Monthly Archives: June 2014

Two Good Days

Summer has officially begun in the Dressler household. Everyone has finished school and I have finished working. Pools are beginning to open and the weather is already hot. Our first full day together was Tuesday. I honestly can’t even tell you what we did that day (and yes, it was only three days ago). I can, however, tell you what we did over the past two days because it was fun and meaningful. The entire day was not memorable but parts of it were and those are the parts that I really enjoyed.
Both days I took the kids to the YMCA for an hour or so, not to work out but to hang out and read a book by myself. Hey! Free childcare is free childcare!
One afternoon we went to Latta Park in Dilworth. This is a great playground with a small splash ground and is located in a beautiful neighborhood. There is also a sand volleyball court that doubles as a giant sand box. We met my friend, Erin, there and her two kids. The kids played for over two hours while I chatted with Erin. They left after two hours and we stayed another hour. I played in the water with Miller and climbed UP the curly tunnel slide with Wilson and faith. I enjoyed playing with them and watching them play. I realized that the evening is one of my favorite times of the day. The temperature is cooler and it is quieter and calmer. It was very relaxing at the playground and I really enjoyed the kids without being distracted or anxious for what we needed to do next. I just enjoyed the moment.
Yesterday we did the same sort of thing but at the Morrison YMCA pool. This is a new pool for us, it is further from home, but we really like it. There are three big slides for the older two kids and a giant graduated pool for Miller. All of us have really enjoyed going to this new pool. Amazingly, we spend three hours there yesterday. The kids would have stayed longer if I let them.
I don’t typically like to play in the deep pool with all three of them, but I truly enjoyed it yesterday. The kids swam back-and-forth to the wall while I held Miller. Once again, I was in the moment. I wasnt daydreaming about something else or mentally making a list of things I needed to do (like a usually do). I was only thinking about the kids and what we were doing at that moment. I don’t know why but I don’t experience that very often. I am always distracted by something. It happens the most when I am at home and I see the many things that need to be done around the house. I can’t keep focus. I have also realized that I sometimes look at the kids as work instead of someone to be enjoyed. I see them as someone to feed and clean up after instead of little people that I can relax and have fun with. I guess over the past two days I was able to separate myself from my “job” at home. I was actually able to leave my job at home and take the kids out for some fun with me. This is not to say that we don’t have fun and that I don’t laugh during the day even we when are grocery shopping, but to truly relax and enjoy life with the kids doesn’t happen everyday. Over the last two days it has happened and I hope and pray that I have many more days like these two over the next few months. Maybe I am finally learning that I don’t have to conquer the world in a day, but to relax and live in the moment.

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What to do….

Summer has officially begun in our house. I was very excited not to have to get up and make lunches everyday or be somewhere at a certain time. Those are good things, but now I have the dilemma of what to do with the kids all day 3-5 days a week. In the past few weeks we have gone to the pool four times and to the splash ground once. I have taken the kids to the YMCA three times- once to work out and twice to sit around and read a magazine. One morning the kids had some water squirting fun with some old windex bottles that I had rinsed out. Then Faith did my hair and nails. A nice variety of activities.
My goal is to do one fun thing outside of the house each day and then spend the rest of the day at the house.  While at the house, I want the kids to entertain themselves by either playing with their toys or going outside.  The only problem with playing outside is that it is very hot (90 degrees) and the mosquitoes are already in full force.   Unfortunately, hot, humid, and mosquitoes are just part of a North Carolina summer and it will be this way until October.

Most of the time, the kids don’t play with their toys.  They would rather dress up, jump on the couch cushions or pretend to be animals.  Funny, right?  We are having a garage sale in a few weeks and Tom and I are seriously discussing selling half of their toys.  They won’t even notice that they are gone.
Here is what the kids did yesterday….
First they built a huge pile of pillows and blankets on the living room floor. Then they jumped on them, pretended it was a ship and did gymnastics on them. Next I told them to clean up the pillows, but instead they threw them down the stairs. They began jumping off of the stairs and into the pillows. Here is wilson in action.

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Then they built a bridge out of the pillows and blankets…

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After that they went outside to play with two skate boards that I took out of our neighbors trash the night before. Skateboards have been on the “I want” list for a while. They had races down the driveway. One again, creative and free fun.  And yes, Miller spent most of the day without clothes on.  He calls it “naked baby.”

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And to top it all off, Wilson emptied every drawer in his room and put all of his clothes into a big pile.  He said it was a bed.  He and Miller pretended that they were a dad and a baby.  Wilson actually slept on his pile of clothes that night.  Unfortunately, I have yet to have him clean it up.

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Doug moves

We had Doug’s family over for dinner Wednesday night for their “last supper” in Charlotte. They moved to Ellicott City, Maryland yesterday morning. I was sad to see them go. Doug and I have always been very close. Of course things have changed a bit since we’ve both gotten married, but I still find comfort in having him right around the corner. I have also really enjoy the pleasure of getting to know his boys, Gabriel and Shepherd. They are sweet, smart and funny nephews and I am glad that I got to see them every Monday and Wednesday at my moms house. My kids have gotten to know Doug and Jacqueline as well.

Our families didn’t get together too often, but the kids saw each other all day, twice a week at Grandma’s house on”Grandma Day”. Over the years the kids have grown quite close and enjoy seeing each other. Faith, Wilson and Gabriel play very well together. I think over the last year or so Gabriel and faith played together often. As for miller and shepherd they were sweet little buddies. I would come over to the house and ask “Where are the little guys?”. I would look for them and find them together under a tree or in my moms bathroom shower playing without the water on. They would go find an adventure somewhere together. I am so glad that they had these years together. I hope that their bond is sealed because of the time spent together and that the relationships pick back up easily when they see each other again. My dad is already planning dates to pick up the boys and bring them here this summer. I think the move will be hardest on my parents, specifically my Dad. I am thankful that they are only moving seven hours away. Dad plans to meet them half way to pick up the boys and bring them to Charlotte for a long weekend.

So far the family has arrived safely in Maryland but it is looking like their furniture won’t be there until next week. I am sure they aren’t too happy about that! Doug starts his new job Monday at T.Rowe Price. God has truly blessed their move from the beginning. Jacqueline got into three great schools and chose Maryland. They sold their house in three days and Doug was offered three different jobs. It has been relatively “easy”. I am sure that moving a family is never easy but it seems that God has paved the way for them. I am sure that they will make friends easily and settle into their new home with excitement.

I have been blessed to have Doug and his family in Charlotte for so many years. I am excited for them and their new adventure.

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Fun, Busy Day

We had quite a lot of fun on Sunday. We started off the day by going to Doug’s church with his family and my parents. He has been going to Warehouse 242 for five years and they wanted to pray for him before he moved to Maryland this Thursday. Jacqueline got accepted to the PhD program at the University of Maryland. She will be studying English Literature. Doug accepted a job up there and starts work next Monday. We will be very sad to see them go. After church I thought it would be a good idea to get a picture of us all. Unfortunately all we had was a cell phone to take the picture….

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As usual, after every serious picture there is a silly picture….

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On Saturday, we bought Wilson a new bike hoping that it would inspire him to learn how to ride a two wheeler….it worked! He jumped right on it and rode off.   Now that he can ride a two wheeler, we can ride together on the Greenway at the base of our neighborhood.  In honor of Wilson’s new found skill, we packed a lunch and the kids rode their bikes down the Greenway with Tom.  I drove to meet them at the park with the lunch so that we could get home easier if needed.  Today he rode the two miles down the Greenway to the lake and back (four miles total). I was super impressed.  We played down at the lake, watched the geese, ate lunch and had some good, old fashioned family time.

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Here is Wilson on his new bike.  If he turns the right handle grip it revs up like a motorcycle….

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After bike riding we headed to the pool for an hour or so.  The outdoor pool is open only on the weekends right now, but will open up daily starting next week.  It is supposed to be in the high 80s this whole week.  After the pool we hit the playground for an hour to meet up with some friends from church and have some ice-cream.  We would have stayed longer except there was camping to be done!!

Believe it or not, the day is still not over!!  Tom set up the tent in the backyard for the kids to sleep in with him that night.  (I don’t sleep in tents.  My sleep is too precious to be disrupted up by sleeping outside on the hard ground).  We had a small campfire, ate outside, and watched the sun go down.  Living with a backyard that is so heavily wooded makes it easy for us to feel as if we are really camping.  We did a lot of fun things Sunday.  Tom said that he only gets one or two days a week to spend with the kids and he was going to squeeze in as many fun things as he could.  He succeeded!

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Charlotte Beer Festival

Last month Sidney alerted us that there was a Groupon for the Charlotte Beer Festival. Sidney’s idea was that we would go with her and Bobby and Doug and Jacqueline. It was a great idea! For $10 a person we could go on a triple date and drink many types of micro brew beer. My parents offered to watch our children and let then spend them night. Perfect!

The six of us rode uptown together to the EpiCenter, which is a three story outdoor mall with bars and restaurants. The beer festival was held outdoors on two of the floors. It was much more crowded than any of us anticipated. I guess now that we are all older and out of the “scene”, we forgot that young people flock to places that allow you to drink as much as you can in four hours. :).

There were over seventy different beers represented at the festival, one DJ and a band. We did try many of the beers but I doubt we got to them all. It was a beautiful day to be outside with friends.

Here are the six of us ( we don’t know the guy in red behind us…photo bomb)

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