Charlotte is 3!

Little Miss Charlotte is Nathan's cousin's daughter, and like Amelia, she only has male cousins on her branch of the Huss family tree.  Besides Homecoming, the girls have never really gotten together to play.  In fact, Amelia thought we were going to see a spider.  The kids quickly befriended their second cousins and had a great time at Charlotte's third birthday party.  You really can't go wrong with a water play theme.

Alex and Seth and the doomed water ball:

Amelia not quite getting the slip 'n slide:

My college roommate's son, Oscar, lovin' the whale pool:

Hugs from the birthday girl!

Thanks for inviting us!  We had a great time!

Baobab Blast

This year's VBS theme was Baobab Blast.  I just re-read my post from last year, and boy, did I sugarcoat it.  Last year was rough.  I was caught at a weak moment this spring and agreed to teach VBS again and Sunday School in the fall.  We missed the first day of VBS because Seth had an eye infection.  Tuesday morning, I walked into my class of 3/4's and counted....15 kids.  (Last year I had 21-23 kids each day.)  I then met the women from the daycare who were helping me (and being paid to take their kids to VBS, mind you), and within five minutes, I realized I had a whole lot more help than I did last year.  It was a great week.  Seth really enjoyed his class, and the kids learned praise songs in African, which was pretty entertaining.  Amelia thought she was going to class, too, and did not enjoy being in the nursery all week.  She will be one month shy of the cut-off next year, but I think they will let her participate anyways (Besides, if I teach the same group next year, she's my problem, right?).

rained out

We were supposed to go to the pool yesterday afternoon.  An unforecasted extended shower changed our plans.  The boys were playing the new Wii game they got for their birthdays, and Amelia asked to go outside.  I humored her, and snapped away while she slashed around on the driveway and deck.

I would say at least 80% of my pictures were fuzzy, which is why I'm sending that blasted camera back in (for those keeping track, this will be the refurbished camera's second trip for fuzzy pictures...I think a refund is in order).  I did keep this one, though, because sometimes I feel like Amelia moves at warp speed!

double whammy

This year Father's Day and Seth's birthday fell on the same day...twice the reason to celebrate! Seth opened his family presents, and spent the morning building his new castle. We headed back to the theater WAY across town, and watched Toy Story 3 as a family. We all loved it! The afternoon was spent doing puzzles and playing with other new toys. Seth took an afternoon siesta and we went to the basement for measurements:

Seth is 43" tall, and weighs around 37 lbs. He doesn't have his official check-up until mid-July.

I have loved Seth @ 4. This year he has developed his creativity, mastered writing his letters, and become a whiz at mazes, color-by-numbers, and dot-to-dots. He usually doesn't nap, but plays quietly in his room for quiet time. During the month of May, he listened intently as I read a chapter of Charlotte's Web each night. He conquered the monkey bars and other climbing feats. He learned to swim without a float. He lost his first tooth. He is (usually) nice to his sister, and I love to listen to their little giggles as they play together. He has a very optimistic outlook, and tries to find a bright side of every situation ("but it's good that..."). He is a dancing machine. He loves to help his dad do yardwork. One of my favorite things this year is that he can actually hold my hand now, not just a finger or two. I love to hold hands with my Seth.

I made a card to send into Sprout for Seth's birthday, since he worked so hard in February to make one for his sister. It wasn't as fun for me to do it without my little helper, but I'm glad I did...it was picked to be on TV!

Calling All Vikings!

Nathan took Seth to see How to Train Your Dragon this spring and ever since then, Seth wanted that to be his party theme.  Bye-bye, easy Lego idea.  Maybe next year.  I had to order a lot of supplies online, and when I started looking up cake ideas, I came across a template to make this:

It was actually the easiest cake I have made to date.  The cake only used one box of mix, so I was afraid it wouldn't be enough...we were expecting a LOT of kids (and parents).  I saw a cute idea for Viking cupcakes:

Saturday morning, Nathan and I headed to Seth's favorite playground early to stake out a spot.  The kids played, and we had pizza delivered.  Another thing Seth REALLY wanted for his party was a pinata.  He spent a long time last week stuffing that bad boy until he could not shove one more piece of candy inside.  The daddies rigged up a system over the swings, and the kids took a whack at it.  Next time, we will bring something stronger than a plastic bat!

After all the kids had two tries, some of the daddies helped things along and then Seth finished the job:

Seth requested the "Cha-Cha-Cha" version of the Happy Birthday song:

We gave all the kids little Viking hats, and I made braids for the ladies.  They loved them!

Other than a little more of a breeze, we couldn't have asked for a better day.  Seth had a fantastic time celebrating with his friends and family!

guppies

Warning:  content of this post may not be suitable for those under the age of 13.

A week or so ago, I noticed a little guppy while I was on the phone with Nathan.  No longer than my fingernail, it was hovering close to the tower.  We then spotted a slightly smaller, darker guppy, who liked to hide behind the heater and filter.  Nathan did some research.  We have three females and one male guppy.  It takes a month for the female guppy to incubate the egg, which hatches inside her, and she then gives birth to a live baby.  She can immediately get pregnant again, as she kept the um, effects, of the original rendezvous.

Flash forward to Saturday.  I was showing mom the babies and talking about how little they used to be, when *pop**pop* Tiger (Seth's orange guppy) pops out two itsy bitsy teeny weeny babies and turns around and eats one.  A third baby was born and eaten a few minutes later.  The survivor scurried to the bottom of the tank.  (Nathan read that baby guppies have an instinct to hide...I'm pretty sure the first two had hidden for a couple weeks until they felt they were no longer small enough to be a snack, because they are WAY bigger than the new ones.)

Saturday night:  Speedy (the snail) hadn't moved.  All day.  Nathan prodded him with the net to see if he'd react, but no such luck (Seth, if you read this later, we apologize, but we're trying to trick you.  You haven't noticed Speedy is missing, and we don't want you to notice on your birthday weekend, so if you do, we're going to tell you Speedy is in the tower, and Daddy is going to try to sneak Speedy II in without you noticing).  One of the newest guppies was hiding under Speedy, and the commotion caused it to scurry into the tower.  Good for you little guppy.  I hope it's a safe haven for you.

for the man who has everything...

(Alternate title:  for the man who shops whenever the mood strikes him...)

Nathan is hard to shop for.  Historically, he goes MONTHS without making any purchases, and then he will get an itch and do some heavy-duty shopping.  This past year there have been a lot of purchases, all triathlon or training related.  He seriously foiled my Christmas ideas twice last year (Garmin and trainer).  His gift list were repeats of things he already had.  So I bought him these:

These are vibram five fingers.  When we first saw them last fall, Nathan told me they were a running fad.  As the year has gone on, Nathan has learned there is a place for them in your training.  Running shoes are made so nice these days that our feet are getting weak.  These shoes help strengthen your feet back up.  So I did some consulting with our friend, Greg, who runs half marathons and he recommended this version of the shoes.  Then it took me over a week to find a retailer online who stocked Nathan's size.  I'm just glad he didn't go out and buy them in the past couple of weeks!

great minds...

This week is the first week of the kids' summer movie series, way across town.  This week's feature is Monsters vs. Aliens.  You may remember that Seth loves this movie.  We went with Nickolas to the movie, and I had to leave the theater three times with Amelia, but the boys loved it (Nickolas's mom was there, too).  When we got in the lobby after the movie, we saw that three girls from school were there as well!  The masks were left over from Seth's party last year.  We already have plans to have a movie date again in two weeks!

questions of the day

Amelia, when I picked her up at the YMCA:  "Mommy, if I was lost in a cave, would you miss me?  I would say, 'Mommy!  Mommy!  I in here!'"  (What the heck had she been playing in the nursery?)

Seth:  "Mom, want to smell my money?" (from the tooth fairy.   I obliged.)  "No Mom, do it like twenty times!"  Huh?

swimming in the Jordan...

...Lake, that is.  This morning, Nathan swam in a 1 mile open water race at Jordan Lake.  The kids hung out with Gram and Pops, and I got some early morning tranquility.  If you click on the first picture, it may enlarge enough for you to see just how far away those buoys were:

This was the first free-for-all start he's done, although they did start the guys four minutes ahead of the girls:

I stood on the dock and watched the whole race.  Nathan placed 4th in his age group...this was all swimmers this time, not triathletes, who tend to be weakest in swimming.  Way to go, Nathan!

toothless

What a busy week!  Monday we went to the playground with friends, and then I had to work.  Tuesday, the kids went over to Kaitlyn and Ethan's house, and I was able to run a TON of errands by myself, fast.  Wednesday they had another playdate while I went to a mandatory meeting at work.  Thursday was errand day, and somehow I managed to survive bathing suit shopping with both of them along.  Friday was the first weekday the pool was open, because public schools are finally done.  Saturday started out as a normal Saturday...until Seth's very loose tooth decided to fall out.  As you can see, it's a top tooth, not one that is normally lost first.  But Seth injured that tooth about three years ago (I think), and it's been slightly gray ever since.  I had thought it was getting darker recently, and then Seth told us it was loose.  Nine days later, voila!  It may be a long time until its replacement comes in, but at least it lasted as long as it did!

We had a very, very excited little boy, and a very, very jealous little sister.

We spent Saturday night with my parents, but since Seth was on "the list", the tooth fairy knew where to find him!

Charity Chase 2010

Nathan ran his first half marathon on Saturday.  Why anyone would choose to run a half marathon in Hickory is beyond me, but 600 people joined him (and $40,000 was raised for local charities).  Those roads were Nathan's old cross country stomping grounds, but it has been a long time since he has run on them.  The kids were still playing with their cousins, so I decided I'd go to the bagel bakery for old times' sake, and then I went on campus, where I could see Nathan go by at mile 10.  Lisa and Michael were there for Synod Assembly, so I had company.  If Nathan does this next year, I may just stay downtown.  The runners go through downtown on their way to LR, plus there was a nice farmers market and music:

Nathan did really good, especially since he's been focusing on triathlon training, and not half-marathon training.

I picked up the kids while Nathan got cleaned up and we headed back home.  Nathan took a much-deserved nap after lunch, and the kids and I spent two hours at the pool.  Nathan watched Avatar, I worked on continuing ed, and we still have one day left of our weekend! 

Thomas

Blogger seems to have a mind of its own about where it wants to put my pictures.  Sorry about that.  Friday we went up to Boone to go see Thomas at Tweetsie.  We had a wonderful day!  The weather was beautiful, the lines weren't bad, and the kids were so good!  We arrived just in time to hop on our train.

Amelia was only 3 months old the last time we went to Tweetsie.  It was fun to watch her experience everything for the first time:

Seth was a good big brother and rode with Amelia on all the rides.

And then Amelia did Seth one better and rode the ferris wheel with me.  Seth chickened out at last minute.  Which was probably a good thing.  We were the first car loaded, so we waited a long time before the ride even got going.  It was hard enough keeping Amelia still for that long! 

Instead of heading home, we went south and stopped in Hickory.  The kids were asleep so we drove Nathan's race route.  It is amazing to see how much the city has changed in the past ten years.  We took a quick swim in the hotel pool and had the best Olive Garden experience we've ever had.  We met up with the Johnstons at Chikfila and sent the kids home with their cousins for the night.  Tweetsie and a sleepover with cousins?  Best day ever! 

little fish

The pool opened for the summer on Saturday.  I took the kids for about an hour on Saturday, and just let them play in the baby pool.  Monday Amelia and I went while the boys played miniature golf, and we got rained out after an hour.  Sunday we went as a family for a couple of hours.   Let me introduce you to the fish.  Seth has retained everything he learned in swim lessons earlier this year and was swimming back and forth in the shallow end, and was brave enough to venture into deeper water with just a noodle.

Amelia was "too big" (her words, not mine) for her bathing suit floatie thing, and wanted to just ride around in the tube.  She motored around the entire pool just like this:

I hope all the other parents watch their kids a little better than they did last year, because I'm going to have to keep both eyes on mine at all times!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!!

Here's my take on summer break.  Rather than worry about running errands with two kids in 90-degree heat all summer (although the thought has obviously crossed my mind), I'm excited about all the potential this summer has, right close to home.  But first, I went out Thursday night with some of the preschool mommies, as well as my "new" friends, Karen and Debbie (you may recognize them).  What a blast! 

So what do I have in mind for the summer?  Keeping them busy busy busy!  How?  YMCA (so I can work out), pool (it opened this weekend, that deserves its own post), board games, art projects, outside time, etc etc etc.  How did we spend the first day of summer?  YMCA, grocery store, Shrek, drawing big pictures across the kitchen floor,

...and of course, water games in the driveway.

Amelia is almost potty-trained (thank you Silly Bandz!), June is jam-packed with things to do, life is good!

Beach Party!

Wednesday, I was in charge of Seth's class beach party.  Liz came over to watch Amelia, and I spent the morning playing with my boy. 

We had a sprinkler, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a small pool,

a cool water balloon hot potato game,

and beach balls!  (Which accidently went above the air conditioner once, and then it became this big game to see how high they would blow in the air.)

We then had vanilla ice cream cones AND freeze pops:

Thirteen happy kids after a morning outside!

two special ladies

I thought I liked our preschool last year.  This year I know I LOVE it.  I had heard good things about both sets of 4s teachers, but I knew the first day I met these ladies that Seth was in the right place.  These ladies made learning fun, and learn he did.  He loves these ladies, and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.  They made us a wonderful scrapbook (as in fancy scrapbooking) of pictures from throughout the year.  These ladies are amazing, and Amelia can't wait to be in their class in a couple of years!

the graduate

We gave June's "party week" (aka Nathan's birthday, Seth's birthday, and Father's Day) a run for its money this week.  Tuesday was Seth's class picnic.  We started out at the playground, where Seth (and a few other kids) conquered the monkey bars for the first time:

We then had a picnic at the shelter (my camera did not like the overcast day...all my pictures are horrible.):

Then this guy showed up...

...to watch Seth graduate from preschool.

Each student got a diploma, and we were told what they majored and minored in this year.  Seth majored in "structure" and minored in "manners".  Here is a picture of the entire class:

This class will be split up in the fall, between at least four different elementary schools and some staying at the preschool for readiness.  It's been a great year...I couldn't have asked for a better one!

Single ladies

(This is our 600th post, so I thought I'd be a little silly)

Beyonce style....

Chipmunk style...

The kids were playing on the deck in Kings Mountain.  From the den we heard:

We rented the Squeakquel a couple weeks ago, but this is the first time I've heard them singing the song!

Over the Mountain

Saturday Nathan participated in his first international distance triathlon, which is about twice the distance of a sprint triathlon.  It was held in Kings Mountain, which was convenient, because Nathan knew the area and was able to ride the course two weeks ago.  And very nice for me, because Scott and Sarah helped me entertain the kids all morning.  The swim was 1500m across Moss Lake.  I dropped Nathan off at the other side and watched with Melissa from a picnic table.  Nathan never saw us.  He finished first in his age group by over a minute!

Our college friend, Brandon, arrived right after Nathan got out of the water.  We started chatting (he did a half-ironman three weeks ago, crazy!) and I completely forgot to get pictures of the start of the bike.  When Greg (Melissa's husband), finished the swim, I headed back to the house.  I got caught up in cyclist traffic, but I had a lot of time.  Scott found us a great parking space downtown, and I'm fairly certain we saw the very first cyclist head in.  Here Nathan is making his way through downtown:

After the bike he had to run a 10k.  They had to make two loops on the course, here he is halfway done:

He finished 12 minutes better than he wanted to, and was only 3.5 minutes shy of qualifying for the regional race...way to go, Nathan!

Here are the boys after they finished:

We hung out in the park for over an hour after the race.  Nathan had a great time catching up with old friends, and we let the kids run around in the fountain with their clothes on, they had a blast!