Figuring It All Out

Just when I was starting to do a better job of posting, I was interrupted by...the new school year!  Man, I don't know how people do it!  I'm trying to figure out how to "be a good teacher," "be a good mommy," "be a good wife," AND have just a few minutes of down time.  If definitely doesn't all get done every day.  We HAVE had some exciting times in our house though during the past few weeks.  I believe I left you hanging about something exciting with the patio.  I'll get to that, because there's more than I thought. ;)

First, we spent a long weekend in Charleston, SC two weeks ago.  It was great fun for Hope and I.  Brent spent the days in a course (which is why we traveled down there), but was able to hang out with us in the evenings. Here are some highlights from our trip in photos:

Hope sat in a big girl highchair for the first time!

"This remote is so cool!  Why do we not have this at home??"

Brent and I had been to Charleston while we were in college for his fraternity's banquet.  We had never eaten at Hyman's Seafood Company though, so we decided to check it out this time.  It was a great "family friendly" restaurant (and after eating at a no-so-family friendly one the night before, it was just what we needed).  

Brent and Hope at Hyman's

Hope and I at Hyman's

These famous people may have eaten AT our table, but the pretty girl in the middle ATE the table :-P

After spotting the house at the end of the street, we decided to walk past the Pi Kapp house on College of Charleston's campus.  I asked Brent if he wanted to go knock on the door and say hi, but he declined. :)

Two days after we got home, it was Brent's final birthday in his 20s!  He was excited to learn that his present was an iPad (there were many theories about what he was getting, it was a big guessing game).

Hope is so excited to play with Daddy's iPad!

And now for the patio!  We ended up purchasing a table on clearance the weekend before we went to Charleston, so we are no longer a "bring your own chair" establishment!  THEN today I lost the firepit battle, so we now have a firepit as well!  Check it out:

Table

Brent getting the firepit ready to use tonight.

We also love football season, so when we haven't been traveling, we've been at football games either at Duke or Elon.  This is our first weekend in a while where we haven't had any major plans (other than having friends out last night).  So as you can see, we've been a little busy.  Maybe someday I'll "figure it all out" but for now, I'm trying to enjoy the ride. :)

Go Elon!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

We are bringing Hope up right!  We started off the day yesterday rooting for our alma matter, Elon!  Yes, we realized Elon had a slim-to-none chance of beating that school with the horrendous light blue color down the road, but we didn't care! Hope was rocking her Elon shirt with matching skirt.  We bought both outfits last fall, and I'm glad we went with the 6 month size on the skirt instead of 9 months because the 6 month one is still a little big which means she should be able to wear it for most of the season (with leggings underneath later of course).

Mommy and Hope

Daddy and his little girls!

I will admit that we eventually had to change the channel away from the Elon game because it became too depressing to watch.  :-/

In the afternoon we headed out to Duke for their employee appreciation game and to see Hope's Uncle David march with the band.  Hope enjoyed drinking out of everyone's water bottles so you will notice that her outfit is quite soaked in most pictures of the evening. :)

Go Duke!

This would be the evidence of the water bottles :)

Riding on Grandy's shoulders

David's out there somewhere!

Ready for the team to run in. Where's David?

The game didn't start until 7, so I expected to have to leave after the 1st quarter, but we made it to halftime!  Hope didn't even cry in the car until we were a few miles from home (this is a MAJOR accomplishment).  Luckily all the Elon games we will be able to go to this fall are afternoon games so Hope should be able to make it to the end. :)

Stay tuned to see exciting news about the patio!