First Day of School - August 11, 2010

Breakfast before school

Playing on the floor while mom cleans out my closet. Getting so big! Had to get rid of all newborn and 0-3 month clothes.

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It was Back to School for Jack and Grace yesterday. We did a trial run just to make sure that everything would be okay. We were home and told the teachers to call us if they needed anything. We never got a phone call, but I called to check on them once and Colin did once too. We went in to drop Grace off and once I handed her to the teacher, Jack clung on to Colin like a monkey and started to cry. Then when we walked out of her room and he suddenly got happy and starting saying bye bye to the teachers. He thought he was coming home with us. Then we went to his room and he lost it. He was NOT happy to be back after 5 months home with mommy and daddy! We left him there screaming his head off. I called about 45 minutes later, and the director said that he had stopped crying but that he was just sitting there not participating. :( Colin called later that afternoon and they said that Gracie had been perfect all day and Jack was taking a nap. When we went to pick them up, we peeked in Jack's room and the teacher had them all gathered around her playing with a shape sorter. He was engaged and looked happy. So we went to get Gracie. She got a perfect report, and took the bottles fine! When we walked into Jack's room, he came running at us and hugged Colin smiling. Colin got down on the floor and there was a little boy that Jack had played with. Colin tried to give him a high five, but he wasn't sure what that meant, so Jack took the boy's hand and opened it up and put it up to Colin's hand. Sooooo cute! Then Colin patted the boy's head, so Jack did too. They won't go back until Wednesday, so I'm ready for another meltdown at drop off. Hopefully he gets in the swing of things and likes it eventually!... sooner rather than later. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage them both in the parking lot before and after school. I'm contemplating (even though I vowed to never do this) buying one of those leashes for Jack!

AFT II

We had a great family/friends vacation to Blue Ridge, Georgia from July 21 - July 25. We rented a cabin in the middle of absolutely no where in the Chattahoochee Mountains. We spent the majority of our time in the cabin, taking care of babies and visiting. We did get to escape for a quick Mexican lunch, just the girls. The boys went White Water Rafting and also took the "big" kids tubing down a river. At night, after the kids went to bed, we got to hang out and relax. Of course we played dominoes, but not nearly as much as we did last year in Gatlinburg. Naturally, the boys enjoyed playing a few pranks on us. The best was when the girls were watching Bethenny Getting Married? out on the porch one night. Colin casually came out and announced that he was going to bed. Well, that was just a scheme. On his way in he had nonchalantly locked the doors which is the only way to get back in the house from the deck. Then a few minutes later, the TV and lights went out because they had cut the power to the entire house. The next thing you know mulch and water was being lurched at us from below! You also have to understand that this cabin was surrounded by nothing. I told the girls that I'm sure my husband was the ringleader of it all! We made lots of memories and can't wait to do it again next summer.

AFT I - Gatlinburg, TN

AFT II - Blue Ridge, GA

AFT III - Holland, MI

I'm going to leave you with several picture with no captions. I've been blogging for an hour and a half, and I need to get some things done before I go to bed.

Heide Reunion

We had a wonderful, but way too short, trip up to Indiana and Ohio last week. We got to spend 2 days in Lafayette and then we headed to Ohio for the Heide Family Reunion for 1 day. The whole trip was pretty much a nonstop party. So much fun was had by the whole family. We stopped in at the Omni so we could see Courtney's work, and she treated us to appetizers, dinner, dessert, and drinks. We met up with some friends for lunch and a play date in the park. Colin and I got to enjoy sneaking out for lunch and shopping too. We had many, many visitors and several people got to meet Grace for the first time. Very much of a whirlwind trip, but worth the hassle of traveling with babies! The reunion was a luau-themed party. We had a hog roast, competitions, relaxation, visiting, and just tons of fun! Thanks so much to all the people who helped make it stress free. My parents gave us miles so we didn't have to spend a lot on the plane tickets. The Senasecs let us borrow their BRAND NEW mini van for the weekend loaded with both car seats. My sister's friend brought over the very necessary baby item - the swing. My parents only have 1 pack and play, so Bev let us borrow another one. thanks, thanks ,thanks! It made it so we only had to travel with one item, which was our suitcase. The kids were actually very well behaved on the flights. On the flight back last night, they even got a couple of compliments - one from the flight attendant and another from a passenger. Unfortunately, my camera spent most of its time in the suitcase, so I don't have a lot of pictures. And the ones from my iPhone turned out pretty blurry.

We sat in the first row. The seats are much wider, so Colin and Jack were strapped in together. Thanks Kelly and Devin for bringing him over things to keep him occupied on the plane. He especially liked the Elmo stickers and coloring book. He did color on the side of the plane at one point though - oops!

Gracie didn't sleep for the entire flights, but here she is snoozing for a bit on the plane.

The was a toy of mine when I was a kid. Jack enjoyed it!

Gracie stayed up way too late, so she just decided to fall asleep even though she wasn't in bed.

Walking in the park

This was Paige, Jack, and Payne's favorite part of the playground.

Payne and Jack going to the zoo

Colin and Jack petting the mini horse

Jack giving Paige a surprise - a princess cup!

Having fun at the luau

The girls rode in the back of the van.

Joe, Courtney, Mom, Colin

Doing what she does

Dad, Colin

xoxo

And ending with a picture of my sweet Gracie Girl today

8/2/10

Here we have Jack saying his full name:

And as much as I was trying to put this off to the last minute (6 months), Gracie was showing signs of being ready to have her first try of oatmeal cereal. She took RIGHT to it and seemed to really enjoy it! Heavens, I think I got a bit excited--very loud and annoying voice. Sorry...

Here are some pictures taken recently:

Jack sandwich!!

Jack is ALL about kissing, hugging, and loving on Gracie girl

We went to a 1st birthday party and the back yard was a lot of water fun

I think he needs a water table and some dishes. He spent most of his time right here.

Standing on the slip-and-slide

Let's hear it for my blogging skills lately!!!! haha

Bath time