Morning

It is 5:24 am and I have been awake for sometime now. Foster, our dog, got into something yesterday and has been throwing up since 3:30am. We went over to our neighbor's yesterday afternoon to play on their huge blow-up water slide thingy. Alice just got it at Target and invited us over to join in the fun. Well, while over there, Foster was seen chewing and chewing, but I never could tell on what. Still can't, but his tummy doesn't like it. So I am up with him.

Since it is nearly dawn, I have on my walking shoes and we are going out for a walk. I don't like the feel of my post baby body and need to do something about it. It's hard walking during the day with all three kids. Becca doesn't mind the Baby Bjorn but I think it must get uncomfortable. Anyway, I am trying to walk in the morning around 6am before everyone is up. I like the quiet and I am getting the exercise I need. Just didn't think I'd start this early today.

My camera battery died a week ago so I haven't been able to get pictures off it. I have some great ones of the last day of school, the kids playing at Maymount...I will post them and stories later.

Jack's End of Year Party

Saturday we went to a Birthday party/End of the Year bash at the home of Jack's buddy Brennan. There was pony riding, a moon bounce, and lots of room for running and playing. All the families were invited and we had a great time.

Here is Jack, Wyatt, and Scarlett playing... On the other side of their home was the James River. The views were amazing to say the least.
Jack, Wyatt, and Harper.
Molly loved riding the pony. Jack wanted nothing to do with it. She seemed relaxed and natural on it.

Jack's teachers, Miss Elizabeth and Miss Holly, brought the children's Father's Day gifts to hand out. The children decorated hats for their fathers. The dads were great and wore the hats all night long. This is a picture of some of them! (scott is the one in orange)
Jack has had a good year. He is apprehensive in new situations so leaving me to go to school was tough on him. But, he also had lots of changes this year. I potty trained him 4 days before starting school. He went from being my baby to being a big brother and middle child. I do think he has done well with it all. I could not have asked for better teachers than Elizabeth and Holly. They were patient when he cried (which was most mornings), they spoiled him rotten with love & attention, and took the time to see the sweet funny guy that he is. I sure hope Becca gets them in 2 years!

Molly at school

Molly's school year is winding down. Their last day is the 23rd. While I am excited she'll be in Jk at St. Catherine's in the fall, I am sad at the idea of her leaving her preschool. She has learned so much in the 2 years there, made great friends, and has been truly loved by the teachers. I got to go to her class last week for a special Art show/Mother's Day activity. Molly's favorite thing to do in school is to paint or going to the creation center where the children use random items to create art work. She has come home with some beauties. I love that her teacher, Mrs. Taylor, has fostered Molly's love of art.

Molly at the clay table.
With Mrs. Weeks.
Molly LOVES her teacher!!
Molly's group of friends...

Becca is sitting!

Look who is starting to sit up on her own!! She is changing so much all the sudden. She loves to stick her tongue out and does it a lot when she smiles. I think it's super cute and luckily got a few pictures of her doing it. Becca is also laughing. Full belly laughs. She laughs all the time at us. Molly and Jack love doing silly things to make her laugh at them. Then I laugh because the biggies are being silly and then Becca laughs because I'm laughing...you get the idea. It's been lots of fun in our house lately.

Isn't it cute?

The Peaks and Mother's Day

The weekend of Mother's Day, my Dana wanted to have a family gathering at the Peaks of Otter. Since getting to the Peaks from Richmond isn't easy, I drove to Roanoke Friday after picking the biggies up from school.(what Scott and I call Molly and Jack~we also call Molly "Biggie Big, Jack "Biggie Medium", and Becca "Biggie Smalls" just in case you wanted to know...) We had an uneventful ride to the Noke. Molly and Jack LOVE the ride to Nana & PapPap's because it means they can watch a movie in the car. We never turn the DVD player on unless we are going there. It's a huge treat.

We had a great visit Friday night. Dana had been in Lynchburg for the day and brought Jordan back with her. The cousins had a great time playing and stayed up very, very late!! We drove up to the Peaks early afternoon and got a great place for a picnic. The children played, adults visited and the food was awesome.

Aunt Becky took this one of me a Becca. I can't tell who she looks like in this picture.
Here are a few of the drive. Yes, I took these while driving!! I forgot how much I missed the sky line at home. Jack said something cute on the ride to Dad and Dana's. Jack: "Look mommy at those big mountains. They are bigger than a hill. Mommy those mountains are blue mountains mommy!" I loved that he figured why they are named the Blue Ridge Mountains. Maybe a 3 year old way back when was responsible for naming them...


We had a great time and I didn't want to leave everyone. I never get enough time to visit with my family and I wish I lived closer. But we left around 7 pm and it was the hardest drive for me. I was so tired that I got a cup if Mickey D's coffee in Bedford and Farmville. (which is not half bad!) Molly and Jack sacked out before we left Bedford. Yep, I took these while driving too. Aren't they cute??!!

Sunday morning was lots of fun. Molly and Jack get so excited about holidays, birthdays, a new season, you name it. Becca, who was also excited it was Mother's Day, got up at 5 am. :)By the time I got her settled back down, they rest of the crew woke up. They made me a big breakfast, gave me a new plant for my garden, and gave me lots of cards and things that they made for the occasion. It was great. I got to take a l-o-n-g nap and they picked up my favorite Chinese take out for dinner. All in all, a great day.

Thank You Stan & Billie Lee!!

Miss Rebecca received a package from Nevada last week from her Great Uncle Stan and her Great Aunt Billie Lee. I knew what it was and couldn't wait to open the box. Molly and Jack both got one and it has become the focal point in their rooms. Their quilts are beautiful and wonderfully made. The woman (I presume) is a true artist! Thank you for the quilt! I am hanging it up in her room tomorrow!

Here is Becca with her's looking happy despite the fact her ears are hurting today. Molly's....
Jack's.....
PS to Stan and Billie Lee: a real thank you note to come.

Bad Blogger

I have been a bad blogger. I will give you my long list of excuses.

1. I've been super tired.
2. I've had tons of laundry to do.
3. Scott had a birthday
4. Boo got sick
5. I had lots of laundry to do.
6. I had a girl's night out on Wednesday that was super fun!
7. Had to pack for the River.
8. Which meant lots of laundry.
9. Grey's Anatomy is back on Thursday night.
10. I was tired and had laundry to do.

GN. (emily's way of saying good night)

Fishing Bay

Our friend Paul has a river house in his family. Since no one was using it, he invited us, the Hubards, and the Kinerary's to come down for the weekend. Paul was dying to take the boys out on his sailboat and we girls were just happy to get out of Richmond for the weekend. There were 8 adults and 9 children under the age of 4! Believe it or not, it was a relaxing and awesome weekend! The children were well behaved and went to bed early and allowed the adults some alone time. We grilled out, picked crabs, and had great conversations. It was the perfect weekend. Thanks Paul and Alison!!!!!

Our family didn't go down until Saturday because Becca had a "wicked" double ear infection as Dr. Wiley put it. Thursday night, Becca and I got no sleep. She cried all night.

Here is my little man Jack ready to play!
Becca and Taylor were not to sure of the river.
Jack hanging out with me. You can't see it but he has about 20 caterpillars in his bucket. At one time, he let 5-6 crawl all over him. It was all I could do to not be freaked out! :)
Molly and Sam went out on the sailboat with the boys and Jack had to stay behind. We had fun playing together.
Chasing the ball. The water was shallow so we kicked to ball out into the water and took turns running after it. (a game he made up)

Molly, Jack, and Sam cleaning up before dinner. Sunday on the beach area. Molly and Mattie.
Jack and Sam.
Paul pulled this boat out and let the kids go for rides. Jack was not sure about it at first, there were many tears. Knox and Scott took Molly, Jack and Sam for a long ride.

We had such a great weekend. Scott and I have decided we need to make our dream of owning a river house a reality. We will see... maybe one day!

Boo in the saucer

I went up in the attic and got the saucer out for Becca Boo. You can see that it is still wet from washing it!!! She had fun in it for about 10 minutes and was ready to get out.
I love this one...

Happy Birthday Scott!

I think Scott had a good birthday. It's a shame the stress of work is weighing on him right now. However he was feeling about turning 34, we were excited about it. After school, Molly, Jack and I decorated the dining room with balloons, streamers, and posters made by the kids. We made cupcakes and had LOTS of fun frosting them. We made a last minute race to Target to get a few gifts to wrap because our real gift couldn't come on his birthday. TO MUCH RAIN!!! I got him 3 beautiful 6-7 foot dogwood trees to plant in our back yard. (one for each child) I have someone planting them for me and he needed to do a few things to the ground to help drainage before the trees could be planted. Hopefully they can be planted this week!

Here are 2 pictures from the day. This one is not good of Jack...
Better of Jack, not good of Scott...