Backpeddling...

I am home all alone right now!

This really never happens. I feel a little giddy with excitement about it!

We have had sickness in our house all week long, but today everyone felt good enough (minus the hacking coughs) to head to church and so I get to be here all by myself, since I did not feel like hacking up organs throughout the service.

I figure I better put my time to good use, so what better way than to finally, finally update some of our summer events on the blog before fall gets any farther underway.

Two events stand out most prominently....my 10 day getaway to Marco Island, FL with the girls, and Evie swimming in the county and state meets at Georgia Tech.

Florida...

We decided not to do our summer trek up to MN this year for a variety of reasons and so we really had a very relaxed, low-key summer for the most part. Then, about mid-July I started feeling restless to just get out of the rat race of suburbia (even though I wasn't even participating in it at the moment.) I just wanted to be where noone could find me and bother me (not that anyone specifically was bothering me...it was just a sensation I had!)

I asked CJ what he thought about just jumping in the car and heading to Marco Island (his parents have a condo there). He was in the middle of a big deal with work and couldn't get away, but encouraged me to just go with the girls.

I knew I could handle it, as I had made the 10 hr drive alone with the girls last Christmas when we went down there without CJ, and it went so smoothly. But I thought a guest might be fun, too, so I emailed my dear lifelong friend Jill, who is also my Evie Jill's name sake and fairy godmother, and randomly asked her if she could head to FL in about 2 weeks...after a couple email exchanges her ticket was booked and the plan was on!

I wanted to time it perfectly to reach Fort Myers, where she was landing, at just the right time, so we left at 6am in the morning. I am proud to say I am a master packer of a large family now, and with Marco being so casual and beachy (no makeup, no bra, no blowdryer, no dress up, etc) I packed all 5 of us in one rectangluar laundry hamper!

Yes, I am that good.

Anyway, it is noteworthy to point out how perfectly timed it was....we got to Fort Myers about nine hours later. Parked the car and walked in. As we were coming down the escalator into baggage, Jill was walking into baggage from her flight!! We couldn't believe it...we couldn't have timed it more perfectly! Jill and I always were a good team! :)

So she stayed with us for the first 6 days and we had a wonderful time relaxing on the beach and at the pool. Then the girls and I had an extra 4 days after she left before we decided to head home. Daddy missed us, and Sarah literally called him 20 times a day. It was so cute.

There was one incident with a gecko that snuck into the house one morning when Jill and Evie came back from their run. I am NOT a gecko person and we were all freaked and squealing like little girls standing on top of furniture. It took us an hour to problem solve getting the nasty thing captured, during which time I started to bond with our torture victim as we surely scared it out of its mind and ultimately, accidently injured him during his capture (we have left that little detail out with the little girls-we wiped up the blood smear and "released" him into a bush to go back to his family) The whole thing was ridiculous comedy and Jill and I laughed so hard at the obsurdity of the situation by the end that tears were rolling down our cheeks!

You had to be there to fully appreciate the humor. Just take my word for it.

I've never been an ocean swimming kind of girl. I much prefer basking in the glory of God's marvelous creation from the comfort of the sand and a beach chair. Plus, we are usually down there in the winter and the water is COLD!

But this was summer in Florida, and the ocean was like bath water! It was so awesome, we got in and floated and swam around. The girls loved it and so did I. I continually commented that I could not believe we had lived in GA for 12 years and had never once considered coming to Florida in the summertime because of the folklore that Florida is "too hot" in the summer. Well, let me tell you, it is a best kept secret that it is marvelous down there in the summer and I will be back every summer from now on!

Here are a few pics...



















Swimming...

My girl Evie Jill...we continue to be so proud of her God-given swimming talents! She swam for our n'hood summer swim league this summer and then participated in the county swim meet at GA tech, where she placed 2nd in the county in the two events she swam (50 free and 100 IM). It was so exciting to be at the beautiful facilities at GA Tech where the '96 summer olympic games were held. In one of her neck and neck events, I became "one of those moms" screaming and cheering like a banshee from the stands!

Then with her year round swim league, she qualified in 3 events for the state meet later in the summer, also held at GA tech. That also was an amazing experience and she placed in the top 15 out of 60+ swimmers for each of her events that she swam. She was also selected to swim in two relay team events which was great.

We wanted to make the state meet special for her, and since it was an all weekend event, CJ and I took her to a hotel downtown overnight and also toured the World of Coke with her.

My mom and Aunt Genny had come into town and came down to the aquatics center for one of her events and then took the other 3 girls on an adventure of their own for the next day.

We are looking forward to this coming year of more great swimming and hopefully qualifying for the short course state meet which is being held in Savannah, GA at the end of Feb. I haven't been to Savannah since I was pregnant with Evie and really hope we will have an opportunity to take her there again! Swim, Evie, Swim! :)

Here are some pics from the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center...

vacant spaces

Can you believe this?? This girl has lost 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on bottom (with another one on top still loose) in about the last month and a half! They get a little loose and she works and works them until they are out.

She is pulling them out too fast for the others to come in, so now there are just wide open spaces. At least one of the front teeth has come in so we know they will eventually emerge. I told her to STOP pulling them out now or she will not be able to eat!

Really Special Agents

My friend, Jody, posted the following to me on facebook regarding my 1st grader, Sarah Rosy's playdate today with her son Connor. They have been friends since babyhood. It is so cute and so captures Sarah's personality and the free-spirited, unencumbered and imaginative minds of six year olds, I asked her if I could share it on my blog.

(Connor and Sarah, age 3)


(Connor and Sarah, age 5)


Really Special Agents (by Jody)

Today, I transported two secret agents in the backseat of my SUV. I am not sure if there was even a prior agreement deciding what they would play and how it might be cast….it just spontaneously began in the 10 minute drive home from noon carpool.

Immediately folders were turned into spy computers and backpacks became bulletproof vests. They were being delivered to the destination of their pet shop, a “front” for their spy headquarters. The conversation reached a heightened level of drama as they wondered what messages they would receive from emails regarding their “super dogs.”

At one point, special agent, Rosie, announced that she would care for all of the girl animals at the pet shop, “because, I speak girl,” she explained. Special agent, Connor, would care for all the boy animals…because, yes, you guessed it, “he speaks boy.” Well, so glad THAT was clear.

They generously allowed me to enter the game when they dubbed me “taxi driver.” Upon our return home, while making sandwiches, my role did evolve into “maid”…hmmm…funny how that worked.

Anyway, they prohibited me from entering the house until they could announce that “the coast was clear.” So I waited patiently in the garage, my arms laden with bags of things to put away and a folder of grown up items requiring my attention. As I stood there with these responsibilities in hand I could only be thankful that in the midst of my busy, adult life I had the chance to take part in the suspended world of two six year olds. Unfortunately for me, the coast was finally clear and off they ran… and back into my adult life, I went.

Thanks, Jody! :)

First Day of School!

My girlies started school yesterday! It may seem early for you northerners, but down here, public started last week, so we actually got an extra week of summer compared to most down here.

I was sad to see summer go, and will post some catch up of our summer fun, but wanted to get the school pics up in real time, rather than in a couple months like my M.O. has been lately.

1st, 3rd, and 5th grades commenced yesterday, with Gracie Goo still home one more year with me.

Noteworthy was the sad fact that not one of my sweet school girls would hold my hand this year walking in to school!! Can you believe it?? I can't! I thought Sarah would be a sure thing, so I went for her hand first, but was informed that she was a FIRST GRADER MOM, duh, and did not need to be holding her mommy's hand.

Mady, who probably would have happily held my hand, took her cue from Sarah and declined my offer, and Evie, well, lets just say I would have been disowned as a cool mom if I had tried to lovingly grasp that 5th grader's hand.

Sigh.

THAT was enough to bring a little tear to my eye. Oh well, I still have my lovable baby Goo who is more than happy to not only hold my hand, but have me carry her around on my hip...at what point will that look awkward??

Everyone was thrilled with their first day and ready to head out again this morning. The Goo and I headed to Target to get her some school supplies, as I have realized over the summer that my precious almost 4 1/2 year old is a little behind on some basic skills. So we are going to do a loose pre-k homeschooling this year. She is totally on board and very excited about "doing school" at home.

Enjoy the pics of my growing up little ladies!

Big Time Behind

No, I am not talking large buttocks here, I am talking about my blog!! I am sooo behind, I am paralyzed to begin!

Today was the first day of school and I haven't even caught up blogging about our excellent summer yet!

Wanted to give a shout out to my stalker, Roomie---Hey girl! :) Now get back to work! :)

So I may throw up a first day of school post, and then backtrack to some summer fun.

Now, speaking of behinds...I am being beckoned to go wipe one...when does this end???

God Bless America

We had a very nice 4th of July.

CJ's niece and nephew from Arkansas were in town staying with his parents for the week, and his oldest brother came in for the weekend. We went to Stone Mountain with them on Weds. and had a great time trying out the new Sky Hike ropes course. I am proud to say that Evie and I kept up with the two teenagers and managed the 12ft, 24ft and 40ft courses! And Mady, who is deathly afraid of heights, managed the 12ft course and climbing and repelling a rock wall...very proud of her!

We hiked up the mountain, and then road the tram down. I feel like I conquered some major heights fears that day. Unfortunatley, I didn't bring my camera. All day I sized up the many shots I would have taken. Bummer. We will go back though, because Sarah wasn't allowed to do any of the ropes courses because of her cast, so we promised we'd go back.

We also spent a couple days at gma and gpa's awesome n'hood pool and also their backyard pool with the cousins. My little Goo has finally learned to swim without floaties! I am so proud of her and amazed that all four of my children are swimmers now!













Cousin Will is a handsome, cool, kind, 14 year old who was exceedingly tolerant of his built in fan club down here. Sarah, especially, was just smitten with him and stuck to him like glue.

Cousin Anna, super sweet at 13, and Evie had fun together. Evie stayed one night over at gma's with her, and the teens and 10 yo talked Gpa into taking them to the mall where Evie got introduced to teen stores like Aeropostle, where she scored 4 t-shirts, and to the shoe store where her and Anna got very cool, matching, navy converse sneakers.

We had gorgeous weather and awesome fireworks which we could see directly above us right from their front lawn. It was a good weekend!

All I want for Chrithmath...

First one...


Then the other...