Sleeping Summeys

The Summeys have been busy lately and we must not be getting enough sleep. I think these pictures are proof of it. Okay, I normally try to avoid posting pictures of me, because lets face it, who wants to see pictures of me. But this was just too funny to not share. Every time I see it, even now, I just crack up. I know at least Melissa and Alicia will find this funny and I'm always willing to bring a smile to a fellow mom at my expense.

To give a little background on the picture of me...Chip took this picture one morning when he came down the stairs to go to work. Audrey likes to wake up really early some mornings and some days I just need a few extra minutes on the couch while she watches Noggin. Obviously on this morning, she didn't think I was dressed appropriately and felt my pjs would look a lot better with the addition of her little Easter hat that she plays dress up with. Chip took this picture and left for work and then a few days later asked me if I had seen it. I didn't even hear him when he took it or realize she had put the hat on me, which kind of concerns me that I was that dead asleep and he left the children alone with me.

This one is of sweet Audrey a few days ago. I put in the Curious George movie and went upstairs to work on cleaning out the kid's closet. Andrew came upstairs a few minutes later and when I asked where Audrey was he didn't know (again, I know my parenting skills are lacking these days). When I went to check on her, this is what I found. She is just too precious! This is the first time (in a long time) that she has ever fallen asleep not in her bed or carseat.

Poor Andrew! He was passed out after our Thanksgiving trip. When went to the Cracker Barrel on the way home and he ate a lot. About 5 minutes after we pulled out of the parking lot he was gone. I think the weekend finally caught up to him. This is one of those pictures that I'll have to keep and pull out to embarrass him in the future!

Well, I hope you got a good laugh at my expense. I guess that's my life as a mom!

December is here!

We are so excited that it is Christmas time around our house. The tree is up and the stockings are hung (via staircase since we are mantel-less this year). We put the tree up two weekends ago and Andrew had a wonderful time unpacking all of the ornaments. We didn't decorate for Christmas last year because we moved out of our house on the 17th of December and then left for FL, so it has been 2 years since we have seen all of our decorations. I think Andrew said "this is my favorite ornament" at least 30 times. He did point out of silver cross ornament as the "most important" ornament on the tree. I asked him why and he said because it was the cross Jesus died on and that is the most important thing. Audrey enjoyed watching, but stayed back from the tree after being told "NO" a couple of times. She hasn't gone close to it again, so hopefully it will stay standing this year. I wanted her to get to hang some ornaments on it, but I figured that if I let her get close to it once, then she would attempt to rearrange the ornaments while I wasn't looking and I didn't want that to happen. We do have a couple of musical decorations that she is allowed to get up close to and she loves them.

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Pigeon Forge. We went to Dollywood on Friday and had a blast. The kids loved getting to ride all the little kiddie rides and riding the big train around the mountain, which I think was my favorite part. Audrey loved the carousel and yes!, Andrew is riding a pig behind her. Only at Dollywood!

Andrew says his favorite part of the trip was the show we went to at Dollywood, but I think he loved the hotel more. He just wanted to stay and play with his cars in the hotel all day long. Audrey's favorite part was probably a tie between the Christmas show at Dollywood and the hotel phone. We sat near an exit at the show, thinking that at some point during the 1 hour long show we would need to take Audrey outside. Boy were we wrong. Chip sat her up on his lap when it started and she didn't move for 1 hour (unless you count swaying back and forth to the music). She absolutely loved it and was mesmerized by the singing and dancing toys and people on the stage. As far as the hotel phone goes, she tried her best to talk on that thing every chance she could. Even when told "No" she still just would put one finger on it or close her eyes and pick it up. I think she thought, well I can't see them, so maybe they can't see me touching the phone. Chip finally unplugged it and let her play with it and she just kept answering it saying "hello!".

We also happened to run into Santa (the real one, just in case you are wondering) at Walmart of all places, on Saturday morning. Andrew really wanted to sit in his lap, so he went right up to him. I wasn't to sure about Audrey, but Chip just put her in his lap and she looked right at the camera and smiled. I couldn't believe it. You never know with her.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We sure did. It was the first time the four of us have went off on a trip together. We had a great time and hopefully will go again in the spring sometime. Maybe we can get the grandparents to join us! That shouldn't be too hard to do.

Take Care.

We're back!

We are back from Florida. Well, we really got back almost 2 weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it. I can't really say that I haven't had the chance, it's just that I would much rather read blogs then post my own. So, for the 1 or 2 of you out there that happen to check my blog...sorry it's taken me so long to update.

Florida was great. The kids did great in the car. Chip's aunts were wonderful and just stepped in and helped out with whatever the kids needed while I was driving. They both were so patience and sweet with them. At one point, Peggy was rubbing both Andrew and Audrey's feet! I'm sure when she offered to ride down with us, this wasn't exactly what she was planning.

The kids enjoyed their time with their cousins and grandparents. Mom bought Andrew some CARS slippers and as you can see from the picture, Audrey thinks they are hers. This is how I find her a lot of the time, walking around the house with her BK crown and Andrew's slippers, saying "bye-bye". I guess she thinks this is what I look like when I get ready to leave the house.

They were able to swim twice while were there and of course loved it. Every time Audrey went outside on Carole's porch, she pointed to the pool and said "bath". I guess we need to work on the word "swim"! Below is my favorite picture from the whole trip. Audrey was jumping off the steps and happened to jump right on top of Andrew who was swimming by. From the looks of their faces you can tell that they both thought it was so funny that she landed on him.

My oldest (if you know what I mean) friend, Donna, got married on the beach and it was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Never mind the gorgeous sunset in the background, snow white sand, and wedding dress to die for, it was just a really small, sweet and special wedding. I think that's how everyone should do it. Just want they wanted, and not all the hoopla (is that a real word) that comes with a big wedding with 500 people involved and a least 25 giving their opinions. I hope it was all that she wanted for her special day.

Now, I'm off to bed. Chip is working late, trying to catch up after having to take 2 sick days for strep throat this week. He's feeling better now, but just behind in his studies and at work.

We're planning to decorate the house this weekend for Christmas, so more pictures to follow!

Happy Halloween

Thrilled to be Thomas!

Under the weather ballerina

Tonight we went "trick or treating". The clinic that Audrey's OT works with had a little fall festival for all the kids. Andrew and Audrey enjoyed the games and since we will be traveling Friday night, it was their chance to dress up. Audrey's has a bad cold and was not in the mood for photos! You can see how thrilled she is about having her picture taken in the photo of the two of them. My mom would refer to Audrey's expression as "my Washington, D.C. face". I think I have that same expression in several of my childhood photos. Andrew was thrilled to finally wear his Thomas costume that Clay and Marla gave him.

More pictures!

A week already!

Has it been a week already since I posted? Okay, it's been over a week now. This blogging thing is harder than I thought. It's not that I don't have new things to share about the kids on a daily basis, it's just sitting down and writing them out that is something that I find difficult. I guess this is why I've never been much of a journal keeper. My mom is always encouraging me to journal what's going on with the kids, specifically Audrey's progress, and I just haven't done it. Now looking back over the past 3 months I wish I had started in July, so I could see what all progress we've made since then. So, yes mom, you were/are right...I need to start journaling.

This week has been uneventful for us, just the way I like it. We visited a new church on Sunday and liked it. It was our 5th church to visit here in NC. I don't know what we are looking for, we just keep thinking we'll know when we find it. Andrew enjoyed getting to go on the playground at church and he loved that Audrey's class was on the playground at the same time. He told me that he followed her around to make sure that know one was mean to her because "I'm a big brother and I have to protect her". He also said that when the teacher called for the 2 year old class to line up, he took Audrey (aka. dragged her across the playgroup, I'm sure) to the teacher and told her that she was 2. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall and witnessed that. It's funny how protective he is of her one minute and then the next minute will run through the house, right into her and take her out.

We went to the fall festival at Andrew's school Sunday night. The kids had a pretty good time. Audrey loved the bounce house for the little ones and Andrew was able to play on a huge hay stack. I think they both liked the hot dogs and cookies the most.

She was having fun, regardless of her "expression".

Audrey has had a good week. Her vocab. continues to surprise me. She is now on to learning her shapes and a couple of letters. She likes to say "Give me five!" and always wants her turn to pray before a meal which sounds a little like "Thank you day, thank you (some random things we're not sure of)...Amen." She joins Andrew in his bed every night for story time now and will pick her own book to have read to her and then listen to whatever story he chose. Most of the time she sits through the entire story time (which is a huge improvement in the last month or 2), even the Thomas ones, which usually do not make any sense and are hard to read.

We will be in FL next week. I'm looking forward to the visit. Our 4 nieces will be there for a little bit and it will be nice for the kids to get to visit with them again.


That's all for now.

Weekend Update

It's Sunday and I'm thinking that it's about time to update this blog. My parents were here this week, visiting on their way back home from their trip to Maine. Audrey and Andrew enjoyed all the extra attention and lovin from them. Andrew was able to go camping "in the woods" one night when they were here. He is still waiting to see those bears that he thought were in North Carolina.

The kids and I are headed to Florida for a visit in two weeks. Chip's aunts are riding down with us, so hopefully the kids will behave for the car ride. I'm hoping that the Blue's Clues and Barney DVDs will keep them from going too crazy in their seats all day.

Andrew is still doing well in his preschool class. He loves going to school and all his new friends and teachers. He loved his school in TX so much that I was a little worried about his new class this year, but it has exceeded my expectations by far. Audrey is also doing well at her school. Those first few weeks were tough (I'm not sure if it was worst for her or her teachers) but she has begun to have better days. She's not crying during circle time anymore (she doesn't really like it when they make her sit in her seat!) and starting to talk and sign more at school. Hopefully this will continue and they can start really seeing what she is capable of. One of her teachers is also now providing her speech services at home, so I hope that will help too. She is beginning to identify her colors (gotta love "Signing Time!"). At last count I think I have her up to about 70 words! When we visited the developmental pediatrician in Dallas in July, she was only saying about 4, so that is about 65 new words in 3 months. Chip and my personal favorite at the moment is "monkey" or as she says "munck-me".

That's all for now.

This One is for Alicia!

Well, after a year of reading countless blogs (my guilty pleasure) and telling everyone I was going to start blogging myself, I have finally found a moment to get this thing up and running. Once Alicia got hers going, I was feeling like a big slacker! I hope your proud of me Alicia. Now that I am officially typing my 1st blog, I have to say, this is a lot harder than it looks. Never mind all the formatting, but just trying to think of what say and how to say it. I'm a little lost for words.

I do hope I can keep this up to date with pics and posts to update everyone on our lives in North Carolina. These last 2 months have been quite an adventure, but everything has went so smoothly and we are doing well. I have to give credit to Chip for the name of this blog. It won out over my Summey Spot idea, but I do think it is most appropriate.

That's all for now.