Carol

Oh Carol don't let them steal your heart away
I'm gonna learn to dance if it takes me all night and day.
                                       -- THE ROLLING STONES

Happy Birthday, Grandmama!! (or GrandmaMA as Cari says).  Thank you so very much for spending your birthday the way all of your grandkids would want to spend it.  You constantly amaze us with your selflessness and how you lay everything down for the sake of your children and grandchildren. You are the ultimate definition of sacrificing.  And yet, you do it with a smile on your face. And the joy in your heart all the while shines through, lighting up through the air and reflecting on each grandchild's face.

We had a blast ice skating on Sunday. Cari had never even seen an ice rink before Sunday and we weren't really sure what to expect.  We arrived to find out the smallest skate they carry is a size 10 and she is just a tiny size 5.  We took our chances and strapped the boots onto her little teeny feet, criss-crossing the lace halfway up her little calf, it seemed. And they held tight.  She stepped out onto the ice to find Grandaddy waiting for her.

After just a couple of minutes, she was over this experience and wanted off.  But there's no going against the current here. Once you're on, you skate until you see an exit.  Which to two little feet, seems like a far, far away place.

Through many tears and grunts, she made it back to safety onto the bleachers. Meanwhile, the boys showed off their skills.  I think this is definitely the "coolest" place to be on a HotLanta Sunday!

When Cari saw Aaron zooming around the rink, she decided to race him on foot.  It was a tough competition!

Chad had a good time just relaxing and enjoying the company. He even let Grandmama hold him for a while before he got fussy. He must have known it was her birthday.

Cari watched the boys skate long enough and finally decided she wanted to try again. She talked Grandaddy out of his rest and pulled him back onto the ice.

This time, she seemed very excited to be on the ice.  I think watching Ethan, Aaron and Matthew zoom around and around and around proved to her the fun of it all.

Daddy joined them on the ice and with each hand locked into theirs, she rest assured that she was safe. She relaxed, laughed, squealed. She even pushed them away, certain she could do this all by herself.



She definitely gave them no rest. And as Grandaddy said, "It's only a half hour. I can do anything for half an hour."

She did very well standing by herself. She was steady on her feet, and then learned the fun of squealing so hard and raising her hands to say she did it that forced her to fall forward and be caught by four strong hands. Always there to catch her. Over and over and over.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Grandmama. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being in our lives. Thank you for loving us as you do.

Love, your skaters.



My Best Friend

There is no other one that can take your place
I feel happy inside when I see your face
I hope you believe me
Because I speak sincerely
And I mean it when I tell you I need you

You are my best friend
And I love you, and I love you
Yes I do.
                                                             --WEEZER

A best friend is......

Someone you wait impatiently for at the front door. Watching every movement out of the window, hoping it's her coming up and around the curve.  You get butterflies of excitment in your tummy, and you jump randomly and squeal while throwing your hands in the air, all in anticipation of seeing her again.  Especially when it has been well over a month since you saw her last.

"Where's Elwie??? She's HHHHHHEEWWWWRRRREEEEEEE!!!!"

The person you adorn with your best jewels upon the first moments of her walking into your home. You give her a hug, and a kiss, and beads.  Any and every color. And the most beauteous hat you can find.  One that sits perfectly on her little locks that surround her giant blue eyes.  And she blows you kisses in gratitude.

She's the one you sit and run your imagination with. You soar on clouds, you dream of daisies, and cheese, and grapes. You go see George and watch him play golf. 

You tell stories and reminisce about where you met.  And how much you miss Christine. And everything she taught you.  The meaning of friends and the value of sharing.  And how to work together building towers. One does the holding, and the other does the stacking.

Your best friend is the one you feel comfortable belting out your very best and loudest singing voice with, while banging out some well composed music. She cares for you and doesn't want you to get hurt, always looking out for your best.

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Sometimes your own greed gets to you and you want what she has.  And sometimes she wants what you have. But then you realize that it is the friendship you value most and you both decide that the best relationships are comprised of give and take, and sharing along the way.

And most of all, you know how to be silly. And you aren't embarrassed to do anything in front of her.  You join her in laughing at her sillies while she squawls at your sillies.  You think the other is the greatest person in the world.  No matter what happens, you know how to have fun.

Your best friend is also the one who gives you the last little ducky so that YOU are the one who wins the game, when, in fact, it should have been her.

She also puts up with your tired crankiness and wants to see you again. Really soon.

And you mourn her departure because in a two-year-old's mind, a week is so, so, so very far away.  You stand and wave, blowing kisses, yelling "Bye bye Elwie!!!" When her car rounds the corner and you cannot see her anymore, you slowly turn around and with your chin glued to your chest, you work up enough strength out of the sadness of your heart to say, "She's gone."

But that's why she's your best friend. She'll be there next time. And you'll have just as much fun next time as you did this time.

Thank you so very much for coming over, Julie and Ellie.  Cari had the best morning of her life in a very long time.  Until next time, we'll miss you. And we'll look out the window every day, asking, "Is that Elwie?"

Opposites Attract

Baby it seems we never, ever agree
You like the movies and I like TV
I take things serious,
And you take 'em light
I got to bed early
You party all night.
                                    -- PAULA ABDUL

His and Hers Pizzas

Everyone always wants something different on their pizzas. "I don't like onions." "Ew...don't get mushrooms. Or olives. Ewww." "Please can I have extra meat?"

So, here's a good way to satisfy all tastes!  Homemade pizzas, his and hers.

His: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Hers: Whole Wheat Spinach, Tomato, Goat Cheese Pizza

There are no measurements here, and ingredients can easily be switched out.

For the Hers Pizza:

Use Whole Wheat Boboli prepared pizza crust. Place on a cookie sheet.  Preheat oven to temperature specified on the crust package.
Spread on a teaspoon of olive oil on the crust and then top with slices of Sorrento Fresh Mozzarella Cheese.

Top with sliced mushrooms, green onions, and spinach.

Top more with shaved parmesan cheese (you can shave a block of it using a potato peeler), sliced tomatoes, and crumbled feta cheese.

For the His Pizza:

Use regular Boboli Pizza crust and place on a cookie sheet.  Spread the crust with about 2 tablespoons of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. Then top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Top the pizza with cubed, cooked chicken, sliced green onions, a few tomatoes (JUST a few), and then drizzle buffalo sauce all over the pizza. 

Place them side by side in the oven to bake for the specified amount of time on the crust packaging.

Cool, slice, and enjoy.

We Will Meet Again

Somewhere, someplace, somehow I'll find her then, as I did now
Just for a moment
And I will hear the wind that told me
I will return again, my love, have patience
Life's a circle; it all comes back around. So until then,
I'll be waiting for you, knowing, somehow

We'll meet again
I know we will
On my heart it's written
We will meet again
                                     -- JOURNEY

Saying goodbye to Summer.  Everyone talks about Spring Cleaning. What about Fall? Fall Washout? Hmmm...  I think so! I need to get up all of these random summer things and make room for the cinnamon-y scented days to come! I can't WAIT! We are going to our first Fall Festival this weekend.  Surely lots of pictures to come! For now, here are a few more from the summer time.

The kids both took swim lessons from Mr. Mike. The most incredible and timeworthy investment any parent can make, honestly.  Especially if you have a pool, lake or a river nearby. It is astounding how these kids have learned to treat water and have fun with it, all the while learning tricks to float and swim.  These lessons are done through Infant Swim Resource and are taught be a professionally trained instructor.  The instructors go through intense courses and training before they are allowed to teach.  The lessons are a minimum of 4 weeks long, but can go up to 6 or 8 weeks, depending on how your child is progressing.  They are 10 minutes in length, 5 days a week. They are short lessons because they are so intense and exhausting.  As parents, we had a lot of responsibility with the lessons as well.  We had to keep track of the kids' eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping, and attitudes.  It is a lot of work, but so totally worth it.  If you are in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend "Mr. Mike" and his website is http://www.isrdunwoody.com/.  Please tell him we sent you there! I just want him to know how appreciative we are of all of his hard work with the kids.

If you want to see what it looks like, here are some pictures from their lessons.  Cari waited so patiently each day for Will to get done with his lesson before she could get into the water. Will was the cutest little boy. He always had the biggest smile on his face and was so proud of himself every time he did something amazing, which he did a lot!

Cari practicing her float.

Cari's favorite part of the lesson was when she got to swim to the "bar-o" (bar).  This girl is a little fish. She had a difficult time learning to float, but she will stay under the water for days.

The lessons are designed for children ages 6 months to 6 years. The younger children, usually 6-12 months, learn to float, while the older children learn the swim-float-swim technique.  They learn to swim under the water, then surface and flip to their backs to breathe and rest, then flip back over and swim again until they reach safety. Mr. Mike is helping Cari flip onto her back to float before reaching the bar.

Okay, Bud, your turn!!

Chad became so skilled in this that Mr. Mike would take him by his feet and dunk him into the water, head first and let go. Chad would rise to the surface, right himself, and float on his belly.  He passed the 1-minute float test with flying colors and could probably have gone on longer if we let him.

Once the kids learn the survival skills they need in the water, they are progressively dressed in heavier and heavier clothes. Afterall, if your child falls into the pool or lake, he may just not be dressed in a swim diaper and suit!  One day they will wear a regular diaper and suit, then a regular diaper and summer clothes, and then regular diaper and winter clothing.  Chad mastered the test in his winter clothes.  He wore a flannel button up, jeans, an undershirt, socks, and sneakers into the pool. Not only was this his first time in the pool in jeans, it was his first time EVER in jeans! He was born in December and during those winter months, he was too teeny to put such inflexible clothing on him.  He took it like a pro. Cool and collected.

I'm not sure who was telling the joke here, but they definitely enjoyed each other!

The kids loved it. I cannot wait until next Summer when we can do some refresher courses.  If you have any questions, please let me know. I'll be glad to answer them!

Of course the lollipops at the end are the best part!!

Ten minutes sounds like such a short time. But it surely does wear the kids out!

No one has asked me to put this up - I just wanted to share some of what we have been up to this summer and the swim lessons were a huge part of it.  I have to admit, before talking with Mr. Mike about it and learning more, I was skeptic and thought that the videos I saw on youtube about it were "fakes" as I'm sure a lot of you think as well.  I'm here to say, it is not fake!  Click here to see the video of Chad diving off of the side of the pool (yes, with help!) and rising to float. And here's a video of Chad floating for one minute.

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A few other lovely moments over our summer.

We started real solid foods.  Not just those little air popped puffed sugar things that melt in your mouth, but real food.  Chad is a foodie.  He only wants what he can pick up and put in his mouth himself.  And in large quantities. Cari used to pick up one piece at a time with her thumb and forefinger. Not Chad. He slaps his hand right down in the middle of the mess, grabs with all his might, raises his fist in the air to say "Hey Ma, watch this!" and then crams that entire mouthful into his mouth.  But when it's not a big enough mouthful, he is not pleased.  He is already leaning over the table trying to grab his sister's food. She better learn to eat faster. That little dainty move she learned as an infant is going to keep her no food in just a month or two.

We enjoyed many coffee mornings snuggling and reading. I know I talk about coffee on the couch in the morning, but it is truly a family tradition, and one of my favorites.

We learned how to throw tantrums.

We ran the stairs in preparation for football season.

We discovered standing in our crib. AND jumping.

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I finally took the time for a pedicure.  I don't think I have had a pedicure since highschool. I always thought that I have had relatively pretty feet.  I mean, my feet are not one of those things that I list when someone asks you the top ten things you would change about yourself.

Until.......until I showed up at the spa for my treatment.  The lady met me in the dim room at the doorway and smiled. I could tell immediately that we were going to have a slight language barrier, but, that's fine with me, as I'm usually pretty good with accents and I love listening to them.  She motioned her hand over to the right, as if I were experienced and knew what I was supposed to do.  I walked forward a few steps and the room started spinning. There were tubs of water, leather seats, walls of polish, granite counters with beautiful silver faucets, soft music playing the background, and one other lady having the same treatment.  I decided I would go the direction she was sitting, as that was probably the way.  My lady turned around and looked at me with a laughter in her eyes and said, "choose you polish" and motioned to the wall. Aha. Got it. A nice pale pink.  Nothing to showy for me, just something smooth and subtle. 

I followed her around the corner as she motioned me to climb the stone wall and up the steps.  I sat down and watched the lady as she prepared her towel on her lap and swished the water in the tub.  She motioned me to put my feet in the sink-like tub and I did. After a couple of minutes, she held out the towel and nodded for me to pull my feet out and place them into the towel.  I pulled them out one by one and she covered them with the towel. She uncovered them and looked down.  She froze in an instant, her shoulders slumped down, and her head dropped.  She placed the towel back over my feet, gave them a little squeeze and then said, "Oh......you......." in the quietest little voice.  She hung her head and shook it back and forth squeezing and rubbing my feet, as if to say, "You poor little soul.  Your poor little feet." I knew in that moment, that pedicures every 15 years don't do much. 

She continued the treatment as I stared out the window of the second floor of the spa. I watched women walk by on the sidewalk swinging there Black/White bags. I saw men walking their dogs on leashes. I wondered what conversations were going on, on those cell phones out on the sidewalk. I watched as cars backed out and pulled into the parking spaces. All while she fixed my feet. It was the most relaxing 45 minutes I have had in a long time. She never said any more words than those four that she spoke to me. Everything was in hand motions and nothing else to listen to except for the trickle of the water and soft elevator music. I think I'll go back.

Till we meet again, Summer.  So long.