Watercolor 2011

The gang...minus Presley!

This post is going to be short and sweet with lots of pictures! Again, this year we made our annual beach trip down to Watercolor. We were joined again by the Copelands and our friends the Ulmers. Each year we try a different phase of Watercolor. The area is very large and has multiple kiddie pools with many access roads to the main pool and beach. This year was phase three and I think my personal favorite thus so far! It was close to the Frog Pool, which the kids love. They have the little splashpads that have water popping up from the ground and a big fun playground too. The bike ride to the beach was very quick and easy...young kids could even ride it...if you had the patience to go that slow!

We discovered last year how much fun it was to have families together that have children the same age. The kids have a blast and entertain each other fairly well! We would spend most mornings on the beach and the afternoons at the pool. Pretty much all the kids could for go a nap for an early bedtime! Which was fine with all of us! Presley, who is only one had to take a nap during the day, but went to bed early at night.  There a few nights we got sitters to watch the kids so, the adults could go out to dinner. Some nights we went hunting for crabs on the beach and some nights we all just hung out and played and cooked out at home.

Look at this crab!

Dont look at me!

Boat Rides

Dinner

Brian and Amy

Dont Ask?

I am not afraid!

How High?

The Twins!

Its all in the attitude!

Taking a break!

We do love each other...sometimes!

The Girls

Elijah is fearless!

We had a blast this year again! Ethan and I even went in search of our new home to rent for next year...

Pee Pee in the Potty...

I have always heard that girls are much easier than boys to potty train. I was beginning to think it might never happen with Henley! We had bought big girl panties with Cinderella on them and we would wear them...over the diaper! Not really the way your supposed to do it, I would tell her. Henley just did not seem to care at all. In fact, she would sit around in dirty diapers for hours with no desire to be changed. I had given up on the training for awhile and decided she would be ready when she was ready!

About a week ago she started pulling her diapers off when she peed in them. Annoying, yes but, a sign she might be getting close to using the potty. Early this week she would wake up in the morning and insist we put her big girl panties on. We did. There was not much going on this week and we would be around the house so, I figured why not? To my surprise she did great! There was even one time we left the house and I forgot to put a diaper on her and she did not wet her pants! It is amazing what they can do when they actually want to do something? The week has gone by and so far, she has only had one accident! I think I spoke to soon and jinxed her! Today, Henley pooped in her pants! Yuck! I actually made her clean it up, hoping this would deter it from happening again!

I have been carrying a little toilet in the back of my car for her to use if we are out and about. I hate the thought of public restrooms with a girl! With a boy it was easy to just stop and let them pee by the car but, girls not so much! She touches everything and it grosses me out! The other day we were out and she had to pee. I stopped the car and pulled over. I told her to get in the back and pee pee in her potty. She looked at me with the most serious of faces and said, I want to pee outside. Henley thinks she is just like her brother and can do anything he can do...except pee outside. It was just the other day she realized, that she does NOT have a PENIS! Seriously!

I hope it last! I am thrilled at the chance to have two trained children in the house! Yeah! We will see how it continues to go the rest of the week and in Avalon. I am not sure if the diaper will come out for the airplane ride!?

The Graduate!

I do not remember my pre-school graduation being very elaborate. Possibly a walk across a stage receiving some document proclaiming were smart enough to proceed to kindergArten? Well, things sure have changed. Christian had his graduation a few weeks ago and it was probably the most adorable and special program to date! They went full out with this program. I had said, I would not cry. After all, it is pre-school! He is not graduating from high school and going off to college...leaving me. Well, I was excited and so was he for the program.

They wore red caps and gowns and looked like grown ups processing up to the stage in a line! The whole time there was a slide show of the class from throughout the year. The pictures were adorable and of course our little ham was in a lot of them!I was fine up until the song they were playing during the slide show started. It was " Let them be Little". This is a country song about how quickly children grow up. In fact, it is the very song I danced with my father too at our wedding. This immediately brought tears to my eyes! For a number of reasons. One, my little boy is growing up...quickly! I love this age and how loving he is! To imagine in a few years that he won't tell me he loves me 100 times a day, breaks my heart! I could just swallow him up right now! Second, it reminded of what my dad was probably thinking about me when we danced to this song. I am sure all parents at some time in their child's life wish that time could stand still. It was that kind of moment...except I had a two year old crying at my legs...

The kids sang a couple of songs after they got on stage and sure enough Christian reminded me more and more of his father. He was trying to act as if he knew the words and then only knew maybe the first and last words of the song. :) There was a pirate song he knew really well and it was sooo funny watching them. They then accepted their diplomas one by one. They even moved the tossle thing on their cap from one side to the other as they graduated.















When it was all over they processed out of the gym. There was a little celebration afterwards
With all his friends and then we went out to dinner to celebrate. Unfortunately, Brian was not able to be there because of traveling with work. However, he had Nene, Poppy, Grandma and Boppa there to cheer him on! Julie was supposed to come too but, Henley had a virus that popped up and we did not want Bennett sick for her birthday party that weekend. We all went out to have dinner and Christian was the center of attention. He got his graduation gifts, which were a transformer named sideswipe and a book called, " The Night Before Kindergarten”. I think the transformer was his favorite!:) The book is a fun read for him to get more excited about his new adventure in kindergarten thus fall!

Congrats buddy! Kindergarten is going to be so much fun next year...we can not wait! We love you!

Happy Mothers Day to me....

Was not Mother's Day invented to give us wonderful mommies a break? Sometimes I wonder...To all you moms out there who got breakfast in bed, a clean house, a break from the everyday stressors, well you are the lucky ones.

My husbands birthday falls on Mothers Day Weekend. Which is fine except this year he was out of town at a Bachelor party! I have to admit it was sad to not have your children say, Happy Mothers Day because they don't even know what that is? They are 2 and 4 after all. Once we got to church, they figured it out quickly and told me hundreds of times! Christian was especially sweet about it. He is just the most loving little boy. Henley made me a sweet picture in the nursery and the day started to get better.

After church we all three decided to go out and eat lunch. We ate at a place called Zaxby's. This is a chicken place the kids love to eat at. Not exactly a wonderful Mothers Day Lunch, but I had my sweet babies with me and that is all that mattered! After my rubbery grilled chicken salad that took me forever to eat because my children were acting like hooligans...we left Zaxby's. I was thinking to myself...what a great day this is turning out to be.

After I snapped out of my pity party, I got a great idea. We were headed to the Home Depot. For months I have been searching for the right tree. The right tree to plant in honor of our son Gabriel. Recently, I found a tree that just seemed perfect. Perfect in the way that I will always weep for the life we lost, but beautiful in the memories we got to share with him. The tree is called, A Weeping Cherry Tree. If you have never seen one, they are beautiful. I had seen them at many nurseries and had not yet had a chance to get one. Since Brian was coming home that afternoon. I knew exactly what I wanted to do this Mother's Day. This day was not about honoring me, not this year. It was about honoring Gabriel, Christian and Henley. I am the mother I am because of them. These children bring such happiness and joy to my life regardless of the length of time I have known them. They make me who I am today.

When Brian got home, I put him to work. He had to dig a big hole. This was difficult because we don't have good dirt here. We have rocks and clay. I had bought everything we needed to make this tree thrive and be beautiful. I can not wait for the day that it is at it's full potential. He spent the afternoon digging and I went to the store. I was getting dinner cooked for me, which was a nice treat.

After dinner the kids gave me their cards that daddy helped them with and gave me a gift. We then planted our tree in honor of Gabriel. It was a special Mothers Day and a great way to end the weekend. Thanks to my family for reminding me just how much I love you all!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

If anyone knows my husband than they would know just how much he DOES not care to
celebrate his birthday. This year Brian was out of town for his 36 birthday. He was at a Bachelor party in Hilton Head. Not to shabby of a way to celebrate your birthday in my opinion!

We would never let this occasion pass us by without celebrating. Brian did not want to do anything, but I just won't allow that to happen. He was out of town the week of his birthday and came home for one day before leaving again for the weekend. Well, that one day was all we needed. We were going to celebrate his birthday before he left. The kids and I made a birthday cake and they helped decorate it. We wrapped his presents and told him we were celebrating that night. At the last moment, he decided he wanted to go eat at his favorite pizza joint, Davenport’s.

We went out to dinner that evening. When we got home the kids could not wait for him to blow out his candles and sing Happy Birthday to daddy. Then we opened gifts. It was a nice and quiet birthday, just what he wanted. I am sure he did enough celebrating on his actual birthday though, with his friends.

I did It...

Last weekend on May 1, 2011 I ran my very first 1/2 marathon!  For those who do not know how many miles that is...it is 13.1 miles! I have been training for this run since February and the day finally came and went. It was called the “Flying Pig” and held in Cincinnati, Ohio. The race actually took us through two states, Ohio and Kentucky.

My mother, sister and I all ran the race. It was actually a very interesting weekend to say the least. My mom and I flew into Louisville, KY on Friday morning. We rented a car and drove over to Covington, KY, which is right on the border of Ohio. Where we stayed was in close proximity to the race.

If anyone has ever ran a race of any kind than you are aware of the Expo’s they have. This is where you pick up your packets and goody bags. There is also hundreds of vendors there to sell you every product imaginable that has to do with running, at a discount. The newest and the best stuff out on the market. Needless to say, it was a little overwhelming. However, once you got in there, it was a lot of fun. Excitement was in the air. Everybody there had been training for something and now the day was quickly approaching. We got to the Expo around 5:00 and stayed until 7:00pm. We had not even gotten half way through the place before they closed. We were going to come back the next afternoon.

The first "Flying Pig” marathon started in 1999. The city goes all out and there are festivities on every corner. He had dinner that night out by their square with a band playing the entire night. It was very fun and relaxing. It was nice to have a great meal with my mom and sister and just take our time.

The next morning we all got up and went down to eat breakfast. This is where the weekend took a turn for the worst. Heather started feeling really sick. She was nauseous, dizzy and over all felt a little weird. We thought maybe she was just tired from a long week...little did we know what was coming. Heather, like a trouper trudged on and we continued on our day. We went back to the Expo, did a little shopping and than had a pasta dinner through the “Flying Pig”. They have these big before the race dinners that are nothing but, pasta and marinara sauce, bread and salad. The dinner was not that great, but it was a meal. My sister started to feel worse, so we went back to the room. We had to be up at 4:30am anyway so, we all turned in early.

The race started at 6:30am, but we had to be there around 5:15am because they were closing the roads. I jumped out of bed at 4:30am...excited! I had been training hard and now I was ready to run this race. It could not have started soon enough for me. I would of ran in the dark...

Unfortunately, my sister did not share the same excitement. I quickly discovered that she had been up all night vomiting! Oh no, she was not going to be able to race with me. Heather and I run close to the same pace, so I would normally expect her to be in the same area as me during our run. I was disappointed that   she did not feel well. Selfishly, I wanted her to be able to run side by side across the finish line! She was determined to be there though and she RAN the race? I can not believe she did it either...dehydrated and nauseous. I think she stopped to walk some, but who cares? I probably would of stayed in bed.

Now, the on-line course description of this race made it sound very easy. I had no idea that Cincinnati was so stinking hilly! There was supposed to be a 3 mile incline at mile 6,7, and 8, but nothing that was that bad. We  decided to drive the course the day before and to our surprise... it was extremely hilly! I do not mean that there were rolling hills, I mean the whole damn race was UPHILL! I would venture to say, 70-75% of the course was uphill. It felt like we were going up a mountain in the car...now imagine running that!

The morning of the race, I was hoping that it would not be that bad. I was wrong! It was brutal! The incline started at mile 2 and leveled off around mile 4. Around mile 5 it started back uphill and did not stop until around mile 10!!! I am not lying! There were people cheering on the sides and they were saying, “ it is all down hill from here”. I kept wondering where in the hell is the down hill...I sure was not running down! Finally, the down hill came and it lasted maybe a mile or so and then it was just some rolling hills to the finish!

I am so proud of myself and that I ran the whole time. I would of liked to have finished with a better time, but the hills really slowed me down. A person can only run so fast uphill for so long! My time was 2hours and 16 minutes. Not bad for my very first race!

I am addicted now! I have already signed up for another 1/2 marathon in October in St. Louis. It is there inaugural “Rock N Roll” marathon. These races are supposed to be super fun. I have a ton of family in St. Louis, so it will be fun to go there for the weekend. I am even contemplating the Chicago FULL marathon next year. This year is full because it is such a great race. We will see, I have a friend who wants to train together for Chicago. She is already a marathoner, so she could help me out? I think mentally it would be tough...we will see!

An update on my sister...she had food poisoning! She is finally feeling better, a week later! We will hopefully, cross the finish line together next time! :)

I have to order my pictures from the race. I could not carry a camera with me. I did take some pictures of the city and the three bridges we ran across. I also have a picture of the great medals we won. Christian was so proud, he took my medal to show and tell at school! Once the other pictures come in, I will post them!