Goodbye Three Years Old

Today is the last day my girl is three years old.

I don't have anything profound to say except this,

I have loved this year with my Lucy.

She is hilarious. Quick witted, sharp, full of life and love. She says the most hilarious things that make me laugh every single day.

If I could bottle three years old and store it in a closet, I would.

She is a princess, a tomboy, a chef, an artist and dancer.

She can be anything she wants to be and truthfully...I want all of these things for her.

She can be sassy, mean, spiteful, frustrating...but one look at those dimples and her asking you endearingly, "Mommy, do you LIKE me?" "Yes, Lucy. I love you!" "No Mommy. Do you LIKE ME?" "Yes, Lucy. You are one of my most favorite people in the whole world."

I love that she understands that I have to love her.

But that I get to like her.

And I do.

Goodbye three years old.

I'm not ready. But four years old is here anyway.

Tomorrow.

Eff-Eye-Vee-Eeee

Believe it or not, we have a five year old on our hands.

Since Asher turned five, he had a very definite idea about what he wanted to do for his birthday for the first time in his life-BOWLING! And according to AMF Lanes, it always means FUN!

See how much fun these colors communicate?

Asher decided he had to have a Shrek cake. Had to.

Best of luck finding that one.

Look at how big and five he looks?

Nothing like a boy contemplating his cake. Mmhmm.

Us with our big boy.

Yes, I would like a Happy Meal with apple juice, cheeseburger and a good toy?

She pressed the buttons at least 5,678 times. Sorry AMF workers!

Here are some action shots:

The birthday boy.

The socialite.

The amazingly fit and awesome bowling mom. Check out those calves.

Awww.

AMF You can leave a DM for me on Twitter for my contact info to use this image in your next ad campaign.

This image is one of the reasons why every person should want to go bowling with our family.

We all cheered like she just won the tour.

This is the birthday boy in big time action. Check him out.

Waiting for the ball with his hat turned around backwards: ala "Over the Top"

Giant wind up with the 5 pound ball.

Straight into the bumpers like we taught him to do.

Wait for it. Wait for it. Seriously. Wait for it. It takes FOREVER.

Yes! I nailed it! That one pin.

I'm totally awesome.

And five.

Beast mode.

We had so much fun and were so loud, literally cheering each and every time anyone threw their ball down the lane that when we finished; AMF staff met us at the door as we left and handed us stacks of coupons to return. It was hilarious!

*also, if you go to kidsbowlfree.com you can register and your kids can bowl free!

We also went to www.amf.com and you can find all kinds of deals. It was a great, hilarious and fun birthday party for my boy!

So Very Busy

I feel like when your kids are babies, you think to yourself...
life can't get any slower.
Then two years fly by.
And all of the sudden, I have two kids who are hilarious and keep me on my toes daily.


Somehow this summer has both been slow and fast simultaneously and I don't think that I have quite processed it.

We went to Lake Norman in Charlotte two weekend's ago for Brad and Leigh Bucklad's son's birthday party. Really it was a party for us. But there was cake involved for a one year old and that was good enough. Also, it was about the most beautiful house that I have ever been in. Humble and gorgeous all at the same time. How does someone manage that? It was a beautiful day and somehow, looking back at the pictures...it feels like the last weekend of the summer.

And that makes me want to throw a fit.
But here are some of the pictures.

Happy Birthday Miles!

Can you tell that she is growing up right in front of you?
Something about that is so great and so sad all at the same time.

It's A Four Year Old!

Happy Birthday Big Boy! Look how handsome he is...oh squeezes.

He got a bike helmet that fits 8+. Yes, he gets the size of his head from his father.

See the band-aid on his forehead? He also got stitches for his birthday! Yay for you!

The cute twin girls in the above picture wanted to eat pickle hot dogs.
That's what happens to your kids when you graduate from Clemson.
Just kidding Catherine and Michael. Just a little.

Happy Birthday Ash! You are the best little boy a mom could ask for!

Four Years Since We Met

Four years ago our little Asher was born.

Here we are at Saranac missing his sweet little birthday.
I know that we will celebrate when we get home, but I am not going to lie...I definitely welled up several times today knowing that I wouldn't get to kiss or hug him today.

AND...the hits keep on coming.
My mom called this morning to let me know that she had to take him to ER last night to get stitches in his forehead after Asher fell off the playground.

So that was awesome for her. And me. And Asher.
Happy Birthday to you!

I love him like crazy. Since my last post about him making me insane, we really had a large turnaround in his behavior and I could not have been happier with him. He really turned into such a big boy over the past month and I love him so much.

I can't wait to see both kids on Sunday when we get back home. It has been quite a few days since we have seen them.

Four years. Four years ago, I had no idea how my heart would burst over hearing my son talk to his dad on the phone. I can't wait to see what the next few years brings.

For Mom

It's my birthday on Monday and once again, I think it is time to thank my mom for helping me to make it to this point in my life.

I read this postcard on Postsecret today and it made me love what my mom does for middle school kids. (She's a school nurse for those of you who don't know)


I love you Mom!

Lucy's Birthday

Here we are two years into having a little girl named Lucy.
I love her so much, it hurts. I mean she kills me with how funny she is, how sassy she is and how all-together different from her brother she is.
She is amazing and she doesn't get quite the same billing as Asher, but believe me...she has every bit as much personality as her older brother and maybe more. Here she is playing to the crowd because we laughed one time when she said, "Oh my goodness."

For her birthday, we got her a trunk of dress-up clothes that she was smitten with and had to put it all on immediately.

This is her looking at herself in the mirror. Notice Asher crying in the background?

He wanted to play with her dress-up clothes too. 

How Different

Matt and I were talking yesterday morning about how nice it is that our kids are past the "crying all day long" stage. They really only cry when they are scared, hurt or in trouble now.

I had a feeling when we were talking about it that we should stop because it seemed to be a jinx; like when you don't talk about someone throwing a no-hitter when they are throwing one. It turned out I was right.

We were fixing dinner last night when Lucy slammed her fingers in the doors of our entertainment center. Not a big deal. But she decided that she needed to cry for an hour, inconsolable, sobbing, burping type of cry. The only solution was popsicles for dinner.

Once she calmed down, we took the kids for a walk. We have neighbors that have recently decided to raise chickens and they have a rooster that crows ALL DAY LONG. Asher loves it. So we walked over to see the free-range chickens and rooster. Asher was a little rowdy around the birds and we had him walk back down the road towards us, when he picked up a rock and threw it at the rooster.

Mr. Rooster did not like that at all. He attacked Asher and pecked him all over. Asher was running away, the rooster jumped on his back and was going to town. I ran towards Ash and kicked the rooster away. So he was crying for the next 30 minutes until he finally calmed down and laughed about it. Quietly.

We are hoping that this becomes one of his first FIRM memories from his childhood. We'll see.

As we were walking away from rooster times, Lucy fell on the road and lost her popsicle. Crying began again.

By 9pm, my ears were so tired from it all that I fell asleep on the couch after making cupcakes for Asher's birthday.

Yes, today is Asher's birthday. We had a great day with a few friends that came over to eat hamburgers and sing happy birthday. I will be writing a post to Asher, but it will have to wait until tomorrow because I am exhausted from throwing a three-year old birthday party!

30 Years Ago

I was born. That means I am now 30.
Ten years ago, I was a sophomore in college living in Whaley's Mill with a buzz cut. Ten years from now, I will be 40 with a 12 year-old and a 10 year-old.

Right now is so consuming that I can not even imagine what life will look like then. And I can hardly remember what life was like at 20. Thank Jesus for both of those truths.

I had one of the best birthday's I have ever had.

About a week ago, Matt invited friends to come over to our house and celebrate my thirty years while my parents and sister were in town. It was a lovely time and humbling to hear from my friends what I mean to them. And last night, my closest girlfriends took me out for tappas and chocolate in downtown Asheville. At 11:30pm we were still laughing at nonsense like who was our first kiss (Eric Starr) and what kinds of plastic surgery we would have if we ever had plastic surgery (tummy tuck).
And today, both of my kids slept until 9am. We went to church, took naps, went to the playground, God made it be 63 degrees here just for me and Matt and I went on a date to cheap mexican food and to see "Juno".

It just doesn't get better than that for a thirtieth birthday.

Lucy's Birthday

Yesterday was Lucy's official birthday. We gave her a proper family breakfast birthday party and then spent the rest of the day not paying attention to it being her day. But tonight, we had a joint birthday party with Knox Troyer. His mom and I spent EVERY SINGLE DAY pregnant at the same time, except that Lucy evacuated my body two days early.

So we decided upon a joint party at our house tonight and after this past weekend's activities, it about killed me. I am so seriously tired right now, I can't believe it.


But it was really fun, we ended up having nine kids, 13 adults, four pizzas and a weiner dog all crammed into my living room, along with EVERY SINGLE TOY WE OWN on the floor.

I fed Lucy before everyone arrived because she is cranky when she is hungry and not getting fed. It turned out, she is also cranky when she is NOT HUNGRY and people keep giving her food like cake because she melted down and cried nearly the entire time the cupcake was on her tray. So we quickly moved on to presents.


She received some really cute books, along with a new winter hat and another doll baby. It was really fun to have so many people in our house, but when everyone left; I just sat on the couch for an hour.


So I made it. One year with two children. We have made it! I have loved this year, but I think that I have been in survival mode for most of it. I am just starting to come out of it and enjoy my kids more rather than just surviving them and their moods!

Those are tough words to right, but true. It is really hard when you have two kids who are just developmentally different to be in opposite places at all times. For example this week, Asher is getting potty training while Lucy is learning to walk. Can you get more diametrically opposed?

I am sure that those lines on the side of my eyes were not there this time last year. I dedicate those to Lucy, Asher and Slappy. Matt has his own...and is losing his hair. He doesn't need my help with that.
Anyway, we have made it through one year. Many more to come? I sure hope so!