First school experience

Thomas is at his school every morning this week for camp. His two best buddies are there so he is happy as can be. He runs into his class every morning and never even takes a moment to tell me goodbye. On Monday it was so sweet to see how the other boys were so excited to see him. I remember when Thomas was in his 2s class and some of the other children had obviously bonded, but I didn't feel like Thomas had made any strong friendships. No big deal, he was only two! But last year in his 3s class, he became best, best buddies with two other boys. They were the three musketeers of their class. Everytime they had a class project that asked a question about friends/classmates, each boy ALWAYS answered with the names of the other two. One of his buddies is not actually in his class this week, but they still get enough playtime on the playground and group activities, so they are just thrilled to see each other again.

But that's not the "first" experience I mentioned in the title. Parker will start in his 2s class next month and will go two mornings a week (Thomas will be going four mornings a week...and one of his two buddies will be in his class). To get him ready, I signed him up for a couple "camp" weeks this summer at his school. This week I signed him up for two mornings and this morning was the first. I didn't know what to expect. He always says he wants to go to school and he frequently wanted to stay in Thomas' class last year. BUT, I don't think he wants to do any of this without me or his brother. We can't even get him to stay in the church nursery anymore (unless Thomas stays with him). He just screams bloody murder until the nursery workers relent and send us a page to come get him.

I talked it up to him for a few days and told him how much fun he was going to have. Then this morning after we took Thomas to his class, I told Parker it was time to go to his. He quickly realized I was going to leave and he was not interested. I tried to reassure him, but he just latched on as tightly as he could manage. He wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my middle. He was like a little monkey. Then I peeled him off me and handed him to his teacher. He looked at me with a face that nearly brought me to tears and screamed like his world was ending. I didn't get a picture of it, but he looked a bit like this child (only older and not being held by a former president!)















I rushed out the room and listened to him wailing as I walked down the hall. I decided to sit and wait and it was not fun for me or anyone else walking down the hall.

He quieted for a moment and then started up again. The director came out of the office because she had been watching me (and listening). She thought he had stopped, but quickly realized he had not. She told me she'd go check and see if it was possible he wasn't going to be able to stay. I must have waited 10 minutes, but finally she came out and gave me the good news that he had calmed down. Whew. And then I had two hours to myself! :) No, :-D.

When I came to his class for pick-up, he was playing quietly with some other children at a table. As soon as he saw me, his face lit up with a big smile and he rushed over to me. I asked him if he had fun and he said, "Mommy, I want to go home now." We'll see how Thursday goes!

When I picked up Thomas he told me something about how he and his class walked by Parker's room and his teachers told him to tiptoe and be quiet so Parker wouldn't see him. I guess the word was on the streets of his school that Parker was on the edge. Ha ha.

At least we picked a week with ice cream as a theme. Yesterday Thomas and his class made ice cream from scratch. And today the boys enjoyed a visit from the ice cream truck. Parker said he got a red popscicle and Thomas inexplicably got an ice cream sandwich (he hates chocolate, so he said he didn't eat it), even though he told me he had many other interesting choices. I bet that's what his buddies got so he wanted to do the same!

Oh, speaking of firsts, today I signed Thomas up to play soccer in the fall. I can't wait and he really cannot wait. I had to ask him about it to make sure he was interested, and now he asks me about 22 times a day if he gets to play tomorrow. And when I tell him "no," that it's weeks away, he gets very upset. Oh boy. I hope it's all he expects it will be!

Happy 4th of July!

We've had such a wonderful 4th weekend, and I hope you have too!  It was impossible to get a decent picture of the boys yesterday, but I tried!


We went to church in the morning and then had lunch at one our favorite places to eat (Thomas is always assured to get his favorite, fried okra, there!).  We came back home (to my parents' house) and let the boys rest to prepare for some time at the lake.  And then we enjoyed hours in the lake.  The boys LOVE the water. 

Parker loves to run into the lake and fall face first into the water.  He did this over and over and over again.  He thinks he is a fish.  And the boy is fearless.  He will try anything and do anything and go anywhere in the lake.  His brother is a bit more cautious, but still loves the water too.  He also enjoyed a few boat rides...and so did our dog, Sully.  I believe it was her first ride!


Parker is really doing better and better at getting around in the water (semi-swimming) with his life jacket on.  He gets so impressed with himself.  And luckily this was the only type of alligator we saw yesterday.


We grownups had a good time in the lake too!  I enjoyed catching up with some dear friends.  It had been far too long since we saw each other last and it was just like no time had passed at all.  I love those kind of friends!


The boys made it a very long time yesterday and I was quite surprised and impressed.  They were initially scared of fireworks, but once they could see them (and not just hear them), they decided they were quite interesting (and then they didn't want to go to sleep!). 

It was a long day, but a great day.  Trey and I enjoyed time with friends (I stayed until midnight!) and the boys were sound asleep.  It was a great weekend.  I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! 

Peek-a-BOO!

So much for my planned blog-o-rama tonight. I got overly involved in two television programs (thank goodness for Tivo!) and between watching those and folding laundry, I simply could not divert my attention anywhere else! At least one of the programs was watching my Gamecocks win the first game of the College World Series, but the other one is a guilty pleasure I'd rather not admit! Both programs were fantastic tonight though! :)

Anyway, before I head to bed, I did think I'd share one more picture.

Part of our staging the house to put it up for sale involved installing curtains on all the windows that didn't previously have them. Parker loves the added toys and loves to play peek-a-boo in the curtains when I let him. He wraps himself up in the curtain completely and then emerges with a great big smile. He's so cute, how can I say "no"?

Washing the dog...or not!

There was about a day between when Thomas stopped running a fever and Parker started running one during our recent bout with Hand Foot & Mouth. On that day, Trey let the boys "help" him wash our dog. This basically meant that Trey washed the dog while the boys played with the water hose.


It looks like Thomas was just fine!




Finally Parker got his turn...


He was mighty pleased!


When did our baby get so BIG!?!?


This is such a "Parker look." When he is up to something (usually that he should not be doing!), he has his tongue out just like that. He has that look quite a lot!


Thomas was happy when it was his turn again...to torture his brother some more...






These boys just love the water...in all forms!

Bumps, bugs and waterbugs

June has been a crazy month. We had a trip to the mountains. We have spent a good bit of time in the water. And Thomas had a short stint* at camp (*reason why stint was so short is to follow). We have put our house on the market and had four showings, one offer and no contracts. Things are crazy. But the most crazy parts of the month have been the accidents and illnesses...

Parker has decided he loves to bump his head...

(As soon as that got better (well, after it moved down into his eyes and gave him slightly black eyes), he fell on the hard floor and got another bruise there...though no more goose egg, thank goodness!)

And Thomas went to camp at his school for Weird Science week just long enough to pick up his first true case of Hand Foot & Mouth disease. He had a fever up to nearly 105 for the first few days and then the "spots" started appearing on, well, his hands, feet (one foot, actually) and in his mouth. As soon as he started to get better, Parker started with the fever and his own set of spots (hands and mouth). They were a pathetic pair!


Thank goodness there were no house showings during that week of fun. But as soon as they got better, there were two (no luck with either). To escape one last Thursday I took the boys up to the lake at my parents' house (it was the first day they were well enough and not contagious so we could actually leave the house!). Then on Friday I took them to the water park at James Island County Park (that was insanely crazy...don't think I'll go back on a Friday again. The big kids were so rude, it was alarming. I even pulled one kid off the slide at one point who cut in front of me and Parker!). On Saturday we avoided the water, but on Sunday we spent nearly three hours at the pool. I definitely have two water bugs on my hands...but at least they are finally (knock on wood!) WELL water bugs!

I plan to do my very best to catch up on some way overdue blogs tonight while I watch the Gamecocks at the College World Series. Hopefully the boys won't drive me insane between now and then so that I can accomplish this feat!

Eight years

On June 22nd, Trey and I celebrated eight years of marriage. What a crazy eight years it has been! Hopefully for the next eight we can actually live together in the same house every single night (though not in the house where we are now!). That will be a welcome change after all the traveling and work/military-caused separation of our first eight years.

We haven't been able to have a date night yet for our anniversary, but on that night we did take the boys out to a restaurant of their choice (Thomas picked Jim N' Nicks...he loves cheese biscuits!). Afterward, we walked around the block to the church where we were married. Eight years ago we exited those doors as man and wife. And now our boys played on those very same steps.







I don't have access to most of our pictures and only a few are online, but here's a few I found. One of my favorites and the best one I have on those same steps...

And us leaving the church.

Happy eight years to my terrific husband! I wonder what the next eight years will bring? :)

Parker Hammumumumum

So I've totally fallen off the blogosphere, and I'm sorry. Trey started a new job and he's home every night. I started this blog mostly to help him keep up with us while he was gone, but that's not a necessity anymore. However, I also blog to keep a record of our lives, and there is still a need for that! However, since I last blogged, we decided to put our house on the market and we finally have done that, but not without a considerable amount of work and effort. And Thomas finished school for the summer...and we've just been generally busy. Now I'm so behind and I have so many posts to make that I'm so overwhelmed every time I even think about it. But I will do it...but not tonight.

What I will do is try to share a little video of Parker. He is such a little chatty boy and I keep thinking how I need to video it to remember these little conversations he has. He cracks me up. And his sentence structure is not great, but I must say, I find his verbal skills quite impressive for a 25 month old. He does say things like, "Want it, that," or "Do it, self" or "Mommy, get it, truck." But he does talk so much! Anyway, so hopefully this video shares a little of our life these days. And the smile at the very end is something I can rarely catch on camera with him, but it is so very Parker. He is a mess! Oh, and I should say, what he is doing in this video is pretending he's running a Chick-Fil-A out of his "house." It's something the boys do quite a lot. We don't even go to CFA that often anymore, but they love to do this (when Thomas play ordered a "number 2 combo with fries and a lemonade and a chicken sandwich with no butter on the bun and no pickles" I decided we were going a bit too much!).


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
I promise I will try to make some serious updates to this blog soon!