early morning

This is what our typical morning looks like.  Well, the mornings that I get to stay home with the kids.  B. leaves at 5:40 and instead of getting up to go work out, I think to myself, ahhh sleeping in.  Then I drift off to sleep.  10 minutes later, inevitably, a child wakes up.  It doesn't matter if I put them to bed late to see if they would sleep in, put them to bed early to see if the rule "the earlier they sleep, the later they sleep" is true, or feed them benadryl because of the many many bug bites that the end of summer brings.  They still. wake. up.  If it's A., K could still sleep for another hour.  If it is K. he wakes up A. whom refuses to stay in her room when she thinks she may be missing something.

This morning, it was K.  I went to his room, gave him his blanket, and tip toed out of his room.  I hazily walked back to my room where A. cheerfully greeted me with, "good morning".  It was that moment between so happy she is my kid and so sad that she is already ready to start the day.  I let her come into bed where she laid quietly for 2 minutes and 54 seconds before she was asking to play with the kindle.  OK fine, until she decided the piano game was the app of choice.  Lets try a quieter game.  So she played dress the princess for another 6 minutes when I heard "UP" coming from the other room.   OK, it's 5:55. Lets get this party started!

Someone want to tell me why they look so tired yet are insisting on starting the day.  Who can tell these little faces to go back to sleep.  I am one lucky mommy.

when the kids are away

There are so many ways that I could have started this blog.
1) We were so lucky to meet this awesome couple our first year in Richmond, Va.  They lived behind us and we spent almost every evening with them.  Jackie lowered her division 1 runner self to help me keep a pace for a whole 3 miles to run a 5k.  She could have run it in her sleep yet she chose to hang with me.  We had dinners together, grilling over 75% of them.  Yet, this wasn't the healthy grilling, B. once made steaks so big that Ryan had a hangover the next day.  Jackie planned a party complete with paper decorations on the night that B. got his job and we decided we were moving.  We were all excited for him yet crying at the same time.  However, they turned into my roomies for a year afterward so that i could finish my Master's degree.  Imagine giving up your home the first year of marriage and you get the graciousness that is this awesome family.

2) My kiddos are so lucky that their grandparents love to hang with them.  B's parents and my parents alternate weeks to stay one day with K.  This week, our babysitter was on vacation so my mom spent the ENTIRE week with K.  she then volunteered to stay the weekend with both kids so we could go out of town.  Though, I think they are both on a little withdrawal since Mommy isn't as fun.

3) Being a golf course superintendent has a lot of unspoken advantages.  Yes, our guys work REALLY hard outside in the heat for REALLY long hours.  They drive around in golf carts and drink A LOT of coffee.  And, they get to meet a lot of really cool people from vendors, to members, to coworkers.

Put all 3 of these together and you get why our weekend was so cool.  B. and I got to go see Ryan and Jackie in their new home (well 2.5 years after they moved)  These 2 superintendents spent their mornings golfing and their evenings grilling.  Jackie and I spent our mornings antiquing (something I've been missing out on for the last 31 years) and our evenings sipping wine and enjoying the food.

   Then, Saturday night, we took a shuttle to the Bristol Race to the box seats at the Bristol Raceway.  B., who actually pays enough attention to have a driver, Denny Hamlin, could have not been happier to wear his Kahki's and Italian Loafers and watch the race, and people for that matter, through the glass.  Then, actually got happier with Hamlin won.

America's sport.  

The view from behind the glass

They are smiling though I don't really know why.  The 5 minutes we spent down in the bleachers were SOOOO loud and I was getting yelled out by some lady with really huge ear phones for blocking her view.   

Did I forget to mention that we had pit passes and Jackie and I spent a good 50 laps watching the race from the track.  

Denny's truck for B.

Too bad for that car.

Go Denny!

 Thanks Ryan, Jackie, Mom, Dad, and The Olde Farm!

yellow room here we come

A. had her first day in the 4 year old classroom at preschool today.  This is her response.

Me: Tell me about your day.
A.: Well, they don't let me eat my chocolate after lunch.  Only fruit snacks or a juice box.  They have lots of blocks and I played with them.  We have jobs but I didn't get one.  The frog feeder gets the frog food and put it in where the frogs are.  I sleeped up in the loft but I was really comfy.  It was special.  Maybe since I just got in there, they let me do that.

Me: What did you do first?
A: We runned around and played.

Me: What was your favorite thing?
A.: Going outside to play.  I played with my friends on the slide.

Me: Who are your friends?
A: Jackie, but she's not in my class.  Annaleise, she likes to play with me on the slide.

Me: Do you like your teachers?  Yeah, Ms. Jessica and Ms. Debbie and Ms. Heather.  They worked in my class all day.  I like them because they are my teachers and they are really nice.

A.: Thats all.

Don't you love the velcro sneakers with dress look.  Dress was A.'s idea, shoes are what they require at school.  It makes for a fashionista.

messy eaters

This may be an occupational therapist thing, but I do not care if my kids get messy when they eat.  I would rather have them really messy than have to feed them.  A. eats spaghetti without a shirt on and I often get K. naked before meals.  On second thought, maybe its a selfish thing in that I would prefer to enjoy my food and clean up after than miss my food and have clean children.  hhmmm... I guess I never thought of it until I just typed that.  Well, now that I have something new to consider, I guess I'll just share some messy pictures.

ice cream at Bethany Beach

This messiness is a regular day to day thing so much so that our friends have threatened to take our high chair outside to power wash it after a meal.

A. at 10 months

K.'s first birthday

projecting emotions

I have a lot of fears,  some are over the top like falling off of a bridge and being unable to get out of the car or having a tunnel collapse and only breathing CO2 until the water rushes into my car.  I know, ridiculous.  I have had to overcome both of these so that I no longer cross a bridge with my windows open even in the middle of a rain storm; said storm may have caused the windshield wipers to actually propel all of the water into the window making it so much harder to see that I very well could have caused my own fear to happen.  I also stopped holding my breath through every tunnel.  One could call it therapy that my old commute required me to drive through a tunnel to desensitize me from the first time I got stuck in traffic and almost passed out trying not to breath the car exhaust.

I'm also pretty conscious not to pass these fears onto my children.  However, 3 things have recently forced me to put aside my fears and make sure my kids don't pick them up.  

1) We climbed this beautiful lighthouse in North Carolina.

It had this staircase with spaces between each stair so that I could have easily tripped and dropped my son down 30 flights of stairs.  

notice the relief on my face as we were back at the bottom.

The top of the lighthouse had so much wind that my hair was huge and I had to ignore it to keep my rambunctious toddler pinned to my body totally against his will.

I may not have done that well at hiding that fear but we made it to the top and I got my well earned sticker at the bottom.

2)

This little critter was hiding behind our bench when we were doing our yard work.  A.'s first reaction was to scream.  Mine was to jump up on the shed and stay away but I didn't want her to think it was scary.  So, B, my very brave husband, caught the little squirmy thing and A. followed my lead to touch the tail while it stuck it's tongue out at us.   

3) This fear didn't even register to me until B. pointed it out.  A. has been really practicing on her bike with only 1 training wheel.  I find it extremely frustrating since it now takes us 30 minutes to get around the block as she stops and puts her feet down every 10 feet.  I also feel the need to challenge her all the time.  Despite the fact that she will not go faster than a slow walking pace, I nonchalantly told her to drive down a ramp at our nearby church.  I refused to let her get off because she was scared.  She made it half way and then forgot how to stop so she tried to grab onto the railing and promptly got herself wedged between her bike and railing with a skinned knee.  If you know my daughter, a skinned knee is as painful as actually cutting off her leg and is the most awful thing around.  As I offered my half ass consoling hug, B. said, you never would have done that.  He pointed out my slow and steady pace on a ski slope just so that I don't feel out of control. He didn't mean to make me feel bad but it definitely put me in my place.  So, I will hide my bridges, heights, snakes, and tunnel fears but I guess I won't go so far as to discount the natural fears. 

look who is 4 today!!

8/14/08

This girl whom took 21 hours to make her entrance in to the world but was met with such joy.

This girl whom started walking at 11 months and has been practically running since that time.

This girl whom at 2 years old was already talking so much that we had a hard time saying a full sentence with out being interrupted.

8/27/11 first day of preschool

This girl whom at 3 years old could swing her moods from the happiest most polite girl to a screaming temper tantrum.  This girl whom was described as the nicest girl in school by the director of her preschool yet treated her best friend as her enemy until we rewarded good behavior.  This girl whom in the last week of being 3 figured out how to cross the monkey bars all by herself, ride a bike with 1 training wheel, read an alphabet book to her brother recognizing all but 1 letter, and all of a sudden started saying please and thank you and carried her dishes to the sink.  This girl whom can make her momma so filled with joy and so happy to be leaving the 3 year old stage.

good news and bad news

Good news on this day, July 12, it was a rainy Saturday.  In most people's worlds, this means staying inside and being bored.  For us it means... Daddy gets to come home on a Saturday in the middle of JULY!!!!

Bad news:  it brought more disease to his grass.

Good news:  The kiddos got to go puddle jumping

Bad news:  K. now thinks it is ok to run to the street as soon as we open the front door.  This guy that used to stop right at the curb now makes a bee line directly to the intersection.  Terrifying!

like father like son

I already had a post about A. and her father.  They are EXACTLY alike.  K. on the other hand has a very different personality.  A. and B. change the entire atmosphere of a room when they walk into it.  K. walks in, surveys his surroundings and then decides what to do.  K. is flexible, he just goes with the flow.  A. and B. like to know exactly what is going to happen before it happens.

However, K. and B. share 1 specific love... golf.  Golf is the only thing that K. will watch on TV.  He will walk over with a remote and say "go" then sit on the couch and wait for a view of the greens.

He walks around with a golf club as if it is attached to his right hand.

He hits anything and everything that looks like a small ball; blocks, dog toys, balls, even a grape that fell on the floor.  The most impressive thing is that he actually comes into contact with the ball with a golf club designed for a preschooler.  But, watch your step when you are in my house because you never know where that ball is going to land:)

The many faces of K

My boy is still a man of few words.  He starts speech therapy2 x a month soon.  The speech therapist hypothesized that his lack of hearing for 10 months and having a nonstop chitter chatter sister means that he doesn't need to talk.  He also gets his point across without having to talk. He's pretty self sufficient, he takes a cup to the refrigerator when he wants a drink, opens the closet to get out his stool when he wants, and we have most of our toys accessible.  When all else fails, point and say aaahhhh.  And, who needs to talk when your face says all you need?

Well that looks like fun

yep, I'm about to take off in a dead sprint.  Come and catch me

did you not want me to just throw that sand in your face? hehe

This sand is kind of cool on my feet and hands.

Again, catch me if you can.  This is K.'s favorite thought and his favorite action.

fun!

Did you see those birds?

must concentrate on my feet so I don't fall.  I will not stop running!

squinty eyes usually mean "check me out"

You are crazy if you think I'm coming back to you.

Wow.  There are strange people here.

However, put him in a new and different situation and this is all you get...

A whole lot of nothing.  He goes back to the stoic little guy that he was as a baby.  Maybe I'll remember to just put him in awkward situations when he is running away from me for the 50th time in a day or climbing up my shelves, or dumping out all of the markers, or smearing his yogurt all over the wall, or hitting the golf ball into the window.  Ahh toddlerhood, how I love you.