Big Girls

My girls turn 5 in 6 weeks. FIVE. September 9th was my last day working FIVE years ago. Then, exactly a month later my beauties arrived. The girls start Pre-K on Monday. Really?? This is the last year of preschool??? I taught pre-k for 2+ years, and can not believe my girlies are at this point. I was bringing them home from the hospital yesterday!

They aren't into cartoons anymore. They LOVE Selena Gomez, and her show on Disney, Wizards of Waverly Place. The Suite Life with Zach and Cody is a close second ;). It's crazy to me how big they are getting. They have opinions on EVERYTHING now, and talk a mile a minute. They question everything. Every time I discipline they say, "Please, just one more chance" Today Mikayla told me she just wanted me to give her hugs and kisses for Christmas. She was totally working me so she didn't have to clean the playroom, but I'll take it ;). Brianna still desperately needs a nap every day, so I'm loving having almost five year olds who still nap. I get at least an hour every day when all three of my kids are napping :). I am also signing the girls up for religious ed. classes at church!! CCD classes already!!! So excited to see them walk in God's light, and learn more about Him.

The baby is 6 weeks away from turning one and I'm totally in denial. He's getting So so big. I am going to be one emotional lady come the beginning of October. I just want my babies to stay babies! I am so proud of who they are growing to be. They are kind hearted, and thoughtful, and fun!

We are busy getting ready for school to start next week, and I'm anxious to start Joshua in Gymboree classes soon! October is already completely full, so I'm kind of hoping for a slow September :). Rain rain go away so that we can enjoy this last weekend of August :).




This picture was after the girls changed Joshua's diaper for the first time...I have to say I laughed for a good 10 minutes. He rolled everywhere, was giggling, they were frustrated, it was hilarious. I took pictures of the whole debacle, but due to my littles body parts all over I'm not posting them. I will be scrapbooking them and sharing with all future girlfriends though ;).

Vacation

I've had so much I've wanted to say about our 10 day vacay, but didn't know how to put down all the fun we had in one post. Our computer also has a virus, and will take bringing it somewhere to get it fixed...so for now I'm only able to get on when Nels brings his laptop home after work and the kiddos are in bed, and by then I'm so tired. I like my naptime computer time, and now I only get to surf on my phone...and I'm not typing a blog entry on my phone :). After that WAY too long explanation......


We LOVED our time away. It was my first trip I can remember where I didn't want to come home at the end of it. Yes, I did miss my bed and my kids in their own beds and our routine....but....we had fun, and enjoyed every moment of our trip.

We left on a Thursday at 10 am. I packed a lunch and stopped at a rest stop and we had a picnic and let the girls stretch their legs while the baby drank his bottle. Then, we were off. We couldn't find our portable dvd player, and the girls were WONDERFUL. Joshua had about 30 min. where he wanted out of the carseat NOW. Other than that he was great too. We got to the cabin in Black Mt., NC around midnight. The girls were SO tired that they didn't want to sleep alone so it wasn't until 1:30 that we finally got everyone settled, oy. After the first night they slept great and Aunt Cortney shared a room with them that the loved. (I think she loved the memory, but not the human alarm clocks :)). The cabin was so awesome. Cort, Ricky, Joey, his friend Josh, and my girls were downstairs. Nelson, me, and the babe were on the main floor, and my parents were on the top floor. It was the perfect cabin for our family.

During our stay we hiked to waterfalls, went mining, enjoyed a trip to a gorgeous lake, Western North Carolina Science Center, Arboretum, Chimney Rock, shopping in downtown Black Mt., picnics, my Mom's crock pot meals, Nelson and I got to white water raft with my Dad and Joey while the kids were with the rest of my family, s'mores, dinner with friends of our family, cute art show and playdate outside the Biltmore Estate, Apples to Apples, Spades, Lots of walking with babe in the ergo to get him in a deep sleep so he'd sleep in the PNP, Brianna announcing after Mikayla was flipping out for a good hour over the top I picked out for her and the hair bow I picked for her that her sister is "SO dramatic". We made so many memories and had so much fun!!

Almost a week later, on Wed, we packed up and left around 8:30 to head to Anna and Shawn's! We met at Discover Center in Charlotte, and the kids had a blast. It was like Great Explorations but triple in size! Then, we headed to their home and went out to eat with them and friends of theirs. Their friends came over after dinner and they have a 9 yr. old and 4 yr. old. The girls got along great with the 4 yr. old girl, and Joshua LOVED the 9 yr. old boy. He rolled a ball back and forth to Joshua, and he thought this was the best thing ever. The next morning we headed to a splash park where I got to meet one of my "molar girls". I have a group of ladies I talk to often who went through a molar/or partial molar pregnancy. Most of us have been talking for 2 or more years. It was so so great to meet Lisa and her kids. We met at a spray park...and then afterwards headed back to Anna's. The girls played with Buddy some, and then we had to get on the road.

The last leg of our trip. We wanted to go to Savannah on our way home. It was nice to just be our family of five. We had SO much fun. We took the kids on their first carriage ride and learned lots about the city, hit up all of the Savannah Candy Kitchens ;), walked the riverwalk, ate at Lady and Sons and the Pirate House, went to Tybee Island and to the top of the lighthouse.

We headed home after lunch and Garmin estimated our arrival to be around 5, well 8:30 we pulled into our driveway. The kids were great, but we were ALL ready to be out of the car :). I am so glad I'm a part of this awesome family. Our trips always leave me smiling, and I can't wait to explore more places with my favorite people.

When I asked the girls what their favorite parts of the trip this is what I got:

Brianna:
Being with my family, everything in our cabin made of tree bark (girl's not kidding, EVERYTHING, beds, tables, mantle, LOL), "finding a real potty at the art show so I didn't have to use the porta potty" (HA!), and seeing Aunt Anna.

Mikayla:

EVERYTHING!! Going on the hike to the waterfall, going on the carriage ride (which she slept most of the ride ;) ), and getting my nails done (yes, they did this with my mom while we were rafting ;) ).

Joshua:

Well, not verbatim ;), but he enjoyed all of his Daddy time. He loved not having Nelson leave. Ever since we've been home he cries hysterically when Nels leaves :(. He's quickly ok, but boy does he love his dada. He also got his first bite of ice cream on the trip, and was IN LOVE. So now I must hide all ice cream from him or he will leap for it. :)

Wahoo!!!

Joshua is moving! He's army crawling, and kind of looks like a fish out of water, but if he wants something he gets to it now. He is so much like Mikayla as a baby. She army crawled and then weeks later was traditionally crawling, and cruising. Mikayla also would sit back and take everything in and then exploded verbally. Joshua has 4 words in his vocabulary. He says, dada, hi, yay, and mama. MAMA--it really is SO sweet. He started last week, and now everyday looks into my eyes with his sweet grin and says mama and melts me even more. He's working on his two top teeth, they are taking their sweet time...poor baby :(. He also sits up on his own from a lying position, and pulls up on everything. He's such a little flirt too! Just had to hop on and blog about my boy because I'm so proud of him!

We leave for NC on Thursday. SO in need of this vacation!!