North Georgia State Fair

For the first time since the kids were born, we went to the fair, the North Georgia State Fair in Marietta, to be exact.  Of course, we've resisted for years, but our sense of unfulfilled aspirations of hanging with the 'carnies' was not getting any closer to realization.  It was much bigger than we had imagined.  The rain subsided and Sunday turned into a gorgeous fall day.  More sunscreen was needed than was applied. 

We watched the elephant show, which was cute, but all I could think was "dance, monkey, dance".  Replace elephant for the word monkey and you have it.  Maybe I have a little of Olivia in me, but it was as though I could read this animals mind.  "Why am I performing dance shows and slamming basketball hoops and where am I?"  Eh, the kids seemed entertained, so I maybe I should just let it go..... he he.

Walking through the barn, O & Z were able to see the hens (and eggs), roosters, dairy cows and the like up close and personal.  Educational none the less for these city dwellers.  In the petting zoo, one of the goats was so pushy, he snatched the paper cup with food out of Zach's hand.  And he ate it all.  That's what goats do best.  Alongside was a zebra, kangaroos, a baby camel and turtles. 
On to the rides, dear children.  Dave was trying to talk Olivia into the ferris wheel, but she quickly put an end to that discussion.  We rode a ferris wheel last year in Daytona, but this one was a bit scarier.  They were happy riding the children's rides - boats, dragons, merry-go-round.  Don't forget the ice cream.  It made the carnies more enjoyable.  Happy Fair Days to you.  Autumn is here.

Walking With Dinosaurs

With Olivia and my nephew, Gavin's, birthday a week apart, Karen had a fabulous idea to take the kids to see Walking With the Dinosaurs at the Gwinnett Arena Friday night.  I kept this event secret until Thursday night.  Of course, I talked about the HUGE surprise all week and the kids were beside themselves in anticipation of what HUGE meant.  I finally gave them a taste of what we would see with a couple of videos online.  Now, it was HUGE.....

After 65 million years they’re back!

After years of planning, the award-winning BBC TV series, Walking with Dinosaurs comes to life in a stunning theatrical event.
Internationally renowned designers have worked with scientists to create 15 life-size dinosaurs, including the terror of the ancient terrain, Tyrannosaurus-rex! Be amazed and thrilled as the greatest creatures ever to walk the earth return before your eyes.
It’s a dazzling 10 million pound arena spectacle of unprecedented size and quality set to captivate young and old alike. Marvel at the story of their 200 million year domination of life on earth. Watch them walk. Hear the roar. Be there as they fight for survival and supremacy. From the ripple of their skin to the glint in their eye, you will know the dinosaurs really have returned!

Take a look at the video section of the website.  It gives you a glimpse of what we encountered.  I am in utter amazement of the entire production.  If you can imagine, the narrator came to the top of one of the dinosaurs ankles!  He lead us through the different eras when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.  The look and awe on the kids faces were, as you can guess, priceless.  Our seats were second from the stage.  I'm not sure how I captured such great seats, but thank you WSB Family to Family discount - you saved me tons and tons of money and gave us spectacular seats.  As my brother-in-law, Mike, said, "hey, our seats are better than the Falcons head coach, Mike Smith".  He was sitting behing us....  We saw quite a few adults (without kids) at the show as well, so it wasn't just for kids.  It was that good. 

Dave was returning from L.A., so he missed it.  When he asked me casually 'how was the show", he didn't know what he was in store for... 15 minutes later, I came up for air!  To sum it up - I LOVED IT!  Happy 6th Birthday, Olivia (Sept. 18) and Happy 5th Birthday, Gavin (Sept. 27).

Echolocation

As we were heading to Karate last Monday, I was listening to Olivia and Zach play and interact in the car.  Imaginary play is a big part of what they do now and has been for a very long time.  Kitty cat, anyone? So they are playing with bats that I just bought them at Party City.  Hey, last year around this time, it was a huge, white rat that Olivia begged for (and got).  So, we are moving up with the bats, in my book. 
Zach comes out with "I can hear you with my echolocation".  Echolocation??!  This 4-year old is paying attention.  Dophins use echolocation and he's obviously heard this term before and knows how to use it.  Bats use echolocation as well, I Googled it.  The 4-year old is teaching me.

Happy Birthday, Olivia! The Big 6...

Yes, another year has passed us by and we accumlated quite a long list of items for "Olivia's Birthday Wish List".  I love seeing each child's personality and this year's birthday gifts were strongly influenced by Olivia's interests.  Squishy animals..... if anyone does not know what a "squishy" animal is, please feel free to drop by my house and we have an entire room full of these 'things'.  Olivia gets a little....uptight when other people touch her squishies.  Who knows what she is thinking?  Maybe someone will squish it incorrectly and it will hurt the poor animal?  She's an animal whisperer, so maybe she's on to something. 

Olivia lined up a portion of the squishy animals she recieved.  Please note, this is only 1/4 of what she was given as gifts, but it's funny that she lined them up and started counting. 

Olivia had a grand day to celebrate turning six.  We began with donuts at school with a candle on top.  Next came her favorite lunch, Chick-fil-A with our dear friend Bob (as we call him, Grandpa Bob), and then to the movies for the opening day of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3-D no less.  She had Brady, Clare, Skylar, Parker, Danny and her best friend in life... her brother, Zach.  I think the adults enjoyed the movie as much as the younger ones.  Dave arrived home before the movie so Olivia could open her presents and oh, what a grand time we all had with the presents. 

After the movie, we invited our neighbors, the McCurry's over for dinner and ice cream sundaes.  It was an all day celebration and perfect for my newly six year old, Olivia. 

Now we are anxiously waiting to celebrate with Gavin, Aunt Karen and Uncle Mike.  In Zach's own words: 'More flags, more fun.  Six Flags'.  Not sure where I pulled that one from, but it's funny that Zach is a marketer's dream come true!  More birthdays, more fun, happy birthday, Olivia.

Happy Birthday to Liz

My wonderful and talented girlfriend, Liz is celebrating a birthday today, September 17th.  We, as in the ladies she cannot seem to ever get rid of, joined her at Noche for tapas last night.  Pictured is Amy Bergstrom, Jennifer, Amy Plummer and Liz (you look amazing!) 

If you mention good food, sangria and anything associated with an evening away from our sweet and precious children, we will be there immediately.  Noche was oh, so good and Liz's coconut cupcake was too (or so she says).

Happy xx Birthday, Liz!

Tech Football and the Girls

It's always nice when football season rolls around.  It is almost like you can smell football in the air.  Maybe it's everyone tailgating.  Who knows?  Amy, Liz and I have made it an annual tradition (for three years now) to tailgate and attend a Tech football game. I love it that my friends are college football fans.  What more can you ask?  Well, that and they love yoga, good food and wine.  I think I'll keep them :-)
Oh yes, Georgia Tech won in the last minutes of play on this Thursday night game to Clemson.  It was a beautiful evening to be outside in downtown Atltanta watching football.  Thanks for a great evening, ladies. 

Kindergarten - It's Official for Olivia

Olivia - Kindergarten 2009

Zach- Pre K, 4 yrs. 2009

Olivia & Zach - 5 yrs & 3 yrs. 2008

Olivia - 4 yrs. 2007

Olivia - 3 yrs. 2006

Olivia - 2-3 yrs. 2005

It was quite funny how easy and ready for Kindergarten (and Pre-K) we all were this year. Typically there are tears in families when their first born starts Kindergarten, but since our kids did not start until almost a month after most children we know (VCLC school schedule), it was such an easy transition. We had a great time over the summer, but we were ready to hit the first day of school in stride. Although everyone was up much later than they should be (10 pm), Olivia and Zach woke up on their own this morning for school. The late night schedule can be traced back to spending the last five days at the lake in Alabama - as we call it 'Alabama time'. They also took a late afternoon nap on the car ride back to Atlanta. Oh well, they will be ready for bed tonight.

I've been playing up the fact that Olivia (and Zach) will be the 'big kids' at school this year, hoping this would make Olivia's attitude towards going to school a bit better this year. No go. She still gave me a bit of grief last night that she wants to stay home with me. As we were the first group at school this morning, we were outside to wave to fellow friends. They were all yelling "hi Olivia, hi Zach" out of their car windows. Luckily, she grinned, waved back and went on her merry way to start her first day of Kindergarten.

As I picked them up today, I saw smiles. They were very talkative after school and I learned that Olivia was "hot and sweaty", so she found shade on the playground to rest and "thought about missing me". Oh and "there were WAY too many rules". Zach said he had 4 rules to follow and listed them for me. He was quite happy, but doesn't remember many kids names in his class. He has many new faces (only 8 kids in his class), so he'll get to know them soon enough.

Labor Day

With Labor Day being so late in the year, we had nice fall weather for our last days on the lake. Dave returned from Germany and took off the remaining two days of the week to give us some family time at the lake. It was quiet for the most part, which is a nice way to end a very relaxing summer at the lake house. I hope these memories stick with my children. We have been very lucky to have this place and I (we) always feel at home when we open the door. That is a nice feeling. The Ulitsch's helped us usher in Labor Day and close down for the season.A pair of ducks took up residence at Eden in August. They were very assertive, little girls, so we fed them and Zach chased them. Imagine that.

School days are here....

Interview with a ....

Should I say vampire or an almost 6-year old? Olivia loves to talk indepth as I lay with her each night. The last couple of months, unfortunately, she has been focusing on death. As in, "I don't want you to die, mommy". Guess what little girl, I really don't want to either, so let's not focus on it. She also is practicing her kissing. This action does not come easy to her, so I'm very proud to be there for her affection practice. Zach was born with affection oozing out of him, so I think she finally realized that expressing her love outwardly can be a good thing. So, she hugs very tightly and she kisses. Those kisses last approximately 2 minutes. Do you pull away from your newly affectionate girl when neck cramps set in? Nah, you endure.

Monday night as I lay with her, she began discussing death again. And this was her thought process: "Mommy, I want to die when you die and be buried with you. People will think I am eaitng your head because I will be kissing you." Hmm, what response do you give to this? "That's sweet"? or "That's creepy". Now that Dave has returned from Germany, I think he needs to put her to bed!

I don't want to forget this deep conversation we had this morning. She brought her beloved zebra to my room. For the past 3 years, I thought her zebra's name was Molly. As we discussed, she kept saying that Molly was good at mauling. Not understanding, I started spelling the different ways to spell her name. We know a Mauliny and a Molly. No, it turns out that the zebra is good at mauling (yet again, creepy), but she likes malls (as in shopping). So, we spell her name Mally. Thanks for the clairifcation, Olivia.