Some Summer Firsts

This summer, we've had lots of "firsts":

First day at a new school: With my 3/4 time schedule change came the need for a new school for Rachael and Ben. While I was filled with anxiety about the move, the kids (as usual) did great -- just a few nerves from Rachael and Ben was sure he owned the joint by day 2! The new program involves summer camp during June, July, August which is a more 'fun' way to spend each day instead of such a heavy academic focus. Then, on August 26th, the formal school year started. Here are a  few photos....notice, Ben is already involved in a puzzle and not much phased by the fan fare of day 1!

We took the opportunity of a 4-week class to try out soccer....Ben LOVED it! And, was quite good at it. I might have mentioned this already, but, since it was a first, I'll put it here, too. Rachael enjoyed it, but, it wasn't her favorite. 

And, then, there was the first trip to the Zoo! WHAT a blast. It is set in nature and you walk along tree-lined paths and around each corner is a new animal waiting for a view. All 4 of us had a great time...on a kinda-cool, summer Monday....with little crowds and lots of God's amazing creatures.

And, then, there was the All-American summer past-time: Baseball!

We took the kids to their first Durham Bulls game. We are blessed to live in a region rich with activities from sports to museums to markets to cultural events.

As-is typical, we were 1.5 innings in to the game when Rachael asked if we could leave and Ben was clapping at every hit, whether it was for our team or not. :) She finally got into it and enjoyed watching Wooly-Bull's antics and little kids entertain between innings. It was a hot day for a game, but, we made it. We're looking forward to doing it again next season-- in the spring-time! (Only photos were not very flattering...just trust me that we were there!)

And finally, the end of the summer brought Rachael's first dance class...she eagerly joined the group and didn't look back. I can't wait to see what she learns this year!

We are headed this week to Florida to visit with some friends in Orlando and then on to Vero Beach for Uncle Dougie's wedding -- another first coming up -- flower girl, ring bearer and Best Man roles for my loves. Me, I'm just the supporting actress and glad to be in that role, for sure. :) 

See you again soon....with a catch up of our week in PA!

110 with Rachael and Ben: downtime

After a great week in PA visiting family and overloading ourselves and the kids with activities....we decided to stay close to home this Labor Day weekend with some catching up with friends and enjoying some beautiful outside time. I don't have any pictures of our actual Friday because I didn't take any kind of gadget with me when we spent our 2 hours of outside time in the morning. In the afternoon, we headed to the soccer field near our house with neighbor friends to run and explore. I'm thankful for some gadget-free time with the kids -- for that's what I crave the most (other than more time with Mike!). The photo above was a lucky catch when the two came to the bottom of the slide at the play area at Chick-fil-a with our friends Emma and Liam. It was too short of a play time but, great to see them. What a good-for-the-soul weekend at home! Much needed between 2 big road trips!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Trader Joe's

Rachael and Ben were proud to be Mommy's helpers at Trader Joe's this week. They love to have their own carts to push and walking around on their own. We are headed to spend a week in PA with our Nana/Pops, and Mimi & Papa, so, we had to run errands quickly and get the show on the road. 

We're looking forward to a trip with the VA cousins to Dutch Wonderland...it's supposed to be perfect for kids their age....we'll see. The best part will be the hugs and cuddles and special treats with grandparents and cousins. 

110 with Rachael and Ben: Long lost friends

What a long week....it was so wonderful to end it with seeing friends we hadn't seen in a long time! First, we spent the morning playing with Jackson and his momma, nurse Colleen, who took care of me and Rachael during our 62-day-stay on the antepartum unit at Duke. Colleen is a fantastic nurse - so calm and so compassionate - and those virtues carry through in her role as a mom. She's expecting her second in December -- a sweet little girl. The kids had a great time getting to know each other....since the boys hadn't seen each other since they were infants.

That evening, we met up with Nicol and Kate (the great, who's 8!) :) Nicol is the first friend I made in NC. We were hired on the same day at PPD and put in to the same office space....good thing she's sooo cool and could tolerate me. :) Kate was born 2 months before we were married, so, I always know how old she is by our anniversaries. 

We had a great dinner together at the classy and ever-popular Golden Corral...the kids loved it, at least. :)

We are so blessed with fantastic friends!

110 with Rachael and Ben: friends and fro yo!

Enjoying the sandbox at the Seabrook Park with friends! 

Fro Yo...perfect ending to a summer Friday!

Happy Friday, y'all! And, a mostly happy day it was! These days are sweet and are worth the cut in paycheck, because the extra hugs and kisses and the spontaneous "I love yous" make up for it ten-fold.
We spent the morning at a local park with our neighbor friends and after playing on all of the climbing structures and in the sandbox, we walked to a bridge over the highway where we could see the trucks and cars zoom by below us. What fun!
Then, tonight, we had an early dinner and headed out for some fro-yo treats. What a great way to end a summer day!

Tomorrow is our final summer soccer class....the kids have really enjoyed this, Ben, especially! One of the parents commented on day 1, "that boy's a natural"! What a proud moment for this momma! He has a natural way of controlling the ball and kicking gently as he runs down the field -- his motions are pretty fluid.
Rachael enjoys it but, it's pretty obvious it's not her natural bend or her favorite. So far, tumbling has been much more her speed. We are going to try dance this fall -- a ballet/tap class combo. It'll be exciting to see how she does.

110 with Rachael and Ben: Cousin time!

Today was an absolutely gorgeous Friday! Perhaps the universe is making up for the days and days and days of rain we've had this spring/summer with the gift of an 85 degree, lower humidity day in July! This kind of day = unheard of in our neck of the woods!

We started the day with a trip to the YMCA pool with our neighbor friend, Evan and his mama. Super fun way to start the day! After a good swim and lunch/nap, our cousins, Alex & Aidan arrived with their mama (Allyson) and Nana (Ann Marie). Allyson is like a sister to me and it's even more special that our kids are close in age -- Ben and Aidan are just 3 1/2 months apart! Don't worry....Rachael's not intimidated by 3 boys...she can handle it all in stride and make each one of them play with a tea set and a tiarra all in one afternoon. 

This week was a particularly busy/stressful one with my Mom having a Crohn's flare. {As I write this, she is on the mend and will hope to avoid surgery!}Mike was (as always!) very generous to just let me pick up and go to be with her while he held down the homefront. The thing is -- he did so much more than hold it down - - I came home to happy kiddos, a mostly clean kitchen, a folded basket of laundry and a new shelf in the laundry room! He is a partner -- and even carries more of the load than he should and for that I can say, I AM the luckiest!

110 with Rachael and Ben: A visit with good friends!

Katelyn (8), Lauren (5), Ben (2), Rachael (3) enjoy the pool at BaBa's lake house!

Today the kids and I went to visit with Alicia, Eric and Barbara (lovingly known as BaBa to her grandkids) while they were all at BaBa's lake house. It was (as always) too short and so much fun! The kids warmed up to each other and played games in and out of the pool. Alicia and I talked fast and furiously, trying to catch up on 6 months of life while keeping an eye on the kiddos. My friendship with Alicia is 18 years old.....and it's as easy to be with her now as it was then. We've lived with each other and have survived break ups, hangovers, parties, Spring Break trips, broken hearts, engagements, bridal showers, weddings and baby showers and child-rearing together. She went MBA, I went MS. She stays in Jersey, I stay in NC. But, no matter the distance or the time apart, there's nothing like coming together with someone that "knew you when".
I can only pray that Rachael and Ben will build friendships like the ones we are blessed to have. I truly hope seeing these friendships in our lives will influence the way they make friends.

What a great way to spend one of our 110!

xoxo

 

110 with Rachael and Ben

Today is a FIRST.

It's the first Friday of my 3/4 time work schedule which I asked for in January 2013. You see, over the Christmas holiday, Ben and Rachael were so much fun. Each day was a new (and tiring!) adventure. Each day slipped away too quickly. And, I took pause and thought -- I don't want to miss any more days with these two.

But, I know myself well enough to know, I'm not "full-time, SAHM" built. I have the utmost respect for full-time, stay-at-home Moms...theirs is a job I don't think I could handle. However, I knew something needed to change about my full-time, out of the home work schedule.

Then, when we settled in to January 2013, we got the year end statement from the wonderful daycare our children attended. $32,000! In ONE year! My feelings were confirmed with data -- something needed to change.

And so, it will. I asked for a switch to a 3/4 time schedule. I searched high and low for a preschool that would meet the kids' needs and my schedule's needs. I found it -- PHEW!

TODAY is the first of 110 Fridays at home with Rachael and Ben.

I vow to myself and to them to enjoy these Fridays more than I dread them. To allow for mistakes and cranky days. To cherish the sweet moments, the extra hugs and kisses. The extra time to spend together...making things, doing things, playing things and JUST being - with each other.

I know, these Fridays will go too fast. I know, they will end as quick as they came. And, to Mike, thank you for supporting my goal to make this change and for being a true partner with me in these adventures. (I'm hoping these Fridays will give me the chance to make our family happier, healthier and better than ever!)

Spring sprung into Summer!

So much for "keeping up", huh? Well, at least this year I've written more than half as many as I wrote in all of 2012. Progress, right?

Let's catch up, shall we?

April 2013:
Highlights:
April is a month of birthdays! Mimi and Nana celebrated their 65th birthdays...both with Ben and Rachael belting out "Happy Birthday". In addition, we had lots of friend birthday parties...Ruby, Victoria and Samantha. Very sadly, we missed cousin Alex's birthday party since Mike was traveling that weekend and I'm just not brave enough to drive by myself in the car with both kids for 4+ hours. I WILL do it....someday...sooner than later. We had such fun with the parties and celebrating everyone. It makes the weekends extra special and Mike and I usually get to spend one-on-one time with the non-party goer.
Mike traveled to PA to reconnect with college friends; he had a great time. I could tell it was good for his soul...spending time with people who love him and think he's pretty cool....the feeling is mutual.
And, I enjoyed some alone time with the kids, even though it is more work by myself -- makes me grateful that he doesn't travel often AND I'm so grateful that he's a true partner in the care of our home and children.

Lowlights:
The 'locked out of the car with the engine running' situation that I talked about in a previous post gets top billing as a lowlight. Missing Alex's party comes in a close 2nd. It's hard to be so far from family -- we miss out on a lot of things and that's the worst part; even though we love our life here. (I can't imagine how our family who lives a plane ride away does it!)

May 2013:
Highlights:
The month started with a successful 50th birthday celebration for my professional association and I got to hand over the president gig to a woman I absolutely adore. I was so proud of the group and of our (and my) accomplishments over the year of being president; we made a lot of strides and set the group up well going forward.
The weekend after, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo at our house with 7 neighbor families hanging out and a Moe's taco bar -- SO much fun and SO easy!
Then, Mother's Day was a beautiful day and we celebrated with a wonderful breakfast and trip to the park...despite the major lowlight that you'll read below.
After that, we were burnin' up the roads in May! We spent a weekend with DC family celebrating cousin Tom's wedding. It was a great weekend -- so nice to see everyone and to have our kids surrounded by the bigger part of one of our families. I have such a fondness and love for my aunts and uncles it's a wonderful thing to see them with my kids. And, for the 2nd cousins to play together is fantastic....while it's Rachael and the boys, I hope they can be close to each other since they are so close in age.
The wedding was sweet and simple -- just like Tom and Lauren. The reception was a luncheon in the church hall and we were able to take the kids down the hall to the preschool rooms for some play -- couldn't have been a better 1st wedding experience for us.
The following weekend, we headed for SC with Mimi and Papa and spent a darn-near-perfect weekend on the coast. The weather = fantastically, amazingly perfect. The ocean water = warm, gentle. The pool = warm and not too crowded. The kids AND the adults were all on their best behavior! :) It really was our best trip to date. We're so thankful that Mimi and Papa include us in that trip.
After returning from the trip, we had a double date night/concert with our best buddies, the Helm's. It was a good time, as usual.
May was such a FUN, FULL, BLESSED month....it was, for sure, one of the best of the year!

Lowlights:
SO.....the day after the Cinco de Mayo party, Ben started with a rash on his belly. It stayed about the same (number of marks, etc) and he had no other symptoms -- no fever, diarrhea, vomiting, cold, sleeping/eating fine. Given all of that, I didn't rush him to the doctor. Finally, his teacher called me a couple of days in and said it looked worse. When I took him to the pediatrician, she said, well, looks like CHICKEN POX! Can you believe that? YES, he was vaccinated and apparently, 10% of vaccinated kids can get it. So, we were quarantined for 5 days, leading up to Mother's day. Luckily, he was never very sick with it and they never spread beyond his abdomen.

Phew! What a spring! We're looking forward to summer!

A picture post....a few Christmas scenes and Rachael turns 3