Christmas is coming!

Christmas is going to be very exciting this year! I'm sure the girls are getting too much stuff from Santa. Nothing is expensive. I'd say the most expensive thing is the Wii game that they are jointly getting. Lots of little things. We are blessed for sure.

I can't wait to see the excitement this year as we aren't sure how much longer Sydney will believe in Santa. We think she already has a taste of what's real and what is fantasy, but we're hoping to stretch it out as long as we can. I think her email from Santa today helped a little:)

Merry Christmas everyone! We'll have our dinner at Nancy's Christmas Eve after church then lunch here Christmas day. We'll celebrate with Phil's family Sat. and Sunday and go to the beach for New Years. I can't wait!

Merry Christmas to all!

Mollie is 4!

I don't know where the time went. My Mollie is 4! Her party is not until Saturday and yesterday she was kind of confused. She didn't want us to "celebrate" her birthday. Everyone who loves her called to tell her Happy Birthday and she wouldn't talk to any of them. She says she won't be 4 until Sat. She did wear her birthday girl shirt yesterday though and her 4 shirt today. Here is Mollie playing with her new Tinkertoys for girls--one of the coolest toys ever. They just carry them at Toysrus. And the handmade snowman dress I got her in Charleston. Love it! She did too:)

Thanksgiving Program

Mollie's preschool had a Thanksgiving program last night. It was her class (the 3/4's) and all the 4 year old and 5 year old (transition) classes.It was so, so cute! Mollie was in the middle of the first row. The last one with the white "gown" (pillowcase) on before the class with the darker colored ones. It was very well done and the kids did a great job singing. I would imagine that being on that stage in front of a room filled with families and friends freaked them out. But they were awesome!! The music and classroom teachers and staff did a great job for an 18 min. performance:) It was well worth it!!

This is Mollie and her friend Sydney. Sydney's birthday party was this past Saturday. On the girls' feathers it says: "I am thankful for..." and Mollie's says "my friend Sydney's birthday cake." HAHAHA! Sydney mom was there and had a picture on her camera still of the cake and had to show it to the teachers. It was hilarious. The cake really was awesome. It was a Thanksgiving themed party and the cake was a turkey on a platter:) She had cubed up spice cake around the outside with oranges and cranberries. Apparently it made an impression on Mollie!

why we love Fall

Today is such a gorgeous Fall day and it reminded me of this!

sweet new baby

My dear friend Lauren had her first baby yesterday evening. Her name is...

Avery Elizabeth

5:50pm

5lb. 140z.

19.5 in.

Some of you know her and/or know that we've known each other since we met at church when we were 8 years old. We didn't go to the same elem. school, but quickly became BFF's, haha. Even when we moved away from Brevard after 2 years our parents always got us together. I went to Meredith and she went to NCSU and we were back in the same town again:) She was in my wedding and Sydney and I were both in hers. And now I'm so excited for she and Josh that they have their first little one!! I do plan to spoil her!

okay, so...

It looks like I already blogged about some of the stuff I just posted. Forgive my memory:) I was trying to be thorough, LOL!

Falls Largest Blog Post Ever By Me

So what have the girls been doing?

Sydney lost her first tooth on Sept. 25! The tooth fairy surprised her with $1 under her pillow and a book by the window. She sprinkled fairy dust (also known to humans as glitter) all over the window sill and left a trail to her bed and dusted over her pillow. The tooth fairy learned a valuable lesson. When you put the tooth in a small ziplock bag it slides really easily out from under the pillow! And when your child sleeps with like 4 pillows it's easy access when you insist on her putting it under the outermost pillow for easy TF access!

Sydney actually lost her 2nd tooth yesterday, November 14 on the way home from a football game. She let it go way too long and it basically fell out without any tugging whatsoever. It was literally sitting in her mouth and I was like, uh, pick it up! Here is a picture after the loss of the first one. She just lost the one to the right if you're looking at her.

Sydney also has learned to ride her bike with no training wheels this Fall! She's such a big girl. This really hit me on the big girl meter as a big milestone and panicked a little. This + tooth almost put me over the edge.

Mollie is getting better on her little bike with training wheels as well!

Mollie's little Kinderdance class held another mini-recital at the performing arts center. This is she and her friend Sarah. They're so freakin' cute!

Chase loves him some Uncle Phil. He has always been drawn to Phil and we're not sure why, LOL. I mean Phil is a likeable guy. But it's so cute how Chase will pick him out of a crowd and run to him and want him to pick him up and stuff. This was at my Dad's 60th birthday dinner in early Oct. Nothing says October in Raleigh like the NC State Fair!! We had an absolute blast!

The girls also enjoyed their first Carolina Hurricanes hockey game on Oct. 14th. Phil's company has a certain number of games in a suite/box so we took the girls since it was free and the night before we were leaving on our Charleston trip. We stayed for the first 2 periods or until about 8:30 and then left. Their favortie part was definitely the ice cream. It was so nice because they could move around in there as much as they wanted. You can sit or stand or walk around. His boss was happy to see them.

The weekend of Oct. 15-19 Phil and I got to go to Charleston, SC for the first time as a "reward trip" for him selling so much stuff for a certain software company. There were 3 couples from ePlus there. We had one common dinner the first night then were on our own. We stayed at the Charleston Hotel and it was definitely the nicest place I'd ever been. It was unbelievably beautiful. They also paid for our breakfast every day in one of the hotel restaurants and we had a couple's massage on Friday that they took care of. We took a harbor tour, a carriage tour, a haunted dungeon ghost tour, it was great. We walked the whole time and never moved our car once we got there on Thursday until we left on Sunday. And major kudos to my Dad who watched Sydney and Mollie for the entire weekend alone! They all did great! And we really enjoyed our time together for longer than a night. We really miss things during the week when we're all go, go, go and Phil's traveling so it was nice to kind of "reconnect" and/or actually get to have multiple conversations in a row without an interruption other than maybe a server asking us if we needed more wine:)

Mollie's class had a Halloween songfest the Wed. before Halloween. It was really cute. Actually it was all the 3 and 4 year old classes I think. She was one of 3 Cinderellas there. Here is a picture of her whole class with Miss Lori on the left and Miss Amy on the right. I am loving her teachers and her class as a whole. She's getting a lot out of it and I get great feedback about how well Mollie is doing. We are very proud of her!

Halloween day was Chase's 2nd birthday party! After we partied down with he and his friends we trick-or-treated with them in their neighborhood for a while.

Sydney was a unicorn. But you can't tell at all, haha, because she refused to wear the rest of her costume. The costume that I paid $30 at Target for just to make her happy. Aunt Courtney was around for the festivities and I thought this was a super cute picture!Mollie-rella, are you surprised? Chase was the cutest little firefighter I have ever seen in my life. He was hilarious TOTing. He ran from house to house and would say "trickortreatthankyou" all in one quick word and move on to the next stop. Not that he cares a thing about candy, haha! There are 3 home football games in November! Yesterday we finally got close enough to Ms. Wuf to get a picture. Mollie was all over her and she was SO sweet to Mollie! This is one of my favorite pictures ever. Sydney is still a little wary of people in costume and was busy playing in our seats with her cousins Olivia and Emma. We hadn't seen them in a couple months.
I hope I'm caught up now. I hope I blog again in the near future!

holidays are upon us!

Even though I love Christmas and am excited about it, it's still weird to see all the stuff forcing the Halloween stuff out of the stores. And it's Wed. and Halloween is not until Sat!
This morning Mollie had a Halloween songfest at her preschool. It was so cute! It was really laid back and they just sang some songs with the music teacher. I think it was all the 3's classes, her 3/4 class, and then a few other classes came to watch. It was weird b/c the kids in her class seemed a lot bigger than the kids in the other 3's classes! I'll have to put up some pictures later. She was one of 3 Cinderellas:) And she decided to wear her Cinderella night gown that Mom gave her rather than her dress-up dress. She had a crown and glass slippers also. She was a very casual Cinderella!
I got some good pictures of she and her friends, especially her new friend Sydney. Her friendship borders on obsession I'm afraid. But at least it seems to be going both ways. Their teachers are trying to keep them apart a little more and encourage them to hang out with other girls some!

I did, because I do love Christmas so much, go do a little Christmas browsing for ideas at Target and Toys R Us after that. I really need to find some ideas for Mollie. I have about 6,000 ideas for Sydney b/c she lets us know frequently what she would like! But I'm not sure what Mollie wants.
So if you have any good ideas, throw them my way!

what a month!

October brings...our anniversary, our wine trip, an unexpected weekend trip to Charleston with Dad as our babysitter! The State Fair, Halloween activities, oh my!
I got to have parent lunch with Mollie in her preschool class on Friday, that was fun. And meet her new friend Sydney who she seems to be semi-obsessed with.
We're really looking forward to Chase's 2nd birthday party on Saturday! And then we'll trick-or-treat with him a bit before we come back to our neighborhood to do the same!
I seriously need to load some new pictures soon!

face lift

I just wanted to share some pictures of our finished kitchen! The counter tops were installed Thursday, the backsplash was done Friday, and plumbing yesterday. I wish I could say it went off without a hitch, but we had a few minor inconveniences. At least we were out of town all weekend so it wasn't that big of a deal to be without a kitchen sink. We ended up having to get a new garbage disposal. Phil hooked that up yesterday afternoon and Viola! All done!

I guess it's kind of hard to see, but here is one view. I love the ceramic tile back splash!
I love how the tile looks under the bar!
Here is a picture of our new sink/faucet. The left side is slightly deeper/longer than the right. I really like it. (can you tell, haha?) It doesn't take much to get me excited!They apparently didn't order enough tile so they tried to just do a line of plain tiles. Which I would have settled for just to get the job done. But they ran out, have to order more, and we're going to have them rip out this strip above the desk and make it look like the strip b/w the bar and sink. Who knows when this will happen:)

If I were to build another house I'm 90% sure I wouldn't choose white cabinets. Maybe at the beach house. And that would be like a distressed ivory or something cool, haha!

I like to say that we built this house when we were young and stupid:) The biggest thing we did right was to go back and add our basement before they officially started! We signed our contract to build our house October 30, 2000. About 3 weeks after our wedding, haha. We finally closed Nov. 29, 2001. It took for freakin' ever. So anyway, it was not the greatest quality build. We have debated moving, but there are too many things we like about our house. Specifically the basement, the large bedrooms.

Things we don't like are our small yard, our small shower!, and the small living room. But anyway, now that Sydney's in school we don't want to up and move b/c the way student assignment is around here we could get moved anyway. Not by choice. So why change our school by choice. We're happy there right now. So we decided to gradually make some improvements. And if we sell 5 or 10 years from now then we will have things that will increase the value of our house and we'll get to enjoy them!

Oh, and then there's the fact that we love our location and our house will be paid off in less than 9 years.

Our next project is more than likely going to be taking the floor up from our bathroom and putting down ceramic tile as well as taking out the white tile around our garden tub and putting in matching ceramic tile. We might do ceramic tile in our little 1/2 bath. You have no idea how tiny that room actually is unless you've seen it, haha. You can almost pee and brush your teeth at the same time:) And we'd love to put hardwood floors in our whole downstairs. We thought that might be sooner rather than later, but now I think later's winning!

Tomorrow is our 9 year anniversary!

craziness

I'm really looking forward to next week. Know why?
Maybe this craziness will be less crazy. Don't you find me saying that a lot?
Probably. And it never really changes because I figured out that I usually cause it, haha.
Sure, I can't control deaths in the family or Sydney's weird back injury that landed us in the dr. yesterday and turned out to be nothing, or things in our house needing repairing like my garage door opening and dishwasher fiasco of earlier in the year:) Who could forget?

The choices are mine, but really, after this weekend it will be a little better.
No more home football games for us until November. Next weekend is the Duke game at home, but we have a wedding to go to so we sold our tickets. The weekend after that we might be going away b/c Phil might be winning a trip to Charleston (which will require some serious child care arrangements).
Okay, nevermind.

Anyway! My new countertops were installed yesterday! The backsplash is being done right now. It looks awesome! Really, what a difference spend a couple thousand dollars makes. Totally changes things. We are going to have to have a plumber come Monday morning and redo all the sink/faucet/garbage disposal/dishwasher connections. Love the undermount sink and new faucet I picked out. Super. And then it should be ready to go! So exciting.

This weekend is....Wine Trip 2009! WooHoo! We have 11 people this year and have been upgraded to the Mercedes van/bus thing limo which will be fabulous b/c it has a tv and there is an away State game at 3:30. This year Nancy and Travis are going, can't wait. We're leaving tonight to stay with Phil's mom and then in the morning we'll depart to join the group and she'll keep them for the next 24 hours. They can't wait. They are so excited to see their Nana. They saw her in August, but Mollie keeps asking when we're going to her house again, haha.

Then we'll jet back for:
Dad's 60th birthday party!
He turns 60 on Monday!

And then Wednesday is our 9th wedding anniversary:) Which is the reason we went on our wine trip 2 years ago and have continued it. It's FUN.

Mollie's recital

Mollie's Kinderdance class had another little recital yesterday. It was at 4pm which made it really difficult for anyone to come! But it was cute (of course) and Mollie did better than ever following directions. And it really stuck out to me this time that she was the tallest kid on stage! I can't wait to see how tall she is, and percentile for height, at her 4 year old check-up in December!
This is Mollie and her friend Sarah who is in her class, our babysteps playgroup, and now goes to her preschool: And if you don't have a Flip video camera--they're awesome! The software makes it really easy to email videos and you can create all kinds of cool stuff with it. I love it. I got a cute video yesterday of one of the songs:) But Phil wasn't there and it was hard to video and take pictures at the same time!

my big girl Sydney!

My big girl Sydney has had some very exciting things happening lately!

Friday she lost her first tooth! I'm still in disbelief about it. And she looks so cute with her little window in her mouth:) Her permanent tooth had actually started coming in behing it already so we started working on it a little more aggressively. She was sitting in the living room after school Friday eating a fruit roll-up (Nancy said, "at least she was eating fruit") and it stuck to it I guess and came right on out! I was about to freak out! She really didn't believe it either at first. But then she got really excited and wanted to tell everyone she knew about it. It was so cute to hear the stories about how it was loose and school and what her friends said about it bleeding, and what her teachers said about how they can't deal with teeth, haha, she had to do it on her own. I do think this might be the first tooth she got as a baby. She was 5 months old. The one next to it came in next and I think it might be a tad bit loose so I'm sure that will be next to fall out. She's really motivated now:)

The tooth fairy visited that night. She really appreciated the snack size plastic bag the tooth was in because it slid out really easily from under the pillow. She left Sydney $1 under her pillow and sprinkled it with purple fairy dust. Sydney was really surprised to realize later that there was actually fairy dust all over the window sill along with a new easy reader book called I Like Bugs. That she is really good at reading actually! There was dust all over everything from the window to her pillow! She super-loved it!

Sydney has also been riding her older bike (12 in.) with no training wheels! I need to get a video of that. She is not brave enough to try it on her 16 in. one yet. But I'm sure she will soon.

We had our first parent-teacher conference yesterday with Sydney's teacher. It is the end of their first quarter. What can I say, she's doing awesome:) Makes her Mommy and Daddy very proud! Her teacher gave us some extension activities to work on and she said she felt like she would be reading on her own in no time and pick it up really quickly. She knows lots of sight words and can read simple, more predictable texts, and she's getting better and better at home! I think she hasn't really developed enough confidence at school to show her teacher too much yet. She said she's starting reading groups today. I love her teachers! Love them! We're so lucky...in so many ways!

I can't believe how big Sydney is getting. I know it has to happen. But it kind of freaks me out. I'm not ready for all this yet!

show and tell

Mollie had her first "show and tell" today at school. She had to bring something related to turtles. So she took a little stuffed turtle that she got at the end of the year party for MMO last Spring. I was asking her some questions so she would be prepared to speak a little about her turtle. Her name is Cinderella Turtle Greene:) That cracked me up.
And she is her favorite turtle b/c they love to sleep together (haven't ever, but whatever). It was so cute. I always thought show and tell was dumb, but now I see how it actually can be good for them! They learn to answer questions, wait their turn, ask questions, etc. I would just love to be a fly on the wall when they are doing it!

home

The last 2 days we have been going non-stop so today I did something I rarely do....we stayed home. I need to do it more often, ya think? I am worn out. Which I also think may be slightly attributed to my flu mist I got on Monday. I haven't quite felt right since. But I'm thinking if I ignore it it will go away.

Mollie was quite pissed that she didn't have school today. Can you tell she loves it? I might have to put her in 5 days next year. I've been thinking about it (way too early) and was leaning toward the 4 day option. I think she's leaning more toward the 7 day option. Not one, sorry Charlie. She does get to have show and tell tomorrow. The boys have it on Wed. and the girls have it on Fri. They have to bring something related to their theme which is turtles this week. They did school another week and next week they start in on the alphabet. So the thing they bring has to start with that letter.

Sydney loved soccer so much yesterday! I feel like, well, kids play soccer all the time, but not my kid! And after her major freak out last week not wanting to play I was so, so proud of her. I tried to get some video but it didn't turn out so well. Here's a little clip where you can at least see her kicking the ball:) Mollie had a really good time playing with some other younger siblings during the class time. She mostly played with a little boy who had a lot of cars. She really likes matchbox cars!

lists

Sometimes when you have a lot to say and don't know how to say it or where to start it's easier to make a list:) So what have we been up to in our busy lives that I think will calm down...but don't...

1. Courtney had a short story published in a book called Long Story Short. It's very good and very cool. She, her friend Sarah Dessen, and another author Jill McCorkle, had a reading together at the NC Literary Festival in Chapel Hill last weekend (the 12th). It was a lot of fun. Nancy, Dad and I rode together to the festival and next time they have it I'd like to take the girls to the kids stuff and spend more time there. It was a neat tribute to NC writers. There are MANY. She actually has a reading tomorrow night (Tuesday) at Barnes and Noble in Cary at 7PM with Sarah Dessen and Marianne Gingher (hope I spelled that right. I'm not able to go, but if you can, go!
2. The girls have now been to 2 home football games. They love it and I love taking them. They're so good. This past Sat. Phil took them by themselves b/c I was out of town.
3. Sydney started soccer last Wed. She begged to play for a long time and then once it came down to it she didn't want to do it! She cried and complained, but finally participated. Phil had to take her while I was out of town again and he sent me pictures and kept me updated. We were so proud of her. She was sitting out and randomly got up and ran and loved it!
4. My grandmother on my Dad's side passed away last week. A week ago Sunday I guess. She was my last grand parent. Unfortunately we were not that close. We spent much more time down there (in Aiken, SC) when we were younger, but circumstances with his family are weird. That's the only way to explain it. But Nancy and Courtney and I drove down to the funeral. We made lemonade out of lemons and had a great road trip! I drove 10 hours in about 30 hours, but we stayed in a hotel one night and got to spend some time with aunts and cousins on my mom's side. That is guaranteed to be a good time. I wish we lived closer to them. And I'm thankful that my Granny is now resting in peace. With Patrick Swayze I like to say:)
5. Sydney has her first loose tooth! She has a permanent tooth already coming in on her front-bottom. The tooth it is behind is loose. I am so excited for her. She is beside her self about it!
6. This past weekend I had my girls weekend at a Raleigh hotel:) It was lots of fun. I felt bad about being gone most of last Wed-Thurs. But I got to have dinner with the family and put the girls to bed Thursday night then see them before and after school on Friday. I left around 4:45 on Friday. It was a much needed trip. I can definitely tell a difference in my patience level since I returned and the girls have been very good. Phil left Sunday morning before I even got home for a conference in Asheville. He'll be gone until Wed. So I came home to a babysitter, happy girls, and a big mess. On little sleep. So we went to visit Chase! That kid is hilarious!!!
7. I have never had a flu shot in my life. I decided for some reason that this was the year. I went this morning and luckily they let me have the mist. Back in 2001 I had a tetanus shot and a prevnar vaccine. Ugh, I had horrible local reactions to both. So I was thankful for the mist. The girls are scheduled for their shots Thursday evening. Sydney would like the mist, but I'm not sure if our ped. has it in.
8. I'm so excited that new TV starts this week!
9. I'm also so excited that I'm finalizing our new countertop/backsplash order this week! Hopefully tomorrow! Then hopefully next week they'll be installed. I need to start taking before pictures so that I can then have some afters:)
10. The girls have been sleeping together on the bottom bunk. It's really freakin' cute! And Mollie has been napping less and less lately. I thought she had given it up completely, but for some reason she has been napping for Phil and our babysitter...hmm...It never ceases to amaze me how children act for others--other than MOMMY!
11. I got a new little HP mini and I'm hoping since the battery actually holds for longer than 3 min, unlike my older laptop, I might be a better blogger!

preschool

I love Mollie's new preschool! There are so many signs that tell me I made the right decision for her. Here is a picture of her on her first day:

Her teachers are so fun loving and sweet and she had a great first day yesterday. I love how they do carpool drop-off and pick-up and that she eats lunch there each day she's there. That was one thing I loved about St. Andrew's that I wasn't sure if they would do at RLP. It's up to the teacher. But hers have them do it each day. Super! I think it's going to be great for her that all the kids' birthdays in the class range from mid-Aug to Dec. of 05. So they're all very much on the same developmental level. Yesterday she walked right in and right back out with the carpool helpers without a second glance at all. It made me so happy to see her so happy:) I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying all this after her first day!

Tomorrow she goes again, she wanted to go today--to her turtle class. She can't wait.

Yesterday I got to volunteer in Sydney's class for their writing time and then go to lunch with them. It was fun. Tomorrow my friend Daniele is going with me to Absolute Stone to do the final design on our kitchen project! We're getting granite counter tops and a ceramic tile backsplash. She needs to help me with my backsplash color coordination. I'm so excited. Hopefully tomorrow it will be all ordered and we will schedule the install date!

the worst blogger ever

Is now me.
Sorry. I've been really slack lately.
I guess it's because we keep leaving town. It's fun and all, but it's starting to annoy the crap out of me. I'm ready to stick around for a while. After our annual Labor Day weekend at the lake we will be I guess.
Until my wine trip in October that I am dreaming of...
Oh, and my girls trip to a hotel in downtown Raleigh in a few weeks (but I don't have to pack a bunch of crap for my family)

Sydney has been tracked out since Aug. 14 and goes back next Tuesday. Mollie starts preschool on Wed. I start volunteering in Sydney's class on Wednesdays. Yay! I get to help with Writers Workshop. Excited about that.

We spent last Tues. evening at the beach until Sunday. Phil left to meet his brother and my brother for a boy trip Thursday evening until Sunday. They stayed in Myrtle down by Broadway. I have to say this was not the girls' finest weekend as far as behavior was concerned. I was a bit ticked off by the time he got back. And just DONE with them for a while. But then I felt guilty and starting loving them again, haha. Not that I really didn't love them of course! They were just pissing me off and I was tired. I consider that normal.

This week I have a ton of stuff to do. Mostly at night. Our first football game is Thursday night and I can't wait!!!

I met Mollie's teachers tonight. I'll blog about that later, but long story short, I loved them!

so happy

Tomorrow is the first day of school for traditional schools. Can I say that I am so happy to not be one of the teachers saying hello to their students tomorrow? I am so thankful. So lucky! I am also so happy that we chose year-round and that we began Sydney's second week of track out today. Or she would be starting tomorrow! Which there would be nothing wrong with. We wouldn't have known anything any different really. But I'm just really pleased and grateful with how the way things have turned out for our family:)
At least for this year! Can't ever get too comfortable around here!

beated

So Sydney was trying to have a contest with Mollie over who could finish their water the fastest. Sydney did. She said, "Mollie I beated you". Mollie said very seriously, "Sydney, it's beat. Not beated. Beated isn't a word."
HAHAHA!
Mollie is actually the one who randomly started adding -ed to the past tense of a lot of words in the last few months. I guess she finally figured it out.
It was so hilarious. Sydney just looked at her like "what the heck, who are you?"

counting

Sydney has been getting really good at counting lately and just identifying numbers. She can count past 100 and identify most 2 digit numbers now. The other night she was reading a sting of numbers like 35, 93, etc. And for 25 she said twoty-five. It cracked her up b/c she knew immediately it wasn't right and was supposed to be twenty, haha! And then the yesterday she said onety-nine for nineteen, but I think she was just trying to be funny that time. Very cute!
She's just been doing awesome in school. Sounding out words to write is so amazing! She's getting really great at it and it makes me tear up. Not only to see her do it, but to see teacher comments on the papers she brings home. She tries to sound out words to read and knows several sight words. When she tracks back in I'm going to be volunteering on Wednesdays during their writer's workshop time and I can't wait. It also backs up to her lunch time so I'm hoping to stay for lunch on some of those days. Mollie will be in preschool then and since there shouldn't be any holidays on Wednesdays I should be free. I'm also going to be volunteering for their character education program. Parents come in once a month and read a selected story and lead a discussion about it. That starts in Sept. too I think.

I'm enjoying having Sydney home so far! But it has only been 3 days, haha. We went to the pool this morning for a while and that made her very happy. Next Tuesday afternoon it's back to the beach!

on the road again...

Back at the beach!
I know I said we were going to the lake. We changed our minds:) Nancy, Travis, and Chase were down here so we decided to just come on down this weekend. We'll be back Wed. the 25th through that weekend. Then home for a few days and the first home football game! Then heading to the lake for Labor Day weekend.
You'd think I'd get used to all the packing, but each time I usually forget something. Last time we went to the lake, it was my underwear:) Had to go to Fred's. This beach trip it was the girls' underwear! Phil picked some up at Walmart. At least they can wear the same size:)
Mollie is a little beach bum. I think Sydney prefers the lake. As does her Daddy I think. Mollie and I spent a good 3 hours on the beach today. Sydney for some reason didn't want to get her bathing suit wet because it was her very, very favorite, but she refused to change into one she did want to get wet. So after Chase had a meltdown he, Nancy, and Sydney headed back to the house. I think that was about an hour after we got down there. And I had a hard time getting Mollie back to the house, but it was lunch/shower/nap time.

I'm 95% sure I have another ear infection. It started hurting last night in bed. This morning it hurt a lot, but I've been popping Advil and it's under control. Some goo did leak out so not sure if there's a hole in my ear drum or not, but I guess if it still feels this way tomorrow (don't know why it wouldn't) I'll go to urgent care when I get home. We have a busy day Monday, not sure I'll have time to get to the dr. then. And then I'll be marching myself into the ENT office and asking for another tube in my ear. This is just freakin' ridiculous. I could use a little more warning than "oh crap my ear hurts so bad" after 5 minutes. It goes from 0-10 quickly.

Anyway, we're just staying until tomorrow, Sydney is officially tracked out though! The girls have dentist appt.'s Monday morning. I have to tutor twice this week to get Erik ready for school to start (hopefully)!

New t-shirt idea

"I survived Laurel Park fundraising night at Chick-Fil-A"
We just had one. It was insane. Now, I heard that there was a problem in the kitchen. And really, it didn't take all that long to get our food. But I was a little stressed out by all the people. And the stinky kid area. Phil was about to flee. I had to reign him in long enough to gather our children.
HAHA!
I'll do it again, it's for a good cause and fun to see friends. And Sydney's teacher:)
But just some advice:
Call before you go to Chickfila for dinner and make sure there is not a school night going on, haha.

It's summer!

It's summer alright! High of 100 today!

I don't really recall the girls getting sick in the summer time, but this past week Mollie had a fever for day or two and then yesterday morning I took Sydney to urgent care with an ear infection. Have you noticed how many random illnesses we've had in the last year? A lot. I blame it on our flexible spending acct. that we never did before this year. The $ is nearly gone already. Really, we'll be lucky to have $10 left after yesterday.
Sydney didn't have a fever though, her ear was just hurting so after doping her up on Advil and Amox. she was a-okay.
Mollie had a birthday party yesterday afternoon/evening, along with her friend Lindsay, so Phil took Sydney to play putt-putt with her friend Matthew and his daddy. Then they went to MacGregor Ale House for dinner. Sounds like a great first date to me;)! Thankfully she was feeling up to going!

Sydney has one more week of school and then tracks out on Friday. We're going to the lake for the weekend! She has 3 weeks off and then goes back Sept. 8th. Mollie officially starts preschool on Sept. 9th so it's good timing.
Mollie is going to a little JumpBunch camp this week at the community center. It's only an hour and a half, but it's M-Th. She really enjoyed it today though. She's so ready for preschool to start! She loves organized activities:)

Sydney has seemed to be so grown up since school began. She is writing so well and loves to draw all the sudden. They're working a lot on drawing pictures and labeling with beginning sounds and any other sounds you can hear and she's doing really well with it.

Mollie is getting even taller and is rapidly losing her sweet baby Mollie look. Her face and legs have really thinned out. I hate to say it, but I think the belly is too! Oh no!

hanging out

Things are going great around here. I've gotten so much done last week when the girls were at school and camp and this week with Mollie. I ended up having a few accidental playdates/lunches with my friend Jennifer last week and a few other lunches with great friends last week and this week. It was fun. Mollie is really entertaining to babies like the twins Cecilia and Owen! And she tried to be entertaining to my old friend KeAnne's new baby Daniel, but he slept the whole time:)
I have been tutoring this little boy who is a rising 1st grader, not sure if I've mentioned him, but we try to get in 2 sessions a week. When the girls were in school/camp I got 2 morning sessions in, but I try to normally do one evening when Phil's home and one morning and leave Mollie with Mom. I tutor at the library in Apex which is just across the highway from mom's apt. I'm really enjoying it and hope to continue once a week throughout the school year with him. And maybe I could pick up one more kid. I found out the going rate is $35 an hour so I'm really interested in keeping this up!
I checked out some new countertop samples as we are going to upgrade our kitchen a bit with new counter tops and ceramic backsplash. I can't wait! I'd love some stainless steel appliances, but we've already replaced our refrigerator and dishwasher seperately in the last 2.5 years so we're stuck with white for a while. If we had only known and had a few spare thousands of dollars...we could have done that all at one. We have white cabinets so it looks fine. ANYWAY! I also painted our downstairs 1/2 bath and it looks a lot better now. I had a color snafu and had to switch that up and prime over the first yucky color and go with a new one, but it all worked out. I don't really enjoy painting that much! I can roll a wall, but the trim and smaller area work are not for me. It gets old quick. I'd like to paint our master bathroom, but that will have to wait until Phil either wants to or I can pay Bob the painter to do it.

Last friday night the girls had a sleepover with Gramma and Grandpa at mom's apartment and they got to go to her pool. We went out with some friends to a few restaurants/bars in Apex and that was so much fun! Just had a drink at each place and sat and chatted. Might sound wild and crazy, but it was mostly lots of laughing and home by 11:) At Peak City Grill I ran into my grade parent/favorite parent ever from my first year teaching 10 years ago. Her son Joshua was in my first K class and he was such a fun kid. Very smart, very shy, very funny, very sweet. With a great family. Anyway, we toasted to each other and talked a little. I had talked to her briefly a few months ago, but hadn't seen her since before I had Mollie and Joshua was graduating from 5th grade I think.
We got to hang out with Chase some last Sat. night when we all went over to Nancy's for a small cookout.

This weekend is pretty low key luckily. We needed that. Phil got home early from work yesterday (because his golf game was rained out, don't you feel sorry for the man?) so he was able to meet Sydney at her bus stop. She started riding the bus home last Monday. So she's been on it for a week now. She loves it and says it's her favorite part of Kindergarten. I really like the bus driver. He is very particular about making sure he sees me before he will let Sydney off the bus. He had me fill out an information card and takes it very seriously. And her friend Caitlin is on Track 4 so she just started and is on Sydney's bus and they share an assigned seat! I think it's neat that they've known each other since they were not quite 1 I think? And now they're at the same school riding the bus together b/c they live closer now.

I tell ya, I have been loving year-round school. I love hanging out with Mollie. She's a funny girl. We have the best time and she's a great shopper:) If we hang out at home too much all she wants to do it watch tv, but luckily morning is good errand/playdate time. I have to really work to keep the tv off when we're playing because that girl is a couch potato!! And another reason I love it is because Sydney has 2 more weeks of school then is off for 3 weeks. I'm looking forward to that break for her and for us. We'll go back to the beach for a week probably and then to the lake for Labor Day weekend before she tracks back in on Sept. 8th. It was the perfect time for her to start school. I can't imagine how bored she would have been this summer considering she got out of preschool May 20! We would have made it work of course. I am aware that a lot of the real world makes it happen and that I'm the adult and I would have structured the time for her.
But man that girl can talk.....;)

Oh! And one more thing about school and Sydney. Remember her fashion and hair fettish? She had actually picked out matching outfits and fixed her hair 1/2 way "normally" every day for school! I think my friend Daniele who works there now is really impressed. Because she has watched her dressing progress/abilities since she was 2.5 and figured out how to change her own clothing and 4 when she started doing her own ponytails/hair. She does come home and tell me about things other girls are wearing and asked me if we could go to Kohls and buy this jumpsuit thing that Poppy had on b/c that's where she bought it. But I convinced her that no, she really had enough clothes, haha.

slacker!

Me!
Sydney loves school still.
Mollie is going to Kindercamp at the YMCA this week. She's done awesome with drop off and pick up and is SO BIG and independent! She really likes it and it was time for her to have something to do since she misses Sydney.
We went to Elkin last weekend for Phil's 15 year high school reunion. They've never had one before. My class either. It was pretty fun. We had a really nice dinner out alone Saturday night before the 2nd meetup and it was yumm-O!
More later. Need to get some new pics up, huh!?

school

School is going well thank goodness! Sydney loves it. She tells me some about what she does each day and then more will come out as the evening goes on. It is hard to get used to it being like 4:15 by the time we get home. Well, hard for me to get used to, not her. And she's been tired, but not as much of a mess as I thought she would be. Yesterday we even ventured out to the pool after we got home, had dinner and she went to bed at regular time w/out much trouble. I do have to wake her up in the mornings. Currently her new best friends are Libby and Poppy. Sometimes she and Noelle hang out in carpool, haha. And she has seen some other kids she knows around the school. She's so big! It really seems like she's matured a ton and she even looks older. Already....ahh...so bittersweet;)
Oh, and she bought her lunch today for the first time! Starting Monday she wanted to buy milk in the cafeteria and then she wanted to buy lunch. She chickened out yesterday, but she did it today for cheese dippers with marinara. I don't know what that really consists of and how that constitutes a main dish, but whatever. She thinks it's cool. She's going to pack tomorrow then buy for hot dog day on Friday.
I love that she's so happy!
But Mollie's asked me every hour when we're going back to get her from kindergarten. She misses her:( But you know us, we stay busy!

a little catching up on things

Since Laura reminded me I didn't blog about the lake last weeekend here we go. All the things I forgot. And I forgot that I never updated the preschool situation for Mollie.

The fact that the preschool director called me last week (Wed. I think) to offer me a spot at this other preschool at a Lutheran church totally threw me for a loop. I was just hanging out with my friend Dawn and the twins while the girls played with her Ava and the phone rang and I answered it b/c I saw that the caller ID said RL Church. I was like, oh wow!

Back in like Feb. around registration time when I was pissed off that Mollie didn't get into the 3 day 3's class at our church preschool I put her on the waiting list at RLS. We have a bunch of friends whose kids go there/have gone there. I found out from talking to them that they had a 3/4 class which is basically older 3's/young 4's. I was interested in this for Mollie not only b/c it was 3 days a week, but she is an older, mature 3 year old. Then we'll insert a little angst at the fact that some kids got into the 3 day class at our church who are not yet 3 and won't be until right before school starts and are struggling to be potty trained so they can meet that requirement. And then the fact that the director was not able to work with us on opening another 3 day 3's class when there were 12 kids in the class and 19 on the waiting list. It was lottery, I knew that going in. But after having 2 years of Mom's Morning Out 2 days a week (call me a spoiled parent), I feel like and everyone else who knows her, even her MMO teachers, have said wow, she really needs 3 days. She's a smart cookie, well-adjusted, loves to learn, etc. And she'll be 4 Dec. 2nd. 3 months after preschool starts.

So after visiting the school, getting the prices and realizing it's the same price as the 2 day program at our church, they have science class every week, the director was awesome, Mollie liked it there and it's 3 days and she would know some people....I decided to take it and switch her preschool. And lose the money I had already paid in registration and first month's tuition at our current preschool! The good thing was that Phil was totally supportive of doing it and didn't care at all about the money. Which is unusual;)

When I taught I always said oh, 2-3 days a week when she's 4 will be fine to prepare her for K. It would be. My goal is not preparing her for K. She's go now if I let her. It's the social and exposure to all kinds of stuff that is the motivator.

But anyway, I forgot to mention my near nervous break down about taking her out of our current preschool and the families that we know there. Specifically my friend Jennifer and Mollie's bff Lindsay! Ugh! They will now be on opposite days and I feel like I've intentionally thrown this big wrench in things. I am now convinced, and she was helped me realize, haha, that it's not like we'll never see each other again:)
Looking at the big picture and now I'm really excited about it. Phew!


Thursday after our school tour we left for the lake for the 4th. We have gone every year for the 4th of July since I can remember dating Phil. Especially since we got our own camper there. We got there a little later than we'd planned b/c of my preschool visit and I forgot so many things b/c I was a nervous wreck. I am a very laid back person and don't get all in a tizzy very often so b/c I did, it threw us all off!

Friday the weather was kind of blah, cloudy and cool, probably 70 degrees! The only other family there was Phil's uncle Tommy and his aunt Gayle so we hung out with them some and decided to go into Mountain City, TN (the closest real town, about 25 min) and have lunch and go to Fred's. Ever been to Fred's? Phil calls it's Walmart's illegitimate son. Always a good time at Fred's. We ate at a Mexican place for lunch that was very good. I'm a little sketchy of small town strip mall Mexican, but it was delish. Phil's aunt and uncle did some grocery shopping, we got a milk shake at Hardees and headed back to the lake. The sun came out briefly, but no swimming. Did get a boat ride in though. That night we celebrated Phil's Dad's (pawpaw) birthday. He's 67 now! He's our "caretaker" at the lake since he lives so close by. He lives in Mtn. City actually now.

PawPaw's birthday cake

Saturday the weather was beautiful, we hung out with Phil's cousin Michael and his wife Mary and daughter Grace (love them) rode down to watch the house boat parade they do every year which was very cool, down toward the middle of the lake. That evening Phil's brother David, his wife Angela and the cousins Olivia and Emma came. We cooked out a nice big July 4th dinner and when dark was rolling around Sydney put on Phil's old iPod and listened to her music so the fireworks wouldn't bother her. That lasted about 30 min. until major freak out ensued. She's still really afraid. She ended up in Michael and Mary's camper during them and then we ran them back to our camper at 10pm when it was still going. Next year=not going. We can leave the morning of. I'm not going to the lake or beach and surrounding her with that again. Awful! I hope she grows out of that, but she's 5, thought that would happen by now.

One of the houseboats in the parade! Not even the biggest one!

Phil got both girls on the jetski:)Emma, Mollie, Olivia, Sydney and Grace

Sunday was pouring down rain and in the upper 60's. Phil and David sat under the shelter of the pontoon boat and the girls swam. Couldn't keep them out of the water! Mollie tuckered out quickly, but Sydney, Olivia and Emma swam and swam until we made them come up for lunch! We left around 2:30, met his mom and grandma for dinner at McD's along the way for dinner and got home finally around 8:30pm!

It was a good weekend, but not the best weather.

Sydney is a kindergartener!

I am finally getting this post up! Shame on me!

Tuesday was Sydney's first day of school:) They do staggered entry for K here so they break the class into 3 or 4 groups of kids over the week to do all the assessments and routines and get to know them better on a smaller scale. Very helpful!

She loved it. LOVED it! And is annoyed that she doesn't go back until Monday. Since we're year-round she'll go for 5 more full weeks and then Aug. 14th she'll "track out" for 3 weeks and go back Sept. 8th.

The first thing she said when she got in the car at the end of the day was "a lady said (made an announcement) that if you're going to wear spagetti straps you have to wear a sweater". Haha! She cares more about the dress code than anything else.

We walked her in in the morning and the parking lot was insane. Totally insane. First day of school for the entire school that day. I filled out the emergency info. and she went about her business. Ms. Berentes, her teacher, showed her where to put her stuff in a cubby and she said goodbye without a care at all. We were out of there in less than 5 min. probably! She got to see her friend Andrew who is track 3 when they went in his room to meet the PE, music, and art teachers. They talked about having Spanish next week. She got to use the computers in her room which she's a pro at. I didn't get too much info. about any other kids, just a girl named Lovely. She loved eating in the cafeteria and said she wanted to just buy her lunch there. I explained to her that some of the things she may not like so that we could look at the menu each week and decide if she wanted to buy some days. She might want to just buy a milk carton with her lunch also she said. So I told her we'd put some money on her lunch acct. so she could do that. And she already knows her lunch and carpool number! At LP they make it the same number which is great! If you have older kids the # is always the same as the youngest child in the family's lunch number. Genius idea!

When I picked her up at carpool she looked so little next to the big school, but so big with her bookbag and lunch box! It was great. I didn't cry in the morning, but I teared up some in carpool. Crazy, I know. I think it finally hit me then. She can't wait till Monday and I guess I actually need to take her in that day also to drop off her school supplies.

She's the little person next to the green cone:)

decisions, decisions

Yesterday I got a call from RL preschool, the one I had Mollie on the waiting list for a 3 day spot...
She got a spot in the 3/4 class which is for older 3's/young 4's. This would be perfect for Mollie I think. But I'm not sure I want to take her out of where she thinks she'll be and on the same Tu/Th schedule with some of her (and my) friends. Mollie and I are going to visit this morning at 9:30.
Then we're leaving for the lake.
I still have no idea what to do! I have a pros and cons list and it's going both ways along with my gut...

back in action

We're back from our glorious week at the beach house. It's rented for the next 5 weeks so we won't be back until probably mid-August. Assuming it's open then. It was rented the 2 weeks before we were there which is great, that's 7 weeks rented this year. That's better than last year which we'd hoped. But it's VERY hard doing it and knowing that you have no control over who is in there and what they're doing! You just see what it's like after it's been cleaned (thank goodness). Which is usually fine.

We were joined by Courtney and Cameron Tuesday night until Friday and Nancy, Chase, Mom and Dad Wednesday until Saturday. Travis was going to come down Thursday evening, but he got sick and didn't make it. We had a lot of fun hanging out. Chase LOVED the water! And Phil and I and Courtney and Cam had a really fun time hanging on the back deck in our new Target clearance rockers Tuesday night, haha. We looked up and it was 12:30! Nancy, Courtney, Sydney and I trecked out to Wally one day during nap time and Cam took babysitting duty because Mom fell asleep also. And Nancy and Sydney and I escaped to the outlets Friday afternoon during Chase and Mollie's nap. We're training Sydney to be a good shopper. She did well. Mom supplemented the experience with ice cream money and babysitting:) OH, and one day Sydney and Cam played Wii for hours. It was cute.

Anyway, we ate all the food we wanted to eat at our favorite places and by our favorite people. I am going to have to eat nothing but salad until we leave for the lake on Thursday and I have no self control again:) We had a hot dog and brat cook out with Mary Jo and Bobby and Phil's friend Andrew and his daughter the first night. THey were all in town finishing up their own vacations. We ate at Calico Jacks and had the best bbq chicken nachos that I keep dreaming about. Had Basil's pizza, our favorite mexican, Steven's Oyster Roast, Mom brought a chicken pie with her that we munched on for lunches and such, Uncle Cam made Low Country boil, Phil and Dad made yummy kabobs with shrimp/pineapple and steak/onions/peppers/mushrooms. Then we hit Five Guys on the way out of town.

Our good friends LeAnne, Eliza, and Lydia stayed with us Monday night and we went to Broadway at the beach on Tuesday morning while Phil got some real work done and front porch painting done. Then we also got to hang out with them for some beach playing which was great! They moved on to her grandmother's place in CG after our Broadway adventures on Tuesday. We took all the girls to the Friends 2 Be Made store which is actually part of the Build a Bear Workshop, but you make dolls instead of bears. Super cute! I'm not sure if we got a picture with Sydney, Mollie, and Eliza with their dolls, but they were cute. I did get a few with our little digital of them making them so I'll have to post those.

That same little digital camera that took a trip in Phil's shorts pocket through the washing machine and didn't make it. RIP little camera. Now I only have the big honkin' one to take around with me. But luckily the SD card make it with the few pics we took with is like Build a Bear and his golf outing (none of which made any sense)

I actually followed up Phil's camera blunder yesterday when we were killing time while the sheets were drying. We went for a really freakin' hot walk at a nature preserve which is really neat, but would be better in cooler weather! Anyway, we had our nice camera with us and I was taking a picture on one of the docks and dropped the lens cap in the water, haha. It has always bothered me that it doesn't have anything to hold it onto the camera or anything. I knew I would lose it! Oh well. It did float, but there was no way we could get it. I convinced Phil that it really wasn't worth flagging down the many fishermen to get away from their spots to rescue a lens cap! I found one on ebay with a wrist string on the lens cap for $3.99 and free shipping. Not quite the $250 mistake golf boy made!

wish you were here

not again!

Mollie fell asleep in the car this morning at 11:30. Unlike her. She kept holding her right ear. She would randomly touch both of them the last few days. I asked her if it hurt a few times. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Never a big deal.
So this afternoon I decided to call and get her an appt. to get them checked since we're going to the beach tomorrow for a week.
We were there May 20 with a double EI and then June 11 with bad right and just fluid in the left. Today she said the left looked worse than the right and the right was not gone. Super. We're still on the omnicef!
So now we have another Rx to get filled and take with us on vacation. And hopefully I'll remember to give it to her at the beach!
Grrr...
I'm waiting until tonight to fill it when I can get out to Target. Alone:)
(they have the best liquid Rx bottles I think)

Oh and we have to get them rechecked in 2-3 weeks and may have a trip to the ENT after that. Which I am not afraid of. She can just go to mine, HAHA!

Reading time!

I thought it was time to throw out some book recommendations again:)

Here are 2 we really like right now:

Pinkalicious and Purplicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann. They are writers and illustrators.

The girls think these books are just so cute. Pinkalicious is a really silly story and Purplicious is a follow up to it. I just saw that there is also Goldilicious:

We're going to have to get this one!

So basically this little girl named Pinkalicious loves everything pink. She eats too many pink cupcakes and acts kind of bratty and ends up turning pink:) She has to eat a bunch of green stuff to turn back to normal. Her brother Peter ends up eating them also and turns pink at the end as well. In Purplicious, Pinkalicious meets a bunch of mean girls who only like black. She has to deal with the fact that she likes something that everyone else things is "passe". Finally she makes a friend who likes pink and they discover how pink is powerful--it can turn blue into purple! Purplicious!

I actually read the book Pinkalicious to my intervention kids at school one day to talk about the parts of the story and retelling. The next day I brought pink cupcakes. They were tickled pink!

Added bonus: Music recommendation

What are we listening to in the car right now?

Barenaked Ladies, Snacktime

It came out about a year ago. I love it. If you're sick of toddler tunes and like BNL (I've always loved them) you'll like it. Especially 789. You can listen to it here:

http://www.bnlmusic.com/snacktime/

I have to say, I am aware that like 2 weeks after the cd came out the lead singer got arrested for cocaine possession or something like that. Bad, bad, boy. Not good example for the children you just wrote this for. But really, maybe that's why it's so funny....;) KIDDING!

And my kids aren't old enough yet to be influenced by that bad decision. They have no idea. So have at it!

pics and swimming

Sorry, the picture link below doesn't work! Go here:
http://www.melissacackovic.com/
click enter
proofs
Jonesfam09
Hopefully that will work.
But I'll be getting the cd from Melissa this week and will upload them to shutterfly for quicker viewing/ordering.

Sydney is a little fish! She has really improved on swimming and I just really can't believe how well she's doing! In everything. She has matured 10x over the last few weeks. She still has the tired meltdowns occassionally in the afternoons, but overall she's been doing great. She started Safety Town through the town of Cary this week and loved it today. She goes every day this week for half a day. She loves the carpool drop off and pick up and she loved snack. Now, they had goldfish for snack. We have goldfish all the time at home. You'd think she'd be tired of it. They must have better fishies than I provide. Anyway, it was a nice point in our summer break for her to have something to do. Then next week we go to the beach for the week!

Anyway, yesterday we went over to Laura and Chloe's to celebrate Chloe's birthday and went to their pool. It is a great pool! 0 entry at one point and a water slide into 3.5 feet. Sydney started out going down it with her floatie, then her swim vest and then with nothing and would then swim to the side of the pool. She did awesome!
We had a great time with them and Zach made some great burgers for dinner. Laura made some yummy salsa. I made pasta salad from a box:) It was a really a nice visit. And I just want to eat that baby Keira up. Those cheeks, ahhhh. Those of you who remember Mollie's cheeks as a baby, man, they are just like them. I love chubby baby cheeks!

picture proofs are done!

Melissa, my photographer friend, got our family session proofs all done last night.
If you're on Facebook you can see the link on my page to some previews.
If you want to see all 295 of them block off some serious time and go to melissacackovic.com
and click on proofs and then find Jones family.
They're great! But it does take a while to scroll through them all.

K orientation

I am so excited! I just got back from Kindergarten orientation at Sydney's school. I'm so happy for her. She's going to have a great time. And at this time there is only one Track 2 K teacher so I already know who her teacher will be! And I think I'll like her from the snipit I saw/heard from her. Tomorrow we go for a little preview thing where you just get to say hi to the teacher and look around the classroom while their current students are at specials. Then she'll go July 7th for her staggered entry day! Ah, the excitement!
I so want to go buy school supplies, haha! But they're not out at Target yet and she doesn't need to bring them until her first day with the entire class on July 13th so I need to just wait.

In other news, Mollie and I are still dealing with ear problems! I have to take prednisone and another antibiotic for this darn ear and Mollie was back in the dr. today with another bad infection in her right ear and fluid in her left. So neither of us can hear:) Talk to Sydney if you need something.

soul mates?

So, we went to the neighborhood pool tonight for dinner/play. Our friends Kim and Joshua joined us. Well, as I was just preparing to get the girls out of the pool Sydney starts playing with a little girl named Ava. I have seen this family at the pool before, mostly last year. She and Sydney instantly started playing and jumping off the side holding hands. Well, the first actual words spoken between them was Ava:
"this is my bathing suit I wore last year but it still fits me. Do you like it?
I looked at Kim and was said, "oh crap, a new best friend". HAHAHA
So I had to let them play longer of course.
Then I find out that Ava will be starting Kindergarten at our base school that is going back to traditional so we're only not going there b/c we wanted year round. Otherwise Sydney and Ava would be starting K together. So obviously this girl lives in our neighborhood and we need to make friends with her family!

recipe for fun

If you have a sprinkler system...

*put kids in bathing suits

*sit in lawn chair in driveway

*use remote control to turn on a zone

*have them check out the spray

*switch the zone and when they run to that zone and freak out and get wet switch the zone again

*you then have kids running and squealing around the yard looking for water

*this requires little to no work

*parents get to sit and veg with favorite beverage, possibly with neighbors, and just laugh:)

one more day

One more day of work for me! Monday! I thought my last day was Wed., but they're letting me use the state furlough time when the kids are there since my position doesn't require me a sub. I get 2 hours. So I'm adding 30 min. to my time on Monday and that will be it! I'll go back into my retirement period. I probably will look for something else part time when Mollie goes to Kindergarten. Krystina, our babysitter, was here MWF this week. The girls are spending Monday with their friends Matthew and Lindsay which they'll love.
Today is Matthew's NC State 5th birthday party. They're super excited.
Tomorrow we have pictures with the WHOLE Jones family at Duke Gardens with Melissa Cackovic who did our other pics in January. I'm really looking forward to it. Even Stubbs the bassett will be there.

Oh and a note of thankfulness: Chase had to have a Cystic Fibrosis "sweat test" done this week at UNC. They're just trying to figure out if there is some reason why he doesn't gain much wait and has been sick. We think he's just small b/c Nancy is small and Travis was/is small. They might do blood work at a later date for some immune deficiency issues, but right now he's in the clear! Thank God! It was normal.

my face hurts from smiling

Today was a great day by 8am.

I have come to have a special place in my heart for people who struggle with infertility. I was always afraid there would be a reason I couldn't have children. It really worried me. I had no reason to think that, but a lot of people have no reason to think that either. And they try and try and try and the one thing they want more than anything just doesn't happen for them. It's one of those things that you just never know until you try. And I have come to learn through lots of experiences of dear friends that this is a horrible journey to embark on.

Somehow, come to find out, God blessed Phil and I with the ability to breathe on each other and get pregnant. Now, most people know that I love babies. But we pretty much decided 2 was it. I probably could have been persuaded to have another one, but then my children would have been fatherless because Phil would have dropped dead of a heart attack. Hence the special appointment he set up for himself when Mollie was about 10 months old. Or we would probably have 5 kids by now. And will never take that for granted. Really, it's one of God's greatest gifts.

I have several friends who have been through invitro fertilization (IVF), Phil's cousin and his wife adopted from China, and in the last 6 months or so I learned that a friend from high school/college was using a gestational surrogate (both parents DNA, just a carrier).
I have at least 3 friends with twins:) And it's just wonderful to me, WONDERFUL, that these friends all have their babies finally. After many emotional, physical, economical, can we say SHOTS, struggles. I have learned so much about so many things.

Anyway, my friend Dawn's twins turned one today! Happy Birthday Cecilia and Owen! I am so happy for your family! And when I woke up this morning I found out through Facebook (great tool;) that my old friend using a surrogate's baby boy was born this morning after a 4 year struggle to have a family! What a great day!
So that's why I keep smiling. Bring on the babies.

Some of you know my friend Lauren that I have known since 2nd grade. She and her husband Josh are expecting a baby in November and I'm so excited! I meant to say that before. Sydney was in her wedding the April before Courtney and Cameron's wedding.

Which brings me to...
Happy 2nd Anniversary to Courtney and Cameron! They'll add to the baby train one of these days. When Stubbs the big bassett just isn't enough...

ready to sloooowwww down

This week was the end of gymnastics and swimming lessons. The week before that was the end of dance class and preschool. I still have to work until June 10, but that's only 5 more work days for me. Yippee!

So things are slowing down around here.

Sydney is going to Safety Town through the Town of Cary the week of June 15 and the following week we'll go to the beach. Um, followed by the lake again for July 4th, haha. Guess we won't be slowing down too much. But July 7th is her staggered entry for kindergarten day and then that Monday the 13th the first day with her whole class and first full week. So then we'll be pretty slow until her track out in August!

I'm really looking forward to having that time with Mollie to hang out. We'll find plenty to get ourselves into I'm sure:)

Phil has been gone since Wed. He had a trade show in Wilmington Wed-Fri and then met his Dad, my brother in law Travis and his Dad at the beach house for a work weekend. They rebuilt parts of the front deck and gate and stairs. It had been lined with lattice which is really not safe and not up to code. They replaced it with pickets. And pressure washed and put up new entry lights by the front door. Those were super-70's style and not a big deal, but a quick $40 fix. We'll probably have to paint the deck at a later date. I'm excited to see it, it will not only be safer, but make the place look a little better!

Anyway, he should be rolling in here pretty soon and we're all ready to see him! The girls have missed him more this trip I think b/c they've been asking a lot about him and Sydney's been wanting to talk to him on the phone more.

So, to occupy ourselves for part of the weekend, we went to Nancy's last night to spend the night! The kids hadn't all had much of a chance to play together and we wild and free (outside of a restaurant or event). It was a lot of fun. None of us really slept well, but I think at least now Sydney will be willing to stay there alone for a sleepover.

Here are Chase, Mollie, and Sydney in the bath. Cropped to make it PG.

Yesterday morning we went to a friend's pool in the morning, then a pool birthday party in the afternoon. The girls are already getting a lot of sun as you can see. It freaks me out. I've been trying to coat them in sunscreen, but it's a pain! Anyway, Sydney is a fish! She can totally swim on her own now and it's so exciting!! Mollie's not afraid of the water, but still cautious and will not get her face in. She's a little water princess.

This afternoon we went to see the movie Up with our friends LeAnne and Eliza. We were both really surprised at the adult themes in it. Like death, living your life to the fullest, etc. Which is GREAT for us. I loved it. But it's definitely not as geared toward kids as I thought it would be. It's cute and Mollie and Eliza were great and really entertained. But I think Sydney was a little bored with it. Like she was caught right in that spot of the entertaining not being quite enough, but the message was too over her head to understand it. Plus, she was tired, almost had a breakdown (sobbing) during the movie and then fell asleep on me and snored. But anyway, see it! It just wasn't what I expected.

the most beautiful place on Earth

Might just be Watauga Lake.
It's so nice. Even when it rains, it's pretty. It's so peaceful. We had a great time. Everyone slept well (which as been an issue in the past). Fun times. Our neighbors James and Michele joined us from Friday-Sunday evening. Phil's brother David and our neices Olivia and Emma got there around 3 on Sunday and stayed the night. We left around 4 on Monday to come back home. Stopped in Winston to eat dinner and got home around 8:30 last night.
My ear started feeling better, but hurt until about Sunday I think. It stunk. Royally. My ear drum ended up rupturing during the night b/c I woke up Friday to gunky stuff coming out my ear and it continued most of the day. If you've never had it happen it's like snot coming out your ear, haha. Sorry, GROSS!
We of course were so glad to see Phil's cousin Michael, Mary, and Grace as well. I need to get those pics up soon. Actually, I loaded them today, but haven't added them to the share site yet. Here is the direct link:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2CcM3LJmxYsWw

We'll go back for 4 or so days around July 4th and then again Labor Day weekend!

I feel horrendous

I don't know if I spelled that correctly.
The ear infection fairy hit me this afternoon. Slugged me maybe?
It started hurting around 5:30 or so. Maybe 6. And kept hurting worse and worse. Deja vu. I have been there before. I went to urgent care. I was apparently the most interesting person they'd seen in a while (sad). Showed off my ear drum to a few people and sent me home with my Augmentin.
Urgent care is scary. I luckily had my ipod to drown out the annoying screaming kid and his MORE annoying mother. I know I have kids so I shouldn't say that. He was really annoying. And luckily the old lady in the housecoat with the face mask who probably had swine flu was not sitting next to me.
So now my ear hurts like hell, I popped my drugs, 4 Advil, and dripped my ear drops. And hopefully it will stop hurting before we head to the mountains tomorrow afternoon! And preferably before work tomorrow. That would be nice too;)

goodbyes and ear infections

Today was the last day of preschool for the girls. I still get teary-eyed thinking about it. I get so emotional so easily. I thought it had gotten better. I mostly made it through Sydney's little song performance in the Church and the ice cream social and giving her teachers the gifts. When the director talked about them going off to Kindergarten I almost lost it. They don't do a graduation ceremony like a lot of preschool b/c not all of them go. They have a 5 day transition class there that some kids go to. And even more so this year because of the K entry date changing this year from Oct. 16-Aug. 31. So there are kids in the 4's classes who have to wait another year.
(which as a kindergarten teacher I was pumped about)

So then I go to get Mollie in the middle of the ice cream party b/c they dismiss at 12:15. The director was in with Ms. Maria and Ms. Caroline and I was saying goodbye and I just started bawling! Well, not bawling, just uh, crying. I'm such a loser! I know that they think Mollie is really special though since they've had her 2 years and her one teacher made her those dresses! I told them we'll come back by to visit next year and I might sub for them. I hope I can. Betsey, they director, said she would ask me. She asked me to work there, but I said maybe the next year;) I think I would actually. It would be fun! So maybe that will be my next job after I become the happiest laid off WCPSS employee in the county:)

Okay, so that brings me to our 1pm pediatrician appt. at 1pm. I had decided to take them in today and get their lingering coughs checked out. Sydney then said right before school that her ear hurt. Well she has an ear infection and MOllie has a double and I had no idea! Mollie still swears her ear doesn't hurt. I was going to wake her up from her nap to go to her new swim class that just started Monday. But then I thought, why would I do that? Why would I wake her up when her body obviously needs the rest--to take her to something she obviously seriously dislikes:)??
Backing up, I switched her to a level 1 class which meets on M/W afternoons since she would do nothing in the level 2. She still did nothing, but I did manage to get her to sit on the side with her feet in. So I called and talked to the program director and said look, she's sick, we're not coming, but we just started in this class and that was after the failed level 2 class so I don't want you to think we're not coming back. She has just managed to get pink eye and an ear infection all during the course of this swimming session that. she. hates. Sigh. Do we even bother to go back next week? I guess we'll see. I don't want to give into her swimming lesson hating self either. So we'll probably go.
Sydney, on the other hand, is a great swimmer and it's a good thing b/c it's cost me a fortune running over to the Triangle Aquatic Center now 4 times a week b/w the 2 of them. Her class is Tu/Th.

We're going to the lake for Memorial Day weekend, this weekend I guess. I think we all need a vacation! I'm just glad we caught the EI's before heading up to the mountains!