Koby's First Birthday.......

Koby turned 1 on June 7th, and of course he had to have a ball cake. It doesn't look the best, but it tasted good and he had fun with it!!
After 1 year, Koby has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom, can walk/walk-run, says: mom, dad, ball, and ugh,ugh,ugh!(for anything he wants). He is always making noise, this is just want we can interpret now! He loves balls of any sport. He got a basketball hoop for his birthday and he can play with that for a long time. He puts anything from basketballs to balloons through the hoop! He loves the water, and for any animal - he makes the puppy sound. He is an awesome sleeper- he takes great naps and sleeps through the night! He almost always has a smile on his face and is a very happy baby. He loves to be outside. He is very independent already and thinks he can do anything the big kids are doing. He loves watermelon, pasta, blueberries, blackberries, carrots, bread, peas, broccoli, corn, sweet potatoes, bananas, yogurt, chicken and anything sweet! He really does NOT like getting his diaper changed (this usually turns into a wrestling match). He gives high fives and knucks. He always has kisses, however, sometimes he offers them but if you are not fast enough he changes his mind =) But when he gives you kisses they usually come in threes; mouth, and both cheeks. He is trying to figure out the stairs though we have not mastered them yet. He is a huge help in the kitchen, he watches the food in the oven to make sure it doesn't burn, and he pulls out every pan in the cupboard just in case we need them all!

Summer Swim League

I am trying to get caught, but decided to start from now and then fill in what I am behind on.

So, Bryn has been on a year round swim team called Swim Atlanta. It has been a great program and we have loved her coach. Back before school was out, her coach asked her if she would like to swim for her on her summer team. We didn't know anything about these summer leagues, but it is a big deal around here. Because most of the communities and sub-divisions have swimming pools, they form teams mostly made up of kids that live in that sub-division. Coach Debbie coach for the team Stonebrier. It is actually very close to our house. The way it worked was they had practice everyday and then a swim meet every Thursday. The last week of June they actually had a meet on Tuesday and Thursday with made 5 swim meets. Then they had finals which were divided up into divisions from all over the Atlanta area. Our division swam in the second of four sessions. They were held at Georgia Tech in the Olympic swim pool! We took second for our division and 7th in all the divisions for finals. During the season Bryn swam anywhere from 4 to 6 events and she always swam 2 relays. She did the freestyle relay and a medley relay. In the individual events she swam back stroke, freestyle, breast stroke, and Individual medley. Some nights she was 50 yards and some nights 25 yards. As a team Stonebrier lost their first meet and won everyone after that. As for Bryn she won lots of first place ribbons as well as a few second place and third place ribbons. It was very exciting and a great experience.
After we swam in the finals, we had to wait from the last two divisions to swim the next day and all the scores to be recorded to see if Bryn would be swimming in the championship meet. In order to swim she had to have placed in the top 10 for relays in her age group and the top 30 in individual events in her age group. When the scores came in, she was so excited- she made it to the championship in both relays and both individual events! She was swimming against 300+ 7-8 year old girls!

WAY TO GO BRYN!!!


The freestyle relay team: Bryn, Sarah, Catherine, Carol.

Koby watching the meet. Everyone would comment all season about how good of a baby he was. They would all get babysitters for any of kids not swimming!

A perfect example of the kids personalities.....

Tonight while I was fixing dinner the kids were playing in the front room. I wasn't paying much attention to what they were saying until I heard this:
Bryn: Kyler I am going to hire you, so pretend you are here for an interview.
Kyler: Okay.
Bryn: Hello- Are you here for an interview?
Kyler: Yes
Bryn: Okay Sir, sit down right here. I would like to give you a job as a teacher.
Kyler: Do you have any sport teacher jobs?
Bryn: Yes
Kyler: Well that is the only job I want.

Then I went out side to grab something from the freezer and when I came back in I hear this:
Kyler: Okay you guys, I am really good so I am going to take it really easy on you
Bryn: (gently touching Kyler's chin) um, sir, they are 18 years old.

Bryn loves to play school and Kyler eats and breaths sports. I am always amazed at how well they play together even then they like such different things. They are able to figure out a way to both get what they want and still play together.

Spring break in Wahington DC/Baltimore- Day 4

Our fourth day was spent in Washington DC. We got up early and headed out. We found a place to park the car for the day and just started walking. We followed the maps that were along the sidewalks (We looked like official tourists with our camera, backpacks, stroller and frequent stops at the maps!!) We were able to see all the major sights. We all had a great time. When we finished with what we could walk to we went back towards the car. We had seen a McDonalds and Chipotle that morning and since it was after 2:00 the kids were starving so we kept telling them if we can just make it back there we would get them something to eat. Well apparently we picked the WORST McDonalds in the area because when we walked in it was full of homeless people with huge garbage bags carrying all their belongings. So the already tiny lobby was packed full before we came in with our load. Of the 5 tables in the place one was not occupied so Erick went to Chipotle to get him and I something and I stayed with the kids, the stroller and ALL of our stuff. I got the kids their food and of course they wanted to eat it there! So I put Koby up on the table (I didn't even look to see if they had highchairs) I had some baby food I was going to give him and his sippy cup and of course he grabs his cup and knocks it off on the floor. Bryn was sitting on the opposite side of the table from me and Kyler and she bent down to grab the fallen cup and the man sitting next to us grabbed it. Bryn didn't say anything- I think she was too scared to speak, and I said thank you. Well that wasn't good enough for him. He gets right in her face and says, "What do you say?" and Bryn just stares at him. So he is like, "You need to say thank you." Bryn whispers a little, "thank you." The guy turns to all his friends and starts saying how she hasn't been taught any manners and all sorts of stuff with of course curse words that my kids didn't even know existed. I looked over at Kyler and he is staring at the whole table, and everyone there was just talking out loud but to no one really but with very colorful language. So I tell the kids to just eat. The whole time thinking, "Why did I buy the 6 piece instead of the 4 piece. We could be done by now." As soon as Erick walks in, we pack everything up and go to the car.
Then we headed to Arlington National Cemetery.
What an awesome experience for the kids, they loved it and were able to see so many great things. Here are a few pictures from the day....
This is Koby before we left. He loved to stand there and let the air blow on him.

Spring break in Wahington DC/Baltimore- Day 3

So our First REAL day in Baltimore we spent at the National Aquarium. It was so awesome. The kids had a great time. They would not let us use our stroller, so we put Koby in a backpack carrier and Erick carried him, I don't think he could see as well that way but he still seemed to enjoy himself and even got a little nap in.

When we finished at the aquarium, Erick took Bryn and Kyler and rode the paddle boats around. Koby was too small to go, so he and I just walked around the pier and watched all the people who were doing shows on the sidewalks for money.

We spent most the day around the pier and then Erick took us to see where he lived, the hospital he was working at and just drove around Baltimore. And of course we had to get some time in for tennis so we went to the tennis courts and Erick and Kyler played tennis while Bryn, Koby and I played on the grass. Then we had a few friendly races that turned into very competitive races! That night we got some dinner and then took the kids to coldstone for ice cream.

I took a million pictures at the aquarium, but I will only post a few. I know I go overboard on here sometimes with photos!!





Feeding the sting rays. This guy would get the food and make the ray open it's mouth towards us before giving him the food so we could see it's mouth. It was really cool!





We put Koby down for a little bit since this is where he wants to be ALL THE TIME!! and he crawls around like this. On his hands and feet. People were stopping to watch him and would just laugh. I felt like we were one of the exhibits at the aquarium!!









Kyler was really wanting to pose this day. He was having such a good time, and he didn't even care that people were watching him. He was just loving being a pirate and pretend fighting on all this really cool stuff!!!

Spring break in Wahington DC/Baltimore- Day 1 and 2

Spring break started on a Monday but since we were driving to Baltimore we decided to get an early start and leave on Friday. The kids were going to go to a half day of school and then we would be on our way. However, by the time I got the kids picked up and we got everything situated it was almost 2pm when we left. Our goal was Greensboro, North Carolina. We were gong to stay the night there and then get up early and make the rest of the trip Saturday Morning. We stopped a few times along the way, and then when we were about an hour outside of Greensboro we hit traffic, so we stopped for dinner then and made it to our hotel about 9pm. So that was 7 hours of Koby crying and screaming, The music BLASTING to try and get him to stop, Bryn talking to him, and Kyler trying to tell me a story all at the same time!! Oh, yea and Erick called in the middle of all that. I am sure he thought we were going to turn around and go back home!
When we got to the hotel of course the elevators were not working and we were on the 4th floor!! So I carried Koby and pulled 1 suitcase with two bags stacked on top up the stairs. Bryn and Kyler pulled their bags up and I am SURE we woke everyone up at that end of the building on all 4 floors!! The kids were so excited to finally be there. Koby was going crazy crawling all over the place. We got ready and went to bed and everyone slept really well.



The next morning we were up bright and early and got on our way. The second half of the trip was much better. Koby was happy the whole way. He slept for a while and laughed the rest of the time. It was great.
Erick was waiting for us when we got to the hotel in Baltimore and we dropped our things off and then went down to the pier. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe which was yummy! The kids made friends with a lady who had some bread, so they got to feed the ducks, and we just walked around the pier enjoying being out of the car!!