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| Chase's picture made the Richmond Times! This was from the Chesterfield County Fair magic show. |
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| Chase got to ride Alpengeist for the first time this summer (rollercoaster at Busch Gardens that has a snow ski theme) |
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| On top of the Hatteras Lighthouse on our 16th wedding anniversary |
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| My silly Gabe |
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| Enjoying the waves in OBX. Rock on! |
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| Gabe, Bella, and Chase in Auntie Laurie's pool; we were celebrating all of the summer birthdays |
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| Made in the USA! |
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| Probably one of my favorite pics from summer with Tim's family in Snowshoe, WV over the 4th of July holiday |
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| Gabe, Jaycee and Chase enjoying the pool at Smithfield Swim Club; we were celebrating Tim's birthday (and mine) with his family |
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| These two can conquer the world! They can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens them. (Phil 4:13) |
Instead of one of my traditional blog postings, I
figured it would be more fun to just note the summer mishaps, but with a
positive spin. We live in a world with enough negativity so I always say we
should make lemonade out of the lemons life throws at us. I hope you enjoy reading the following bloopers as much as I enjoyed living them.
- Crappy Summer Part 3: I'll
forewarn you that this first blooper is gross, but I still find it hilarious.
For some crazy reason, my kids and my niece think it's an adventure to do #2 in
the backyard at my grandmother's house. There are a few logical reasons for
this; for one, kids get to playing and having fun outside and don't want to
interrupt the momentum by having to run inside when nature calls. Second, my
grandmother keeps the bathroom door shut and locked in the house so the little
kids can't get in there and decide to have a play date with the toilet; with
that said, the older kids don't feel like going through the hassle of having to
ask an adult to unlock the door when they're in a rush to take care of business.
It started a few summers ago with my niece pooping in the backyard and of course
denying it. Chase thought the scenario was
hilarious so he did the same thing last summer. Somehow an imaginary stray dog always got blamed even though there are no roaming dogs in my grandmother's neighborhood to my knowledge that have ever jumped the fence to get to the backyard. The tradition has continued into
this summer with someone doing it again, but of course none of the kids fessed up
right away. The older kids decided to blame Gabe, but he said there was no way
he could have done it because his "products" weren't that big and they were more
green in color (the brutal honesty in this situation kills me). We finally
narrowed it down to Bella who was already punished enough by stepping in her own
poop. Somehow, she's the kid every summer that steps in poop even if she wasn't
the one who dealt it. Anyhow, which kid is going to carry on this crappy
tradition next summer?
- Our past annual OBX trips
have been tainted by a variety of issues: a cooler of ours getting stolen with
our whole week's worth of food (this dates back to our camping days), a flat
tire, a broken half axle, a hurricane (or two), a tropical storm, and just
several days of rain from some other storm systems.This year we faced a
different challenge. With all of the construction going on with the new Bonner
Bridge, the construction workers accidentally drove a steel casing through the
transmission cables that connect power from Nags Head to Hatteras and Ocracoke
Islands. Sooo, the southern OBX islands had no power while we were there.
Unfortunately, the damaged cables weren't a quick fix and the power outage
occurred for several days (it ended up being a full week), so we decided to cut
short our vacation. We toughed out one hot, sticky night in our motel but still
got in some beach time. The day after we left a mandatory evacuation was in
place for all Hatteras Island visitors so we made the right call by leaving
early. Sometimes we just have to laugh at the OBX curse that seems to strike us
every year during our vacation. However, God blessed Tim and me with a gorgeous
16th anniversary trip at the beach at the end of August...the pirate cursed is finally broken!
- Gabe's life continues to be a
musical. This little boy sings all of the time. He was even singing and dancing
in the orthodontist office. There's nothing like hearing a 5-year old break it
down in a waiting room with, "someone call 911. Shortie fire burning on the
dance floor, whoooa!" Or how about being serenaded by, "I beweive I can fwy..."
while you're grocery shopping? He also sang "I Believe I Can Fly" while he was jumping at the bounce-house in Williamsburg...very fitting song as he jumped high!
- Going along with the last
bullet about the serenading at the orthodontist office, Chase is actually excited to get braces
and was bummed out that he didn't get them right away at his first orthodontist
appointment. He was equally bummed that he still doesn't need glasses at his
recent eye doctor's appointment. Since when are kids excited about braces and
glasses? I'm just thankful he can see clearly as braces have already put enough of a dent in our pocket. He gets his upper braces put on at the end of September and already has the expanders in place. So far, he has handled his expanders like a champ.
- There's nothing better than
relaxing poolside with your arms up over your head all to realize you forgot to
shave one of your armpits. Yep, that happened to me. Amazon Lady!
- Although we thankfully
haven't had a busy hurricane season on the east coast so far (and we're praying Irma stays away), I have a tornado
that hits my home several times a day: Gabriel Lee Breeden! I've given up on
trying to keep the boys' toys organized. Right now, I'm lucky if I can just keep
them off the floor. For instance, I used to keep each Lego set in specific
box or zip-lock bag, but Gabe keeps integrating Legos with everything else so I've let go of
some of that Type A behavior of mine. Tim was sweet enough to surprise me one
morning while I worked by having the boys organize their toys downstairs and
purge the ones they no longer wanted. This was a step in the right direction
since toys have taken over nearly every room of the house. I had the boys do the
same thing the following weekend with the toys upstairs so we're slowly but
surely making progress.
- Chase is addicted to watching
screaming goat videos on YouTube. I
don't know what's funnier: the screaming goats or hearing Chase roar with
laughter watching them.
- I've been lecturing Gabe on
how he needs to stop whining about brushing his teeth and do a thorough job or
else his teeth will fall out. As he discovered his first loose tooth this month,
he freaked out and started crying and ran to me saying, "I don't want to lose
all of my teeth. I'll do a better job brushing."
- I more or less scared Gabe
out of looking outside at all during the day of the solar eclipse with all of
the warnings about how staring at the sun for too long can damage your eyes. He
said, "I just wish this day was over," the day before the eclipse. Better to be
safe than sorry.
- Chase is interested in magic
tricks and optical illusions. He even got to be a part of a magic show at the
Chesterfield County Fair and his picture made the Richmond Times newspaper! His little brother has already figured out a few of
his tricks and called him out on them, but Chase is still determined that he is a good magician.
- After doing yoga and a few
cardio classes this summer, I was feeling pretty good about myself....until Gabe
pointed at my "abs" (hey, I think I have at least the top two) while we were in
line at Water Country and said in disgust, "oooooh." There's nothing more
awakening than a child's brutal honesty. Of course I took the high road and told
Gabe that he was the reason my belly wasn't a washboard.
- Last but not least, for some
unknown reason, the boys started referring to their rear orifice as "Tina." I
have no idea where they got the name "Tina" and why they have linked it to their
"bung-hole." They also sing some made up song that goes, "Tina, weena, Tina..."
The bloopers of our lives go on and on and I know
there will be many more as we enter fall and get into the back-to-school groove.
We have lots of adjustments and transitions coming with the boys starting a new
school tomorrow and a new childcare center for before/after school. I can choose to get all worked up about it like so many other parents do
or I can just roll with the punches and trust that God's got this! I'm going with the latter option as we begin exciting fall adventures with a new school, a new childcare center, a new soccer season, etc. I think the key to life is to learn to soak
in the new and unplanned-not-so-pleasant moments, to learn to laugh at yourself, and to seek
God's face during life's bloopers instead of going the anxious route...that's when you experience true joy and
peace!
