See Ya '09

The end of 2009 is here and I wanted to post one last time. I can't believe how slack I've been at writing. It's not for lack of excitement around here. It gets overwhelming when I get behind on posts and then I just don't want to take the time to catch up. Technology laziness at its best. One of my resolutions for 2010 will be at least one post each month.

We've already got some big changes coming in 2010. (No, not a baby annoucement!) I'll be going back to work in a couple of weeks. Back to my old group at Bank of America. That means Kyle and Anna are going to a new "school", all day instead of 9-1. The preschool Kyle was at was one of the best and he grew and learned so much while he was there and we are really going to miss it there. This will be Anna's first time and she seems very excited. It helped that my parents gave her a new backpack and a blanket and sheet for naptime for Christmas.

It's been so much fun staying home with the kids the last year and a half. Definitely created memories that will last forever and I'll always be thankful I had this opportunity while they were these ages. I had a chance to spend one-on-one time with Anna, which I didn't get in her first year while I worked. We joined the MOMS Club last fall, which gave us even more activities to do together. Kyle joined us whenever he wasn't in school and during the summer, so he wasn't left out, trust me. I had more time to spend at the gym, and even worked with a trainer for a little while. The gym became a meeting place for me and a few other moms, which was motivated me even more - thanks girls! Recently, I made the decision to become a Pampered Chef consultant, which has turned out to be very fun and rewarding. I was the top consultant in my "region" for November! I'll keep it up next year, I'll just tone it down a little. Time with my family will always be my first priority.

Patrick is still with his wholesale mortgage job, but is keeping his opportunities open. We're hoping for change for him in 2010, too. The mortgage industry is so uncertain these days and we need more stability. Speaking of change, he did the P90X workout this summer and has kept it up. I think he is thinner than when I first met him almost 13 years ago! Like 20 lbs. thinner! I'm proud of him for sticking it. He was waking up eeaarrllyy to do the workouts 6 days a week! But, hey - it worked. I'd love him no matter what, though.

So, here's to a great 2009 and for an even better 2010! We wish the best to each and every one of our friends and family!

Making progress

It's been a whole week now and Anna is on her way to life without diapers. This time last week I would have thought it would never happen. She fought me really hard to even sit on the potty. You would think I was asking her to eat liver and onions or something. Fighting with that all day took its toll on me, but I stood my ground. Here we are, a week later I'm happy to say we went a whole day without a single accident! I'm not exactly ready to leave the house yet, but I may try letting her wear clothes around the house tomorrow and see how it goes. Baby steps.

Kyle's 5th Birthday

Kyle turned 5 yesterday. He has been looking forward to turning 5 for almost a year. I think since he was one of the youngest kids in his preschool class, he got a little obsessed with other kids turning 5 while he was still 4. I'm not sure what he thought would change between 4 and 5. When he woke up yesterday he whispered to Patrick "Daddy, am I 5 now?"

We didn't have a birthday party for him this year because we wanted to take him to Carowinds. We originally were going to go to Disney, but needed to scale down. We've been passing by Carowinds for so long and Kyle always asked when he'd get to go. It's practically in our backyard. He was super excited when we told him we were going there for his birthday.

Both sets of grandparents went, along with my brother and his family. We all had a great time. We spent most of the day in Nick Central at the kiddie rides. Kyle didn't want to mess around - he went straight for the fast rides. Fear doesn't seem to be a problem for him. He would have tried to ride everything if he was tall enough. I feel for him because I remember all the times I couldn't ride the big rides because I wasn't tall enough. He's a good sport about it though.

The grandmas were so nice and watched the kids while the other adults rode the "Big Kid" rides. They were thrilling and all, but I have no patience for waiting in those long lines anymore! You wait for an hour to ride a 30 second ride. Add on top of that standing in line behind annoying teenage boys who seem to have a problem salivating and spit every 10 seconds. Gross.

We barely dodged a huge rainstorm as we left. It was a good thing the kids asked to go home when they did. After we rested, we had pizza and birthday cake. What a great day and thanks to our family for spending it with us!

Kyle, we hope you had the best birthday ever at Carowinds!

The end is near

Well, the end of summer is very close for us. Kyle starts back to school after Labor Day and it will officially end our fun summer. Since Anna is old enough to play and do all the fun things now, we had a great summer! Kyle and Anna actually play very well together most of the time. I think he's going to have quite an adjustment when he goes back to school since he won't have as much time to play with her. He'll also give up some of the freedoms that came with summer vacation - sleeping in past 7:30, watching cartoons in his pjs, going to the pool, going to child watch at the gym to see his friends, playdates, going to the library and summer camps. Oh but what memories we made! I hope they remember all the fun we had. Trips to the mountains, trip to Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July, Freestyle Music Park with their cousins, "camp" with their grandmas, and free outdoor summer concerts. With me not working and business being slow for Patrick, we pretty much did everything for free, or really cheap. I'm proud of myself for creating a fun-filled summer without breaking the bank! I even held back from lunches at Chick-fil-A and McD's - I can count on one hand the number of times we ate out. It's amazing how many things you can pack into your weeks that don't cost a thing! Anyways, we'll miss all that come next week. I'll have more time to focus on Anna. I'll also be watching my best friend Jenny's 3 month old baby 2 days a week while she finishes nursing school, so we'll be plenty busy. One good thing about the summer ending is Clemson Football season begins - woo hoo!

Here's to Daddy!

Kyle and Anna ADORE their Daddy ! (So do I!) As soon as the garage door goes up and Anna sees his car in the garage, she quickly says "Daddy home". Every time. It is so cute! Pumpkin gets in on it, too. Of course, Daddy is the fun one, the one who can play no matter what needs to be done around the house. The one who will run around outside and play hide and seek. The one who will sit and watch Madagascar 2 over and over and over again. I knew when I met Patrick that he was a genuine, kind-hearted, gentle guy, which I knew would eventually turn into perfect daddy characteristics. But, he has (forgive me for using old work lingo here) Exceded Expectations! So, here's to our hero, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day!





All Patrick wanted to do for Father's Day was go to the US National White Water Center and do the zip line. Thanks for making it so simple for me.

Happy Birthday!

Anna's 2nd Birthday

Anna hit another big milestone last week - 2 years old! What a fun little girl she has turned into. She is a little parrot and tries to repeat everything we say. She loves to play with Kyle, which can sometimes be rough. She'll be able to hold her own with the big kids, that's for sure. I love everything about my little Anna and I love watching her grow. It's a little sad that as she gets older we lose the babyness around here, but it's so exciting to see what is ahead for us!

I took her to her check up the day after her birthday (who wants to see the Dr. on their birthday?) and she's very healthy. She was a champ in the examination room. For the past few checkups she started to cry as soon as we started to lay her down on the paper. Not this time. She was calm the entire time she was looked over and prodded. She only had one shot and of course that wasn't fun, but nothing a bag of goldfish couldn't cure.

Here are her stats:
Weight: 23 lbs (7%); she's moving up from the 5% curve
Height: 33 1/2" (45%)

We had a small birthday party for her Memorial Day weekend with our family. Nothing big, just grilled burgers and dogs and the cousins all played on our new swingset. It was so great having our family here to celebrate with us! My dad, brother, Patrick and I slaved over that thing for the week before getting it ready for the party. Hopefully one day she'll remember how much work we put into it for her. I even managed to get my first dose of poison ivy from clearing out our backyard for the swingset. Not fun. I'm talking a 3 hour trip to the doctor, a shot and a 14-day prescription of prednisone! All for my kiddos! :) The swingset is pretty awesome, I must say. I'm sure one day I'll think it was worth the discomfort.


Anna with Opa, Oma and Daddy

Kyle, Olivia, Evalyn, Mia, Ava and Anna loved the cupcake ice cream cones!

Patrick, Brian and Dad at the grill

Playing on the swingset

So, Happy Birthday Anna!! We love you so much and you make our lives complete!

Mother's Day

I had to share what Kyle made for me this Mother's Day. I am such a sucker for the hand-written, hand-drawn artwork from Kyle. I've saved everything he's done in preschool for the last 3 years! He explained to me that this is a picture of me (pink & purple) and him (orange and gray) and that's ice cream because I like ice cream. There's a row of flowers because I like flowers. Then at the bottom is a car, a watermelon, a K for Kyle (my favorite son!) and a rainbow.

On the other side of this picture, which his teachers were so kind to laminate, is an interview about me by him (answers in bold):

My Mom by Kyle:

My Mom's name is Sarah
She is 30 years old. Her favorite foods are watermelon and strawberries. She likes to drink water, milk and juice. Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite flower is a sunflower. Her hobbies are sweep and play at the swimming pool.

She is special to me because I love her!

If I could giver her anything in the world it would be lots of flowers because I love her!

I will cherish this forever! I know I tend to get caught up in what needs to get done rather than spending that time with Kyle and Anna(obviously, since my favorite thing to do is sweep!). This just makes me want to sit back and relax and play with my kids while they are at this fun age.

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

We're better

Just wanted to update and say Kyle is back to normal. Now that I think of it, I think Anna actually had this little stomach bug first. She just never threw up, thank goodness. Kyle ended up staying home with me Thursday, also. He still "needed to lay down" at breakfast, so I played it safe. I didn't want to be that mom who sent her sick kid to school and got all the other kids sick. We had fun and ran my errands instead, since I couldn't leave the house all day Wednesday. Thanks for the concern!

Pukey Day

(Warning - this post is not for weak stomachs...)

So today is a real challenge for me as a mom. I have a pukey kid at home. For those of you who have known me for awhile, you know that I when other people throw up or say they are going to. I can remember several times in elementary school when my friends threw up. One was when we were in line for the water fountain outside the lunchroom and this girl, Shelly, just threw up right there. Then the janitors came and put the miracle sawdust stuff on top of it as if it would make it disappear. Another time my brother and I were outside the movie theater waiting to be picked up and this kid, who I didn't know, projectile-vomited right there in front of me. I'm pretty sure those two events changed my life forever when it comes to throw-up (I don't like to use the word vomit).

It has had an impact in my life, needless to say. I always wanted to be a teacher when I was younger, well up until high school probably. I had school supplies and teacher textbooks and a chalk board and everything so I could pretend at home. Sometime in my sophomore or junior year in high school I realized that I couldn't be a teacher and I'd have to pick a new career. I knew that I just could not handle going to work everyday in fear of someone puking in my class. So, banker I became.

Luckily, my fear didn't stop me from becoming a mother. That was something I have always wanted badly. I figured I would be able to handle it if it were coming from my own children. So far, I've been blessed with healthy children who don't seem to throw up often. Kyle really didn't throw up until he was 3 years old. By that time, he knew what it felt like before it happened and would make it to the toilet or a trash can. It's tolerable, at least.

Well, today he's sick. Last night he said his back and belly hurt. This morning he said the same thing and he just wanted to lay down. He said he might throw up. Great. He ended up (slowly) eating 1 waffle for breakfast, but it came back up about an hour later. Then he seemed perky again. He ate a little lunch, but it upset his stomach in other ways, if you catch my drift. He didn't quite make it to the toilet in time - clean up #1. 30 minutes later, clean up #2.

I can tell this day is going to be a challenging day for me. I hope I make it through without getting sick, too. Who will clean up my messes? :)

Rescued!

After about 6 days in the top of our tree, the little kitty was rescued by her owner yesterday. He bravely climbed most of the way up the tall, skinny tree and endured some brisk gusts of wind to save her. He had already rescued her once off the street a couple of months ago, so I guess she has 7 lives left.

We have a cat...

...in our tree. That is the closest we will ever get to having one, too. This poor thing has been up in one of our really tall trees since at least last Thursday. Who knows what made it go all the way up there, but nothing will make it climb back down. I will try to take a picture of it, but I'm not sure my camera will be able to zoom in on it. It must belong to one of our neighbors, but nobody has come to get it. So, every day, several times a day, we look for it and try to get it to move. I am not a cat person, nor will I turn into one, but I feel so sad for this poor kitty! I can barely make it 5 hours, much less 5 days without eating, so I can't imagine what this poor thing feels like.

March pictures

I co-hosted a shower at my house for one of my oldest and best friends, Jenny. The theme was "Pickles and Ice Cream" and we made ice cream sundaes. Great shower idea if anyone is going to plan one soon - it was a hit with the guests!


Anna and I tagged along on Kyle's field trip to the firestation. Here they are climbing in one of the trucks.


It was my brother Brian's birthday in the middle of March, so we had a little party for him at his house. Kyle and Anna love going over there and playing with their cousins and all their toys!



School pictures for Kyle, and Anna even though she doesn't go there yet.

I'll never do that again

So we went down to Columbia Friday so we could see my Aunt Pat one last time before she flew home and we would stay for the weekend. As Patrick unloaded the car, he said "You packed your clothes and the kids' clothes all in your Adidas bag?!" Silence. Then I played it all back in my mind. I had forgotten to put the kids' suitcase in our car! It was still sitting on Kyle's bed and we were in Columbia. All we had were the clothes on their back and the shoes they wore down. I had to get everything for both - socks, pjs, undies, shirts, pants and play shoes for Anna. I was so mad at myself! I love shopping for them, but it's different when you aren't planning on it. It was also a little more difficult since spring clothes were on the racks and the weather was cool. Oh well. I'll never do that again!

March Snow!

Weekend visitors

We had a great visit with Derek, Jamie, Madelyn and Morrison Gomez when they came to stay with us Saturday night. We didn't do anything too exciting, but we all had fun just hanging out. Since the kids are all pretty close in age, they had a blast playing together. We wanted to get out and do something fun in Charlotte, but it was too chilly and we didn't have a lot of time. We had more visitors when Jenny and Chris and my brother and his family came over for dinner. It was crazy having 6 kids aged 4 and under runnning around, but they had so much fun! So did the adults. Jenny, Jamie, Brian and I all grew up together in Columbia and our families always did fun things together. I guess the craziness at my house was just a sampling of the craziness that our parents put up with when all 5 families were together (15 kids in all!) I look forward to spending more time with our friends as their families grow.

Madelyn, Olivia and Kyle running amuck (sp?)


Jenny and Chris (see Jenny's cute baby bump!)

Winding down by watching A Bug's Life before bed


What's better than ending the slumber party by watching cartoons in your pjs with your buddies

A Blue Moon

Once in a blue moon, Kyle will succomb to his exhaustion and takes an afternoon nap. So, it must have been a blue moon last Friday because he took one for me! Here is the proof:

Bye, Bye Goldilocks

For a whole year, Anna did not have much hair on her head. You can blame it on me. I always hear how I didn't have any hair until I was 2 (really, is that a teeny bit of an exaggeration?) and it was white-blonde when it came in. Right around Anna's first birthday, we noticed her white-blonde hair was getting gradually thicker and longer. It came in straight as an arrow on top and would stand straight up. It was quite a conversation piece. I had a hard time taming it, but thankfully the little bows did help and she'd keep them in. Fast forward to today. She had these long, (to me, anyways)adorable curls on the back of her head. The hair on top still has a while to go, but the back was outpacing the top and sides, so I made the difficult decision to get her first haircut today.

Before




After



So much for waiting until her 2nd birthday. I just hope it grows a little more evenly now and the curls make their way back!