Summer Preschool!

Isaac started the summer program at his preschool earlier this month. It's an eight week session of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 9 AM until noon. The first day he was a little hesitant about staying because he was in a different classroom than he'd been in during the school year and he had different teachers. However, after that first day, it's been pretty smooth sailing at drop-off! And at pick-up, he's all smiles. He has a blast with his friends and teachers, Ms Tracy and Ms Pam. Here are some pictures of Isaac and his class, thanks to Ms Tracy!

Isaac LOVES play-dough!


His class artwork during jungle week:


Eating lunch, and loving those goldfish!


His class (several of these friends were in his class during the school year, too); Isaac isn't really into group pictures...


Class artwork from Wild West week:


Painting! Isaac LOVES to paint, too!



We're looking forward to six more weeks of summer fun!

Sweet words we've heard recently...

Isaac and Elise both talk all the time now, and it's pretty awesome to hear what comes out of their mouths sometimes!

Here are some things we've heard recently:

Isaac: "Can you get me some space for this blanket" (when he wanted to get under the blanket on the couch beside me.)

Isaac: Daddy, did we go to Preschool Olympics yestertime? (he is in a Vacation Bible School this week, and he calls it Preschool Olympics)

Isaac: I need to take my temperature because my temperature's dry.

Isaac: (gasps dramatically just like Mommy does and says) I did that because there's a space shuttle outside.

Isaac: (after I told him we'd be home in three minutes and then proceeded to count to sixty three times) Oh! I'm impressed!

Every day and night when we put Isaac down for his naps or bedtime, he inevitably has to go potty or needs some water. He comes to his door (which is closed) and calls out "Excuse me Mommy!!! Excuuuuuuuse me Mommmmmmyyy!!!"

Here are some memorable phrases my Dad shared from his recent visits with Isaac:

We (Gramps and Nana) normally cook pancakes together with Isaac on a griddle mixing in blueberry or chocolate chips and then making shapes them into shapes. One day a couple weeks ago, Isaac was at their house and Nana had some frozen pancakes to try. I (Gramps) asked Isaac if he wanted some frozen pancakes. He looked at me and said "No thank you." Then I asked why not, and he said, "I like warm pancakes."

When Isaac and I (Gramps) were at the pool together a few weeks ago, I had him jump in the water after he saw a little girl jumping in. For the first couple times he would say, "Let me think about it," then he would look up thinking about it. Then, after a few moments, he would look at me and say, "I am ready now." After that, he'd jump off.

Elise:

Thank you Mommy! (whenever anything is given to her. Sweet girl!)

Low-dee! (yogurt; Isaac called it load-it; we've decided if we get a dog, we'll name it Low-dee!)

I got it!!! (Miss Independent; she wants to do everything by herself.)

I get down! (Get me out of this high chair!)

I dep! I dep! (When she wants to dip something in sauce.)

I walt. (Let me walk!!)

Where Leesy go? (and covers her eyes; she says this when she's playing peek-a-boo)

Saaant! (snack)

WE LOVE OUR KIDS!!!!

Elise on the swing!

...from our Memorial Day mountain trip.

Memorial Day Trip to the Mountains!

Over Memorial Day weekend, our family took another mountain trip. Although it rained on Friday, the weather was absolutely beautiful on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. That meant we spent lots of time outside, especially the last two days when we took rather long hiking treks. On Friday, when it rained, we drove to Boone and ate at the Dan'l Boone Inn restaurant. Then we did a little shopping in Blowing Rock. On Saturday we spent most of the day in the town of West Jefferson walking, shopping, and even getting Steven a haircut! On Sunday we went to the Blue Ridge Parkway to picnic and hike near the Moses Cone Center and gravesite. That was momentous as our first real "family hike". We had so much fun on that hike that we decided to try hiking again on Monday. We went to Mount Jefferson and hiked all the way up to Luther Rock (with a jogging stroller, I might add!) A few people who saw us on the rocky and treacherous path thought we wouldn't be able to make it all the way, but thanks to Steven and me taking turns with the stroller, and also the awesome wheels on our new (yard sale find) Joovy Zoom stroller, we were able to make it all the way! Here are some pictures from our trip...

Elise, eating yogurt all by herself in the cabin:


Steven and Isaac singing and playing together in the cabin:


Elise and Isaac playing at a great park we discovered in Todd. It had a great mountain view, so Steven and I enjoyed the view while the kids had a great time playing! We'll definitely be coming back here!



Isaac pushing Elise on the swing:



Elise loves the slide!


When Elise walked out of the play area, we asked Isaac to go get her. He did just that...




Again and again!


The kids and me on our hike up to the Moses Cone gravesite:


A butterfly we saw along the way:


A funny family picture we took while at the gravesite:


A less-funny family picture. Elise had a great nap that day; that new stroller must be comfy (speaking of naps, on the way back down the mountain, Isaac said he was sleepy, so we took Elise out of the stroller and let him get in. She rode all the way back down the mountain on Steven's shoulders while I pushed the stroller!)


Our sweet babies, playing at the gravesite... It was a nice place to rest and get a snack before hiking back down the mountain.







The next day, at Luther Rock, on Mount Jefferson:





Hiking back down Mount Jefferson...


Stopping for a snack and drink halfway down:

What a fun trip! Isaac officially loves the mountains. He woke up at our house on Tuesday morning with a slight frown and said, "I want to go back to the mountains Mommy!"

We're glad you had a great time, little man! We did too, and we'll definitely go back!

Elise's Pool Scare

I had two Thirty-One parties scheduled for this past Saturday, so Steven was with the kids all day. Our friend Donnie volunteered to come over and help Steven take the kids to the pool. After they played in the pool a while, Steven grabbed Elise up to put more sunscreen on her. A few seconds later, Donnie noticed she was bleeding quite a bit from her foot. Steven ran her into the bathroom and started to rinse the blood away from a wound he saw on the top of her foot. The bleeding didn't stop and he saw that it was gaping open quite a bit. He realized she had cut her foot on some tile in the pool. Steven grabbed up lots of paper towels to put pressure and try to stop the bleeding. He and Donnie asked the lifeguards for help and they applied some butterfly bandages to the wound. A neighbor of ours who is also a nurse said the wound looked like it needed stitches. Donnie called his wife, my friend Hallel, who was with me at the party. She relayed the message to me that Elise had been cut and needed to go to the Urgent Care. Hallel jumped in the car with me and we headed for our house. When we arrived, Elise was happy as always and looked great! I saw her wound and agreed that she needed to be seen by a doctor.

Elise's cut

Since I had another party to head to, Hallel stayed with Isaac and her daughter, while Donnie and Steven took Isaac to the Urgent Care. I got a text message from Steven about an hour later that said they'd gotten Elise all "glued up" and they were back home. The doctor had been able to use Dermabond instead of stitches to close the wound. Then she put steri-strips over it that will stay for the next 5-10 days while the wound heals.

Tough little girl! She didn't cry a bit at the Urgent Care!

After all that, our friends left and Steven got the kids down for a nap. I continued my party with peace in my heart and arrived home right as naptime ended. I cuddled my little girl, and she was back to normal.

We are so thankful that Elise didn't have to have stitches and that she wasn't hurt more seriously... and we are also thankful for friends who stepped in to help us with no second thoughts. What a huge blessing! Thank you Lord!