It was was a Hurricanific Birthday Weekend!

Today is my birthday so the plan was to spend the weekend celebrating.  We had planned a family barbecue to celebrate but Hurricane Irene put a huge damper on those plans.  Family bbq's are one of my favorite things in the world so I was disappointed but all in all it turned out  be a great weekend. 

Colton is ready for Irene:-)

Mom and Glenn were able to make it over Saturday morning and to stay for lunch (which was fabulous because we had a TON of party food that was already prepared).  We enjoyed some time with them and the kids were thrilled to have some visitors and eat birthday cake (the cake was prepared by Brynn and Dan it was SO yummy).  The decorations just crack me up!

Don't you just love the Christmas tree sprinkles?!  and...ahem, the age:-)

 Later in the day (and the best part of the weekend) we decided to let the kids go out and play in the rain. When we first went out, it was not raining too hard.  The kids were just playing on the deck and I was watching from the door. They were having a blast so I decided to join them to do a rain dance.  That turned into a game of rain tag with Brynn.  It wasn't long before Dan saw all of the fun we were having and joined in.  We went racing around in the back yard for a few minutes and then I noticed all of the puddles in the front of the house. Brynn's favorite thing in the world is to jump in puddles so we decided to head out front (despite the fact that neither of this kids were wearing pants...I can just imagine what our neighbors were thinking.  Lol!).  At this point the heavens opened up and it started to rain buckets!  Brynn and I splashed in the giant puddles for awhile, sang dancing in the rain, and checked out the drainage system (I love an opportunity to teach!).  We were all soaked through by then and Colton was starting to shiver so we decided to go back inside.  So...I have decided for forgive Irene for ruining my bbq because I know I will never forget the fun I had with the kids out in the rain;-)

Just after running around like crazy in the downpour.

                                       

Playing tag in the rain

Saturday night was a bit scary...okay a lot scary!  In the end, we made out fine.  There were a couple of homes in our neighborhood that had some minor damage but we managed to escape with just a bit of water in our electrical box. My entire family made it through safe and sound so I am a very thankful girl!

On Sunday, we had the best dinner!  Weeks ago Dan and I were watching "Man vs. Food".  If you haven't seen that show you have to watch it!  Anyway, they were showing all of the best foods from ballparks and one of the things we saw was a bacon cheeseburger served on a glazed crispy creme donut.  I thought that it looked like a brilliant idea (I love the salty/sweet combo...Mmmmmm!).  This is not something I would eat on a regular basis because I am still trying to lose weight and I would guess that it has a billion calories.  However, when Dan asked what I wanted for my birthday dinner, this was the first thing that jumped to my mind.  Because we had eaten SO horribly for the rest of the weekend we decided to just go ahead and top it off with my birthday dinner a day early so we could get the major fatness out of the way.  So Danny cooked up our bacon cheeseburger donuts.  OMG...this is the greatest thing in the entire world.  I'm sure it raised my cholesterol several points (and is responsible for at least 2 of the 4 lbs I put on this weekend) but it was SO worth it!!!! I will just add in an extra workout (or two) this week:-)

Best thing ever!!!!

                                             

I love being an Aunt

I'm feeling pretty nostalgic today.  Eleven years ago today was one of the best days of my life...I became an Aunt for the first time.  My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  She was all snuggly with gorgeous little chunky cheeks and thighs and I fell head over heels in love with her.  I can not even begin to tell you how much I anticipated Kaylee Danielle Willman's arrival.  At the time, my own babies were not even on the radar, but I could not wait to get my hands on my sisters (and the best part was, that I could give her back when she cried or was stinky;-)   ).  Eleven years later, my niece is this beautiful young woman whom I am SO proud of.  She is a dancer, a violinist, super smart and beautiful inside and out!  Where did the time go?!!!  Happy Birthday Kaylee...we love you tons!

Kaylee and I at a Miss America Party a couple of years ago

At this time, I am an Aunt 12 times over.   Kaylee, Ronnie, Seth, Colby, Hunter, Riley, Kaies (okay, technically he is our Godson), Aiden, Abby, Ava, Emma and Henry have all brought so much to our lives and with each one of them I felt that same feeling of falling head over heals in love with them at very first sight.  I am endlessly proud of each of them and find it so hard to believe how big they are getting.  There are a lot of moments these days where I wish I could stop time!  Since I can't do that, Plan B is to take as many pictures as I possibly can so that I can look back at every single moment of their lives:-)

In other news...THERE IS A HURRICANE COMING....AHHHHHHHHHH (I'm freaking out a little)!

THE EARTH MOVED!!!!

So, yesterday I'm in Wilmington in an important business meeting.  We were reviewing this publication that I have been working on that is now officially behind the deadline (not a major deal because I set the deadline and am a bit of a slave driver when it comes to work).  We had been working on it for hours and we were really making some headway.

All of the sudden the conference room table starts to shake.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  I looked up at my co-workers who all were just frozen and then I noticed that the walls behind my boss were shaking. Did I mention that I was in a sky scraper (ok...a 10 story building may not technically be a skyscraper but to us small town girls IT IS!)?  I grabbed my cell phone and said, "We have to get out of the building".  September 11th flashed through my head and I just knew the whole building was going to collapse (I told you I was a small town girl) and the only thing I wanted to do was get out of that building. 

What a surreal moment!  It's funny how in the flash of a second so many things can go through your head.  My first thought as I said was 9/11 but then I thought:  hurricane?, OMG!, Is this the end?, gotta call Danny, the kids!, #@!%, GET OUT!.  I'm sure there were more thoughts in there but those are the ones that stand out in my head.

So we did finally get out of the building and for as far as I could see there were just people streaming out of all of the buildings in the city.  We were being told that we had to walk away from the building (which made no sense to me because then we just walked in front of another high rise building).  I knew Dan was in the city as well so I tried to call him but couldn't get a call through.  I tried to call my mom but couldn't get a call out to her either.  My sister somehow got a text through asking if I was okay but I wasn't able to respond to her text.  So frustrating!!!!

In the end it turned out to be such a minor thing, thank God,  (though very annoying because my car was stuck in the parking garage which had to be inspected for safety before we could get our cars) but...HOW SCARY?!  I just know that it is one of those moments that I will always remember with vivid clarity.  This is one experience that I hope to never have again!

She loved it:-)

Brynn LOVED her first day of school! Here is a little Q and A about her first day...

How was your first day?  It was good.  I like it!  I made new friends

Did you have fun?  yup

What was your favorite part of the day?  Playing outside.  I played on a seesaw.  When it went up my toosh came off the seat but I landed back on it.

Who did you play on the seesaw with?  Well...everyone.

Who did you play with today?  I remember one girl's name is Shelby and I played with the Riley in a yellow shirt (there are two Rileys).

Did you do centers today?  Yup.  We had to take our monkey (this is a name card) and put it on the center that we wanted to play in.  We were allowed to pick whatever center we wanted and could stay a long time.

What centers did you play in?  Ummm...playdough, coloring, and pony's (she played with My Little Pony Dolls)

Did you read a book?  Yup.  We read The Kissing Hand.

That's funny, we read that last night.  Did you tell your teacher that?  No, but I did tell Grammie that I gave Colton a kissing hand.  Oh, and Mama guess what?  We get to go outside and play in the winter too so we will have to pack warm clothes (not sure why she was so excited about this...she played outside at her old schools too.  Lol.)

What did you learn about today?  The rules and the letter A.

You already know the letter A right?  Yes...cause I'm smart!

Do you want to go back tomorrow or should we go back to your old school?  No Mama, I want to go to my new school.  I like it and my teacher is nice.

PS.  Colton had a great day too and Mama survived.  On to day 2...

The Kissing Hand

Today is Brynn's First Day of Pre-K.  She was so excited to attend her new school and must have asked at least 20 times on the way "Are we there yet?".  Dan and I both dropped her off because we both really wanted to see her off.  She walked right in, put her stuff in her cubby, and went off to play.  She is so ready for this new adventure.  I am so happy for her and proud of her but...Sigh...Mama is struggling a bit!

Brynn in front of her cubby

The hardest part of the morning was not seeing Brynn off (because she was so happy.  And I'm in no way saying that it was easy) but in watching Colton walk into his school all by himself.  Colton and Brynn are very close.  He used to cry when I dropped him off at daycare but in the past several months  Brynn has taken his hand and they very happily walk off together into the multi-purpose room (this is where all of the kids play in the morning until their teachers come get them).  So...I'm really sad about Colton being there by himself.  Last week another little boy hit Colton and Colton took off running for his big sister.  It breaks my heart to think that he doesn't have anyone to run to now.  I'm sure he will be fine and that this is much harder on me than him but like I said...I'm struggling a bit.

Last night in preparation for today, we read the book "The Kissing Hand".  If you have not read this book and you have a child that is about to go to school, camp, a weekend away, etc., you have to get this book.  It's about a little raccoon that is scared to leave his Mama to go to school for the first time.  His Mama places a kiss in the palm of the little raccoon's hand so that he will be able to feel his mother's love whenever he wants.  We read the book and then took turns exchanging kisses for our kissing hands.  I don't know about anyone else but I am sure happy to have my kissing hand today!!!

Brynn at her Pre-K open house the other night.  This is her classroom.

I'll let you know what Brynnie says about her first day of school...

Let's Go Wolfpack!

Brynn's soccer season officially started on Saturday morning with the first practice.  She did amazingly well.  Last season was a bit rough for Brynn.  She cried nearly every practice when someone would take her (pink) ball and she was a bit sad when she went through the entire season without making a goal (though we told her she was still a star:-)  ).  When it was time to sign-up for fall soccer we weren't sure that she would want to do it again but my girls is a trooper because she was eager to get back on the team.

I was blown away by the change in her at her first practice.  There were no tears, she was really going after the ball (last season she was happier to pick flowers out in the field), and she almost scored a goal.  She was so excited and proud with how well she did and told us that she was older now so that is why she is so much better;-)

She was also excited to have a few friends on her team.  Her cousin Aiden (who rocked his very first practice) is on her team as is a friend from her ballet class, a friend from her new Pre-K class and a couple of friends that we met last soccer season.

So...Let's go Wolfpack!!!  Fingers crossed that Brynn scores that much anticipated first goal this season:-)

Brynn and Aiden

 Colton and Emma organizing the equipment

Huddle time:-)

                                        
                                            

God Needs a Flower Pot

When I was little and it would rain outside, my brother and sister always told me that it was just God watering his flowers (just like thunder happened when God moved his furniture).  So, at some point we started telling Brynn the same thing.  Everytime it rains we jokingly say..."God must be watering his flowers again today."

A couple of days ago, it was one of those days where it just rained all day long.  Brynn really wanted to ride her bike outside and was  little frustrated that it wouldn't stop raining so she could go out.  On our way to the grocery store to pick up a few things Brynn looked sadly out the car window and asked me why it was still raining.  Like always I casually said, "I guess God's flowers needed a lot water today".  To which Brynn responded, "Why does God make it rain everytime he waters his flowers?  He really needs to get a flower pot!".

Lol...I love that girl!

The Anniversary of a Perfect Day

Five years ago today, was one of the best days of my life!

First, My beautiful Godson, Kaies, was born.  I was overwhelmed with the love I felt for that teeny tiny bundle when I got my first glimpse at him.  That was my first taste of what a mother's love would be really like.  He was just so perfect and I could not believe how much life can change in a single moment.  It is one of those days that I can remember with vivid clarity.  I had anticipated his arrival almost as much as his Mama, Sara.  I am so proud to be his Godmama!  Happy 5th Birthday sweet Kaies!

Today also marks the 5th anniversary of me finding out that Brynn was on her way.  I could not believe it and still didn't tell anyone for a few days but was just elated with my little secret:-)

Kaies and Brynn at one of their first play dates:-)

                                        

Two New Family Members:-)

This summer has been so wonderful for many reasons but I am also excited to report that it brought us two new family members!

Juliette Kaelyn Brown was born on August 12th at 12:37 am. She weighed 9lbs and 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Her proud parents are Steve (Dan's cousin) and Erin.  Welcome baby Juliette and congrats to the whole family!!

Proud Grandparents:-)  They are glowing!!!

Chelsea Lyn Hawkins was born June 27th at 6:47 pm.  She weighed 6 lbs 4 ozs and was 20 inches long. She is the daughter of Christy (my cousin) and Wheylin Hawkins.  She is gorgeous! Congrats to the Hawkins family:-)

Happy Birthday Mommom/Nana!

Today is my Mommom's 79th Birthday!  She is such an incredible woman and I am so proud that she is my Mommomm and my children's Nana.  I absolutely ADORE this woman.  She is exactly the kind of grandmother that I hope to be someday.  She is spunky, a prankster, (a bit stubborn), and is endlessly devoted to her family.  She also has the best laugh in the entire world.  We had a birthday party for her over the weekend and we bought her a small gift and she said, "I wish you hadn't of done this.  I would rather you spend your money on the kids."  That is just who she is...completely unselfish.  I have so many amazing memories about and with her over the years!  They just don't make grandmothers better than this one;-)

                                              Happy birthday Mommom!  We love you tons!!

Colton is 17 months old!

Dear Colton,

You are 17 months old today....where did the time go?!  I cannot believe how fast you are growing and all of the new things that you have been up to. 

You are picking up new words everyday.  We love listening to you jibber jabber and you do it all of the time though, they tell us that you are quiet in school.  You have recently started saying "Brynnie" and she tries to get you to say it over and over because she loves hearing it.

You are in a Mommy phase right now.  You want to be with Mama ALL of the time (specifically on Mama's hip or in Mama's lap). I am trying to remember to enjoy every single moment of it, because I know that it will be over as quickly as it started.  I think Daddy is looking forward to this stage being over:-)

Your favorite things right now include Shoes (specifically a pair of crocs that we bought you while camping), balls of any kind and Woody from Toy Story.  You still sleep with your "magic blanket" (more about this in a future blog) every night and I personally hope you sleep with it forever.  You have also developed a love for bedtime stories.  Your favorite book is one that Aunt Kim sent you that has pictures of animals in it.  You also love being sung to at night.  Mama is a terrible singer but I sure do try.  We sing Good Morning Beautiful and You are my Sunshine every night and sometimes mix in others.  Your favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider but that one winds you up so we don't sing that one at night.

I should also mention that you have a special affinity for bananas right now.  You absolutely MUST have one every morning or you have a total meltdown.  Sometimes the very first words out of your mouth in the morning is "Banana".  We actually have to hide them from you because if you see one, you will throw a total fit until you can have some.  You also demand a banana if you see something that reminds you of bananas (including corn on the cob which Daddy and I love).

You enjoy dancing and Daddy and I ADORE watching you dance.  You really 'get down' at this point and Daddy and I desperatley want to catch it on video so we can watch it forever.

We are overwhelmed with how much we love you Little Turtle!

XOXO,
Mama

Colton's Favorite Jammies

While packing for vacation, I realized that Colton was down to three pairs of pajamas that actually fit him (he has had a recent growth spurt). I went to Walmart to look for cheap pajamas that he could wear both now and in the fall when it's a little cooler.  I found a few cute pairs and packed them up for the trip to New Jersey.

I should preface the next part of the story by telling you that Colton is obsessed with balls right now.  He screams out in pure delight every time he sees one and is generally carrying one around with him.  He especially likes soccer balls (no clue why...maybe he just likes the colors or maybe he recognizes it from Brynn's soccer team).

So, one evening on our camping trip I pull out one of the pairs of Colton's new pajamas.  It happens to be the pair that are covered with different sports balls.  Colton freaked out!!!  He was SO excited and ran around the camper showing everyone his new jammies while shouting "Ball, Ball, Ball" and pointing to the soccer balls on his shirt and pants.  It was hysterical! 

I put them on him last night and it was a slightly less enthusiastic response but he still had to spend several minutes telling me all about the balls on his jammies.  So sweet:-)  It really is the simple things...

Colton in his favorite jammies.

                                                        

Summer Vacation 2011

If you have been wondering where I have been...We just got back from a wonderful 8 days at the Jersey Shore!  I have been looking forward to this vacation for so long.  It's been years since I have had a full week off of work (unless you count maternity leave...which I don't).  Dan’s entire side of the family makes this trip every year and we usually go for part of the week but this year it worked out so that we could go for the entire week.  This trip is really fun because the entire family is there together but everyone also does their own thing.  So, we had plenty of family time but also had a lot of opportunity to do things on our own.  This post could get super long so I'm going to try to stick to the highlights of my Top 10 favorite things:-)

10.  Sea Shell hunting:  My brother-in-law and his family were able to join us for a few days which means that Brynn got a lot of quality time with her BFF Abby.  We took them to the beach one morning for a seashell hunt.  You sat on a blanket with a group and learned a little about the shells (the girls were completely bored but very polite about it).  Next you went hunting for shells.  The girls did manage to pick up a few shells but were mostly interested in running in and out of the water.  It was such a joy just to watch them play together!  Colton could have cared less and spent the time playing in the sand and water.  After the hunt you were supposed to go back to the blanket and learn about the shells you found.  We missed this part because we were playing in the water but we did make it back in time for the girls to make their seashell necklace.

                                  Patiently waiting for the fun stuff

9.  Date night:  There are tons of aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc around who don’t get to spend a lot of time with the kids throughout the year so it is a longstanding tradition that the parents of the younger ones (and sometimes the older ones) get to have a date night while the aunts/uncles/grandparents watch the little ones.  So Dan and I got to sneak away for dinner at our favorite little Italian place (this place has the best mozzarella sticks!).  It was wonderful to eat HOT food and have the time to enjoy our meal and a few drinks. We finished up our night with what else…Ice cream!!!

8.  The Beach!  Who doesn't love the beach but it was especially fun for us this year because it was Colton's first real experience with the ocean and he adored it!!!  He was unbelievably happy to run in and out of the waves.  Brynn also loved it and loved flying her kite on the beach as well.

This is awesome!!!

Flying a kite

                                           
7.  Ice Cream.  Ice cream is pretty much a standard food group at camping.  I rarely eat ice cream (because I prefer chips and fries) but something about camping makes me want to eat if every day.  We sampled many varieties but I’m pretty sure my favorite was the Peanut Butter Ripple…yummy!

This is sooooooooo good!

6.  Butterfly exhibit.  Sea Isle is the home of a very small live butterfly garden.  It’s been there for a few years but we have never made the time to go.  Brynn loves a Fancy Nancy book where they go to visit a butterfly garden so this year we finally made time to go.  I just thought it was the neatest thing. There were butterflies fluttering around everywhere.  It was beautiful and it turned out the Colton loved it even more than Brynn did.

5.  Naptime:  Isn’t naptime fabulous? This is probably the last year that both kids will take a nap at the campground so I used the time wisely.  I read, napped, did a little work (boo!) or just sat around and talked.

  Pre-naptime in the hammock

4.  Mini-golf/rides.  I don’t usually love mini-golf but the entire gang goes on these adventures so we went too.  I had the best time.  Brynn was really into it this year and did a great job and Colton was a little rotten but had a great time running around the golf course and throwing his golf ball.  I didn’t get to finish because Colton’s attention span had run out but I did manage to get some great pics!  When I was a kid, I never realized how much fun my parents had when us kids were riding the rides.  I could have watched the kids ride all day. They all had huge grins on their faces, wonderful belly laughs and were just bursting with happiness.  It was also fun to ride a ride with Brynn where we got to fly “like Tinkerbell”.

Flying like Tinkerbell

3.  The Lake!  I ADORE the lake at the campground.  I love it because the water is warmer, it’s just easier with the kids and we can walk there.  We spent some time at the lake every single day.  Brynn spent some time learning to swim and it turns out that our Colton is quite the little fish.  He was incredibly happy sticking his entire face in the water and splashing everyone within his reach.  We had to literally drag him out of the lake kicking and screaming several times to take him to lunch (and you know how much that boy loves to eat!).

Cousins at the lake

2.  Time with the extended family.  Most of Dan’s family lives in New Jersey. While it’s not super far away, we only get to see them 3 or 4 times a year.  I love having everyone together.  We played red neck golf, road the tram car, had campfires (which included singing and eating Smores!) went to the beach or lake and just sat around enjoying each other’s company.  I’m so happy that my kids have this week to be surrounded by the love of all of those great people.

Brynn playing in the waves with Aunt Carol and Kristy.

Brynn, Colton, Sarah, and Rachel

1.  Snuggles!  My all time favorite thing is weekend mornings when the kids wake up and come snuggle in Dan and I’s bed with us.  I just live for those mornings when the four of us (okay, usually it’s five because Pumpkin is always with us and sometimes the cat joins in too) spend time snuggling, talking or watching cartoons.  We have been so busy on the weekends lately that we haven’t been able to do this nearly often enough.  Vacation brought 8 amazing days of snuggles in the morning!  I wish every day could start like that!

  I also got some rainy day snuggles in the camper:-)

Shew…I warned you it was going to be long but hey…I had 8 days to make up forJ

M.I.A.

You may be wondering if I have dropped of the face of the earth.  I haven't:-)  I'll update you about our whereabouts for the week later. For now, I will just say...LIFE IS GOOD:-)