The Zoo!

We went to the zoo last Saturday and had a lot of fun. Lindsay said she wanted to post some pictures. Since she hasn't yet, here's some video, but be warned: it's two songs long.



Max's favorite part was the elephants. My favorite part was the two monkeys we brought with us.

Max reading...

... kind of.

We think he's cute, but we have to--we're his parents.

How we mow the lawn...

We had a SUPER exciting Saturday of lawn care. It was so much fun I thought it was worth documenting.

Max takes the job of cutting the grass very seriously--and literally. He walked around the yard carefully cutting all of the "long pieces".



With some coaxing Reed dramatically pulls weeds for 10 minutes before he switched to creating a chalk drawing of the perfect robot that could do all of the weeding, trimming and mowing for us so that we don't have do ANY work at all. That's my hard-working boy.




After completing his "job" Max humored me with some of his cute faces until he finally said, "Too much Mom!"




And for how the real work gets done.....


Thanks Sam! I would have helped more, but SOMEONE has to document this important stuff!

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!!!!

I've been dreading this day for a while. Reed on the other hand has been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds. Last night had a strange feel to it. It was full of anticipation and excitement and at the same time overwhelming reluctance to go forward with the planned events. Before I look too overprotective, let me mention that in NC kindergarten is ALL day--and I really do mean all day (9:00-3:45.) That is a very long time to someone who is used to having their boy home and with them all day everyday.

The drop off was quick and almost uneventful. Reed walked into the classroom dropped off his backpack and immediately joined a group of boys on the floor who were working with some ABC tiles. I actually had to call him back to give me a hug goodbye. Max and I left quickly before I let my hyper-sensitive pregnancy emotions get to me.

Max and I ended up having a great day together. Our house was much quieter, didn't get as messy, and Max enjoyed every minute of having all of the Legos to himself. When we picked Reed up he only had good things to report...He loves his teachers, made some new friends (although he couldn't remember their names for sure) and of course his highlight--eating in the cafeteria.

I guess we may survive this whole school thing after all.

My big boy. I had different clothes picked out for him for today, but he INSISTED on these...especially the jeans even though it was 90 degrees today!!





Just HOW excited are you for kindergarten Reed?????



Max wanted to know why I wasn't taking any pictures of him, so...

My favorite arthur

Reed wrote a book today, so I decided to transcribe it here in all its glory. By way of clarification, he wrote "GNU" (as in wildebeest) because he couldn't remember the other way to spell "new".

The DOG ThAT WAS SAd For eveR

The ArTHR
BY: Reed
GNU

ONes UPPON A TiMe There WAS A DOG ThAT WAS SAd
NO ONe COULd MAKe HiM HAPPY
He WAS SAd

The eNd

1$

He's already sold two copies. Any other buyers?

He did it!!!!

The day I thought might never come finally came! Last week Sam successfully defended his thesis to receive his doctorate in Bioinformatics and Statistics. I was so nervous as he presented his work to his committee and so relieved when they said he passed and congratulated him. It has been a long road and I am so proud of all of his hard work and long hours. We are thrilled to have reached this goal and are ecstatic to have our husband and dad back after a few intense final months. Congratulations Sam! You're awesome.



Sam's mom came out for the big event. It was great to have her here during this exciting time.


The boys also enjoyed having their Nana in town. I'm pretty sure they think she just flew in to play airplanes and chase ducks with them.

Lindsay's Half Marathon

I'm pretty proud of my wife. She and her friend, Suzie, have been training to run in a half marathon for months now by running between 3 and 12 miles four times a week. Friday night we drove three hours to Hickory.

Suzie and Lindsay left at a little before 6. Suzie had the remnants of strep, so we were happy that she still decided to run. Lindsay says she couldn't have done it without her.


While we waited for the girls to come by our section of the run we made these signs.



Suzie's mom was there to support her and help watch Zander.


A lobster made it's way through the crowd. Reed thought it was great.


Max and Zander kept their distance.


Lindsay had two goals: run the whole way...


...and not come in last.


We're all proud to say she accomplished both goals!


By the way...did you catch that yellow sign? It's just one more reason to be proud of what she accomplished, and one more reason why we are all looking forward to Christmas this year!