First Day of 1st Grade

They're back! Early mornings, backpacks, lunch boxes, car line, homework... School has started.

Noah did very well this morning. He was up and dressed and ready to go on time. We even had a few extra minutes to pose for some pictures.

Love him! Can't wait to pick him up later and hear all about it!

***PS - I am changing some things up around here. I have started a new blog. Come visit, it's called With Humor and Grace.  I will still be posting some on this blog - mostly pictures of the boys. If that's why you come here, feel free to stay and I will continue to update you with cute photos of all their exploits. But, if you care to read my ramblings on topics ranging from parenting to fashion and anything in between, come visit me at my new site. And leave a comment to let me know you stopped by!

Wrapping Up Summer

I have not blogged lately because I have been soaking up this last little bit of summer. And also because I am a little bit lazy.

Noah starts school next week :(

I know it's time for him to go back. His need for structure, and my dwindling reserves of patience, are testaments to that fact, it's just that I'm not ready for it. I am not ready for early, rushed mornings. I am not ready for homework and early bedtimes. The other thing is that this fall is marking the beginning of some major changes for our family. Wes is in the process of opening his own optometry practice - which let me tell you, is no joke. It is a TON of work. So, he is doing all that he needs to do for that while working at his current job full time. We are excited about the opportunity for him to have his own business, but I am very aware that we are entering a period of time where he will be stretched really thin for free time. The other thing that is new is that I am going to be working part time. In an effort to bring in a little (and I do mean a tiny) bit of extra cash each month I am going to be teaching a creative movement class at Liam's preschool 3 days a week. The other 2 days I am making myself available to substitute, so there is the potential for me to be working 5 days a week. I am not complaining because it is one of the few things I can do that still allows me to be a full time stay at home mom. (Liam will go to preschool 5 days a week with me while I work, and I will be done in time to run a few errands before I go collect Noah from school.) I am excited to be doing it - and teaching little kids all about movement and exercise is right up my alley - but it will mean I have to be way better at managing my time. Throw in soccer practice/games, Wes' usual Air Force Reserve commitment and we may be one busy family.

So this last week has been all about blowing off anything that isn't fun and summer related. (You know, like, cleaning my house, cooking a meal, folding laundry, etc.) We have enjoyed going to our friends' houses for all day play dates, gone to the pool and the water park. And yesterday we ventured out to the beach with some friends. We got to run, swim, and even watch a turtle release. It was a very fun day!

Here are the boys with their buds Jack and Joey. The boys waited a very long time for the turtles to be released. There was a huge crowd of people and Liam did not care for it. Eventually, I had to leave and go back to our towels while my friend Jessica stayed with the older boys. I was a little hacked off that I was going to miss seeing the turtles swim into the ocean, but once we were settled away from the crowd Liam turned to me and said, "I sorry Mama. I no like that much people." How can you stay mad at that?! So, we had a snack on our blanket while we waited for everybody.

Oh, and in case you are wondering. Liam is really good at smearing Oreo all over his face. He can even make an Oreo goatee. While Noah was snapping pictures with my phone he got a good shot of it.

At my request he also tried to take a picture of me and Jess. However, his photographer skills need to be honed. Every single try was completely off center.

As you can tell from that last picture, the clouds started rolling in shortly after the turtles were released so we packed up and called it a day. (And PS...I got my workout in by carrying a screaming, sandy Liam in one arm and pulling our giant beach cart behind me with the other one. )

I am off to start the weekend. Our last official summer weekend. I am so thankful for the fun summer I have gotten to have. No matter what I may say, or how much I complain on a bad day, I am very grateful that I get to be home with my boys. They are growing up so fast and I am cherishing the memories we get to make together.

Crazy Days

One time my sister happened to be hanging out at our house during the boys' bedtime routine. After some particularly crazy behavior from them, and watching Wes and I bang our heads against the door frame in frustration, she turned to me and said, "Has anyone ever asked you guys to be in an abstinence commercial?"

For the most part my children are very well  behaved and only minimally crazy, but there are those random times when I agree with my sis. Watching me deal with them would be enough to send any horny teenager running in the opposite direction from anything having to do with baby making. Yesterday was one of those days.

It was raining - it feels like it has been doing that forever - and so our plans for the water park were not going to work out. So, my friends and I decided to try the local indoor jump castle play place, Monkey Joe's. Well, apparently ever other mother in the Charleston area had the same idea and Monkey Joe's was extremely crowded. So crowded I started feeling like I needed to go curl up in the corner in the fetal position and starting rocking back and forth. Needless to say after an hour we were DONE and we gathered up the kiddos and decided to go grab a bite to eat. We headed over to McCallisters, happy to beat the lunch rush, and walked in the door. 3 adults, 3 six year olds, 1 three year old, 1 two year old, and a one year old. We made a bit of a ruckus on our way up to the counter.

And that's when things started to fall apart. Let's just say that ordering with that many kids (all trying to tickle/wrestle each other), combined with the world's slowest cashier was a little stressful. Liam was screaming for water, 1 year old Connor was screaming for food of any kind, and all 3 adults were thinking of screaming at the cashier for being slower than molasses!

We finally got everybody seated (after chasing off two men who were trying to have a quiet bite to eat) and our food arrived. At this point I just starting chuckling to myself and thinking how we should have our own camera crew following us around. We would make a very entertaining reality show. It was right after this thought ran through my head that I watched Liam climb down from his chair, crawl under the table, grab one of his crackers off the floor and triumphantly put it in his mouth. I glanced at my friend Lisa, who had witnessed him do it too, and she said, "Hey. I didn't see anything." And so I pretended like my kid had not just eaten food off the floor in public.

On the way out poor Connor tripped and fell right into one of the rod iron chairs. When he stood up you could see an actual indentation on his forehead in the shape of the chair leg. Needless to say, poor guy was wailing as we walked out the door. Brandy, Lisa and I were all feeling a little frazzled at this point, and you could tell we were all anxious to just get in our cars and drive home for nap time. By the way, I was so anxious that I apparently forgot about the whole buckling in your kid thing. As we were sitting at the light to turn onto the main road Noah yelled, "Liam! You can't sit there!" I turned around to see an empty car seat and Liam sitting in the middle seat like a grinning geek. Holy S#&t!

Things can get like that sometimes with kids. An outing can suddenly turn into a comedy of errors and you can find yourself thinking, How the heck do I handle this? The truth is, sometimes you don't handle it. Not well anyway. I was so frazzled by 12:30 yesterday that I forgot to strap my two year old into his car seat! So what is a mom supposed to do? Well, I'll tell you what I do. I rely on the support of my friends. It is refreshing to see other Mom's going through the same things you are - to see them getting stressed out in the same way that you do. And when your kid is eating food off the floor, instead of judging you for it, they laugh it off and remind you to pick your battles - He's just building up his immune system. 

I am thankful for the women in my life who help me get through crazy days. And I am thankful for being able to get together at the end of it all and laugh about it. Oh, and for enjoying a drink together. After yesterday, this may be our new motto:

Stuff Liam Says

Can we please just start with the following picture?

We called him down for dinner one night and this is how Liam came down the stairs. Cowboy hat, two different weapons, and rain boots (on the wrong feet no less). Like some sort of random, lesser known superhero. (Hello, his shirt even says "Keeping the Street Safe"!) He wore that get up all night. The hatchet and sword even sat next to him at dinner. Oh, and make no mistake - the next morning the hat and boots were worn to Publix. Love him!

Liam is 2 going on 16. Really, sometimes I forget that he is as young as he is. And so does he. He wants to do anything and everything that Noah does. He is attempting to ride a two wheeler (with training wheels) that is really too big for him. He loves all the Mario video games just as much as Noah. At the pool he puts on his Puddle Jumper and takes off to swim with Noah, leaving me in the dust. He just loves floating around the pool with his big brother and the "big kids". And the things that he says! I end up laughing when I know I should be disciplining, but he is just so darn cute. (And he totally plays us because of it.) In all seriousness, we DO discipline him, but honestly he is a pretty easy kid. When he does do something wrong he sits nicely in time out and then apologizes and gives kisses. And his temper tantrums are short lived. Nine times out of ten you can pull him aside, explain a situation calmly to him and he will snap out of it. Noah was never quite that easy - he still isn't.

Anyway, here a few cute examples of the stuff that comes out of Liam's mouth.

~ He is loving the Olympics, in particular the swimming events. That combined with his love for our pool prompted me to ask him, "Liam are you going to be a swimmer when you grow up?" He looked right at me and said, "No." I then asked him what he was going to be. He said, "Um... (cocked his head back while he thought)... Mario! Mario with star power!"


~ When we drive in the car he always looks out the window and updates me on the weather. If there are clouds blocking the sun he will say, "Uh oh! The sun is all burnt out!" The other day he told me this, but then we made a turn in the opposite direction, where there were no clouds, and he saw the sun. Then he said, "I turned it back on Mama!"


~ The other day Noah walked by and smacked him on the chest on his way to the living room. Liam whipped around, ran after him pointing with his finger, and yelled, "Woah! Woah, you stop that, you understand?!"


~ Yesterday he was playing upstairs when he came to the top of the stairway and screamed, "Hey Mommy, I need more goldfish. Catch it!" This was followed by banging as his bowl was hurled all the way down the stairs. I wanted to be mad but I was also laughing.

~ And then there are the things he says that break your heart. At the water park with friends the other day, as we were walking to a slide, he turned to me and said, "I wish Daddy could be at water park!"

He is my little cuddle bug and class clown and Noah's best bud. We love him so much!

Here Goes....

Yikes. Addressing divisive topics on my blog seems like a scary thing. Maybe I shouldn't even do it. But holy crap. I can't really seem to get away from this Chick-Fil-A debate. It's on my radio and on my husband's twitter feed (which he reads to me out loud) and don't even get me started on my Facebook feed. Ugh, and now it's here on my blog. I guess because as much as I am tired of all the fighting I also have something to say. So here goes.

A friend and I were talking about this CFA drama the other day (and we are on opposite ends of the spectrum in our opinions on the matter) but we both agreed we were not as informed about it as we could be. Wes on the other hand - he is eating it up. He has read a billion articles and discussed the finer political and constitutional points for 3 days straight. Not so much because of any issue regarding gay rights, but mostly because of his belief in an individual's first amendment right to express a personal belief. And hey, I am right there with him. I do find it slightly ironic that many of those who would espouse the idea that a person has a right to believe anything they want to are the same ones screaming about the owner of Chick-Fil-A expressing his beliefs. It seems more and more that a Christian has to be extremely careful before discussing what they believe, as it is not really politically correct to even adhere to traditional Christ values anymore. And let's face it, I am a Christian. An evangelical Christian even. If we're being honest, a lot of my personal beliefs about marriage, family, etc. may fall in line with the beliefs of Mr. Cathy.

And yet... I did not got to Chick-Fil-A for appreciation day today. (Wes did and I am fine with that.) I just couldn't bring myself to step into the middle of such a provocative debate and "take a side". Oh, I will be back to eat more chicken, don't worry. I am by no means boycotting. I just don't know if the right response is to enhance the battle lines by saying, I am on this side and you are not. I think it bothers me because I don't feel like I am on a side.

Guess what? I have gay friends. Not just "I know this person who is gay", but people who I consider friends. Whose company I enjoy. Who are fun and funny and great to my kids. People I spend more than a little bit of time with. And so, to me, this is more than an impersonal political debate. I am constantly putting myself in their shoes and thinking, "How does this all seem to them? What would my drawing a line in the sand on this topic look like to them? How do I best represent the Christ I know and believe in?"

And this is what I have decided. I think Jesus would be eating some fried chicken and waffle fries at Chick-Fil-A. And sitting in his vinyl booth with him would NOT be a group of his most righteous followers. No sir. I believe he would be there with his gay best friend. And his Muslim neighbor from down the street. And possibly his co-worker with a slutty reputation. Oh, and the professing Christian who has a problem with spreading gossip. It would be a motley crew of messed up people, and you know what? He would show every single one of them the love of a merciful God.

In the Bible (Matthew, Chapter 22, verse 36) a follower of Jesus asks him ( and I am paraphrasing here) "Hey Jesus. What is the most important law to follow?" And Jesus answers him with this (which I will quote directly): "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." 


I know that there are people in my life - gay and straight - who will not always agree with what I believe in. My hope is that my faith in Christ will make me strong enough to love people in general the way that God loves us. Because I have been loved by God in a major way. I have been drawn to him and promised his love even when I didn't deserve it. Two thousand years ago a man who was perfect loved me so much that he died on a cross for me despite my imperfectness. So, I don't feel like I have to worry so much about hammering home my belief about a certain topic to those around me. I am content to focus on love and relationships and to let the rest of it fall away.

What I really want, is to take my friends from all walks of life - including those with different religions and sexual orientations - and go sit at Chick-Fil-A together. I want to eat some ridiculous fried food and drink a nice ice cold Diet can of chemicals Coke. And laugh together. (Oh and say a silent prayer that no children pee on the indoor playground.)

And, as Mr. Gump once told us from the big screen, "That's all I have to say about that."

** Oh. Well, I have one more thing to say. I am in no way judging any of my friends - and I have lots - who went to Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day. I mean, my own husband was there waving the first amendment banner. It's cool. These are just my own personal thoughts going through my head! Love you guys! **