Zach is 2!

I can't believe Zach is 2! I know I've said it 100 times on this blog, but boy, does time fly!!! We had a great time at his birthday party with lots of friends, family, and of course food! I did not get any really good pictures from his party, but here are just a few. I guess I have to get used to not getting pictures of a 2 year old boy sitting still:)

Lulu's 95th Birthday Party

On Saturday September 5th, we had a birthday party to celebrate my grandmother's 95th birthday!!! She was able to leave her nursing home for a couple hours, and return to the house she lived in the majority of her life, to celebrate with her family. It was nice to have so many people able to get together to celebrate this day. Lulu was especially happy to have so many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren there with her.

July 4th at Holden Beach

We spent last week at Holden Beach with Auntie Marie and Uncle Charlie!! As always, the kids had a blast! Zach LOVED everything about the beach...the sand, the water, the crabs...everything!! He had a great time in the water jumping waves with and without help. One wave even took him out, and he didn't seem to care to much. He was also into catching all the little crabs that were out our first day there. Needless to say the little ones he caught didn't survive!

Boo had a great time too, but didn't really like the water too much. She did get in, but had more fun building sand castles and looking for shells.

On the 4th of July, we went to watch the fireworks in Wilmington. Just like last year, they were awesome. Mackenzie loved them and didn't want them to end. Zach was ok with them...they didn't scare him, he wasn't crying or anything, but he just wanted to watch them sitting in the stroller, which is really weird, because Zach doesn't sit still!

Race for the Cure

A couple of weeks ago, we did our annual Race for the Cure with Meme and Dub and Aunt Cathy! Since we have started doing the race, each year, I make a shirt for Mackenzie to wear in honor of her Meme! I keep the shirts in a special place each year and one day I hope to turn them into a quilt for Meme (ok, when I say "I" hope to turn the shirts into a quilt, I really mean I hope Cathy will turn them into a quilt since she is awesome at making quilts!!)!

This year, we also wanted to acknowledge my cousin Diane who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Mackenzie wore a Celebration sign in honor of Diane on her back and we wanted to share that picture with Diane and her family to let them all know we are thinking of them.

We are already looking forward to next year's race in honor of it being Meme's 1oth year as a SURVIVOR...WOO HOO!!!!

Airport Playground

I took the kids over to the airport playground one morning so we could play and watch the planes take-off and land. While this was a great idea, it was not so much fun!!! The runway that the observation deck is on was not being used so we couldn't see any planes. There were a few parked on the side of the runway but none were moving. The "playground" part of the observation area had some sand which was so dirty with trash and stuff that the kids didn't even really play in it, and it only had one climbing structure which was a little scary. Oh well, at least we tried. Next time we will try in the indoor observation area which overlooks the other runways. We have never been there, and I hear it is a really neat place to take kids!

Choir

I wasn't sure if I had posted a picture of Mackenzie in her choir robe, so I wanted to post this one. She had such a great time with choir, and is really looking forward to doing it again in the fall!

Last day of School

On Mackenzie's last day of school, her class had a lunch picnic with all the families in the room. It was a lot of fun and Boo seemed so excited to eat lunch with her friends. Zach had a great time too, because he was able to play on the playground, and we all know how Zach is always (ALWAYS) on the run:). It will be great not to have to worry about getting to preschool on time during the summer break, but come fall it will be so nice to have Boo in class 3 days a week and Zach will be there 2 days a week for Mother's Morning Out (and yes, Zach goes to school the same days as Boo so it will be really nice for me:)!!!

School Play

Back in May, Mackenzie's class had a spring show for all the parents to hear all the songs they had learned through out the year. Boo had been so excited about her show....talking about it almost everyday! Well, the day of the show she was even more excited that Mommy, Daddy, Zach and Isabelle (our friends little girl who I keep during the day) were coming to see her show. I had heard Boo practice her songs and she knew all the words. However, when it was time for her to sing she just sat there. She could have cared less about it...she looked like she was bored silly! The ONLY time she smiled and participated was when the class played a song on their kazoos! Silly girl!

Pictures

In May, we had a friend of Chris and Kristy come over and take pictures of the kids. It was time for their yearly professional pictures, and we were tired of the same old studio pictures, so the photographer was able to take some "real life" pictures for us! We love them!!! If only I knew how to take good pictures...

Mother's Day Tea Party with Lulu

We went to Lulu's nursing home for our annual Mother's Day Tea Party the Friday before Mother's Day. When Mom called to see if Lulu was up for going outside to the party, Lulu said no, that she wasn't up for it. However, as soon as Lulu saw Mackenzie and Zach in her room at the home, she was ready to get outside!!! Lulu hadn't seen Zach for a while, so she was really into watching him. The food this year was a huge tray of fruit with a few pastries. I served Zach a plate of fruit and gave him a fork and he went to town eating. I guess I wasn't refilling his plate fast enough, because the second all his fruit was gone, he stood up in his chair, reached across the table with his fork and started eating the strawberries right off the platter. I have to tell you, that when he did this, Lulu laughed harder than I had EVER heard her laugh before!!! After Lulu stopped laughing, she asked me when was the last time I had fed Zach!!! I had to then tell her that Zach eats all day long...he LOVES his food (and your food, and my food, and the guy across the way's food, the waiters food....you get my point!! The boy can eat)!!!!

Pictures from April and May

Zach is an outside boy for sure! If we let him, he would be out there all day! Here, he is having a blast in the Elmo sprinkler. Hopefully he will enjoy the pool as much as the sprinkler!
Boo dressed up for school!

Boo going on an Easter Egg hunt at Meme and Dub's house.

Going on an egg hunt....

This is what happens when I ask Greg to get Zach dressed!!! YIKES!!! No worries, he didn't leave the house like this:)

April and May have been very busy months for us! From soccer practice, school, play dates, choir and many other activities, we have been on the go a lot. The kids are both doing great and are really into their own things.

Choir

Mackenzie has been in choir at our church since January. Since she had never done something like this before, so we weren't sure how she would do, but it turns out that she LOVES it!!! She knows what day we go, and if for some reason we would have to miss choir, she would be mad...very mad. She talks about the choir director often and I have even caught her in her room lining up her stuffed animals acting as if she is the choir director and teaching her animals how to sing. She had her end of year performance a few weeks ago and did pretty good. I wasn't sure that she would sing in front of that many people, but she did...well, she sang about every third word...but that is good for it being her first performance!

Strawberry Picking Time

A few weeks ago, we took the kids to a local strawberry patch to pick strawberries. This was the first time for both of them, and they both loved it. As you can probably already guess, Zach ate his weight in strawberries while we were there. He got the concept of how to pick the berries, but didn't get the fact you were supposed to put them in the bucket:) He had a blast!!! Boo tried some while we were there too, but she was more into picking "just the right ones" and putting them in our bucket! They were so yummy!!!

Random Pictures of Zach

Zach loved the slide at Pullen Park! He must have gone down it 100 times before I was able to get him to move on to something else!

Playing with the phone! He loves this, whether it is the house phone or one of our cell phones. He is actually getting to the point when he "talks" to people. It is fun to watch:)

Driving in the Escalade....this is how he rides about 99% of the time. We are not sure if he is just being comfortable, or if he is holding on for dear life b/c of how Boo drives:)

Letters

Boo is really into doing "school work" and "homework" these days. She LOVES to do workbook pages, art projects, you name it...she loves it. She is doing a great job with writing her letters and actually making words. Here are 2 pictures of her first letters that she learned. I had hoped to take a picture of each letter as she learned to write them, but I couldn't keep up (I guess that is a good thing huh?)!