Has it already been a month since my last post?!

I really do not know where the summer has gone. We have been busy! Clear back in June we spent a long weekend in Albemarle with Nana. I drove the kids and Sid stayed in Raleigh and then Sid and I met up in Charlotte for a black tie event with his office. Nana had to keep all three of the kids over night! It was the first time I had ever left Leah over night and it was hard! Janice may never tell the full truth, but I know she was up many times through the night. Sorry Nana...welcome to my world! Anyway, Sid and I had a great time and we are thankful to Nana and Aunt L for taking such good care of our angels.

Upon arriving at Nana's Leah helps herself to a Gin and Tonic. Not really. But since there are no rules at Nana's house we just let the baby drink out of glasses.

Later Aunt L comes over and it looks like everyone is having a little wine!

It was hot out and so the slip and slide in the back yard was the perfect answer.

Leah does not like to share the hose- her clothes on the other hand are fair game.

And yes, she really is trying to spray Isaac. But of course he loves it!

Later Leah shares some love with Aunt L.

This is Sid and me all dolled-up at the event. I wore a navy dress and I loved it. Navy is my new color. I need to stand up straight. I am really working on that. I think when you are tall you tend to hunch over a little so that you don't tower over people, but here it looks like I am slouching. You know?

Sid and I took the kids to the zoo in Asheville on our way back to Raleigh. They didn't sleep well at Nana's so all three of them were extremely tired after 4 days of sleep deprivation- we almost left the zoo as soon as we arrived due to poor behavior. But a little game of stroller roller-coaster seemed to turn the morning around thanks to daddy!

Cute little head and big head.

I love this picture. Grace is helping Leah see the giraffes.

Good job big sister!

Daddy helps Isaac see the giraffes.

Family photo in front of the pregnant gorilla exhibit. And no- I am not referring to me.

Leah's first ride on the carousel.

No- we are not at the zoo. But Isaac's favorite place is Monkey Joe's and he LOVES Monkey Joe. Just had to include this photo.

Grace's first swim meet

Grace had her first swim meet today. She waited for almost two hours before she got to swim in one race- the 6 and under freestyle. She placed 3rd in her heat and did great. It was really fun to watch. She could have waited another 45 minutes to do backstroke but decided that going home to play with the neighborhood would be much more fun. She did get an orange participatory ribbon and that was the hi-lite of the event for her.
Here she is right before her heat.
Below is the exciting, up-close, full-throttle video of her race.

Kindergarten is over and remembering on Memorial Day

Grace "graduated" from Kindergarten last Friday. Her teacher chose her as "most creative" which I have to say she gets from her mama! I am not a big fan of Kindergarten graduation since she just graduated from preschool last year. Grace now thinks that she graduates after the completion of every grade. Anyway, we made the best of the ordeal and attended with happy hearts and then a trip to KMart to pick out a toy. (Grace chose wedding Barbie. great.) Anyway, the graduation was a reminder of how far we have come this year. In September, the school year began with a very young 5-year-old, a busy 3-yr-old and a 7-month-old. Now I have a reading, writing machine, a busy 3-year-old and a 16-month-old who makes the 3-yr-old look easy. Grace got all "A's" (Above grade level) and one "P" (Progressing at grade level- in telling time) on her report card. We are very proud of her and so is her teacher. Her teacher confessed a while back that she was initially concerned about Grace being so young entering Kindergarten, but she underestimated Grace and her mother. :-) I was determined to help Grace reach her highest levels of abilities in a fun and encouraging way. Everyday after school we worked on skills for about 45 minutes. We loved the time together and the progress was noticeable. She is reading well beyond a first grade level. It is so neat when your child begins to read. I am so thankful that we did not send her to pre-K. Phew. She would have lost an entire year of reading! And I am also so grateful that I have the ability be with her and teach her- I do not take that for granted.

Here she is walking down the aisle...

And now, tassel turned (kind of) and diploma in hand- she is a graduate and on to 1st grade!

Grace and Addie have been in school together since they were 1! Addie went to pre-K this year, so they were not in the same class but they did play on the same soccer team. Addie is wearing her hair in pigtails because she cut her own hair just two days before this...her mother was thrilled.

Leah just basically ran around in the pews throughout the entire program. Isaac was in his preschool class. He joined us for the reception afterwards.

And on to Memorial Day. Of course we thought about our fallen hero Greg Wright all day and are so glad that we named Isaac Gregory for him. We miss Greg so much and are so thankful for people like him. We live in an amazing country and I hope that it stays this way for generations to come. Freedom comes at a very high price.

Here is Nana with the grandkids. She came up for Grace's graduation.


We have a small forest in our back yard...and in one of our trees there has always been this big hole- and now we have a raccoon mommy and little baby who have moved in! So cute.

Go Animal Kingdom!

So before I talk about the Kentucky Derby I just have one question...Why isn't the media all over Obama about gas prices like they were with Bush in 2007 (and even before that)?
So from the little research I have done, it does appear that our gas price crisis actually began with some Bill Clinton shenanigans in 1999ish. He was trying to help the poor and used our oil reserves to increase supply which lowers prices. That was good intentions but obviously there are always long term repercussions to short term solutions. Then Bush came in and tried to build them back up at a time when there wasn't much room for more demand in the market. High demand means higher prices. Turns out we were about to start a war with the Middle East, our supplier, that didn't help prices either. Now Obama has his moratorium on off shore drilling (Though this was just recently lifted). He did this after the BP nightmare in the Gulf. He was trying to do good- though he does seem to have a little bit of a "God Complex." I mean really- whether you like him or not you have to admit that he does think very highly of himself. He actually thought that flooding the economy with stimulus money would turn the economy around. Gee if that were possible, then we would always flood the market with money and never have a recession. He decided that stopping off shore drilling was a good idea...and maybe for a short time- but for the long haul. Are you kidding me? And recently he took credit for the Bin Ladin assassination. Weird. I am thanking our Navy, not Obama. Anyway, back to my original point. Where is the media now? I think in the end all of our presidents have tried to do "good" but why only smear the republicans? Take note that our media is, well, fairly terrible at reporting the whole truth. The integrity is gone.

So on a fun note, Sid and I went to a Derby Party last weekend. A good friend of mine whom I used to work with at Duke hosts this party every year. Sid and I haven't been in six years. We put most of our money on Animal Kingdom because of course that is where we stayed in Disney...so guess who won the Derby? We were floored. We walked home with a nice big chunk of money. A percentage of the profits went to the Shriners so even if we hadn't won it was nice to know that kids and families are being helped. Here we are with our roses!

Leah wanted to wear Daddy's watch. She kept it on all day. People laughed at it all day. It was as big as her hand.

Last weekend at a fabulous birthday party Isaac became a little devil....hmmm?

And Grace maintained her princess status.

Easter, Soccer and FINALLY spring is here!

We have been living for spring. We didn't necessarily wish away winter, it's just that the kids had so many colds, flues, viruses, and such that I wasn't sure I could take it much longer. And just when I though I would crack spring sprung and all was renewed. We still battle colds/viruses, etc, but on a much lesser scale...days go by and all three are healthy at the same time! So April was filled with soccer games galore. My good friend Stacy and I coached Isaac and her daughter Hampton's soccer team at the YMCA this year. It was interesting. I had one player who basically hated soccer and so therefore hated me. He actually spit on me. Yeah. Three years old. I have no idea why his mother signed him up. His grandmother was mortified and said they were trying to get him around "better people" so he would straighten up. I'm thinking a hand to his behind would be a better place to start. Anyway, we ended the season with a trip to the ice cream store which was the hi-lite of the season.

The name of our team was "The Clams." No comments- I didn't come up with the name.

Here is Isaac with two of his buddies from his preschool class. The day we played them poor Isaac was home with a temperature of 104.2 I didn't even know that was possible.

And here is big sister Grace's team. She plays for Kickin' for the Cross. She was clearly the tall girl on the team- seems to be a tradition now. She was also the "ringer" on the team. Actually so was Isaac. It was really fun to watch the kids- but I do worry they are getting a false sense of ability and fun. Eventually they will both meet their match and I think they will be a little shocked. But for now Sid and I have a good time cheering them on.

Leah is actually not on a team- though she seemed more interested than the majority of my players.

Here is Isaac hamming it up on the field.

Nana and Aunt L came up for a day to watch the kids while Sid and I went to a big party a few weeks ago. Leah loved all of the extra attention.

And she really loved when Aunt L read her her new Elmo book. Leah LOVES Elmo. (I can do this....I can do one more child in love with Elmo!) Nana reads story #23 before bed. The kids take no prisoners when it comes to story time.

Grace's class field trip was to a farm. They got to see/hold the goats, chickens, cows and pigs. It was a wonderful experience.

Isaac passes down his love for popsicles to his baby sister. It was not difficult for her to take up.

Easter photo. Isaac's faces were hilarious. I don't think we got one normal smile out of him.

There was a real bunny at Grace's Easter party at school.

Easter Morning! The Easter Bunny brought Grace and her American Girl Doll matching dresses. Leah got a lawn mower (Dejavu- Isaac got one two years ago!) and Isaac got a rocket launcher. They all got a soccer goal.

Grace and Ruthie ready for church!

I want to eat her up!

If only he knew what will be coming down the chore list in about 10 years.

Lots of Firsts...

Well the big, big news is that Grace lost her first tooth! The thing had been forced loose by hours of forceful pushing back and forth by Grace. She really wanted to lose a tooth. At five and a half years old it is not unusual for a child to start loosing teeth, but we were hoping she would go until she was 12 or so to ensure a nice big mouth for those new teeth to have plenty of room to grow in straight! No such luck! So anyway, last Saturday night we were getting ready for movie night and the darn thing was on its last leg. I tied a piece of dental floss around it and told Grace I would count to 3. I pulled on the first count and it came right out! Just a little blood and I think Grace was a little overwhelmed. But she did great. She was so excited to find out what the tooth fairy was going to bring that she could hardly watch the movie. The tooth fairy left her a letter covered in pixie dust and a TinkerBell video! What an awesome tooth fairy.

Sid's 38th Birthday. His very first time being 38. Pineapple upside down cake that the kids helped to make. Mmmm yummy. Eat at your own risk.

Our little princess got tubes in her ears on Friday morning, April 1st. (Which is the first April Fools Day that I did not play a practical joke on Sid.) She had a terrible time coming off of the anesthesia but once she felt better we left the hospital and she had a great rest of the day. She is such a little trooper. We are counting on a healthier baby who may now sleep a little better. Ya right.

Now, this is not a first. This is a family tradition and a family favorite. Sid built a fire pit in the backyard a couple of years ago using the rocks from the creek behind our house. We go out back every once in a while and fire it up, invite the neighbors and make smores. I love smores and mostly do it for myself. However, I do make sure that everyone has a smore before I make mine. That way I can eat mine uninterrupted.

Mitcheners on the tramp

I took this video last night around 7:30. Trying to get them completely worn out before bed. As you can see Leah has tremendous balance for a 14 month old. She is also as crazy as her brother and sister and loves to be popped all over the trampoline.
I added some comment bubbles but looks like they didn't make it on the screen and I don't care enought to fix them. But I will warn you that I tell the kids to "Be Careful!" at least a hundred times. I'm a mom and that's what we do.