Last Beach Trip of the Year

Sorry that I have not blogged in a while. We have been busy getting adjusted to school being everyday this year. My intention was to only send him three to four days a week, but he loves it so much that I let him go everyday. I felt like taking a break on Tuesday and had to bribe him with Exploration Station in order for him to stay out of school!

Anyway, we took our last beach trip of the year starting Labor Day weekend. Although it was warm, it was not quite warm enough for me! The kids swam and had a blast, but I only got in the pool once! Ethan and Emerson were able to swim a lot in the indoor pool as well, thankfully. My mom, RT and I took them to the Dixie Stampede, which they loved. I was out of commission for a few days after that night. Not sure if I caught a bug or what, but it was rough. Thank God my mom was there to watch/entertain the kids! Chris came down on Thursday. We took the kids to the aquarium and then to Hard Rock Cafe. We came home on Friday night because Ethan had a soccer game early Saturday morning. More on that in the next post. I have uploaded pictures and videos of the beach trip in the web album.

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

We were able to celebrate my mom's birthday on her actual birthday this year or so we think. Let me explain. My grandmother always told her that her birthday was September 4th. Her birth certificate has a crease where the day is and it looks as if someone wrote in a 4 in that spot! Grammy always told her that she was born on Labor Day, but Labor Day was not the 4th that year. To make a long story short, when mom and I flew to NH last year, we went to the library to look up her birth announcement. It was listed as the first! Can you imagine all of the documents that she would have to change if that were true (which it appears to be)? I don't care when her birthday is...I am just so happy that she is here.

Wendy Walks

Ethan being in school again is allowing some good quality time for Emerson and I. This morning we played with baby dolls and read lots of books. Grandma bought Emerson a very large doll for her birthday this year. At first, she did not like the doll at all. It was quite amusing actually how she would push it away. Now, however, she has taken quite a liking to Wendy. She walks all around the house with Wendy trying to make her walk. Here is a short video of her doing just that.

First Day of Weekday School

Today was Ethan's first day in the four year old program. He was pretty teary eyed this morning, but when I picked him up, he was bouncing off the walls! He said that he would not cry anymore at school because he had so much fun. I sure hope that's the case because it's so hard to leave him there when he's telling me that he just wants to be with me. I know he has to go and I need to encourage him, but it's really tough. Emerson kept running back into his room as we were trying to leave. I don't think I'd have a problem leaving her! He only had one homework assignment, but told me that he wished he had more to do. He loves any type of "homework" assignment. Even if I just have him write out the alphabet on a piece of paper! Let's pray that he always likes his homework! Here are a couple of pictures from this morning. Not great ones, but he was upset!

Let's Get Bouncin'!

Original plans were to go to the water park today, but the weather did not want to cooperate. Amanda, Jennifer and I still wanted to do something fun on the kids' last day of summer. Jennifer and I had been given a free pass to Let's Get Bouncin' in Dillon, SC when we went to The Prissy Polka Dilly Tea Party in May, so we decided to try there. We were the only ones there for almost the entire two hours that they played! It's a small place, but was nice for something different. It's the same concept as Monkey Joe's on a much smaller scale. After playing hard, we went to have lunch and let the kids play on the playground. Needless to say, they are all in much need of a bath. Although it was not sunny, it was HOT. Tonight we are going to dinner with friends and tomorrow is our last birthday party of the month. We have gone to four this month! My kids are big time cake lovers, so they have loved it! Pictures in the album.

Allergies, Allergies

As most of you know, Emerson was diagnosed with dairy allergies a year ago. After a year of breastfeeding, I tried her on cow's milk and she broke out in a horrible "rash." I had suspected she had allergies because she broke out when I gave her ice cream one time. It has been very difficult feeding her as everything seems to have dairy in it. She has gotten better with butter and mayonnaise in the recent months, so I was hoping that she would test negative for it. Wrong. She tested positive for both milk and egg allergies. The good news is, her levels were better than they were last year. I am hoping that there is something in the dairy family that she cannot eat instead of the entire dairy family. The only way to find that out is to have her try each item in her doctors office (a controlled environment). She would be tested with a small amount of something, wait 15 minutes and repeat that 4 or 5 times. She will not drink Silk, but will have it with cereal. I am not sure where her calcium is going to come from as I am really, really ready to stop pumping breast milk. Two years is long enough. Please pray that I can find some sort of calcium that she will actually eat!

Wilmington Children's Museum

My friend, Amanda and I took the kids to the Wilmington Children's Museum on Thursday. Another little girl from the weekday school and her grandmother came along as well. It was a really nice museum with lots to do. With almost 17,000 square feet, there was a lot to get to in a few hours. After we played, we walked down to the river front for some lunch. My kids were both asleep before we even left Wilmington! We will probably make it a couple time a year trip, but still love our Exploration Station! There are some photos in the web album.