More from our busy busy summer!

Natalie and Nick have attended summer camp at the preschool several weeks this summer.  One of their teachers, the fabulous Miss Erin, snapped these pictures of my babes having fun.

The them of their last camp was "Pirates".  They're still playing with those hooks.

Every summer my friend Jeanne and I get our children together for a day to catch up and play.  Here we are at this year's Marbles trip!

The kids pose for this picture in the same spot every year, it's so much fun to watch them grow!

Natalie colored me a picture then folded it up and passed it to me like a note.  This is the first time she's written anything other than her name without asking how to spell it.  

Breakfast at the Waffle House, the N's ate like champs!

Typical man.

I love my white bedding, this duvet was a wedding gift from old family friends, and I still adore it almost 10 years later.  One of the things I like about white is that it can be bleached.  Since Nori has joined the family, I was having to bleach it quite regularly, so I began putting blankets down for her.  She disapproves of the blankets, apparently.

To the rude lady at Belk...

Dear Woman in the Belk Fitting Rooms,

I noticed you and your family right away.

Your husband stood in the entrance of the children's dressing room completely blocking the path.  I said "excuse us, sir" and he barely glanced my way, only moving over just enough so that I could squeeze myself and my two children by.

I noticed you again when my daughter said to your daughter "oh, you look so pretty in that dress!" and neither you nor she acknowledged Natalie's presence, no "thank you" was said.

I noticed again when you yourself blocked the entrance to the dressing room,  I uttered another "excuse me, please" but had to squeeze by unnoticed because you either weren't paying attention or didn't care that someone else was sharing that space with you.

And I noticed you the final time when you made passive aggressive, loud, and cruel comments about my son while in the dressing room. Only two feet away from my precious boy, separated by a thin partition, you spoke to your child in a way that cut my child down.  Apparently, he was too loud.  You couldn't concentrate, you said.  You said it was too hard to try on clothes with that "disrespectful behavior in the stall next to us"; you were getting a headache.

I kept my cool, careful not to stoop to your despicable level in front of my children, and as we left I encouraged my son to "say it loud and proud" to which you shouted some ineligible, hurried insult directed toward either me or Nick... How very big of you.

Nick was loud, as most 2-year-olds can be from time to time.  He was tired, having been woken up from a nap to go buy outfits for a wedding we're attending in only two weeks, we have to shop when we can and don't have much free time to do so.  He was in pain from falling down a flight of stairs and his tummy hurt from swallowing blood from a terrible nosebleed.  He was over me... it's been a long summer of being only my side kick, with no breaks from Daddy.  But then I guess people as perfect as you never have bad days.

As mad as I am at you I'm also grateful that you taught my children two very valuable life lessons today:
1)  Say thank you
2)  Words hurt

If I ever come across you again, I hope you're having a better day than I was today, and if you're not... I hope you're given the grace you denied me and my son today.

Respectfully,
Leigh
Full time mommy, dance teacher, chauffeur, doctor, nutritionist, Army wife, disciplinarian, boo boo kisser, dog trainer, chef, swim coach, travel agent, amusement park chaperone, daughter, friend, therapist, personal shopper, banker, maid, laundry mistress, sheet changer, wifi fixer, cartoon finder, dog walker, picture hanger, plant waterer, driveway sweeper, weed picker, story time reciter, voice coach, spelling teacher, errand runner...

Who is doing the very best she can.

Our fun, busy summer

Poor Mr. Nick ... Nori playfully jumped on him and knocked him into the corner of our coffee table. He got a gnarly goose egg that lasted several weeks. Funny thing was his shirt, which you can't entirely see in the photos, but it says "Mr. Bump", the doctor thought that was pretty amusing. He seemed to bounce back quickly, nothing a little pepperoni pizza won't cure. 

This is a drawing Natalie made of her daddy. Poor thing only sees him on a computer wearing headphones. 

My girl LOVES corn on the cob!

Breaking house rules, but too cute not to snap a picture on my miner.

Fourth of July was kind of a bust for the Blanton's. Natalie had been looking forward to watching the fireworks for a few days. It was the first year I was going to let the kids stay up and actually take them to a fireworks show. When we got to the fireworks Natalie started acting a little off, but mom and I thought she was tired. Nope. Nasty stomach bug. Let's just say Natalie started the night off with an explosion of her own. Needless to say, we didn't stick around. Here she is the morning after, feeling much better.

Took the kids to see the new Planes movie to make up for the disappointing 4th.

That night Nick became the next victim of Natalie's horrible stomach bug. But in the morning, just like sissy, he was feeling a bit better.

So off to school they went, once everyone was feeling much better.

Cuteness.

I bleached the house twice during our "explosive" week.

We escaped to the beach, where they have fireworks every Thursday night, I had to make up for Natalie's disappointment.

They loved it, Natalie was jumping around so much I couldn't get a decent picture of her precious face.

Everyone was tuckered out from all the excitement.

Everyone.

Unfortunately, my bleaching didn't work and mom and both got the nastiness. Thanks for sharing, Natalie!  She was home and I was at the beach... alone with two kids and a dog.  Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors who happened to be at the beach and were able to bring me Sprite and the kids a happy meal each.  Somehow, don't know how, Mom made it down later the next day... The beach view is still pretty, even when you feel like death warmed over.

We managed to drag our almost dead bodies to the aquarium to give Natalie and Nick a half decent vacation. Here is Maverick, a baby bald head eagle with a broken wing. The Ft. Fisher aquarium is his forever home now. His white feathers will grow in when he's a little older.

Natalie thinks standing in the "shark mouth" is just the coolest thing ever!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Little side note about the aquarium... You can now pan for sharks teeth and fossils.  Way cool alternative to the gem panning we're used to.

We finally got the kids out on the sand for a little evening romp. It was glorious and they were in heaven.

They were very patient with us, they had many periods of "hurry up and wait" while Mom and I tried to gather our strength.

Dance camp!

Prettiest ballerina in the world!

Marvel Live! Kids loved seeing the "real" super heroes.

Nori girl keeps on growing.

Mom says she looks like a muppet.

She kind of does.

Camelot park play date!

We had a bounce house in our yard for a weekend! They kids thought that was just the coolest thing in the world.

Natalie attempted to sleep with me one night. Nori was having none of it.

Donuts before school.

Muppet.

Tweetsie Railroad with good friends!

Natalie rode all the rides she was tall enough for, she's such a daredevil.

The tilt-a-whirl almost did me in. I felt pretty gross for the rest of the day but Natalie LOVED it. Even rode it again by herself.

Split Rock at Grandfather Mountain. It was foggy and dreary but still beautiful.

Mildred the bear.

Ok, are these bears not the cutest?

Grandfather Mountain Fudge Shoppe. Yum.

They were complaining that the sun was in their eyes, even though the sun was nowhere to be seen.  I think they were just completely over posing for my camera.  I even think they were messing with me on purpose.  I'd ask Natalie to look at the camera and Nick would look away, I'd ask Nick to look and then Natalie would look away.  I was that crazy lady, on top of Grandfather Mountain, fussing at her children to just look at the darn camera!!!!

After Heather and Corbin left, the kids and I headed back to Tweetsie to play a little while we were waiting on laundry to dry at the condo.  I made a big deal out of only staying a little over an hour, but we were having so much fun together three hours passed without my knowing!