Happy Memorial Day!!

ACC Baseball

Grant loves him some baseball, so we took him to see some ACC baseball tournament action since it was before naptime and at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Grant was too focused on the game to smile for this picture, and it may look like Hayes was sleeping, but he spent the whole game people watching (and dirtying his diapers).

Grant's making bull horns here:

Grant loved having Kyle chase him round and round in circles after lunch:

"Retired"

I know we're moving on, but I've got to do one more throwback-to-Durham post as I celebrate my "retirement."  As of Friday, I'm officially a full time mother, and it's a good thing, too, because I'm not sure I could've gone back to work without my Executive Assistant!

Let's get this party started

This week brought our first taste of summer heat, so we kicked it off with a little backyard pool party for the Boys Club.  Curtis, Dylan and Grant had a great time splashing away (unfortunately Grant's swim trunks were cramping his style by constantly falling off, so he had to abandon those...)

The Show Must Go On

It's been a long week without Durham, but we're getting by, and each day is getting better.  Django was looking so sad, so we thought a fresh new haircut might help him with his fresh start as the head dog of the house. 

Before:

After:

We'll miss you, Durham!

After almost 8 years with us, Durham passed away at our home last night after finally losing his 3 year battle with megaesophagus.  We're relieved he no longer has to struggle, but we miss him so much.  Here's a little look back at some of our favorite shots...

This is the picture from the pet adoption website that caused us to fall in love with him:

 

Here he is riding home in Kyle's lap after we adopted him in September 2003:

Pretty sure this one is self-explanatory, but it's a good thing we did this his first year, because he never would have fit in a pumpkin (or let us put him in a pumpkin) after that:

We took 'teenage' Durham to indoor playgrounds to help burn all the energy he had: 

This was after our first scare with Durham.  We think he was bitten by a spider, but don't know, and perhaps it contributed to the megaesophagus, but that's another unknown.  We thought the heart that the vet put over the bandage where he'd had the IV was so sweet.

This is from moving into our house in Chapel Hill.  Durham never could resist a pile of laundry:

Our last camping trip before Durham got sick and we couldn't take him any more.  He LOVED camping during the day (but hated at night because of the fire):

Durham and Grant (this was Grant's first smile).  Durham loved his 'brothers':

The Durham smile we knew and loved:

Durham and Hayes.  We know they would have been great buddies given a bit more time.

We could've easily put about another hundred pictures on here and still not captured how much he meant to our family.  

We love you, Durham!

Peek-a-who?

We've been getting Grant's hair cut at Peek-a-do, but between our new post-mommy-retirement budget and Grant's proliferate hair growth (...plus Hayes is likely to have the same hair craziness whenever his hair makes its big debut), I decided one of my new jobs will be barber, and tonight was my first gig.

Here's Grant before:


A little photo break in the middle:

And a couple of after shots:

Not to shabby for a first cut!  (...just don't look too close behind his left ear...)

Take me out to the ball game!

Hayes got to see his first Durham Bulls game today, and we got to show off our massive new Bulls gear collection.  (Plus, we discovered that Grant loves watching baseball and has outgrown his fear of clapping crowds, hooray!...still afraid of mascots though)

Three Months!

Here's what a three month old (~14.5 lb) happy Hayes looks like:

 

 

Know what this is??

This is a picture of a baby who slept from 10:30pm last night until 7:30am this morning which was taken by a mommy who slept from 11pm to 7am! This picture isn't actually from the marathon sleep session, but we're so excited about it and don't know when it'll happen again, so wanted to commerate the event.

Berry Pickin

Saturday morning we headed out to Jean's Berry Patch for our annual strawberry picking.  Hayes fell asleep, so our berry picking consisted of sitting in the car while Kyle to Grant into the field...


Grant was the perfect model / berry picker...

He only picked the ripe ones, and when Kyle tried to hand him one for the basket, Grant showed him the brown spot on it and rejected it.  Quality Control was very important to him.

And most amazing of all, check out the "after" picture below.  No, we didn't have to scrub Grant's face afterwards, he really didn't eat a single strawberry while they were in the fields because Kyle told him to wait until we got home and washed them.  Seriously incredible.  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

The Bumbo is Back

Hayes enjoyed hanging out in the kitchen in the Bumbo...

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with the camera, but in order to get the Bumbo to this spot on the chair, Grant put it on his head like a hat and climbed onto the chair while wearing it.  Really hoping that happens again so I can catch it on camera.

Bouncy Brothers