What country are you from???

I know I owe my faithful few some photos of swimming & the beach but my computer died! Yes it is in surgery now and I am waiting on the results. My laptop is only 4 months old so I am headed straight to Best Buy once my data is recovered! Frustrating...to say the least! So I need a pick-me-up this morning and my daughter came through! During my morning procrastination computer time I found this email from Alli's teacher...

Mrs. Moore,
Since we are talking about families this week, I started off by saying that some families are big, some small, some have different traditions and customs due to where they grew up and where your parents are from depending on their country. One child spoke up and agreed with me because his family is from India. Another student talked about the food her mom makes since she grew up in the Philllippines and then Alli raised her hand to speak,

Alli: "Well Mrs. Pfanmiller, my dad grew up where the newest Hannah Montanna" movie was shot..you know, where there are lots of horses!???!"

Mrs. P. : "Sorry Alli, I haven't yet seen that movie, but I'm pretty sure he grew up here in America."

I went on to explain that even here in the US we can still have different traditions, but we tend to notice them more when a person/family is linked to another country.

Alli: "I just thought of the name of the country!...it just came to me!!....He is from Tennessee!!!" Gotta love her!

Yes we do! She is always thinking! I love hearing these stories. Thanks Mrs. P for sharing them with me! We feel so blessed to have a teacher that loves/gets our little gator!

just keep swimming!

just keep swimming...everyone singing along with Dory now??? Last night we had another swim meet. Now let me say that at the beginning of the season, neither Caden nor Alli knew what an official stoke was. Alli would often doggie paddle down the pool and not put her face in the water. But last night...that all changed! Caden & Alli love backstoke. Caden was second in his heat and Alli won hers! I can't wait to up load the photo to show you her excitement when she realized she won! Go Alli & Caden! One more meet to go...just keep swimming...

Face Painting

The kids went to a birthday party today...when we picked them up we were greeted by a princess and a skeleton! I was so impressed with our friend Bryan's facepainting talent I just had to share these photos! I hope he is ready for next Halloween...we may be calling!

baby brayden visits

Thanks to Grandmommy Virgina & Mommy Rebecca...young Brayden was able to make his first road trip to Raleigh! It was so much fun to have our cousins visit. We went shopping, out to dinner with more family members and they joined us for the kids swim meet! Brayden was a champ...cheering them on even in the heat & humidity. Rebecca hasn't had very much sleep since this little one doesn't want to sleep in his own room, so I wanted to help out my cousin and give her a good nights rest. Selfishly, I also got to spend the evening with a sweet little baby and knew I could give him back the next morning! Don't get any ideas...Andy & I feel very blessed with our two! They did have fun holding their new little cousin and Alli loved giving him a bottle!

Feed the Cats!

Before the kids started school...YaYa took them to the Credit Union to open up their very own Fat Cat accounts. Both Caden & Alli decided to empty their piggy banks & put all the coins into their accounts. They didn't do too bad...over $100 each! Now we just have to remember to feed the cats!

Happy 4th...a little late!

We had a great 4th of July! I hope each of you did as well. The kids & I went up to the lake to visit Debbie & Jay for a few days and then headed home to celebrate the 4th with Daddy. After a visit to Sunset Slush for some red, white & blue italian ice...we went out to Brierdale for fireworks celebration. I love this photo of Alli in the convertible watching more fireworks as we went home. Our friends & neighbors the Treichlers had us over for a little celebration of our own! We loved them, well except for the screamers! They were really loud!

Eat our Bubbles!

As promised here are a few photos of our little maniacs! Swim meets are going well...both kids are having a blast! Caden & Alli have had fun with all their friends & their times are improving! Both of them have learned how to dive! I think they really like the meets because they get to hang out on their towels and eat dry Jello!