My little fishies

Lesson of the Day:

You are not allowed to open you eyes at the pool unless you are wearing goggles :)

Half way there...

Summer vacation is half over. Happy? Sad? Yes! The past few months have been a bit mind-numbing. We had a lot of family business issues that are finally coming to a resolution. I haven't blogged much because Tim really didn't want IT all "out there" and it really was all we were talking or thinking about since May. I'm so glad it's pretty much over. It finally feels like we're getting on with life.

We have had a great "lazy" summer, mostly hanging out at the pool. This is only our second summer joining a pool and we only went a handful of times last year. We joined a new pool this summer and it is really nice. This is week 2 of the group swimming lessons. $45 for 2 weeks of 45 minute classes. I think that's a real bargain. Abbie and Cooper have improved drastically.

I started Abbie with a few private lessons. 10 days ago the most she could/would do was dunk herself up to her forehead. She wouldn't even jump in the pool. Now she's trying to teach herself to dive off the diving board. I'm amazed. And so proud of her. She's a "scaredy-cat" type so we've had many talks recently about saying "I can't do it". I don't like hearing her say that. I urged her to say something more positive like "I'll try it" or "I think I can do it". Within a couple of days she had so much more confidence.

Cooper's class is just focusing on basics like getting their arms and legs to move at the same time! He's finally jumping in...sort of. He wants to jump off the diving board so bad. He's been up there, about 3/4 of the way to the end, probably 6 times. But ends up getting down. Pretty soon he'll just go for it. He's ready to go back to school. He says he misses his friends (2/3 of his class are my best friends' kids that we are the pool with every day) and he keeps asking when his next lunch bunch day is going to be.

Cameron likes to jump in when I catch him but he won't go in by himself. This pool has a small seperate baby pool but the "big" pool starts off at a 2 foot section that is roped off from the main pool. It is so much easier to keep an eye on everyone.

The rest of the summer should be pretty exciting too. I'm in the middle of working with our contractor on the plans for our new deck. If I wait a couple more weeks, I could maybe save on demo costs since the old one is just about ready to fall down. The problems have been trying to work around our septic tank and the fact that we have access to the deck from the kitchen and from our bedroom...on opposite ends of the house. Even if we don't use the access to the deck from our room we still have to have the deck there since it's the second story.

Cooper's 5th birthday is coming in 3 weeks. He wants to go to BounceU so we're going to BounceU and then go get pizza for dinner.

Oh yeah, then there's our 15th anniversary in 4 short weeks. I have nothing planned. I feel like we can't really plan much while Tim's still in school. Maybe we'll just skip this year and do 15 next year! Like I'm going to do with my birthdays from now on.

Tim only has 9 more weekend sessions of school left. That sounds better than 5 more months left. One day...hopefully next year we will be able to finally have a honeymoon. I feel like I say that a lot..."Maybe next year"..."hopefully soon".

Hopefully maybe next year really this time, finally :)

Happy Birthday "Baby" Girl!!

Well it had to be something big to get me back to the blog. What could be bigger than turning EIGHT! We just got home from day camp and so far the highlight of the day was hearing her birthday "shout-out" live on Radio Disney today. She was so excited. While I was talking to the producer I actually got choked up. My baby is eight years old. She is such a big girl now. I had no idea that eight was so grown up. There is nothing that remotely resembles a little kid anymore.

Abbie, I love you so much. My three babies...my heart, my soul, and my spirit. You are my SPIRIT. You are so much like me yet so much more self assured and indepentdent. I can't wait to see where life takes you.

A snapshot of your life on 7-2-2008:

• You finished second grade this year and are considered a "well-above average" student
• You love to read but hate to write
• You like math okay but the timed tests get you every time
• You love science and say that one day you want to invent a car that will run on the sun or wind (techie stuff like daddy)
• You are becoming quite a good artist (creative stuff like mommy)
• You love constellations
• You still can't ride you bike without training wheels
• You love swimming lessons
• Tomorrow your instructor is going to get you to jump off the diving board but you don't know that yet :)
• You love anything Pokemon related
• You are sort of "over" Hannah Montana
• Your favorite song is Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis

Happy Birthday baby girl. We'll have lots more fun and photos to share after Chuck E. Cheese tonight.

Owen Greene

I finally heard from the coordinator at Tim's school. Here is a link to the Greene family blog if you'd like to read about Owen and follow his progress. He does have neuroblastoma and just completed his 3rd round of chemo. Please add him and the Greene family to your prayers.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/owengreene


It's following the courageous stuggle of families like Owen's and Leslie's...their strength in the face of adversity is so incredibly inspirational. It humbles me and has put our recent family situation in perspective. We have so much to be thankful for. We're healthy our kids are healthy...the rest will work itself out.

Cameron's first beach trip

The Beach in Bullets...

• Tim decided (on Wednesday night) that he would be finished up with work and wanted to leave on Thursday instead of Friday
• THURSDAY:
• Spent all day packing like a fiend
• 1:30-left to hit the road and get Abbie from school
• 1:45-McDonald's drive thru
• 2:00-returned home to get my clothes that I left hanging on the doorknob, and Oh would you look at that, there's my bathroom/toiletry bag on the bed. Whew, close one.
• Arrived 5 hours later at Oak Island only to find the bridge next to the beach house closed so we had to drive back to the other end of the island and go the long way.
• FRIDAY:
• Awake to cell phone ringing at 7:30-ish I think. Forgot to tell mom we were leaving early. She can't find us and she wants to make sure we made it through the tornadoes that hit near our house!! Our neighborhood was spared but just a few miles away, one road of homes was devastated. Thank God we were safe.
• Stormy morning at the beach. Afternoon cleared and we headed out.
• SOOOO windy we did not even sit down. Cameron couldn't even stand up.
• SATURDAY:
• Beautiful day. Headed to the beach. Breezy but tolerable, compared to yesterday.
• Headed back to the house for late lunch, showers and naps.
• Drove 1 1/2 hours south to Myrtle Beach.
• Arrived at Myrtle Beach greeted by "Welcome to Bike Week". Harley Davidson motorcycle kind of bike week. The boys loved it. I was just glad that it wasn't the other bike week. The crotch-rocket, street-racer, laws-don't-apply-to-me bike week. Did I mention that SC is a Helmet-optional state?
• Had a great time at Broadway at the Beach . Not sure how this place relates at all to Broadway, however.
• 9:30- head back towards Oak Island.
• 10:15- Tim asks me where the beach house key went.
• 10:15:05-my heart sinks into my stomach and I begin to pray frivolously that Tim just accidentally left the key in the door.
• LONG DRIVE BACK TO THE ISLAND
• No key in the door. Rip the car apart. No key anywhere.
• 11:20- Call Bill. Leave message and ask if there is another key somewhere.
• Look for a hidden key
• 11:30- Try Bill again, find a key!!!
• 12:00- in bed!!!
• SUNDAY
• Wake to the house shaking from severe thunder and lightning storm. Retrieve beach umbrellas, towels and bathing suits from around the yard.
• Pack quickly to get the heck home.
• Get to the bridge to leave the island, forgot Grandma's diamond ring and other jewelry on the bathroom counter.
• Go back and get jewelry
• GET OFF THIS ISLAND!!!!!!!!

I'm Back...

I'm trying to get back in the blogging mood. I want to update on our "vacation". I hope to get to that this week. But for now I'm trying to get my calendar updated for the last 3 weeks of school. So many things to do...testing, parties, graduation, etc.

These are the weekly quotes on my calendar for the next 2 weeks:

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings." -Hodding Carter

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
-Buckminster Fuller