Two years later....

WOW!  It's been two years since I've been on here.  A LOT has happened since that last post.  Where do I begin?

Let's see...how do you sum up the last two years in a blog post.  Impossible, but here it goes!

Life is CRAZY!

Business is awesome!  I've been so lucky to have Luke join me in growing SSA.  We are now both self employed and let me tell you...it's AWESOME!  He's not out risking his life anymore and I am very relieved to know he's coming home to me everyday!

Aiden is now in Kindergarten.  We decided to send him to a small private school in town.  His teacher is a dear friend of mine.  She's amazing and we are so lucky to have her in our lives!  It's been an adjustment for him but he's finally settled in an loving school and all his new friends.

Avery is in preschool and after two months of severe separation anxiety, she's now loving her new school.  We decided to send her to NREP this year.  Aiden had the best experience there and we wanted to give Avery the same experience.  She has the best teachers and get's to work with some pretty amazing kids!

We recently decided to stay in our home.  We were contemplating put it on the market and trying to move to Clarke County, but I really do love my house and with a little TLC I can make it amazing.  That's part of the reason I want to stay.  To do some creative things to make it just the way I want it!  I could do that with any home I guess, but an older home with personality is a better canvas, I think.

We got another doggy in late 2011.  Daphne is her name and crazy is her game!  She's big and goofy and a big ol' love bug!  The kids try to ride her around like horse.  She could care less.  McKenzie, on the other hand, has a very different opinion of her.  He's turned into a cat so he's not too fond of the big girl!

Life is good.  Here are some photos of life over the last few months!  I'm going to try to keep up with this blog.  Such a great way to document life!

Back to School Night!

Last night was Aiden's back to school night. We really didn't need to go but I thought it would be a great opportunity for Aiden to show mom and dad what he got to do everyday.

As soon as we walked through the door he zoomed down the hall to his classroom. I'm was so happy to see his excitement. He comes home so happy everyday from school, smiling ear to ear. When Luke and I finally arrived at his classroom he was already completely submerged in play. He walked us around and showed us the school bus that he painted with his picture on it. He showed us where he plays with the play-doh (his favorite thing to do because it's messy).

As we walked around the room, looking at everything, the smile on his face grew a little more and a little more.

After the classroom tour, we headed to the library where we found Clifford. Aiden is still pretty scared of life size characters (he runs screaming from the chocolate bars at hershey park still) so we stayed pretty far away from the big red dog! We bought some books from the book fair (just being there took me back to the 3rd grade, remembering how I would grow so giddy at the thought of the book fair coming).

Let's hope the excitement tonight lasts all school year long, right?

One PROUD Mama!!!

I get daily gratification from seeing my swim students swim all by themselves, but it really is nothing compared to what I felt this weekend when I watched my little boy jump off the diving board and swim himself across the pool all by himself.

We've been working on breathing all summer and in that instant he finally got it. He didn't have a swim belt or a life jacket on either He did it all by himself. I almost cried.

I am one happy Mama!!!!

School, Soccer and Swimming...OH MY!

Summer, OH summer, where have you gone? Why does it feel like only yesterday that I started my outdoor swim lessons?

I'm sad to see it go, but happy at the same time. The close of summer brings all sorts of new changes for the Callas Family!

Luke is now employed by Frederick County (YAY) and no longer has to commute to FRO RO! There are several other perks but it's definitely a change for everyone!

Aiden started preschool last Thursday and let me just say...WHAAAAA HOOOOO!! He loves it! He actually cried this morning when I went to drop him off at Miss Terri's house. He only has school on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so today he's at daycare all day. He really pitched a fit because he couldn't go to his 'big boy school'. I hope this attitude continues well into his high school years!

He also started soccer this week. It's pretty comical to watch. There are no actual games, he's just learning how to play....well sort of. His idea of learning is running in circles for an hour...and maybe kicking the ball a few times. I know hes having a great time, which makes me happy! In warm ups on Monday, the coach was having the kids stretch out and she asked them to swing their arms as if they were swimming. MY CHILD gets down on his tummy and really pretends to swim...figures having a mom for a swim teacher :)

Speaking of swimming, work is as busy as ever! I was hoping to get a vacation sometime in the near future, but looks like I'll have to wait.

Monday, Monday

I have to take a moment to sit and reflect on this day...

this slow, slow day :)

I love those days. The ones that draaaaaaaag on! They don't happen often so when they do I really have to try to appreciate them!

I spent most of my day in the office catching up on the never ending pile of paperwork. Who knew there was so much office work with running a little swim lessons company.

I did have a few lessons today and one in particular stands out in my mind. I have a little boy, about 5 years old who doesn't like to put his face in the water. He says (about 20 times in our half hour class)

"Miss Noelle, I don't want to go underground."

I can't help but chuckle to myself every time he says it.

I was able to get him to go under, not once, but many times today. Each time he brings his head out of the water he looks at me and says "that wasn't so bad".

Ah, I love what I do!

I got to come home earlier than usual today! It was supposed to be Aiden's first day of Littles soccer, however I was informed earlier in the day that it's parents only today. Aiden was sorely disappointed, as he'd been looking forward to it all day. I went to his meeting solo only to find out we were supposed to bring them after all. The paper did say PARENTS ONLY in big bold letters. Oh well!

Next week will be a hoot! What can possibly get accomplished with dozens of 3-5 year olds running round with little soccer balls?? I'm so looking forward to it!

Tiny Dancer

Babies and dancing....

Two things that, when put together, can produce some pretty funny moments.

Avery and dancing....

Two things that, when put together, DEFINITELY produce EXTREMELY FUNNY moments.

This girl can dance (a HUGE understatement).

I know as a mom, we are always the first to laugh and smile at our own children and their funniness, however Avery is hysterical when she dances.

First, she loves Brittany Spears. Anytime she comes on the radio, Avery freezes for a moment, gets this huge smile on her face and then breaks out in, what I like to call, the dip. She bobs up and down (to the beat) while swaying back and forth.

Exhibit A....

A BIG week!

As I'm winding down my [lazy] weekend, I can't help but be a little nervous about how this week will pan out. We have two pretty big firsts happening this week!

1- Aiden will start his first 'organized' sport. Soccer to be exact! I'm not sure just how organized you can be with a thousand 3-5 year olds running around, but I'm excited for him none-the-less! He too seems super excited. He's asked about it for the last 4 evenings. While tucking him in, he asks "mom, is tomorrow my soccer day?"

Too cute!

2- Aiden starts preschool this week! Daycare hasn't exactly been the easiest thing for me to make decisions on, but I'm pretty confident in this choice!! He calls it his 'big boy' school!

I can't help but to feel a little sad too. My big boy is growing up so fast!

My Wish

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times.

THERE ISN'T ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY!

I was enjoying some time with my kids on the living room with them the other day and as I watched them dance around, it got me thinking....

I really need to document more of our time together! There are too many precious moments that I'm never going to remember if I don't write them down!

I simply MUST get better at this!

Our Family of 4

We have finally gotten our family photos as a family of 4! We traveled to Blandy Farm (a truly beautiful place) on a warm Sunday morning for the event! I must say, I'm completely shockekd that Avery had so many good photos. She was a little terror for most of the time! Aiden is obviously our little model....he's such a ham!

Enjoy!

Hello Again!

I'm back. Wow, I can't believe it's been over three months since my last post. I'm crazy busy these days. We are well into swim season and business is booming. We are now running the swimming programs at the Winchester Country Club along with the indoor pool and my outdoor community pool. Luke and I are also in the process of purchasing a pool management compnay, so needless to say, I have NO time to blog.




The babies are growing so fast. Avery turned 1 on Mothers Day. I can't believe it. I'm very emotional about this one. I've been an wreck for the past few weeks leading up to her birthday. She is my last baby and I'm holding onto it as long as I can. Nursing is wrapping up too and I'm having such a hard time with that as well. I'm ready to be done (REALLY) but I'm not at the same time. Again, I think since she's my last it makes it really hard to let go.



Although she is 1 now, she's still so tiny. I still use my carrier (yes she still fits). Aiden was out of that thing at 8 months, but not her. We had her year check up at the doctors last week and she's only in the 20th percentile for weight and height. She easily fits into 9 month clothes still which I guess is really a good thing since a good friend gave me SOOOO many cute 9 month summer clothes (there's always a silver lining, right?). She may be small but the girl can eat. I've never seen a little person eat so much. Her dinner plate is bigger, yes BIGGER than her BIG brother's. It's crazy. Where does all that food go?? On top of being small and a BIG eater, she's a talking machine. Her vocab is amazing. It's so interesting to see the differences in the two kids. Aiden, at her age, was walking well but not talking much. She is just the opposite. She loves to crawl (NOT walk) but she talks and sings all day long.



Aiden has grown so much too! He begins preschool full time next month. We've decided given all the issues we have had (and are still having) with daycare that it's time to get routine and structure into his life. He'll begin his full time school on the 13th of June and I just know he's going to love it! It's amazing to see how much he's grown, just since his birthday.

The "terrible 3's" are in full gear at our house. He's hitting so much lately and I'm struggling with it every day. I'm hoping it's just another phase and that it will pass SOON!!

Life is GOOD! I wish it would slow down a bit though!

My Dreaded Decisions

Since becoming a parent, decisions are ususally made after much thought is put into them and they don't normally come easy (at least to me).

Pampers or huggies?


Swaddle or don't?


Let them cry it out or not?


I mean the list goes on and on. I'm a very indecisive person any way so now that I have to make decisision for another person...YIKES!

Most of the time I have managed, but there is one decision that has taken me8 LONG MONTHS to make.


DAYCARE!


Since having Avery, we knew that our current (at the time) situation was going to change, as she doesn't take children under the age of 2. This posed a whole new set of decisions to make:

Do we leave Aiden where he is and put Avery somewhere else?

Do we move Aiden (AGAIN) so that he and his sister are together?

Do we put Aiden in an actual preschool somewhere?

AHHHHHH, it's just been too much for me to think about. It took Aiden so long to get used to this current place that I just couldn't see moving him. Plus he'd grown very fond of his teacher and her kids. BUT.....having he and Avery together would be great for both of them (not to mention easy on mommy).

The other thing is that in reality all could stay the same. Aiden could stay where he was and Avery could stay home with Nana, but this too had some major cons and I needed a change!

Luke and I went back and forth about what to do and since it was SUCH a hard decision to make we always just let it go and continued on with life. Then after Christmas I decided to make a move.

We got some reccomendations from a few friends and I knew a few of my swim moms who did daycare nearby so in January we decided to start interviewing candidates for both kids.

The first two were good, but then....we met with Miss Winsome! I've known her for a while since I taught her little boy to swim and we always talked about the possibiltiy of having the kids come to her once the new year arrived but I always disregarded since I was so wishy washy with what I was going to do. Winsome was our last interview and I was very eager to see how she ran things. From the first day I met this woman, there was something very sincere and calming about her. I could tell by her child's manners and nature that he was brought up very well too!!

Let me tell you....I've never made a decision so easily as I did once I left this woman's house! It was perfect and it was like this huge weight had been lifted off my chest!

FINALLY...an EASY decision!

We are now in day three of our new school and I couldn't be happier. Aiden and Avery both seem to love it. I don't have to fight Aiden to get dressed in the morning and he talks about Miss Winsome constantly!

YAY!

I'm crying just talking about it...I'm so happy!

Rock ON!

It's bathtime fun and Aiden routinely gets a mohawk while taking one. Today both kids bathed together and Aiden requested one for himself and his little sister.

Aren't they the cutest??

Where's the Baby.....THERE IT IS

Have you seen Ice Age? There's a scene in it where the tiger is trying to calm the baby with a 'harmless' game of Peek-A-Boo. It ends up backfiring and the baby screams louder out of sheer fear.

Well, this is NOT the case with Peek-A-Boo in this house. Aiden plays it with his little sister on a daily basis and Avery gets the biggest kick out of it. What's funnier is that ONLY Aiden can play it with her. If daddy or I try, she just stares at us with this 'what the heck are you doing' look on her face.

But...the minute the words 'where's the baby' come out of Aiden's mouth Avery smiles ear to ear!

BTW...Avery now has 3.5 teeth! She's growing WAY TOO FAST

Finally movin'

Avery is finally crawling...or at least I guess you can call it that....

My Favorite Time!!

Andy Williams definitley said it best.





"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"





I love the holidays. I'm one of those people who starts listening to holiday music the second after THanksgiving and my tree is decorated that early too!





I love everything this time of year stands for. I love giving and if I had it my way (and a BIGGER bank account) I buy presents for everyone I knew. I love it that much!





I love sitting around in my Christmas pjs all day long, drinking hot cocoa, dancing around to christmas music and wrapping the hundreds of presents that I buy each year.





This year has been MORE fun because this year I was able to do a little something for my swimmers. Each student gets a little goody bag filled with fun stuff! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to give (can you tell)??



Christmas day is fun too, but in a way it makes me sad. It's almost as if people stop doing all the holidaysy (not a word, I know) things. That's why it so important to take advantage of all the time I have leading up to the big day!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Birthday to Me...NOT

I'm one of those people who's never sick. I go year after year watching those around me get sick and take care of them, all while never getting sick myself. Well my friends, this lucky streak has ended. I woke up on Sunday (which was my birthday) to the worst stomach bug EVER. To top it off Luke had to work and couldn't get off so I had both kids all day by myself. Talk about HARD! I could barely get out of bed, let alone chase after a todder all day. Thankfully my neighbor took Aiden for a few hours in the morning and then one of the girls a few doors down came to play with Aiden later in the day. The baby and I laid around all day. I think she could sense I was very sick because she slept almost as much as I did..and without fussing about it!

When Luke got home everyone sang happy birthday to me with a cute little chocolate cake, but I could barely lift my head enough to blow out the candles. ICK

I'm better now, but this little bug still has it's grip on me. I'm hoping it's gone by Friday because I have a busy weekend ahead of me!!

Scary Santa

Once again we've struck out with regards to the Santa photos. We have been talking about the "sitting" on Santa's lap for weeks now and Aiden has been so excited. He's even beeen carrying his wish book around with him in anticipation of the big visit.

Well needless to say Aiden is still very scared of him...and it didn't help that the guy looked like he'd just been put on work release from prison. He had NO personality and no enthusiasm. Where do they find these guys?? What happened to the jolly old guy with a big fat belly and the "fake but looked sort of real" beard. Our fine Apple Blossom Mall (BLECK) santa had a very stringy REAL beard....it was all just icky! (He actually reminded us of BBT in Bad Santa)

Is there anywhere else to take the kids to see a santa without traveling an hour away??

A future in photography

Aiden has become quite the little photographer. Recently he's taken a particular interest in our little cannon. At first I would snatch it away everytime he got his little fingers on it, but recently he's FINALLY figured out how to use it so I said, what the heck, let's let him have a go at it. He's not bad. For every one good picture there's about 10 bad ones, but the good ones are really good!!

This morning as Luke was preparing to leave he came over to give me the usual kiss goodbye and Aiden just so happened to be sitting in his chair eating breakfast. He had a clear view of our smooch. Afterwards, Aiden says, "mommy, daddy, you kiss again, I take a picture!" (AHH, so cute, right??)

Unfortunately the little camera was nowhere to be seen. I have since found it and we'll give our future Ansel Adams another try this afternoon and of course, we'll post it for all to see :)

Until then....

Photos!

Here are some photos of the last month!

October Update

Jees, now it's really almost the middle of November....where is the time going? I can't get a grasp on how fast it's really flying by.

October was a super busy month. In an effort to suppliment the slow swimming seasion I have officially become a consultant for a company called Thirty One. They sell all kinds of cute stuff, and for a momma who's as organized as I am, thier stuff is RIGHT up my ally.

Swimming is still going great! It's just slower in the fall and winter, however we are still going strong and we have just passed our 250th student. Actually I think we are closer to 300 now. It's been a wonderful year and I'm blessed to have things turning out this way! (Now if only I could find a way to have my own pool, I'd be set)

On to the babies....

Aiden is c-r-a-z-y BIG. He's talking all the time and he's such a great help when it comes to his little sister. He still has his moments but for the most part he's doing such a good job! He's learning so much at school and he has now mastered his new bike with training wheels. He's swimming once a week with one of my other instructors and he's doing such a great job. He's almost swimming on his own (CRAZY I KNOW).

Avery has been another story. Since my return from Florida our nights have been really difficult. She was waking every hour or every other hour. Basically she was using me as a pacifier and soother. We took her to her 6 month checkup (AGAIN, I KNOW....the time thing, RIGHT??) and she's growing beautifully. During our appointment I asked the doctor about letting her cry it out. We didn't let Aiden cry it out until he was 9 months old, but then again, we didn't need to either. He slept very well at day one. The doc basically told me that when I'm ready to get sleep, she's ready to cry it out. Needless to say, "operation Ferber" began that evening and so far SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD!! The last three nights she's slept for almost 12 hours. Oh, and we also stop swaddling her which I'm assuming has helped too. YAY AVERY!!

She's an eating machine too. I don't know how she's still so tiny because the girl will put down some serious food. She'll eat two stage 1 foods a meal and then down a bottle of milk. She's definitely my daughter..hehe!

Halloween was a blast. This year the Callas family dressed up as Toy Story 3. The photo speaks for itself:

We had a blast and I'm already planning next year's costumes!!