Seth the Magician

Seth has been watching a magic show on TV. He has already picked up one neat magic trick. Look what he can do with a soda can!

Summer 2010

It has been almost 9 months since my last post (at least on this blog.) As you can guess the new job is taking up all of my time. Any free time I have left I spend with the kids so I don't get access to a computer much these days. Since our last post we have had Christmas, Easter, 11 year wedding anniversary, 4th of July and Seth's 6th birthday.

Thatcher is now almost 50 lbs (he still weighs more than Seth) and is starting to talk now. He can say about 30% of his alphabet which all of the credit for that goes to Megan. Seth started back at school today, with his first time riding the bus. He got right onto the bus with no issues at all. We are very proud of him. If you want to check out my professional blog you can view it by going to http://blog.fayling.com It is pretty technical so non-techies may want to skip it!

As you may or may not know I help run an animal charity that is currently running a summer raffle, the proceeds of which will go to running the charity. If you are interested in a chance to win a 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 go to http://raffle.naidcharities.org and purchase a ticket for $20. Only 5000 tickets will be sold.

New Pictures:

Winter 2010

Spring 2010

Summer 2010

Air Shows, Halloween, Thatcher's Birthday and Thanksgiving

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record by now, but I am still amazed at how little computer time I have had this past year. During the week I am doing 60+ hours and on the weekend I am in "Kid Mode" and spend all my free time interacting with the family. On the plus side I was able to get a bunch of pictures over the past few months.

Since our last post we have seen two air shows, Halloween, Thatcher turned 2, and Thanksgiving. Thatcher is getting bigger by the minute. He is starting to say more words, yesterday Megan asked him to come to him and he said "OK". Thatcher is also now able to get out of his crib whenever he wants, so life has gotten a little more complicated. Megan found a really cool tent that you can add to the crib that make it impossible for Thatcher to get out, but I am sure he will find a way!

Seth is doing excellent in kindergarten. He can read about 50 words, knows his alphabet and numbers and is constantly asking questions. The big news is that he can now swim! Seth and I have been spending 3-5 hours a week at the YMCA working on his swimming and he is now doing it all. He can swim on his back, with his face in the water, and as recently as this week he is now jumping off the edge of the pool! We are very proud of him.

Enjoy the pictures!

• Peachtree City Airshow
• Jacksonville Airshow (Blue Angels)
• Halloween
• Thatcher's Birthday
• Thanksgiving
• Miscellaneous

Seth's 5th Birthday

It has been a hectic past few months. I have had only a few minutes each weekend to do anything on the computer so I haven't had much time to compose the normal video and picture upload that I do. I do have about 30 minutes of un-edited video that I need to go through but that will have to wait a few more weeks.

Seth had his 5th birthday (click here to view the pictures) this year. As usual he got a ton of airplanes toys. He is really big into rubber band airplanes right now. Although he is getting picky. The airplanes must have landing gears so that he can do take-offs and landings. If they don't have em, he doesn't want em. He has also gotten me into model aiplane building as well. Right now we are at the balsa wood rubber band stage, but I am expecting to go to the R/C level soon.

Seth started kindergarten a few weeks ago. The school is much more advanced than I expected it to be. I am in constant contact with the teacher via email and they have a computer lab the kids get to use each week. On his first day of school the teacher assigned him homework! The teacher told us that kindergarten is now like what first grade was for us.

We recently got a YMCA membership so that the kids and I could go swimming. Thatcher really loves it, and Seth is warming up to it. He loves swimming with me, but doesn't like putting his head under water. We get about 4 hours a week which is good for me since I don't get much exercise these days.

Enjoy these random summer pictures and look for my video upload soon.

Seth has graduated Pre-K

Seth has gradautated Pre-K! I thought I would upload this picture so you could see how cute he was.

Air Museum, Easter, Fishing, and Flowers

As the weather starts to warm up, we are staring to get more active again. Since our last blog entry we have gone to the Georgia Air Museum, celebrated Easter, taught Seth how to fish, attempt karate, and even allowed him to explore his green thumb.

Thatcher is also more active now. He is climbing all over everything. I came downstairs from working the other day to find Thatcher sitting on top of our living room coffee table watching TV. He also likes to climb the stairs, but not like normal kids. We have the stairs gated off, so Thatcher has decided to climb the SIDE of the stairs, by holding onto the railing. We caught him about 4 feet up a few weeks ago. Thatcher is also starting to get more vocal. I expect a few words to be uttering out of his mouth very soon (I am hoping for Daddy!)

Seth continues to do well in school, with only a month left before summer break. Megan and I are looking into kindergartens for Seth since next week is registration. PTO here we come!

Enjoy these pictures we took.

2009 Summer Fun

We have had some crazy weather during the past few weeks. Two weeks ago we had snow, last week it was in the 80's! During the heat wave we took Seth and Nick out and had them wash the cars. Seth stuck with it for about 30 minutes. He especially liked the part where he got to squirt down the car, and me! 

I have been working with Seth daily on his baseball skills. He is getting extremly good at batting. We mave have a major leagure on our hands! Thatcher is quickly coming up to speed with sports as well. He has been playing catch with me for a few weeks now. Of course I need to be about three inches away from him to be able to catch it, but it is a start!

Enjoy the pictures we took!

Seth and Thatcher - Winter 2009

We finally got our annual snow fall today! This was Thatcher's first snow and he loved it! Seth, Thatcher and Nick all went out to play today and they got to throw snowballs and eat snow! It is amazing how much Georgia has thinned my blood. I remember when I could go outside in the snow in shorts and a t-shirt and not be phased. Today I could only stand about 15 minutes of it. Thatcher however was a trooper. Even with snow up his pant legs he was stomping around having fun!

I have added a few pictures that shows what we have been doing over the past few months! I also made a short video of Seth and Thatcher playing with some bubbles! Enjoy.

Happy New Year! A lot has happened since we last posted to this blog. The biggest news is that Thatcher is walking now! Now that he is walking he loves to get into all sorts of things. Currently his favorite past time is to walk over to the remote control draw (yes I have a draw dedicated to remote controls...) of our entertainment center, open it up, pick out a remote control and eat it. Thatcher must have very acidic saliva because anything he "eats" stops working shortly after. One of the bigger profile victims was my cell phone! 

I got to spend a lot of time with the family in December. I took three weeks off of work. Seth and Thatcher got a lot of play time with me. Seth and I even took a road trip up to Pinehurst, NC to visit his great grandparents. We got to sleep overnight in a hotel (which he loved.) Seth is now old enough for travel, now all we need to do is get Thatcher there and we may be able to start visiting relatives again! WOO HOO!  I took some  Pictures of the family over the holidays that I think you will enjoy. I also made a short video of Thatcher walking, and Seth making a fruit cake. Enjoy!

It has been an exciting past few months. Thatcher is almost walking now, he took four unassisted steps last night. I had predicted he would be walking by his first birthday and he is almost there. Thatcher had his 1st birthday on Friday. He got a walker, some bath toys, and clothes. He wasn't in the best of moods that day so it was a short lived Birthday but Seth and I loved the cake! 

Since my last post Seth, Megan and I went to an airshow and we celebrated Halloween. Seth went as an astronaut (there is a shocker) and Thatcher went as a sea turtle. Here are some pictures I took of the events.

More Pictures

Don't have a lot of time. I hope you see the videos below. I also posted a few pictures on Shutterfly. Been nuts around here. This is the first free time I have had in weeks.

Click here to view the pictures

Thatcher Crawls and Eats Solid Food

Thatcher is crawling now! We got some good footage of him crawling with Seth, looking at himself in the mirror, and eating some solid foods. Enjoy!

Seth's 4th Birthday (Video)

I finally got around to making Seth's 4th birthday video. Enjoy!

New Picture Blog?

Shutterfly has a new blogging tool. It seems way more advanced then blogger. I have started to play with it. Depending on feedback, I may decide to switch over to it. Tell me what you think. You can view the site by going to http://thefaylings.site.shutterfly.com

Car, Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Visits

June/July is the busy time for our family. In the past few weeks we have bought a new car, had three birthdays, a 50th wedding anniversary, and three separate family visits. I purchased a 2007 Chrysler 300c. Since I drive about 120 miles a day for work I needed to get a car that was better for my back. My old Monte Carlo was giving me horrible back pain. I have had it now for a few weeks and I haven't had a single day with back pain. It was the best purchase I have ever made!

Seth turned four June 28th. We went a little overboard on the presents this year. I think Megan and I learned something important this time around. Anything over 4 presents is just to much. Seth had so many presents he actually got tired of opening them! Seth is doing much better with his speaking now and is talking in full sentences. He is still seeing a speech therapist but I don't expect him to be going for much longer.

As for visitors, we have had my mother, grandfather, cousin (Jenice), Kim, Brandi, Nick, Morris and Doris all visit us within 10 days of each other. As you can expect it has been very hectic around here. Brandi and Nicholas stayed with us for over a week. So we had a four year old, 18 month old, and a seven month old all at the same time. You can imagine the days around here. Brandi and Nick just left today and it feels a little too quite around here.

Morris and Doris Nicholson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with us. The family threw them a surprise party and it was a success. We also threw Jeff a 50th birthday party. The whole family is a little sick of cake right now.

We have a TON of pictures for you to view, and expect another compilation video in the next few days (It takes several hours to compose, and finding time is getting more difficult these days.)

Enjoy!

Summer is here

Nothing that exciting to report (Jason Mantel always writes War and Peace on his blogs making me feel self conscious about mine.)

It is summer, so that means it is hot! My car showed 106 degrees a few days ago while I was sitting in traffic. Since the weather has been so hot we have been trying to do more indoor activities with the kids. Last week I took Seth to see Kung fu Panda. He sat through the entire movie. I was very impressed. I think our world just got a little more fun, now that movies are open to us.

Thatcher is sitting up like a pro now. He loves to watch Seth and I playing. His current favorite: Seth and I throwing paper airplanes at each other, and Seth dropping his "parachute guy" from the top of the stairs. Thatcher has also become a Teletubby fan. Surprising Seth is still into the show! I thought I wasn't going to have to endure any more of that show... Oh well.

Here are the pictures we acquired over the past few months and a short compilation video I created.

Spring 2008

Happy Easter,

Just wanted to give everybody an update. The family is doing well. Thatcher has started to sleep more during the night. Last night we only had to get up 6 times. WOO HOO!

Seth and Thatcher are starting to play together. Seth will come over when Thatcher is crying and try to cheer him up. Thatcher loves it. Thatcher is 20 lbs now. When you have Seth and Thatcher next to each other it is shocking how big Thatcher is. Other then that everything else is status quo.

Enjoy these pictures.

Winter 2008

It has been a few months since our last post. Life has been hectic with a newborn, a toddler, and a long distance job. Seth is in school now, Thatcher is able to smile and laugh, and I have added over 6,000 more miles to my car since our last post.

Seth is doing well with school, bringing home new projects every week. We have started to see a difference in his attitude, and he is asking us "What's this?" all the time.

Megan and I are still not getting any sleep. I do the 10 PM - 2AM shift, sleep from 2 AM to 6 AM and then head into the office. Megan does 2AM until the morning. We have managed to take a few pictures, and I have created another compilation video, so enjoy!

Xmas 2007

Thatchers first Christmas was action packed. He had a visit from his grandmother Brown, and his aunt and uncle Mantel. We had three kids running around the house (actually one running, one waddling, and the other laying on his back).

Megan and I have been getting on average about 4 hours of sleep each. One sleeps while the other watches the kids. Adding visitors just made it more interesting. Added to all of this Seth is currently potty training now (he is almost there!) and he starts his first day of pre-school on Monday!

I have created a short video that sums up the holidays as well as posted more pictures. Enjoy!

Seth is a Pro Bowler!

Seth was getting cabin fever, so we decided to all go to the local bowling alley and teach Seth how to bowl. They had a special seven pound ball and bumpers for the lane. He got a 70 on his first game, all by himself.

Here are some pictures we took of the game, as well as a few around the house shots of the family.