July 4th

I woke up on Independence Day full of energy and ready to do something to celebrate my country’s birthday. I woke up Daddy and asked him what we should do to celebrate America's birthday and he said we should buy a bunch of stuff and not pay for it. I think he was still sleeping when he said that so I asked Mommy and she said that we should go to breakfast. I am not really sure what eggs and pancakes have to do with Independence Day but to breakfast we went. After stopping at the grocery store on the way back home we rested for a while and then went to Grandma and Poppy’s house for a BBQ.

We had hot dogs and hamburgers and mac and cheese and a cake with candles – now that is the way to celebrate Independence Day!!! I spent hours in the pool swimming with Mommy and Daddy and playing with Ty. All in all it was a wonderful day and we finished things with a wonderful view of our community's annual fireworks show. Poor Monty, he was so scared that we had to give him medicine to calm him down.

Camp

The last two weeks I have attended day camp at my pre-school. The first week, which I attended with my friend Tyler, had an ocean theme. We explored and learned about the sea creatures not currently covered in oil and how those creatures live in our beautiful oceans. The next week we had a camping theme fully equipped with tents and smores. We also collected acorns outside and made arts and crafts with a camping theme.

There is no actual wildlife at the school with the exception of the lion. The lion is our pre-school mascot and he likes to goof around with all of us kids. The only problem is that I am deathly afraid of the lion….and all other characters in full costume (e.g. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Clowns). The lion is very scary and I run the other way whenever he comes near.

At the end of each week the snow cone truck comes to the camp and I get a snow cone. The first week Uncle Travis bought me a snow cone and this week Mommy and Daddy did the same. I get to choose my own flavors and pour them into the cup - very delicious.

Weekend with Daddy

The past three days have been interesting. Mommy went to Pennsylvania for her class reunion so she could reunite with all of the cool kids she used to hang out with. Mommy had two choices for Ty and I this weekend – the orphanage or Daddy daycare. She went with Daddy in a close decision.

There was no major incident with Daddy although he did make sure Ty and I were in bed yesterday for our regularly scheduled nap time so he could watch the U.S. v Ghana soccer game. Ty woke up while the game was still going so he watched some of it with Daddy…like he had a choice. I was fortunate to miss the game. I had seen a different game earlier and told Daddy “I don’t want to watch this. This is terrible”. I am so American.

Daddy took us over to Grandma and Poppy’s house each day to go in the pool. It has been brutally hot here so the pool was a welcome relief from the summer heat. We also went out to eat a couple of times. I think Grandma and Poppy were afraid that we would be eating gruel or something while Mommy was gone.

At night Daddy played with us and after he put Ty to bed he read me stories which helped comfort me since I missed Mommy so much. Every few hours I would tell Daddy “I want my Mommy,” and Daddy would hold me, kiss me on the forehead and ask “why?”

Today Mommy came home and I gave her a big hug.

Dancing Queen

Ty is able to sit by himself and is 7 months old! I love my happy little Ty Guy.

You can see me posing for some pictures in my ballet outfit. You will see me with some of my ballet friends from class too. We did a craft each day in class. One day it was a princess crown, then silly glasses, then a princess wand and...

My friend Trinity and I at class.

The pictures where I am wearing a pink shirt is the day of the parent demo. I only let Mommy get two pictures because of my stage fright. These were taken after the other parents left.

My ballet teacher was Ms. Julie. She was nice.

At his current pace my brother will be approximately 200 lbs entering Kindergarten. On our last trip to Babies R Us a woman was looking at him at the checkout line. After studying Ty for a few minutes she finally mentioned that her son was about the same size too and asked whether Ty wears 9-12 month clothing as well. Actually, he wears 24 month old clothing crazy lady.

This week I had ballet dance camp in an effort to learn the craft of those talented individuals on the show “So You Think You Can Dance” which happens to be my favorite show. I think it is safe to say that I have never been more excited to do anything else. I love dance camp. I am going to be a fabulous dancer someday. On Friday we had our final lesson which was followed by a demonstration for our family members in attendance. I loved the lesson but in what is becoming a trend for me I had a bit of a meltdown about the performance in front of others. I have a world class case of stage fright and I would not dance at all…clinging to Mommy and Daddy while the other kids danced their hearts away.

We have now entered the hot days of summer here in Georgia. The heat index has climbed above 100 on several occasions.

Tumble, splash and roll

The term “sink or swim” has never been more relevant than for my recent 4-day swimming lessons. I guess you could call them swimming lessons but they felt a lot more like water-boarding sessions. The lessons were on consecutive days and there was no parent involvement. There was no concept of “do your best sweetheart” or any other nonsense like that. I was forced to dunk my head underwater and do all sorts of other stressful things. I cried my way through the first class and then the second class was nearly as stressful but by the 4th class I was a veteran of this torture so I was able to gut it out. I am getting better at this swimming thing and Poppy refers to me as a young Ester Williams. Apparently, Poppy hasn’t watched swimming in the last 60 years because there are a few other more recent examples of fine female swimmers.

I also recently finished up my gymnastics classes which was a lot less stressful. There was far less crying involved and much more laughter. I was awarded a medal for participation and got to stand on the podium with everyone else.

Smashing Ants

Mommy, I wanted to wish you a belated Happy Mother’s Day from Ty and I. We love you very much and all of the things you do for us. One of the more special things you do for me is read me stories every night. Daddy sometimes reads to me but he often tries to skip pages or sometimes he simply doesn’t read the story the same way you do. One of my favorite stories is the one you read to me about the boy who is about to squash an ant but the ant is able to persuade the boy not to kill him. The ant explains to the boy that even though they appear very different on the outside, they are not really that different at all. Both have families and friends, mommies and daddies, and other people that they care about very deeply. The boy is moved by the ant’s begging and decides not to kill him, thus providing my youthful mind with a lesson about treating others as I would like to be treated.

You are wonderful Mommy and these lessons will serve me well someday. But yesterday….when I was crouched over at the edge of the driveway you asked me what I was doing with that rock and I calmly replied “killing ants”. You see, those ants didn’t speak to me…so I decided to treat them differently from the talking ants. Don’t worry, I certainly won’t kill any of those.

Pennsylvania

Grammy and Ty, Mommy and Ty

Stacey and Ty at lunch. Tina, Mommy, Daddy, and Mike

A great time at Chuck E Cheese with Grammy and Mommy.

Ty and I with Grammy and Papa Ray.

Ty and I with Uncle Greg.

Ty and I with Great Grammy June and Great Pop Pop.

Ty and I with Uncle Tim and Lorie at breakfast. (Lorie is holding Ty)

Ty with Grandpa Cressman.

Ty with Aunt Lori on his Christening Day.

Ty and I with Rachel at the church.

Ty with Uncle Greg at Grammy's house.

There is a Dairy Queen near Grammy’s house and the good folks there are running a special right now – buy a blizzard of any size and get another one for $.25. Quite a deal indeed so Daddy and Uncle Greg set off to the Dairy Queen on a late night Blizzard craving. However, to their dismay the store had closed at 10pm. “Not to worry” Uncle Greg said, “there is another Dairy Queen 5 minutes away” which would work out fine given that this store was open until 11pm. That meant they had 12 minutes to get there.

Uncle Greg was right – it would take 5 minutes to get to this Dairy Queen….so long as you drive like Batman. And so the two bozos drove like maniacs to DQ nearly getting pulled over in the process. But Daddy told me it was worth it – you just can’t beat a Reese’s Blizzard.

Daddy had to leave on Tuesday to go back to Georgia and pickup Monty at the Vet. On the way to the airport he was treated to some good ole fashioned Pennsylvania roadwork traffic. It is hard to believe these roads take so long to fix with the one worker and 30 supervisors on the job.

Anyway, I am having fun up here but will be coming home soon. When I get back home Mommy will post some pictures of what we did all week.