silly bandz! his 1st allowance purchase.

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The long awaited day arrived: one of my kids unrolled the TP into the toilet. Thankfully it wasn't a full roll and I caught it pre-flush

time for a breather

...and we're back. It has been one crazy summer around here.  Actually I may be the only crazy one, as I decided to start my classes and signed up for 2!  They are pretty interesting (to me, at least.  Guess that's a good thing.) but I have a LOT of reading and some big projects. I turned in my first paper last night.  It was 7 pages plus 5 more pages of citations.  I have one more paper for that class and it is twice as long.  Better get crackin'.  At least there are no tests, that's one plus of distance learning! I sit in bed in my jammies and  listen to the lecture on headphones.  Miles loves to come in and listen with me, and Audrey will come give me a big kiss.  Wayne is a champ for keeping them busy and quiet and then getting them both to bed at the same time.  Thanks sweetie!

The kids have been having a blast. Miles took more swim lessons and is ready for the class where they work on strokes. We're taking a break from lessons now, but still head up to the pool once in a while. If it's too hot to get in the car we'll just turn on the sprinkler in the back yard. That works almost as well and I don't have to worry about Audrey, who thinks she's ready for Olympic diving in the kiddie pool.
Throw in lots of story times, zoo trips, and movies and you've got a pretty full summer so far! Now what will July bring? Hopefully more time to blog, but I make no promises. Just enjoy my photos on the go!

Miles says "the water is COLD!"

giggleboxes

pool buddies!

yum

hot glazed donut on National Donut Day!

the end of May

Hi all! Let's catch up from a deceptively busy end of May, shall we? Wayne and I got to have a mini vacation when we traveled to Isle of Palms, SC, for the wedding of our friends Hugh and Meredith. We stayed with many of their friends in a gorgeous beach house (with a pool!) for the long weekend event. Wayne and I took time Saturday to drive into Charleston and walk around. It was College of Charleston and Citadel's graduation weekend, so the place was mobbed. We had a fantastic lunch at Jestine's Kitchen before strolling the cobblestone streets.

When we returned, we finally got to enjoy our updated patio.  We added the bead board knee-wall, made the columns more substantial and replaced the tile.  Our furniture was delivered just before we left town.   We just have to add the fan and replace the wall light.  It's so nice out there, we almost feel like we're on vacation in our own backyard!

Miles finished one round of swim lessons, and we'll start daily lessons next week. He also had his "graduation" from Preschool. It was a bit anti-climactic as every boy in his class will be in PreK (not Kindergarten) next year. So we'll go through it for real next year. Here he is with some of his best buds, Eli and Patrick.  They loved the reception which had a table full of cookies! 

And here are Miles, Eli and Patrick's little sisters. They are also classmates!  Guess which one is the ringleader? 

Now I'm off to study.  I'm starting some of my grad school classes this summer (yes, I'm a nerd) and I'm trying to get ahead in the reading (I meant, total nerd).  So if the posts are far & few between, I apologize in advance.  I'll at least try to get some photos on here!

ice cream for Daddy's birthday

Chillin' with ice cream & M&Ms & marshmallows & GummiBears & sprinkles. yum!

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Children's Festival of Reading

Here is Miles watching Judy Schachner draw Skippyjon Jones.  We also saw Chris Raschka read Yo! Yes? and Billy Jonas perform songs like What Kind Of Cat Are You?!  Tons of fun and we even got to eat Moe's for lunch!

The fashionista & my sweet boy.

I finally had a second to share the fashion show that is Audrey. While I took these over several days, it would not be unusual to see all these outfits in one morning. I don't think we're quite ready for our little. lovely. debut!

For Mother's Day, Miles wrote a little something about me. How sweet is this:

"My mom is 26 years old, and she has long hair. She wears a size 26 shoe and is about this larger than me.  She looks beautiful when she wears her church clothes.  My mom loves to make us dinner.  She always says thank you to my dad.  She likes all of the colors and likes to eat soup and pasta and drink iced tea.  My mom loves me because I try new things, but really gets mad when I pinch and pull Audrey.  Her favorite rule is to never pinch or pull Audrey.  Mommy is funny when she laughs at words that are funny on TV.  Someday I hope that just me & mommy can go to Sonic together.  She is so special to me because she gives me good stuff to drink!"

Can you tell the weather here has been amazing?  I'll use that as the excuse for ignoring the blog (and vacuuming).  But it has been fantastic, so we've been outside quite a little bit.  Miles finally fell in love with riding his bike and will spend forever going up and down our driveway.  He also loves running through the mulch and "shredding" (his term) which means he's propped up on the training wheels and makes the back wheel spin like mad.  a.k.a. stationary bike.  When Wayne gets home from the office we go for walks and Miles has been riding his bike along with us.   We've ridden down to the park by our house and back which was probably close to 2 miles.  He's going to have Lance Armstrong legs soon!

In case you were curious, my least favorite household task is putting away clothes (Mom, would you have guessed?).  I will clean tub drains or any variety of child or dog puke with no problem, but baskets of folded laundry could sit there for a week, until I need the basket.  And then I'd probably just stack the clothes on top of my dresser.   I tell you all this so you can feel my pain when I tell you Audrey's new favorite pastime: emptying her drawers and changing clothes 7 times a day.  She has come up with some creative outfits!  I need to remember to snap a picture of them.  You know, for posterity.  And blackmail.  

Audrey talking to Kate on the drive to Nashville. Audrey had just thrown a major fit, screaming "I'm ANGRY!". She's now telling Kate about her boo-boo.

slide fun

A Glorious Weekend

Happy Easter everyone! We were blessed with a glorious weekend to celebrate.   We went to our usual service and hit Dunkin Donuts for some "spink-els" afterward.  I guess everyone else steps up their Easter dining plans because we were the only ones in there.  It was a good thing because we were a little amped for such a small restaurant!  Audrey was extra spunky, insisting on wearing her pink rainboots under her frilly Easter dress. Oh, and her jammie pants were under there too, she wasn't stopping to take them off.

On Saturday we celebrated with my college girlfriends and their kids, including an egg hunt in our front yard.  Miles discovered his new love, Starburst. 

Audrey tasted a Twix and said "yummy yummy!"  I quote.    She held her own with the big boys:

 

And here are my ladies.  A lot has changed in 16 years, but we still have a great time!  We missed those who couldn't be there with us, but they had some good reasons (congrats Maggie & Mike!).

 And no, we didn't plan our color scheme. 


Last week my Aunt Harriet was passing through town, so we met for some hotcakes and laughs at McDonalds.  The kids were all giggles and fun with their Great Aunt, whom they hadn't seen in 2 years.

And a goodbye kiss from Audrey.  {Note the boots.}

I am long overdue for an informative and insightful blog post, but don't expect this to be the one.

 

We've been having a fun month!  Miles just finished a swim lesson session with great success.  He started the month reluctant to get in the water, but by the second lesson he was jumping in with no problem.  He increased his confidence in swimming longer distances solo, and is working on strokes.  He loves jumping in the water like this, but he needs to work on belly flop prevention.  Ouch!

The weather has been ups & downs lately (or as the Dude prefers: strikes and gutters).   We have been loving the ups!  Last weekend we spent almost all day out in the yard.  Wayne had fun with a chainsaw and a stump grinder while the kids played in the sandbox and drew with chalk.  We're trying to tame our jungle before it gets too out of control again this summer.   But it is one of my favorite chores: using the saw, axe and shovels to dig out the nasty spreading honeysuckle bushes.   My forsythia have finally bloomed and I have some hydrangea to plant soon.  I'm even considering a raised garden bed, guess I need to decide on that pretty soon!   We'd start small with just tomatoes, peppers, herbs, maybe some spinach & lettuce.  That's the stuff that would get eaten! (Miles just told me broccoli & celery is all he wants).  We're also sprucing up our patio & I can't wait to sit out there all summer long.

Audrey has been a handful lately.  She's really asserting her independence and does NOT like having to sleep in a crib anymore.  She's hit or miss with taking a nap in the big girl bed, and the one night she attempted to sleep there was madness.  So now when she wants us to take her out of her crib she strips from the waist down.  Oh yes.  Some of you on Facebook may have read about the night I went to the movies and Wayne had to deal with her stripping off a poopy diaper.  She's removed a poppy diaper another time and has also taken off her diaper and peed in the bed.  What a stinker.  But it gets her out of the bed and some attention from us, so she keeps doing it.  It's a good thing she's adorable.

free cone day is the best!

strawberry kiwi, yum!