Where did the summer go...or fall for that matter!

So it's been quite a while since I last posted.  It took a sarcastic comment from my best friend Lizzie to bring me back here.  "You know what is neat about blogs? When people update them!".  She has always been my voice of reason.  I do enjoy those rare moments when I can blog.  It's those quiet times that I can reflect back on the beautiful memories we are creating with our children.  As fast as they are flying by, looking back on them makes me laugh.

Fall has brought it's share of its own memories...

My mother had back surgery in late summer.  For years she was plagued with back pain and unable to do the things she wanted to do with her grandchildren.  We were blessed that she had a remarkable recovery and for the first time since I can remember, she is pain free.

Halloween: The kids are finally at an age where they can really enjoy the fall fun. We made our usual trip to Reynold's Pumpkin Farm.  The tractor ride still remains Caleb's favorite part.  Both kids finally tackled the big tube slide.  Caleb came out the other end sqealing with glee. Syd was still a bit undecided as she came out the other end looking like she either swallowed a bug or saw a ghost...Not sure what that look was exactly.  The pumpkins were painted with loving care (we are not quite key on the idea of arming them with pumpkin knives).  Daddy and I carved our pumpkins, and the kids stared disgustingly at the "goo" inside of them.  Four pumpkins lined up for display on the Roth front porch and we shared an evening snack of roasted pumpkin seeds.

*********************************************************************************
 

Unfortunately I was out of town on business for Trick or Treat, so Daddy was on costume duty.  It is somewhat evident that I was away due to the fact that there is only one, slightly out of focus photo to post.  Some things are just better left to Mommy I guess!  Caleb was no longer fearful of masks and bravely donned a Spiderman mask for the first time.  Sydney, who transformed into a beautiful Tinkerbell, was not so fond of the mask.  Bless Caleb's little heart.  The poor kid managed to entice the only bee still lingering in the cold weather into his cozy mask.  The shriek of his first bee sting resonated through the neighborhood only 10 minutes in to Trick or Treat.  The evening was still enjoyable, and I was pleased to get a sugar filled call from my babies.  I'm not entirely sure what the conversation was as they excitedly talked over each other to tell me about the night.

**********************************************************************************

Caleb turned 4 years old in November.  We spent 3 weeks prior to his birthday fielding requests for every toy advertised on TV.  He didn't seem to care if it was a toy for an infant girl, he wanted it!  He had a Spiderman pool party with a few of his closet friends.  I'm so proud of his continued efforts in the water.  We also took the kids to see Disney on Ice, Toy Story for Caleb's birthday.  He is still a little unsure of the "reality" of it all.

The kids continue to grow and develop.  They love to line up at the growth chart on the wall to see who is growing the fastest.  Sydney's vocabulary has tripled since the summer, and she is quite the company to have around the house with her constant chatter.  Their imaginations continue to amaze me.  When I inquire on their day at daycare, they inform me that they skipped daycare and went to the high school for the day.  Caleb runs his own garage as well, and oddly enough has employees with the same name as Chris's employees.  In contrast though, he works on Chevy's AND BMW's.  They love to play together as Mommy and Daddy and we find it hysterical to hear our own words come back to haunt us.  They regurgitate my discipline techniques, and I'm not sure whether to be proud, embarrassed, or to just laugh.  At least in some small capacity, they ARE listening to me...Right?  Both kids sarted gymnastics late summer.  Syd is a natural, and hopefully we will add dance to her resume in the summer.  God love Caleb as is he is not as adept in the "grace and balance" department, but he is very skilled in tumbling.  It is amazing to watch them master new skills and see their excitement in class.

**********************************************************************************

So alas, we head into the holiday season.  The darkeness comes earlier at night, but is perfect for our traditional Christmas light hunting on the trip home from daycare.  The holidays have started off with a perfectly frigid night at the Christmas Parade!

Summer Lovin', Happened so Fast....

Despite the 92 degree weather outside, the anticipation of colder weather hovers.  Looking back, I feel so blessed for the summer that we shared with our kids.  As much as I feel bad that we aren't able to take more time of with them, I think back to all the fun we've had over the past several months.  The kids made a trek to Massanutten in early spring as the temperatures rose.  We finally made a long promised trip to the beach.  They've had their fair share of birthday parties, holiday picnics, trips to the park, their first experience on a slip and slide, had a visit from Uncle Sean and the Moriarty clan from Kansas, made smores, ate as much sand as they did cool pops, rode their first fair rides by themselves, fed the ducks, watch a bird lay eggs in their birdhouse, set off fireworks, covered their limbs in silly bands, swam at the lake, tackled their first ice cream cone, saw a real live tractor pull, learned how to ride new bikes, washed our cars, and laughed every step of the way.  I am so grateful for every tiny experience we shared with them, and hope the cold weather brings many new adventures!

15 Year Class Reunion

This weekend was my 15th year reunion.  Planning for the event fell very last minute, so we were not able to reach all of our classmates.  Turnout, given the circumstances, was not bad, and actually made for a more comfy gathering.  The neat part of these gatherings is to see how much we have all changed and shifted priorities. The majority of those that attended had children, and it was amazing to see how much those little tiny faces resembled their parents.  It was like staring at our junior high year book.  All of the kids gelled so well together and parents really just provided peripheral supervision while we chatted about memories from school, careers, and raising children.  The one thing I took away was that 15 years after high school, every last remnant of the divisions between us had disappeared, and for our children, those division have yet to exist for many more years...On that playground, there was no cool group, no jocks, no nerds, only old and new friends.  And we wonder why high school seemed so tough! I'm still never sure I still know what group I belonged to.  That is a strange phrase! "belonged too".  A great evening with great people though. 

I snapped a few great candids of the kids tonight.  I just fell in love with this picture of Jack and Caleb.  They are best buds, and almost every day care story retold on the car ride home unravels around Jack.  Caleb has missed him terribly this summer while he wasn't at daycare.  Sydney played hard tonight. She is such an independent little spirit. I counted about 23 continuous loops from the ground, stairs, platform, and slide before she finally took a rest on the ledge.

Caleb and Sydney's First Beach Expedition

I had felt like such a terrible mother when I realized that at 2 and 3 years of age, my children had never seen a REAL ocean or sandy beach.  Caleb talked about it often when he planned his pretend vacations at bedtime, but he was only able to draw on his knowledge of the beach from episodes of Dora.  At the beginning of this summer, I vowed that we were taking a mini beach vacation. 

We left on a Thursday night at 6:00 pm, hoping the kids would fall asleep for at least a portion of the 3 1/2 hour trip.  To our dismay, we made three bathroom pit stops and faced all but the last half hour of the trip with overly tired kids that all of a sudden wanted to go home.  Seeing their little angel faces sleeping as we pulled into our destination, and knowing the excitement on their faces we would see the next morning made the trip worthwhile.

The next morning, we ventured out to a small beach in Lewes, Delaware, which was PERFECT! Not crowded, and being bay side, the waves were just the right size for little people.  Fishing boats bobbed in the waves about 20 ft from shore.  We weren't sure what to expect at the beach since Caleb from time to time still exhibited his fear of water.  The waves were definitely a new concept to them, but certainly not the cold water.  In the 2 hours we spent on the water, the kiddos were shoulder deep, squealing and pulling on our arms to jump above each wave that came at them.  We had to do a brief question and answer period as we stepped around horseshoe crabs (or Hershey crabs as Caleb called them), seashells, driftwood, jellyfish, and the occasional piece of trash.  Sydney left the water ever so often to go play in the "sandbox"..the biggest one she's ever seen.  She was very bold in the water I must say.  "I walk" she informed us, until the next wave toppled her back, then back at it again.

The weekend was low key.  We stayed with Linda, my godmother, and cooked dinners at the house.  The kids loved eating under the screened in patio table, and swimming in the pool before nap time.  Caleb really impressed me.  After some brief hesitation, he was soon motoring all over the pool with his arm floaties on, stopping to float when he got tired.  Syd resorted to lounging in a raft in all her diva-ness. 

The weekend flew by fast, but the most important thing was that my children finally experienced the beach first hand, and hearing their laughter and amazement made it fulfilling.  The pictures I have posted really capture that.  They weren't the portrait opportunities most would aim for, but really show the true personalities of our kids and the joy one 3-day weekend brought them!

The blog that will chronical it all!

So for years I have told my closest friends and family that I am going to write a book. That "book" and its theme have changed probably about 137 times as events in my life have changed or a different lesson has been learned. Anyone who truly knows me, knows the following to be true: I will never write a book. Don't get my wrong, I love to write, but I have the attention span of a 3 year old. I could dedicate an entire blog to the projects that have been started, and have never made it to the finish line. I have 2 journals I had started when my children were born, where I professed my dedication to writing in it weekly as my children grew to chronical their life. Caleb's journal, I must say, is much more robust because for 16 months was an only child. Sydney's is a sporadic picture of major milestones. In finally facing reality of my short attention span, and my resistance to handwriting ANYTHING, I decided this blog was the best way to capture our life as quickly as it is flying by. This blog is dedicated to my children and the Roth clan!