Lady Bug Drama

For Kindergarten Graduation, Adeline received a bug container as a gift.  She was super excited and couldn't wait to find a poor and helpless bug to "keep."  They had studied bugs and their life cycles at school and she was convinced that if she found a caterpillar, it would turn into a butterfly, just for her....

She searched and searched but couldn't find a caterpillar, so she settled on a lady bug.  She found one and named her Hidy since she was so good at hiding in the container.  After a few days, I decided poor Hidy had had enough and suggested we let her go.  Adeline was devastated at first and begged to keep her until night.  At bed time, we opened the container and left it on the table on the back porch, Addie said good-bye and happily went to bed, planning on bug hunting in the morning.  

Fast forward to 6:30am the following morning- I am awoken by a hysterically sobbing Adeline.  She was so distraught she could not speak, but could only hand me this note....

Translated:

Dear hidy, 

Please hidy.  I love you.  I love you hidy.  I wish you very much came back.  You loved me to why wont you to come back, please come back. Please Hidy.

Love,

Adeline

Gut wrenching.  Simply gut wrenching....  I was, without a doubt, the most terrible mother to ever walk this planet!  This poor note is just the way she would talk- pleading with the lady bug to come back!  Feeling beyond horrible, I quickly put on shoes, and holding the still sobbing Adeline, proceeded to go out in the yard to find another lady bug.  Before we started searching we checked the bug container, and yes, I DO believe in miracles, because Hidy WAS STILL THERE!!  Granted, we discovered later that she was still there because she was dead, but that is a mute point- Adeline was thrilled and overjoyed that she had her Hidy back!  She instantly stopped crying and starting talking to Hidy.  When Adeline discovered that Hidy was dead, she wasn't upset, she simply stated that it was her time to go and that God must have wanted a pretty lady bug in heaven....  No crying, no drama.

I learned a valuable lesson- my daughter loves fiercely, forgives quickly, and trusts God completely.  She is an amazing little lady and I am honored to be her mother.  And for the record, I will NEVER make her release a bug again....

House Before and Afters Part I

As you well know, we moved into a new-to-us house the week after Memorial Day.  Ever since, I have been busy getting us settled- and of course, making it our own!  Here are a few of the projects we have completed- there are many more to go, but considering all things, I am so proud of what has been accomplished!

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After- bar removed, wood trim painted white, walls painted, and you can't tell, but approx 10 layers of
dirt removed from the floor, 2 different cleaners on the cabinets, and new hardware on the cabinets!

Living Room Before

Living Room After- trim at the top painted white to match, French doors painted and scraped...

1/2 bath- ugly- Before 

Floor stained to match, new sink, new paint on walls and all trim painted white!  This is just a small testament of the
amazing reno skills that my amazing hubby has!!

Kid Bathroom Before

Kid Bathroom After- all trim painted white, walls painted, and ceiling which is vaulted
The exact same thing happened in the Master Bath- ahh!

Hall Way After- no before, but all trim is now white!

Upstairs After- walls painted to match- what you see is the dark trim- but it will NOT be painted because we will
finish the wood stairs that are underneath the carpet and I want it all to be the same- and match the wood floors!

It has been fun and what a treat to see the house slowly becoming ours.  Hopefully before school starts in the fall, all the bedrooms will be painted and all of the dark wood trim will be a crisp white!  And in case anyone is wondering, Sherwin Williams heavy duty primer-paint takes 3-4 coats to take the dark wood to white!

Atlanta!!

We headed to Hot-Lanta for a few days of fun and memory making!!  Al was excited to run his first Peachtree Road Race and I was excited to show some of the down-town sights with the kiddos!  Al's boss, the VP of his company, offered for us to stay with his family in their condo downtown- his kids would be in Spain so they would have plenty of room, plus, they had met our kids and thought they were pretty darn fun!

The skyline!

The kids loved this view from the balcony- the pool!!

Thrilled to swim AND see the skyline of Atlanta!

 Al went into the office to work Tuesday, and the kids and I headed downtown.  The race officials had accidentally mailed Al his race number to our old address- and since we didn't get it before we left, I had to go downtown and pick it up.  Not a big deal since the condo was already downtown- it was a short drive.  The plan was to play at the Olympic Park- there are two awesome playgrounds, fountains, and a concert!  Well, the website did not mention that the entire park was locked down starting at 8am July 3rd in preparation for the huge party that would be held there July 4th....  So, we quickly came up with a Plan B....

We stopped outside of the World of Coke- I didn't think they would appreciate it since they don't like soda...

While waiting for the Peachtree Race office to open, we stopped at the CNN center for a snack- and a super kind
manager at the Chick-fil-A made the kids a chocolate milkshake at 10am!  That certainly
helped ease the pain of NOT getting to play on the playground or the fountains.

Plan B- it ended up being a day spent at the Atlanta's Children Museum!  I had gone to this as a child- and was nothing alike!!  The kids had a blast- we played there for 4 hours!!

Checking out different terrains on a scooter

Safety First!  This was the closest Addie got....

Alden, I discovered might be 1/2 spider- he climes extremely well, especially considering his footwear!

Working to pull up some of the balls so that they can enter a vast conveyer belt- the balls went everywhere!

Working together to "drive" the crane

Collecting balls from a container, moving the crane so that they could dump them into another container

Painting!

Picasso, watch out!

HUGE containers with moon sand- lots of fun!

Fishing

Pretending to be frogs...

Addie the store cashier

Milking the pretend cow

Massive train track

And of course, a show!  Addie and Alden were picked to be a part of it- fun!!

Plan B ended up being lots of fun- the kids loved it, and that is what matters!!

Peachtree Road Race

When I was kid growing-up in Atlanta, my parents always ran The Peachtree Road Race, so when Al decided to put in to run it, I was excited!!  A little history- Al's company is based out of Atlanta, so it could be a "business" trip, and it wasn't a guarntee he would even get to run- the race is limited to 60,000 so the runners are chosen in a lottery.  Al's number was picked so off we went!  When is the best time to run a 10k in Atlanta?  July 4th, of course!!

Al's boss was gracious enough to offer for us to stay at his condo- which happened to be right at the 3 mile marker of the race!  Perfecto!!

Early in the morning- since the condo was on the race path, we parked our car a few blocks away so that I could
drive the rest of the racers to the start line so they didn't have to walk 3 miles to the start

The kids made this huge sign- quite a few people from Al's company were running!
And Addie made a sign just for Al- Go Daddy Go Go Go!

Daddy waved!!

Pool Al- and all the other 60,000 runners- this marked the beginning of what is affectionatly referred to as
Cardiac Hill- a hill for the next mile!!

And here are Jayme and Aaron- Aaron is the VP and it was in his condo that we stayed

The view of the race from the condo- this was the lightest the crowd was- there were times when you
could hardly see the street there were so many runners!

The kids LOVED the fact that if they got tired of standing on the street, we could hop on an elevator
and presto- have AC, a bathroom, or a comfy couch to watch the race!

Climbing on the rails outside the condo- still watching the race!

This was the sweetest- at one point, they stood on the side and just gave out high-fives!
People would see them and come across the street just to high five them- it made their day!

It was a great time- and we look forward to going next year!

Summer Time Catch Up!

Summer is here and we are embracing it fully!!  Which means that we play, play, play, and play some more!!  It is such fun to spend all day doing fun 'stuff' with these two amazing little people!!  Here are a few things we have done....

Saying good-bye to MarMar and PopPop on our first day of Summer Vacation

Bet you didn't know Batman went to Goddard, did ya?

Silly poses!

Reading- we hit the library up every Monday and load up on new books!!

And what day isn't complete without a dip in the pool?  We are so lucky that our pool
is across the street from our new house- so we walk every day!!

Visit the fountains with friends- and of course, eat!

Dunkin Donuts with friends!!

Antics off the diving board

Celebrating birthdays with new friends

Addie did a gymnastics camp with a friend who's mom I teach with

Making apple pie- yum!

Watering plants and attempting to help them NOT die in the triple digit heat

Picnics with friends- inside since it's so hot

And of course, when the high is 107, you pull out the neighbors sled and see if it will go down your
ivy covered hill- it does!