new adventures

this school year will be an exciting year for us all. not only will lela be starting first grade, but she will continue with gymnastics; something she started this summer and fell in love with. she has surprised us all and has shown that she has a natural ability for the sport. it makes me sad that dance won't be so prevalent in our lives as it has in the past. she has been dancing since she was three years old. i feel a little lost that she will only be taking one class, pre-jazz. something that i'm finally accepting is that she is growing up and needs to find her own likes and dislikes. never in a million years would i have chosen gymnastics, but who can deny a person something they love so much and are good at. when she was evaluated for the up coming season, she was placed on a level 3 with girls who are between 8-10 years of age. so, what does that tell you about her ability? the times i stand at the glass and watch her she really seems to take it all in as she stands there watching the other gymnasts. i love watching her doing the bars. her little body becomes so elegant and strong that i find myself just in awe as she lifts herself up and then flips down. is this really our child?

lacey who is never to be out done by her sister has also decided that dance is not something she wants to pursue. she wants to try her hand at gymnastics as well. i've already bought her a leotard that is lime green and aqua blue and she loves wearing it. on most days you can find her trying her hand at cartwheels dressed in her leotard. i'm still trying to figure out how we got to this place. i'm still not quite sure. both of them will have class at the same time, so this will definitely be a new experience. yeah me! when i think about it i get really ambitious dreaming of me sitting there as they practice and i read a book. woo hoo! talk about a new adventure...i can't wait!

gearing up for school

lela seems to be getting more excited as i get more nervous about school starting. we have exactly one week and counting till we're back in the groove of things. yesterday, confirmed that all of this is real and lela would definitely be going into the first grade at Welch Elementary. we received a postcard telling us who her teacher was and what room she was going to be in. she was giddy with excitement as we looked at the postcard together. there seems to be a lot going on at the school and that will be good for us all. come next thursday, we will offically meet lela's teacher and attend a family cookout sponsored by the pta. i'm laying low for the time being, you know it's only a matter of time before i'm involved there. oh goodness, here we go again...another school year seems to be upon us.

day 3 of riding her bike

it seems like now that lela has figured out how to ride her bike that's all she wants to do. i shouldn't even complain but when there is laundry, vaccuming and just everyday cleaning that needs to be done it gets hard when they want to live outside. lela does well stopping and even turning on her bike, but getting going is where she needs help. i promised her yesterday that i would video her on her bike so we could put it on the blog for everyone to see. she is obviously very proud of herself. lacey, of course, had to be video taped as well.

finally

i convinced lela to pull her tooth last night. for at least the past week it has been hanging on by a thread. we tried to pull it on sunday but she kept insisting that it hurt everytime we touched it. kevin and i decided that maybe it wasn't ready, but only looked like it. the way lela was carrying on about it going to hurt made you think this was the first tooth she had ever lost. wrong! this would be her third tooth with numbers 4 and 5 right behind. why does everything have to be so dramatic in lela's world? i know can be a drama queen but nothing like this...

she is doing it!!!

yep, last week we finally got lela a brand new pink bike. two wheels, of course. and today she is finally riding it! she actually took to riding it quite quickly. we're just so proud and excited for her! we were screaming and cheering as she went flying past us. lacey not to be out done got her bike out and pedaled as fast as she could only to prove she is our little speed demon.

"no place like home" - art camp

lela went to art camp again today at the vintage flea. i think she had even more fun this time around due to the fact two of her friends sarah and ruthie were there with her. when i picked her up and saw what she had done i was in total awe. she painted a garden flag with the letter "d" on it which i can't wait to put outside, a little funky house with flowers glued on it and my absolute favorite a pillow that had her name on it which she drew out herself. talk about a budding artist, watch out michelangelo.

twinkle toes

"everything sparkles, everything glows..." well, i don't know if i'd go that far but our girls have fallen prey to good ole' commericalism at its best. lela is notorious for remembering commericals and what exactly it is they are selling. this has to come from the fact i was in advertising for almost five years. yikes, it must have rubbed off on her. so, for the past few weeks the girls keep seeing a commerical for skechers twinkle toes. they sing the jingle over and over while lela backs up the commerical continuously five or six times. argh! i swear she likes watching commericals better than an actual tv show. well, yesterday i gave in and they got their "twinkle toes" for school. they are both so excited about their new shoes that by the time school gets here i'm sure they won't be sparkling and glowing anymore.

school lunch?

are you kidding me? lela is so excited about starting first grade and getting to eat in the cafeteria that it's not even funny. her enthusiasm is contagious. she is bouncing off the walls with excitement at the thought of eating lunch at school. today, i printed off the upcoming school menu and she read the entire thing at least twice. i've already been informed of what she will be eating for just about the entire month of august. when i made the comment that she could also bring her lunch from home, she looked at me and said "why do I want to do that?"

it was such a beautiful day

we decided to head to the zoo and take advantage of the cooler temperatures we are experiencing this weekend. how could you not enjoy the fact that it never got above 85 degrees...yippee! i'm so ready for fall i can feel it in my bones. i really enjoy going to the zoo because it brings back so many memories of growing up. it seems just about every year my mema would take me, my sister and cousin to see willie b. sitting in his cage watching tv with his tire swing and ride the train. we always loved going through the tunnel. and now many years later, we are getting to take our girls to the zoo and experience the same things we did as kids. it's so much fun seeing the world through their eyes. they loved watching the gorillas get fed and the lemurs jumping from tree to rope and back again, but my favorite was the giant pandas who just laid around eating and sleeping. talk about what a life! no worries! no problems! just cute and cuddly!

minus one

yes, this morning is awfully quiet. why? well, lacey went to spend the night at gigi's without her sister. the boys are there so i think that might have had something to do with the fact of her going. she was so excited! it didn't seem to bother her one bit that lela wasn't going to be there. she has her very last day of nature camp, today. it's a big day at camp because they go fishing and get sprayed with the hoses from the firemen. lacey was insisting last night though that she was gonna stay 4 days at her gigi's then she changed her mind to 5 days and now i think she talking about staying for 2 days. hey, what's up with that? do you not want to live here anymore?

check this out

a couple of weeks ago, lela attended art camp at one of my favorite stores in newnan - the vintage flea. well, tonight i was checking up on what was happening over at the store and stumbled upon this blog entry. do you recognize the cutie on the left with her crown? our one only....

more from nature camp

here are some more pictures from lela's adventures at nature camp last week. she is going again this week, but instead of learning about mammals she is learning about endangered species. how cool is that?

my apologies for posting so late,

but our modemn or was it the router i can't remember wasn't connecting to the internet so i had no way to fill you on what's happening around here. little did i realize how much it would effect me not being able to connect to the internet. it's funny but it occurred to me that i do a lot my communication amongst my friend's through email and when everything went down...oh no! what now? but hey, i'm back up and very happy.

we finally took the girls to this nature area near our house called line creek the other day. it was really cool. in the five years we have lived in newnan it wasn't until recently that we heard of this place. it might only be six miles from our house, but it might as well feel like hundreds of miles in the north georgia mountains. there are hiking trails, a creek to play in, a pond, picnic tables and even an 'ole civil war bridge somewhere along the trail. it was awesome as we hiked down to the creek for everyone to wade into the water. it would make for some great pictures come fall....hum, there's a thought? kevin and the girls waded in the creek and even got a little wet when he lost his balance and took the girls down with him. they didn't seem to mind a bit. i on the other hand sat along the bank and made pictures, of course.

friday fun - camping

...well, in the backyard. we decided that after lela's week at nature camp we would continue with her experience by camping in the backyard. for months now we have been talking about going camping but have always thought a trial run was in order. so on friday night we pitched a tent and set up camp. it was so much fun grilling hotdogs and making smores in our fire bowl. the girls ran around the yard chasing lighting bugs and just being silly. they had a blast! lela in fact announced that she wanted to do this everynight! i'll have to pass on that one. i like my bed to much. granted when we do actually make it to the woods there won't be the modern conveinces of tv, our own shower, and the luxury of just going inside to grab whatever it is you need, but you do get an idea of how things work. if you're not a big camper i highly recommend giving backyard camping a try. you get the experience without the "roughing of it part;" and having experiences is what it's about!

linda's playhouse

at least twice a week i pass an unspecting house on my way towards jazzercise. today, wendy and i decided to investigate what is known as...linda's playhouse. little did we know what awaited us inside was rooms filled with toys, art supplies, dress-up, train tables, kitchen sets and even a make-believe grocery store. the little girls absolutely loved it! i must say that i definitely felt like i got my $5 worth. it was so nice being in someone else's house while my child painted and played around. lacey found this one toy which had all these keys to it. she played with it for quite awhile, finding just the perfect key that fit each door. lily and her also perfomed for us in many of the different costumes found in the "playhouse." wendy and i had fun watching the girls dance around and perform their show for us. i'm thinking this might be a good rainy day place to visit in the future.

here comes the bride...

no, your eyes are not deceving you. yes, that's lela in a wedding dress. actually it's a flowergirl dress that we tried on yesterday for the correct size. come this september both of the girls will be in my cousin's wedding and yesterday we went and got fitted for their dresses. lacey size was pretty much dead on, but lela being tall and skinny things got a little more complicated, so that's when i decided we should try on some dresses. i actually think she had fun playing dressup.

here is what they will actually be wearing for the wedding:



and their shoes:

my newest project

i had so much fun sewing my new shirt a few weeks ago that i decided something else was in order. what would that be? well, i bought this really cool book by heather ross called weekend sewing. in it i found this really cute sundress then i came across some really cute amy butler fabric and well, my newest project was born. can't wait to show you the finished piece. stay tuned! here is a sneak peek.

check out the size of my...

zucchini! yes, my zucchini is 11 inches long. can you believe how big this sucker is? kevin picked it from the garden last night. he asked me why i hadn't done it before now. would you believe that i never saw it? when i opened up the refrigator i about fell out in the floor because it totally caught me off guard...oh well, looks like another batch of zucchini bread is in order. this time i'm trying a different recipe. i'll let you know how it turns out.

hey mom...meet my new friend

lela continues to tell me how much she loves nature camp. this afternoon i was informed that every july she wants to go. ok twist my arm, if you insist. one of the highlights at camp is getting their picture made with marigold. here is lela with marigold:


yes, marigold just happens to be an 11ft. albino burmese python that lives at cochran mill. as you can see our daughter is all smiles holding her new friend. i asked her if marigold was heavy and she said "mom, six people had to hold her up, what do think?" i think i can promise you i won't be touching that thing....ever!

nature camp and more

thought i'd drop by for a quick update on what's happening around here. lela is at nature camp this week and loving every minute of it. last night she told me she had so much fun. she got to touch a crocodile, lizard, snakes, and the list goes on and on. i have an agenda of everything they do each day and today they will hike through the woods, play in the creek and have a picnic while out exploring. i only wish they let us "big kids" come. she was so exhausted last night when i picked her up. she is gone from 9:00am to 3:00pm, so she stays busy.

mom is off this week from work, so she is hanging with me and lacey while we look for flower girl dresses. both girls will be in my cousin's wedding come september and lacey is beside herself with excitement at wearing a "beautiful dress." she was so cute yesterday as we scanned the racks for just the right dress; grinning from ear to ear when we would pull out a dress to show her.

kevin's grandmother is still in the hospital with not much improvement. so, we're just going on and doing what we do.

show and tell

i just had to show off one of my birthday presents that i received from my mom. she made it for me which makes it all the more special. i had no part what so ever in it except that i told her to make me one. i could have made it myself but it's always more special when someone else does it for you. do i have your attention now? are you trying to figure out what exactly i'm taking about? well, she made me a pillowcase and i absolutely love it! it's made with all my favorite colors - brown, aqua, orange, and green. isn't it just beautiful? thanks, mom.

happy 4th!!!

i hope everyone had a "happy 4th of july!" ours will be filled with memories of good food, good times, and good friends. with all the stress that we have been feeling lately these past few weeks, this was definitely a way to take a deep breath and relax. this year some very dear friends' invited us over to cookout and enjoy a private fireworks display. needless to say we were not disappointed in anyway. the food was incredible and the fireworks were really good and the kids had so much fun! bam! kaboom! bam!

earlier in the day, we headed to the newnan square for some good 'ole fun. it was market days and they had booths set up with people selling ice cream, music and rides for the kids. i love our "little" town! they always seem to know how to celebrate just right. i hope all of you had a "happy 4th!"