A New Woman in Our Life...

Her name is Iris 2. When Irby got us a mini-van, he also got himself a mini-cooper (some have said 3-kid crisis?). See below, the teeny car between 2 trucks out front. Irby loves it, it's straight from New Zealand, right-hand drive and the teeniest thing you ever rode it. I would say she's smaller than some go-carts! Irby's first Iris was his car purchased in New Zealand for about 300USD which he drove all around the island while he was there for 6 months. Lots of fun to have, but I will say Iris 2 has sparked several conversations about the annoyance of possessions that cause you more work when it's just supposed to be fun. Just saying...

Irby III loves Iris 2 and has his own car seat in the back seat. I think we could all 5 actually ride in there once the babies are in forward facing seats. I've only ridden in it once because we have to have a babysitter for me to ride it in. I don't drive right-hand-drive stick-shifts and someone has to stay home with the babies since they don't fit in it yet. The best thing about it is you can squeeze into any parking space! It takes up about half the space of the mini-van. If you come visit us, Irby will take you for a spin!

Lots of High-chair Banging

We're finally getting the hang of food! Only veggies, but that's a step in the right direction. Charlie's more of a foodie, he'll eat anything; Griff's a bit more picky. They crack me up. I will feed them food and not 30 minutes later, they look at me, triple chins and all making the hungry 'mmmmmm...mmmmm' noise that they both do. I mean if you could see the chins and rolls on these boys you would laugh with me, there is no way they are hungry! These 3 are already eating me out of house and home. I love it!

A Visit to Birmingham

We were so happy to get to stop for a night in Birmingham on our way back to DC from the beach. We got to spend time with Abby and 2 of her kids, Wills and Eliza (we missed you Virginia!) and Emily and little Becker. To say it was wild would be an understatement...but we loved being with y'all! Actually, it was pretty calm until the twins woke up, and we were outnumbered 6:3. The odds were not in our favor.

Wills and Irby reading the Busy Bible.

Wills, Griffin, Eliza, and Charlie.

Best group shot. It's hard to get a good one of 6 kids who are constantly moving!

Wills, Becker, Irby, Griffin, Eliza, Charlie.

Asheville Cousins

We were so excited to get to see Irby's cousin and his family while we were in Asheville. We love that they live in the same city, or we would not get to seem them as much as we do. Thanks to Courtney for some of these pictures. The boys had a great time playing together out back at my parents house, and we even all got together for dinner one night. It was fun and mostly chaos, but we were thankful to get to enjoy a delicious meal with our sweet cousins!

More pictures from Asheville and our trip down south (AL) to come soon...

Irby, Sam, Steven

The babies were napping most of the time while they were over, but here's a picture from later in the day. Charlie and Griffin playing ball.

Irby, Steven, Sam

Happy Griff

Strawberry Picking

A few weeks ago we went out to a local farm and went strawberry picking with some neighborhood and church friends. Irby ate his weight in strawberries and loved it. You can see by the juice all over Irby's face and shirt how juicy they were; best strawberries I've ever had. They also just let kids eat straight off the plant/bush/vine? since they are organically grown and don't use pesticides. It was pretty sunny and hot so the babies stayed home. Next year, I'll get pictures of all 3 doing this, I'm sure. If they have this wherever you live, I highly recommend it for kids (and adults - think strawberry ice cream)!

Biker Dudes

My 2 Irbys have both taken up a new hobby! Little Irby got a bike for his birthday, and we ride it to the park every day (and even all the way to Eastern Market, and the 'far away' park-Stanton Park, I know you're impressed). Irby's company got him a new road bike in an effort to support being 'green' and biking to the office. Irby bikes about 1-2 times a week. As you all know, he's incredibly buff; the ride is 8 miles each way! DC is a very biker-friendly city, so he mostly rides on a biker only road, but when he is on the actual road, cars are used to bikes and there is a bike lane in most places (he's also the only one out there without spandex on). The day these pictures were taken, we had intercepted Irby at the park on his ride home and he got to go for a ride with his oldest son. This is now little Irby's favorite past time - riding bikes with Daddy.

Wow, There Really Are Two...

As odd as it may seem, this thought honestly goes through my head each day. It definitely did when I took these pictures.

Griffin and Charlie, 5 months. I don't think I mentioned both babies have teeth. They got their bottom middle 2 on the same day last month, and the past week or so they have been cutting their top 2, probably all 4(2 each) going to come in in the next few days. It is so funny to see such little people with teeth! Maybe that will improve their interest in solid food...

My boys, Charlie, Irby, Griffin, 6.5 months and 3 years old!

Just found this picture from his birthday. We were having kind of a crazy morning (to say the least) and had to get out the door to take Lucy to the airport on time, so I let him wear his pjs and rain boots (at least it was raining). He LOVED it. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't fly in Alabama, but we even ran errands on the way home dressed like this. He was very proud of his special birthday outfit.