Christmas- oh a lovely day.

Christmas time was wonderful. With the minor exception of Wesley getting mad on Christmas Eve. He did not like the idea of getting PJ's for his Christmas Eve present. He announced that he did not want PJ's ever, ever again. I guess next year we will have to do something a little more exciting, like two pair of PJ's. At least Lauren was happy with hers. If she had her choice she would wear PJ's all the time. Maybe she gets this from her cousin who only likes his underwear. For that matter, who would not want to wear their PJ's all day every day. She has a million pair. Definitely a PJ fetish.

.

After waking up to a pleasant morning the kids were anxious to see what Santa brought. First things first, Wesley said, "I better not have clothes under the tree." Guess I will have to get some next year just to see his face. Papa is in agreement. Apparently, the apple does not fall far from the tree because David remembers being upset about this very same thing. Well, after that was out of the way, the kids noticed Santa brought them almost everything. Wesley got Star Wars spaceships and a rocket just to name a few things.



Lauren got lots of Ariel stuff, a camera and two dolls. So everyone was happy.




Daddy got a new IPOD and mommy got a Garmin and a Nintendo DS.



That is a funny story.

Turns out Wesley wanted one too. These pictures are quite funny. It's like he is saying, "Hey isn't that mine?"


Alright, so I gave you a hug and told you Merry Christmas. Now that is mine, right?



C'mon mom, hand it over, why does and adult need a DS?

In the end, we decided it was ours. I only need it for Brain Age. Ever heard of that game? It is supposed to make you smarter. We will see. Hmm. Where are my sunglasses. Oh, Thanks for pointing out that they are on my head Wes. I'll keep everyone posted on this experiment.

Anyway, we ended our peaceful, stress free morning with a nice time out. Lauren was stealing pieces of Wesley's game so he went after her with his brand new Light Saber. This is what happened.




Happy New Year. Up next, Wesley and the big 5-o.

November and December

First of all, I have to post this photo because for once in our life we would like to one up Amanda's blog. Bet you can't top this photo, Amanda. Upon first looking at it, you wonder how our wonderful boy could look so goofy and second of all, why would they pick this photo as a team photo when he looks like that. Then you look at all the other kids and realize that not a single child was ready for the photo. I can only imagine what the other photos looked like. . . .



For Thanksgiving we went to the Collier's house in Greenville. For the past few years they have been nice enough to invite us to their house. This time the kids got to jump in a very large leaf pile. At least 4 feet. Fun.




This month has been a busy one as everyone can agree. We have been decorating, shopping, decorating and shopping. I have also discovered that the smile in the picture above was not just an accident. It seems to be Wesley's new phase. As you can see in the slideshow, I cannot get a good picture of both the children for Christmas. Why does everyone have to be so goofy. Now Amanda and I will have a lot to compare. Does this look like a familiar smile?



At least David and I have figured out how to smile at the same time.



David and I did start the month off running our 1st half marathon. We ran in the Kiawah Island 1/2 marathon. David finished in 1:59 and I finished in 2:02. Not bad for barely training. It took a week for my legs to start working. David is going to do a marathon this year. I am just going to
watch.





We look forward to posting Christmas updates. Hopefully, we will have a better family photo than this one.

October

This has been a fun month. I love October. It is the month when the weather finally gets cooler and the leaves start changing. Plus, it is pumpkin patch time and my personal favorite, Halloween. This year was especially wonderful because Grandma came to visit us. We picked her up in Asheville and spent some time with Aunt Amanda and cousins Ian and Gage. We had a blast playing games and golf.



Then, mommy and daddy went to the Bahamas for a much needed childless vacation. Oh, what a trip. Unfortunately, it was too short but fun just the same. Next year, we are planning to go away for a little longer.


While we were in the Bahamas the kids had some fun with Grandma. They went to Chick-Fil-A, made some cookies, played games, colored and lots of other fun things.




This year for Halloween, Wesley was a storm trooper and Lauren was Princess Aurora. For once, the weather was cold so it actually felt like Halloween.






























Then mom and dad topped off the night with their very own adult Halloween party. See what guests showed up in the slide show. Scary.

Then Wes finished up soccer and received a very nice trophy. We are now looking forward to the Holidays.

Sport Crazy

Wow, it has been a busy month. We are crazy into sports now. Soccer season has started for Wesley and despite the "organized chaos" of 4 year olds playing soccer; Wesley is having a blast. There are only a couple of kids who actually play and Wesley is one of them. He even scored a goal last week. Of course, it takes a lot of yelling from the sidelines to keep him focused. I feel like one of those lunatic soccer moms you see on TV yelling at her child. We keep him motivated by saying things like, "Stop picking the daisies," Stop playing tag and chit chatting with your friends", "Keep your eye on the ball", "No the one on the ground, not in the sky", "Kick the ball the other way," etc. Besides having everyone look at me, it really is fun. Is Wes having fun? Wait
was that me on CNN Ireport?





Wes has also been on his bike alot. He went to the newly reconstructed BMX track with dad. Wow, did it look scary. They said they made if faster, more like the Olympic track. It was definitely fast, Wes raced down the track and even had a pretty bad spill. However, he got right back up and did it again. He really amazes me.

Doesn't this look SCARY?




Wes was also in a bike race during the Vista Grand Prix in Columbia. He was going to be in the family ride, but Daddy felt it would not be challenging enough for him to ride up hill 100 yards with a bunch of kids with training wheels. So.... Dad had him race with the 8-10 year olds. That was scary for me. I felt like the mommy bird who just threw her bird out of the nest. He had to race downtown through 1 city block. I wonder if all my rules messed him up? The Don't ride in the street rule was thrown right out the window since the race was in the street. Yikes!!! Anyway, he took the lead the first 100 yards and then I guess he got a little nervous because it took him a while to come around the corner. "Wait where is everyone? "Once he did though, all of our biker friends and the crowd were cheering him on. That was cool. He didn't win, but he thinks he did. It was a great experience for him. Whew, glad that is over.




















Lauren is in Nymnastics and I think she likes it. Sometimes she wants to do what she wants to do, but the coach says that is to be expected. They are always talking about how strong her abs are and that she will be a great gymnast, nymnast? Well, she has been doing the boat pose since she was a baby. So, what do you expect? :)





Oh, and by the way, Lauren is potty trained. 2 weeks and no accidents. She even wears panties to school. Yippee!!!

New Month Free Mommy

Well the kids had their first day of school this week. Both Lauren and Wesley were really excited and so was mommy. Wesley goes 5 days a week and Lauren was supposed to go 2 days. However, a wonderful thing happened; Lauren was admitted into the 3 day program. Hooray!
Unfortunately, this week was just a weaning week for her so mommy didn't get much done and Lauren was not able to spend enough time there. She absolutely loves school. When I picked her up on Friday, she stomped her feet and said she wanted to stay longer.

This week is also a big week in the area of potty training. Lauren is peeing in the potty on her own. Sometimes she even does number 2. It is so sweet, Wesley always runs to tell me with the biggest smile on his face "Mommy, little sis is the best ever, she just pee peed in the toilet without even asking. I am so proud of her." He is the greatest big brother.

I am sure everyone loved hearing about that update. Now on to more important things.

Wesley rode his bike with Daddy this week and they went all the way around the lake. For those of you who do not live in Lake Carolina and have never been here, that is 6 miles. Not to mention, there are some monstrous hills, hills I do not even like to ride on my bike or run up. His endurance really amazes me.

Well, summer is rolling on by. It is hard to believe there are only 3 more weeks until school starts. We have spent the summer going to several beaches, going to the pool, and doing triathlons.

I have posted some fun summer pictures.

Wesley just got a new Redline for racing. He should be hitting the BMX track again as soon as it cools off a bit. He is really a good bike rider. It just amazes me how good he is. Thank goodness I am not one of those nervous moms or I would already be in the hospital with anxiety attacks. :)
















As you can see by the video below, Wesley really is a chip off the block. He was caught cleaning his bike the day he got it. Hmm, remind you of anyone?

Catching Up

Well it seems I still cannot catch up in life. Hard to believe that I still have posts from the tornadoes and not my daughter's 2 year old birthday. Time just flies by somehow. Maybe David and I do need 2 laptops so we both can work after the kids go to bed.

Anyway, in the last few months Lauren has turned 2, MeMa and my great grand-parents have visited and so has Pa pa. The kids have loved having family around.


We are trying to capture Wesley's energy and as you can see in the video below, I think we found out how to do that. We took Wes to the BMX track last week. I thought he would do it once and be done with it. Well, that did not happen. He loved it. He kept going around and around. David couldn't get him to stop. He would fall and get right back up again. Needless to say, daddy is proud. You know he was the Idaho state champ back in his Glory days.



You may be wondering about my background, well I have beach fever especially since it is 97 and very humid in South Carolina. Can you believe I actually miss Hawaii; even though it was over priced it was still "Absolutely Beautiful". Anyway, we will be going to the beach at the end of this month, so I'm getting in the mood.

Storm Damage

Well, we survived our first tornado. Well they don't know if it was that or high winds, but my friend said she was driving through it and it was definitely a tornado. It tore through Lake Carolina like a train. Our neighborhood and another were damaged pretty bad. We just had trees to clean up, the house if fine. Our umbrella and hammock are toast though. Just posting some pictures for everyone to see.

The first house is another neighborhood. They were hit the hardest, obviously.

The rest of the pictures are of our backyard and our neighbors on both sides.


This house is across the street. Look at the siding on the side.














Clean-up time. Chain saws were going all day. Look at how big this tree was!!!

February

First, I need to post the pictures from Lauren's first Princess party. Grandma wanted to see these.
















In February we went to Orlando with the Hayre Family. We went to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We had a good time, although our time there was too short. Hopefully, we will go back soon and ride some more rides. Wesley has a free pass he has to use soon, so I'll be visiting Robin in Tampa so we can go.
































Wes met Buzz Lightyear. How Cool!!

















Then our cousins came to see us. Wesley and I took Mark, Mary, and Kierstin to the zoo.



Then, Wesley's preschool hosted "Donuts with Dad" what a sweet thing. Wesley was all excited to wear his "work clothes" like daddy.





I told you, isn't that the cutest thing......

Daddy also went to Disney Land and bought gifts for everyone. Lauren has a REAL princess dress now.

Article on David