Summer Recap

Dressing up as cows for Cow Appreciation Day.

Well, now that summer is just about over, I feel like I should do my quarterly update, which is about how often I do this! One day I'll be a regular blogger. Just like one day I'll be a regular journal-writer too!

What a fun summer this has been! I had to chuckle reading over my last post. I remember all too well back in June dreading this summer. I was worried about fighting kids, keeping them busy, keeping them entertained, etc. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about! After about a week of being at home, the kids seemed to adjust to being around each other all the time and we settled into a nice relaxed routine.

We've had a nice mix of fun and down time. Last summer, we were so busy. On the go everyday it seemed and I remember wishing for it to slow down. And this summer I got just that. We've had lots of fun times, but also plenty of stay-at-home-in-our-jammies days. I wish I could say I accomplished a lot more than we did, but it has been nice to just enjoy being at home together. We've spent time at the beach, been to the pool, been to the movies, and just had fun being together. I've always had a hard time just staying home. I've always wanted to be going somewhere or doing something. So, this has been nice for me. I've learned to enjoy just being at home without feeling like I'm going stir crazy.

I got to even have a little get away of my own. At the end of July, my Mom & Dad, sister, and I took a little quick trip up to West Virginia to visit my brother and his wife and my sweet new nephew. He was being blessed that weekend and it was fun to just be with my family without the kids and Mike. Of course I missed them, but it was a rare treat to be together like that. Something we haven't been able to do in YEARS! And it gave Mike his first opportunity to be on his own with both kids for more than a day. Yes, they all survived and I think even had fun too.

So now, we get to look forward to school starting next week. Yes, already! Sam, I think, is looking forward to 1st Grade. He lost his first tooth last week and is excited to start the school year with a missing tooth. Cute boy.

Abby will be going to 4 year old preschool. This, I am having a hard time with. When did my baby get to be so big? And to think that next year, she'll be going to kindergarten! She is so looking forward to it and I know she'll love it.

Go Fish

Playing Go Fish with Abby has proved to be one of the funniest & most frustrating things I've done in a while. She has such an interesting perspective on how the game should be played, which is far different from any way I've ever played it.

I asked her for a pufferfish and she told me to go fish. Later, as I'm helping her give cards to Sam, I realize she has a pufferfish buried behind some cards, so I know she's had it a while. So I asked her about it. She says she wants to keep it because one of them is her favorite color. A few turns later, Sam asks her for a pufferfish and she tells him no, because she wants to keep it! He seems to accept this and then asks her for an octopus. She happily gives it to him and then looks at me and says,"It's a good thing I have 2 more!" Sam is now giddy with excitement and starts asking her for another octopus all the while jumping up and down and laughing because he knows his set will be complete in one turn. At this point Abby decides she just doesn't want to play anymore and runs from the room taking all her cards with her while Sam chases her. I hear screams of protest from her. Something about her loving all the colors of the rainbow and not wanting to give up any fish! Of course a fight ensues and Abby is then crying hysterically and says her heart is hurt. That's a quick end to our game and both kids are now enjoying quiet time in their separate rooms.

I'm really trying to be the fun and cool mom who is way excited about all the time we get to spend together during the summer vacation. We do have some fun things planned and it was nice to slow down today. In fact, it's 2:00 in the afternoon and I'm still in my jammies. So this part is nice.

The first few days have so far been filled with enough arguments, tears, yelling kids, and temper tantrums to last me a month. I just keep taking deep breaths and tell myself its just that they are getting used to being together again all the time. I'm hoping the adjustment sets in quickly. Otherwise I think we're in for a very long summer!

Elf on the Shelf??

A few years ago I heard about the "Elf on the Shelf". It's a toy elf that you leave around the house and he "watches" during the day and reports to Santa at night if the kids have been good or bad. You move him around every day for effect. Anyway, I thought the idea sounded cute, so I mentioned it to Sam. He was all excited about having a visiting elf until bedtime when it seemed to really freak him out. Mike had to make a "phone call" to Santa cancelling the elf request. A few friends of ours have the elf this year, so I mentioned it to Sam again thinking maybe he'd be more into the idea now that he's older. Just like last time he was keen on the idea and just like last time, he started freaking out at bedtime. And just like last time, we had to call Santa again! It's so funny the things that excite and scare them. So no elf on the shelf for this family!

We drove around and looked at lights with the kids tonight. They loved it and got so excited at some of the houses. At one point Sam said he would cry they were so pretty! And Abby just got giddy. We are finishing up the night with the Dora Christmas movie. I love these family times!

On my last post I mentioned the chocolate advent calendar. Abby has a new love this week. That's right...chocolate! We had to call Grandma and get an extra and now she comes running into the kitchen to find the right number and get her piece of chocolate. She still has some progress to make though. Mike offered her a Hershey Kiss today and she turned it down. Apparently she only loves advent calendar chocolate! Me, I'd rather have a Kiss any day! :)

December has finally arrived! We (especially the kids) have been anxiously awaiting this day. Sam came running into our room at (gasp!) 5:30ish this morning telling us that today was the day he could start getting chocolates from his advent calendar. Every year my Mom gets him one and he loves getting a piece of chocolate (usually first thing in the morning) and counting down the days to Christmas. Sam was very concerned about Abby not having her own this morning, but since she doesn't eat chocolate, Mom didn't get her one this year. Once Abby assured him it was fine, he opened up his first window this morning. I think it's sweet he was looking out for his little sister. Or maybe, knowing she doesn't touch the stuff, he was hoping he could get hers! Anyway, the countdown has begun!

I wanted to find a way to really get them into the spirit of Christmas this year. Something simple they can do every day to remind them of Christ. I came up with the idea of 25 Days of Service. There was a great story in the Friend magazine this month about a boy who fills a little manger with hay for each act of service he did. This was the perfect story to introduce my idea. Instead of a manger with hay, we're going to make a paper chain and each link will represent an act of service. I hope to have a very long paper chain. Sam and Abby were both very excited about it and our chain already has 5 links! They were pretty funny about it. Sam would drop a chip on the floor and say, "Oh no! I dropped my chip!" And Abby would pick it up like it was some huge act and they'd tell me they needed a link. I appreciate their enthusiasm and I hope it continues.

Come what may and love it.

I taught YW today and I used a talk by Elder Worthlin, "Come what may and love it". I think this was more for me than the girls. Funny how often that is the case. I've been trying super hard lately to be more patient with my children. Really, I've just been trying not to yell as much. This really helped to put things into perspective and I'm really going to try to make this my new thing. We can't control what happens, but we can control how we react to what happens. This is also good since we've really been trying to reinforce this concept for Sam.

I've thought on this a lot the last few weeks. I'm no longer teaching pre-school. They called me one day and said they didn't need me anymore. I've never been let go from a job, so this was a little hard for me to come to terms with. It was because I had done anything, I just became a victim of "restructuring". I've gotten used to having more free time and am trying to use it for good things. Oddly enough, I got a call last week from the bank where I used to work with an offer to work a little through the holidays. What a blessing and I can truly see God's hand in this. It's much more money than I would have made at pre-school and had a been working there still, I would not have been available for it. And, I'm getting used to slowing down a bit and having more time for myself. It was very weird the first day Sam and Abby were both gone, but I am quickly getting used to it!

Anyway, on to our recent activities. We were so fortunate to be able to spend a weekend in Johnson City, TN over Halloween weekend to attend a reception for my cousin, Matt who recently married a really sweet girl from that area. It was a beautiful drive up there through the mountains with all the fall colors. We stayed in Johnson City at the Carnegie Hotel. This was our first time in a hotel with our children. They did well except for waking up at the crack of dawn. Sam, in fact, cried when we got home because he missed the hotel and wished we lived there! It was a really pretty area. Most of our time was spent in Jonesborough. It was such a cute little town. They had the little main street all decorated for fall with huge pots of mums, hay bales, and scarecrows lining the streets. The reception was lovely with a delicious dinner and dancing. Most of all we had a great time visiting with family we haven't seen in a while. My aunt & uncle and cousins as well as my brother and his wife. Sam and Abby thoroughly enjoyed their time with Uncle Caleb and Aunt Taylee. All in all a very fun weekend.

We also took a trip to Charleston in October to spend the weekend with Mike's mom while he went to some Phish concerts with his buddies. We went to Boone Hall Plantation to pick out pumpkins and then spent some time on the Battery in Charleston and had lunch at Hymans. We even took a quick ride over to The Citadel to show the kids where Mike went to college. It was so nice to spend a day together as a family.

We also hosted our first ever Halloween party. Since we weren't home for Halloween & trick or treating, I told Sam and Abby we would have a party at the house so they could wear their costumes. They each got to invite a few friends and we had the party in the back yard. We had two pinatas, mummy dogs for dinner, a giant spider web cookie, eyeball donuts, and fun games like pin the nose on the pumpkin and mummy wrap, where you wrap yourself like a mummy with toilet paper. Of course, the pinatas were the highlight. And also very hard to break. So much so, that Mike finally had to pick it up and toss it in the air and hit with the bat like you would a baseball. That finally did the trick. I think the kids all had a fun time. Maybe we'll do it again next year. Maybe. :)

Yesterday we spent the day cooking a pig. One of Mike's customers was kind enough to shoot a pig last weekend and gave it to us! It was almost like having a 3rd child this week! Since we didn't have the freezer or fridge space for such a huge amount of meat, we had to keep it in a cooler on ice all week. We borrowed one of those gigantic barrel grill cooker things and Mike spent the day cooking it. We invited several of our neighbors and some family and had a big ol' tasty pig pickin'. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun, and we managed to get rid of most of it.

The highlight of the day was, of course, South Carolina's win over the Florida Gators to win the SEC East. Two things which the Gamecocks hadn't ever done. As you can imagine, we are most excited about this and Mike is working to get tickets to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. Go Gamecocks!

Bring on Fall!!

Well, we are now into the school routine (I think!). Sam is really enjoying kindergarten. I am so pleased he is making friends, although not fast enough for his taste based on our conversation this morning. He apparently feels like he should already be great friends with everyone in his class. I assured him that as each week goes by, he will get to know all the kids better. I love that he has that attitude - that he wants to be friends with everyone. That's just how he is - such a sweetie!

He started his first karate class today. They offer it as an after school program at his school one day a week. I was able to watch for the last 10 minutes and it was cute to see him. He definitely has a lot of room to improve, but he loved it and is enthusiastic! Abby even enjoyed watching and was doing the different poses right along with the class. Too cute!

Abby and I start back to preschool tomorrow, so life will really be crazy! She is going to be in the 3 year old class and I will be teaching the "older babies". We have 4 kids who will be turning 1 within the first few months of school starting.

I'm really looking forward to the school year, but a bit sad about losing some of my free time. I've really enjoyed being able to go the Y this summer to work out. That will be a bit more difficult now, but I feel like I'll be able to get in 1 or 2 Zumba classes and hopefully some weightlifting still. It will just take more planning.

Football season is in full swing. The Gamecocks played their first game last week, so our Saturdays will be occupied for the next few months with football and we'll see even less of Mike than we normally do! :)

And we're just hoping the cool fall weather will come have a nice long visit with us. I am so over this hot & humid summer weather. Bring on Fall!