Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Guess what Ben learned how to do today?
He was amazing. We started on the grass to avoid any potential terrible falls on the cement. Jeff held him for about 10 seconds then let go, and Ben started riding! The above picture was taken right after Jeff let go. Within 10 minutes, he had started by himself going down a small hill. Within 20 minutes, we went on a trail by the river and he started himself numerous times after a little bit of coaching. When we got home, he rode around the driveway a few times. Ben was pretty excited b/c he could ride so much faster with no training wheels.
We thought he was ready - he had been riding the 2 wheeled razor scooter around for the past month or so and I'd heard that riding a scooter will make riding a bike easier. It did! I am one proud mama!!!
Here's one more picture of him riding - look at the expression on his face. Is that pure joy, or what?
I am also finally posting Ben's first day of school picture. School has gone fine so far, but I get so little information. He seems to like his teacher and is happy enough when he gets home. I can't believe I have a first grader!
Lily doesn't look so thrilled in this picture. I don't think she's terribly excited to be in the stroller. Also, its pretty early in the morning - 7:20!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I am speechless...
...and that doesn't happen very often. The photographer who took the kids' pictures last Friday just posted a couple of shots to her blog. I first saw them as I was sitting in the rocking chair in Lily's room waiting for her to fall asleep and tears started streaming down my face. Lily, obviously looks adorable and beautiful. However, the pictures of Ben and Dylan really took my breath away. I have taken a lot of pictures of my boys over the years and never have I gotten these kind of expressions or natural smiles.
I've got to brag for a moment - my boys are HANDSOME!!! I really think I could use one of these as a head shot and get Dylan some kind of modeling job!
I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!
Yes, I know I still haven't posted first day of school pictures. I will, but this was an easy post!
Here is the link to the pictures...
http://www.andreashirey.com/blog/
I've got to brag for a moment - my boys are HANDSOME!!! I really think I could use one of these as a head shot and get Dylan some kind of modeling job!
I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!
Yes, I know I still haven't posted first day of school pictures. I will, but this was an easy post!
Here is the link to the pictures...
http://www.andreashirey.com/blog/
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Ramblings...
Tomorrow is Ben's first day of first grade. I can't believe that the school year is already upon us. While I am ready for school to start, I also am sad that I will see so much less of the kids. I will miss days like to day where we drove 1 1/2 hours to a children's museum in another city where the kids had an absolute blast. This particular museum has a four story play structure in the middle that the kids can climb or slide to get from floor to floor. How fun is that???
I did not bring my camera to the museum today. I have been in a picture taking funk - I just haven't felt like taking pictures since we got back from vacation. Maybe it was the 500+ pictures I took on vacation, maybe it was my feeling of exhaustion at the end of summer, maybe it was just sadness that Jeff left two days after we got back on an around the world trip to Taiwan, Thailand, and India home (he comes home tomorrow)! I will get first day of school pictures tomorrow.
Last night we went over the Kim and Kate's house to say goodbye. They were planning to leave town today to head off to their new home. I am very sad to see them go. While I haven't been friends with Kim for very long, I loved the way our friendship was developing and really enjoyed the time spent with her and with Kate. I also loved to watch Lily and Kate together. While they mostly fought over toys, the occasional hug, kiss, or sweet thing was just heartwarming. As Kim had been going through their stuff, Lily inherited a few of Kate's things - a dress, some shoes, and a halloween costume. We even found a little Elmo potty on our front porch today. Good bye Kim! Thank you for being such a good friend and being there for me through the transition of bringing Lily into our family. I'll miss you, but look forward to continuing our friendship via email!
Since I have no new pictures, I will post a few previously unposted pictures from our vacation!
Ben on the steps going to the top of the Corolla lighthouse
The kids and I enjoying the beautiful view at the top of the lighthouse
Ben and his board
Jockey's Ridge at sunset. All the little black dots at the top are kites!
Two of my handsome guys!
Dylan's sand angel
Lily and Jeff. She does this to me and its tough on teh abs!
Our little crocodile hunter!
I did not bring my camera to the museum today. I have been in a picture taking funk - I just haven't felt like taking pictures since we got back from vacation. Maybe it was the 500+ pictures I took on vacation, maybe it was my feeling of exhaustion at the end of summer, maybe it was just sadness that Jeff left two days after we got back on an around the world trip to Taiwan, Thailand, and India home (he comes home tomorrow)! I will get first day of school pictures tomorrow.
Last night we went over the Kim and Kate's house to say goodbye. They were planning to leave town today to head off to their new home. I am very sad to see them go. While I haven't been friends with Kim for very long, I loved the way our friendship was developing and really enjoyed the time spent with her and with Kate. I also loved to watch Lily and Kate together. While they mostly fought over toys, the occasional hug, kiss, or sweet thing was just heartwarming. As Kim had been going through their stuff, Lily inherited a few of Kate's things - a dress, some shoes, and a halloween costume. We even found a little Elmo potty on our front porch today. Good bye Kim! Thank you for being such a good friend and being there for me through the transition of bringing Lily into our family. I'll miss you, but look forward to continuing our friendship via email!
Since I have no new pictures, I will post a few previously unposted pictures from our vacation!
Ben on the steps going to the top of the Corolla lighthouse
The kids and I enjoying the beautiful view at the top of the lighthouse
Ben and his board
Jockey's Ridge at sunset. All the little black dots at the top are kites!
Two of my handsome guys!
Dylan's sand angel
Lily and Jeff. She does this to me and its tough on teh abs!
Our little crocodile hunter!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
More beach pictures
Here are some more pictures from the beach. These are mostly of our family the night I tried to take pictures. I might have overdone it a little, but I was also having fun with the collages! I still have more to post, but now I want to watch the Olympics!
We have had a pretty unexciting week here. Lily continues to have sleeping issues. When she wakes up and Jeff is here, he can put her back to bed and she'll stay and go back to sleep. Not so for Mommy. If I try to put her back to bed, I get hysterical tears and she will come out of her room. So, I have resorted to just bringing her into my bed when she wakes up! Jeff will have a job ahead of him when he returns from his current trip to Taiwan, Thailand, and India! I think his extended trips might be the root of her sleeping issues.
Tomorrow I am having pictures taken of the kids by a local photographer. I purchased the photo session at a silent auction for Dylan's school. Wish us luck with weather and cooperation!
Enjoy the photos!
We have had a pretty unexciting week here. Lily continues to have sleeping issues. When she wakes up and Jeff is here, he can put her back to bed and she'll stay and go back to sleep. Not so for Mommy. If I try to put her back to bed, I get hysterical tears and she will come out of her room. So, I have resorted to just bringing her into my bed when she wakes up! Jeff will have a job ahead of him when he returns from his current trip to Taiwan, Thailand, and India! I think his extended trips might be the root of her sleeping issues.
Tomorrow I am having pictures taken of the kids by a local photographer. I purchased the photo session at a silent auction for Dylan's school. Wish us luck with weather and cooperation!
Enjoy the photos!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
STRESS!!!
We returned home today with no problems - we hit a little bit of traffic, but nothing compared with what we saw on the way to the beach. Everyone seemed pretty happy to be home. While we had a great vacation, its always nice to return home.
After getting inside and getting settled I decided to start downloading the over 500 pictures I took on the trip. I started the download, unpacked, and tried not to watch the pictures flash by as they downloaded. I did peek a few times and saw some nice pictures of the boys boogie boarding and other shots of things on our trip. After a while all 500+ pictures had downloaded, so I pressed the "finish download" button. I always choose to have iPhoto delete the pictures from my camera when I finish downloading and did not different this time. I checked back in a few minutes and iPhoto had stopped responding! WHAT!!!! So, I had to shut down iPhoto and reopen. To my surprise, none of the pictures were showing up as downloaded to the computer and only 200 remained on my camera. I about had a heart attack and was very close to tears. I tried to find them, but couldn't. I didn't have too much time, so I finally went downstairs to start making dinner with a very heavy heart.
Once the kids were in bed, I came upstairs to try to search around on my computer. Well, after a little while I found them!!! Yeah! I had to individually copy them into another folder and then import them into iPhoto. This took a bit of time, but its done and I now have all my pictures! Hurray! Needless to say, I will no longer have iPhoto delete the pictures from my camera. I will do that myself! Now, I have the task to go through them, crop, edit and do something with them! However, tonight I want to watch the Olympics so that will be done over the next few weeks. I will show you a few pictures from my attempted photo shoot. Here they are!
The boys on their way to the beach (this walkway was right next to our house)
The kids in the gazebo
Family portrait
After getting inside and getting settled I decided to start downloading the over 500 pictures I took on the trip. I started the download, unpacked, and tried not to watch the pictures flash by as they downloaded. I did peek a few times and saw some nice pictures of the boys boogie boarding and other shots of things on our trip. After a while all 500+ pictures had downloaded, so I pressed the "finish download" button. I always choose to have iPhoto delete the pictures from my camera when I finish downloading and did not different this time. I checked back in a few minutes and iPhoto had stopped responding! WHAT!!!! So, I had to shut down iPhoto and reopen. To my surprise, none of the pictures were showing up as downloaded to the computer and only 200 remained on my camera. I about had a heart attack and was very close to tears. I tried to find them, but couldn't. I didn't have too much time, so I finally went downstairs to start making dinner with a very heavy heart.
Once the kids were in bed, I came upstairs to try to search around on my computer. Well, after a little while I found them!!! Yeah! I had to individually copy them into another folder and then import them into iPhoto. This took a bit of time, but its done and I now have all my pictures! Hurray! Needless to say, I will no longer have iPhoto delete the pictures from my camera. I will do that myself! Now, I have the task to go through them, crop, edit and do something with them! However, tonight I want to watch the Olympics so that will be done over the next few weeks. I will show you a few pictures from my attempted photo shoot. Here they are!
The boys on their way to the beach (this walkway was right next to our house)
The kids in the gazebo
Family portrait
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Dolphins!
Hi everyone,
We are still at the beach and we are having a wonderful time. Our house is right on the beach - well, behind the dunes - and we have about a 100 yard walk to the beach. The boys are loving boogie boarding. We have also driven go-carts, played putt-putt golf, rented a sea kayak for the week, gone on a four wheeler trip to see the wild horses of Corolla, and just relaxed. Jeff and I even caught a movie (Pineapple Express - very funny, but could be offensive to some). Overall, its been a great vacation. Lily is a little unsure of the beach - she will play in the sand a little bit and will get a little wet while being held. She will not, however, put her feet down in the water. The only sand she'll really explore is totally dry sand so she mostly plays in it when we go down to the beach in the evening. Our favorite times at the beach are early morning and evening. So far, I have taken almost 500 pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the cord to connect my camera to the computer, so they will all have to wait until I get home. Tonight I even attempted a family photo shoot - some of the pictures look good on the camera, so hopefully they will also look good when I see them bigger.
You're probably wondering about the title of this post. Well, this morning Jeff, Lily, and I had an amazing experience. Around 9:30, we went out in the kayak. We were a little ways out when Jeff saw some dolphins in the distance. We paddled closer (or Jeff paddled - I was holding Lily so I couldn't paddle) and ended up about 1/4 mile away from the shore. As we approached the dolphins, we realized there were about one hundred dolphins spread out over a not so large area. At one point, we were within 25 yards of about 12 dolphins and one even swam towards us and was only about 15 feet away! They were jumping out of the water, flapping their tails, and doing Sea World worthy tricks! We just sat there and watched them in awe - dolphins are such beautiful, graceful animals and it was so peaceful at sea. It was so quiet that we could hear them "breathing out" as they came up for breaths. I've never seen anything like this before and can't even tell you what an amazing sight it was. Of course, we were in a kayak so I don't have any pictures except the ones that will always be in my mind.
We are still at the beach and we are having a wonderful time. Our house is right on the beach - well, behind the dunes - and we have about a 100 yard walk to the beach. The boys are loving boogie boarding. We have also driven go-carts, played putt-putt golf, rented a sea kayak for the week, gone on a four wheeler trip to see the wild horses of Corolla, and just relaxed. Jeff and I even caught a movie (Pineapple Express - very funny, but could be offensive to some). Overall, its been a great vacation. Lily is a little unsure of the beach - she will play in the sand a little bit and will get a little wet while being held. She will not, however, put her feet down in the water. The only sand she'll really explore is totally dry sand so she mostly plays in it when we go down to the beach in the evening. Our favorite times at the beach are early morning and evening. So far, I have taken almost 500 pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the cord to connect my camera to the computer, so they will all have to wait until I get home. Tonight I even attempted a family photo shoot - some of the pictures look good on the camera, so hopefully they will also look good when I see them bigger.
You're probably wondering about the title of this post. Well, this morning Jeff, Lily, and I had an amazing experience. Around 9:30, we went out in the kayak. We were a little ways out when Jeff saw some dolphins in the distance. We paddled closer (or Jeff paddled - I was holding Lily so I couldn't paddle) and ended up about 1/4 mile away from the shore. As we approached the dolphins, we realized there were about one hundred dolphins spread out over a not so large area. At one point, we were within 25 yards of about 12 dolphins and one even swam towards us and was only about 15 feet away! They were jumping out of the water, flapping their tails, and doing Sea World worthy tricks! We just sat there and watched them in awe - dolphins are such beautiful, graceful animals and it was so peaceful at sea. It was so quiet that we could hear them "breathing out" as they came up for breaths. I've never seen anything like this before and can't even tell you what an amazing sight it was. Of course, we were in a kayak so I don't have any pictures except the ones that will always be in my mind.
Friday, August 1, 2008
We're going on vacation tomorrow!
My title about sums up what's going on in my mind. Tomorrow we leave for a week at the beach and I am soooo excited! Since we lived in Michigan until last summer, we vacationed in Northern Michigan. So, we have not been to the ocean beach in four years! I am so looking forward to watching the kids play in the waves and enjoy the ocean. We have a house on the beach and I can't wait to play in the sand and, of course, try to get some decent pictures! I will have my computer with me on vacation, but don't know if I'll have time to post. So, things may be quiet around here.
We had a busy week around here. Dylan had camp every day from 9-12 and Ben had camp from 1-4, so the house seemed pretty quiet and I had a lot of quality time with everyone. I am still staying in Lily's room until she falls asleep, but at least the last 2 nights she has not woken up in the middle of the night. Thursday she did wake up at 6 am for the day. That's a bit early, but I'll take 6 am over 1, 2, 3 am any day!
We took everyone to the county fair yesterday. All the kids had a blast climbing on tractors, seeing the bunnies, goats, and chickens, and, of course, riding the rides. Who am I kidding, they tolerated the other stuff while they were waiting for the rides to open. Lily loved the rides she was able to go on. We made a strategic mistake by not getting her a wristband - we quickly ran out of tickets and she wanted to go on more rides (but didn't get to). The boys loved ALL the rides, big and small. For the first time, they rode on the some thrill rides including the thing where you stand up and it spins around and tilts. Jeff rode the spinning ride with them. The kids loved it, Jeff felt sick all night! Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera to the fair, so I have NO pictures.
We had two play dates this week - one with Maggie and one with Kate. Poor Maggie wasn't feeling great while at our house, so she wasn't her usual smiling, happy self. Denise later found out that Maggie has a cyst in her chin on which she will probably need surgery to have it removed. Luckily, the type of cyst she has is benign and harmless, but surgery is surgery. Keep Maggie and her family in your thoughts for an easy recovery!
Lily and Kate had a great time playing together on Thursday. Despite some bouts of hitting and throwing, both girls had a blast. Among other things, we sang songs, made pretend meals, and had a real snack/lunch. I am so sad that this was probably our last play date with Kate and Kim. They are moving in a few short weeks. I have really enjoyed developing a friendship with Kim and I think Lily and Kate would be great friends if they were to live near each other. Kim - I will miss you!
Here are a few pictures from our play date with Kate. They aren't great as it was a dark day, so there wasn't much natural light coming in my windows!
The girls playing nicely with blocks
Kate cooking up a burger
Come on - will you stop taking pictures already?
My favorite picture - not a great photo, but the looks on both Lily and Kate's faces is priceless!
Kim feeding Lily a yogurt. Lily really opened up to Kim on this visit. She let her hold her and really enjoyed playing with her. Obviously, she even wanted Kim to feed her this yogurt!
We had a busy week around here. Dylan had camp every day from 9-12 and Ben had camp from 1-4, so the house seemed pretty quiet and I had a lot of quality time with everyone. I am still staying in Lily's room until she falls asleep, but at least the last 2 nights she has not woken up in the middle of the night. Thursday she did wake up at 6 am for the day. That's a bit early, but I'll take 6 am over 1, 2, 3 am any day!
We took everyone to the county fair yesterday. All the kids had a blast climbing on tractors, seeing the bunnies, goats, and chickens, and, of course, riding the rides. Who am I kidding, they tolerated the other stuff while they were waiting for the rides to open. Lily loved the rides she was able to go on. We made a strategic mistake by not getting her a wristband - we quickly ran out of tickets and she wanted to go on more rides (but didn't get to). The boys loved ALL the rides, big and small. For the first time, they rode on the some thrill rides including the thing where you stand up and it spins around and tilts. Jeff rode the spinning ride with them. The kids loved it, Jeff felt sick all night! Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera to the fair, so I have NO pictures.
We had two play dates this week - one with Maggie and one with Kate. Poor Maggie wasn't feeling great while at our house, so she wasn't her usual smiling, happy self. Denise later found out that Maggie has a cyst in her chin on which she will probably need surgery to have it removed. Luckily, the type of cyst she has is benign and harmless, but surgery is surgery. Keep Maggie and her family in your thoughts for an easy recovery!
Lily and Kate had a great time playing together on Thursday. Despite some bouts of hitting and throwing, both girls had a blast. Among other things, we sang songs, made pretend meals, and had a real snack/lunch. I am so sad that this was probably our last play date with Kate and Kim. They are moving in a few short weeks. I have really enjoyed developing a friendship with Kim and I think Lily and Kate would be great friends if they were to live near each other. Kim - I will miss you!
Here are a few pictures from our play date with Kate. They aren't great as it was a dark day, so there wasn't much natural light coming in my windows!
The girls playing nicely with blocks
Kate cooking up a burger
Come on - will you stop taking pictures already?
My favorite picture - not a great photo, but the looks on both Lily and Kate's faces is priceless!
Kim feeding Lily a yogurt. Lily really opened up to Kim on this visit. She let her hold her and really enjoyed playing with her. Obviously, she even wanted Kim to feed her this yogurt!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
