Flip flopped

As many of you know for many years I spent my summers working at the pool. I taught swim lessons and worked as a lifeguard watching kids play as their moms chase after them. I would be at the pool all day everyday. Now that I am a mom of two kids things have flip flopped. I am still at the pool everyday but now I am the mom that is chasing after her kids. Beckham and Ainsley LOVE the pool (or cool as Ainsley calls it). The pool has been open 12 days and we have been there 9 of those days - we didn't go over Memorial weekend because we thought it would be too crowded. Beckham has become more confident in the water and loves the big pool. He doesn't like that we have to trade off between the big and baby pool. Ainsley likes the baby pool better (the big pool is a little too cold for her right now). I have a better understanding of why stay at home moms bring their kids to the pool everyday. It keeps them entertained and it wears them out. Both kids take long naps after we've been to the pool. So, I am sure we will be at the pool a lot this summer. For those of you that don't know I am still teaching swim lessons at the local YMCA. Once we get a new camera I'll take pics at the pool and post them. Happy swimming!

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Watkins

Doug and Judi were in town the past few days. they are heading up to Indiana for the summer and stopped by to visit on their way up. The kids had a ball and enjoyed all the fun things the grandparents brought and the projects Judi did with them. Judi is always coming up with little projects that the kids enjoy. Yesterday she and Beckham made plant people out of cups (Ainsley started but only lasted about 5 min). In a couple of days the cups are going to sprout some hair (Rye grass). I am sure Beckham will enjoy giving them "hair cuts" when the grass gets long enough. Over the weekend we went to Race Week (we live in Nascar country now and there was a big race in Charlotte - I think it was the Coca-cola 600) which is a festival for the nascar race in uptown Charlotte. The kids had a great time playing games for free samples of cereal, pasta, etc. The adults had a fun people watching. There are some interesting Nascar fans. All in all it was a relaxing weekend and we didn't do much. We just enjoyed hanging out with the grandparents and taking a nap everyday. Unfortunately our camera broke so until I get a new one we won't have any recent photos to post.

Funny things we say

The past few weeks Monte and I have said a few things to the kids and after saying them we thought: I never thought I would hear myself say that!! The first one was a few weeks ago Beckham had spilled on his shirt at dinner so we took it off (normally he always has to wear a shirt at the table). Anyway, he started rubbing yogurt on his chest and Monte said "Beckham stop rubbing yogurt on your chest!" Then last night Beckham put macaroni in his ears. He said "Look mommy, I'm shrek" I tried not to laugh and said "Beckham don't put macaroni in your ears". Beckham tends to be shy around a lot of people but at home he is a clown. He loves to laugh and do funny things to get us to laugh. I love when he gets Ainsley laughing because he follows suit and soon everyone is laughing. If you have never heard a kid laugh from their belly you are missing out. It is the most precious sound I can think of.

I thought of another thing I said the other day and couldn't believe I said it. Beckham was pretending to be a dog. I turned around to see what he was doing and I said, "Beckham stop licking your sister!" His reply, "I'm just giving her doggy kisses". Kids are funny.

Thank you

With Memorial Day on Monday I thought I would take a minute and thank all of the men and women who serve our country. As many of you know I come from a military family so it has always been a part of my life. I am proud to have such a strong military family. It taught me that freedom is not free and that a lot is sacrificed that some will never know or understand. I was also reminded of this last weekend when we had a few friends over for a BBQ. One of our friends' husband is in the Army and has been in Iraq since last fall. He was home for his 2 week leave and headed back for another 7 months. Monte and I had never met him because we met his wife while he was in Iraq. After talking to him it made me even more thankful for the men and women serving our country. So, to all of you that serve, have served or have family that serve (you sacrifice too) a heart felt thank you goes out to you. I encourage you to take a few moments on Memorial Day to pray for our troops (praying for them everyday would be even better).

Time flies

Last weekend we celebrated Beckham's 4th birthday. This is the first year he has fully understood birthdays. For months he has been asking about when his birthday is going to be. We told him his is after Ainsley's. Right after Ainsley finished her cake and opened her gifts he said, Ainsley's birthday is over it's my birthday now. We told him he had to wait a few more weeks. Beckham really got an extended birthday celebration this year. It started when my mom came to visit the week before his birthday. we got cupcakes and he opened the gifts from her and Poppy. Then at school on Monday he brought in cupcakes for the class because his official birthday was on the last day of school and his teachers wanted him to have a special day. On his real birthday we took him to Chuck E. Cheese which he loved. Saturday was his birthday party. He had a few friends from school and the neighborhood at his Cars movie themed party at the park. Lastly the Watkins are in town this weekend and they brought gifts for him too. it seems like his birthday is never ending - which he wouldn't mind. It's hard to believe he is already 4. It seems like just the other day we were bring home out little (well, not so little he was 10 lbs 13 oz). He is such a delight we have truly been blessed. He is so kind hearted and is very laid back. It is so much fun to see him develop in all aspects of life.

Tag...

Alright so I guess I have been tagged by my brother's family. Sorry, I've been out of the blog loop for a few days. Life has been busy with school ending (I was the room mom and had a bunch to do), Beckham's birthday, the Watkins coming, Monte out of town, swim lessons, etc. I'll try and do better with posting.



Back to being tagged. Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Here it goes:

1. One of us loves the beach the other doesn't care for it (guess which is which - if you have to think about it you must not know us very well)

2. Our first date was in Paris.

3. We love to travel.

4. We love listening to music especially live music - We miss Austin :-(

5. We enjoy making up new ice cream flavors, thanks to the ice cream maker my parents got us

6. We LOVE FSU football (really any football except those darn Gators)

7. We don't typically like chain restaurants.

8. I drink a cup of coffee every morning. Monte doesn't

I don't know who else to tag because everyone that I know who blogs already did this. So if you blog and you haven't been tagged consider yourself tagged.

Counting backwards

This weekend we got to go see the house my parents are building in SC. I can't wait for it to be done. It's going to be amazing but that is a whole different story and I'll write more about that another time. After touring the house we went to dinner with my mom and sister Megan. While we were waiting for our food Beckham was playing with the sugar packets. He would dump them out and then put them back making sure they all stood up like soldiers. While he was doing this I said, "Let's count them". (Picture of Beckham counting the sugar on the left) We did then he said he wanted to count backwards. He preceded to turn around in his chair, reach his hand back towards the table and grab a sugar packet and say 1, then 2, 3, you get the point. Of course we all started laughing. In his mind if he turned around and his back was towards it - he was counting backwards. (Picture of Beckham counting Backwards on the right)

Sleepy???

Ainsley loves to put her head down when she gets tired. If fact she will put her head down anywhere - on a shoulder (her favorite - she our cuddle bug), in her bed, on the table, on the floor and even on the garage floor. Awhile ago I was unloading groceries from the car. Ainsley and Beckham were playing in the driveway. It was nap time but I had to get the groceries put away first. I went out to get my next load and there was Ainsley laying on the garage floor. Luckily she found a blanket to lay on first. Beckham thought this was silly (he is always saying - that's silly mommy) and wanted to join in. So there were both kids laying on the garage floor. I'm sure if my neighbors saw they were wondering what was going on. We have been so blessed to have 2 wonderful sleepers. I don't know what I would do if we didn't. I guess the Lord knows what we can handle and He knows I need a break everyday.

The ups and downs of siblings

We were driving home from running some errands and Ainsley was getting fussy, crying is more like it. She was tired and just wanted to be home so she could take a nap. Usually the only thing that calms her down is Cheetos or me singing her favorite song. Well, we didn't have Cheetos in the car and just as I was about to start singing Beckham started singing to her. He held her hand and started making up his own song. It had the line stop crying and go to sleep. It was so sweet the way he was singing to her and low and behold she stopped crying. After nap time we were playing with money putting it in a piggy bank. Ainsley was having a hard time and Beckham said, "here's how you do it sister, just like me, watch" he then showed her how to turn the coin so it would fit. It's moments like these you want to capture because they aren't always so sweet to each other. As a parent it is fun and frustrating to see your kids interact. One minute they are playing together bonding having a great time then the next they are fighting and crying. It's hard to know when to step in and referee and when to let them work it out (sometimes it is easy to know when to step in). Monte and I are trying to raise our kids to love one another and to take care of each other but some days it isn't that easy. That is why days like today are important to remember.

Happiest kid on the team

Beckham took his first stab at organized sports this spring. He played soccer at the local YMCA. I don't know if he fully grasped all the concepts but he had a ball. If you haven't seen Beckham run you might not fully appreciate this story. Beckham seems to have a "happy"gate when he runs. (I call it prancing but Monte doesn't like that term - it's more of a gallop in his opinion). As the other "soccer moms" (I can't believe I am a soccer mom) and I sat watching they we would all comment on how Beckham looked like the happiest kid out there. He ran/galloped up and down the field happy as could be. He didn't care if he kicked the ball or not he just enjoyed being out there. There were 3 other boys from his class on his team and all of them were much more competitive than Beckham. I began to wonder if Beckham was switched at birth because most of you know how competitive us Scotts are. I recall one time my sisters and I had a contest to see who could slice a loaf of bread faster. If that isn't competitive I don't know what is. At one point in a scrimmage I looked to see what Beckham was doing (he was the goalie at the time) and he was picking up dirt and putting it on his face. If you haven't seen 3-4 year olds soccer game it's pretty funny. All of the kids run in a cluster trying to kick the ball. Every now and then a kid will get frustrated pick up the ball and move it to open space so he can kick it. I loved seeing Beckham run around outside enjoying the sport and having a good time with his friends. He liked soccer but liked it even more when he got a trophy at the end of the season. He was definitely the happiest kid out there.