Reese's last gymnastics class

A few shots from Reese's last gymnastics class this semester. She looooves bouncing on the trampoline!
There's always time to stop and pet a dog
Hoola-hooping (or at least attempting to)

Go Speed Racer, goooooo....

Last week, Brett bought the girls (or possibly himself) an early Christmas present. A race track! James and I had one of these- albeit we were older and it was one that went up the wall and we spent a disproportionate amount of time seeing what various objects we could crash the cars into. Makena "got it" more than Reese, but they both have fun.

Fall is most definitely here

Last week Brett took advantage of another time-honored holiday enjoyed only by government employees and bankers. Veterans' Day. Yes, while the rest of the country was hard at work and wondering why their mailboxes were empty, half of the city of Charlotte had a play day. We went to one of the huge parks here and enjoyed the paths and picnic tables and playgrounds.
Another fall favorite is the leaf pile. We've got some very large, very leafy trees in our yards that make for great leaf-jumping.
In case you were wondering, most of those leaves are still there. It's a week-long process.

Halloween

This year on October 31 we participated in that time-honored ritual in which children dress up in overpriced, flimsy costumes from Target and collect pounds of sugar and fat from strangers. Happy Halloween! Only kidding! (sort of)
This year Makena was a ballerina and Reese was a ladybug ("radybug") and we made the most out of our costumes with appearances at two parties and our neighborhood social.
Believe it or not, we did have other things going on on that day that proved more exciting than Milky Ways and Snickers. We moved Reese into a big-girl bed! She LOVES it and has asked me at least once a day for the past five days if it's night-night time yet. To make the event even bigger, once I finally chose the bed I wanted to buy for her, we wound up buying one for Makena, too. She had been in a big-girl bed for over a year, but the bed she was in was an old daybed I've had for years. Now they both have their own new beds...which had better last them until college!

My Favorite Pet Peeves

Just think of this post as my version of Oprah's "Favorite Things"...minus the refrigerators and croissants.
Pre-recorded political phone calls. These are out of control this year and the level of pandering only goes to prove that the politicians all think we're a bunch of lemmings whose minds can be changed with a generic message. Michelle Obama called me one day. Thanks to her, I know that there is early voting here in North Carolina. Whew. Neither John nor Cindy McCain has yet to call me, but I'm hopeful. A group called "Americans for Job Security" called yesterday. I can only assume that, since I am not a member of said group, they think I enjoy mass corporate turnover rates.
People who turn right in order to turn left. Have you ever noticed that some people get into the left-turn lane only to swerve back into the go-straight lane in a misguided effort to make a ridiculously wide left turn? You're not in an eighteen wheeler, you're in a Prius. Your turning radius can handle 90 degrees. Get out of my lane.
"I don't believe in...". An aggravating phrase when misused. "I don't believe in Santa": fine- your choice- enjoy the coal you find in your stocking. "I don't believe in God": also fine- let me know how that turns out for you . "I don't believe in ghosts": your call. "I don't believe in the lottery (insert your choice of controversial topic here)": not fine. You can choose not to believe in it but, generally speaking, that's going to be a losing battle for you. The lottery/whatever exists. Denying its existence seems rather silly, no?
2 year olds who don't nap. Further explanation should not be necessary.

3 Lessons learned on a Friday

Today is a rainy and cool day here in Charlotte (read: icky and not suitable for going outside). We had our friend, Bradley, over for a few hours earlier. Bradley and Makena are the same age and I'm pretty sure he's got the hots for Reese- time will tell :).

Let me preface my story with a reminder for everyone that I am a type-a, retentive, slightly OCD neatnick at my core. I've gotten much better with the addition of two kids, but I still get all twitchy inside when I know there's a mess lurking.

Today I let three kids paint pumpkins with non-washable acrylic paints on my floor. Believe it or not, we all had fun AND managed to keep the paint where it was supposed to be (and skin and hands, which I don't count as bad!).
I learned two important lessons from the painting episode.
1- when you only have a few colors of pastel paints to choose from and the artists pretty much just swirl it around all together, you wind up with gray-blue pumpkins.
2- the theory that there is freedom and redemption if a twitchy, anti-mess person like me just "lets go and doesn't worry about the mess" is a load of crap. I didn't really do much worrying, but there was no freedom in there at all!

My third lesson of the day came in the bathroom. I've been wondering lately when we'll get to that point where large groups of kids can't just traipse to the bathroom together anymore. I'm not ready for the boy/girl differences speech yet. That point came today. As all four of us crowded into our tiny second bathroom, Makena tee-teed without episode (or even notice from Bradley). Bradley, however, garnered this remark upon finishing his duty. "You have a lollipop!!!"

Kiss-um Trees

A few gems of toddler-speak and song we've heard of late.

At Target after spotting the ever-earlier Christmas displays:
Reese: "MOMMY!! Go that way to the Kiss-um Trees!!"

Makena singing: "I stand on top on the Lord of God"
(should be "I stand alone on the word of God"- if you hear of lightning storms in Charlotte, you may want to steer clear of our house)

Reese can't seem to get her S blended consonants right- she replaces them all with an F sound. We see fool buses on the road, she eats with a foon, she loves to look at the fider (Halloween decoration) on our neighbor's house, and she loves to run around in her Twirly Firt (skirt).

Reese while on a walk: "Look at the Hire Fydrant!!" (Makena did the same thing- it cracks us up).

Makena upon spying a passing Bud Light truck (a truck with no pictures, just the words Bud Light): "Mommy, there is beer in that truck." Please note- we don't even drink Bud Light! Ah- the American Corporate Marketing machine at its best. Or worst.

Here are a few pictures from this year's punkin shopping trip.

Politics at our house

Neither Brett nor I are terribly enthusiastic about politics. I mean, let's face it, no matter which side of the aisle you stand on or whose promises you find more alluring, it's really going to be the same old story, different set of faces any way you slice it.
That said, with an observant three-year-old who sits and watches The Today Show with me for a while every morning, it's impossible to avoid the beginnings of teaching Makena about current events. She recognizes Obama and calls him by name. She knows he and "the man with the white hair" want to be our president. She also knows "the lady with the black hair and glasses" wants to help "Sentor Makane".
This week Joe Biden made an appearance during the time we watch. We discussed that he wants to be the helper of "Sentor oBAma". She thought about that for a while and then declared that "Sentor Biden has mean eyes." Huh. Interesting.

The stuff of urban legends...

So this morning, just as Brett is about to walk out the door, I tell Makena it's time to go tee-tee on the potty. Her response is a bit unusual, but since she's prone to coming up with various reasons why she can't (read: doesn't want to) go to the potty, when she said "I can't tee-tee in here, there's a frog in the potty!" we didn't believe her. Then when Reese went into the bathroom to investigate she squealed "there's an animal in here!". That was reason enough for us to go check. Sure enough, this is what we found:Odd.
Makena decided to flush him. Frogs have apparently evolved enough to develop flush-avoidance techniques. Charles Darwin would be floored.
Brett and I looked at each other. He was getting a look on his face that said "I'm on the clock now and Bank of America doesn't pay me to fish frogs out of toilets" so I cut him off by reminding him that "this was in your vows, remember? Love, honor, cherish, kill all spiders and remove all extraneous wildlife from the home". I won.
Armed with a slotted spoon, strainer and plastic plate (anyone want to come over for dinner?), Brett added "Frog Removal" to his ever-growing list of household accomplishments.
The frog (who desperately needs a name at this point) was released back into his natural front-yard environment. PETA would be pleased.

Weekend in the mountains

This past weekend, I went with many friends to my church's women's retreat in the mountain resort of Montreat, NC. Before you ask, no, we didn't hold hands and sing Kumbya for 48 hours. This retreat leans more toward the wine-during-free-time end of the spectrum. I did have a meaningful and restful time, but I have to admit the highlight of the weekend was the annual competition we call "The Bag Game."
I'm about to embarrass myself here and I don't care. We play this ridiculous and utterly contrived game of very Young Life standards that involves a paper grocery bag. You have to stand on one foot, bend down, pick the bag up with your mouth and then rip off the part that you just slobbered on. The ripping ensures that the bag continues to get shorter with every round. It's just about the silliest thing ever...yet it has become a competition with pretty high stakes!
As you picture this, you'll certainly conclude that, in any game that involves bending over with the intent of getting as close to the ground as possible without losing your balance, it would obviously be advantageous to be short. This is proven by the fact that two of the previous three winners are 5 feet tall and 5 feet, 1 inch (on a good day?) and all three of them are incredibly limber! I am neither uber-short nor am I incredibly limber. I do, surprisingly, have a good sense of balance.
I will spare you the details, but I came in second! And considering the winner wasn't showing any signs of difficulty and was dead set on winning, I am claiming that as as big an accomplishment as I could possibly have made! Add to that the fact that, compared to the top five finishers, I am older, taller, have had two babies (only one of the other top five contenders- the reigning champion at the time- has children) and I was wearing jeans...I'm pretty content with second place!
Here are two pictures that will serve as visual explanation for you and as embarrassment for me.

September 16

2006
2007
2008
Happy second Birthday, little Bear!

Holden Beach 2008

We just returned from our second annual multi-family trip to Holden Beach (NC). Despite vacating the island a day earlier than planned thanks to Hurricane Hanna, we had gorgeous weather and a great time! This year we totalled 4 families- 8 adults and 8 kids under the age of 5. Insanity? Yes; but the kids did really well- save the occasional hair pull or nap-refusal- and the adults had a Wii and plenty of wine so all was well!
Here are a few favorite pictures. I'll add a link on the left to more pictures soon.
Makena in a hole dug by Daddy. If only I could contain her like this at home...
Reese swimming- our house had a private pool- the best beach invention yet.
All the girls (six of the eight kids- Bradley and Bennett- aka "the good nappers" were doing what they do best)
A preview of 10 years from now? Hannah, Reese, Makena and Leah lounging in the sun
Mommy and the girls on an evening beach walk

And God sent them, two by two...to Target.

It's raining here. Blog-worthy news? In most cities, no; but Charlotte has been in a drought for the last three years. We're somewhere at 50% of our annual rainfall for the most recent 36 months; we've been living under various water restrictions for ages; and everyone from the meteorologists to regular folks knows it's literally going to take a few hurricanes to get us back anywhere near normal.
Enter Fay. The remnants of Hurricane Fay got here last night and we've been soaked ever since. This is great, except for the fact that today was my day to go to Target in preparation for our beach trip. Oh, and for the fact that we don't have a garage. The rain let up just long enough for us to get teeth brushed, shoes on and lock the door...I'll spare you the details- just be satisfied that we were drenched by the time we got into the car. Fun times!

Once we got home and ate, we killed some more time and pent-up energy by "rocking out" in the kitchen. It's a little disconcerting when you're busy belting out your favorite music and dancing like a fool in the kitchen and you realize someone else is singing along with you. Since Makena now clearly knows many of the words to the songs on my current favorite playlist, maybe I should be letting them listen to more of their own music. I mean, it's not like we're listening to Ozzy Osbourne biting heads off chickens, but even the relatively innocent lyrics of the Counting Crows are likely to raise an eyebrow when taken out of context and sung by a three year old..."it's too laaaate, to get hiiiiiiigh". I redeem myself here by the fact that she also sings the jingle for the local Christian radio station "ninety one point niiiiine".

Here are a few pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with this post- thanks to our friend Jen Hunt whose photography talent is fantastic!

Ode to Andy Warhol

Do you think Andy Warhol started with sidewalk chalk?(in the odd case you're smoking something tasty, no, the kids didn't do that- it's my first successful attempt at artistry in 33 years)

Two quotes I need to share:
(at bedtime after praying for various friends)
Mommy: remember, God loves you and is with you all the time
Makena: No, you are with me all the time.

(as I questioned whether her jiggly-dancing was a sign she needed to go to the potty)
Mommy: are your panties still dry?
Makena: my panties are not wet, them are funny.
(translation: I'm good, I just have a wedgie.)

Our underutilized vacation spot

Brett's parents live on Badin Lake. Badin Lake is a mere 90 minutes from our door. Why, you may ask, have we not taken more advantage of this? I have no idea. For a while, at least one of the girls was in some developmental phase that presented challenges. Crawling on a weathered deck that needs some repair work...bad idea. An inability to maneuver down a challenging staircase...panic-attack inducing. A complete disregard for the sanity of Mamaw and Papaw's dog...well...we haven't progressed past that one yet, but we're working on it.
This past weekend, we took some friends with us. Makena, Reese and Cade ran themselves silly in the water, on the boat, in the house and in the yard. We kayaked, swam and, quite possibly the highlight of the entire weekend, caught our first fish!Makena and Aunt Holli on the boat
Reese loves boat ridesCheck this out! Makena should get used to riding Reese around on various vehicles...
And...for good measure...the catfish that cousin Ryan caught

Cloud Watching

It's hot. The high today was 99. I'm the first to admit my tolerance for heat would no longer lead anyone to believe I was raised in Texas. I've spent the better part of this week trying to come up with creative reasons why we can't play outside. Unfortunately, our kids are smarter than I. Double-unfortunately, they outsmarted me on the hottest day so far this year...at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Please pass the ice.
We went outside and splashed around in the pool for a while. Remarkably, the breeze and lack of humidity made it tolerable...until 5 minutes into our playtime when Makena declared that she was "done with outside" and wanted to "dry off inside". No way sister. We came out here to Africa and we're going to stay here.
Here comes the good part- we laid down on towels and looked up at the sky for thirty minutes! A three-year-old and an almost-two-year-old were mesmerized by the changing shapes in the (two) clouds in the sky, the passing airplanes, a few birds, the leaves on our big tree blowing in the wind and the moon (out for a mid-day adventure) for half an hour.
I can't explain why it was so special to me, but laying there doing absolutely nothing more than pointing out cloud shapes (most of which were so far from existing it was funny) and listening to the leaves rustle in the wind with two little people with open and excited minds was the highlight of my week so far. "A dragon!" was claimed by Reese when the wisp of leftover cloud was nothing more than two parallel lines. "A crocodile!" may have been discernable at one point, but not when Makena declared it. It didn't matter. A parade of horses, dragons, crocodiles and pigs went by- all with about this many clouds:

School, glorious School!!

We went to school today. Ahhhh. Even though we were only there to drop off the first month's tuition (insert sound effect of Jennifer and Brett getting punched in the gut), it was a much-needed reminder that I only have a month left before I gain two whole mornings to myself each week! I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it.
We really haven't been up to anything too terribly exciting. We're currently battling a combination of summer colds and 95 degree heat which translates to grumpy children begging to go outside and a mommy who would rather do anything than play in the oven that is the back yard. I'm going to have to get creative soon because their grumpiness plus my unwillingness to go outside results in our version of the WWF. I guess that matchup would be "The Terrible Three Year-Old versus The Redheaded Drama Queen". They're actually pretty equally matched. The unfairness comes when they involve the dogs. Poor dogs.
I noticed my age again this week. Some girlfriends and I went to the Counting Crows concert thinking that we'd be surrounded by people our own age. I mean, they busted onto the music scene 15-ish years ago, right? Somehow we were still surrounded by high-schoolers and oh my! aren't these young girls dressing like hussies these days?!? What are we in for in 15 years?
Thus concludes my random thoughts for Thursday's naptime.

Vive le Tour!

Let me begin by admitting that I am well aware of the fact that I embody the stereotype of the stupid American once-a-year cycling fan. I don't follow the sport throughout the year and I don't keep up with the riders (I've had to pick a rider at random to cheer for for the last two years)...but still...every July I get excited about the Tour de France. Maybe it's a carryover from my maternity leave with Makena (she was 2 weeks old- she didn't care that I watched the live broadcast from 8:30-11 every morning and its repeat airing at 2 and again at 8 each day- what else did either of us have to do during hour-long nursing sessions anyway??). Maybe it's the fact that I still desperately want to hold up a sports personality as a hero and I love Lance Armstrong. I don't know. What I do know is that Makena and Reese both ask if we're going to watch the "bicycle men" every morning lately. I truly wish I had the freedom to pay attention to the broadcast, but I don't. C'est la vie. (yes, that is all the French I know)

Our newest addiction

Please, waste time along with us. This game will suck you in and never let you go (and it's actually intellectually stimulating!).

the reason the briggs children have been neglected the last two days

Don't blame us, blame James.

Shameless picture post

I've come up with all kinds of witty things this weekend that I want to post about but, as usual, when I sit down with time to write the posts, I forget all the wittiness. So I'll just post some of my favorite recent pictures instead.

Some backyard frivolity:

Watercoloring- did you know it's possible to put so much wet paint on a piece of paper that it falls apart?

Reese clapping for the "music men" at the 4th of July Symphony:Makena found a prime firework-watching seat:A morning at the park:
We think they're kind of cute. On their good days :)