35 and Counting...

First birthday that I am actually feeling! I had a great time with my mom and my new camera! I took some

action shots below!

CamWow!

Chase figured out the CamWow app on my iPhone!

Scary and Scarier!

The boys have officially graduated to "scary" costumes - no more cute super heroes! I am still trying to get used to this!

A video camera (not mine), a police car (not for me), and a horse!

I was pulling out of my driveway today and as I was dutifully concentrating on buckling (I am a ruler follower!), I didn't realize to the true extent what was going on (literally) before my eyes! I suddenly saw a woman running towards my driveway crossing the street and a police car with it's lights flashing trailing behind her. Now, if you have ever been through my neighborhood, this is a very rare sighting. I sat there for an instant, trying to process what was happening and panic sets in! The thoughts that were running through my head... are they coming for me? Did I do something wrong driving down my um... driveway? Andy trimmed the trees and left the debris at the curb - was that illegal (knowing full well not)? So as I feel the adrenaline rushing through my body, I am trying to quickly come up with an explanation for Mr. Policeman, but not even knowing what for - funny how police cars with flashing lights make you feel like that! I then came to realize that they were not running towards me but rather past my driveway and onward. It was then that I turned my head to the left and saw a horse walking ever so casually down the road, as if he was taking a stroll through a field, while a woman is running along beside him (clearly the owner), and the woman with the video camera is running behind the horse, and now two flashing police cars behind him. As the police cars approached, the horse began to trot...then gallop away...I still have not heard the "the end" to the story!

Stuff

I don't even need to say long time, no write. If you read this at all anymore, there has been no new posts consistently for a long while. I am hoping to be better over the summer when hopefully I will have more time!!

But to catch up...

Landon is almost finished with his first year of kindergarten. He loves school and is now playing soccer for the city league. Landon experienced his first real thunderstorm today with golf size hail in which he will never forget as one bounced off of the driveway and hit his toe - he will be forever traumatized it hurt so badly!

Chase is growing up so fast - always wanted to be older than he was and did not want to wait to get there. His vocabulary amazes me - the words he comes up with to express himself is quite shocking at times (in a great way!) The other day he was slowly taking off a bandaid and as he was pulling on the enormous bandaid for his little cut, he was saying, "It doesn't hurt mom...well, actually it does...but I am not going to panic..."

We are counting down the days until summer break!

Pumpkin patch pics

Grandma Roemer came down for a very fun visit. We visited a nice pumpkin patch in the country. It was so beautiful! They made hay into everything from tractors to the Three Little Pigs' house!

Landon's kindergarten field trip on the Greenway

Andy chaperoned his first field trip - he had fun but was VERY tired when he got home! The kids hiked about 4-5 miles round trip!

Tent camping with the boys and friends!

I love Fall!

A few pics from our amazing southern fall. My flowers actually came up this year and thanks to the smelly deer spray, so far so good!

All in a Day!

Have you ever had that feeling that if you stepped out of your shoes at a particular moment and was the onlooker rather than being you, you would judge you as the mom-who-never-disciplines-her-kids-and-repeats-herself-one-thousand-times-in-one-minute-what-the-consequences-will-be kind of mom? I swear I would never be that mom, until today when it happened. I had to make one quick - and I mean quick - return at the mall today and had no choice but to bring the boys along. I sometimes think it is a great field trip and hope that they appreciate that there are many things to buy, but we don't buy all and often we buy none of it.

I knew I was in trouble when we walked into the mall and the boys sprinted down the shiny, newly waxed walk ways through one department store into the mall area where it became a full out race to the fountain, only to beg me for pennies to throw - which I had none. We then walk into BR to return pants and the boys decide to play hide and seek in the clothes racks as the sales person graciously grins and says "Oh, I remember those days..." and probably mumbles under her breath..."Dead beat mom who can't control her kids." but continues to smile.

As I am making my return, the boys decide to sit on the soft, leather bench - phew, I think - great, calm idea only to find that they begin to wrestle on the bench and Chase pins Landon down and sits on him. Another polite grin from another sales person, I finish my return and we leave immediately.

Next stop, Walgreens pharmacy in which the boys decide that the decibels in my voice are impossible to hear to the kid-ear. Landon ended up being punished after sitting on his brother in the massage chair and squeezing the air out of him, and had to sit at my feet while I discussed why I did not want the generic facewash but the real deal that was actually prescribed to me (turns out they get a big bonus at the end of the year if they push the generic - who knew?) and the lady was annoyed at me, my kids, the situation...

And so now we are home sweet home - boys are spending time in their rooms, and though I rarely allow myself an afternoon cocktail, decided that today would be a great day for one!

Powering Down!

It's funny how we can get all caught up in our own lives and live in our little bubbles until we have a chance to take a step back, slow things down, and take in the many little moments that make up a day, rather than sprinting to them, racing through them, and relishing in the memories after it's over. I feel so lucky that I am able to have a few months off each year to power down, and do just that.

This summer has been really incredible. I have been enjoying my time with Landon and Chase and although it is a constant battle to remind them of their manners, not to fight, and to clean up after themselves, we have had such a wonderful summer so far! And although we have events planned daily, there is never any rush to get to them, and when it is over, no rush to get dinner made. It is a nice feeling.

Our Instant Gratification World

Oh my... I don't even know where to start in on this one. I see it creeping in every day... like the oil spill in the Gulf - you know it is pouring into the water, spreading and creeping throughout ... you know it will have an effect... but just not sure what the overall impact will finally be.
I am beginning to see this with our society and especially through my boys. With the internet, DVR, ipods, and even satellite radio, there never needs to be any waiting - no commercials, no fast forwarding through cassette tapes to get to the song you want to hear, only to rewind and wait patiently to hear it again. With DVR, shows are taped and you skip through the commercials and again, no waiting. Where does this leave our society? Chase today was telling me that he just "can't wait" to watch his show. Both boys will ask if we can "skip" through commercials on the radio to hear the next song. It amazes me that with all of this amazing technology, we are creating children who tend to be even more impatient and have less of an attention span. If they don't like something, they skip through it. Or if they are surfing the internet, they don't have to read an entire article, but skim and then jump to another site. After all, don't we all do this as adults? So perhaps we are all a bit smarter these days, but with more road rage and poorer manners? The jury is still out. We'll see in twenty or so years!

Landon and Chase one year older

The last of the big happenings in 2010 (so far) is of course, Landon and Chase's birthdays! We celebrated by taking a trip to Duck, NC with our dear friends from NY. We hiked up the gigantic sand dunes in Kitty Hawk, visited an amazing lighthouse, along with a few museums, and just hung at the beach adn pool. We all had a wonderful time!

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Backing up Take 2

Landon joined a soccer team and proudly wore the number 10 while Andy helped out as the Assistant Coach. They both had a great time!

Backing up

Daddy is my hero!

Aunt Jodi came to say hi

Chase loving the popsiclesPre-surgery but post crazy-syrup-stuff - Chase claimed he was seeing double of Handy Manny!

I do this often, I realize that I have not kept anyone updated and feel terrible for moving so far away and cutting off all communication. So I first apologize for that. Secondly, I am going to try to be better about writing letters and getting the boys into writing as well so we all can keep in touch more often.

A few happenings in the year 2010... I said that this would be a big year of change (at least that is what my January motto was). Instead though, we have been having a great time just hanging in Tega Cay, SC. And although there hasn't been one huge change, there are have been several small happenings.

1. Chase had his tonsils and adnoids removed in February. And although Chase has a fuzzy idea of what happened, I was pacing the halls down to the minute of when he woke up from surgery. All went well and we "bonded" during our overnight hospital stay. Here are a few pics...

To sneeze or not to sneeze!

Chase woke up this morning, walked into my room and says, "Ugh... my sneeze won't come out."

Long time, no post

It was a hot, hot, hot day!

Chase cooling off!

Fountain in Savannah

Forsythe Park

Savannah Riverfront

The Cotton Exchange

Great lazy place!

Chase lasted a minute!

Beach fun!

A gas station in SC that actually has roosters running around as pets!

I don't even know where to begin. This has been a blog title in the past. It has been so long since I have had even one uninterrupted to write and even as I type, I am being summoned to help Chase brush his teeth. On that note, we had a wonderful getaway weekend to Hilton Head Island with a trip to Savannah embedded. It was so very hot but the boys found a great way to cool off in the Savannah "Spray Pad". It was such fun! Here are pics from the weekend... I promise to write again soon... hoping for more than a quick second.