Can I Get a Whoop Whoop??!!

Finally the kids are back in school!! Whoop Whoop!! Yesterday Bennett started her first day of gymnastics, and today both went back to school, Bennett in 4K and Preston 2K. I am so excited for them (and me)! As you know, I have been MIA when it comes to this blog lately, and that is because I have not had a free moment to really take photos and write blogs. Every day I have been trying to come up with an activity to keep the kids out of trouble and busy. Between that, working out and my part-time job...there is no time left for blogging (sorry readers).


However, things are about to change now that our routines are back! The kids were excited to go off to school today, and Steve and I were both there to send them off. Steve walked Bennett to her class, and witnessed her being a little shy initially. But she quickly warmed up when she saw a couple of familiar faces.






Preston was a different story...he hopped out of the car and walked in with his backpack like the almost 3 year old that he is! Several of the younger children were crying, but he was so excited to start his new adventure that he didn't even look back at us.



After their first day, they came home and took LONG naps. In fact, I had to wake them both so we could get ready and attend church tonight! Tomorrow Bennett goes back, as she is now in school 5 days a week. Preston will continue to just go 3 days a week.

Labor Day Getaway

Thursday afternoon the kids and I packed up the car, said good-bye to Spencer and hopped in the crowded van of my friend Mary Michael. She had her three kids and enough luggage for our long weekend in Georgia and we were off! Later that night, Steve and her husband, Ashley, arrived with Spence, alongside of the Frys. Together, the 12 of us packed into my parent's three bedroom house at Reynold's Plantation. Though we were a little crowded, it wasn't anything we weren't accustomed to after our beach trip together earlier this summer, so we made it work.





















We enjoyed boating, swimming, playing games and lots of eating and drinking! We taught the older kids how to kneeboard, and the little ones went tubing and had fun just jumping off the side of the boat whenever we were parked. Lake Oconee was warm, not crowded, and it was perfect! I even learned how to slalom this weekend, getting up my first time after perfect instruction from Steve and Kadie!


Though we tried to keep the kids busy, we had lazy mornings enjoying our coffee on the deck, swinging in the hammock, making homemade ice cream one night, and watching lots of football! We even had fun running around on the golf course after the golfers cleared out. All of the kids and adults had a great time! It was another great trip for our family, which makes me so thankful for our wonderful friends and all of the memories we are creating!






Ashley hanging with all the kids on the hammock







Above, Preston tubing by himself! He didn't want anyone to ride with him (my little daredevil).
Above, Bennett and Lily tubing. They loved hitting the wake and bouncing around, giggling the entire time!

Preston...almost 3...

We are less than 3 weeks away from Preston's third birthday, and he has learned a new trick....






Winking!









We are also working on potty training, as of Tuesday night! We have been talking about going potty on the toilet, and putting him on it for months. However, I think he is afraid he's going to fall in, as he spends so much of his energy just holding onto the toilet. So I decided to pull the dreaded toddler potty from my basement. I dusted it off and put it in the kitchen (where we spend the majority of our time) and encouraged him to utilize it instead. He tee-teed in it almost immediately, which I rewarded with candy. Since Bennett was there to cheer him on, she got a piece too.


About 10 minutes later, he went again (and again was rewarded with candy). After repeating this every 5-10 minutes (with just a little dribble each time), I decided that I needed to purchase a large bag of M&Ms or something else so he isn't too hyped up on sugar all of the time. Yesterday, he awoke and started talking about his potty right away. We took off his diaper and he ran to the toilet where he went potty again.


Before we left for the gym, 3 hours after he awoke, he used the toilet 3 times! Even though I alerted the gym personnel and asked Bennett to help him at the gym (which she did), he had stage fright again, and went in his pull-up instead. Though we were home for the majority of the day, and I was pumping him full of fluids, we had several stand-offs. He definitely likes to go on his own terms, which makes me very nervous when I have a naked boy running around my house.


All signs are pointing to the fact that he may not be ready, but I am pushing forward anyway. School starts on Wednesday, and he is in a class with several kids who I know are potty trained so the teacher will make them take potty breaks. In addition, he is enrolled in gymnastics (also starting next week), but he has to be potty trained. Rather than pay for a month to hold his spot, I am determined to get him out of a diaper!

Since Preston got his stubbornness from me, pray for both of us that this process works!

Happy 5th Birthday Christian!

Yesterday we attended Christian's 5th birthday party. He had a huge double water slide with lots of kids clamoring to go down it. Of course Preston and Bennett jumped right in too! My little daredevil was bored going feet first after a few times, so he copied the big kids and went on his belly, feet first and then head first diving into the pool at the bottom. He had a ball!


Bennett went down consistently for about 30 mintues, but was then ready to go inside and play "baby" with Henley. It was a beautiful day, and we all enjoyed watching the kids go down. With them all being a little older, this was the first year that Steve didn't have to wear a swimsuit and go down with them. We just enjoyed a cold beer from the sidelines.

Christian telling me he is FIVE!















Shannon's homemade creation: Mario Birthday Cake






After pizza and cake, we watched Christian open his gifts. Shannon told us that Christian is really into transformers so we got him a couple costumes that he and his friends could dress up and play with around the house.

I think he liked them! All in all, he had a great birthday and got tons of cool gifts. We love you Christian, and are happy that we got to spend time celebrating with you.

Clean Plate Club

As you all know, we have had problems with Preston eating for a long time. Though he is eating better now, some friends (Ashley and Mary Michael) shared with us something they do after their kids eat a good meal. We were taught this little song, which includes hand slapping on the table and chanting "Preston's in the clean plate club, Preston's in the clean plate club" over and over again. We started it as soon as we returned from our first beach trip in June, and it was a hit with the kids.

This morning, I was watching the kids play with Bennett's baby dolls. See for yourself...

One Month Left!

This past Monday marked the beginning of a long month of nothing officially on the calendar for the kids to do. So I have been trying to figure out things to do to get out of the house everyday, and hoping it is "fun" for them (rather than just running errands). Each day starts with a little time at YMCA gym nursery. Thankfully I have three Y's within a 5 mile radius of my house, so I switch it up a little to keep them happy. Afterward, we have done some other activity to wear them out... swimming, visiting the McWane Science Center, family photos, playing in the yard and making cookies.



Friday night we tried to do the movie at Homewood Park, but unfortunately they cancelled it due to wind. Since we didn't know this until we got there, the kids and I were disappointed. So when we got home, we set up our lawn chairs in the living room, ate popcorn and watched "Tangled" on our TV instead. The kids enjoyed the novelty of that, so there were no hard feelings.









Saturday morning, we met my brother, niece and nephew at Treetop Adventure. It is a huge place with a variety of games for toddlers to middle schoolers. They have go-carts, mini golf, mini bowling, laser tag, water balloon launching, jungle gyms, inflatables and a ton of arcades. We got there when it first opened, so it started off okay. However, it got more and more crowded and hot and I quickly grew tired of the place. Having to spend a lot of money on silly games to win tickets to "buy" junk was very frustrating. To top it off, I was bent over putting Preston's shoes on and got clocked in the head by a skeeball (think round brick) thrown by a two year old with bad aim. I know it was an accident, but it took everything I had to not lose it, so I called it after that. We quickly piled into to car and headed home. Both kids were sweaty and tired, and I had a raging headache forming.


With a whole month to go before school starts on Sept 7th, I will be forced to get creative with activities and/or playdates. However, as most parents know....the busier your children are, the happier they are and the better they sleep. Now if we could just get a break in this heat, we could add some other fun things to our list of future activities. Stay tuned...