Sandy Beginnings

We recently visited the Amelia Island Plantation Resort (just 30 minutes north of Jacksonville, Florida) which Parents magazine ranked #13 in their article, "The 10 Best Beach Resorts for Families" (so it was in the runner-up category).

Ian preferred the pool over the ocean, as well as this very hip look consisting of "Float-Ts" and "goggews" (Ian's pronunciation)
Noah adored the ocean and was quite obsessed with finding ocean life. Last year, Noah refused to enter Table Rock Lake for fear of sharks. This year, he was incredibly disappointed to find out that sharks don't typically hang out near the sand castles.


Even though Connor would not have enjoyed the beach so much at five-month old, we missed that precious, roll-filled sweetheart and hope he gets to search for sharks with us on the next trip.

It's what I do.

A few days after sand, ocean and smores, Noah began kindergarten. Seth and I teared-up (Seth assures me it was quite dusty in the school halls) as we watched him walk down the hall to his class, and I was able to hold it together until after we dropped him off. I then headed to the "Boo Hoo Breakfast" which I was overqualified to be attending. Fortunately, Noah had no tears and was SO excited to go to school.

Since his first day of school, Noah has been talking about the "graders" which are the 1st-5th grade kids. His specific quote yesterday was that after he completed some projects that he "would be ready to roll on up to 1st grade" whereby he would then officially be a grader.

My prayer was specifically answered when Noah told me he made a friend yesterday and that they had the same color popsicle (my prayer involved a friend, not the color of his snack). He couldn't remember his name, but "it starts with a 'P' and ends with an 'e'", which then Ian confidently piped in, "COLTON?". It turns out that his name is Pierce and that Ian and I need to work harder on phonics.

Later in the week, Ian helped me drop off Noah to his class and I had prepared Ian that he would NOT be staying with Noah. As we told Noah goodbye at his classroom door, Ian turned to me and said, "Bye mom, have a great day, see you later". He was bitterly disappointed that I fulfilled my commitment to bring him home.

Yes, I Blubber

After Noah was born, watching this commercial was my first realization that my emotions would never be the same as pre-motherhood. You may have thought this a sweet clip or you might have even teared up. But raise your hand if you bawled like I did the first ten times this came on your tube. I'm talking full-on ugly cry. This coming from the girl that did NOT cry during E.T. and wore that as a badge of honor around elementary school. The same teen-ager who was inexplicably mortified walking out of the theatre with her blotchy-faced mom after every semi-sap-filled flick. No longer are the days that I can tease my since-college BFFs, Christy and Adi for their overflowing, overactive tear ducts (I betcha an entire box of kleenex that they would have wept over this clip in their pre-mommy years). I now, too, possess the ability to cry desperately over a child's illness or the viewing of an Arby's ad.

Just peeking at these photos makes me search for my aloe-vera soaked tissue:

Connor's 5-month pic:


Two-part pride: The "put 'im on a cracker and eat 'im face" AND Noah's photography skills:



In this portrait, just the pure shininess of my face makes me weep (also the wedding we were attending of Karen & Kevin, former youth groupers, now full-fledged marrying age, in-love adults):