First Day of School 2010

Fletcher started first grade on Monday.

He was definitely ready to go. Yes, those are size 4 tennis shoes.

Here's where he hangs his backpack

Here's his classroom.

In case we forget where he went to first grade, we took a picture in front of the sign.

Luke asked where Fletcher was several times today and said, "I miss my brudder."

Fletcher asked Dad to come to school too.

He had a great day. He learned about "nones" - you know, a person, place or thing.

Time to locate some SchoolHouse Rock videos.

The Educational Potty

The scene: Luke is taking care of some business on the potty.

Luke: (yelling) Mom, I done.
Mom: Ok, I'll be right there.
Luke: (with excitement) Mom, come wook. My poop wooks wike a circle.

Indeed, it did.

I guess that's one way to learn your shapes.

Fletcher starts school today. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I Agree

My favorite recent Facebook status update from a friend:

I'm not bossy. I just have better ideas than everyone else.

Love it.

Have a fabulous weekend!

To Do List

I'm usually a list person. When I worked outside the home (notice I didn't say "when I worked" because I still work, it's just a very different kind of work), I thrived on lists. With college ministry there was always something to plan or research or someone to call or email. When I worked for the computer software training company, I always had a new book to prep or classrooms to manage.

I loved the feeling of accomplishment when I could cross one or several things off of my list at the end of the day. And yes, sadly, I am one of those nerdy people that would add other things to the list that I had already done just so I could have the satisfaction of crossing them off. I think there's a term for that. OCD -- which technically should be CDO because then the letters would be in the right order.

Where was I?

Oh yes. To Do Lists.

I've kind of gotten away from making lists except for my grocery list mainly because I never feel like I accomplish anything on them. I start a task then have to stop and make snacks or help someone go potty or referee a sibling interaction or should I say altercation.

Well, with school about to start on Monday for Fletcher (Luke doesn't start preschool until after Labor Day), I think I'll be returning to my To Do List. I've put off so many things this summer and thought that I would do them when school starts again. Well, here we are so here's my partial list:

Clean out Fletcher's closet (I've not said a word all summer, but it is ridiculously messy)

Reorganize the art supply cabinet in the kitchen (Fletcher loves to take stuff out but doesn't put it back)

Clean out the cabinet under the sink in my bathroom (Ugh!)

Make an eye doctor appointment for me

Make a mammogram appointment (also for me)

Organize my recipes so I can actually find something (this has been on the to do list since Fletcher was in preschool)

Get back to my habit of making a weekly menu and sticking to it

Mail some things that Luke has outgrown to my great-nephew Bear

Organize my gift stash (I have a big bin where I put things that I find on sale, McDonalds toys, etc. Some will be used for birthday gifts and some things like the McD toys will be used in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.)

Send our family room details and measurements to my decorator friend so she can help with the family room makeover.

Keep up with my Experiencing God homework for our class on Sunday nights. I did this study about 16 years ago when I was single and living in Houston. Kevin and I are doing it together and our pastor is the teacher.

Spend less time on Facebook and the computer in general so I can get this list done.

I'm sure I will add more to it as the school year goes on.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Papa Charlie. We love you!

Bummer

Fletcher: I wish Dad was retired.
Mom: Why is that?
Fletcher: So he could stay at home all day and play with us.
Mom: Yeah, that would be very cool.
Fletcher: When he does retire, he can stay home and play with us.
Mom: Well, unfortunately, when he retires you will be grown up and probably have a family of your own.
Fletcher: Oh, well that's kind of a bummer.
Mom: I agree.

It does seem sort of backwards, huh.

Bed, Blankets and Beyond

Aunt Dee made Luke a special blanket for his birthday. It has big machines on one side and this very soft minky dot orange fabric on the other side. It has his name on it too. He loves to look at all of the big machines on it. Thanks, Aunt Dee!

He's pretending to be asleep. Contrary to what you might think, the extremely bright orange sheets do not glow in the dark nor do they keep him awake with their brightness!

When I took the above picture, I remembered that I haven't taken any pictures of his bed and new bedding. Here it is. We found it on craigslist. It is pretty heavy and virtually indestructable for a 3 year old. I'm still looking for the perfect artwork for his walls. We decided to leave the same green paint on the walls from his nursery since it matched his new bedding so well (I'm a sucker for madras plaid which I'm sure you could guess since the boys each have about 5 pairs of madras plaid shorts that I pull out for photo ops).

It's Good To Be Three

We kicked off Luke's birthday Friday morning with a Happy Birthday banner and Luke's favorite breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes - made by Dad.

I had my last Titus 2 women's group for the summer on Friday morning at our church. Our church is in the process of making a new parking lot. Pastor Bill found out it was Luke's birthday. He knows how much Luke loves big machines so he asked the construction guys if the boys could take a ride. Wow! What a fun birthday surprise! Luke drove the grader. I know Luke liked it, but I think he was a little nervous. He told me afterwards that it was LOUD, LOUD, LOUD.

Fletcher drove the roller. Let's hope the parking lot is super smooth!

We had cupcakes with our friends Friday night. Here's Luke with his friend Ella and his Bob the Builder cupcakes. You'll see from all the spitting on the video why we made cupcakes instead of a cake.

Unfortunately, we had to return his new balance bike. The back tire was scraping on the wheel covering and Kevin couldn't get it to work right. So we moved to Plan B. Luke had been at a friend's house recently and the mom told me that Luke played with her son's GeoTrax set the entire time. GeoTrax has several different pieces and parts and add ons so it can get a little expensive. The pieces are super easy for little hands to snap together and very durable. I did a little searching and found a set with lots of fun pieces on craiglist. It was in perfect condition; her little boy had just outgrown it. It even had some hard to find pieces like the lighthouse which reminds us of Hilton Head and the Airport. We were going to save it for Christmas, but decided to give it to him in place of his bike. GeoTrax has now taken over our dining room (which we didn't use anyway). Luke loves the plane the best (you'll see it on the video). Who knew a plane flying in circles could be so much fun. We've all had fun trying to land the plane on the runway. It's harder than it looks! Fletcher really likes playing with it too and rearranging the track into all sorts of configurations.

I think our little guy had a fun day! He had trouble sleeping that night partly because of the excitement and partly because he knew he wasn't supposed to suck his thumb anymore. We've got a long road ahead of us before that habit goes away. Orthodontist, anyone?

3

Dear Luke,

Today you are three years old. Here are a few things we want to remember about you and this time in your life.

• You are 41" tall and weigh about 33 lbs.


• You like most fruits, but don't like many vegetables. Cucumbers and broccoli are about the only veggies you eat regularly. We are hoping to expand that list soon.


• You want a snack as soon as breakfast is over even if you've eaten a GIANT breakfast.


• You call McDonalds "Old McDonalds" and you prefer hamburgers to Chick-A-Way (Chick-Fil-A).


• You still love your stuffed dog Rocky.


• You still suck your thumb. We've said that "three year olds don't suck their thumbs". That day is here so we'll see how that goes. It is going to be a hard habit to give up.


• We've also said you have to be three years old to chew gum. Uh-oh.


• Your favorite toys are your excavator and dump truck. You dump your blocks all over the floor then scoop them up and dump them.


• You also like to drive your Little Tykes truck around the house and pretend like you are the garbage man.


• Other favorite toys include your vacuum cleaner and any toy that even remotely looks like a weed eater or leaf blower. You frequently do weed eating and leaf blowing in the house and make the accompanying (LOUD) noises to go with it.


• You love to be read to and I frequently find you in your room reading books on your own.


• You love getting books from the library.


• You don't like to take a nap and you will tell me, "I not seepy" then follow that with a three hour nap.


• You are potty trained and usually even wake up dry in the mornings, but you still wear a pull up at night just in case.


• You adore your big brother Fletcher. This summer has been good for the two of you to learn to play together. You proudly refer to him as "my brudder".


• You are a homebody. You prefer to be here with mom rather than out running errands.


• You still cry when we drop you off at Sunday School and when the babysitter shows up.


• You love to wrestle with Daddy.


• Everywhere we go, people comment on how cute you are. Your big brown eyes and that adorable smile make my heart melt.


• You will randomly say, "Mama (or Daddy), I need to tell you sumpin' (something)." We say, "What do you need to tell me, Luke?" You say, "I wub you."


• Your answer to every question during Bible time is "Bebus" (Jesus). We try hard not to laugh.


• You've figured out the whole rhyming concept and love to have fun with it. The other day you called your swim teacher Mrs. Hess instead of Mrs. Jess and giggled.


• You'll say something to us (sometimes talking back when you aren't supposed to) and then say, "I was just jokin."


• You like to tell knock-knock jokes, but you only know about three of them so you tell the same ones over and over.


• You don't like to let us take pictures of you.


• You don't like to pick up your toys.


• You love watching Bob the Builder on TV.


• You have a bit of a stubborn streak.


• We are currently working on what it means not to "talk back" to mommy and daddy.


• You know exactly where to go sit (at the end of the hall) when we send you to Time Out.


• You are learning that we only spit when we are brushing our teeth and it is only ok to lick ice cream cones and lollipops not Mommy or Daddy or your brudder.


• You will pick up any bug you see dead or alive which freaks Mommy out. I'm afraid you are going to get bitten by something.


• You will bust out your dance moves anytime you hear music playing like at the grocery store or at the pool. I hope you never outgrow this.


• You love to go anywhere with Daddy in his big truck.


• When you are with Daddy, he surfs the radio stations to find cool songs. You always want him to stop on the heavy metal rocker songs then proceed to "dance" in your carseat.


• You love to be outside with Daddy.


• You ride your balance bike so fast now. You've gotten too big for it so you are getting a new bigger one for your birthday that will turn into a pedal bike later when you are ready for it.


• Daddy loves to call you Short Stack.


• Mommy calls you Love Bug, Lukey Boy, Doodle Bug.


• When we call you nicknames you tell us firmly, "No, I just Wuke!"


• You are loving, curious, silly, smart, funny, handsome and happy.
• We are so thankful we adopted you. Our family just wouldn't be the same without you.


• If we could pick any three year old in the whole wide world to be our little boy, we would pick you. Every. Single. Time.

Happy Birthday, buddy! Have fun this year learning and growing and becoming all that God has planned for you.

We love you!

Mama and Daddy

"I thank my God every time I remember you...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Philipians 1:3,6

Hide and Seek

We tried something new while we were at Harbor Island.

Geocaching.

What is it? I'm glad you asked.


Turns out there were several geocaches near where we were staying. Fletcher and Tucker weren't too sure about it at first. We happened to have two GPS devices so they each held one and took turns telling Kevin which way to turn as we were making our way to the site. Once we found the first cache they caught on to the concept and wanted to do another one. The geocaching.com site tells the coordinates and the level of difficulty. I purposefully picked some really simple ones so the boys (or the parents) wouldn't get discouraged and give up. They did have to decipher a clue to find one of the caches and they thought that was cool. Some of the caches are multi-step so the first cache give coordinates to the second cache and so on until the final cache is found.

Here we go! Fletcher and Tucker came fully prepared with binoculars and walkie talkies.
They found it!
There are some geocaches close to where we live. But I think we might wait until the fall to try to look for them. It is so very hot right now.

This may become a fun family hobby for us. It is a great way to get outside and explore some areas of town where we might not go. Plus, we can look for caches when we go on vacation.

Check out www.geocaching.com and see if there are any caches in your area.

*sigh*

The scene: Luke is playing with his Duplo Lego blocks. I use the term "playing" rather loosely since he prefers to just dump all of them out of their bin and then spread them all over the room. (Then he whines and complains when I make him pick all of them up. I am such a mean mom. )

I am in the other room.

Luke: Mom, I singin a song about my Wegos. (he "sings" something I can't quite interpret)

Then I hear crashing noises that sound like he is throwing his Legos all over the room.

Mom: Luke, come here please.
Luke: Yes, Mommy?
Mom: I like it when you sing songs about your Legos, but remember that we don't throw the Legos. Do you understand? You could break something.
Luke: Yes na'am.

Luke (walks back into the other room where I can't see him then starts singing and I hear more crashing noises): Frowing, Frowing, I'm frowing my Wegos.

(Translation: Throwing, Throwing, I'm throwing my Legos.)

When does preschool start again?

Harbor Island

I didn't take very many beach pictures this time.

Here are the kids playing in the wet, sandy muck at low tide. See the people waaaay in the background? That's the shoreline.

Now when we go to the beach, Luke asks Kevin to dig a big hole.

The lighthouse at Hunting Island. Fletcher climbed to the top, but they wouldn't let Luke in. Kids have to be 44 inches tall. Missed it by 3 inches.

Kevin bought a kite to fly on the beach.

Dinner out - checking out the shrimp boats at the marina.

Silly boys.

Family shot.

Luke was so tired from late nights and no naps that he fell asleep sitting up on the sofa.

Worn out.

Right before he got stung by a jellyfish. Ouch!

This is the bottom of the stairs to our beach house. The tide is coming in. I've never stayed in a place this close to the beach. We couldn't leave anything on the beach or it would float away.

This is a view from inside the house. They weren't kidding when they said the house was "right on the water." Fortunately, the waves were very small so I didn't get seasick. AND as an added bonus, we saw tons of dolphins swimming in the water.

The beach house. Those 4 big windows are in the kitchen/dining area. It was fun eating breakfast and lunch and looking out over the water. Very peaceful.

Another view from the bottom deck. Great trip. Great people. Great fun!

Surfin' USA

Kevin has waited 6 1/2 years for this moment. Fletcher was so excited. The waves were a perfect (small) height for the kids to practice and learn. I didn't get videos of the other kids, but Annalise and Tucker both tried too. I only got one video of Fletcher, but he was able to get up several times on his knees and his feet and ride all the way to shore. The waves were a little too small for the adults to try, but Kevin had fun helping Fletcher learn.

We're Off

We're off again for one last trip to the beach before school starts.

If you know where we live, don't get any crazy ideas to come rob us for several reasons:

1. We bought our TV on craigslist for $40. We don't exactly have a bunch of expensive, high tech equipment. You would be so disappointed.

2. The most expensive piece of jewelry I own is my wedding ring which I will be wearing. Everything else is from the sales rack at Dillards or Macys. Or hand made by Fletcher when he was in preschool.

3. I actually wouldn't mind if you came in and stole a large portion of the kids' toys. They probably wouldn't miss them and it would be less for me to pick up on a daily basis.

4. I'm taking most of our snacks with us so the pantry will be kinda bare. But I will say it is really tacky to rob someone and eat their food.

5. CPI did replace our security system that got struck by lightning.

6. A retired NYPD officer is dog sitting Sadie for us while we are gone. He shoots first and asks questions later so I wouldn't risk it. Since he's been retired for a while now, he might have an itchy trigger finger. Just sayin'

Ok so now that we've cleared that up, I can tell you where we are going.

Our friends invited us to Harbor Island, SC. It is south of Charleston and north of Hilton Head on a little island that juts out into the St. Helena Sound. Our friends are already there and they said the house is right on the beach. Literally. Like we can fish off the balcony and the water comes to the steps during high tide. I'm thinking I might need to pack my Dramamine. At low tide the water is pretty shallow so the kids will enjoy that. There's a state park nearby that is supposed to be good for surfing so Kevin is bringing his board.

Once again, I am sure we will have pictures to share upon our return.

Grandma'a Apron

On Fridays this summer, I've been attending our "Titus 2" group at church. It is a mixture of women from our church and in the community both young and old. Some with babies and some with grown children and grandchildren of their own. It has been such a blessing to me. We've had a wonderful time of sharing, laughing, learning, crying and getting to know one another a little bit better. Each week a different person shares a brief devotional.

A few weeks ago, someone shared an essay based on poem titled "Grandma's Apron". Afterwards, we all took turns sharing about our own grandmothers and what we learned from them. It was so fun to think about something I hadn't thought about in so long. (I have to laugh because I know I have a few aprons, but I've never really worn them. Maybe I should start.)

Grandma's Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears…

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.

After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men-folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.

Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I never caught anything from an apron…But Love. (Author Unknown)

Both of my grandmothers have passed away, but I do remember that they both wore aprons like the ones in the poem. My mom wore one too. One day soon when I have more time Kevin and I both need to write about our grandmothers on the blog so Fletcher and Luke will be able to read about them when they are older.

Different Children

Before I had kids of my own, I always heard parents say that their kids were so different.

Mine are no exception. In fact I looked forward to seeing their personalities develop to see what their similarities and differences might be.

For the most part, Fletcher is a compliant, rules follower and pretty cautious. He is tenderhearted and sometimes overly dramatic when he gets "hurt". He is also very social. He thrives on being around people. Sleeping is not his favorite thing because he has to do that alone. He is a complete morning person to the point that we had to put a clock in his room and tell him that he cannot come out until 7:00 am. Otherwise, he'd bound out of bed at 6:00 or even earlier asking me to make him some breakfast.

On the other hand, Luke sees rules as mere suggestions. To him "pick up your toys now" means "pick up your toys if you feel like it sometime in the next week or so, but if you don't, don't worry about it." He isn't cautious about anything. But if he falls and hurts himself being a daredevil, he just gets right back up and keeps going. He likes people ok, but if several kids are here, he is fine playing by himself in his room.

Luke is NOT a morning person and I get that completely because I'm not a morning person either. This is a typical morning or after nap scenario with him. Sometimes he sleeps as late as 7:30 or 8:30 am.

Mom: (going into his room): Hey buddy! Good morning!
Luke: (putting Rocky over his eyes to shield the light) I not done seepin'
Mom: Did you have good night-night sleeps?
Luke: No. I not done. Come seep wif me.
Mom: (So I lay down with him for a minute)
Luke: You wanna sniff? (he goes to sleep by sniffing his stuffed dog Rocky's tail - weird, I know)
Mom: Sure
Luke: (He lets me sniff, then he takes a sniff) You need some covers?
Mom: Sure. Ok, ready to go potty?
Luke: Not yet.
Mom: (so we lay there a little longer - I have to consciously try not to fall back asleep because I sure could)
Mom: How about now?
Luke: Yeah, I done seepin'

Then we start our day. Sometimes it takes him awhile to get in a good mood. Tuesday morning he was so grumpy I asked if he needed to go lay back down and he did! For about 10 more minutes. Then he came out of his room all happy and ready to eat breakfast.

Target Randomness

Sunday afternoon I went to Target to pick up a few things. Typically, when the boys are with me I am paying attention to them and don't have much time to pay attention to what other shoppers are doing.

Sunday I was alone.

Sunday I walked through the aisles of Target like I was in a fine art museum. The aisles I wanted to walk down with no one asking me questions or wanting a snack or getting into each others' personal space. It was pure bliss! Until I had to lift the 40 lb. bag of dog food into my cart. Then I was really wishing Kevin was there with me and I was jolted back into reality.

As I was strolling along I came across two unusual sites.

First, in the "household cleaning" section I noticed what appeared to be an unoccupied cart with someone's purse in it. Ever since a friend of mine had her purse stolen from her cart when she wasn't looking, I've always been somewhat paranoid when I see other people leaving their purses unattended. Then I looked down and noticed a woman sitting on the floor wedged between her cart and the aisle. She was a small woman. She was holding a bottle of Drain-O and intently reading the label. Immediately, I thought of that movie Sixth Sense where the older sister was poisoning the younger sister with Drain-O. Wasn't that the right movie? Or am I thinking of a Lifetime movie special? (We no longer get that channel and Kevin is so thankful.) I concocted a story in my head (see what happens when I go to Target with no kids to distract me) about this tiny woman who was trying to poison someone. When in reality, she probably had a clogged drain and was at Target without her kids trying to make sure that the product she bought would actually work on her clog.

Second, as I walked through the cosmetics section I noticed what looked like an 11 or 12 year old girl sitting on the floor. What is with people sitting on the floor in Target? I mean, I know Target is pretty clean and all, but I still wouldn't sit on the floor. Because I am nosey and because I was without kids (just how many times can I mention that), I walked closer pretending to browse. Little Missy was opening various bottles of fingernail polish and painting her fingernails.....and her toenails. Like she was at her BFF's 7th grade sleepover/spa party! I couldn't believe it. I continued to browse because I was looking for a new makeup bag to replace the one I've had for 15 years and she continued to paint. The former teacher in me wanted to go over and say, "You know, you really aren't supposed to open all those bottles and paint your fingers and toes without buying the polish." And here's the kicker ---- her mom came around the corner and said, "Ok, I think we are ready to go. How do they look?.... Oh, that's cute. C'mon let's go." The girl puts the polish back so obviously she isn't buying any. And she and the lady walk away. Really? You are essentially letting your daughter steal nail polish from Target and you are affirming her? If that would have been my mom and if I would have had the nerve to do that (big "if" because I was a big chicken), she would not have said, "That's cute." She would have snatched me bald headed in the middle of the store and probably spanked me too. Now maybe it wasn't her mom and I might not know the full story. But that adult in her life had the opportunity to teach that girl a lesson, but she opted not to.

It made me realize how hard it is going to be for Fletcher and Luke to discern right from wrong and make good choices when others around them AND THEIR PARENTS won't always set a great example to follow. I pray that we look to God for guidance in parenting them and that we "watch our life and our doctrine closely" (1 Tim. 4:16) because I know they are paying attention.

Next time, the boys are coming with me. I need two little distractions.

Overheard

My sister-in-law Stacie (whose kids are 12 and 10) once told me that when I start the carpool stage with kids I can learn a whole lot if I just turn the radio down and drive and listen. Well, we are just getting into the carpool phase where I take Fletcher and a friend to school or the movies or to a birthday party.

My friend Jen took her son Noah and Fletcher to a birthday party this weekend. Jen called me later with the following "overheard" stories.

They got on the subject of presents and Fletcher started listing off his Christmas wish list. The conversation went a little like this:

Fletcher: I want a jet pack**. (I have no idea where he saw, heard or read about a jet pack and it's capabilities).

Noah: A play one?

Fletcher: No a real one.

Noah: (in a very, very serious tone) Well, you better listen to your mommy and daddy's instructions carefully about how to work it because it could be dangerous.

Then they got on the subject of Sadie and what we do with her when we go on vacation. Since we now have several kids in our neighborhood who are at the right age to dog sit, we just have one of them come over instead of putting Sadie in the kennel.

Fletcher: Sadie tries to climb over the seat when she's in the car on vacation with us.

Mrs. Jen: Sadie goes on vacation with you? I thought Daniel (one of the neighbor kids) came over to take care of her.

Fletcher: Daniel doesn't work for Sadie anymore. Shannon and Ariana do.

Who knew Sadie had peeps on her payroll!


**This was our conversation regarding the jet pack earlier in the week:
Fletcher: Mom, I want a jet pack for Christmas.
Mom: Oh, I don't know. Those things are probably very expensive.
Fletcher: But Mom, when Santa and the elves make them, they're free!
How can I argue with that logic?

Split Second

First, let me emphasize: Luke is perfectly fine.

We had a little scare while we were on vacation. I hesitated to write about it for several reasons, but I decided to do it because it just serves as a good reminder to all of us how quickly things can happen with kids and how amazing God is.

Remember the popsicles on the porch picture from yesterday's post? Right after that, the kids decided they wanted to go swimming at the pool. We were back at the condo in Litchfield. There were three families there - ours, Tucker's and Emmaline's. There was a flurry of activity of kids trying to find swimsuits and flip flops and waterguns and moms trying to find dry towels. Some stuff had been left in the car after the morning at Pawley's Island so there were a few trips down to the car to retrieve lost shoes and pool toys. It was a chaotic several minutes.

I thought Luke was with Kevin. Kevin thought Luke was with me. Where was Luke? It is a horrible feeling especially when a pool is involved. He had gone to the pool with Emmaline's dad (Shaun) and their kids. Shaun didn't know that Luke doesn't know how to swim without his floatie. How long had they been gone? Not sure.

Kevin ran to the pool which thankfully was just down the sidewalk. Our daredevil child, Luke, had jumped in without his floatie while Shaun had his back turned putting sunscreen on his kids. My hands are shaking just typing these sentences. I didn't think Luke would get in the pool without us there. I was so very wrong. Thank the Lord a stranger (an older grandfather type) was in the pool and saw that it looked like Luke was having trouble. He pulled Luke out and set him on the side of the pool. We think this was about the time Kevin got there. We didn't fully realize everything that had happened - like how long he was under or how long he struggled until the gentlemen said something about it later. It is so hard to put into words the absolutely terrifying feeling of "what if". Luke still wanted to swim with his floatie so we let him.**

Of course, we had several conversations with him about how he is only supposed to go in the water if Mommy or Daddy is with him. Fast forward a few hours. He starts complaining that his tummy hurts. I vaguely recall reading about something called dry drowning or secondary drowning(where a person "drowns" from fluid in his lungs long after being in the water like later at night when he is sleeping). Since we hadn't been there and didn't know how long he had been under or how much water he had taken in (Shaun hadn't seen any of it either), we decided to take him to Urgent Care. It might have been overeacting, but there was no way I could let him go to sleep knowing that there might be something wrong. The doctor looked him over and took a chest xray. Everything checked out ok and we went back to the beach house.

It was later that night that I had a complete freak out meltdown knowing that things could have ended very differently for our family that afternoon. This was only Tuesday and we were supposed to stay through Friday. I was ready to pack up and go home, but we stayed anyway.

The Friday before we left for vacation I did a devotion for a Titus 2 women's group that I go to at our church. I talked about Hagar in Genesis 16. It is a great story if you've never read it. At that place, she gave God the name "El Roi" which means "the God who sees me". We talked about how God sees us when we are sad or lonely or frustrated or even happy. I am so thankful that God sees my son and can take care of him and provide angels to protect him (in the form of a grandfather at a resort pool).

This whole situation reminded me that life is so fragile and that I'm not perfect. No matter how hard I try to protect my children and watch my children and take care of my children, I still mess up. I've beaten myself up a million times since this happened and God keeps reminding me that He can take care of my boys so much better than I can.

**Because he still wants to go to the pool and swim and jump in and put his face in the water and isn't acting any differently than before our trip, we're thinking (hoping and praying) it must not have scared him or that possibly the man pulled him out so quickly Luke didn't really have time to panic. Either way, he's signed up to take a few swimming lessons in a few weeks. The focus will be water safety.

Pawley's Island

While we were at the beach, we found out that some of our friends from Fletcher's school were going to be at Litchfield Beach right down the road. We decided to all head to a place called Pawley's Island to do some exploring.

During low tide, a shallow inlet is created and lots of ocean creatures are left behind (until high tide). It's hard to tell from this picture, but this is the shallow area and the beach and ocean are to the right.

Kevin found a starfish. Note that Luke is still carrying around that purple shovel.

Here's the starfish again. Fletcher also found a hermit crab.

Here's Fletcher and his buddy Tucker doing more exploring. They also found a giant horseshoe crab, but I didn't get a picture of that. There were a few fishlike creatures with wings. We weren't sure what those might be.

These are fiddler crabs. They all had two claws, but the larger one was white. It looked like they were all waving at us. Luke had fun chasing them back into their little holes.

Family photo. Pawley's is really a beautiful island.

Time to take a break and get a snack.

These are all of the kids of the families that were there. We didn't tell any of the kids that the rest of their friends would be there. We just all showed up in the parking lot at the same time. They were so surprised and excited!

Silly faces.

Good friends. The sweet little girl in the middle is named Emmaline. She was in Fletcher's 4 year old class in preschool and in the other kindergarten class this past year. Fletcher gets a little flustered when we mention her name. I think he might have a little crush on her.

Popsicles on the porch.

Some Things Should Be Left To The Professionals

We decided not to lug Kevin's big camera to the beach. We thought we would take a few pictures with my little point and shoot. This is our documentation to our children that we at least attempted to take family photos while we were on vacation. Someday we will hire a professional, but for now, these will have to do. (Can you tell I'm tired of the white shirt/khaki/jeans standard beach photo? But I'm too chicken to go too far off the norm.)

Windy? Yes.

Fletcher took this one. At this angle, Kevin looks freakishly huge.

We finally asked a random stranger to take a group shot. I wanted her to take several or 18, but she looked like she wasn't too comfortable just taking one.

So there you have it....Beach Photos 2010.

But wait....there's more. Tomorrow you get to see our pics from our adventure to Pawley's Island.