Good times!

I can't believe that we went to the Bridgewater Lawn Party Wednesday, Thursday, Friday ,and Saturday and I dont have a single picture to show for it! There were some times when I could have gotten some awesome shots of the kids (big A and M riding in the cars, coming down the super slide, eating their snow cones) and I never remembered my camera! Now today I was determined to remember my camera, but I gave it to Bob for his trip to Russia. So, I decided that I would just borrow my Mom and Dad's camera but, initially couldnt find it anywhere. Finally found it and put in my bag. We got to the lawn party and there was no memory card in it! ACH! The pains of trying to take a few picts of my darling kids at their favorite lawn party!

Well, I will try to describe it for everyone who yens for that picture on the blog (like me): Alexander was so excited on Tuesday night. "Mommy, this is my favorite time of the year. I love the lawn party." Me, too. I can remember the fun: the thrill of the rides and the excitement of seeing friends from school during summer break. I remember laying in my bed at night, listening to the bands playing until what seemed like the middle of the night (that was before we had air conditioning). I dont remember the actual lawn party when I was Alexander's age but I do remember it when I was older. I loved all the rides. They were so much more fun that those at Kings Dominion, etc because there was always the risk that they would actually just fall apart! They were also pretty jerky which added to the thrill. We would pack 4 or 5 kids in the Octopus and try to get that thing to spin so fast! Good times-Ok- back to the here and now.

Wednesday night Alexander rode the swings for the first time. I got to ride, too! He loved them and laughed the whole time. Today he rode the Scrambler for the first time. What a dare devil. I dont think that I would have let him go by himself but I was on the carousel with Maggie and couldnt do anything about it. My Mom and I were making faces at each other (hers was guilt ridden and mine was an Oh my gosh face). I think that I have eaten way way way too many cheesburgers this week (but they are so good at the ole lawn party) and anyone that knows me, knows that I dont typically eat cow. I will be much better this coming week. My kids have had way way way too many snow cones, which they would refute, saying that no one could ever have too many snow cones!

Okay, I think that I have written enough about the lawn party. We rode a lot of rides, ate a lot of food, had a lot of fun, did a lot of sweating (it was hot!), and spent a lot of money! Good times! Oh, the big parade was Friday night. Other than the candy, it really didnt have a whole lot of substance. Has anyone been to a really good parade lately? The Treasure Mountain parade in Franklin, WV in Sept is actually a good parade.

I have to tell on Alexander a little bit. Since the lawn party has opened he has decided that we are going to make our own lawn party in our back yard. Today he decided that we needed a sign for the food options we have available, so he brought a pen and paper to the lawn party. He then decided that we needed to copy the menus from all the food stands and write them on this paper. I'll be he was the only kid at the lawn party to do that! That's my boy! Good times!

And he's off!

I had trouble getting the video downloaded the other day so my newest post is below the slide show! Check it out!

Check out my Slide Show!

And he's off!

Andrew is definitely getting around these days- by crawling! He is so cute at it! I just love to watch him make his way around the house! He tries to go really fast and ends up falling on his little face which is a little bit funny and a little bit sad at the same time!
Oh, Andrew, do you really have to grow up so fast?

"Heavy Breathing"

Alexander is 6!

Alexander and his Mommy- post party

My sweet boy is 6 today! I can't believe it! He is starting school in the fall (well, August) and is just growing up so fast! I remember holding him as a baby, attempting to trace every part of his little body and absorb it in my brain so I would never forget how precious he was, telling myself, ' you can never forget this. Remember what he looks like, remember what he sounds like, remember what he smells like. Just remember this moment.' As much as I tried, I dont remember every single detail. I remember a lot, but not everything that I wanted to. Why can't I go back there? One day maybe that will happen. I will be able to remember all of my days (just the good ones of course) like I am in the very moment.

Alexander and I are tight. We had such a strong bond when he was an infant. I knew I could never love anything, anyone more. After those 12 weeks at home with him, I had to return to work. I tried everything not to have to go. It was so hard. Those 12 weeks went soooo fast! The morning I went back to work, I woke up and nursed Alexander in the rocking chair and cried and cried. How many of us have done that? He wouldnt take a bottle for like 8 hours that day and then finally got hungry enough I guess. I was so stressed. I would have quit my job if someone had told me to that day. Life goes on. My hairdresser said, "You have conquered one battle, but the big ones are yet to come."

I have the best time with my Xander (Maggie gave him this nickname when she was one)! He is a lot of fun to be around and so loving. He likes to be around grown-ups and invited all of his teachers to his party! He's also very smart. Grammy says he knows things her 7th graders dont know. He is really keen on directions and can tell if we are going East, North, South or West, or a combination of any two. Geography is a hobby of his. Two of the biggest hobbies of his are making movie posters and adding to his songbook. We have movie posters all over our walls with dates and pictures on them. You would think we lived at the movie theater! And, he copies all of the songs that he likes out of our church songbooks either on my parent's copier, or by having someone (like me or Bob or one of his grandparents) be his scribe (he says we are better at writing than he is). He also loves to create his own music, prompting us to put him in a class doing just that this summer!

Alexander loves to read and is really good at it! I think that he will love school! As much as I dread him starting, I think he will be really happy. Preschool was so good for him. He was sooo shy and it really helped to bring him out of his shell. We didnt want him to go to school last year even though he was 5 when school started. I didnt feel that he was emotionally ready even though academically he was. His teachers suggested giving him another preschool year and everyone I have talked to who have done this have all said it was a great decision. We just wanted to him to mature another year so he could be a leader and not a follower. This was such a good, wise decision for us! He definitely matured and found so much confidence! I just love my little boy so much! I helps me with the baby a lot- and I appreciate it so much! Andrew loves him to death and gets so excited when he sees him. I think the feeling is mutual.

Right now Alexander is excited about the new pool he got for his birthday from his Mammaw and Pappaw Wilson. We set it up and filled it with water this evening. He couldn't stand to be out of it any longer so I let him and Maggie get in when the water was pretty near where it was supposed to be to be full. I think the water was pretty cold because they were shivering and had goose bumps but they STILL wouldnt get out of the water! Maggie threw a huge fit when I made her get out.

Yes, her bathing suit is on backwards. Yes, she is three.

We had a Sponge Bob themed party for Alexander's birthday today. Alexander had a great time with his buddies. We have the best friends. I am so grateful for them. It was a perfect, sunny and hot day for water games, which is what we had planned. We did squirt guns and water balloons and had a wet sponge toss which turned crazy and had me and some of the other parents squeezing water on the kids and the kids doing it to us, too! Man, I was hot so it felt good! We also had a relay with felt Krabby Patties. I made all these felt krabby patties. One side of the burger was pink (the rare side) and one side was brown (the done side). I put wax paper on the grill which wasnt actually fired up (when we started doing this Maggie asked if she was going to get burned) and put the pink side up. The child had to use the spatula to flip the burgers over to the brown side, come over to the prep table and get a bun, put the burger on the bun, place cheese on it, lettuce and tomato and then pretend to eat it!

We also had a Sponge Bob pinata and lots of Sponge Bob cupcakes, ice cream cones and Krusty Krab Pizza (whole wheat bagels with spaghetti sauce and mozza cheese), fruit and plankton sticks (carrot sticks), Sponge Bob Cheese-its and Typhoon Blue punch (Hawaiian Punch and gingerale). I saw that Edible Arrangements had a Sponge Bob arrangement for $59. I thought,'That's cute but there is no way I am paying $60 for some fruit,' so Shawna and I decided we could do that ourselves much cheaper! I think that it turned out way cute and the pail only cost a dollar on sale at Walmart! I just drew Sponge Bob's face on it.

Alexander, I love you! I'm so glad and grateful you're my boy ("the first baby" as he calls himself) and congrats on turning 6! MWAH!

Blowing out the candles!

First fruit of the garden

I've picked my first squash this year and it is so rewarding! Actually seeing plants produce food is just so exciting! These plants are incredible at what they do. My corn is knee-high by the fourth of July and the tomatoes are coming on. The peppers are getting big, the radishes that Alexander brought home from school are about ready and everything is looking good. Hope it continues and we can get some good canning in this year.
Alexander got to pose with our first squash picked fresh from the garden. This particular one was promptly diced up and given to our Iguana, who thought he had died and gone to heaven!

For everyone who knows that all three of my dear children had the pukes, with just one having the runs as well, they are getting much, much better and were running around tonight like normal. Thank goodness! Poor little things! I have just been nursing Andrew as that is the best food for a baby to digest when they have sick tummies. By today he needed more so I started to feed him. The first feeding went right through him and his diaper, clothes, and high chair. The second seems to be doing much better. :-) The other two dont have much of an appetite. I hear this is normal with this little nuisance of a bug.

Happy birthday to my Aunt Barbara! Niece Kayleigh-yeah she's 12!! Lori Reid, and whoever else's birthday it is today! Hope it was great!

Judy Reunion

My grandfather's (Pappaw Judy) reunion was Saturday! We had a great time at my great Uncle Gail's cabin and pavilion in Smith Creek, WV. It did rain a little bit but not enough to ruin the activities. We still had the egg toss and other activities. One thing about those Judys: they like to laugh and always have a good time together!

I am sad to say that I didnt get a lot of pictures taken but here are some of the ones I did!

Pappaw Judy and our family present

Pappaw his the oldest living of his siblings.



The siblings and their spouses

Audrey and Maggie at Jennie's. Audrey was showing Audrey her portable playstation.

On another note, if you are interested in BPA and phthalate free products for you or your babies, check out this website, www.safemama.com. On the left hand side, there are "cheatsheets" for toxin-free products. The website itself is just such a wealth of information. You can read about why certain plastics are bad for you and what happens in the body years down the road when exposure is high. In fact, you can read about all sorts of things. If you want to keep your kids safer from environmental toxins, it's a great website.