View from My Lounge Chair Today

The temperature is in the mid 80s so it's good beach weather. I took a 40 minute walk on the beach today and the sand was pleasant to walk on.

We are at the Beach

This weekend I am at the Alabama beach with (back) Jennifer, Barbara (front) Stacey, Beverly, me, Bev, Diane, Laura. We plan to shop and relax! Here's the view from my room at sunset.

Courtney and 'Meow'

Courtney has started calling her stuffed cat 'Meow.' Here's video.

Southern Miss Tailgating

Today was Southern Miss vs. Marshall at The Rock so we tailgated with Jimmy, Julie, Russell, Kim, Laura, Tara, and more. As soon as the game started it began raining, and steadily rained until the game's end. We had our ponchos, luckily, but it was still not the ideal football watching weather. And we lost the game. Here's some photos of the tailgating tent and Courtney's cheerleader outfit. The top kept riding up and her tummy kept showing.......so we decided she looked just like the 'real' cheerleaders at the game.

Shelling Peas

My mother was kind enough to teach me how to shell peas today! We took Courtney to the farmers market in town, bought some crowder peas, and shelled and cooked them. I can't believe I never learned before how to make them myself!

Picnic Lunch

We packed a picnic lunch today and strolled down to the playground of the school in our neighborhood. We took Rufus and Courtney and everyone behaved beautifully. The last time we went to the park and let Rufus off leash, he took off like a shot and we had to chase him a couple of blocks. This time he actually obeyed commands. Here's Todd and Courtney snacking on sandwiches, pears and chips (in Courtney's case, whole wheat bread and Cheerios).

The Swings

Today we took Courtney to Sophie and Nelson's playground at a church less than .1 mile from our house - an easy stroll. The church was deserted on a Saturday so we don't think anyone minded. You can find two terrific blogs from Sophie's mom (Mader Family News) and Nelson's mom (Crump Connection) in the links on the right of this page. At any rate, Courtney loves the swings and squeals with delight when she's swinging. Here's an action shot.

Increasing Vocabulary

Today CC said mama in the appropriate context! I'm thrilled because she had said dada for weeks and I was getting jealous. She can now say:
Dada
Mama
Bath
Cat
Baby
Bye-Bye

She is also starting to mimic our actions, which is really fun to watch.