Ian "off the board"

Ian "off the board" a video by bloodwje on Flickr.

My name is Ian and today I turned 3 years old. I have zero fear of life and jumped off the big diving board tonight for the first time at my 3rd birthday party! Enjoy :-) My sister, Bonner, and I had a great birthday party tonight but we are pooped so we'll have to tell everyone about it tomorrow! Bonner told me "It was the best party ever!" I agree!

Happy 3rd Birthday

Dear Ian and Bonner,
Today, you will celebrate 3 fantastic years here on this earth.  It has been a true blessing to watch you grow over these past 36 months.  I remember your "birth-day eve" so well.  I was so scared of all that awaited you, Ian, but I knew that your sister would be right there to keep you safe.

Ian, you have overcome so much in such a short time and are such a terrific little boy.  You have a huge personality; you love to laugh and make others laugh; you know exactly where you leave things (that is until I ask you where something might be); you love Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye from Toy Story; you absolutely LOVE music - playing, singing, or just listening to it; and, you have a super kind heart.  You are very concerned with how your sister is doing at all times; in fact, I have peaked my head into your classroom and while you are definitely doing your own thing, it seems that you always have a 6th sense about where Bonner is and if she's okay.  You are not only Bonner's Prince Charming, but mine, too!

Bonner, you have "rolled with the punches" since day 1.  On several occasions, complete strangers would hold you in the PCICU waiting room so your daddy and I could sit with Ian and talk to the nurses for just a few minutes together ... you were always so good for each caring and supportive person offering to watch you!  And, I'll never forget the night that Ian had his spell and was rushed from 7C back to the PCICU in the blink of an eye.  We walked out of that hospital not knowing whether he would make it through the night; but, you gave us such hope and provided a sense of peace during such a horrific time.  I am pretty sure that was your first night out to dinner and we ended up at Wild Wings because it was the only restaurant still serving dinner that late.  I remember hearing the band (yes, there was a very loud band playing but you slept right through it) singing "Brown-Eyed Girl" as I just stared at you "snug-a-bug" in your carseat and prayed for your brother.  Today, Bonner, you are a truly special girl.  You have a tremendous personality as well; you absolutely LOVE everything related to Princesses; you know every Disney Princess - past and present; you do not go anywhere without your Abby Cadabby doll; you have to get "snuggy buggy" before there's any hope of you falling asleep; and, you have an imaginary friend named "Sashi" (pronounced Sah-zshi).

Ian and Bonner, the two of you are so special to everyone that knows you.  You could not be any different from your hair color to your skin tone to your willingness to introduce yourselves to strangers.  But, at the same time, you love to play together - Bonner's always the mommy; sometimes Ian is the daddy or the baby; and, always, there are some princesses involved.  I relish in your love for one another.  I hope that you will stay as close to one another for years to come as you are right now!

You have been so blessed to experience all that you have before you have even turned 3 years old.  You have been to the beach lots of times; you've been on Grandbuddy's boat at the lake; you've been to the zoo, the playground, the Georgia aquarium; you've flown on an airplane; you've been to a Red Sox game; you've been to a water park; you've been to several Greenville Drive baseball games; you've eaten at alot of restaurants and know lots of waiters/waitresses (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Sushi, American, Italian, and Mexican, to name a few); but, most importantly, you've been prayed for and loved by so many people!

I look forward to a wonderful birthday celebration tomorrow!  You are both what make my eyes sparkle and I know that God looks down on you with tremendous amazement in the 2 special people He created.  I hope you always know how much your family loves you; but, most importantly, I hope you always know it's God who has brought you this far and will continue to keep watch over you in the years to come!

I love you so very much!
Love,
Your Favorite Mommy!

The Good, The Sad, and The Silly

The Good
I took the children up to Charlotte last Friday morning so we could spend some time with my Aunt Joyce.  She was working on Friday so I decided to take them to the new Discovery Place Kids which opened in Huntersville, NC, in October 2010.  It's an extension of the ever-popular Discovery Place in Charlotte, but directed towards the younger children.  It was crowded because it was rainy out, but the kids had a blast playing waiter in the restaurant, rock climbing, flying an airplane, building towers with legos, being veterinarians, and just being silly!  I forgot to take my little camera with me on the trip so I snapped these with my cell phone ... forgive the clarity - I hope they still portray the fun they were having!

We went out to dinner with Aunt Joyce that night - Big Daddy's Burgers ... oh my!  What a delicious hamburger!  Ian told me in the middle of his dinner, "this is the best party ever, mommy!"  Needless to say, the kids enjoyed the trip!

The Sad
Most of you know our bulldog, Baxter, has been with us for over 13 years.  In the past several months, and especially weeks, he's started to go downhill - struggling to get up the stairs, tee-teeing throughout the house, but most importantly, not eating!  I took him to our precious vet last week and she advised me that there was definitely something going on internally and that it was time to put him down.  I cried hard; even though, he's become grumpy in his old age and I am scared at how he will react to the children at times, he has been there pretty much since the beginning and he was our "first born".  Stewart took him today to be put to sleep.  He will be missed tremendously ... in fact tonight when I was saying Ian's prayers, he said, "Mommy, I bet Baxter is up in heaven playing fetch with Baby Jesus!"  :-)  I will miss Baxter so much, but know that he and Millie are playing tug-o-war as we speak.

Sweet Baxter

from Newnan, GA

May 1998 - July 2011

You will be missed!

I do have one super funny story about Baxter ... it might take a minute to read but just bear with me.  When Baxter was just a little puppy, I came home from work rather late one evening and Stewart was out of town.  I walked in the house and Baxter was in his cage and would not wake up.  Well, I panicked ... and, of course, tried everything to wake him up.  He was breathing so that was a relief but he would not get his lazy butt out of the bed.  Well, I decided to walk outside to see if he might be incentivized and follow me - no chance of that happening but when I opened the door, I found a sample bottle of cough syrup lying on the patio with 1000 little teeth marks in it.  Needless to say, Baxter had gotten into the "good stuff" and was enjoying a long slumber!  He will be missed dearly!

The Silly from Ian & Bonner

Bonner Lingo:

- "You can't bite people, but you can bite waffles!"

- "Ian is my soldier, mommy, and we are getting married!" (as she grabs his hand and walks him "down the aisle")

- "When Ian flushes my tee tee, mommy, it makes my heart feel good!"

- We were saying the Pledge of Allegiance the other day and it seems that Bonner got the words confused with her favorite grocery store when she said, "And to the RepubliX"

- Bonner fell down one day and Ian asked her if she was ok.  Bonner said, "Ian, you are a good prince to check on me!"

- They are going to "camp" at their school off and on this summer and they start each morning out with their "morning meeting" where all the children come together in the chapel.  Well, it dawned on Bonner one morning on our way to school and she said, "I have a morning meeting like mommy has a meeting!" (whenever I leave them, I usually say that I am going to a "meeting")

- "I like to wear my hair behind my ears so that I can hear!"

- Only time will help her to understand the irony of this comment she made to Ian the other night; "Ian, break my heart, please!"

- "Mommy, I have a prince at my castle and he protects me from the eagle, eagle (aka "evil, evil") huntsman!"

Ian-isms

- After passing a rather plump man the other day, Ian said, "That man has a baby in his tummy, mommy!"

- "Mommy, your computer is wonderful!"

- Whenever the children and I are apart, I remind them before I leave that I will pray for them while we are apart ... you often wonder if they really get it, but the other night, they were asleep before I got home so the next morning, I told them that I missed them "while I was at my meeting".  Ian immediately turned to me and asked, "Did you pray for us, mommy?"

- And again, "Mommy, I bet Baxter is up in heaven playing fetch with Baby Jesus!"

It's birthday week around here.  I cannot believe that Ian and Bonner will be 3 this Friday.  They are truly the apples of my eye and I am so thrilled God picked me to be their mommy!

San Francisco - Days 3 & 4

So, Sunday I traveled; Monday, it was Santa Cruz; and Tuesday, shopping and the baseball game.  By Wednesday, we thought we should really start working on the site-seeing portion of San Francisco ... and Elizabeth wanted to make sure that we biked across the Golden Gate Bridge (more on that shortly).

So, Wednesday, we started across from the Powell Muni Station waiting for a trolley to take us to Fisherman's Wharf.  The trolley was pretty cool - there are 4 lines in the city and they go no faster than about 9 miles an hour.  And that's very comforting because the hills in San Francisco are great - you could really take off if the trolley let loose :-)  And the idea that they manually turn the trolley around at each end of the trolley line is pretty interesting.  Great ride through the city!

We ate lunch down on the Wharf and then checked out the fog that covers the Golden Gate Bridge most days ... from our bicycles!  It was only 9 miles but I never thought I would make it another inch with the hills, the wind, and the out-of-shape body I am hauling around!  Super fun, though, and I'm glad we made it all the way!  We rode bikes from Fisherman's Wharf over the bridge to Sausalito.  We should have planned better because Sausalito seemed to be a super cute area and I wish we could have explored ... but the ferry was on it's way and there was no way that I was biking it back :-)

Oh, yes, these are the bikes ... see, I have proof that I am not making this adventure up!  Ha!

Clearly by the smiles on our face, you can tell that we haven't even left the bike rental shop at this point!

Aaaahhh, good thing we rode over the bridge because it was hard to see through the fog from the street!  

If the fog wasn't so bad, it would have been a great picture!  I was one "hottie" at this point ... and not because I looking too good!

Pretty sure this was at the first leg of the bridge ... yikes!  I was already pooped - thank goodness we were about 1/2 the way done by this point!

And here's the 2nd stop on the bridge ... now, it was only like 3/8 further to go!

Beautiful picture of San Francisco from the tower just under the Golden Gate Bridge.

And this is the ferry that we were supposed to ride back to Fisherman's Wharf on ... it was a little bit confusing as to why we didn't, but thank goodness there was another ferry not too far behind!

And after pushing my leg muscles that much, I needed a special treat ... and Ghiradelli's served that right up!

I really didn't think I would be able to walk the next day after our bike ride; but, I pre-medicated with much Ibuprofen so I was actually surviving the next day.  And, of course, we were not finished site-seeing so we hit the streets again on Thursday - Cable Car Museum, Chinatown, Lombardi Street,

We were so impressed with the trolley system (and we talked to someone that visited the museum and thought it was pretty neat) that we decided a stop at the Cable Car Museum might be worth it so that's where we started.  And it was pretty impressive - thinking that the trolley system overcame the earthquake and fires many moons ago ... definitely a national landmark and worth the "stop" - ha!

Welcome to China ... town!  I handled it pretty good but there were too many people and the fish just hanging out in the markets on the streets were too smelly for me to move there!

There is a place amongst Chinatown where they still hand-make fortune cookies.  We bought some and enjoyed reading them after dinner.  I bought some yummy ones with chocolate!  If you took a picture, you had to pay $.50 - I didn't mind :-)

We decided to walk from Chinatown to Lombard Street - the world's curviest street ... needless to say, the city map didn't indicate which streets were at 180 degrees :-)  We walked up this "hill" (these are actually called "mountains" on the east coast)!

And this is Lombard Street - curvy road with beautiful homes on each side.  Super excited that we got to walk down the "hill" this time :-)

Here we are at the bottom of the street ... 

From Lombard Street, we headed back to Fisherman's Wharf to see what it was all about ... since all we had done the day before was pick up our bikes there and took off for the bridge.  Since San Francisco is known for their sour dough bread, there is a company right on the waterfront that makes homemade bread in all these funny animal shapes!  The teddy bear was my favorite!

And here's a picture of Alcatrez from Pier 39 - one of the most popular piers on the Wharf.

It used to be that these water piers were covered with sea lions, but during the summer months, most of them migrate.  It was good to see just a few that stayed behind - I'm pretty sure I saw them biking the bridge the day before so they were just plain worn out!  Ha!

 And once we finished seeing all the sights we could cram in, we went shopping along the famous Haight Street (where Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia used to live).  It's a crazy street so I wasn't sure what to buy to remember it by ... but I think these tights did the trick!

All and all, my time away was terrific.  I had a blast and we got super lucky with the weather!  I got in late Friday night but since the kiddos were at the beach, I left early Saturday morning to join them at Wild Dunes.  It was a great trip - really short - but worth every second to see them!  Hope you all had a fabulous July 4 week!

We are getting ready for birthdays around here ... the next big thing on the agenda will be the children's birthday one week from this Friday - can't believe they are turning 3!  We picked out their cakes today and they couldn't figure out why they couldn't take them home ... so funny!

San Francisco - Days 1 & 2

As many of you know, I left out on Sunday, July 3, for a much-needed vacation with a friend of mine, Elizabeth.  We went to San Francisco and had a blast.  I certainly do not journal my travels anymore since I consider this pretty much my journal so I am going to document our visit here for everyone to enjoy.

I treated myself to a First Class upgrade on the way out there - I mean, come on, it's vacation, right?  And the first one I have taken without children in a pretty long time so I earned it ... ha!  The trip was fantastic - I thought since we were going to California that the weather would be much like ours in Greenville.  I knew the humidity would be minimal, but I thought the temperature would be just a little milder.  Well, come to find out, normal temps this time are year are not what I packed my shorts for ... instead, I should have taken a jacket.  But we got so lucky with the weather and shorts it was pretty much every day!  It was a FUN-tastic trip!  I thoroughly enjoyed the city and all it had to offer; we shopped, saw the sights, enjoyed yummy food and drinks, and just had a terrific time outside of our own realities!

This was the view from my window as we were coming into San Francisco - definitely gives meaning to the Forrest Gump's words, "I wasn't sure where the Earth ended and Heaven began!"

Hard to see from this picture, but this is the city from up high.  Everything is crammed in there, but it has such a terrific feel when you are in and amongst all the "cramming"!

My partner in crime on this adventure, Elizabeth, has a cousin who lives in San Francisco and she was gracious enough to open up her home for us to stay.  It was so nice of her and I certainly appreciated all the hospitaility.  Fortunately, Monday was a holiday, so she was off work and chauffeured us south where it was a little bit warmer to Santa Cruz.  The beach was packed for July 4th!  It felt some like Atlantic City with the beach-side amusement park.  The pier was nice and since I had never seen sea lions anywhere but the zoo or aquarium, I was excited to get up this close to a "pack" of them ...

This is a picture of myself and Elizabeth on the Santa Cruz pier ...

It was a great little trip outside the city.  Unfortunately, the fog in San Francisco is unbelievable so we did not even attempt a fireworks show that night.  Instead, we headed out to a pub close to home called Magnolia's (right on the infamous Haight Street) for some yummy burgers and beers.

On Tuesday, Day 2, Elizabeth and I set out to be big site-seers; however, we found the shopping district instead.  And, that's what we did - shopped until we "dropped" ... "dropped" in on the San Francisco Giants hosting the San Diego Padres!  Great night in San Francisco for a baseball game.  I can't wait to frame these pictures together ... day and night :-) Literally!

I'll finish the rest tomorrow :-)  Gotta leave you somewhat suspenseful as to what shenanigans we got into!

Pictures of the Kids

I took the children a couple of weeks ago to have some "professional" pictures taken ... ha!  If you call Portrait Innovations and getting out of there for $150, professional, then it definitely was.  I never know how they are going to do so I just hold my breath.  However, I must say that the past 2 times they have been terrific!  Here are a "few" snapshots from the visit :-)

These two love each other so much ... they are so cute and have such genuine personalities.  Ian wants to make everyone laugh and Bonner just wants to laugh :-)

Happy 4th of July

Hey everyone,
I type this update from about 35,000 feet above our great nation!! Me, oh my! I wish you could share in the beauty God has created today as I travel above the clouds on this bright, sunshiny day!!

I wanted to take this time and wish each of you a fantastic 4th of July!! Although I wish I could pull off a British accent, I am certainly glad that our great nation's forefathers sacrificed so tremendously to ensure our freedoms over 2000 years later! Of course, God has played a huge part in our independence, our successes, and, yes, even our tragedies! But on this day we should celebrate the sacrifices and the tremendous freedoms! I tell my children quite frequently that they are so blessed much more than other children because 1) they are told "I love you" at least 10 times a day, and 2) God has given them the chance to grow up in the absolute greatest nation in this world!!

You might be asking - "Why is she typing this from high above our great vast nation?" Well, Ian & Bonner left this morning to go to Wild Dunes with Stewart and I got on a plane this afternoon heading for San Francisco for a much deserved vacation!!! I am probably as super-excited as Ben Franklin was when he signed our Declaration of Independence - and I am not exaggerating one bit :-) I cannot wait to explore the home of Rice-a-Roni :-)

With no pictures of the children for you to enjoy, I will just leave you with the following most recent sayings from Ian & Bonner!
Ian-isms:
- "Mommy, that man has a baby in his tummy!"
- "Mommy, your computer is so wonderful!"

Bonner-lingo:
- Bonner to Ian "Prince Charming, are you my daddy?" To which Ian replied, "No, I am a troll!"
- we went to Georgia aquarium last week, I asked Bonner what she might want for a snack andshe immediately replied "Goldfish!" The irony was not lost on me!
- "Mommy, you can't bite people, but you can bite waffles!"
- "Ian is my soldier, mommy, and we are getting married!"
- "When Ian flushes my tee-tee, mommy, it makes my heart feel good!"
- This week, the children were at "camp" at school and it was all about celebrating America, learning about soldiers (see the above comment she made), and starting to learn patriotic sayings and songs! Bonner had an idea but confused the Pledge of Allegiance with her favorite grocery store... "... and to the RePUBLIX for which it stands..."

I must brag on my children for 1 minute - to prove to everyone reading - that even 3 year olds get it! I have tried to pray for people in ambulances every time we pass one with it's sirens on. Well, yesterday, we passed one and it slipped my mind to pray but just as it passed, Bonner said, "Let's pray for the ambulance, mommy!" I know I am not the World's Best Mom, but at times like those, I also realize everything I try to impart to them about others being important (I.e. Despite popular belief, the world does not resolve around you!) actually sinks in!!

I'll update this week from the sunny hills of CA! Happy 4th!