Mothers' Day

McIver was so excited to give me the card he made me for Mothers Day:

(I apologize that I can't get the pictures to rotate)

Dear Mom,

I love you so much.  I love how you make meels for me, you read to me every night. You play with me.  You take me plases.  That is what I love about you.

Love,

McIver

Sibling Bickering

So, I read on some blog in the last few days that there are mamas out there who have come up with some clever consequences for sibling arguing.  I had patted myself on the back and thought to myself (I knew better than to say it out loud!) that Olivia and McIver had had a pretty good run lately of not getting on each other's nerves.  That came to a screeching halt yesterday when Olivia decided it would be funny to turn off the television in the middle of a Wii game that McIver and our neighbor were playing.  Which led to ... wrestling, slapping and hitting (or so I was told my the three other children present).

Both children had some alone-time and had to write down, and later tell, five nice things about the other child.  There are as follows:

Olivia to McIver:  Good at reading, good at soccer, good at Plants vs. Zombies, good at Club Penguin and good at school.

McIver to Olivia:  Good at math, good at Xbox, good at basketball, good at reading, good at making friends.

Next time I think I'll make them sit on the couch and hold hands for 5 minutes.

Darlington

Will bought a bunch of tickets to the Southern 500 in Darlington again this year.  David and Andrew drove over from Huntsville to go to the race.   We all went to McIver's soccer game and then to lunch at Lulu's before loading them up to head to the race.

 

Billy, Will and Jackson met Will and David at our house so they could follow each other to Darlington.   McIver was the only boy who had been to a race before, so all the other boys were newbies and didn't really know what they were in for.

 

Apparently, it didn't take long for Mac and Andrew to decide they wanted Dale, Jr. hats.

The Osborne boys with Will's friend from the beach Lauch and his son

Still interested in the race ... even as the sun goes down.  Wonder how much caffeine the boys had to make it all the way to the end of the race?

Pawley's Girls

Olivia's last soccer game of the season was last week.  Even though the girls didn't win a single game all season, they had a great time playing together for the fifth season in a row.  They have really come together as a team and enjoy being together.  We hope they'll stick with it and maybe even get a "W" next season!

Spring 2012 Pawley's Girls

Pinewood Derby Champ

McIver came home from his pack meeting last week with one HUGE smile and two trophies.

The small trophy is for winning the Hodge Podge heat and the large one is for winning the entire Pinewood Derby for his pack.  He went to the 'champ championship' last weekend at a church in Lexington.  He didn't place, but had a good time being part of the excitement.  Some people take this stuff very seriously ... Will texted me after they got all checked in and said he felt like he had just cleared customs.

McIver's Letter to his Camp Counselor

Dear Counselor,
I can't wait for camp!!  Here are some things I can't wait for:
1. Beanstalk - zip line.
2.  meeting Ten Foot (the camp mascot who sent Mac a letter at Christmas).
3.  eating pizza for dinnr.
4.  meeting you.
5.  doing riflery.

from,
McIver

Mark and Bill, my tennis partner's husband, met the Saturday of the Masters last month.  Since then, they cooked up a plan for golf at Musgrove Mill in Clinton, SC.  So, everyone came to the lake to play and spend Saturday night together before they went to play golf Sunday morning.  So, my worlds collided and it was wonderful ... Ashley, the YaYa, met Kim and Katherine, tennis and school friends.  The kids all has a ball swimming, tubing and playing the (new) Xbox together.

The freezing cold water didn't stop the children from getting into the lake on Saturday.  Even though it was 90 degrees sitting on the dock, I was cooled off just fine sticking my feet in the water.

Olivia took Ellie for a spin in the kayak.

Will decided we'd get more use out of the can crusher on the dock than we have in our extra-fridge room at home.  

Whoa Nellie!  I took Helen Randall for kayak cruise but don't know how we managed not to tip over.  That is one funny (and wiggly) kid!

Great Start to the Weekend

We came up to the lake for the weekend.  Even though we have to go back into town for soccer games and the Pinewood Derby championships, it's great to be here.

Relaxing in the new hammock from Pawley's Island.

O with her buddy, Margaret.

I love this shot of Tex in the sunset.

Murrells Inlet

Olivia, McIver and I were invited to join my friend Meg and her children at Pawleys Island last weekend.  We decided to head down to Murrells Inlet Thursday after school so that we could get in a quick visit with GranGran and GranDaddy before heading over to Pawleys on Friday morning.  The bonus was that we were also able to see Aunt Kelli, Uncle Robert, Amelia and Eliza!

The new creek house is wonderful!  There's enough room for ALL of the Merritts to be there and not feel the least bit crowded.  GranGran made spagetti for dinner which the children all ate like champs.  This isn't the best picture of Mac, but Eliza's looking at the camera so this is the one I'm posting.  Someday he'll learn not to make goofy faces!

After-dinner ... Eliza enjoyed her first popsicle!

Mac and GranDaddy ... it sure is nice of GranDaddy to share his iPad with McIver.

Myrtle Beach GetAway

My friend and tennis partner, Kim, is expecting a little bundle of joy on July 4.  I was thrilled to be included in a girls weekend getaway to Myrtle Beach.  Allison grew up at the beach and her parents still have a condo there.  We were sad that one other friend was not able to make the trip at the last minute.  But, we did manage to enjoy some serious beach time, lots of talking, shopping and, of course, eating.

We left as soon as the kids were at school on Friday morning and got to Myrtle Beach just in time for lunch.  We ate at this great restaurant right on the waterway.  Great view, great food, beautiful friends!

We took a long walk on the beach Saturday morning and spent some time just relaxing.  Then we got cleaned up for shopping and dinner at Greg Norman's restaurant.  Again, another fantastic view and the meal was DELICIOUS!!

Living Room Update

I volunteered to host a baby shower for my tennis partner (and friend) at our house about 6 weeks ago.  My motivation was not purely self-less, though.  Having a house full of people was the kick in the pants I needed to get our living room finished!  New curtains!!  

Windows facing front of house - before:

Windows surrounding fireplace - before (notice the grass in the vases on the mantle):

After with the new curtains (forgive the lack of a flash):

Better view of curtains:

My sweet friend, Jenny, helped me pick out the curtain fabric and trim.  Purchasing the trim was actually a bit of a debacle.  We always had the baby shower date as a deadline for ordering everything and having the curtains made and hung.  Anyway, things ended up working out just fine.  Jenny came over to hang the curtains one day while I was playing tennis so I came home to a (finally) finished living room.  I love the new drapes.  And, it wasn't until I looked at the 'after' pictures that I realized Jenny had fluffed the grass in the vases to make it look better.  Clearly, I'm not one for the details!

Lake Murray

Tex loves the new grass at the lake.  He kept wiggling around on his back and looked like he was in Heaven.

Olivia with her fish.  The girl needs to learn how to bait her own hook and take the fish off.  I don't think McIver's going to be interested in doing it for her much longer if she keeps catching the bigger fish.

This is Mac's catch.  He caught it about 3 seconds after dropping his line in the water.

I love watching them work things out on the dock.  They know I'm not going to be any help, so they just figure it out.

Lake: Before & After

BEFORE:

AFTER:  

Grass!  Beautiful, lush, green grass! The view coming in from the lake is just gorgeous.

Those shrubs will get just big enough to hide the not-so-pretty wall to the boat ramp.

This little palm tree is Will's favorite part.  Can you see Mac's shoes and socks?  The very first thing he did when he saw the grass was take them off because he wanted to feel the grass on his feet.  The kids commented all afternoon how great it is to be able to walk across the yard and not hurt their feet.

Street Side BEFORE:

With the Wall...

Midway:  After that wall came tumbling down.

AFTER: OMG!  CAn you even believe it!?  We were able to save the original azaleas but decide to go ahead and remove everything else.  We WILL also remove the white lattice fence.

And, just because I can ...

Spring Break 2012 - Lunch with Great Grands

The children and I took our time getting up and dressed on Wednesday morning.  Then we picked up Grandma Myrtle and Grandma Janet and took them to lunch at S&S.  

Even though the outside temps reached the upper 80s that afternoon, you can bet your bottom dollar that pool water wasn't warm enough for me.  But, my crazy kiddos had a ball splashing around together.

He was trying to sneak up on me, but I caught him!

Spring Break 2012 - World of Coke

Olivia and McIver said they loved the World of Coke even more than the Georgia Aquarium.  I had worried that there might not be enough to keep them interested (I thought it would be just memorabilia), but there was plenty to see and do.

In the lobby waiting for the introductory video.

McIver was over Flat Fred by this point, but he let me take just one more picture.

Loved all the old and new Coke signs.

I don't remember this character in any Coke commercials, but apparently, s/he was a 'thing' at some point.

The Coke Polar Bear was SO CUTE!!

The Tasting Room is probably why they liked World of Coke better.  There were stations for each continent and drinks from lots of different countries.  McIver was WIRED!!!  I thought his head was going to spin off his shoulders and he COULD NOT STOP TALKING 90 miles per hour!

The 4D movie was pretty awesome, too!

THE Vault where the secret formula is actually kept under lock (and lock and lock) and key.

THE American Idol couch where contestants waited to see if they were voted off the show.

All of the old bottles were super cool.

After a trip through the gift shop, we headed down to Macon to spend some time with Nanoo and Pop.