Through her eyes

So, I know that I am blessed with 2 incredibly gifted and smart children--But sometimes you get the chance to enjoy a moment when you could not be more in awe and grateful for all that they are and to be able to experience life through their eyes. I had the opportunity last week to visit Faith's school and as I was browsing through her "Writer's Workshop" notebook (which is a journal that they write in everyday on whatever topic that they want) when two pages particularly caught my eye, they were entitled "Happy Times" and "Sad Times".......it will shock many of you that this had me in tears, but in her words here it is:

Happy Times:

• turning 5
• the first day of kindergarten
• Disney World
• my Mom got married
• my brother turning 1 & 2
• Meme making home-made ice cream
  
• new school
• made a friend
• Cash family birthdays

Sad Times:

• my dog got killed
• my Mom's Mom's dad died
• my Mom got in a wreck, but lived
• Baby Cash died (she meant Bolejack)

Isn't it amazing the little things that stick in their heads, and yet how much the big things actually mean to them, even though you don't think they can appreciate it? Wow!

The Big 3-0!!!

There was no stopping it....wishing and hoping that it wasn't happening, I turned the big 3-0 last Saturday, and Tony made sure that we had a blast celebrating. We met up with Paul and Jennifer on Friday night and after checking out their fabulous new house in Durham, we headed over to Raleigh for the Kenny Chesney concert. He was, of course, AWESOME--even played some old-school DMB!! After picking up the kids from Cathy (yes, Faith is driving the lawn mower, and of course Connor is always thrilled with a ride) we headed to the pool and spent the afternoon swimming before heading to the Durham Bulls game. It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday--with friends and family, who could ask for more?!? I just hope that God will see fit to give me another 30 years to spend with my husband and my family, and that the next 30 years will be as full of laughter and love as the first 30 years.....isn't there a song to that effect?!?

Guess Who is 2?!?

Hard to believe but Connor has officially turned 2, and boy did we celebrate!! We had a Curious George cookout and pool party at Meme's house on Saturday the 9th of August. He had an absolute ball and seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. All of the kids enjoyed swimming and just being together.

The following Monday, my Mom, Faith, Connor and I headed down to Oak Island for a week at the beach. For the most part the weather was great, and we made the most of the one rainy day by taking the ferry from Southport to Ft. Fisher and checking out the Ft. Fisher Aquarium. Connor's actual birthday (the 14th) came and went without much fanfare, but he did learn to say "two" when asked how old he is, but we are still working on learning to hold up 2 fingers! He also got tons of phone calls from family at home which made him feel so special.

Mom headed back home to Roxboro on Friday afternoon, but soon after she left we were joined by Meme, Jesse and Makenna--and we were all really glad to see Tony when he arrived late on Friday evening. Faith, Makenna and Jesse had a great time learning to boogie board on Saturday, and Connor couldn't have been happier to finally have a parent there who would actually stay out in the water with him for more than 5 minutes--he loved it!! After our traditional stop at the Yacht Basin Provision Company for lunch we headed home on Sunday to get ready for the week.

We are so blessed to have been able to celebrate Connor's 2nd birthday with so many family members, and to have spent yet another wonderful week at Long Beach. I so enjoyed spending some quality time with my Mom, seeing her interact with my children, and seeing my kids enjoy what has always been such a special place to me. The First Sail beach cottage has been one of the very most constant places in my life and crossing "the big bridge" just always feels like coming home.