sigh...

yeah. it's been since june since i've posted.  lots of stuff has happened since then... including our laptop dying that had my started blog posts.  so here's a brief run down about what has happened and hopefully i can update with more detail later. (also this computer is giving me a hard time and i can't download window's live writer without doing 78045687 other things, so whatever...)

• At the end of June Jerry dropped the kids and myself at my parents where we spent 3 weeks playing the mountains.  We spent lots of time with our friend Laura.  Grace became a chicken whisperer and Elijah got some good soccer time.  Both kids took swim lessons and Elijah became quite the fish.  This shocked me as he didn't even want to put his head in the water in the tub.  Grace freaked out after a couple of days so we pulled her out, but she still learned and talks about Coach Hannah often.  We hiked and played in the creek at Oma and Opa's.  We can't wait to go back this coming summer!!
• The rest of July and all of August was spent playing in our backyard pool, at the Splash Pad and at friends' houses.  It was boiling lava hot this summer, but that's the beach for you.  Elijah and Grace both received boogie boards this summer.  Elijah got really good at riding the waves.  Grace had fun too, but needed a little more help.  Still, very proud of them for making the plunge into the water!
• Elijah started preschool this year.  I was VERY nervous about this.  We have left both kids at local drop in childcare in the evening, but they were together.  We had talked preschool up all summer.  The parent orientation was cancelled due to the possibility of a tropical storm.  So I called and talked to Elijah's teacher.  She seemed really nice and talked about her teaching philosophy.  The first day was simply a meet and great with the parents, teachers, and kids.  It helped to ease the kids in.  The actual first day came and it went fine.  Elijah picked out a tie dyed shirt to wear.  He helped pack his lunch and we drove up.  I was totally prepared to walk him into school, but he got out when the director opened the car door and walked right into the building.  My jaw was on the floor and my eyes were full of tears.  He was WAY more ready that I was.  My little guy is all grown up!
• Grace is my little spit fire.  I think she enjoys having mommy time, but I know she misses Elijah terribly.  She LOVES when we go in to pick up Elijah or drop him off.  She WANTS to stay.  Elijah's teacher often comments that she could stay and show some of the others how to behave.  Heh.  If she only knew.  We try to stay busy with playing with friends and visiting parks.  On Fridays we usually head to a local gymnastics gym for open play.  They have a big trampoline and lots of small equipment to play on.  She LOVES it.  Once a month or so they have a parent's night out and we drop the kids off to jump and play.
• In October we went to the mountains for a quick visit and to go to homecoming at WWC.  The visit was way too short, but we did get to have some time alone without the kiddos.  And we saw some friends.  It's very nice that my parents feel comfortable putting the kids to sleep and the kids feel comfortable hanging with my folks.   I set up a face painting booth at festival on the field and did fairly well.  Later in October my friend, Amy, and I worked a two day festival painting faces.  It was a lot of fun, but hard work.  I think we will try to do even more next fall.  
• For Halloween Elijah was a fire boy again and Grace was a tiger.  Jerry and I dressed up as well.  I was a cat and Jerry was a nudist on strike.  I volunteered for Elijah's Halloween party at school and had fun meeting his friends and other moms.  We went Trunk or Treating with 3/4 of the Edward's on Saturday and then trick or treating with the Williamson's and Mead's.  This was the first year that both kids REALLY got it and MAN did they GET it!  They had lots of fun and got LOTS of candy.   
• And now we are in November.  Elijah has his school's Thanksgiving feast on Monday which we will all attend.  I have been getting previews of the songs they will sing.  I only know one of them....things have changed a lot since I was 4!  We will go to South Carolina for Thanksgiving and then hit Bladenboro on Saturday.  This whole season is a little bittersweet for me.  For the past couple of years the kids and I have stayed in the mountains for at least 2 weeks after Thanksgiving.  Since Elijah has school, we won't be doing this anymore.  :(  But My folks will be in Myrtle Beach near Christmas and we will go down and see them after Elijah is out for Christmas break, so it's not totally horrible!

So I guess that's it for now.  I really will try to post again soon.  I should do a post devoted to each kid.  They are both pretty darn cool!!!

Father’s Day 2010

This weekend has been a REALLY good one.  One that I feel has been much needed.  We started out Friday by dropping the kids off at a drop in childcare center.  We did a test run on Wednesday to make sure they would be okay.  It costs about the same as a sitter, but we can get reimbursed with through our childcare savings program….so SWEEET!  We went and saw Iron Man II, which was awesome.  The kids did fantastic and we will definitely make this a usual thing.
Saturday dawned with what looked like rain.  We really really really needed to mow the lawn, as it was knee high in places, so after a small shower, I attacked the lawn while Jerry attacked the laundry (mostly washed and dried, but stacked in a basket) and tended the kiddos.  The kiddie pool was somewhat, well, very much disgusting.  We’d been shocking it with chlorine, but over the past week I had let it slip.  And it was GROSS!  So after mowing enough, we drained the pool and decided to move it to another spot….closer to where we hang out in the evenings.   And then finished mowing inside the fence.
They kids went down for a nap and as my allergies were starting to kick in, I snuck one too.   After nap, I went to tackle the front and side yards.  While I was mowing I heard shrieks of glee and I took a little break to find Jerry throwing Elijah into the pool:

ONE

TWO

THREE!!!!

I have to stop for a minute and give props to my little guy.  He has come so far since last year.  This week he watched a friend of his swim under water and decided that was pretty cool.  He put his head, on his own, under water without holding his nose.  This is a HUGE step for him!  Grace wants to follow suit, but doesn’t quite get it.  She will though!

We had a yummy grilled dinner and got the kids to sleep at a decent hour.

Today, we let Jerry sleep in to the whooping hour of 8:45… alas.  We needed breakfast supplies so I ran out and got some, came home and cooked a nice breakfast.  Then it was time for the reveal of the gifts the kids had made.

A variety of golf club covers.

Since it was boiling lava hot outside, we decided to make a fort inside to play for a bit.

Unfortunately, Jerry had to go into work for a bit, so I took the kids outside with the parachute and we set up a nice shady fort complete with water mist!

And when that was done, of course, there is the pool….


After lunch and a (sigh) short nap, Jerry was home and we decided to hit Target to look for a slip and slide.  We were successful in our mission.

Grace’s idea of playing in the slip in slide is to stand at the end or the middle and drink the water… or torment her brother (who eventually just slid into her…)

Elijah on the other hand was all about the diving right in!

Grace got bored and decided that singing at the top of her lungs whilst riding the horse, was indeed, her calling.

One can only do so much slipping and sliding before needing a rest.

Jerry had been inside chopping potatoes for me to fix on the grill and when he came out… it was game on!!

HIDE AND SEEK!!!

Which leads to water wars!!!

Or sitting and watching and eating an apple… cause that’s okay too!

Launching a water ball…

I gotta say that it was a VERY nice weekend and I hope that Jerry had a good Father’s Day hanging with us.  I know that many dad’s like to get out and do things alone, but we are lucky that he likes to spend time with us!!!