Spaghetti Night

Spaghetti and meatballs is one of the kids favorite family meals.  We have it often.  I like it because I can make a huge batch of meatballs and freeze them and because we have an herb garden that makes for some great, fresh spaghetti sauce.
One night, while eating our spaghetti and meatballs, Drew and Emma decided to try out something they've seen on a movie before.

Bet you can guess what they've been watching!

Muddy Puddles

The kids had so much fun playing with their friend, Sadie, in the muddy puddles. This video pretty much sums up the different personalities of my kids. Clean and tidy Drew vs. wide open and messy Emma. The kids were A MESS!!! Good thing I always pack back-up clothes so that I can allow them to make these messy memories.

That is one happy girl.  She loves the mud!!!

Sadie is quite proud of her messiness.

And I couldn't even get a pic of Drew.  He was so out of there!!!

That's One Cool Dog

Poor Lily. She has got to be the most patient dog ever. The kids absolutely love her and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing in her world. Here is a prime example:

Emma thought Lily would look great in a fedora.
I'm not sure if Lily agrees (:

*** on a side note, excuse our mess on the stairs ***
I know I can't be the only one who uses the stairs as temporary storage for things that need to be run upstairs.
The cable is from when our wireless network quit working.  We didn't know what to do with ourselves when that happened, but in the end it was a blessing in disguise.  We have a completely awesome set up now.  The wireless thing motivated us to "revamp" our whole system.  Now not only are we wireless, but I can PRINT FROM MY PHONE! and we have incredible bandwidth!  I know, I'm such a dork.

The Many Faces Of Emma

We have always noticed that Emma is EXTREMELY expressive.  Even when she was a baby she had many many different faces and never hid what she was thinking.
I can tell you this, there's no poker in this girl's future.  She can't hide anything

And my personal favorite....

Aligator Mania

During one of our trips to Orlando, Karen took us to a great little dive out on a lake. It was infested with alligators, which we thought was pretty cool, but we're weird like that. They were quite use to all of the people, but that didn't mean I wanted to parade my babies all around them. We did go out on the point where they all hang out, but we were all "on guard" a bit considering these were wild animals we were talking about. The last thing we need is to be featured on "When Animals Attack" We hung out with the alligators for about as long as our nerves would stand for it and then we went in to eat before the rain came (you can see the rains in the distant.... funny that "the sunshine state" seems quite rainy quite often). The food was great. We had a plethora of fried and blackened seafood, enough to feed an army.... of alligators!!! 

 

A seasoned Louisianian knows that this site is not one to mess with.  When you see those big ol' eyes pop  up out of the water, you're just best to got the other way and "let sleeping dogs lie"

This guy was just hanging out.  Nothing really phased him.  Not exactly a "lovely" place for him to chill, but the junk made me feel safer, like there was a barrier between us.

So Much To Catch Up On

So I did a complete and utter phone dump onto Flickr to make sure I had everything backed up and realized there are so many stories and memories still trapped inside of that nifty little phone of mine that I haven't shared.
We'll start with the pool.  Our little fish are easing their way back into the pools still with their floaties, but Drew is ready to drop his.  He will wear them for the first half hour or so, but then they are off and he's Mr. Independent.
Emma loves to jump off the edge and dunk her head.  She also loves it when Daddy throws her and flips her.  She's our little dare-devil obviously.
We spend oodles of time out at the pool and love to just hang out there with our drinks, snacks and pool toys.  It's been a great summer there so far!

Emma in her little cover-up

I'm still amazed that this is my baby when I look at her.  She's growing up and becoming more and more independent.

Daddy loves his little water babies

They love it when Daddy throws them.  They've since graduated to flips now.

Chasing Bubbles

One of my favorites from our time chasing bubbles at the park with Mrs. Liz and Walker.

Summer Days

It's been a wonderfully busy summer so far.  We'll start with our trips to the park.  We love our play dates when we are able to meet up with friends and play the afternoon away.
What says carefree summer days better than swinging and playing with bubbles.

Q- Man swinging at the park with Drew

Drew and Emma hunting bubbles with Walker

Couch Potato To Marathon

I'm such a voyeur.  I gobble up other people's blogs, I look in windows when on walks (from the street, I'm not like creeping in your bushes or anything), you know, in that I-wonder-how-they're-livin'-in-there kind of way.
I love to get updates on how people are doing and what they are doing.
So I thought I'd share my progress from couch potato computer chair potato to marathon.  I'll be posting my progress and inspiration on my fundraising page for those of you that are like me and like to watch "what's going on over there in their world."

Come on over and check it out.  I met and trained with my team tonight and it is such a wonderful experience of feeling like something so huge and so important.

If you feel so inclined, feel free to make a donation.  Might I suggest a dollar for every mile I'm going to run on October 28 with my team?  That would be a whopping 26 miles!!!!  (I'm a little sceered, but my team will get me through it)  Or better yet, a dollar for every mile I'm going to run for training this month.  That's 54!!!!!  Yeppers, 54 miles this month (cumulatively over the course of the month of obviously).  And it only goes up from here!

Come on over and check out a picture of my team!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nc/corps12/mwestgarth

Our Handsome Little Graduate

“I hope your dreams take you... to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known.”  ~Anonymous 

It's the first ending.  He'll probably have another one next year for Jr. K, and again the next for Kindergarten.  I know, it's ridiculous, but I'll celebrate this little champ as many times as anyone would let me and 1,000,000 times more.  

So we have closed another early chapter in his life.  Preschool was quite the experience.  He made lots of friends, loved his teacher, and established routines that he will take with him for the next 14 years of school.

And now we are going to be opening a new chapter.  It is on to his new school next year, the big-boy school as he calls it.  We look forward to it, but we'll not forget preschool.  

He has so much ahead of him and I so look forward to guiding him, supporting him, and loving him through it all.

So, as one of my favorite authors said best, 

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.  So..... get on your way!"
                                                                                                    ~ Dr. Suess

Our Little Graduate

This is one proud family (despite the kids' expressions)  (:

Brother and sister.  So sweet.  I think Daddy actually got the perfect picture from this pose.  Oh, and Nana, don't you love Emma's dress.  It's a Lilly.  She decided to top it off with plastic princess jewelry.  haha