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! 

my new hobby

In addition to all the running, I have picked up a new hobby this spring...semi-extreme couponing.  I've always loved a good deal; this takes it to the next level.  One week our grocery store had triple coupons...I spent $22 and saved $81.  For $26 total, I bought Toy Story 1 & 2 Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs and received two free tickets to see Toy Story 3 when it comes out this summer.  There is a website I follow that lists all these deals.  Yesterday I went to Rite Aid.  Everything in the pictures is regular sized...anyone want to guess how much I spent (and don't ask Elise, because she already knows...she's my partner-in-crime in my couponing endeavors)?

All the couponing drives Nathan crazy, but I figure if nothing else, it's helping to cover all our race fees!

spring showers

We've had a mild, but fairly dry, spring. The last three nights, we've had thunderstorms. (Our kids are sleeping through them, hurray!) It's been raining off and on all day. Amelia was singing in the car. There isn't as much gusto to this as when she was singing spontaneously:

Seth's first haircut

Okay, not really his first haircut.  Just the first one we've ever paid for.  Friday night he told us he wanted to go somewhere for a haircut.  Fine by me!  I'm tired of fighting with him during the haircuts!  I had a coupon for a free haircut at SportClips.  He squirmed in the chair a little bit, but the lady that cut his hair did a great job distracting him.  (She got a really good tip since I didn't pay for the haircut.)

I didn't get a lot of pictures because Amelia was with us, but here is the finished product:

Hall of Fame

Earlier in the year, Nathan got a phone call saying the men's swim team was being inducted into the Kings Mountain High School Hall of Fame.  The 93/94 teams were the only ones in school history (in any sport) to win back-to-back state championships.  Nathan's mom worked hard to locate all the boys, and almost all of them were able to make it back for the induction.  Nathan's mom introduced the team at the ceremony.  She was an assistant coach throughout her kids' years on the team.  Here she is with the 1994 and the 1993 coaches (yes, they had a new coach the second year...and he was a "Yankee" that didn't know a whole lot about swimming!):

The group after the ceremony:

(The first two pictures were taken by the photographer from the Kings Mountain Herald.  The next one I stole from another blog.  Thanks, Amanda!)

Sage, Allen, Greg, Nathan, and Will

Nathan is still a fast swimmer , but he was REALLY FAST in high school.  Want to see him in his glory days? 

WAIT FOR IT...................

Yeah, I laughed a little bit, too.  This is the 1993 championship relay team...Nathan was all of 14 years old. 

While we were in town, Nathan swam with some of the current high schoolers.  And Sunday he rode the 45km course that is part of his triathlon next weekend.  It was a busy weekend!

other Kings Mountain pictures

Yes, the blog is out of order now.  Yes, it's driving me crazy.  Hopefully I'll forget about it.  :)

Here are pictures from our weekend in Kings Mountain.  Amelia rocking sitting with baby Brian...matching turtles, too cute!:

Saturday morning, Nathan's dad decided to plant some flowers.  Here's a (practically) verbatim conversation:

Seth:  "Where are you going, Granddad?"

G:  "I'm going crazy, want to come?"

S:  "I'll get my shoes!"

A:  "Me too!  Me too!"

So the kids went outside to plant flowers with Granddad.  He suggested color patterns and didn't mind when Amelia stepped on some of the new plants.  Seth has been a good helper in our yard this year.  Amelia is good at swinging while the boys are doing yardwork.

Prior to Saturday night's festivities, there was a get-together at the church for all the boys and their families.  Our kids were starving after their "yardwork", scarfed down their lunches, and busted out onto the playground.  The kids had a grand time while the daddies caught up on old times.  Little Will was hammin' it up for me...

Elise suggested that me and Amelia take a picture together...

Nathan and two of his high school buddies, Sage and Allen...

Mother's Day 2010

Sunday morning we had a nice brunch in Kings Mountain.  Well, all of us except for Nathan.  He was off biking 45 km.  We headed home right before lunch, and the kids graced me with three hour naps.  I wasn't sleepy, so I read my book and reorganized the kitchen cabinets without help.  It was heavenly! 

Nathan suggested getting rosebushes for Mother's Day.  I think they look great!

For as long as he can remember, Seth has bought me flowers for special occassions.  But when you don't get out until almost suppertime on the holiday, the cut flower selection is pretty skimpy.  I got a potted flower instead.  I hope I can keep it alive, because it really is pretty!

Seth's class made us cookbooks of their favorite recipes their moms make.  It was hilarious.  This is Seth's page: