Daddy, I DIED...

Memorial Day Weekend wasn't one to forget this year... well who could between the neighbor battles over the bio-hazard sign in one yard and the Radon Remediation truck trailer parked in front of the other... then there was the Taste of Durham, shopping for shoes...errr I mean "SKETCHERS," the Dollar Store Adventure, Disolving our 18 month contract with DR Horton (for now...) Fort Fisher Aquarium and the Beach, which brings me to my title.... 

We did plenty to keep our spinning minds busy this weekend.  I am still waiting to hear about a teaching position, the settlement from the title company and of course, a sale on our current home.  So as listed above, we did just that.  On Sunday we went to Fort Fisher State Beach.  It was warm and the water wasn't too bad, but the wind made it a little too chilly for my liking once wet.  Of course, that wasn't going to deter the children!  It's nuts to watch three children, who can't swim in the ocean.  Even when you're standing over the top of them, the surf can be so unpredictable... and that's exactly what happened.  Chad had camped out a few feet off the surf and was monitoring two children in the sand, while I watched one in the water at a time.  We rotated through so everyone was happy.  It was Caed's turn and he had gotten quite confident in his ability to jump in the surf without holding my hand...then BAM...his feet went flying out from under him, a wave came and rolled him over and a look of terror swept across his face.  I quickly grabbed his arm and stood him up.  His hair was disheveled and small goosebumps began to form from the wind whipping across his tiny body.  He didn't say anything, and I tried not to make a big deal out of it.  "Love you Caed," I whispered and steered him back to his Daddy.  As he got closer, he ran to Chad and said, "Daddy, I died in the ocean!"  How does a two year old even know.  Later, when I asked him what he told his Daddy, he replied, "I told him I died in the ocean, but Mommy saved me!"  That's the way I like it, him remembering that I saved him. 

Caed went on to have a great day playing, but he held my hand a lot, and stayed very close.  We enjoyed all of our other escapades, and are happy to report that the Radon Remediation trailer has been moved.  As for the bio-hazard sign, not yet, but she did run over the realty sign on the corner of her lot! Ya win some and ya loose some.... HA

"Dats not right!"

So today, I was helping Caed put his shorts back on. Right leg in, left leg in and hoist. There we go... now why is that so tight. Then a waddle waddle here and a waddle waddle there... "Hey Mommy...dat's not wite!" OOOPS, both legs down the same hole! I have to say I'm glad it happened just because it was so cute to here him say that!

Other Caedisms include "Kisses" where upon I must stop everything I'm doing and stoop down low for him to kiss the side of my check (I love that, well except when the snot comes with it.) There's always the dinner gate too. He will randomly shout, "Close my gate!" and clamp down his hands and mouth, and will not open his mouth for another bite until you say, "Open your gate!" Then giggling, he will open both hands and his mouth. If you put a bite of food in, he won't chew it until you order him to, "close his gate." It remains cute, only because he does it every once in a while, and it doesn't go on for the entire meal. Caed likes to parrot his brother, and when he feels slighted he crosses his arms, furrows his brow and says in a mean growly tone, " I so very mad," or "I so super mad," or "I so angry." Which it's pretty easy to tell him you love him anyway because again, he's just SO cute!

Braden has completely amazed me over the past several months. Two weeks ago he came home with his first spelling list (in Kindergarten...crazy!) and he aced it. That was impressive, but even more so, his handwriting looks like it came straight out of the manual! He's reading books on his own and even offered to read part of the devotion the other day. I can't help but think about working for TWO years to try to help him learn to write his name ( I HATE the letter B!....) Guess it's a good thing I wasn't set on homeschooling!

Ashlyn still sings her "Jesus" songs, which are made up and sometimes involve the people or items in the room and other times incorporate her thoughts on how people should act and what might happen if they don't behave, and always end up some crazy statement like, "Jesus, You Rock!" Hilarious. She still is my snuggle bug at 4.5, but can get her feelings hurt and turn into what I refer to as "Miss Sassafras." I enjoyed taking her to see my father graduate in DC last weekend, and she is already wondering if we can go back and do it all again on Saturday. Oh, if only I had that much energy!

Smells Like Chad

I don't often take my kids to the mall. It's usually an experience I want to forget, and so do most of the other shoppers around us. But, I had to take back some items to AE and yesterday was as good as any other to brave the circumstances. I started with all kinds of bribes: biscuits for breakfast, a visit to the playground, trying out all of the coin operated contraptions, throwing pennies in the fountain and of course the delayed bribe of ice cream "later." As the time came for the stores to actually open, we began walking towards AE. As we walked along in front of Abercrombie, Ash stuck her nose up in the air and started sniffing. "Hey Mom," she announced, "it smells like Chad." Well, it kinda did. Not exactly his scent, but somewhat familiar. I laughed out loud. Abercrombie's doors hadn't even opened yet, but their cologne sure let everyone know they were there. Thank God "Chad" doesn't wear it so thick. That little girl is hilarious...as if she ever goes around calling her daddy "Chad!"

Oh, and as a side note, the shopping went ok, aside from the two little angels that I sometimes call my children ramming the front doors of AE when they felt like we had waited long enough for them to open. The lady in front saw us, but I swear she waited until every other store in the mall was open before she actually opened up. I think she was hoping we would go away. When she actually opened the door, I apologetically mentioned that he (Caed) really just wanted to get in. To which she replied (to Caed), "well do you have any money?" I was quick to answer, "No, but his Mommy does..." Whatever. (I have to stop saying that, Ashlyn actually responded "whatever" to me this morning when I asked her to pick up her markers...yikes...) And, surprisingly after we got into the store they entertained themselves with "captain hooks" (aka: dress hangers) "ya- ya- ya" and climbing into the middle of the racks. The good news is that I actually got some new underwear, which means I can toss out the ones with holes. Always lookin' for the up side!