UAB Fan Day

My newest favorite picture of my little man!

Jake got Blaze's attention immediately.
I'm pretty sure Blaze knows who we are by now...that or he remembers Jake as that kid who will harass him until Blaze gives him the perfect five. ;) Ha! Blaze came over to Jake first and gave quite the show for the crowd. So sweet. One of the few perks of being a coaches' kid. ;)

Bahaha! Look at Walker's face! It quickly became a joke amongst the football players- "who can make Coach Summers' kid cry the fastest!" Ha! Check out the football player to the left...priceless!

Jake with some of Daddy's linebackers

Jake with Daddy's safeties

Blaze...again.

Look who was able to come for a little while...Daddy!

Jake now thinks the "Chick-fil-a moo cow" is a UAB mascot.

Jake and Coach Callaway

Sweet Walker...when he isn't being held by a football player. ;)

Riding the carousel with Daddy before we left.

And one more time because it's my favorite.

"Water Captain America" and His Sidekick

Water Captain America protects his brother from PaPa and the water hose!

Water Captain America prevails!

My mom came to town this week to keep the boys so I could work, and she brought with her these pools for the boys. We had a little issue with the water hose, so the pools didn't get quite as full as we would have liked. The boys still had fun with the pools anyways, especially Jake (aka Water Captain America). Ha! Where does he get this stuff from?

Return of the "Jump Jump"

Pre-jump jump spin on the jeep...
Walker is finally getting big enough to ride with Jake!

The best shot of all the kids.

It's been a long time since we've brought out the "jump jump," so I pulled it out last week and the kids have had a lot of fun on it. This was Walker's first time on the jump jump, but he acted like a pro. Such fun times despite this hotness!

**There is another new post below! Check it out!

Tyson's Safeties

Here is a little video of Tyson's safeties at practice today. Whoop whoop! Go Blazers!

Miss Brittany's Wedding

My handsome little man!

Sweet, sweet Walker had Miss Casey Rae wrapped around his little finger!

This weekend, we celebrated Miss Brittany's big day. Miss Brittany is Jake's FAVORITE teacher, and she wanted "her kids" to be there when she got married. We were definitely honored to be included!

It was a beautiful wedding! I wish I had taken my camera, but it was an outdoor wedding and reception, and I knew I wouldn't want anything extra to deal with. (Dealing with my own sweat, bugs, and a 3 year old was enough!) ;) And oh to have had my video camera to record Jake and Ryan shouting, "Hey, Miss Brittany!" as she walked down the aisle...it was too cute! But what wasn't cute was Jake asking (very loudly) after Miss Brittany walked down the aisle, "Can we have cake now?" Ha! I kept telling everyone, well, Miss Brittany knew what she was getting into by wanting "her kids" there. :)

Thank you to Miss Casey Rae for watching Walker so that Jake and I could go! You rock! And we missed you, Tyson! 3 more weeks til kickoff! Go Blazers!

"We're Home!"

Jake's new spongebob goggles...aren't they hideous?

The best I could do at a group shot!

Kyle and Jake
Jake and Ryan

Walker and Kaitlyn

When we got to the pool this morning, Jake said, "we're home!" I said, "huh?" He said, "We're at the pool...we're home." Ha! He's sort of right, though. I'm pretty sure we've spent more time at the pool this summer than we have our own house.

We played at the pool this morning with the Maddens and Jake and Ryan's friend, Kyle, and his family. Now that school has started back, the pool has been pretty desolate, and we pretty much have the run of the place. It's been so nice! I'm just hoping the neighborhood will decide to keep the pool open after Labor Day; I can't imagine what life will be like with no pool time! I guess we'll have to find a new "home!" ;)

Roughhousing

So this is what my life is like these days with 2 little boys- lots of roughhousing. I'm pretty sure I spend the majority of my day playing referee more than I do anything else. I don't mind the roughhousing too much; they are boys and that's what they do (especially when your Daddy is a football coach and introduces you to a tackling dummy as soon as you can walk). I just have a hard time trying to keep Jake from being too rough with Walker. Luckily, Walker is really tough and loves to roughhouse with his big brother.

Anyways, just another day in the life of the Summers. Oh, and you gotta love the "volcano" that Jake built with the couch cushions. He says the red on the cushions is actually "lava." Ha!

Ellie, The Dog

A couple of months ago, I was out to eat with a few of my girlfriends from work, and I mentioned something about "my dog." Well, we don't have any dogs at our house, so they were a little confused. You see, I got my chihuahua, Ellie, my senior year in college about a month before I graduated. I spoiled her rotten. I even litter box trained her since I knew I would be moving into a 3rd story apartment with my sister in Atlanta after I graduated.

Ellie lived with my sister and me in that 3rd floor apartment for 2 years and then in the house that I bought for another 2 years. Well, then I started dating Tyson...and then we got engaged...and then he asked me to move to Statesboro where he was coaching. I kept my house in Atlanta for a while and continued to commute to work in Atlanta under this "distance program" my hospital offered (work 4 days off for 10), and I rented an apartment in Statesboro to live for my off days. Unfortunately, the apartment wouldn't let me have pets, so Ellie stayed in Atlanta with my sister and her dog, Sandy.

Ellie and Sandy were best friends; Amy and I had been dreading separating them, so it kind of worked out well for Ellie to stay with Amy. I hated leaving my baby, but I knew she was in good hands and happy where she was.

Fast forward 4 months...Tyson got hired at UAB, we got married, I moved out of the apartment, I sold my house in Atlanta, we moved to Birmingham and bought a house, and Tyson put his foot down about Ellie moving in with us. Turns out my hubby isn't an "inside dog" kind of guy. It broke my heart, but I chose my hubby over the dog and gave Ellie to my sis.

So that's the story of Ellie, the dog. I still call her "my dog," but in fact, she isn't my dog anymore. :(

When the boys and I went to my parents' house last week, Ellie was there. My boys were in Heaven! Walker even points to Ellie and says, "Eee." They chased that dog all over the house, and she was such a good sport. Most chihuahuas aren't very "kid-friendly" dogs, but Ellie was awesome with the boys. That's my dog! ;)

Ok, this might be the most boring and insignificant blog ever, but I wanted to show my girls "my dog" and to say thank-you to my sis and my mom for both taking such good care of Ellie.

The Georgia Aquarium

Poor Jake! He was SOOO over me taking pictures!

Wrestling in front of the beluga whales.

I remember Jake playing in this exact spot 2 years ago.

So I totally cropped myself out of this picture...too much leg was showing. It sure is cute of my Jake, though! :)

According to Jake, "The Georgia Aquarium was so funned!" Hehehe. By the way, if you call it just "The Aquarium, he will quickly correct you and say, "It's the 'GEORGIA' Aquarium." What a mess that little boy is! But man he had a good time at the "Georgia Aquarium!"

Jake's favorite part of the whole Aquarium experience was meeting "Betty," the dolphin mascot. In fact, he called it a "mascot"...such a coaches' kid to already know what a mascot is. ;)

Walker had "funned," too. He loved looking at all the fish and making a cute little fish face, but his favorite part was definitely escaping the confines of his stroller and being able to run freely. I dressed the boys alike in bright shirts so that I could keep up with them in the play area, but between a) Walker being faster than lightening and b) every other kid in the place wearing a bright-colored shirt- I could barely keep up with the kid! :)

I think the best part of the trip was lunch. We got to eat lunch in one of the ballrooms that opened up to the beluga whale tank; it was incredible! It was so peaceful and serene, and when we got done eating, the boys ran around and played as long as they wanted to in front of the tank. It was definitely an amazing experience!

Thanks for going to the Aquarium with us Mom! We definitely made some fun memories! ;)

**I didn't realize until I got home that I took more pictures of MY animals at the Aquarium than I did of the actual animals. So if you were looking for photo tour of the Aquarium, sorry!!