Facebook | Videos of You

Just a quick reminder to myself, there are some funny videos of the kids that Kayti has captured. They are on my Facebook page, not quite sure how to get them here beyond pasting the link.


Facebook Videos of You

Dancing machine, watch her get down (and out)

So most of the time we can't help but share what a fantastic time we're having and it may *appear* as if it's perfect and everything is under control all the time, but Saturday morning was so far from that, I just have to share. I know we will laugh about it later but there was absolutely nothing funny about it at the time. Emerson had her first ballet/tap/tumbling class this Saturday morning, and I think I was as excited as she was. It's one of the first things that pops into a pregnant moms brain when she's lying on the table and finds out she's having a girl.......pink, princesses, cork screw curls, tutus, those adorable little tights where the VPL is actually cute...I got Emerson all dressed up on Saturday morning in the "approved" attire (since when did this become a sorority?), and off we went.

I was the "new" parent in an obviously already established group of women. Most moms know how that feels. Emerson stayed in the studio for about 15 minutes, and from that point on, things went downhill. She didn't want to stay in the classroom at all. This is a trying situation for any parent when you're in an enclosed room with other parents you do not know, trying to discipline in the most effective way possible. She probably ran on out of the studio 15-20 times, until finally the teacher came out and said she had to stay out, because she was disrupting the class. I was mortified. I talked her through it, and did not follow the teacher's directions. I took Emerson right back in there (after a long talk) and luckily it was time for tumbling. A big sigh, as this is something she knows and is familiar with. We got out of there in one piece, barely. For someone that didn't want to stay in the studio, she threw a fit when it was over!

Oh, one of those mom moments you'll never forget - unfortunately. I had absolutely no intention of showing my face there again, but then decided that would not be setting a good example. We need to try things more than once, before we give up. Perserverance, as Princess Aurora teaches us. Sometimes I need to remind myself I'm the parent, and then sometimes I just want to call my mommy!


To be continued...

Life's A Beach!

One day we will move to the beach. Whatever it takes. Until then, we can only look forward to taking the kids on vacation and giving them the chance to love the ocean as much as we do. This year we switched things up and took the (long!) road trip to Isle of Palms, SC. Since we had never been to this beach before we were excited about exploring.

And exploring we did! The house we stayed at was great (everyone loved it, but it was really, really far for the family to trek to from VA and CT). It was located near a small inlet that fed the Intracoastal Waterway. This created perfect, kid friendly conditions with tidal pools, a small "stream" that came and went with the tide and tons of neat sandbars. We were so proud of how daring Emerson was - swimming in the ocean, going underwater and searching for sea creatures. Her and daddy were the only ones brave enough to venture out to the island sandbars and boy was it worth it! They found hermit crabs, stingrays, starfish and conchs. One conch they found was at least a foot long and weighed 4-5 lbs! The fun didn't come without a cost, though, as both AJ and Maddie got stung by jellyfish. The last day we were all going to go out to a sandbar island only to take two steps in the water to be greeted by a very large shark! All the kids had so much fun every day, which consisted of eating a huge breakfast, getting lathered up and hitting the beach for several hours, having lunch and then some pool time followed by a big nap, then play play play.

We are so lucky to be able to get together so the kids can grow up and be close. We took the kids to the aquarium the last day so they could get a closer look at some of the stuff they had been swimming around with all week and they had a great time. Now if only the memories can last until we are able to make it back to the beach again!

Oh, yeah and two days before we had to leave, Wyatt decided he would get up and walk!

“Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”
--Anonymous

Can we stop the clock?!

My babies are getting so big, especially Emerson. The pictures turned out fantastic, no surprise there with Season on the other end of the camera. I love the fact that for the very first time, I see a little of myself in Emerson looking from the outside in. If only I was as free of a spirit as she is...I'm working on it. How did I end up so blessed?! I wonder if we'll look back and cackle at Wyatt's pants? Probably...I already am a little!

Happy Happy Birthday to our little monkey

I know it sound cliche, but I really don't know where the last year went. It seems like a blur, and my baby is already one! The thought of no longer having a baby around saddens me, but I know there are many new memories to come. We had a (somewhat) memorable birthday yesterday. Party celebration posts to come soon. Here's a (albeit birth-) day in the life of Wyatt:

Breakfast for the birthday boy:

Getting handsome (it's not hard!) for my first year photos:

Celebrating survival of the photo shoot with some lunch at Village Deli:

Stopped by the hospital to see this new little bundle of joy (well at least daddy did). Ryan Kristopher Sauls, born 2 minutes shy of Wyatt's birthday. Congrats Cliff and Emily:

Official birthday cupcakes and presents from nana:

Here's what I thought about the cupcake:

We can't believe it's been a year since the day you were born. You are loved more than you know, Wyatt!

Fishy

Emerson finished up her swimming lessons last week and it was well worth it. Mommy would take her on Mondays and Daddy would take her on Wednesdays. I chose not to let Daddy know that Chelsea, the swimming instructor, said Emerson did much better with Mommy! Mainly because the chilliest days just happened to fall on Wednesdays...

She's learned to "scoop,"

blow bubbles, go underwater and jump from the side.

Quite a big improvement from the first pool experience this summer, where she was pretty scared. On this day, Nana and baby brother joined us to see what all the hype was about. We're gonna enroll her next!

Blog makeover, check...

If only everything on my to do list was this fun....so in case you haven't noticed our blog got a makeover and I can't say enough great things about Jennisa from http://www.onceuponablog.org/ . I'm so picky and she was so patient with me. She took the time to create something that I think fits us perfectly. Thanks Jennisa, we LOVE it!