Pennies

One of our favorite things to do in the evening or when we don't have anything to do is get a roll of pennies and throw them in the fountain at the Friendly Center. The kids love it and 50 cents goes a long way.......

Most of the time our trip to the fountain begins or ends with ice cream. Today it was shakes from Cookout. No, Johnny did not have his own shake, just whines until we give him some of ours......

Evening on the Town

A couple weeks ago we got together with good friends, ate downtown and went to the park. Living across the country from family we feel so blessed to have good friends that our kids love here in Greensboro. This is the last night that the Phipps family was a family of three. The next morning Angie went into labor with Blayze........

Firsts........

Last week was full of firsts for the Pell family kiddos.........

And Johnny's first word is.............. "OOSH" or Shoes!!!

He is obsessed with his shoes. The first thing he does when we open the door to his room in the morning is point to the closet and say "oosh". He will follow us around the house with his shoes and squeal until we put them on. If he finds your shoes on the floor he will insist that you also put your shoes on. It is a regular sight now in our house for Johnny to be running around with his diaper on and "oosh".

We finally bit the bullet and took Emma to her first dentist appointment. I was worried she wouldn't be willing to open her mouth and we would pay hundreds of dollars to have the dentist say "better luck next time" but Emma was on her best behavior. When we left she said it was her "favorite day ever" and begged to come back soon. Needless to say she had no cavities......

The infamous hair. I took Johnny for his first haircut last week. I was so worried he would look like a different little boy but Nikki did a great job and just shaped his fro. I love it! I think it looks so much better and wish I would have gone sooner. No more drippy curls in his face or fly away frizz. Just that beautiful head of hair in all its groomed glory......

Now that Emma has been to the dentist she is teaching Johnny the need to brush his teeth. He now has four teeth and loves to brush his teeth with big sister......

Dance Class

Here are a few photo's from Emma's first dance class. She did not want me to take pictures of her ahead of time so the below is as good as it gets. We got there early and waited inside the room. We were then told we had to wait outside while her teacher prepared the room and then that we couldn't come in as she taught the class without parents. What?!?! My dreams of sitting in a folding chair and watching my little girl spin around the room wasn't going to happen today? John had even come home early from work to go to the class. Then we went around the corner and discovered the glass window. Phew!!

After watching the three and four year olds learn to "dance" I can definitely understand why parents are not in the room. And having Johnny strapped into his stroller for 45 minutes while we watch Emma through the glass makes me thankful we are where we can not be heard.

During Emma's whole first class her face was lit up in wonder. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of it. She was so excited to be in the class and listened well. She is definitely the youngest and this is the first time she has been in a class where she has had to stand in line and listen to directions. The teacher is great and keeps their attention the whole 45 minutes. Now if I could only get a good picture.......

Full Time Stay at Home Mom

Three months after Emma was born I went back to work two days a week and John was home with Emma the days that I worked. We both loved sharing the role of the daily parenting and though I thought I would hate being away at work, knowing Emma got to spend good time with daddy made it easy to go back part time. We knew that there would be a time that John's work schedule would change and it would become difficult to continue this lifestyle. When we decided to each work and each be home we didn't want it to become we each worked full time but worked around crazy schedules to make it work. We wanted it to be we both worked part time and were home part time. Last year was crazy for John being in school, working as a professor and being home two days a week with the kids. It was just too much. I had always wanted to be home full time but when the opportunity arose for me to work part time and John be home part time I was happy to keep working. So, we decided that life is too short and had gotten too busy and me staying home would allow us to slow down.

Last Monday was my last day of work. I would say that it was bitter sweet. I have been looking forward to staying home full time since Emma was born and I don't know that it has really sunk in that I am officially done with work. As I move from working part time to being home full time here are some things I will miss about working:

• My friends at work. I had worked at SMC for 5 years and grown many friendships that I will miss dearly. Not that I won't be able to stop by but seeing people on a consistent basis is just different.

• My ability to control my environment for two days a week. I had a desk and office space that was all mine. I did CPA work so it was mostly quiet and I was able to manage myself. Being home with a 3 and 1 year old is anything but quiet and I would love to think I control my home environment but....well I think Emma is really in charge at this point.

• On the days that I worked the kids were home with dad. I will really miss coming home to things like this........

I opened the door to come inside the house on my last day of work and heard whispers and giggles coming from the bedroom....Emma shut the door and emerged a few minutes later dressed as a princess....

And then my sweet son came running out in Emma's old Halloween costume.....ha ha I wondered how long it would take for Emma to want Johnny to dress up as something. I am glad his first costume was so manly....

• Most of all, we will miss co-parenting. We both love how much we have been able to share the role of the day to day parenting over the past three years. Now with me home full time, John is not going to be around as much for the day to day stuff that the kids do. Luckily his schedule as a professor will always allow him to be around more than most. We are very thankful for this time and hope that it has established good habits for us as parents.

We are so excited to slow down and enjoy life this year. We have already been able to spend so much more time as a family. I love it!! So far, so good!!

Blueberries!!!

Our friend Kristen is great about finding places to pick berries and found a place out in the country where we could pick blueberries. With kids, blueberry picking is much easier and less messy than strawberry picking. I am sold. We picked a couple of pounds of blueberries which we all enjoyed for weeks......

Emma showing Johnny how to pick the blueberries.....
And how to eat them......

Beach Time

At the end of July we made a day trip to the beach with the Phipps Family....3.5 hours there....3.5 hours back. It was a good day with perfect weather, warm water and fun for all......

Emma has decided she doesn't want to take pictures anymore so she covers her face when the camera comes out.....this is why we don't have pictures of her at the beach....don't worry, she still gets plenty of attention.