Barackin’ the Vote!

It was a rough ride, but we made it!  We were bound and determined to make our vote for Barack Obama count.  Despite a nice, freezing drizzle and a 2+ hour wait, we all survived.  The kids were dressed in red, white and blue, and I was armed with a bag LOADED down with pretzels, goldfish, colors, coloring books and regular books.  Oh, and the boys each made a ziploc bag of their halloween candy to bring along.

Before picture:

1/100th of the line:

5 minutes before we actually voted:

2 of the 8 voting machines were down, and while we were in there 3 machines were replaced.  I was just praying those votes didn’t go into the voting black hole.  It was very unnerving.  While we were in line, Zachary, of course, had to go to the bathroom.  So I pretty much relied on the kindness of my neighbors to watch William and Amelia so I didn’t lose my hard-earned place in line.  We got up to the front of the line, with 5 people ahead of us, and Amelia completely lost it.  Hungry, tired and tired of that stinkin’ stroller, there was no consoling her.  The sweet people in front of us let us go ahead and we did it.  Complete.  Check.  Done.

And the best part of the day was that…..HE WON!!!!!!!!!!!  YAY BARACK!

Best Photo of the Trip

Here is the best photo of the trip.  This is how I was able to enjoy the trip without fear of losing a child.  Will tattooed them with their names and my cell phone number.  The kids loved it, and so did we!

The Adventures are Back!

After taking a short blogging hiatus, we’re back!  Life never seems to be dull around here, especially as of late.  I have so much to catch you up on!  I guess I’ll start with our Disneyworld trip.

Last month was our anniversary, and to celebrate, we hopped on down to Disney.  I’ve been DYING to take the boys, and somehow, someway, I convinced my sweet husband to go.  So BFF Jessica kept Amelia, and we picked Mom up at the Orlando airport, surprising the boys.  We really had a blast.  William was THE perfect age, but Zachary was a champ too.  William waved to every single character on every single ride, as if they were real.  Then he would ask us, “Is that duck soft?  Is that mouse soft?”  We think he was asking us if they were real or not, but it was just so sweet to see him in complete awe.  Zachary’s favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear.  Mom took him on it over and over while Will, William and I rode Space Mountain, also a hit.

 

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip!

Celebrating our anniversary at Epcot (ALONE!) (l)

Loving on Grammy before the parade and fireworks (r)

THE highlight of the trip, riding shotgun on the monorail!!!!

Watching the day parade at the Magic Kingdom

Trying to get last minute shots in front of the castle, easier said than done!

Afternoon Adventures

The weather has been simply beautiful the last week or so!  So after we finish doing William’s homework, we go and play outside for hours.  Amelia especially likes being outside.  Her favorite right now is playing in the car.  Will doubted me when I told him Mom was getting William one eons ago.  And every single child who comes over goes straight for that car.  I guess it’s a staple like the wagon once was, and really still is.

So this is how I found the boys playing a few days ago.  Zachary is ALWAYS running around in underwear, shirt optional.  People around here just know him like that.  And honestly, I really don’t care.  As long as he has dry underwear, I’m happy.  Oh, and the rule is no peeing in the front yard (even the side bushes).  Only go inside the house or in the backyard.  Yes, I’m a boy mom.  Anyway, so he started going to AWANA now that he’s 3.  He absolutely LOVES it (and so do we!!!).  This visor was his craft on the first night.  I think he looks a bit like the Pope.

 

 

And this was also a huge week because Amelia first wore pigtails.  OMG, I almost died when I was able to get the pa-du-kees (hair elastic in Cajun) to stay.  She didn’t mind me playing with her hair until I got it right, and the ribbons even stayed in all day!!!  This was one proud momma on Monday!

  

William’s favorite thing in the whole wide world is riding his bike. 

 

And these are a few shots from yesterday’s beautiful 73 degree afternoon.  So much fun being outside on days like that!!!!

  

First Day of School

My sweet baby William started kindergarten August 18.  Sad day for me, happy day for him.  He had a pretty good time, but by Wednesday he didn’t want to go back.  He cried when it was time for Will and me to leave, which completely tore my heart out.  And when I walked out of the classroom, a waterfall of tears just flowed.  Fortunately, I met a few other parents in the “new parent coffee,” which consisted of…..coffee.  And I even made one really good friend!

It’s been a much bigger adjustment than I ever anticipated, but he’s loving it now.  I won our school bus fight, so a couple of weeks ago, a bus has started coming in our neighborhood, both morning and afternoon.  And that’s when he decided he liked school after all.  His teacher is Ms. Gilmore and he loves her!  It’s a good thing, especially because he’s going to have her for 1st grade too.  Meadowfield does “looping,” where the students have the same K/1 teacher, 2/3 and 4/5. 

 

Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday that Will had him in the Baby Bjorn at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in BR, 5 days after he was born?????

Back to Blogging

So I’ve failed blogging.  Part of the reason people read a blog is because you write on a regular basis.  Not so much me.  But I’ll give it another shot.

Amelia’s First Haircut

It was time.  I promise.

Until about a month ago, I thought you just didn’t cut a baby girl’s hair until they were 3 or so.  No, I was wrong.  My best friend Jessica informed me that they tend to get mullets.  That Amelia was at the M1 stage (M short for Mullet).  And in the time of one month, she progressed to the M2 1/2 stage.

So I took her in to Hair Doodles, a children’s salon here in Columbia.  The boys have never been–they just go to Hair Tamers.  But for Baby Girl, no ordinary place would do.  When she gets a little older, they paint the girls’ fingernails, french braid their hair, etc.

So Kelly cut all of 1 inch of CURLS off into a sweet little bob.  Then she put a pa-du-kee (AKA hair elastic) in her hair, secured her hairbow and then she took the curling iron to it.  And the next thing I knew, she had one LITTLE curl in her hair.  Absolutely adorable! 

She hated it the entire time, despite the fact she ate animal crackers.  But that’s ok.  I told her beauty is hard work and she’ll just learn to persevere.

 

Free Obama Button

Get your free Obama button here.  Seriously.  No joke.  Totally free.  No shipping.  Get one.

He’s gonna win.  Jump on the wagon now.  It’s still cool.

Zachary’s Birthday Party!

 

Wednesday was Zachary’s birthday party!!  We celebrated with a few families and the kids’ new waterslide in the backyard.  Since it was sorta, kinda a water theme, I made a sandcastle for a cake, which I have to say turned out pretty cute.  And it really wasn’t that hard either (considering I failed the Wilton Cake Decorating course….)! 

    

 

Despite the calls for rain, we were only inside for pizza and cake, and then the kids all headed back to the slide for more fun.  And then they promptly passed out.

Doting on My Husband

So many people really don’t understand exactly what Will does.  It’s kind of hard to explain, since his residency and fellowship training is very non-traditional.  And then you throw in “academic medicine” and people’s eyes tend to glaze over. 

Palmetto Health has a new Simulation Center where these REALLY expensive and amazing dummies (remember Annie in CPR???  Think Annie on crack.) help teach all kinds of residents, nurses, practicing physicians, respiratory therapists, etc. different things. 

Will is in charge of the Fundamentals of Critical Care Support class, and people from all over South Carolina come to take this 2 day course.   Obviously he doesn’t teach it all, but it’s one of his babies.  Our local news station came to do a piece on the SIM Center and Will’s course was going on.  He’s not interviewed in the story, but he’s in the garnet shirt doing CPR (and CPR the right way, I might add….not like they do on ER, the TV show).

WordPress wouldn’t let me embed the video, but here is the link.  It’s pretty interesting if you don’t know much about this kind of stuff OR if you just want to see Will doing CPR.