Sunday, August 26, 2012

Bouncing Around

We’ve spent a whole week at home.  It’s been nice!

Sunday we had church and then a children’s lunch and pool party.  Of course we woke up that morning and it was raining and practically cold.  After church the family hosting it said to at least come over for lunch since they had all the food.  We headed over for lunch and all the older kids ended up getting in the pool.  When Lindy and Will saw this they of course wanted to swim.  There was no way I was getting in so they talked Drew into going in with them.  They said it was cold and the kids were shivering when they got out.  We changed them to warm clothes and ate a yummy lunch before heading home.

Monday evening was by far the most fun thing we did all week.  For the past few years we have walked in the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk to Cure Diabetes to support my niece, Hayley, who has Type 1 Diabetes.  Our local JDRF had a family team rally on Monday night at the new trampoline place in town.  We got to go jump for an hour and we got a dinner – all for free!  The trampoline park was so much fun.  They had a big screened in part for dodgeball – which Drew played and loved, a section for 7 and under, a section for 8 and up and then a section where you could jump in a big foam pit.  I liked the fact that they had a section for younger kids so our kids were not getting jumped all over by big kids.  The kids’ favorite part was the jumping into the foam pit.  They jumped over and over into that pit.  Will tried a few twists and turns and Lindy basically just fell in.  Then we had to dig Lindy out.  It was tough getting out of that foam!  We all had a blast jumping around!  We had a yummy dinner from Moe’s and we got some good JDRF info.  It was a great night!

Tuesday the kids and I ran errands all day long.  We had no almost no food in the house since we’ve been gone so much.

Wednesday was the only other exciting day in our house.  And now that I think about it – it was a pretty great day.  The kids had a dentist’s appointment and it was the best Lindy has EVER done at the dentist!  Normally we go and she cries even getting on the table, cries at every step, gags, tries to throw up and then does throw up when they put fluoride on her teeth.  That was the old Lindy.  The new Lindy got up on the table, laid back, let the hygienist clean her teeth, waited patiently for the dentist, let the dentist count her teeth and put the fluoride on there.  All without a single tear and no gagging or throwing up!  It was awesome!  I don’t know what child that was but I like her!!!  Will did awesome as usual.  He has never had any problems at the dentist.  He got x-rays for the first time and did awesome with that too.  Neither kids had any cavities so we were excited!

Thursday we had Micah and Claire come over to play for a few hours.  The kids had lots of fun playing all kinds of games with them.

Saturday night the kids had a friend from church come watch them while Drew and I went to an old man’s birthday party.   The old man being Ed – Drew’s brother – who is turning 40 tomorrow!!!! ha ha!  We had a nice evening and ate good food.  Martha said the kids did great and went to sleep with no problems. 

Today we had church and an international lunch after church.  The youth group put it on as a fundraiser for the Stop Hunger Now food packaging event they do every year.  We ate lots of yummy food. 

We’ve been enjoying a little cooler weather this week and spent many days in the backyard.  The kids are loving their trampoline and a new seesaw toy we got them for their birthday.

We have one week before school starts back!  We’ve got a busy week planned!

Jumping to Miss LeeAnn (who taught them swim lessons this summer)DSC_6580DSC_6584DSC_6600DSC_6601DSC_6602DSC_6603DSC_6604Bouncing!  These pictures are horrible quality but it’s all I got. DSC_6620DSC_6627DSC_6628DSC_6631DSC_6632DSC_6633DSC_6634DSC_6635Extraction of Lindy from the pit!
DSC_6636DSC_6637DSC_6638Waiting patiently for butterflies in Elefun with Micah and Claire.DSC_6644DSC_6643Curling up like a ball (an ode to one of our favorite books – Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball about the cutest little wombat!DSC_6647Playing on the seesaw outside.DSC_6649DSC_6650Today before churchDSC_6657DSC_6663DSC_6670

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Beach Week With Some City Slickers

This is about the longest I’ve gone in between posts in awhile.  I have hardly been home the last couple weeks.  Lots of fun stuff going on.

Let’s see…The kids and I got home from Ohio on Tuesday evening.  We spent Wednesday at home running errands.  Thursday late afternoon we headed down to Charlotte for a kick-off party for Drew’s mom.  She is running for school board in her county so we went to show our support at the kick-off campaign party.  We had a delightful evening meeting people, eating good food, and listening to Lynn introduce her campaign.  She did a great job.  Drew and I left around 9:30pm but the kids stayed in Charlotte with Mimo and Aunt Anna.  I’m glad they did because we had a horrible ride home.  It was raining so very hard and it was a nerve wracking ride. 

Drew and I enjoyed one half day at home by ourselves and then we headed out Friday afternoon to go to Lenoir for a weekend wedding for one of Drew’s good friends, Ryan.  Drew helped officiate the service so we went for the rehearsal and dinner.  It was fun to see friends we don’t get to see very often –Todd and Amy – and friends we see often – Kris, Katie, Micah, and Claire!  Saturday morning Amy and I kind of bummed around running errands and then we came back to the hotel for showers.  We went out for lunch and looked around downtown Lenoir.  We went to the wedding at 5:30pm and the reception.  We ate dinner and headed home.  We left the party early but we didn’t want to get home late.  Lynn drove the kids back up to our house on Saturday evening.

They had a fun time in Charlotte.  They played with a lot of play-doh on Friday and then they stopped by Grandbob and Suzette’s on Saturday before coming home. 

The whole family went to church on Sunday morning and then the kids and I left for the beach after church.  We got down here around 6pm and got our stuff in and unpacked.  We waited impatiently for our friends Callie, Chris, Jack, and Stella to arrive.  Callie is my friend from graduate school who now lives in NYC.  I’ve been up to see her twice in the past couple years.  They had come down south for her sister’s wedding.  They drove from outside Atlanta to the beach on Sunday and got here at 10pm.  We were so excited to see them!  Jack will be 3 in September and Stella is 2 months old!!  The kids were so excited when they got here.  They played a little and all went to bed very late!

We enjoyed a wonderful week at the beach.  Drew joined us on Wednesday afternoon.  We had fabulous weather and went to the beach everyday.  Monday morning Chris watched all four kids while Callie and I went to Walmart for groceries.  We got down to the beach in the late afternoon on Monday.  Tuesday Callie, Lindy, Will and I headed down around 1pm while Jack napped.  They all came down later that afternoon as well.  We ate out for dinner on Tuesday night at the BBQ House.  Wednesday we got up and got down to the beach around 9:30am and we had the best morning.  The tide was going out and it just made for the best beach for the kids.  We stayed until after lunchtime and headed in for naps and rest.  Wednesday night we took them to our favorite seafood restaurant in Southport called the Provision Company.  Thursday we got down to the beach around 10:30am and stayed until about 2pm.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with Jack.  We brought Stella every day and we all took turns sitting with her under the umbrella.  Thursday there was very little breeze so Callie didn’t stay too long with her.  We came back to the house around 3pm and I got to watch Stella while Callie and Chris took Jack back down to the beach to play a little while longer.  Thursday evening we ate at another favorite local restaurant – Jones Seafood.  We had ice cream after dinner and did some souvenir shopping.

Friday morning was busy with Callie and Chris trying to get everything packed up and loaded up in their car.  We did drive down to the western end of Oak Island just to walk around on the beach down there.  It’s really wide and the water was so calm.  Unfortunately we had no swim suits as we just planned to walk around.  We headed back and they left around 12:30pm.  I was so sad to see them go.  We had so much fun with them and I know it will be awhile before we see them again.  Hopefully not too long.  I loved getting to meet and hold and feed Baby Stella!  Next time I see her she’ll be so big. 

After they pulled out we ate lunch and then we met up with Katie, Kris, Micah, and Claire who happened to be down here as well.  Kris’ parents have a condo so we headed over there to the pool and played with them.  We had a fun time. We came home and started getting our things packed up and did some laundry and cleaning.

We came home today.  We left around lunchtime and Katie actually rode home with us.  She rode with me because she had to be back for church on Sunday but Kris and the kids stayed with his parents another day. 

We have had a wild few weeks with about two days at home.  We are home for the rest of the summer now.  I can’t believe summer is almost over and school will be starting soon. 

Now for pictures of our adventures!

One of our best family pictures – ever!  Taken at Lynn’s kick-off campaign party.DSC_6137Drew and I at the wedding.DSC_6167Ryan and his beautiful bride Michele!DSC_6169Chris had daddy duty until Drew got here!DSC_6171The kids enjoyed the new beach chairs they got for their birthday.DSC_6177All I can say is this girl likes to have fun and lives life to the fullest!DSC_6194DSC_6199DSC_6202This one cracks me up!DSC_6225DSC_6230DSC_6239DSC_6241He likes to have fun too!DSC_6243Chris took the kids out in the water with him each day.DSC_6317Callie did a lot of baby holding in the shade!DSC_6341But who wouldn’t want to hold this sweet girl?!DSC_6343The three amigos!DSC_6345Sleeping kids are the cutest!DSC_6356That includes sleeping babies!DSC_6359Chris multitasked by holding Stella and working – on the beach!DSC_6360Sweet Jack!DSC_6370DSC_6387Sweet Stella smiles!DSC_6403DSC_6412Lynn made Stella some awesome baby sandals!  Look how cute they are!DSC_6424DSC_6491DSC_6507DSC_6526When I watched Stella while Callie, Chris, and Jack were at the beach I dressed her up in an outfit I gave her and had a photo shoot!  DSC_6553Callie and I and our brood!DSC_6568Holding a baby is like riding a bike!  Drew had the magic touch Thursday night.  He was the one who finally calmed her down. DSC_6572