July Fourth in Georgia

We had yet another wonderful Fourth of July celebration at my parents home in Georgia. Peter went all out with the fireworks this year. The show lasted almost an hour, including a little time to put out a minor fire (oops). The boys had a blast and were exhausted as always.

Grandma reading to the little guys
Parker with the glow sticks
Time for a little mini golf
Look at the concentration!
Cheesy boys
Slip n Slide time


Filling the pool (Parker was wearing Jacobs new rainboots and pretending to be a fireman)

Summer Solstice

We celebrated the summer solstice by attending an event at our local botanical gardens. The kids got to take home ladybugs to release, planted verbena shoots, made a willow and mum garland, ate a strawberry snack and of course, ran through the gardens. It was our first time there and they had so much fun! There are a bunch of different fountains "hidden" throughout the gardens and the boys couldn't wait to see what came next. We spent about 3 hours there and they were beat! Jacob got a little too close to one and actually fell in. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold out.

Parker doing his "crazy run"
How cool is this!
Family shot (notice Jacob...his shirt is wet so he is pulling it away from him)
They went back and forth over this bridge several times.
playing with the giant earth beach balls.

How pretty :) (Peter was cringing during this shot!)
my cheesy boys

Creek Day

Every Thursday, the boys and I and some friends meet up at a nature preserve that is right around the corner from us. There is a great trail the runs along a creek that provides hours of entertainment. This is something both the boys and I look forward to every week.

Digging in the mud
Mud cake anyone?
Me, dirty?
Sometimes Parker prefers to watch from a distance!

Haircut

It was time to say goodbye to the long locks. I miss those curls!

The before picture. It was able to get more volume thanks to "chlorine hair"
After. He cried the ENTIRE time. It took forever b/c it was so long and Peter went very slowly. He seemed unhappy about it, but after it was done he was proud to have hair like Daddy's! He calls it a "shortcut". He looks so much older!

Parker

This is what happens after a morning of swimming.

Family Picture

This is Jacob in true form...always a ham!

Granny's Visit

Peter's family came from NY to celebrate Blake's kindergarten graduation. Everyone had a great time and the visit went all too quickly. The weather was extremely hot, which meant lots of pool time. We also were able to take the boys to Carowinds for the first time. They loved riding all the rides and can't wait to go back!

Water Bug
Granny and Blake
Jacob refused to look at the camera...he just wanted to swim!
Yes, he is jumping in with no floaties! He barely could touch the bottom, but loved jumping in anyway.
The cousins-Blake, Parker, Brooke and Jacob
Granny and Uncle Spencer
Granny and Parker
Aunt Beth and Parker
Daddy, Blake and Brooke

GRADUATION

June has been a busy month for us. Blake celebrated the completion of his first year of school on June 6th. The graduation ceremony was short thanks to splitting up all 9 kindergarten classes into 2 days. He (and I!) were very glad this school year had come to an end.

Lining up for the procession
His turn to walk
Picture time before ceremony began
After receiving his "diploma"
"What is he looking at????"

Long Time

It has been a long time since the last post. A quick update (if anyone still reads this!). Blake is about to finish up his last few weeks of Kindergarten. He has done extremely well. He continued to exceed his teacher's expectations. As the time goes by, though, it has become more difficult to motivate him to go to school. He would much rather be at home with his momma and brothers! Jacob will be celebrating his 4th birthday on Thursday. We are having a party at home for him with family and friends. He is looking forward to eating his cake! Parker continues to amaze me with his speech. His vocabulary has grown so much in the last several months. He also wants to do EVERYTHING himself. Which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. I think we are finally past the 5:30am wake-up calls, but I am sure as I am writing this I will be up before the sun tomorrow. That is how it always seems to go.

On a side note, we could use some positive thoughts/prayers at this time. Family issues, both immediate and extended, have been keeping the stress levels a little higher than usual.

Keep posted for pictures!

Poop and stuff

We have a ritual in our house every night before bed. The boys strip down to their birthday suits and run around the house being silly. One night, we waited a little to long to put a diaper back on Parker. The boys and Peter were laying on the floor reading books and all of a sudden Parker pooped on the floor! Everyone was yelling in disgust and of course, I was called in to scoop it up and dispose of it. So gross! Now when Parker gets naked he tells me "I won't poop on the floor mommy". I guess he saw how traumatized we all were!

I think Parker is getting closer to potty learning time. He was wearing undies the other night (to be like his brothers) and peed on the floor. He freaked out, I guess because he didn't like the feeling of being wet. Well, today after everytime he peed in his diaper, he would say to me (in a really pitiful voice) "mommy, I peed". It is hard to believe that after 6 years of changing diapers, the end is near! I am going to have a party for myself the day he stops wearing diapers!

School Update

The second half of the school year has been great for Blake! He was able to bring in a Frog and Toad book to school and read to the entire class! He was the only student to do so. He has also been placed in a challenge program for social studies/science. He meets with another teacher 45 minutes each day to work on problems. He also just started participating in a Math Challenge as well. He is given 6 problems to complete in a week. So far, everything has been a breeze for him. He still is excited to learn and I am amazed by how much they teach in Kindergarten. For example, the other day Jacob asked him how day turns into night. I assumed he would respond with something along the lines of "the sun goes down and it gets dark, etc.", but instead he began a long winded explanation of how the earth is rotating! I had no idea he even knew about it!

morning time

With the boys being sick the past week, nightime has been pretty rough around here. I was up a couple times with Blake and Parker last night and just wanted to sleep in a little bit. Jacob crawled in bed with me and was patiently waiting for me to wake up. Around sunrise, he tapped my shoulder and says to me "mommy, the sun is up. It is time for hot chocolate!" This kid remembers everything: he had asked for hot chocolate the night before, but I said tomorrow b/c you are still a little sick and sugar is not the best thing for you right now. Can't blame him for trying!

Blake's Gift

With my birthday coming up next week, Blake has been on the look-out for a gift for me. The other day Peter told me about a commercial on tv for an organizational bag that Blake wanted to get for me. Well, today the commercial came on and Peter said "this is what Blake wants to get for you". I saw the bag, and as sweet as it was for Blake to think of me, the bag was hideous! I politely said no thanks and Blake says to me "but mom, you can find anything even with a blindfold, watch" and sure enough, in the commercial they have the woman wearing a blindfold and she "finds" her glasses. Apparently to a five year old, that is pretty darn cool!

Happy New Year!

Lots to update since my last post. Our camera suffered an unfortunate accident and that is why there hasn't been any recent pictures. I have about 4 rolls of film from my SLR to develop and put onto CD. Once that is done, I will have pictures from Halloween and on.

Blake had a great first half year of school. He is one of the top students in his class and I have seen so much improvement in his writing and reading. I can't tell you how exciting it is to have him reading books to us! The days are long, but he loves it. I also recently discovered Blake has 2 new adult teeth coming in on the bottom! He didn't even know they were there either. He hasn't lost his baby teeth yet, but they are very wiggly.

Jacob enjoys being the big brother while Blake is away. Recently, my friend and I have decided to do a preschool co-op where we will meet one day a week to have a "lesson" and another day for a field trip. I am excited to see how this will evolve as well as for the opportunity to explore new things in our home preschooling adventure.

Parker turned 2 this past Christmas Eve. He has quite the sense of humor and is constantly making everyone laugh. I am also happy to say that we are at the end of the teething nightmare! He cut his last eye tooth last week. Yay! Our next milestone is weaning. He is nursing about once a day and I think will wean very soon. It is a bittersweet feeling.

I hope everyone had a very healthy and happy Holiday Season!

My new love

A friend of mine has introduced me into a new realm of babywearing- the wrap. They are my new choice of carrier. I find that it distributes Parkers weight (~24 lbs) much more evenly then my mei tai and I can get him higher up on my back. Parker doesn't seem to thrilled, but he was ready for a nap! He actually loved being up there!

Family Scavenger Hunt

Today was Family Scavenger Hunt Day at one of our local Nature Preserves. Our goal was to find 15 things throughout the preserve, found along several of their trails. It was a little chilly, but the boys had fun anyways.

The boys standing in front of a cedar pine.
Blake, in a dried out creek, calling out for rain. For those who don't know, Charlotte is in a severe drought...a 16 inch deficit.
Us in an American Holly bush.
Parker missed the last 30 minutes of the hike. He was snoring so loud, I could hear him from behind! He didn't even wake up when Peter took him off his back.

Random Shots

Funny Faces
Snuggy brothers
My Boys!
Ready to work