Disney

In an effort to keep up with the blogging machine previously known as Suzanne, I guess I need to throw out some updates. With it being the final few days before we leave for our first Christmas celebration in Pensacola, I have a zillion other things I need to be doing, so will make this quick!

Suzanne is also known as the Guru of Disney, and we were happy to have our whole little family join she and the girls and mom for a fun filled day at the Happiest Place on Earth back in October. We took the plunge and got year passes, so I do hope to be making more visits soon! It was a long day, but lots of fun.

Splash park- Henry's favorite, not too surprising

Love these girls!

squeezed in a short nap

Someone did not want to pose

Yes, he's wearing a leash

My boy! 

He sucked on his fingers all day- hadn't done that before or since. Strange

Fun day!!

The Rocking Chair Project

My parents have always been good at updating and refinishing old furniture, so I guess I thought that I would be a natural at it. However, after I tackled this project, it wasn't long before I realized I was in over my head; so I ended up stopping for a few months, then doing some online research and re motivating myself to finish it up after a while. 

I spotted this old rocking chair at Chad's folks house. It didn't seem like it was getting much attention, so they seemed happy for me to take it if I was interested. It resided in our living room just like this for a while. One time Essie sat in it and made a comment about her bottom having a hole in it. I think I got started soon after that. 

I jumped right in and was making good progress at first, even though the simple task of pulling the old fabric off was a little more involved than expected as there were jillions of tacks and staples holding it down. Then, once I got it off, I realized I had no idea how to create a new seat, without a hole in it. I ignored that fact for a little while and went ahead and stripped and restained the wood. Then I took a long break.

Henry being very cooperative while I worked

After doing some research I decided to get some upholstery webbing and top it with foam to replace the seat. I think it worked ok, we'll see after it's been in use for a little while. 

I determined that upholstery is a little more frustrating and difficult to work with than just plain wood refinishing. I did end up enjoying the project, though and definitely learned some things in the process. Hopefully next time it won't take me nearly a year to get it done! Here's the chair with it's new yellow corduroy outfit. 

Lions, Tigers and Bears.. Oh My!!

Ok, so I don't think we saw a tiger or a bear.. but definitely some lions at the Jacksonville Zoo. Chad enjoyed the fact that I thought a lion without a mane was a tiger, but I quickly agreed that Tony the Tiger has stripes, so maybe I just wasn't thinking clearly at the time.  Anyway.. we had a great time. Chad was asked to go to Jacksonville to do some computer work and he figured we might as well make a little family trip out of it, so we did. And I guess we plan to go back, because we went ahead and signed up for a year long pass. If anyone is up for a zoo trip, let me know!

Chad calls Henry "Panda" for some reason, so this was fun

You should see the outtakes of this one.. Henry was totally freaking
out and ended up causing me to bang my head on the metal elephant. Ouch!

This might have been his favorite part, it was pretty fun
to get to feed the giraffe

Penguins!! An Overman family favorite.. looks like Henry will
fit in!

We managed to make the whole "loop" in 2 hours, but that didn't include playing at the splash park or much on the playground, so there is certainly more exploring to do. I think I was most intrigued by the anteater. What a strange looking creature!!! There were a lot of animals there that just made me really stop and be in awe of the imagination of our God!

Chad was there too, but the nice camera was tied around his neck, so he didn't make it in any of the photos.. let's see, I think I might have snapped one of him on my phone:

Abby said I needed to do some blogging..

... and she was right! Wow, I think there is always so much that I want to document that I just get overwhelmed and don't to anything! At some point I'll be doing a post about my latest DIY projects (whenever I finally finish them!). I've been working on reupholstering a chair and (finally!) doing some landscaping in our yard.  Henry keeps us pretty busy these days, but he takes a good afternoon nap and is at the point where he can get out and "help" or either just play outside while I work on other things, which is nice. Speaking of Henry.. what a fun age this is (18 months)!!  He seems to learn new words every day and wants to run everywhere he goes. I feel like I just want to follow him around with a video camera as he learns and explores and reacts to the world. Other than praying for lots of wisdom in the area of discipline as he's started throwing more fits these days, this parenting thing really is a lot of fun. I think I'll just post some random pictures to try to catch up. It's been a fun summer.. I can't believe it's over!

Chad says he's filling out his UF application

He LOVES the splash park in Alachua..
or a hose, faucet, rain puddle- pretty much any way he can get wet and splash around

Building towers with Dad

Had a fun visit to Pensacola and got to spend some time with more cousins!

.. and go to the beach with Makenna and Aunt Melody! The water and sand there are so beautiful!

No white sand or blue water on this coast, but we still had fun! 

Happy 4th of July!

Dad got a new boat that we've all been enjoying.. until the river flooded anyway!

Family tube ride at the river, with my fair skinned boys
well protected from the sun

Cousins and friends.. does life get any better? 

My dear friend, Pam, invited us to join her family at their beach house
back in May. We had a great time.

He went to Sports Authority with Chad and this is how he came home.
Even with a goofy sweatband, he's pretty cute!

Esther's super fun 4th birthday party

I'm suddenly feeling a little sad because all of these pictures really deserve a post all to themselves, highlighting the fun times we've had with such wonderful friends and family God has blessed us with, but I guess this will have to do for now! 

First Hair Cut

Wow, it's been a while.. again! I so enjoy reading everyone else's blogs, but I have the hardest time finding the time and motivation to do my own! There are a few posts I've had in my head for a while about play dates and water time fun that I may just never get to, but I wanted to go ahead and do this one before the moment passed..
It seems like it took forever for Henry's hair to come in, I always forget that until I look at pictures up to even his first birthday where he was till pretty bald. Once it came in, though, it was so cute! I love his little curls in the back of his head. When he started getting big curls that stuck out like wings on the side of his head, we decided it was time to get it cut.. and a few months later we finally did!

Here are some photos we took a few weeks ago to document his baby curls..

We took him to see Beverlee, a lady who has been cutting Chad's hair for years. At first he screamed when Chad tried to put him in the little kiddy seat she had, but he did great with me holding him, even though he was pretty tired. 

It seems that he's going to have his dad's hair line in the front!

Too tired for a smile, but not too tired for a cookie!