Small Group Goodbyes

The time has come for my "mom's" small group to change.  We've had a great run and I've truly enjoyed getting to know these incredible women.  Our schedules are changing and children are growing up and requiring different needs from us so we dissolved. Some are starting over on another day of the week but that won't work for me.  I'm sad to be leaving this group of awesome ladies.  I've been involved in a "mom's" small group since Ryan was 9 weeks old.  We've supported each other through lots of life ups and downs and many new babies.  I will miss them dearly and will be slightly lost without them.  We had a "goodbye" dinner last night to end our chapter and move on to the next.  It was great to see everyone again.  Hopefully we won't be strangers!

 

Saying Goodbyes

This post is WAY late, but better late than never.  David's family left on August 25 after being here for 3 months.  We had a great summer visiting with them.  It was awesome to watch the kids interact and really enjoy one another.  We made lots of memories this summer and I'm glad Ryan is at an age where he will be able to remember them and the fun times they had together.  He LOVES his cousins and misses them dearly.  David's family has been gone for 10 years so we've become accustom to saying goodbye but it never gets easier.  In fact, I think it's getting harder now that the kids' emotions are involved.   It so hard to watch them leave.  We know they were excited to get back to their normal lives though.  We said goodbye at RDU with all the craziness of the airport and  Ryan not understanding what in the world was happening but me desperately trying to tell him with tears in my eyes explaining that I'm sad that they are leaving.  He sort of understands and as he gets older he'll really get it.  He told me this weekend that he was sad that his cousins wouldn't be at Poppy and CC's house when we went this weekend. 

 

Here's our time at the airport waiting to say bye.

 Cool dude Tobin looks like he's saying, "I'm a pro, let's get this party started!"

This picture makes me smile.  The boys were playing as per usual. 
Such cute expressions as they play on the chairs.

First Day of Preschool

September 3 was the first day of preschool for the boys.  Ryan is starting the 3yr old class--MWF and Seth is starting the Toddler class--MW.  The boys seem to be having fun and enjoying school.  Ryan's class has 16 kids with 12 of them being boys.  I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall and watch how it works with all those boys!

 

20th Reunion

This weekend we headed to Burlington for my 20th high school reunion.  It was a fun and busy weekend!  We went to the park on Saturday around lunchtime to meet up with everybody and their kids.  We rode rides and chatted and it helped to "break the ice" before the big event that night.  The kids had fun and it was great to see everyone with their families.  Saturday  night was the dinner/dance at the Country Club.  We had a blast and it was great to catch up with my old classmates and my old friends from the Get Along Gang (what people used to call my group of friends).  We have lots of memories together and it almost felt like no time had past even though we hadn't seen each other in 10 yrs or so.  I am so glad we went!

Catching Up

Seth woke up from his nap the other day and his hair was crazy!  I had to take a picture of his sweet face with the wild hair. 

Last Friday we had one of those days where everyone woke up on the right side of the bed and was happy from moment 1 in the morning.  It's a great day when the boys are happy, obedient, cheerful and playing together like a dream from the start of the day.  They boys were playing together this day and wedged themselves in between Seth's crib and the wall to do a stack of puzzles.  It was so great to see them playing together well.  It makes me stop and be thankful for the moment because it's these moments that keep me going when the days don't go so well.     

Seth is our snugglebug.  He's loves to lay on your shoulder when he's in the mood and Daddy got some good snuggles one evening right before he put him to bed.  Such sweetness.  We've gotta take these moments and relish them because the days are flying by and he may not want to snuggle at some point.  Love this pic!

Bros

A couple of pics from the other day.....

Bathtime

Bathtime is a busy time at our house.  Both boys LOVE taking a bath but really love it when Daddy puts bubbles in it.  Here's a couple of pics from our nightly bathtime antics. 

This pic of Seth is totally true to form.  He loves to pour water on Ryan's head and tries to every night.  Luckily Ryan doesn't really care too much.

Nightime Snuggles

 

Lee got some snuggles before bed the other night.  Such sweetness.  Seth is really our snugglebug!!

Family Reunion in Farmville

Saturday after Ryan's soccer game we headed to Farmville for a family reunion of the Murphy family (Elaine's side).  Lee has 3 first cousins, all of which have kids.  Rachel, one of the older kids, is really into showing goats at local fairs....and she's pretty darn good at it too.  She's one of the younger kids in her age group and she's already won several awards with her goat, Sherlock.  They had been to a show right before we got together so they brought the goats with them and of course the kids (and we) were totally interested in seeing them. 

 

Sherlock, the prize winning goat.  He will eventually go to the NC State Fair.  He was so pretty!!

Seth's just checking out the goat...not too sure about him!

Rachael and her prize goat Sherlock. She works very hard to train her goats and spends hours training them.  This goat showing is serious business.  Who knew right?

She has had to train him to stand like this and flex his muscles so the judges can come by and feel how muscular he is.  She may have to hold him in this position for 20mins-1 hr.  Crazy!

This is the female goat they have.  She didn't get out to play because they were afraid if she got loose she may run away. 

All of the little second cousins.

Ryan's First Soccer Game

Saturday was Ryan's first official soccer game.  I can't believe we're already starting the sports rat race, but you've got to sometime right?  He met his coach and his teammates.  1/2 of the team is girls so that's super cool.  They practiced for about 20 mins and then they played a game for about 20 mins.  The practice went great.  The game was a little confusing.  We spend so much time teaching our babes that they need to share, don't take toys from others, wait your turn, etc....and then they are supposed to understand that they need to steal the ball away from the other team.  It's a hard concept to get.  We have about 2 months of Saturday morning games so I'm sure it'll sink in at some point.  It was a great morning!  Seth was dying to get out there too.  I know it's going to be hard to keep him wrangled in the stroller while big bro plays with the soccer ball.  His turn will come soon! 

 

Last Weekend

Last weekend we had a weekend with no kiddos.  Lee's parents graciously agreed to keep the boys for the long weekend and we were super happy.  It's been a long summer and Ryan is in a challenging 3 going on 30 stage right now so we were happy to ship the kids off to grandparents and spend some time doing some things we needed to do to catch up around the house.  Number 1 on my agenda was to eat meals with no kids (since I eat all 3 meals with the kids, it wears thin sometimes!).  On Friday we ate out and headed to Dockside to enjoy the view.  It was great!

Saturday night we ate out with Jennifer and Reggie and headed back to Dockside.  We can't get enough of that place.  It's just an awesome view!  We had fun with Jenn and Reggie and were happy to catch up with them!