Busy Summer!

Wow, is it really mid-August!? I don't know where this summer has gone but frankly I am really looking forward to some cool fall weather SOON!!

This has been a particularly busy and fun summer. Just about every weekend something was planned!

After Blake and Sarah were married in early June, we followed up that fun by going to Nashville! My cousin, Brienne and her husband, Jean-Marc are expecting a baby girl in late August and so mom and I threw a baby shower for them. It was pretty fun and cute, if I do say so myself! :)

Owen's brother Charles Robert and his wife, Michelle, had their baby girl, Tilly Elizabeth! She was born in Beijing but we are excited that they are moving back to the United States and especially North Carolina! They are currently in California with her family but will eventually make their way East and be living in Brevard. It will be so fun for Oliver to have a cousin close in age and living not too far away! We can't wait to meet her!

We also had the NC Bar Convention at the Grove Park Inn (YESSSS!) in Asheville and that was fun as usual. The Grove Park Inn is a historic and beautiful hotel and they have an AMAZING spa - which we of course took advantage of! :)

Oliver also had his first experience with a sprayground....if you have one of these in your area, I highly recommend you check it out! Oliver LOVED it. Of course he loves water so that wasn't a surprise but the best part for me was just watching him enjoying the spraying water everywhere. Plus, the one we went to (there are several in Charlotte) had a large canvas covering the sprayground area to protect kids from the sun. With his fair skin, he needs all the protection he can get!

We went to Brevard for July 4th. Owen's family gets together every year and this year was still fun despite it being a smaller group. Owen's cousin was in a really bad car accident a couple of weeks before the 4th and so that changed plans a bit. Fortunately, Chris is doing well and back at work - he really scared us all! We did however get to spend some time with Bryan and Miriana and Uncle Jim and Aunt Becky as well as Owen's parents so that was nice.

We also had an amazing time out in CO for the 2011 Jackson Family Reunion (that will be a separate post)........

In July we went to my cousin Jennifer's wedding and got to spend a little time with Gerald and Carla and Brian and Jesse and that was great.....I just wish that they lived closer!

I wrapped up July by heading up to Greensboro to see the NKOTBSB concert with my friends Maggie, Amanda and Elizabeth. We had GREAT seats and it was such a blast....for those of you that don't know what NKOTBSB is, that would be the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys. That's right, I said it and I am not ashamed! :) I screamed like a 12 year old girl......or a 32 year old woman who was immediately thrown back to elementary school days and had (only past tense? :)) a crush on Donnie Wahlberg.....ahhh....good times!

NKOTB!

Maggie and me

Donnie :)

Oliver has been doing really well this summer, running around (never walking!), chatting up a storm and generally just being his funny and sweet and sassy self! He loves animals, water (he asks for a bath now), watching Bubble Guppies and Dora on my iphone, Legos, looking at his books and seeing "nana", "DA", "guh" and "bapa" (nana, big da, grandma and grandpa :)).

He is also a bit of a climber and frankly has pretty good balance, even with the added weight of his backpack!

We are still working with Meg, Oliver's speech therapist working on getting him to eat. I would never have thought that this process would take so long. Who doesn't want to eat? Seriously? But, he is making progress but it is so slow! Teeny tiny baby steps. He'll get there eventually!

He is talking all the time and says so many words! It is fun to hear him learn new words and watch him see and learn new things. We were in the mountains this past weekend and went up to Grandfather Mountain and saw the "Bea".....

My cousin Emily and her husband, Stu, just had their baby girl this weekend and we can't wait to meet Miss Libby! :)

And my other cousin, Brienne is expecting her baby girl at the end of the month and we are eagerly awaiting her arrival, too! So fun to have all these new babies in the family!

Well, that's it for now....more to come, especially about the Jackson Reunion!