Callen the Jumping Bean!

A few months ago I purchased a Living Social deal for a month of gymnastics classes. Anyone who knows Callen knows he loves to be on the move. Doug and I had already talked about enrolling him in gymnastics in January, but I wanted to make sure he liked it before committing to 18 weeks! After taking the class for month, I can safely say that HE LOVED IT! He looked forward to class each Tuesday, and wanted to know when he was going back. It is the perfect activity for him...structure but also the ability to move around and be active.
I was very surprised at how well Callen did in his class. He followed directions and obeyed the teachers each time. He remembered week to week what he was supposed to do...although he never wanted to 'practice' anything at home. He showed great coordination and did things on the trampoline I'm sure I would fall trying to do!!
During the class, they asked the parents to sit in the waiting area and watch on the TV screens or go upstairs and watch through the glass. I realized that many of the parents stayed in the gym and watched from there. Well, I tried to go in and snap a few pictures, but I was quickly told I needed to watch him on the TV! Not sure if he was just following directions or thought he needed to be a TV star...

Warming up

Working on his cartwheel

Handstand

Jumping on the trampoline

                                                                 from his first class

I have more videos, but can't seem to upload them. Stinker! My favorite is the video of Cal doing his gymnastics, but telling me to leave and go watch him on TV or upstairs!!

Our plan is to start Callen in gymnastics in January at Greenville Gymnastics. This four week trial was a big hit, so I'm sure he will enjoy going for an entire semester.