Speaking of pulling teeth..

I went for an orthodontic consultation today to see what it would take to straighten out my lower teeth. After seeing a super-tan and very fast talking orthodontist I realized that my smile is perfect for me.. a little crooked and unique. Of course taking a look at the "estimate of charges" did make my heart stop a little. I also began to wonder about the wisdom teeth I have scheduled to be removed in mid October. Not only will the surgery slow down the marathon training, the cost is going to dig into our Christmas funds. Ugh.. maybe I will wait until after tax return season. Sometimes I hate being a grown-up.

Ballet

Let's talk about Ballet. How many of you have ever been to a ballet class for 2-3 year-olds before? Wow. It was a lot more hectic than I had imagined. It really didn't make for good pics, but I did get a nice before class picture of Lily the ballerina.

Next month Lily will move up to the three year old class; which, I am hoping, will have a lot less tears and children with better listening skills.

Lily will have her very first recital December 5... for now you will just have to enjoy some of her dress-up/pretend ballerina pics:

Family visit!

It is always nice to see family (hint, hint to anyone who hasn't come for a visit), but we know that living way on the other side of the country makes it a little difficult for visits to actually happen. Lucky for us, Marice and her hubby Harlan (please correct me if the spelling is wrong) have been traveling around and happened to be in our area! Yay for a visit and for a lovely dinner.

He are the newlyweds at dinner:

Two gorgeous ladies, who both look very young for their ages:

Thanks again for taking the time to see us! We love you guys!

BTW

BTW, I am still alive and around! We have been getting into the swing of this back to school/back to actually having a schedule thing, and it has put my leisurely blogging on the back burner. So here are just a few things for you (my one or two readers out near the pacific) to look forward to:

*Gavin has officially begun his voyage into the 2nd grade.. and is totally loving it

*Lily starts (pre)Ballet on 9-9-09

*Dean is counting to 15, skipping 16 and then continuing on to 20 (You should hear the way he says eleven! I MUST record it!)

*Gavin has begun flag-football, the opening ceremonies should be in 2 weeks

*Lily will turn 3 in less than a month, some sort of pink party is in the planning stages

*Dean doesn't want to hold my hand in public anymore *sigh*-- well I think it's because he wants to chase after the big kids, and I am trying not to take it personally

Run for the Red

Gavin ran in his very first "official" 5k today! The "Run for the Red" aka "Rockin' Red" is a race here in Fayetteville, with all of the proceeds going to the American Red Cross. Gavin ran 3.1 miles in 33 mins!! The course is very hilly, and incredibly challenging... and guess who won the bronze medal for his age group!!! Great job Gavin!!


We are so proud of him!

Of course, Gavin didn't run it alone. I pushed the babies up that same hilly, challenging course too. Everyone of us was registered for the run, and guess who won the silver in her age group! No, not me.. I'm a slow poke with that stroller... Lily won the silver medal in her age group! She had a time of 34 mins! Great job to Lily too!

New Talents

New talents are emerging all over the place! Gavin with the piano, Dean with his abc's and counting to 15!... and now Lily:

What an awesome trick! Good job Lil!

The big blue couch

I have a real love for antiques and funky pieces of furniture, but definitely not the money for it. I am always looking out for antique shops, yard sales, and my absolute favorite.. the estate sale.
A lucky happening upon an estate sale united us with this lovely big blue couch for only $50! A beautiful piece of craftsmanship, gorgeous material, and of course, nice legs.
 Countless moves, a cat with uncut claws, and three adorable yet destructive children has made it necessary to say goodbye to the big blue couch.

As you can see from the picture above, there is a spring coming out of the bottom (under Dean). And you can see in the picture below some of the beautiful detailing that most people don't have on their furniture.
We have said our last goodbye's to the blue beast and now have a replacement brown/grey love seat in the house. How very "Rooms-To-Go". Nothing special or unique in or living room now, but also nothing falling apart either.

(yes, that is Gavin outside on trash night with no shoes on again! Oh, how quickly we forget about stitches on the bottom of our feet!)

Aug 11

It has been 6 yrs, and everything is different. I think of what happened, what could have been, what should have been, and even more how grateful I am to be where I am today.
I miss you.

Lovely Lily

Lovely Lily has always been 100% girly. I write the word 'always' as if she is completely grown already. Lily is 2 years old, she will be 3 in October, and already she is completely high-maintenance. Yesterday morning I asked Lily to go to the potty (for obvious reasons), and when I entered the bathroom to help her, this is what I found:

When I asked her what was going on she matter-o-factly replied that she was doing her nails.

I love this girly girl so much! She cracks me up day after day!

Keeping Busy

We found this really cool park near downtown Fayetteville with Tennis courts, a running trail next to a lake, and very new playground equipment. Here are a few pics of us at "Mazarak Park":




I love this one below.. I think I am going to get it blown up, maybe black and white.





Of course with the lovely heat and humidity, eventually the kids wanted to find a place to play that was air conditioned. We found the Fayetteville Children's Museum downtown, and that place totally rocks! The kids can pretend shop, play dress-up, learn about TV stations, and a whole lot of other activities that were age appropriate for all three of them. Here are just a few pictures:
Lily shopping:
Dean was racing around with that shopping cart! He did not want to move on to any other activity!

Gavin was at the working register pushing buttons and really getting into the job:

This is Gavin at the stationary bike. The computer would tell kids how many calories they burned in terms that kids can understand; for example, Gavin peddled pretty hard and it told him he burned as many calories as one glass of chocolate milk.

Gavin and Dean working with simple machines.

More pictures and blogs to come soon! Summer is almost over already!!