Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day!  

We are grateful to all those that serve and have served so we can enjoy our freedom!  We have enjoyed this holiday weekend thus far and  have spent almost all weekend here:

and I couldn’t be happier.  The curtains have been hung on the inside and it feels like a resort to me!  I love to watch the rain and it’s rained off an on all weekend.  I love to hear it, see it and smell it all while in the comfort of my dry cool porch!  The project is just about done and we are wondering why we didn’t do this sooner.  The kids are loving it too.  We have a tv and dvd player out there, so they’ve enjoyed watching movies and playing with their toys.  I’m not sure if we’ll eat at our kitchen table anytime soon. 

So far this weekend we’ve gone to the farmers market and gotten lots of yummy produce and cooked a few great meals.  The kiddos had a swim lesson on Saturday and they are doing great in the pool.  Here are some pictures of the last 2 weeks.  I’m going to go back to relaxing now! 

Grayson’s 3rd Birthday Party
This was the first birthday party they’ve been invited to from their class at school.  They thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of their friends outside of school.  I guess it’s time for some play dates!
 
  Allie & Megan Ware’s Graduation Party
We started watching these girls when they were 10 years old…and now they are heading off for college.  We were honored to be included in their celebration!

 Pool Time!
We ventured to the pool last weekend and the kiddos absolutely love the water!  Ryan kept pushing me away saying “do it by myself mommy”.  So – we set up swim lessons starting that same week!  They are both really motivated to swim!

 




Last day in EPS1
Riley and Ryan will be in a new class starting tomorrow, so last week they had a pizza party and everyone wore their pj’s to school!  They brought their sleeping bags too!  It was a fun day and they are sad to leave the teachers from this classroom…but their whole class is moving up, so they will be surrounded by their same friends!

Hanging out with Katharyn and Paul on the porch!

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100522GraysonSBirthday#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100522WareGraduationParty#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100523PoolTime#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/201004PorchProject#

Big Boy Underwear

This cutie pie little boy woke up this morning excited about big boy underwear!   When we were getting Riley’s panties out of the drawer for school, the two of them decided Ryan needed to take some of his with them too!  I called to talk to his teacher about them and she said he walked in the door so excited that they could not deny his enthusiasm.  Off with the diaper and on with the underwear!  I wasn’t so sure about it – nor was his teacher, but we agreed to see how the day went.  When I drove up to pick them up I was thrilled to see him in the same outfit he left the house in this morning!  He went the entire day without one accident!  I think they sent him to the potty every 15 minutes, but he made it the whole day.  Way to go big boy!

Let’s go fly a kite…

I’m on my way to LA to see Heather & Brad and then to San Francisco on Monday for a conference for work.  I’m typing this on the plane, but don’t know when it will be “published”.  Miss the fam already, but it’s been nice to sit by myself and watch a movie, look at magazines and listen to music for a few hours.  I even got a chance to doze off!  I know I will be ready to have 2 little ones tugging on me soon enough!!
~~~~~~~
We have been watching Mary Poppins very very regularly since Aunt Heather and Uncle Brad gave it to the kiddos for Christmas.   Thankfully the movies they really like are ones that I also like, so I don’t necessarily mind watching it over and over and over.  We have enjoyed learning the various songs and Kevin even listens to the soundtrack in his car with the kids on the way to school.  They have names for all the songs and he knows the track numbers.  Kinda reminds me of the days of growing up when I got a new cd and played it over and over until I learned all the words.  Fun stuff!  One of our favorite songs from the movie is “let’s go fly a kite”.  We break out singing it at various times and the kids know most every word.  So – when we found out the that 1st annual Georgia Kite Festival was this Saturday at Centennial Park, we knew we had to go.  It was a very hot day, but overcast with the threat of rain most of the day. 

This was our first visit to Centennial Park and it was just a nice family day.  We packed a picnic and I could have sat there for hours.

 

They enjoyed looking at the various fountains.

 

And we discovered a new playground!  The best news is that it’s so close to our house!  I have a feeling we will be back.  They loved the swings and slides and even did a little “mountain climbing”.

There was this very cool and bumpy slide


The Braves had a tent set up and the kiddos had a chance to hit the ball.  It was so cool – the ball just hovered over the tee.  There was air coming out of it.  Riley and Ryan each hit the ball!

Then we tried to actually fly our own kite.  We knew there would be kites for sale, so we spent our $3 for the mini kite…Buzz Lightyear, of course.  When I bought it, I didn’t notice where it says 4”.  Yes – this is the real size of the kite.  I thought for sure it was folded up in there, but nope – this is it.  What a disappointment – but the kids didn’t care.  They had fun watching everyone else and even attempting to fly this one.

It’s so small you can’t even see it in this picture!

 
The kite booth was handing out lollipops for free.  We should have just saved ourselves the $3 and they would have been just as happy!

Web Album Added: http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100516GeorgiaKiteFestival#

I’m now at the airport about to head out to San Francisco.  I had a great visit with Heather and Brad – although it was so very quick.  We ate dinner at a fabulous restaurant last night, but by the time we were done, it was very late in the eastern time zone, so I wasn’t worth much.  Walked in the door and went straight to bed. 

A couple of funny stories I wanted to have “on record”…

On Saturday night, Gran-daddy came to watch the kiddos so we could go out.  He took them out for the usual pizza run and on the way back, they were watching a dvd in the car.  The dvd was talking about how Noah was thankful to God, so Gran-daddy said, “ yes we are thankful for sweet Riley and sweet Ryan”.  Then Riley chimed in and said “and we are thankful for sweet Gran-daddy”.  I could hear the grin in his voice when we was telling me the recap!

We are still having some issues with Ryan getting up and turning on the lights, etc. and keeping Riley up.  We have had to resort to spankings and we are hoping he’s getting the picture that it’s not a good thing to get out of the bed and disobey mommy and daddy.  Our spankings are more like little taps and with a diaper on I don’t think he really even feels anything, but it does seem to be making an impact.  Last night, Daddy had to give him a spanking.  After the spanking, he was crying and the conversation went like this…

Riley: Ryan, did Daddy hurt you?
Ryan: yes (with lip poked out)
Riley: Do you need me to help you?

I was cracking up when Kevin told me and don’t know how he kept a straight face.  They are best friends and truly look out for one another - - even if it means she has to take it up with Daddy!  I guess the spanking helped because Kevin told me this morning that everyone slept through the night!

Lights On… Lights Off…

So Ryan has learned how to turn the lights on and off and it has turned into a bit of a problem…especially at night time. Off and on for the last 2 weeks he has gotten up in the middle of the night and by the time we went in (half dazed) he had already turned on the light. Yes – he still shares a room with Riley. We have talked about how he doesn’t need to get out of his bed, much less turn the lights on when he should be sleeping. Tonight, before we tucked him in, we went over the rules. 1) do not get out of the bed and 2) do not turn on the lights. He said ok – good night – and we were out. 1 hour after their bedtime, I heard some chit chat, so I decided to go upstairs to check on the light situation. Sure enough, the light was on. Our conversation went like this once I opened the door and found the most adorable little boy staring at me from the middle of room (not in his bed). (Riley is still laying neatly tucked in her bed)

H: Ryan what did mommy tell you to do tonight?

R: blank stare um – not get out of bed

H: yes and what else?

R: out of the tops of his eyes not turn on light

H: So, Ryan, did you obey mommy? (Obey mommy and daddy is our #1 house rule that we repeat each and every night)

R: lip poking out no

H: so what do you think you should do?

R: go get in my bed?

H: I think that is a great idea (trying my hardest not to laugh during this teachable moment)

He ran over to his bed and quickly climbed in. I went over to pull up his covers and he gave me a big grin and said love you mommy! To which I replied – love you too honey, but don’t get out of your bed again. He said ok mommy in the sweetest little voice! I closed the door and walked out and smiled. I haven’t heard a peep since…

Mother’s Day

This was a great Mother’s “Day/Weekend”!  We had a last minute idea to send Riley and Ryan to spend Friday night with Mee Maw and Gran-Daddy, so they headed to Lawrenceville and Kevin and I got to work.  Yep – no fun here.  Just cleaning out clutter.  All night Friday night and all day on Saturday.  We went through cabinets, drawers, closets, paperwork – you name it - and it was so beyond overdue.  I’m a  bit of a pack rat (I so wish I wasn’t) and am working hard on becoming a person that throws things away.  At this point in life I don’t think I have much choice.  Kevin’s favorite story from this clean up is that we found a coupon from Target that expired in May 2004!  UGH!!!  We have bags of trash and bags of things to donate!  It feels so GOOD!  …and ALL the laundry is done, folded AND put away!  I know this doesn’t sound like much, but that is something that rarely happens in this house.

We picked up the kiddos last night and enjoyed dinner with Mee Maw and Gran-Daddy before heading home.  They were sad to leave their house.  It sounds like they played hard and ate – nonstop. 

This morning we went to church and then had a nice brunch at Chequer’s!  There were nice cards and a few fun surprises from Mee Maw and Gran-Daddy!   With our latest screened porch addition to the house, Kevin and I agreed on “no gifts” for Mother’s / Father’s Day.  So – we sat outside on the porch tonight for a family dinner.  It’s just about done and we cannot wait to start “living” out there!

 
 


They made hand print plates for me at school!  Such a great memento!
 
and they loved showing them to me!



They were great at lunch – except for when Riley stabbed herself in the eye with a pretzel stick and cried for quite a while.  Ryan ate his weight in strawberries!

We have a lot of things blooming in our yard right now.  These are the cucumbers we are growing on our porch!  We are also growing basil, parsley, cilantro and lettuce!

Our beautiful  knockout roses


and day lilies 

and azaleas

and hibiscus

I can’t close this post and not comment on what a proud mommy I am.  I think I have the most amazing kiddos and I am just really in awe that I get to be Riley and Ryan’s mom!  We just have so much fun and are truly enjoying watching these kids grow up.  We do a lot to try to keep them “in line” and show them the way to behave, but I believe it’s already paying off!  Now – if I can still say this next year when I have 2 3-year olds, life will be good.  Everyone warns me that 3 is worse than 2, but we will just have to see for ourselves!   I’m going to bet that these next 12 months will be the best ones yet!

Web Album Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100507MotherSDayWeekend#

Spring Fun

The kiddos were on a roll last weekend and got some fun shots of them before church!

Peek a Boo!




 
Where does she learn this stuff?


Riley tripped and feel face first on the hardwood floors.  There was blood involved, but luckily only a busted lip…not even a true cut!  She looked pretty sad on Sunday and was happy to show it off for the camera.

I just don’t even know what to say about this.
 

On Sunday we went over to play and eat dinner with the Sahlins.  Zachary is just a few months younger than Riley and Ryan, so they had a great time playing in their big back yard.  I’m not sure who had more fun – the kids or Paul?  They played tee ball…
 
and ran the bases

they even got to eat their dinner picnic style on the deck
 
they chased the ball…

and watched Paul “jump HIGH” in the air!
 
all in all it was a great weekend with lots of fun and friends!

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100502CutiePies#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20100502FunWithSahlins#