Getting Fall Started

Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to go to Athens so far this season, but I'm definitely getting in the mood for fall!  The beginning of the week, we had an awful lot of much-needed rain.  Ian & Bonner absolutely LOVE the rain and I let them play in it every chance they get!  Here they are enjoying "the elements" after most of the rain had dried up!

The temperatures this past week were absolutely fabulous and we started to take advantage of the nice weather so we headed to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Zirconia, NC.  We went with some friends - a set of 2.5 year old triplets and their older brother who Ian & Bonner are in school with - it was a gorgeous day and we had a great time!

As most of you know, I am definitely not a yard girl ... but since I was afraid the children would get swallowed up by the bushes along my driveway, I finally took manners into my own hands and learned to operate some manual hedge clippers.  Everyone who has stopped by has appreciated my efforts as well - at least the car's paint job appreciates it!

And since Ian and Bonner couldn't operate the hedge clippers much to their dismay, I tasked them with helping me "clean up!"  This was their idea of cleaning up ... making a "garden" in their water table to keep their hidden toys "safe!"  Hey, it worked as it is still piled up out there serving its purpose!  Ha!

And just because I think this little girl is so precious, here's one more shot of her beautiful smile!  Have a wonderful week!  We start back swim lessons on Tuesday and both kiddos are so excited to get back into the water!  I'll keep you posted on their progress!

Oh, the things they do say!

The children are doing great at school!  Separating them has turned out to be a terrific decision!  In addition, we started a class at the SC Children's Theatre last week and will pick up with swimming lessons this week!  They are growing up so fast!  In the meantime, I'll leave you with some funny things I have heard recently!  They are just so matter-of-fact and confident in everything they say - whether it is in the right context or not.  And their imaginations and logic just continue to amaze me!

Bonner-Lingo

• Bonner: Mommy, this chip is shaped like a piece of pizza. 
• Me: It is, Bonner.  Do you like pizza?
• Bonner: No m'am.  But Abby likes pizza.
• Me: Oh, really, Abby likes pizza.  When did she try it?
• Bonner: Shashzi gave her some and she said it was delicious.  But Shashzi doesn't like it so I don't like it!

• The kids were piling up leaves in their little stand-up water table.  
• Bonner:  This is our garden for our little animals, mommy.
• Me: Your garden is beautiful
• Bonner: It's going to look even more beautiful with dirt.  I love dirt!

• We went to the apple orchard with friends.  As we were getting out of the car, I had this conversation.
• Me: Bonner, are you bringing Abby to the apple orchard?
• Bonner: No, m'am, she's already been before.
• Me: Oh, really!  When did she go?
• Bonner: My shashzi took her a long time ago!
• A bug flew in front of her playing outside one day and about the same time she sneezed.  She said, "That bug made me sneeze.  I mus be allergic to bugs!"
• When picking her up from school one day, she got in the car and answered the question "How was your day, Bonner?" with "I'm so excited!  It was a great day at school and we learned that Adam and Eve made a bad choice."
•  "Mommy, do you know what disciples are?  They are God's helpers!"
• After having a rough start one morning, Bonner lost the privilege to watch TV.  Later in the day, after improving the attitude, she asked me, "Now that I am calm & beautiful, can I earn back my TV?"
• We were listening to songs in the car and Bonner said, "Do you know why I love this song?  Because Shashzi has it on her phone!"
• "Shashzi listens to that on her iPad!"
• After a day at the beach, the children got into the bathtub.  I said, "We were in alot of different types of water today.  Can you name some of them?"
• Bonner: Saltwater then chlorine water then clean water
• Me: That's terrific!
• She thought about it for another second and then said, "And clean off water" (in reference to the outdoor shower)
• Ian: And we were near potty water (when he went to the bathroom)
• After making a huge mess one day, I said, "You two have a lot of cleaning up to do!"  Bonner quickly replied, "But not today!"
• Ian put on my sunglasses one day and Bonner said, "You are a pretty dude!"

Ianisms

• "That's Bonner calling me, mommy.  I'll be right back."
• Me: Ian, what do you want for breakfast?
• Ian: I want the same thing as you.
• Me: Okay, I'm going to have a granola bar.
• Ian: I want to have a GORILLA bar, too!
• This was an exchange between Ian and Bonner:
• Bonner: I like it to be hot so I can wear short sleeves.  I don't like to wear long sleeves.
• Ian to Bonner: But your dress is so pretty!
• Ian to me: I thought that would cheer her up!

•  We turned on the Olympics one day and synchronized swimming was on.  Ian very nonchalantly said, "I have done that before at my castle!"  The lady sitting next to us just laughed!
• "I have something more funner than Jake to play with!"
• And to prove that the child actually dreams about Toy Story, he woke up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  He woke me up and as we were walking to the bathroom, he said, "Mommy, do you know that we do not have the hang glider that Woody uses in Toy Story.  We need to buy that!"
• I wanted to go to the library one day so I mentioned that to the children.
• Ian: Oh, I want to go to the library, too! Remember that is where we bought that Olivia we lost.
• Me: Ian, that wasn't the library, that was Barnes & Noble.
• Ian: Oh, yeh, I want to go to Barnes & Noble.

One last Summer Trip

The week of Labor Day, the children and I were blessed to have the beach condo so we enjoyed one last trip to the beach while the weather was still beautiful out!  The kids had a blast and we all took lots of pictures to prove it ...

 "Hey, mom!  Check out your sunglasses!"

 Oh my goodness,e she is just so precious to me!

 Just another day on the beach for some very lucky children!

 This was the first time they actually wanted to climb up in the ginormous chair to have their picture taken!

And the following pictures pretty much sum up a day at the beach:

1) Bonner digging and digging - stopping to model - and digging some more

2) Ian not sitting still for 2 seconds - in the water, back to digging, back to the water, back and forth all day long!

One night we were so tired but didn't have anything to eat in the condo so we went to my favorite, Poe's ...

 in our pajamas!  Oh, yes, I am mother of the year!

 And that night, I found them wrapped up with each other in the bed!

So sweet!!

Ian continues to love to take pictures - he took my phone several times throughout the trip and captured his own pictures!  So funny!

It appears that he even figured out how to take a picture of himself :-)

I got in the pool and showed Bonner how to do a flip in the water just two times before she tried it herself.  She nailed it the first attempt!  Here's a video of her new "trick"!

And, I just think this video is hysterical!  She just jumps right in and swims to the stairs!  Ian comes running - thinks about it - then says "cotton ball" (instead of "cannon ball"), jumps too close to the edge and, of course, does it all with his Wonder Pet friends in tow!

Look what Gigi got for her birthday!  Super cute and so much fun!

And the "renovations" around here are coming right along!  I got rid of the slat blinds and put up these that can go "top-down" or "bottom up" which is great for a street-level window!  Beautiful sunlight without losing privacy!

And my bathroom is coming along!  I love the big stripe and the pink mirrors!  So bright to get me going in the mornings!  Hoping to get the lights and the new window treatments up shortly!