And coming next...

PRESCHOOL! Tyson starts preschool next week. Ya'll I can't beleive it...just five minutes ago he was a baby! He is so excited about going! He got a letter in the mail this week telling us about orientation! It was just precious to hear him talking all about it!

 

Tyson is also becoming more and more funny! He went to bible school at the church where he will be going to preschool. Each night he would come home and tell me stories about what he learned. I was really surprised by how much he could remember. One morning we were talking more about "his school" and he said to me "MAMA did you know that God is going to come to my house??" I smiled and said, "Really He is?" Then I told him, "Well you know it is kind of hard to understand, but God is already at your house. He is with us all of the time." He thought for a minute then said, "Then where's his truck??" HAAAAA HAAAA I nearly fell to the ground!

 

Then later on a Saturday night we were talking about going to church the next day. It is sometimes very difficult to get him dressed on Sunday mornings (insert sarcastic smile!). So, in effort to make things go smoothly I was talking to him about what he could wear. I told him that he would wear his handsome blue shirt, kakhi pants and that he could wear his new Spiderman underwear that he was REALLY excited to have (in fact the minute I brought them home he tore into the package, stripped off his pants, and put on a pair right away). Anyway...Tyson looked at me and said "AAh MAMA Jesus is going to see my Spiderman underwear at church tomorrow!!" Jeeze he kills me! That afternoon Michael asked him what Jesus thought about his underwear and he said, "He wubbed (loved) them!!" I LOVE THIS BOY! I just can't wait to see what he is going to come home telling me from preschool...or help me Lord, what he may tell his teachers!! 

First Trip to the Dentist

Well the time has come for Tyson to visit the dentist. (He also chipped a tooth so I was worried about that too.) My cousin Morgan works at a pediatric dentist office in Raleigh. She along with a life-long friend Monica helped me get an appointment today! I was SO PROUD of Tyson! He did a great job getting his teeth cleaned. The dentist said they look great and not to worry about the chip. Whew! I was nervous...it is hard to brush a 3-year-old's teeth!

Not so sure about this!

Miss Monica was awesome!

Morgan helped entertain Juel (the office is full of awesome things for kids)!

Dr. Pretzler

He really had a great connection with Tyson (despite the picture ha ha).

Checking out the surfboard!

 

They also give each child a token that allows them to get a big bouncy ball out of a machine...that, along with the really cool fish tank were also highlights of the dentist trip. Who knew dentistry could be so fun?!

Cool Party

Well leave it to Uncle Mike to get us "the hook up" for a cool party. Michael's best friend Daniel has a little boy, Dexter, who is Tyson's age. We were invited to his birthday party in downtown Winston Salem. It was at this cool one-screen movie theater. They showed  a classic silent film "The Big Red Balloon." I was a bit unsure if it would hold my kids' attention, but they both loved it. All of the children wore little tam hats made out of felt. They also had a balloon artist making the coolest things for all of the kids! (And LOTS of really cool party favors, popcorn, twizzlers, balloon shaped cookies, and mimosas for the grown-ups!)

Perhaps Uncle Mike's partying days are changing...he left Dexter's party to go to another child's birthday party! My how times have changed!!

Juel is in LOVE with Michael, so she was just delighted to see him!

Chilling with this crazy hat!

Waiting in line for a balloon with Gee (see isn't she cute!)

Of course Tyson chose a tractor!

Peek-a-boo

(Attempting to ride the balloon tractor...help me!)

Three Sisters

Grandma's sister Marie, who lives in Washington DC came for a visit. Of course Grandma wanted to show off her babies, so we all went down to visit Aunt Agnes so they could all visit together.

Ahh...this is the life!

Kicking back on Mommy's bed!

Juel's pack-n-play bit the dust...so she had to sleep in a big girl bed. She thought she was so BIG and would sneak out of the room every chance she got! It was so funny!

 

They love to sit on the porch in the mornings...check out mom's cool beach nightgown! Ha Ha! And check out her cute hair! She is just so pretty right now I can hardly stand it!!

These two would lay back and say "aaahh this is the life"!!

It certainly is!

Silliest boy!

Ok..so with the pack-n-play busted, and Michael and Travis arriving, we had to be creative with sleeping arragements. All week Tyson had been begging to sleep on this little sette that he slept on when he was a baby (we are in to "when I was a baby stories these days). So we rigged it up with a float and the pack-n-play pad so that he could! He slept there the rest of the week! Now just compare:

My teeny tiny baby!!! (We took this picture the night Mom and I saw the sea turtle hatch!)

Late night peir fishing witht he boys!

Tyson thought he was so cool!

Baby girl wearing her "Life is Good" shirt waving bye bye to the beach!!

My Girl

My Boy

Last Summer Trip

...to AB of course! Mom has not enjoyed the fact that she has had to use so many of her vacation/sick days dealing with cancer. On August 3 she took  her (hopefully) final step in full recovery from Breast Cancer. She had her ovaries removed and breast reconstruction. She did great in the surgery! It lasted about 4 hours. It is always so hard when they take her away from me to go to the OR...it feels like my heart is ripping. However, at her hospital I feel so comforted by the love and support she is given. Her BFF Nicole checked on her throughout the surgery to give me reports. Michael, Pastor Mark, Uncle Myron, and Aunt Barbara were also waiting with me. Once mom made it to the recovery room, she was released to go home in about an hour! It was just amazing! The following week we enjoyed being home together...then back to the subject of her leave days. Aunt Tillie's condo was open for the second week, so we decided she could recover at the beach as well as she could at home...so off we went! Amy and Hunter met us down there to help get us settled in  because mom could not lift anything.  It was really a great help, plus they were able to enjoy two days at the beach. Tyson and Juel enjoyed getting to show off their swimming skills and splash in the waves with them. Then mom, the kids, and I were there for a few days alone until Michael and Travis joined us at the end of the week. It was a great way to end summer vacation!

Off we go...

Alice Ann

Matt, Alison, and Baby Alice came for a visit one Sunday afternoon. She is growing so fast and is just precious. I look forward to many fun times with cousins!

Juel was not sure about Gee holding someone else!

Immediately upon arrival...Grandma Raye must have the baby!!

Look at that smile!

With all of her great-grandchildren! (not the best picture)

Giving kisses!

Look at those baby blues!

Camp Kanata

Each summer Travis works at Camp Kanata in Wake Forest as part of the grounds "crew"! He loves it and so do we! Kanata is part of the YMCA organization and is very family focused. They love to have families come visit and join the campers for lunch. The camp is just so cool. If you close your eyes and picture a summer camp, I feel like Kanata captures those images! I think it will be so awesome for our kids to go there when they are older.

 I did not take many pictures on our last visit. This is the view from the dining hall. It is hard to see, but it has an outdoor ampitheater, chapel, water slides, "the blob", water trampoline, canoes, a shooting range, ropes course, horse stables, garden site, lots of trails, arts and crafts and lots more.

Waiting for the leader to ring the lunch bell!

Loving time with daddy!