Driving Lessons

Uh-oh! I fear that this is just the beginning...

Our Cubbies

Two verses down:

"God is Love."
"God created the Heavens and the Earth"

Many more to go...

Preschool

Two and half years ago, Heather started keeping these two boys.

A year and half later, she added one more to the bunch.

Friday the boys leave the only non-family member who has ever kept them and start "big boy school" for the first time on Monday morning. It's exciting and scary all at the same time.

All three boys will be in separate classes...the three who have spent no more than a day apart here and there when sickness kept one or two home with Nana or Granny Meg.

It's so hard for me to imagine them walking into different classrooms when I am so used to seeing them walk up the stairs to Heather's house...together.

It's even harder for me to find the words to thank her for all that she has poured into our children.

All the fuss

Today I went to CNN.com's "Latest News" and started going down the list of recent newsworthy events.
# 2 and 3 of the list of 20 or so things were related to Obama's address to students today.

A couple of quotes caught my attention:

In the past week, news of Obama's speech had upset some parents.
"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH last week, before the text of the speech was released.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer accused Obama last week of trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

I do not understand all the fuss BEFORE anyone even heard the speech (or read it). I think that this sort of flippant attitude and disrespect for our country's President is ridiculous and embarrassing.

The speech turned out to be a call to study hard, do well in school, and do your best...certainly things that Obama has done...as painful as that may be for some to admit.

Weekends with Grandparents

Growing up my brother and I would often spend the weekend with our grandparents. David and I would eat our favorite foods, go for drives (my granddad let us driving under age), eat junk and stay up late. Inevitable we would fight and my grandmother would offer to pay us if we would be quiet! I am so glad to have those memories of weekend trips to the mountains where David and I would go down sliding rock together. I'd almost pass out from the cold water but my brother would manage to keep us both afloat and then we would do it all over again.

Thankfully we live close enough to all of our family that our boys can have close relationships with their grandparents. They say there is nothing like a mother's love, but I think a grandmother's love may be the exception.

Two weekends ago, Ashley, the boys and me all went to Goose Creek to spend the weekend with my Granny Meg and Pop! We visited the aquarium, ate out and went swimming in the community pool. The boys got to stay up late, watch movies and play with new toys that my mom had picked up for them. My mom and I even went shopping while the boys napped and it was so nice to get out together; we had not done that in a long time.

Wyatt loves Honey.

Granny Meg and Pop pose outside the aquarium with all the boys (facing the sun).

We had just enough time to do laundry and pack our bags again before we headed off for another fun weekend, this time with Ashley's parents. Our party of 7 checked in at the Yacht Cove Resort (after a minor hiccup with our online reservations that added an hour to check in) Friday night around 8:00 PM and then headed out to dinner. (Note: Wyatt goes to bed at 8:00!) It was a late for us all, but the boys did very well. Saturday we woke up to a gorgeous day; Will and Ashley played golf while Sandra and I took the boys to the beach. They love all things dirty. The boys made sand angels and had a ball playing in the water and looking for shells. I am still getting sand out of their ears.

Sunday and Monday were not as sunny, but we still had a wonderful time together shopping and eating (I think I gained 5 pounds). It was such a blast and was it very hard to come back to the real world of work (getting there on time), laundry, cooking dinner and bedtimes.

We are so lucky to have such involved parents who love our children as much as we do.

Shopping with the boys...Wyatt had had enough at this point.

Sleeping beauty!Nana and the boys!This is a 50 year old turtle. Did you know that these turtles live to be 110+ years old and continue to grow throughout their lives???
Lovebirds...after all the years. :)