Sept. 5th-Sept 9th

Happy Labor day! A day to be lazy and an extra day with Matt home is a great day! We went to my sister's house and the kids had a great time. They always have fun no matter what! I love that about them!

Tuesday... the first day of preschool! It was more of an orientation/ meet the teacher type of day but it went really well. Jacek is now in pre-k and Luna started her first year in the 2 year old classroom. We walked around and met the teachers and other classmates. We were there for maybe an hour or so. Luna was so cute. As we were walking up to the school she was holding my hand and nervously rubbing her thumb on the inside of my hand. She didn't even realize she was doing it. It was a success!

Wednesday... Piano lessons! Jacek had an amazing session. I was so proud of him; he blew me away! He is getting so good at reading his notes. He did so well Ms. Anna gave him 2 gold stars and he even learned how to take a bow next to the piano. Seriously, the kid is truly talented! :)

Thursday... First real day of preschool without me! I was a little nervous for Luna. We dropped Jacek off at his class first and he walked in with all the confidence in the world. I think it was good for Luna to see that. I walked Luna into her classroom and she ran over to their big play kitchen. She started making bacon, eggs, pizza and many other things. She had at least 5 burners going! She was so involved she wouldn't say bye to me. All of the other kids were crying for their moms but Luna was in off in her own world. I was glad she was handling it so well because it would have really broke my heart if she wanted me stay. It broke my heart anyway, who am I kidding? As soon as I hit the car I started crying! I walked into school with 2 kids and out with no kids. It was a very empty feeling. I went and had breakfast with my dad and he did a great job distracting me until it was time to pick the kids up. Jacek was the perfect boy and listened very well. Luna did very well, too but she eventually cried a little bit for me. She got over quickly, though. I'm so proud of my babies. We came home and while I was making lunch Luna and Jacek wrestled on the ground for a good 20 minutes. They were away from each other for a couple of hours and it was quite obvious that they missed each other. It filled my heart with warmth and love!

Haha, she made this face all the way to school!

Now, it's Friday! We are headed to Hilton Head tonight! I am stuck at work for a couple of hours and then I will make the long drive while the kids are sleeping... hopefully! We are all very excited about our family vacation.We went last year and had a blast so we are looking forward to the beach, pool, tiki hit and whatever else may come our way. Until next week...

August 29th-September 2nd

Monday, we got to see baby G. Jacek and Luna were so excited. I didn't tell them before because I didn't want them to keep bugging me about it. "Can we leave yet? Can we leave now?" Their excitement was cute but exhausting. I love that freaking kid, though. He is such a laid back chill baby/ He reminds me of Luna when she was a newborn. Holding Caleb made me realize how much I miss holding and rocking little babies. There is something so calming and soothing about it. I snapped some shots of the kids with baby G. These are from 2 separate visits but I will post them together. Y'all know I go picture crazy!

                            They were so excited to meet their cousin. It was quite adorable!

On Tuesday, we discovered a park that was 5 houses down from our house. I've lived in my house for 5 years and had no idea that park was there. It's a small park and is tucked away but I know about every park! This was shocking to me but exciting too. There were 2 swings there and 2 basketball hoops. There's a huge area of green grass that will be great for soccer or kickball. We also did our usual Tuesday night Edgewood concert series in the park. This was the last one until next year. The band that played was called Jimmy's New Invention. They were so good and Jacek and Luna loved them. They danced the entire time.

As you can tell, my kids were the only ones dancing. I had a smile from ear to ear just watching them dance the night away. It's pure happiness to me to watch them dance so freely. At  one point the lead singer walked over to Luna and asked, "What's your name?" She held the microphone to Luna's mouth and Luna said, "What's your name?" Everyone started laughing. It was so cute. The lead singer asked her again only to get the same reply. "What's your name?" Jacek finally came to the rescue, "Her name is Luna." And the kids continued to dance the night away. They were very fussy by the time we got home. When my babies are tired I feel like we had a great day.

On Wednesday, Jacek had piano. After piano we always go and visit with my dad. My dad and Luna have such a special bond. It always makes me smile no matter what kind of day I'm having.

We went grocery shopping with my dad. We have our system down. Dad takes Jacek and I take Luna. Luna and I whip through the lanes as quickly as possible because it seems we are always a minute away from a meltdown. My dad wanted to get some grocery shopping done but Jacek insisted that they look at greeting cards. He made papaw read 10-15 different cards to him. He told papaw that he wanted to get me a nice card. My dad was so patient. He just let Jacek keep picking out cards until he was done. After that we picked up some lunch and headed back to my house. We had a great lunch and I put all the groceries away. After that we went to a small neighborhood park by my sister's house. There were a couple of swings and Luna loves to swing!

After the park we dropped papaw off and headed back home. We had a little bit of time to kill before Jacek had soccer practice. He was also getting his soccer pictures taken so we practiced on how he would smile. This is what he liked:

I thought it was great but I wasn't sure if he was going to do his smile when it came time for the pictures. I had him smile for me at practice.

Sure enough, he did his smile! I wasn't even going to buy any pictures but when I saw him smiling like this for the camera I filled out the form and had Matt go get the checkbook. He's just too cute and he was really excited about his soccer pictures. Wednesday was action packed and we all crashed hard!

On Thursday, we went back over to Kelita's house and hung out with baby G. We cannot get enough of that boy! We also went and bought new shoes. School starts next week and they needed new shoes really bad! You would have thought these kids hit the lottery. They were and still are so excited about their new shoes. Jacek go light up Spiderman shoes and Luna got Dora shoes.

On Friday, it was so super hot outside. It was over 100 degrees with the heat index. Luna filled up the pool with the hose and Jacek didn't even want to come outside. After the pool was filled Luna was done and ready to go inside. We were outside for maybe ten minutes. Aunt Di came and picked them up for lunch and I had to go to work. We had a great week. There's never a dull moment, for sure. I'm looking forward to next week. School starts on Tuesday and we leave for Hilton Head next Friday night. I'm ready for a family vacation!

**This week Luna started a new saying that I thought was funny. I would kiss her on the lips and she would say, "I got some lips!" **

August 21-26

Thank goodness the past 2 weeks of sickness is finally behind us. Which meant we had some catching up to do. Sunday was the last day the pool was open for the summer. I talked Kristina into coming with us. They had a DJ and dance contest. My babies, who are notorious dancers, suddenly became shy and wouldn't dance. I had a great time watching the other kids dance. This one girl had some seriously good moves. She should have won! But, since it was for kids, everyone wins! Including my babies! Jacek got a frisbee and Luna insisted that she did not want anything because she wanted to melt down. Can you guess what happened next? Luna wanted Jacek's frisbee and Jacek was getting so mad at Luna. Kristina and Jacek played in the water together. It's hard to catch Jacek completely content and I captured a picture of it. They were in their own little worlds.

It was a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon. On Monday we did cleaned the house, played outside and went to Kelita's house to help organize baby Caleb's room. It looked so nice. On Tuesday, we kept things pretty low key. Jacek and Luna played outside with their friends for awhile and then we had pizza for dinner. It was amazing! Wednesday, things started getting crazy. Jacek had piano. He had missed the past 2 weeks due to sickness but Matt  had still been practicing with him. I was excited to hear him play and he did so well! I was so proud of him and so was Ms. Anna. She gave him 2 gold stars. Luna sat next to me and colored while we listened.  

After piano lessons we went to the grocery store and then I went and bought mulch for the yard. I came home and put the groceries away, made lunch and then mulched the yard. I was pooped but the yard looks so much better. We were running all day and then Jacek had his first soccer practice for the season. He wanted to pick out his outfit. I couldn't wait to see what he would pick out. My boy has some great fashion sense. He gets it from me, I think!

Yep, he wore a tie ti soccer practice. He was so cute and he had a great practice, too.

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday! My baby nephew was scheduled to arrive though cesarean section at 10am. My little sister Kelita was finally having her baby but because he was breach sh had to get a C-section. She was a trooper and my nephew is the cutest thing in the world! I will never forget this day for the rest of my life. I am one proud auntie, for sure!

I call him baby G. His last name is Gentry but he's also a total playa! I love me some Baby G!

On Friday, we relaxed because I had to be at work at 3. We watched Barney, woo hoo, and Johnny Test. I've had all the kids shows I can handle. It was a beautiful week and I cannot wait for Jacek and Luna to meet Baby G next week, They are really excited, especially Jacek.

*In a rare moment, I caught these 2 holding hands. They have been fighting more and more these days. They fight over the TV, food, bikes, who gets to open the door, etc. It seems never ending some days. But, I walked into my room and found them on the computer. It melted my heart!

August 14th-19th

This week was filled with a lot of diarrhea and puke. My poor babies had a nasty stomach bug. Jacek had been throwing up only at night for 7 days. I took him to see our favorite doc: Dr. DuBois. He assured me that it was just a stomach bug and that Luna would be next. Jacek had already been sick for 6 days so I was pretty sure that Luna was in the clear. Well, she was not! The first night that Jacek did not throw up, Luna did. It's so hard to watch your child vomit so hard they start gagging. Jacek had violent bouts of vomiting and Luna had violent bouts of diarrhea. Luna healed much faster than Jacek. She was only sick for 2 days. I knew something was coming but I had thought once they started preschool that they would get some sort of virus. I'm hoping that this is it for them. They need to heal. It's been 10 days of straight sickness in my house and I am throwing in the towel. Waving the white flag. Oh, and disinfecting everything possible. I've done enough laundry to last us into the next month. The good news is we are on the up swing. We can get back to our normal routine of fun.
There is something about a sick baby that bonds mother and child. I feel closer to both Jacek and Luna after this past week. It's been a tough week but we made it out together. We always will. Those babies are my world and I would have gladly taken 10 days worth of vomiting and diarrhea so they wouldn't have had to endure that sickness. But, I know it's good for their immune system and their little bodies are doing what they are suppose to be doing.
I will end this blog with this picture of Jacek. Even in sickness, he's still trying to make me laugh.

*Jacek's favorite new show this week: Wipeout! We laughed pretty hard watching the same 2 episodes over and over.

*Luna's favorite show: Barney (sigh) That's all she wants to watch at all times. I was hoping it was a small phase but it has become a huge obsession. What is it about that dinosaur? 

August 10th-12th

After two fun filled days, my boy woke up on Wednesday and said he was not feeling well. I called Ms. Anna and cancelled piano lessons. As soon as I hung up the phone, Jacek threw up all over himself. I felt so bad for him. I put him in the bath and he hung out in there for at least 30 minutes. He said that he was starting to feel better so he got out of the bath and started to throw up again. It was more like dry heaving but it looked pretty painful. Matt came home for a quick stop and brought Sprite and ice cream for Jacek. Matt is such a great dad! It really made Jacek's day even though he felt like crap. I tried to get him to drink as much Sprite and water as possible but he was unable to keep anything down. He did not eat or drink anything all day. He slept a lot and I tried to be with him as much as possible without neglecting Luna. She kept wanting to wake her brother up.



I pulled out his baby blanket because I knew that would comfort him. He laid on the couch and in my bed all day. The next day I was hoping that Jacek would be feeling a little better. When I woke up I found him laying on the rug in the living room asleep.

When he finally woke up, he was feeling better but he was still not feeling well. He had stopped throwing up and I fixed him anything he wanted. I made macaroni and cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets and french fries. All of which are his favorite. He ate most of everything. I was glad to see him eating again. Luna was getting stir crazy. She was ready to conquer the world and did not understand why we had to stay inside in such a beautiful day. I drew her a bath and let her play in the water to try and burn some of her wild energy. I think she had a good time and she left Jacek alone for a  short while.

Haha, she will thank me for this one day! By mid-day, Jacek was on the mend. It was challenging to try to keep both kids happy. They wanted to fight over toys, TV, one looking at the other, etc. They were bored and I was trying to keep them busy. After dinner we went outside for some fresh air and it did wonders for us. I'm not looking forward to winter at all! By Friday, Jacek was feeling better but still not 100%. I had to work so Donna (meemaw) came and got the kids. I knew she would roll out the special carpet for Jacek. I know that he loved every minute of it.

Song of the week: Lazy song  by Bruno Mars. Luna knows every word and all the dance moves from the video.



August 8th and 9th

The weather was just beautiful! It was starting to cool off but still on the hot side. Monday we awoke and did our typical Monday rituals. Wake up, eat breakfast, lounge around for no longer than hour, put on the bathing suits, pack lunch and go to our little pool on the back patio. We swim, tell stories, eat lunch, talk with Janet. We stay outside for at least a couple of hours and then it's time to go in and get to cleaning. I work on weekends so by Monday the house always needs a good scrub. The kids either take a nap or break while I clean. Once I get the house to an acceptable level we usually head back outside to ride bikes or do whatever we want to do. Mondays are the best in our house. This Monday was no exception. We also made funny pictures from an app on my new phone. We were laughing so hard!

I decided that Tuesday was going to be hat day. Jacek and Luna picked out their hats and looked so stinking cute I couldn't stand it. I took too many pictures like I always do.

We had to go show off our new hats to Papaw and Michael. Jacek did not leave Michael's side.

                                     Jacek loves some Michael. Can these two get any cuter?


Tuesday are always great days for us as because we LOVE the Edgewood concert series. We look forward to it every Tuesday.  This week our favorite band of all summer was playing: Eight days a week. They are a Beetles cover band and they are amazing. All the kids love them, not just mine. I had fun snapping some great shots.

Movie of the week: Billy Madison. Jacek was talking like Billy all day and reciting lines from the movie. He even picked out his own outfit that he thought was Billy Madison worthy. I totally agree, little man.

 

August 1st-5th

Yep. It's officially August. I always get a little sad this time of year because I have to start thinking about the kids going back to school and being responsible. I love waking up and having the entire day to do as we wish. I love lazy days, busy days and mixtures of both. This week wasn't too lazy and wasn't too busy.

 I've been working hard with Luna and trying to get her potty trained. She has done very well and I'm so proud of her! She likes to wear Jacek's underwear when we are hanging out at the house. At one point in the week she had on 8 pairs of Jacek's underwear. One right on top of the other. It was really cute. I have noticed that with potty training the terrible twos likes to rear it's beastly head. I remember Jacek was much the same. Luna had quite the attitude this week and it was exhausting. She would go from laughing to screaming to crying to hitting to plain psycho! It seemed as if I were dealing with a hormonal teenager at times. Luna's newest irritant is me talking on the phone. I'm not sure what brought this about but the second I take a phone call she will start screaming. I have to go into the bathroom just so I can hear what the other person on the other line is saying. She will stand outside the bathroom door and continue her tantrum and kick the door. My phone calls have to be short these days. Even though at times she can be a complete bear, she has sweet tender moments that melt my heart and make me forget any/ all temper tantrums for the moment. She gives the best hugs, eh.eh. eh! And she also gives Gordy the pig kisses, which are my favorite.

Luna- "I go poop. That's a good one!"

As Luna is developing into a toddler, Jacek is maturing a lot. I have noticed a huge difference in him this week. He was so much more laid back. Luna's moods might have something to do with it but I think he's just growing up. He has been quite the helper. He has helped me clean the house, separate and fold laundry and try to keep Luna in great spirits. When she is mad he tries to cheer her up. He really is such a remarkable big brother. He led prayer every night before dinner. "Thank you lord for giving us food. Thank you lord for giving us bread, Thank you lord for watching over us. Amen. " He was so excited about spaghetti night. It's probably the cheapest and easiest meal but my kids love "sketti".

Jacek has also started fishing. He went fishing went Matt, Rodney and Luna this past week and he caught a bunch of fish. Rodney, a skilled fisherman, was so proud of Jacek. "He caught a skip-jack. He could have sold it for $5! He also caught about 5 different kids of other fish, too." I could tell that Rodney was proud and that took Jacek over the moon. He really looks up to Rodney and Matt. He went fishing with the guys. I think I am going to try and go next week.

We also went to the Florence Aquatic center. We love that place. Jacek will float around for hours. I can tell it's very relaxing for him. Luna likes to walk around with no floaties and it makes me a nervous wreck! We all got a little sun burned and we were wiped out.

Ice cream time!

We were so tired we missed our Tuesday night Edgewood concert but we are looking forward to next week's band. It's a Beetles cover band and we look forward to seeing them every year. Last year they all signed a poster for Jacek and he hung it above his bed. We kept it chill for the rest of the week. We did our usual playtime outside and we even had a picnic.

Luna has finally learned how to correctly drink from a water bottle. She used to always put her entire mouth around the bottle. After many hours with my dad, she finally got it right!

I will end this week on this picture. Luna looks so pretty but when I took this picture she was starting to pop her Luna-tude.

"Mommy, I hate you flowers!"