I can't believe this guy is almost a year.  I'll save my ongoing, bragging like only a parent can do, post for October 10th, but until then I'll just say he is so happy.  So content.  So chill.  He just goes with the flow and I think I can count on one hand how many naps he's had the pleasure of waking up from on his own.  The second child is always being run around from place to place.  I can see now how a third or fourth child would never nap in a crib on a normal schedule.

But our lazy Sunday afternoons are an exception, and naps are never interrupted.

I may be over-documenting firsts, like this being the first time both kids rode in the "flame" cart at the commissary.  Trust me, you can find a child's "first" every single day and as much as we visit the commissary, and as much as we enjoy our food, this moment was a necessary one to blog about.

One weekend Nick trekked the kids around from park to park and sent these two pictures to me of their adventures:  Audrey catching lizards...

...and Ethan just hanging out learning how to fly an airplane.

We've been busy crossing off our bucket list of things to see and do before we leave North Carolina and one of them was to visit this cool wooden park in New Bern.  Audrey loved it and the maze was pretty awesome but the high heat and humidity made us call it quits early on.

I love Nick's personality.  He is crazy.  I'll turn around and catch him doing this and realize how many times throughout the day he makes me laugh.

Nick was promoted to Major and my good friend, who will always drop what she is doing to help, snapped these pictures from the big day:

Totally candid.  I love how Audrey is holding onto both of us without even being prompted.  I think our little family is pretty close knit and I wouldn't have it any other way.

One random day we headed to the Aquarium and Ethan was almost eaten by a dinosaur!

There was a special dinosaur exhibit with these real life looking dinosaur robots and Audrey loved them, until they started spitting water at us.  I laughed and then realized the scary dinosaur faces could potentially lead to nightmares.  Definitely no Jurassic Park for a while.

A few days before Pre-K started, I looked at Audrey's hair and realized an entire year had passed since her last hair cut.  She was looking a little homely from behind.  She was so excited to have her hair cut...5 inches to be exact!

The weather cooled down for a little so there was a painting party on our front sidewalk one afternoon and look who is old enough to grow a mustache!

Another bucket list item to check off:  Fort Macon.  I love history.  I love museums so this was something I've been dying to do, and it did not disappoint.  The weather was perfect, Audrey was being a total goofball like always:

And we had such a great time exploring the ruins from the Civil War.

Just beautiful. 

Audrey's first day of Pre-K was a success!  She loves wearing her new dresses and asks every morning for a side ponytail.  So every morning I'm brought back to the 80s and wrap her hair into a side pony only to realize the above mentioned haircut made her hair too short so it falls out and once again, her hair is all sorts of chaotic in the morning.

So far, she is having a great time and the 0.5 mile commute is way better than the hour roundtrip commute from last year's preschool.

I usually let Audrey listen to the Pandora Disney channel while I'm getting ready in the morning and unbeknownst to me, she also took approximately 75 pictures of watches laying on the ground.  While scrolling through pictures to put on this post, I saw this same picture over and over again and almost bypassed them, only to realize they have every right to be in this update like the other pictures.  This is part of our life right now.  Stuff thrown on the floor and blurry pictures to expose my housekeeping skills.

On September 11, Audrey's school had a freedom walk and while she is still too little to understand the significance of this day, she seemed to enjoy the little parade.

And while cooler temps, fall candles, and FOOTBALL are making me a happy camper, this moment right here takes the cake.  Audrey was coloring and Ethan pulled himself up right next to her and started "coloring" as well and I smiled and thought "these two really are friends."

FREE entertainment!  Shooting the water hose at the storm door made this guy laugh and would have entertained him for hours if Nick would have been willing to stand there for hours.