Happy Birthday Ashton...

This past weekend, we went to Brookhaven to spend some time with my family and to celebrate Ashton's 7th Birthday. Ashton wanted a Pokemon / Swim Party and so that is what he had, and we all had a great time celebrating with him on his special day!

The Birthday Boy ~ Ashton, our nephew...

Ashton getting ready to blow out the candles on the cake he decorated himself. His grandmother on the other side of the family always makes his cake, and she decorates one and lets him decorate one. They love decorating his cakes together...

Ashton thinking really hard...he was making his wish before he blew out his candles...

Our child with no fear...as soon as she saw her "big" cousins jumping off the diving board, she was right behind them. Here she is getting ready for her running start...

Jumping off the diving board...

There is nothing to this jumping off the diving board and going under...let's do it again, and again, and again!

Swimming with Daddy...

And our sweet Bently...she is growing up too fast...will not be long, and we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday...

Our BIG "2" Year Old...

Today was Anna Lauren's 1st day of school, which to us means a new teacher and some new friends. No worries...Holli Grace (GG) is still in her room, but she did get separated from some of her other precious little friends...fortunately, all the 2 year olds will be together in the cafeteria and on the playground so they they will still see each other a good bit even though they are not in the same class.

She was all smiles as she headed off to her "big girl" class today and Daddy managed to drop her off with no tears being shed. She ran right up to her new teacher and was happy to be there!

In this class she will learn her colors, numbers, and alphabet. Not only will she know her numbers and alphabet, but she will be able to recognize each number and letter in order as well as out of order. Now...that is just amazing...kids are so smart these days! Matt and I are so excited as it will be a fun adventure to watch her mature and learn over the next year.

Per Ms. Tammie, her new teacher, she had a great day and seemed to really enjoy her new class!

On a side note, we put a twin bed in Anna Lauren's room this weekend...for the first time in 4 months, she slept on the bed rather than a pallet on the floor. We are going on night #3 in the bed...we shall see what comes of this. No pictures of the new bed...still trying to get the bedding in place...it is a a little ghetto right now! And...she seems to be completely potty trained...woo hoo...that was easy!

Anna Lauren and Mommy before we left for school and work...she refused to take a picture by herself...I'm telling you, you never know with this kiddo!

Weekend at Pop Pop and MeMe's...

Since we had not been to Gulfport since February, we decided it was past time to pay Pop Pop and MeMe a visit so this past weekend we headed to their house. Typically when we go to Gulfport, we are there for some special reason, but this past weekend was fun because we were just there to be there and got to do what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. As you will see by the many pictures, we had a good visit with Pop Pop and MeMe and lots of fun was had by all!

Saturday ~ The Children's Museum

Anna Lauren using the rope and pulley to pull herself up...

Listening to what MeMe is saying from the other end of the pipe...

I know this is hard to believe, but I caught Anna Lauren doing this a good bit...there was just so much to see and do that sometimes she would just stop and look around...she would take a minute to take it all in before she decided exactly what she wanted to do next. And please notice her darling hair...MeMe cut her hair Friday night...it was spur of the moment so I didn't get any pictures of the hair cut.

Daddy ~ Anna Lauren's "crane" operator...

Anna Lauren loading the bags off the crane into the truck...

Loading the bags back onto the hook so Daddy could put them back on the ship...

Sticking her head out of one of the cars on the train...there were these awesome tree houses and a train outside...we didn't play outside long though because it was way too hot!

Saturday ~ Finishing Up the Hair Cut

I know this is hard to believe, but Anna Lauren opted to be "still" for a few minutes so MeMe could cut a few more baby hairs...not sure we would have made it through the hair cut without Pop Pop's stationery bike...the buttons kept her entertained...

Sunday ~ The Beach

Mommy and Anna Lauren at the beach...

Anna Lauren burying Daddy's legs in the sand...

Daddy and Anna Lauren playing in the water...

Anna Lauren found a dead fish on the pier...surprisingly, she didn't think twice about picking it up...

Throwing the fish back into the water...

MeMe, Daddy, and Anna Lauren on the pier...

Nothing to Report...

This post is for all those blog stalkers that like me go to a blog and close it with disappointment when you see the same exact post you saw last time you checked the blog.

However, I really don't have anything to report as it has just been a normal week around the Calvert house. So in searching for something to say, I'll let you know some of the fun things our little girl is up to these days:

• She is "almost" potty trained...for the past two weeks, she has worn panties to school and managed to surprise her Mommy and Daddy with no accidents! Don't get me wrong, there are accidents from time to time, but for the most part, she is potty trained.
• She continues to "like" Barney...
• The past two weeks of swim school, she has loved the water and had so much fun. She is going under like a big girl and yesterday she was even wanting to go under, which was fun.
• Two days ago, she discovered she had a Barbie, which she calls Princess. However, Matt told me that Princess got a spanking, and I witnessed Princess going to time out. She has these little shoes like all Barbies have and when they come off, Princess gets a spanking or put in time out for taking off her shoes. Hmm...think she is "understanding" this discipline thing...maybe it is finally time to use it on her and hope it works!
• She still only loves her Daddy...I ask her all the time if she loves me, and she immediately says...nope, I love my Daddy!
• This morning she informed me that Ms. Regina said it was "ok" for GG (Holli Grace) to go with us to Pop Pop and MeMe's this weekend. No Holli Grace is not going, and we for sure have not asked Ms. Regina.
• Her RaRa is no longer at daycare...last week was her last week as she will be attending Mississippi State in the Fall. We've just chosen not to discuss it at our house as we are very sad. I told Anna Lauren the other morning that we needed to fix her hair and she informed me that Ra Ra would do it...at that point, I had to say, Ra Ra will not be there...I almost lost it! Again, we are just not discussing it at our house...
• She continues to sleep on a pallet on the floor in her room...still refuses to sleep in her crib, which has been converted to a toddler bed due to her climbing out of her bed over and over and over. We have discussed putting a twin bed in her room next weekend to see how she reacts to that...

Those are just a few fun things...we are headed to Gulfport for the weekend so I anticipate to have some pictures to post when we return.

Father's Day Just a Little Late...

For Father's Day, we gave Matt's dad (Pop Pop) tickets to a Mississippi Braves Game, and we finally went and celebrated Father's Day with him last night. We couldn't have asked for better weather (thanks to the rain cooling things off a bit), and we all had a great time! Anna Lauren seemed to enjoy her 1st baseball game and even convinced Pop Pop to buy her some ice cream served right up in a baseball cap.

Anna Lauren and Pop Pop...little blurry because we took it with Pop Pop's phone so we could send it to MeMe because she couldn't come with Pop Pop. And of course, we wanted Anna Lauren to look at the camera so she was not going to do that...

Anna Lauren enjoying her hot dog...

We know Pop Pop...she is an interesting little kid. I love this picture...Pop Pop is looking at her like, oh my...what next silly little girl?

You cannot tell what she was doing but this was hilarious...Pop Pop called MeMe and Anna Lauren wanted to talk to her. So she was talking away and then it would be time to clap...so...she would put the phone on her shoulder and clap. Hmmm...who do you think she has seen do this? I'm sure her mother isn't doing 20 other things all while talking on the phone!

Something of Interest...

So we finally think we may have found something of interest to Anna Lauren. When I would pick her up from school, she would ask to watch Barney on the way home, and I would explain to her that she watches Barney at school...unfortunately, we do not have a Barney movie. Well, when we returned from Atlanta last week, her Nanny (Nanna) took her to Wal-Mart and bought her two Barney movies...she was thrilled! However, these movies have been used as part of our potty training. If she poops in her panties, the Barney movies go into the closet until she poops in the potty like a big girl. So the movies go back and forth, but it seems to be working...yea!

The beauty of the whole thing is that she sat in the chair and watched Barney for 20 minutes this morning...20 minutes! I know this does not seem like long, but to the parents of a "wide open" child this is like two hours to us...I was able to put my make-up on and dry my hair all while she sat in the living room and watched Barney. And when she did get up it was to come in the bathroom and tell me she needed to poop in the potty!

Wow...what a dream come true and a fabulous morning...we get excited over the "little" things at our house! So...thanks to this guy...let's hope she will continue to stay interested...

Happy Birthday Jack Jack...

Today we celebrated the 1st birthday of one of our favorite little boys...Jack! Or if you ask Anna Lauren, it is Jack Jack! As you all know, we were devasted when Billy, Katie, Adam (Ady), and Jack (Jack Jack) moved away, but we have tried our best to see them as much as possible and Anna Lauren still loves these little guys to pieces, and we all have so much fun when we get together. Today was of course another fun day with them as we got to celebrate Jack's special day!

The birthday boy waiting for his cake and Happy Birthday...

Anna Lauren watching Jack dig into his cake...

I love this picture of Adam and Jack...Big Brother is showing Jack how one of his new toys works and Jack seems so interested.

I happened to look out the back door and this is what I saw...how do you like the "lazy" version of pushing the kids in the swings? However, it didn't seem to bother Adam and Anna Lauren he was sitting down...they were just happy to be getting pushed by someone.

Adam, Matt, and Anna Lauren playing in the blow up bouncer (not sure the correct name, but you know what I'm talking about)...