Summer ends and school begins...

The summer was a blast--but WAY TOO HOT most of the time--which really made it difficult to get the little ones good and tired by running them in circles outside--we stayed inside or rode around in the car or stroller with fans...I'm so happy that fall is peaking her head around the corner...truly my favorite season--and I find it equally as beautiful as spring--but richer somehow. I'm daydreaming of hiking on the weekends and art projects with leaf rubbings and enjoying the front yard in jeans and a t-shirt with a cool breeze....that used to be what Alabama fall was all about....please don't disappoint this year!
Our 4th of July was celebrated at the lake with Boo & Sir, Joe & Julie and their girls. Yummy food, fireworks and fun times--and then...I was stung by a bee. I was enjoying a delightful walk at the lake with mom, Julie, the girls and the boys in strollers. But then that darn bee got me right on the ankle. Well...I panicked and screamed--the little devil hurt like crazy but I also knew I would die--because I'm deathly allergic to bee stings...so I thought. And so I ran...like Forest Gump I ran as fast as I could with Jack in the stroller...the pain began to dissipate and I figured that meant the beginning of the end...I finally made it back...hot, in pain and breathless--but not out of breath--and not too tired. I examined my fatal wound--very bruised but only minor swelling. Needless to say, I am clearly not deathly allergic to bees {anymore :)}...but I decided to clock the distance of my little sprint. I was shocked to find out that it was 2 miles and with some intense elevation challenges...so I thought...maybe I can run?
And so...I've been running 5-6 days a week ever since the bee sting incident. I find myself running at various times--for a while when it was scorching hot I was running at 9pm...now I run during the day, but it still varies. So why all the running conversation? Well...today I ran my first 5K Race--I already run 5K each day--but never in a "race" setting--and race I did!!!! And about killed myself the first 4 minutes--I laugh at how ignorant I was just 9 hours ago...I was front and center with a big smile....only 900 other people in the race with me! I heard them say "Faster runners to the front, slower to the back"...but I didn't really think that applied to me...HA!!!! I swear I was pacing a 5 minute mile right off the mark--but, I think I did okay for my first 5K (26.+ minutes)...and I am excited about future races. I was so excited to see Rusty and the boys on my last mile--they looked so cute! And then again at the end, they were a great support!

Enough about me.
Rusty and Tim played in golf tournament at the BCC—Rusty has really been working on his golf game—sometimes he is at the BCC twice a day! I’m proud of him for being so devoted—he is mastering the art of balance in life—I know Fr. Bryan would be proud! Anyway, Tim (a great golfer) and Rusty managed to make it to the Shoot Out—and played 2 of the 3 holes before getting knocked out. I know he had a great time—Par had a great time watching him! Par has developed into quite the little golfer himself. When we’d pack up and head for the pool this summer he would get so excited about getting to play golf when we got there—then I would have to crush his hopes and dreams by explaining that he would have to wait for Daddy to take him—Mama just goes to the pool. Which isn’t entirely true—Rusty and I played 9 holes just the other day. Miss B (my high school golf coach) would have been so proud... It was fun playing together—mainly because he doesn’t yell at me for playing to slow and tell me what I’m doing wrong—and I’m not implying that anyone else does that—just saying, it was a pleasurable experience.
But seriously, enough about me.


We were able to make it up to Asheboro at the end of July—it was a great trip! We stayed with Rusty’s paternal grandmother, Memaw. I loved that the boys were able to spend so much time with her—I hope we didn’t destroy her house too bad!
Big D & Minnie threw another great cookout to get the family together—this time to meet Jack! (Last time to meet Par!). Which was actually pretty necessary since I have been such a slacker on blog updates, they truly didn’t know anything about him! We hit the Zoo—a favorite pastime of Par – with Allison, Mike, Morganne and Jordan (Rusty’s cousins). Morganne is such a natural at taking care of Par—I was glad she was there to help out! I love the zoo because the boys take such LONG naps after and Par will talk about the animals for days—which has me on cloud nine seeing him so happy and excited about something that isn’t on TV….don’t get me wrong, as much as it goes against everything I dreamt for raising my kids, Mickey Mouse Club has become a necessary evil in our house. I’m ashamed to even put that on the blog…but it is a great distraction for both of the boys while I make breakfast and pack lunches each morning…which I do—I make everyone a hot breakfast each morning and pack Rusty a delicious lunch—I also make us dinner which we eat around a table all together each night….so I think that a little morning television isn’t too bad…right!?!?! Help me…I can’t help but rationalize this…I watched my fair share of tv growing up—but I also played outside ALL THE TIME—I just want my kids to love playing outside…okay…enough of that….All in all…the zoo was fun—so much that we planned to meet in Atlanta in early September to all go to the Aquarium….but that is a little later.
On the way home—as has become tradition—we stopped in Charlotte to catch up with the Koko’s and the Burton’s! Boy have our families grown since last time…Par and Jack loved playing with the Burton twins, Abbie and Lily and the Kokoszka boys, Tyler and Graham…and of course, it was great catching up with the grown-ups too! Thank you for such a fun time!!!! Can’t wait to see you in January-ish.


Izzy, Isabelle’s (Par’s best friend) grandmother—invited Par and Jack down to their farm to feed the cows one Friday—this worked out really well because we were already heading to the lake and their farm is basically on the way…so it was a treat! I was skeptical about how Mr. Fearless would act…recently I have found him to be all talk about some things…and I was afraid this would be no different. I was right. Par wanted nothing to do with the cows…or the horses that we went to feed. It was a lot of fun, he got to ride in a “jeep” sans carseat while driving around on the property—but once we saw the cows charging to the fence for the alfalfa grass—he lost it. Once we made it to the barn to feed the horses, he didn’t want to get out at all. He’s only 2…not a big deal. What was so funny was that he told Rusty how he fed the cows and petted the horseys. How baby sister cow came up to him and ate grass out of his hand (which actually happened—just to little Isabelle, not par) and how Gray (the horse) ate his apple (that I gave him)…I’m not sure Par even saw Gray….but in the end, Par has a wonderful memory in which he thinks he fed the cows and horses—and that’s all raising kids is about, creating great memories, right!
Yep…we planned this great trip to Atlanta—Rusty was going to the UNC/LSU game and then we would all go to the aquarium with his cousins. Rusty’s friend Lynchie (frat bro from UNC) flew into Birmingham and we had dinner with Joe & Julie and their girls. (think chaos) Saturday morning we then drove over to Atlanta where we took an EXTREMELY long walk with the boys in tow to a MASSIVE tailgate for the UNC/LSU game at the Dome. After meeting and saying hey to old friends of Rusty’s—we (the boys and I) headed back to our hotel room leaving Rusty with his friends to go to the game. We took a horse drawn carriage back to the hotel (which was a semi-planned idea)—business must have been slow because the guy gave me twice as long a ride for half the price—go figure! There was also a SCI-FI event going on so lots of people were in super creepy costumes—which added to the excitement of our carriage ride. Par couldn’t stop talking about the horse—he kept saying “Look at you Jack, there is a horsey” in the same sing-songy voice that I might use—too cute! We made it back to the hotel—and in perfect Par fashion he wanted a picture with the horse but he didn’t. That’s right, “I didn’t want a picture with the horsey mama” “Okay honey, we don’t have to get one” “(crying) mama I DO!” “Okay, let’s take one!” “No mama! No mama! I didn’t want a picture” “(slightly frustrated—this happens all the time) “We don’t have to get one Par, just say bye-bye to the horsey” “(screaming) I do! I do want a picture”---so here it is…the picture…with par as far from the horse as possible. Go figure.
Anyway, we grab some dinner and head inside to watch the game. All is well—we have fun in our little room all cozy—we fall asleep and Rusty comes in reasonably after the game ends (he’s pretty perfect like that)—hops into bed only to wake me and ask me to feel Par’s head. I was stunned—it was uncomfortably HOT. Rusty immediately jumped in the car and found a Walgreens (at 2 am by now) and came back with a thermometer and Tylenol and Motrin—Par’s fever was 105! We had to wake him to take the medicine but he was pathetic—like a little old man. We then made a decision….we hopped in the car and drove back to Birmingham at 3am. We caffeinated ourselves at a 24 hour McDonalds and made it home before the sun came up—climbed in the bed and woke up wondering if we ever actually went to Atlanta. Unfortunately, we missed the Aquarium…but so did Rusty’s cousins who also came down with some intense stomach bug. Par’s fever eventually went away—so he was fine after a few days. Thankfully, because school was about to start!


Par started school right after Labor Day--that is, my fully potty-trained son started school! He has done so well and it is SOOOO nice to only be changing one baby! His teachers at school gave me that last boost of confidence back in July and that was the last time he slept with a pull-up---only big boy underwear, no accidents so far! Par goes 2 days a week--and he LOVES it!!! All new friends in his class, which was hard for me at first, but now I know it is best and it never seemed to phase him anyway! We got our first art project this week--green circles! I love them!

Par made it to the dentist this past week for his first check-up. He did great! I told him he could get a surprise at WalMart afterwards since he was such a big boy. So off to Walmart—I’ve told him he can get anything he wants—and I was starting to regret the promise—I clearly didn’t realize what I was saying. But…to my surprise he picked a modest surprise—well, considering the promise—just a bike helmet. But here is the funny part, Par doesn’t have a bike. He saw a friend riding a bike and he wanted to ride it and I cleverly said, “Oh honey, you don’t have a helmet—you can’t ride it today”—but I had forgotten this. When I asked Par why he wanted a helmet he said so he can ride the bike next time. How sweet and innocent! So we got the helmet and headed home. I pulled out his tricycle and we headed to the road—it was funny—Par is almost too big for it and it clearly was not design to ride on a road—more of an indoor/sidewalk/patio type tricycle. But he insisted—he pedaled all the way to Isabelle’s house—happily going 2mph. Jack could have beat us there if he were crawling…it was SO SLOW! And now, all he wants to do is put his helmet on and ride in the street….


Jack is 9 months old and we headed to the doctor for his 9 month checkup—it is official, his genes are taking over—he’s dropped from 90% to 50% in everything—my hopes of a linebacker to protect the family have been dashed—but I’ll happily settle for this average size monkey--he pulls up, stands and cruises and crawls EVERYWHERE--he takes a step here and there--but he is a little more reserved with walking than Par was. But as for climbing--keeping me on my toes! He can climb in and out of the bath tub, onto the train table but is yet to venture off of it, and he can climb onto Par's bed--and "thinks" he can get off on his own, but that usually ends with a bump and tears. He is capable of climbing out of his baby bed if the side is down--I havent let him actually do it--but we've come close a time or two! He loves to say "Mama" "Bye Bye" or maybe he is like his Sir and he is saying "Buy Buy"--either way, he is yet to put a hand up and wave while saying it--but we are working hard on it. He has recently started saying "Daddy" and today he said "Cookie" ("Cacky"). He is a little piglet with eating. He loves to eat Par’s food the most–which complicates things over here to a great extent—but we are dealing with it!

Last night Rusty and I went to George Strait/Reba concert--so fun!!!! Charlotte and Sam Walton went with us and it was hysterical people watching--and singing songs we learned in the 7th grade--before we even knew our husbands even existed! This was a big night for a few different reasons—first, we never go to concerts—so it was extra special—especially since Char and Sam joined us! Second, it was our date night, but very BUSY time for Rusty, so I was glad he took a break to recharge—but finally, this is the longest time we have every left the boys. It was 5 hours…but our babysitter is a saint—she had them asleep –which in this house means happy. And that is all I care about—I want them to be happy (not necessarily asleep). Because if I “think” they are happy, then I can relax and enjoy stuff with my hansom husband! And to take it one step further—our babysitter was an actual babysitter, not Boo or Gigi. Yes, that’s right….after 2.75 years, we finally broke and hired a baby sitter for an event. I’ll admit, it wasn’t willingly, but out of necessity—but the best thing we could have done—and perfect timing. Gigi and Boo are SOOOO giving of their time to watch the boys—I use them ALL the time during the day for things—but usually and hour or so—not a huge deal. Lately we’ve had some night time event come up (other than our date night which is flexible) and Boo and Gigi (who clearly have their own lives) haven’t been available….so we gave it a try and we have 2 great girls that babysit for us—and the boys seem to really like them. Amen.
After talking it over with Rusty we decided to go look at bikes at Walmart with Par. We really didn’t know how to gauge if he was actually ready for a real bike. I know I couldn’t do the tricycle thing—it was teaching him bad biking habits, he kept throwing himself off of it because the road—but he loved riding. So we headed to Walmart this evening and went straight to the bikes. We pulled down a bike and after a little coaxing he got on. (Coaxing because his “bike” at home was right there—grrrr—he kept want to ride it). I tried to explain how to pedal (because Par was used to his tricycle pedals automatically going when it rolled)but I’m not very patient and either is Par so it didn’t get us very far. On the other hand, Rusty the Par-whisperer, was able to calmly explain to pedal forward to go and backward to stop. And Par was off! Literally, he left us in the bike department and started riding all over Walmart! It was hysterical! He rode by me and said “I’m going to ride by the vacuums Mama and show them how to pedal!” And he did—he rode right by them and hollered “Hey vaccums! Look at me pedaling!”And for the rest of our shopping he was riding and having a great time talking about how he gets to wear his helmet and ride in the street at home. We made it home after pizza picnic at the train station and he was asleep…we’ll try riding with a helmet in the street tomorrow. He is growing up so fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They both are!!!! Enjoy the pictures!