Sunflowers

Ever since I can remember as a little girl I have always loved sunflowers. The other day Summer and Forrest went with me to the florist and picked out these happy flowers. I think they love them as much as I do. It is so good to be home. With no preschool or classes to teach today, I think we will head to the pool then run some errands. Happy Wednesday.

Father's Day

We had a really fun Father's Day. David wanted to do something different this year. He woke up really early this morning, got on his bike and took off while the rest of us slept in. David is in training for a triathlon race coming up this weekend. While David was out, the first thing we did when we woke up was to tape his favorite candy (twizzlers) on the art easel along with Summer and Forrest's drawings of their daddy. We put the easel and his gifts next to the garage door. All of us cheered, "Happy Father's Day!" when he walked through the door.

David had a simple request: to cook dinner for all of us. I left the kitchen reigns to David. We each went around the table and said our favorite things we love about David/Daddy.

Summer said, "I love Daddy because he swims with me and plays with me." The cutest thing was at the end she added, "I am so glad Daddy takes us out on the lake because I love jumping off the sailboat with daddy." I loved that.

Forrest said, "Daddy hugs and loves me." I melted.

And last but not least. I added... "I love David because he is an amazing dad to our kids. He makes me want to be better in all areas of my life. He is the kindest, most sincere and loving person I know. He always hugs me in front of the kids and tells them how much he loves me which I love (and they do too). Most importantly, I love that he is setting an example for our kids as to what a husband and father should be."

I love you David... Happy Father's Day.

I took this picture while we were visiting the mountains recently. These men are two of the three most treasured people in my life. My own dad, my David and his Dad (not pictured). How lucky we were to spend Father's Day together a day earlier at my parents'. I feel truly blessed that my little children have a daddy and two grandaddies as such amazing examples of loving, kind men in their lives.

The Mountains

I wrapped up my summer classes last Tuesday. The next morning we loaded up the kids in the car and drove six hours to my parents' for a few days. The kids loved taking off on the tire swing and baking cookies with Grandaddy and Grams. The tire swing pictures aren't so great but I still love them. Can you tell they were excited? It was a super fun weekend.

Blessed

Before I had Summer, I was a teacher. I loved, loved, loved it. Such a fun and rewarding job. At the end of the day all of the moms and dads would stand outside my classroom window and wait for me to open the door to let their little ones out. As much as I loved being in the classroom (I really did... and am so grateful I now have the opportunity to teach part time at an university), a part of me was also envious of all the mommies on the other side of that glass. I wanted to be a mother. As far back as I can remember, I have always yearned for this... even as a little girl I would hold my baby dolls and pretend they were real. I know it is not like this for lots of women but it has always been true for me. There are many days I feel overwhelmed and feel just worn out from the day in and day out routines of this whole mom business. However, I have actually never felt that what I am doing is in vain or not of importance. Often, I feel like I can't stand to unload that darn dishwasher one more time, clean up after the kids or deal with a child's tantrum. It gets old, BUT I do feel blessed that I have always felt in my heart of hearts the importance of my role as a mother. There is NOTHING I would rather be doing in this life than being Summer and Forrest's mom. I whisper in their little ears daily how much I love being their mommy. I want them to not only hear those words but to feel those words in their hearts. It is true and for this blessing, I am so thankful. With a husband like David, my job of being a mom is made much easier. He has always made me feel appreciated and loved. This I am so thankful for.

Swim Camp

Summer and Forrest's swim camp at UNCW is coming to an end. This morning in their two weeks long classes they were doing new things in the pool. Summer is learning to do the breaststroke, the freestyle, the backstroke and the butterfly. She is also learning how to dive. Forget about learning how to swim on his own, the best part for Forrest is at the end of each class when he gets to swim with his big sister in the 15 feet deep diving well. I told Brian, Summer's instructor for the past three years, that he has celebrity status in our home with how much Summer speaks of him and adores him. Last week Forrest was in tears, wanting his mommy and daddy in the pool with him. He is now laughing and having so much fun. Kudos to Casey, Forrest's instructor, for this breakthrough. Swim camps are fun for the kids but really long for me. It starts early and I have to get up at 5:30 every morning to get myself ready for my classes, then wake up the kids at 6:30 to get them ready for swim camp. I drop them off at the natatorium where Leigh waits for us. I transfer the kids' booster seats into Leigh's car and hand her the bag of freshly washed towels, toys, snacks and bottles of water. I then say good bye to the kids, drive across campus to get to my classroom by 8. As soon as I get out after 12:20, I then have to drive to Leigh's apartment to race all of us into the car with the kids' booster seats back in and buckled up to make it home by 1pm for nap time. I know that is a lot of boring info but it really made me dread those mornings. Seeing the kids get excited this morning and their faces light up made me realize that all of those busy mornings have been worth it.

Swim, Swim

My little kids love the water. If we could be at a pool or at the beach from sun up to sun down, they would be happy (as long as Forrest gets a nap in there somewhere). Forrest loves for me to hold him tight against me and spin with him with his little legs making the water splash. Summer, on the other hand, is a much more demanding customer. She loves the "dolphin" and begs me to do it with her every time we are at the pool. She hops on my back, holds her little hands tightly around my neck and we swim around with her bobbing up and down on my back. She LOVES it. Summer and Forrest also played non stop with their daddy in the water. The kids kept yelling, "cannon ball!" And then would jump to David. I loved watching him with both kids in the water. He is a good daddy. I adore all three of them. I am excited for summer classes and swim camp to be done so we can have a lot more days just like this. I also can't wait to take my kids on more dolphin rides this summer. I hope what they remember the most is how much I LOVE spending time with them.

Memorial Day

The "Toy Boat" sailboat
Lots of sunscreen
Endless pbj sandwiches
A perfect lake

Jumps and swims
Colorful lifejackets
Our little family
equals...
F-U-N
And thank you to our soldiers and veterans. Happy Memorial Day!

Today's Happies

At dinner time or while lying in bed at night... David and I always ask the kids to tell us their "happies and sads" for the day. You can learn a lot from their short answers. Well, tonight I can report to my family that my "happies" included waking up to see that my gardenias had bloomed out on our front yard. Happy Friday.

The Fortune Cookie

does not disappoint.

Big Boy

I sure love this little boy. Last Friday was Forrest's last day of preschool. He LOVED going to his class and seeing miss porter every time he went. You can see it in the way he is admiring his teachers. Too cute. Whenever I drop him off I tell him I love him and that I will come right back to get him when he is done playing. That makes him happy and he runs off to play. The cute thing is that every time I pick him up, the first thing he says is, "Mama back!" and then hugs me. I tell him that Mama will ALWAYS come back for him. I hope as he grows older he will know that no matter how far apart we are from each other that his Mama loves him and that I will always be there for him and that I will always "come back" for him or more realistically (as he gets older) he can always "come back " to me.