Swim Lessons

Peter has taken swim lessons for the last 2 weeks.  We enjoyed the first week so much that I signed him up for a second week.  Its been each morning from 9-9:30.  What a great excuse to get out of the house and head to the POOL!

He's practiced kicking...

and freetyle arms...

His biggest fan watches each morning!

and looks SO cute...

He jumped off the board one morning, with my "help"...

Its been a fun time.  His teacher has been so sweet and good with him.  

NC

My dad's side of the family has a reunion every summer on the Chowan River.

We decided at the last minute to go down for the day.  It turned out to be a nice trip as a family and nice for me to be out of the house after a tough week.

Grandma got to enjoy some snuggle time at Lily's naptime. :)

It stormed a bit so we spent a lot of the time under the pavilion instead of on the beach or in the water.

This little girl loves to crawl into your lap when you're sitting.

Look at those little legs!!!

Riding the Daddy train

The crowd was smaller this year (which was kinda nice) so Peter spent a lot of time hoping to be able to hang with the "big boys".  These 3 older boys are each a year apart. They are first cousins and Peter's maybe third cousin?  They all did a cool little huddle thingy...

... and BREAK!

(Peter was really cute eyeing them all day!)

And he enjoyed playing with Savannah who is just a year older (I think).

"Vacation" Week

My mom's side of the family spent the week of the 4th at the River House.

All but 3 were there so its was great to all be together.  I've always loved getting together with everyone.  The total # was 26 people!  We ran the well dry on Sunday, 4th but we were there til the following Friday... enough said.  Mike was there til Monday eve and we loved 5 straight days with him (after a very sad trip to NC).

Lily flirting with Mike thru the door

It was a treat for all the Dennis kids to be together, tho a sad occasion.  Will and Emily flew in from CO for Alvin's funeral and were able to come to the river house for the weekend.

The Cousins (minus Jeff, Turner and Megan)

The Youngest Generation

(minus Max)

(sadly, this was Lily's feeling anytime she wasn't attached to me)

The kids eating watermelon on the 4th.

We celebrated the girl's first birthday there.

She actually ate a cupcake 3 times, twice on the day of her party (5th), and then of course she had to have one on her actual birthday (6th)

Cousin Matt stepped it up after Mike left and provided some good entertainment for Peter!

Matt put on a puppet show for the kids with a monkey (named "Jorge" and "Morton")

Peter is laughing in the above pic.  Morton was such a hit!!

June

Some June high (and low) lights in pictures...

I'm probably being too task oriented about this but...

Lily got the messiest she ever has in food 

(I'm not a big fan of this, by the way)

"Cha-Cha's baby" was born!!

I am hoping we'll see them again soon b/c Peter is really into babies and often wants to "hold Lily"  but doesn't understand she won't just sit/lay there anymore.  So I think Steed will be an easier hold.  :)

I lost Peter at the new Children's Museum in Short Pump- yes, for about 10 min.  We left soon after that.  I just don't think we are the museum type.

Peter fed Lily her first ever grits and eggs- a love affair began!

Lily got her first birthday gift in the mail

"My Own Fairy Tale" from Aunt Carrie and Uncle Matt

Peter took the bus to the mall with Daddy

I followed them in the van and stalked them :)

and after dinner at Chick Fil A, he got to drive the whoo whoo

(then began hand mouth and foot virus that eve... & a seizure)

Lily learned to put the phone/her hand to her ear and say "HI!"

That's all I've got... Its past my bedtime!

Father's Day Weekend

lily's first official swim

(before the jelly fish arrived)

(peter is putting the net in the water)

(the boy likes to drive things)

(this may be one of my new fav pics)

(hi daddy)

(kiss)

(i wanna go high!)

have i mentioned how much i love my husband?!  he is the best dad!  it is obvious in how much they adore him.  he is so good to me too & great about helping with them SOOO much on the weekends.

and my dad (& dad-in-love)... also so wonderful... i am so very thankful.

Sadly, it was our last weekend to spend with Alvin (we celebrated Glenda's birthday).  He went to be with Jesus on 6.26.10.  He was such a good dad to Holly and a friend to everyone.  We enjoyed so, so many great vacations and weekends with Alvin.  We are thankful that we'll see him again but OH, we will SO miss him.  

philippians 1:21  to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Maddening

I think motherhood can make you crazy.  This morning was a pretty easy one... Lily slept in, Peter watched TV while I showered, cleaned up a little.  It was 10am and we were all close to being ready so I thought we'd make a Target run.  Lily had a fever yesterday afternoon but I thought if it was down, she was acting fine, I'd take her in the infant carseat to "contain" her.  I turned off the TV and had Peter come upstairs with me to get Lily up, put their clothes on.  Peter was playing nicely with Lily's new Noah's Ark so I went back down with Lily to give her b'fast while he played.  After feeding Lily her cereal/yogurt, I left her there with raspberries while I went back up to Peter.  He had the nearly empty container of glycerin suppositories in his hand, top off!  (Lily's been constipated again so I gave her 1/2 of one last eve and 1/2 this am.)  I asked him what he did with them, if he ate them?  He says "YES!" (in his happy voice).  I was able to walk around upstairs and find some of them on the floor so it looks nearly as full as it had been but its just so hard to tell.  So I ask him how many he ate and he says "TWO" in his happy voice.  Great!  Who knows if he's telling the truth?!?  Not sure exactly how this next part played out b/c its vague in my mind at this point....  After telling Peter that we do NOT eat them or ANY medicine, we give it to Mommy or Daddy, he ends up downstairs (maybe I was still searching for suppositories?).  In the meantime, Lily is crying hysterically downstairs b/c I've left her alone (and she's teething, not feeling great, has separation anxiety).  As I go back down and into the kitchen, I see the Milk of Magnesia jug (that had been on the kitchen table) with the top off sitting by the kitchen sink.  Peter!  I tried to be calm and decide how to approach it.  I asked if he drank any and he said yes.  I asked what it tasted like (thinking maybe he'd say "it taste bad!")... he said "It tasted like candy!" (in his very happy, pleased voice).  UGH! To give him a little credit, I am thinking maybe he realized he shouldn't have had it so put it on the counter by the sink.  And I can tell that not much is gone.  He has some on his bare chest but it doesn't look like there is any in his mouth.  But still the issue that he could have drank some... Honestly, I wasn't too worried about the actual "meds" he'd taken, it was more of the principal.  So being the great mom I am, I took him to the bathroom with a spoon and thought I'd try to get him to throw up.  I was able to get a few good gags but he never threw up.  As all of this is happening, Lily is STILL crying like crazy.  Its maddening.  Peter and I discussed that he would NEVER take or touch those things again.  
Peter wanted to, needed to rest so I directed him to the couch.  Lily is still crying so I nurse her to calm her but she's still crying after she finishes.  She also has a poo.  So I take her upstairs, she wants nothing to do with the diaper change (tho wearing a poopy diaper also makes her fussy).  She kicks and screams, arches her back as I attempt to change her, her feet in poo, poo on my hand, poo on changing pad.  Eventually, I just let her stand as I finished.  She finally calmed down and was ready to go back to sleep 1.5 hours after she'd gotten up.  So both of mine were sleeping again by 11:30am.  
I did end up calling Poison Control, just to be sure and at the insisting of my husband.  They said indeed, it could only cause diarrhea.