Monthly Archives: July 2013

A Sunny Day!

I has been an incredibly rainy summer here in Charlotte. I think that it has rained 25 of the last 30 days. I feel like we have been inside all summer long. The only good thing about the rain is that it has kept the temperature down. We haven’t had too many of the typical 90 + degree days like we usually have in June through September. I guess if we weren’t complaining about the rain we would be complaining about the temperature. I think I would rather have rain than oppressive heat.

After a month of rain, it was finally a beautiful day yesterday. We were pool bound! We arrived at the pool around 10:00am to find it filling up fast full of people. Everyone had the same idea. Sidney met us there with Jesse and Robin not long after. In order to make my day a little easier I put Miller in child watch for the first hour and a half. It is usually difficult to keep up with the older two while chasing Miller around. Having him in child watch gave me a chance to play with Wilson and Faith in the deep pool. I need all of my arms to play with both of them. Wilson had just passed the swim test a few days before which meant that he could swim in the shallow end without an adult. He isn’t confident enough to stay there without me, but he could do it if he wanted to. He actually likes to swim in this little nook near the kiddie pool that has two ladders and two sides for him to jump and swim over and back.

Here is his picture after passing the yellow necklace swim test….

We ended up staying at the pool for four hours. A record! They have a ten minute adult swim every hour. This means that we all get out, go have a snack, and rest up for the next fifty minutes. It is really nice to have a forced break every hour. The kids had a great time, as usual. It was very refreshing to finally be outside and get some fresh air. We are supposed to have a few sunny days before the rain starts up again.

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Farewell to the Bishop Family

We have had a couple of fun, loud, and very enjoyable days this past weekend. The Bishop family came to stay with us for two full days and nights before the flew off to India on Tuesday morning. It was great! I must admit that when Josh and Rachel said that they were going to be spending three nights and two days at our house, I was a little nervous. Four adults and five kids can typically get a little overwhelming. I was pleasantly surprised, and not so surprised, that we all had a great time together with very little complications. I think that when two families coexist that are both easy going, and have kids that really get along, the result is enjoyable.

The fun began when we went to Josh and Rachel’s going away party on Saturday night. Their friends all got together to say “Good bye” to them and wish them well on their venture to India. We left after a few hours, but they stayed until much later. We are party-poopers and typically tired.

Sunday morning we all woke up when the five kids woke up. Instinctively, kids seem to sense when another child is awake and quickly begin to trickle in only a few minutes apart. The couch quickly filled with children and the cartoon watching marathon began. We were off to church by 9:00am to have breakfast and worship. The great thing about our church is that they feed us breakfast each Sunday. One less thing for me to worry about.

The next few days were filled with kids playing, Rachel packing, kids watching movies, and adults laughing and talking. It was great! We really had so much fun together. I feel so lucky to have spent so much quality time with Rachel before she left.

The kids all love each other too.  Everyone love “Baby Miller”. The first day Miller began to call Ava by her name.  His vocabulary is beginning to amaze me!  Aren’t they cute!

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Peyton and Wilson enjoyed their time together too. Yesterday they had a conversation that went like this:

Peyton: “Wilson, your my best friend.”

Wilson: “Your my best friend.”

Peyton: “I will send you an email.” LOL

Here are the best buds.  Wilson has already asked me to set up a playdate for him and Peyton next summer.

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The kids even had a movie night.  Tom was in charge that night.  The kids ate endless bags of popcorn, cozied up on the floor together, and watched two full movies.  Rachel and I “packed” during this time. (that is code for talked and drank wine downstairs)  Thanks Tom!

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Here is me, Rachel and Faith right before they got in the car.

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Mumbai, India just got a little bit better.  I can’t wait to hear all of their stories and hopefully go to see them this January.  How great would that be?!?!?!

Kid Swap

Now that Bobby and Sidney live here in town, and live very close to us, we have quite the kid swap going on these days. They wanted to go out on Friday night so we watched their kids for them. The five children all play so well together that it really isn’t that difficult to watch them all. The older four played downstairs almost the whole time. It was so surprisingly easy that Tom and I were able to sit on the porch, have a glass of wine, and chat while Miller played in the sand table. When it was time for our kids to go to bed I drove Robin and Jesse home and hung out there for a few hours.

The next night we had a going away party for the Bishops so the Youngs watched our kids. When they are at Sidney’s house the older four just run upstairs to play while Miller hangs out with the adults. Our kids played at their house and then Sidney drove them home, put them to bed, and waited for us. How great, right!?

It has been so nice to have them in town. We went to their house for a playdate the other day and half way through Miller wanted to go to bed. I took Miller home, left the older two with Sidney, and got a short nap in myself. Fabulous!

Robing and Wilson – dual Spidermans

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Then Sidney and Miller joined the game of Mouse Trap (remember that one?)

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Frieda’s Birthday Party

I know I have said this before, but I will say it again, “We have so many great friends here in Charlotte!”. Most of them are from church. The Nance family is one of them. Stephanie and Jon are a fun couple that have two young daughters and Stephanie is expecting another baby in October. Her kids are a little bit closer than mine, but not much. Now that I see Stephanie pregnant again with two young ones already, I can see what I looked like from another perspective. I am sure people looked at me and thought, “Wow, I can’t believe she is pregnant again….and so soon.” When you are the one having the babies it doesn’t seem so crazy.

Frieda Nance turned three this past week.  We all went over to her house to celebrate by eating pizza and cake.  Frieda was so excited to show everyone her cake.  She even told us that it was an “almond cake”.  I had forgotten how highly verbal little girls are, even at that age.

Here some of the kids are eating pizza:  Miller, Faith, Wilson, Addi Warren, Frieda, and her cousin.  Corrin and Hudson TenBroeck were there also.

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After pizza and cake, Frieda opened her presents.  Her big present was the Family Dream House.  Faith helped her set it up.  Even with the two and a half year age difference the two girls enjoy playing together.  They see each other each week at church.

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Faith is an artist

Faith has always loved to draw. She could hold a pencil properly when she was barely two. (I hear that is a girl thing). Wilson doesn’t hold it right and he is almost four.  I don’t really think that I taught her how to draw people or things. I think that she just did it on her own.

Some of her first pieces of art were good, but unfortunately they were not on paper. She was drawing them on the walls. At first I scolded her, but then I was so impressed by these pictures that I left them right were they were. I enjoy seeing them. Tom keeps asking if I want to paint over them and I keep saying no.

Thankfully she has moved on to paper.

Here is one of her first drawings of people.  I found this one on her bedroom wall and behind the chair.  It is pretty good for a 3 1/2 year old.

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This one was drawn on the wall in the hallway.  She said it was a person standing on her head….hence the feet in the air….not antennae.

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Over the past month she has moved on to drawing houses, trees, a swing set with a latter, and a sun.  Thankfully, on paper.

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She came out of her room and showed me this animal that she drew.  I have no idea where she learned to do this!  I guess she just has a knack for it.  We knew that she was artistic and that is part of the reason that we felt that Covenant Day was a good place for her next year.  They strongly support the arts.  I asked her what it was and she said “a dinosaur”.

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Gabriel and Shepherd’s birthday

It seems that most of my friends have all of their babies in the same month of different years.  I had my three in October/November, Julia had her two in August, Vicki had three in April, and Jacqueline had her boys in June.  I guess that is just the way fertility works…sometimes.

Gabriel’ birthday is June 30 and Shepherd’s is June 14 (I think).  After coordinating everyone’s schedule, Doug and Jacqueline threw them a party on July 7th.  :)  Gabriel turned 4 and Shepherd turned 2.  Shepherd has been walking around for weeks holding up one finger on each hand and saying, “Two, two”.  No matter how old a child is, they are always so proud to be one year older. (I guess that stops at 21.)

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In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of the same faces in most of my posts – my parents, Lisa and her kids, and the Youngs. (However, somehow Lisa’s family has been eluding photographs).  Now that the Youngs live here in town, they have become a family favorite of ours and Doug’s family.  Here are Robin, Miller, Faith, mom, Shepherd,  Gabriel, Wilson and Jesse all eating cake.

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The party was help at Squirrel Lake Park in Matthews. It is a great playground with a lake and a giant sandbox.  It was a hot and humid day, but thankfully Jacqueline had reserved the shelter and it even rained a little to cool everything off.  We were at the party from 2:00 – 5:00.  No one wants to leave a party when they are at a playground and surrounded by friends.

 

Patty’s house at Lake Norman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a lot of great friends in Charlotte, but Patty Wunsch Smith is one of my sweetest and best friends.  Patty and I met in graduate school at Queens.  She, Kristee and I used to hang out together a lot.  Patty and I, however, have never lost tough.  We used to see each other more often, but we still get together at least a few times a year.  She got married two years ago and moved even further up north to Lake Norman….which means she is now about 45 minutes away.  This doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you have three kids and don’t like driving far, it is.

 Today I took the kids up to see Patty at her house on the lake.  We started the day by feeding Patty’s two favorite ducks, Fred and Ethel.  Faith even fed one of them out of her hand.

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The main item on the agenda was the boat ride.  The kids were very excited to go on their first boat ride.  The weather was pretty nasty, but we found a little window of opportunity to get on the lake.  One of the best things about Patty is that she is soooo hospitable and sweet.  The kids loved her.  Miller even sat on her lap while I was standing right there.  That never happens.

Thankfully, she even had a swing set in her backyard.  Here is a perfect picture of Faith, Wilson and Miller.  It captures all of their personalities….

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Here we are getting ready to take off in the boat.  Patty’s son, Michael, drove the boat for us.  He went pretty slow at first so that the kids could get used to it, but it wasn’t too long before Wilson kept telling him, “Go faster!”…..and Miller fell asleep.

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We had such a fun day together.  The kids are already asking to go back again.  I am sure we will before the summer is over.