Fireflies and firepits

Today, I witnessed the beauty of a baby's face while he was still in the womb. Baby Steffen is going to be one of the most gorgeous babies ever. And, I am NOT biased. ;)

Today, I thought about the birth of my own two babies when thinking about Rebecca's pending labor and delivery (and praying for a July 2nd birth). And I looked at my kids and realized how fast it has gone by. 

Today, a blog post by Dawn, talking about breaking all the rules, reminded me that, despite the growth of my babies, we can all still enjoy acting like children. 

So, today, I got inspired to mark off a list item... catching fireflies with my kiddos. 

We lit a fire in the fire pit (which I can tell you was harder than I expected it to be... I'm not as country as I always thought I was. haha). 

We roasted a couple of marshmallows.

And, we waited until it was almost dark. Then, they appeared. 

Everywhere.

If I could have taken a good photo of them, I would have. But, instead, I helped the kids, running through the yard like a kid... mason jar in hand. 

We caught ten fireflies before we stopped. And we watched them light up our jar for a few minutes. Then, we took off the lid and we counted them all as they flew out. 

Then, we sat around the fire for about 2 seconds. Or maybe it was a half second. :) And the kids were ready to move on. I, on the other hand, could have sat there all night with them beside me, watching the fire. Yet, that day will come... the day where we will all sit around the fire for hours, just happy to be there. I hope. :) I'm close to getting there with Bailey. She sat there with me briefly... just talking and making silly faces. 

Until then, I will act like a kid and embrace their childhood just a bit more. :) 

Catching Up... version 1000

Since I've finally decided to blog about our vacation, I guess it's time to do the wonderfully fun thing of trying to get caught up on the rest of our lives! 


Bailey and Jake are loving their summer, despite the fact that it feels as if it is slipping further and further away, faster and faster. 


Upon arriving home from our vacation, we finished out our t-ball tournament (read more about that here). Then, it was time for Bailey to shift gears and become more dramatic. I know. I never thought I'd ever encourage more drama from the queen of drama in our house, but I did. I put her in theatre camp for a week at the completely, awesome, wonderful Lexington Children's Theatre. I would love to post the video of Bailey and her class performance, because it is quite adorable, but they've asked that we don't make that video public online. So... trust me when I say it was incredibly cute. Even Jake was interested in theatre camp after seeing her perform. If only they had a superhero session (hint, Lesley!). :) 


During Bailey's week at theatre camp, Jake spent a week with Morgan, his babysitter, enjoying running around Lexington, visiting his friends, swimming at the pool, and, of course, training Morgan on all things superhero-related. 


We had a great fun-filled night on Friday night, as we had promised a certain super-hero obsessed little boy a trip to the movies to see The Green Lantern. Sitting in the back of the truck, under the stars at the drive in, we watched about half of the movie before both kids were sound asleep. Who could blame them though? They had a big week... then they spent the entire evening chasing a football with their friends Logan and Cash while waiting for the movie to start. So, Brad and I snuggled up together (a rarity for us at the movies) and giggled to The Hangover 2. Friends, family, and a date. Does it get any better?


As if we didn't have enough going on in our lives, I have been wanting to continue with tennis lessons for the kids. So, I ran across a session that worked perfectly for our schedule and signed them up. They had their first lesson on Saturday. They loved it. Bailey wants to destroy the ball. If she gains some control, I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the net. She's incredibly strong for her age. She just has no control yet. :) Jake also enjoyed tennis, taking his time to listen to the teachers and really working on what they asked him to do. If you are interested, let me know and I can give you info... they didn't have a huge turn out on Saturday and I want to make sure they keep doing this! :)


Sunday was a relaxing day at home, with our friends, Shane, Tatiana, and Dina coming over for a cookout. As I mention in our OCRO blog What I love Wednesdays, we are really enjoying spending time with some of our "newer" friends. It's incredible to me how many wonderful people we have in our lives, from Carol and Casilee hanging out with us at the drive in on Friday, to Shane and his family on Sunday, from Joy and her family coming over this coming Friday, to the many little girls (and a couple of boys) that Bailey is planning play dates with this summer. Oh... and the slumber party for Jake, Joseph, and Jackson that we have to have before Jackson moves (I'm not even posting about that right now, since I'm in denial that they are leaving us). Life is so good. And, that's not even including the awesome people in our lives for many years... and the many other people I need to get back to regarding dates for us to play and our kids to play (ah-hem, Kristyn). :)


This week has been slower. Thankfully. We spent most of Monday in our pjs, reading books in the bed during a thunderstorm, playing school, and playing on the Kinect. It was a much-needed recovery day for all of us (except poor Brad who was up and at 'em at 5:30 a.m.). We still managed to get outside and over to the pool each night this week. 


Running has been basically nonexistent for me since the half. I've run at various points for a day or so, but nothing consistent. I'm needing motivation... and I'm not really sure why. I just feel kind of burned out on it. At first, I thought I just needed a break after focusing so much energy on the half (emotionally and physically). Then, I just thought it was because we had so much with t-ball, Cilla's baby shower (read more about that here), and planning for vacation. Now, I honestly think it has a lot to do with my mental state over my vacation ending. LOL. I seriously just have not been able to move past that. So... maybe this week will bring new things, since I finally did run tonight. And, it was a good run, even if I feel really out of shape.


To end on a really, incredibly happy note, this weekend is a long weekend. Yes, I know you all think, "You have long weekends every week." BUT... Brad doesn't. So, it's great. We are heading to eastern Kentucky to spend time with our families, hang out on the boat for as much as possible, and camp out with our kids. Yes, another list item will come down... and we are going to have a great holiday. 


Then, a week of fun for the kids as they stay with grandparents all week long. Brad and I will get a date night on our 8 year wedding anniversary... and hopefully a night to double-date with some of our very close friends. All very wonderful and much needed things. :) Oh... and there is also the topic of one very special lady's little baby being born at some point in the next week. C'mon Rebecca and baby Price 2.0. I can't wait to meet you. :) 


We are so blessed (and yes, Brandon, that line is totally for you, even if you don't read my post!). :) 

Our Vacation Re-cap

I can’t really seem to figure out why I can’t write about our vacation. I think it’s because I’m sad that it’s over… part of me still holding onto the idea that it won’t really be over until I write about it… as if I’m closing that chapter by blogging it.  


It has been more than a week since we got home. And, yet, I still don't want to admit it is over. But, alas, it is. And, I'm getting further behind by avoiding blogging this, because, as always, life keeps going on in full speed. :) 

Maybe another reason that I can't seem to get motivated to post about vacation is because my camera was broken on our first day of arriving in Florida. And, what would this post be like without beautiful photos of the beach and my sun-kissed babies? But... well... no pictures yet. Ok. So, I have a few pics from our cell phone cameras. I'll include those. Still... not happy that the ones I really loved are stuck on a camera that I haven't been able to turn on. Ugh.

It was a great vacation. I was a little nervous about how it would go… traveling to Charleston, South Carolina first, staying a couple of days, and then traveling some more to get to Dunedin, Florida. I was worried we wouldn’t feel rested… that it would feel like we were running around too much.  

I was worried for no reason. Was it our most relaxing beach vacation? Well, no. The travel did break it up a little. But, was it worth it? Yes. Definitely. Charleston was more beautiful than I expected it to be. Honestly, I could have stayed there an entire week and probably still would not have been ready to come home. It was so charming… so cute… yet it still had all the luxury of a larger city and the feel of a real tourist destination without a ridiculous amount of traffic or waiting. We spent our first evening there eating at Hyman’s and wandering the downtown market. The kids enjoyed it… the food was delicious… and we even got a free gift certificate to go back to Hyman’s (Dawn, remind me to give it to you before you leave for Seabrook in August) for wearing our stickers downtown. :)

The second day we were there, we had to go to the beach. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to miss anything in Charleston, but I had two children who had been promised a beach vacation and they were not about to wander around a hot downtown all day with the coast so very close by. I didn’t fight them much… as a matter of fact, I was having a really tough time not being on the beach immediately, too. So, we took breakfast (our only McDonald’s stop during our entire stay – a small miracle) to Folly Beach. It was gorgeous. The kids had a great time… and both of them shared with me that they NEVER wanted to go home. See video here (I have similar video of Jake, but I can't seem to get it downloaded properly... apparently I have issues with technology these days):



  


Brad and I had already began our typical vacation discussion… when are we moving to the beach? Which beach do we want to move to? Should we move to a city close to the beach, but not actually on the beach? Which city would offer us the best job opportunities? Which place would be best for the kids? What in the world would our parents do? Could we find a place that has direct flights from Lexington or Huntington or even Charleston for our families to use (and us as well?)? Could we really leave our families behind to move? All of these conversations are the same every year… always with the same answers… we don’t know. :) Still, they happen every year… and I’m slightly convinced that each and every year, we get a little bit closer to taking that leap. Will it be this year? Who knows? 

We spent that evening shopping at the Outlet Mall (which was only about a mile from our hotel), looking at the USS Yorktown from the riverfront, wandering around town and looking at old buildings, roads, and shops, and eating more seafood at A.W. Shuck’s (a fabulous place, I have to say). Then, while we would have been so happy to stay the rest of the week, we packed up our stuff, slept a few hours, and headed to Florida.  

The trip down was not bad at all. In fact, other than a few small towns with very low speed limits, it was pretty enjoyable. This is the part where I gush and brag about how awesome our kids are… sorry. They travel so well. Eight hours to Charleston, South Carolina. Then, we traveled eight more hours to Florida. The fighting was minimal… the sleeping was practically nonexistent, and yet, they were great. They are such wonderful babies (or big kids as they point out these days).  

Florida… Clearwater might have had the prettiest sand I’ve ever seen. The first night there, we ate dinner at Crabby Bill’s (where they had AWESOME crab legs that I kept making a mess with and hitting Cilla and Bret with from across the table) and then we watched a gorgeous sunset on the white sandy beach. Aww… how I miss it already. Cilla was, as always, adorably pregnant and Bret was, as always, making the kids wild. Well, no more wild than usual, really. It was still beautiful. Kids screaming (and getting in the water despite my threats) and still a beautiful sunset. 

The entire week was pretty much perfection. We had gorgeous weather. We got tan. YAY! We relaxed on the beach and the kids played in the waves. They collected seashells, got buried in the sand, and screamed at seagulls. Hmm. That doesn’t sound peaceful, does it? Well… let me tell you… these seagulls are unlike any I have seen before. They literally stole a sandwich out of Bailey’s hand as she was eating it. I’ve never seen more aggressive birds in my life. Of course, that just so happened to be the day that the waves were larger and stronger than normal. So, Bailey had already had a major wipeout on her boogy board (as in, I saw her feet and only her feet for quite some time before Brad was pulling her out of the water). To top it all off, that was the day that us girls all went to the spa to have pedicures and manicures and the guys went to golf. Wouldn’t you know that Bailey got locked in the bathroom at the spa and screamed as if she was being locked in a dungeon? Oh… it was funny. It was all funny, even if she didn’t think so.  She didn't think it was the best day of our vacation. 

Jake enjoyed the beach more than any other year, I think. Well, I don't know. He did love Hilton Head a lot. But, at least he has moved beyond his hatred of the sand. Brad and I were so worried when he was a little over a year old and we went on our first beach vacation. He sat in a chair or on a blanket the entire time we were at the beach. He didn't want to touch the sand because it would stick to him. Thankfully, he's outgrown that. We were temporarily terrified that we wouldn't be allowed to vacation at the beach. Jake did pull out his old chair stunt on our last day on vacation though. He knew we were planning to go home that day and he had decided that Superman and Batman were crying for him at home. They missed him so much that he just had to get home right then. We had plans to spend the morning on the beach before leaving town. Jake did not like those plans. So, he refused (loudly) to wear his swimming trunks. He then wore two t-shirts, to reinforce the message that he was not going to swim. And, finally, he made us carry him to a chair on the beach so that he wouldn't have to get in the sand. Picking your battles really came in handy that day. :) Instead of fighting with him, we just let him make his choices. Of course, he ended up in full clothing, soaking wet and sandy, because he couldn't resist the beach any more than the rest of us could. 

One of my favorite things about vacation is the good food. We ate seafood almost every single night of vacation - the only night that we didn't was the night that we cooked out at the beach for Cilla's birthday. That's also the same night that my phenomenally talented best friend took this year's family photos. I can't wait to show them off to you. I even got to play on the camera some too and took some of her pregnant belly. So adorable. 


And, just like last year, I got to mark off some list items with this vacation. I visited Charleston, South Carolina. I helped Cilla mark off an item on her list - going to play putt-putt golf. It was fun... and hot... and sweaty... but fun. The kids had a good time. We had a good time. And, I totally kicked butt. Yes, I'm bragging to Brad and Bret here... because it isn't often that I get to win. 


We saw dolphins, took a boat ride to Caladesi Island, and spent evenings eating ice cream, watching sunsets, and discussing everything under the sun. Ahhh... vacation. Why do you only come once a year? 

As a sidenote, I hope that I'm able to share some of my photos from our vacation soon. If not from my own camera, I know that Cilla is going to have some really awesome ones to share later. So... more to come... because I'm definitely not done with this vacation. lol. 

Until then... here are a few of my favorites from our cell phone cameras: 

T-ball... the end is near

I'm sure you remember when I said that the kids were celebrating that school was out. I'm sure that you remember how Jake was so excited about not having to go back to school all summer (and how he thinks he never has to go again). 


Well, our t-ball season is coming to an end. We are in the full throes of our tournament... just one loss until we are done. While I hope that our loss doesn't come for a few more days, the kids aren't so sure. I explained to the kids a few days ago how the tournament works... and Jake celebrated like he did about school being over. 


He says he is never playing t-ball again. 


It. Is. Boring. That's the response I get from him every time I ask him about it. Oh. He loves to hit the ball. He'll even casually jog around the bases while we all scream our heads off for him to run faster. He smiles adorably when he makes it (usually because of a bobbled ball) and he celebrates like he hit a home run every time he crosses the plate. But, playing the outfield? Well, that's where he draws the line. There is no convincing Jake that it could be fun, even when he actually got to throw a ball in from the outfield to the infield a few weeks ago. He's just not interested in t-ball at all. He says it is just too boring. :) I kind of understand. 

Bailey, too, celebrated the end of the season. She was invited to play on the girls All Stars team again, but after much deliberation, we have declined. She was ready to not play t-ball again until (MAYBE) next spring. She had already said there would be no fall ball. Yet, she was tempted, for a brief moment, to play on the all girls team again... you know... where she could socialize with the other girls. As she threw a complete fit wanting to go to the pool instead of a ball game two weeks ago, I reminded her that there would be more games and more practices on days when she would want to be swimming if she chose to play All Stars. And that made up her mind about All Stars... in all of about two seconds. 


We are ending another chapter... perhaps for a season... perhaps for longer for one or both of our kids. Will there be t-ball games again in our future? Hmm... you never know... it is bittersweet for us. I certainly won't miss our schedules being tied down to one sport for so long, but of all the things our kids have been involved in, this is the one that we've probably enjoyed the most. We've made great friends... some that will probably last a lifetime. The kids have had wonderful experiences with their teammates, learning so many things (good things, like how to play on a team... and bad things, like how to spit sunflower seeds way too far). :) 


Who knows... maybe next year, Bailey will play softball... she loves to hit off a pitcher - and she can do it well. :) And, maybe, just maybe, Jake will change his mind about it being SO boring. We shall see.


More to come... about our vacation. I just have to get my camera back up to operating... you see, I dropped it in the sand and it now will not come on. :( 

The List

As I reviewed my blog tonight, I realized that there are several things that I need to link to in order to "update" my list. I haven't met my goal of marking off 20 items on my list by May 1, 2011. In all honesty, I knew that it was probably going to be a push to do that... and given a few circumstances beyond my control, there were some things that I just couldn't get done (like camping or Habitat for Humanity). BUT... no excuses... and no guilt. And that's because I'm pretty thrilled with all that I did accomplish in the past year. I did accomplish completely marking off 13 items, and I started working on several other, longer-term projects. Yes. I am pleased.


I will spare you the long overview of the things on my list that got marked off... if you've been reading, you already know (and thank you for helping me a along the way). If you haven't read and are interested, you can totally check out my list and read more details there as you like. :)


It has truly been a fun journey to work on my list and I am so happy that I'm still eager to mark things off. When I first started working on "the list" I really worried that it would be one of those things that I would get tired of working on after a while. Fortunately, that's just not the case. It continues to drive me... to push me to accomplish things. I don't think about it constantly like I did when I first started my list. I have to admit that I was a little bit obsessed with it for a while. But, it does come in spurts... I will not think about it for weeks and then I will get into the mood to work on it and then I'll start planning things like crazy. Of course, when someone (like a good friend from high school) sends me a message saying that they have started a life list because of the one that I published, well, I just can't help but get excited... to be inspired to keep working on things... and to remember that little bubble of excitement that came from making my list to begin with! Thanks for sharing with me, my dear friend... I love to hear about your lists and to know that we are all working toward living lives to the fullest! 


So, you know what it means when I write a post about my list, right? I'm in "planning things like crazy" mode. :) Not really. It has been on my mind for a while, since I have been thinking about our summer plans and many of my items are seasonal... but I'm not in the obsessed mode. With that being said, I have manipulated our vacation plans to include a stop in Charleston, South Carolina, which just happens to be on my list. :) Convenient, huh? :) It truly is/was. 


I can't wait to share more about Charleston with you all... if you have suggestions of things that are must dos, please let me know! We will only be there for about 2 days, so we'll be cramming a lot in... and remember we'll have a 4 and 6 year old with us, too! :) Until then...

Coming up... Vacation :)

Vacation... is only a few days away for us.


I can't tell you enough how much I love the beach. :)


So, when Cilla and Bret invited us to go with them, we were pretty excited to say yes. But, of course, there was lots to consider, including our hectic schedules and money, and all that. We hadn't really planned to take a vacation this year. It seems like we are on an accidental routine of taking a vacation every other year. Well, a BEACH vacation, that is. So, this year, we figured we'd be at home, spending time on the lake or at King's Island or some other stay-cation types of activities. We knew instantly that we wanted to go with Bret and Cilla, but we thought we wouldn't really be able to because we hadn't planned financially for it.


Thankfully, we worked it out. Our yard sale definitely helped (thank you for shopping to those of you who did). :) Once we had decided to go, I had it all planned out. I was going to buy us plane tickets to go (they were as cheap as driving with gas prices) and we were going to surprise the kids. Well... as fate would have it, the plane tickets went up the same day that I was going to buy them. Ugh. What to do... what to do... 15ish hours in a car with the kids. Ugh.


We contemplated and contemplated. Bret and Cilla were surely ready to uninvite us at some point. :)


Then, we decided to go. But, instead of having our traditional "get up as early as possible and drive as far as possible without stopping" strategy, we are opting for a "drive half way and stay" strategy. And, again, throwing everyone for a loop, we are driving OUT of our way to go to Charleston, South Carolina instead of driving the most logical way to Dunedin, Florida through Atlanta. Yes... we do realize how insane this probably sounds. But, we figure if we are going to have to stop and stay at about halfway anyway, we might as well go some place we want to visit and stay an extra day to check it all out (it's not THAT far out of the way). So, we leave this weekend for our "adventure." I keep calling it that because I know the kids aren't going to think it's all that great of an adventure when they have been in the car for about 6 hours. Then, they are going to be pissed. lol. But, maybe I can sell it to them... I did book a hotel in Charleston that has an indoor pool and a hot tub. Surely that will be enough to keep them excited about it. 


In all seriousness, I'm so excited about the entire trip. I have wanted to go to Charleston, South Carolina for years. I remember reading a book when I was in middle school that talked about Charleston (it was totally fiction), but ever since then, I've wanted to see it... to compare the real thing to the pictures in my mind. :) I'm even, oddly enough, excited about the trip there. I am looking forward to seeing the mountains... to seeing the ocean... to seeing all new things. I just simply cannot wait. 


Well, except that I have to do laundry and pack... and figure out what I need to go pick up at the store before we go... and you know... get the house ready for us to leave... 


Ugh... why does everything have to be such a job?! :) 


Oh well... I am not even thinking about the negative... because in just a few days, I will be able to see this...

...and I've been missing it. Be prepared for my post in a week or so about how I wish I could move to the beach. :) 

Summer... how I love thee...

Ah... summer... how I love thee... let me count thy ways... 


I could come up with 1,000 reasons. :) 


No... don't panic, I have not come up with 1,000 reasons to list. Yes, you can keep reading. :) 


This weekend, we celebrated Bret and Cilla's upcoming bundle of joy with a baby shower. Dawn and I'll be posting some pictures of this shower, along with lots of cute pics and details later on, but the theme was all things summery and rustic. It totally got me into this whole summer thing, as if the 90+ degree weather wasn't enough. 


So, yesterday (which will be two days ago by the time some of you read this), I fixed fresh lemonade and sat it out for my kids in my brand new lemonade pitcher with a spout. :) I also sat out some mason jars, too. And, I cleaned my house... really, really clean (except the office/sewing room/junk room/pit... that's going to take more time than I have in any given day). Then, I made a trip to the Bluegrass PRIDE to pick up my rain barrel that I purchased at half price through Pete's Deals (similar to Groupon, but specific to Lexington). I was so excited about this new purchase, that I just decided to go ahead and mow the grass. I swear, if it had not been for me getting tired and the kids wanting me to get them some food, I might have went ahead and dug up the portion of my yard that needs to be dug up to extend my garden. The summer gives me so many things to do... and so many things that I want to try... oh summer... can't you just stay a bit longer? 


We are getting a start on it though... Bailey and Jake have signed up for the summer reading program at our local library. We have one more regular season t-ball game (which we won't be at) and then we start the tournament. We leave for vacation in just a few short days (WOO HOO!), and what my kids would say is the most important thing... our pool membership is coming in very handy. :) 


Now, if I can only find a hammock and time to lay (or is it lie?) in it! :) 

School's Out for Summer... (Almost all the way)

Summer is here!


Memorial Day has come and gone... the 80+ degree weather is out and it is hopefully here to stay.


My skin is burned from spending time outside. The pool has been visited. The baby pool has been set up. The marshmallows have been roasted on the fire pit. Summer. Is. Here. Thank you very much. :)


And, Jake's favorite part?


School's Out For Summer. :)


As I mentioned last week, it has been a bit hectic. Jake's last day of school was last week. Bailey still has a few days to go.


Jake is celebrating that his babysitter starts tomorrow. He was ready for her to start last week, even asking if he could just miss his last day of school and have Morgan start early. :) He wasn't too disappointed, since he knew that she'd be coming tomorrow. And, since Bailey will still be in school, I'm quite certain that he is thrilled to have her all to himself.


With school out for Jake and school nearly out for Bailey, there have been lots of end of the year discussions... parties, programs, and evaluations... plenty of focus on growth and development and reaching milestones. And, while I've felt rushed through it all because of our hectic schedules, I am happy to stop and review what a special time of the year it has been. The kids are growing up, so much, maybe too much, and simply are making me one proud mommy. Of course, I don't want anyone to think I'm bragging or going overboard, but I am proud of my kids. That doesn't mean I think they are perfect. As a matter of fact, their personalities could definitely use some tweaking from time to time. :) Especially my little rotten boy... 


A few weeks ago, Jake's school had an arts program, where the preschool was singing alongside the rest of the elementary school. It was part of their Kindergarten graduation. Jake was not pleased that we were going. In all seriousness, he was pissed that we were going. He started out just saying that he wasn't happy about it. Then, he proceeded to tell me that singing was stupid. Followed by singing and school is stupid. Then, that we are all stupid and that he hates me for making him go. Yes, we are a bit dramatic these days... and angry, too. As my sweet Bailey tried to convince Jake that it would be fun and that he'd be happy he went, she added, "I even got dressed up to go watch you, Jake." His response was, "You look ugly." What do you do with a kid like this? I don't know... I just forced him to go and told Bailey to ignore him. As we arrived at the school, my child went from being the most angry, evil, little rat to the sweet little angel that batted his eyes at his teachers and hugged them sweetly. While I was very relieved that he didn't show his true colors for the entire school, I could strangle him for being so sweet. He makes us look like liars when we tell them what a horrible mood he is in. He did wonderfully at his program, singing most of the words and doing almost all of the hand motions... dramatically. It was so cute... and he looked absolutely adorable. I was so happy I made him go... even if he hated me for it (temporarily, of course). 


At least his teacher seems to understand exactly how he is... we had parent teacher conferences at his school a few days after the school program. Jake's conference had me a little more worried, because he doesn't enjoy school and I can tell that, while he has made big strides from where he was this time last year, he is still behind. Let me preface that by saying that he's behind where Bailey was at this age... and he's slightly behind some of his friends that are just a few months older than him... and his speech still isn't crystal clear to strangers. Now... that's my way of saying that we do realize that we might compare him unfairly. :) However, I was so pleased with the discussion I had with his teacher. She laughed about the tests that they did on him (basic counting, letter recognition, etc.). She knows how Jake is. Sometimes, he just refuses to cooperate. He doesn't want to count. He doesn't want to tell you the letter. He'll make one mark on a page and say that he's completely colored the picture. The test totally reflected that in some areas. For instance, in October of last year, he counted to 23 for the test before he stopped. Last month, he counted to 8 and said he didn't know the rest. Obviously, he can count. He actually gets to about 30 before he starts missing numbers. He recognized four letters last month. Yet, when he and I were going through the alphabet last week, he got to the Q before he stopped. You see the trend here. Anyway, it was nice to talk to his teacher to see that she recognized a lot of the things that we see Jake struggling with and ignoring the things that will eventually come together for him. She made me feel so much better about not pressuring him to know everything before Kindergarten. :) She even saw the whole confidence issue that we worry about. She brought it up instead of me... and, while I wish that problem wasn't in existence, it was good to hear that I'm not just making excuses for Jake. He does have a little bit of confidence issues and I'm not making it up in my head to cover up that he's just ornery or lazy. :) We also talked a lot about bullying. She knew that I was concerned about him getting picked on and she said she has noticed it happening some. Of course, she told me about the time that Jake defended himself and hit his friend back. And, of course, I told her that I had encouraged him to defend himself. It was a great relief when she said that she was happy to see Jake stand up and that she had to put him in timeout for hitting, but she had not given him any lectures or anything like that. So... it was great. Jake is growing... and he's starting to understand how things work. It's good and bad, but mostly good. :)

When I told Jake last week that school was over for the summer... the only thing he wanted to know is if he ever had to go back. When I told him that we'd return in August, he argued with me that he never had to go back. I argued back for a few minutes, but he thinks he won that battle. I am dreading August already. :) This kid is the most stubborn child I've ever met. I dread seeing the freaking out that he's going to do when he realizes that summer doesn't last forever. 

Bailey, on the other hand, had her graduation last week and was all geared up for it. She, unlike her brother, was so excited to be a part of such a special program. She sang loudly and clearly. She smiled and waved. She walked proudly across the stage to get her "diploma," as she graduated from the largest Kindergarten class in Fayette County (impressive, huh?!). Probably the cutest thing about the program was a video that the school put together. There was a portion of interviews where the students were asked questions about their teachers or what their favorite part of school was. Bailey's interview questions were, "What do you think of Mrs. O?" and "What was your favorite thing about Kindergarten?" Her responses? "I love Mrs. O because she is going to have a baby," and, "lunch." :) Bailey loved the whole program. She loves school and usually wakes up happy to go. She spent her time hugging her teacher, taking photos with her friends, and celebrating that she still had some more time with them. I don't think there were ever two children with more different personalities in the world. I would never complain about that though... God knows that I could not handle two Baileys or two Jakes. :) 

Bailey's parent teacher conference happened the week before Jake's (and I, in my near Alzheimer's state, almost forgot about it). I ran in 5 minutes late, which is probably not that uncommon these days. Thank God that Bailey's teacher and I are buddies, so she just laughed about my wonderful running shorts, t-shirt and makeup-less face. :) Bailey is a rock star. She is on a 2nd grade level in reading. She's more than doubled her reading level (I would share numbers and ratings and all, but I'm sure I'd screw it all up). Suffice it to say that her teacher was extremely complimentary and said that Bailey is well above the average. She shouldn't have any trouble advancing next year... and could possibly be considered for the accelerated class. I'm being a little bit modest about it (she feels certain that Bailey will have a spot in the accelerated class), mainly because we don't want to make a big deal about her getting into any advanced classes... we're proud of her progress regardless and want to just make sure that she is growing on time. :) Of course, we were really excited to hear that she is applying herself in school. We see how much she's grown in just one short year, but we always worry that she is so busy socially that she might not apply herself 100% at school. If anything negative was said about Bailey, it was about her handwriting... it is atrocious. :) We're working on it. She also talks quite a bit. Not surprised about that at all... :)

She has four days to go and, until today, wasn't all that thrilled. She was excited at the thought of being at home, but also really worried that she'd miss her friends. Well, today, we spent some time at the pool. You can imagine her excitement when she realized that many of her friends will also be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer... and it is apparently 100 times more fun to swim with friends. She is on the countdown for sure. :)

And, while I would love to say that I'm completely caught up on blogging now, that only gets me a portion of the way there. There's so much more that I'd like to post... but it will come shortly. Not today. 

Happy Memorial Day!!!

It has been a great weekend so far... and I hope to blog more about it this week, but until then... 

Happy Memorial Day! 

While I won't be visiting a tombstone or placing flowers on any graves, I will still remember those who have passed that I love. To papaw, granny, Rick, and all the other people that I love who have now gone on... I love you and miss you... and will see you on the other side. :) 

Hectic... :)

I have attempted to blog for about two weeks... and have yet to feel like I can really sit down and write and get caught up in one setting. I don't know why it is important for me to feel like that is achievable... God knows that I could write everyday and still have more to say about something. :) If God doesn't know that, my poor hubby does. Haha.


So, what have we been up to?


Well, there have been a couple of weeks of overscheduled madness. Oh. Wait. That's just our lives. Nevermind that last thought. :)


It has been busier than usual lately, mainly because it is spring and early summer. That means that we are doing lots of things... lots of playing t-ball (a few nights each week), lots of cooking out on the grill (when the rain stays away), lots of finishing up things (like the school year, parent teacher meetings, and Girl Scout projects), and starting lots of new things (like planning summer activities, camps, summer schedules, and figuring out how to make it all work before the summer flies by). Let's not forget that we also threw in a HUGE yard sale to make things even more fun... and I have a very special party to plan for my best friend in the entire world to celebrate the birth of her baby boy.


It has been a hectic few weeks. And, you would think that I was totally stressed out if you saw my house. It's a wreck. But, I'm totally not sweating it at all. I'm actually not sweating anything... because while it's been hectic, I've enjoyed nearly all of it. And, because I know in due time, I will get the laundry done, the yard sale mess cleaned up, the floors mopped, and the dishes all where they are supposed to go. It will happen... eventually. :) 


And so many fun things have happened during the last few hectic weeks. So many things that I could probably do a separate post on each one... and might just do that at some point. But, most likely not. haha. :) 

• We spent a rainy day at the Legends ballpark with our t-ball team, all hanging out in a box suite while the rain poured down, eventually cancelling the ball game.
• Bailey and I also spent time yesterday with some amazing little girl scouts planting some items in a garden (before the rain once again washed us out).
• We also had a great night tonight, celebrating with the girl scout families at the UK Arboretum with a picnic.
• There was the yard sale that helped us bring in a ton of money and clean out a ton of our things.
• There was the day I spent with my mom and Bailey (I think I actually posted that already... hehe).
• There was the evening we spent hanging out at Brad's friend, Shane's, house until late in the evening, just talking about everything from sports to religion.
• Brad had a guy's night with some of his co-workers... I had a night in with the kids, watching the Justin Bieber movie (which I loved more than Bailey did) and the Harry Potter movie.
• Jake had a school field trip to Totter's Otterville in Covington, Kentucky. 
• Jake also had a school music program, where he decided to yell at me about how stupid it was that we had to go, but then proceeded to act like an angel once we were at school. :) 
• And, this week, we get to see my baby girl graduate from Kindergarten and I'll get to see her participate in Field Day at her school. 

It has been hectic. But, it has been a very nice hectic.


And such is the beginning of summer... busy, hectic, and so far, pretty rainy. :) 


What is so scary... is that I'm hoping for so much more... more running, more traveling, more time with the kids at home, more and so much less. :) 


A summer full of days at the pool, time fishing at a lake, at least one camping trip (really, I can't believe I'm saying that), time with my parents, brothers, and my mother-in-law, time grilling out and finding even more recipes to make, time gardening, and most definitely more time focusing on absolutely and positively nothing. :) Dog days of summer... I hear you calling me. :) Just bring the sun when you come, please. :)