Happy Birthday Lucy!

Our baby is TWO!

She asked for an Elmo cake, and she got one! We went to 2 Harris Teeter's before we learned that they no longer make Sesame Street cakes. So I made this one, with a little help from the kids.

And, of course, it was a pool party. 

Lucy wasn't sure what her birthday meant but she totally understood the extra attention.

The birthday girl discovered her b-day gift from the Messicks right away. And wasted no time getting down to business trying all her shoes on.

Since there were so many shoes, she enlisted the help of willing runway models. 

At last it was gift opening time and Lucy was in heaven! This shoe connoisseur wouldn't take off her new outfit for bed last night, so she happily slept in her new shoes and dress.

The best part about her birthday was that all the kids enjoyed her new toys. Who would have thought that the 4-year-olds would spend the evening playing with Webbles?

Hunter loved the life-size teddy bear from Robert and Ioana.

One of Lucy's favorites was a piggie flashlight. She knew exactly how to use it!

Jackie was thrilled to be the supervisor, dole out presents and assist in opening them. As you can plainly see, Lucy was all over that flashlight.

It was a wonderful birthday and a rocking good time!

The Rodgers Dispatched

The last few weeks of summer were jam-packed with friends, family and travel. Since the last week was overshadowed with Lice and the First Day of First Grade, I'll recap our week with cousins Wyatt, Sammie, Jonah and Shane.

We were on the go at 8:30 EVERY morning off to a new playground, kids museum or library.

Superhero's was the favorite game, and this Wolverine was my personal favorite SuperHero. 

When we ran out of activities in the afternoon, the kids got buckets and water. They were busy for an HOUR dumping and pouring, panning and splashing. Lu was just one of the boys.

The most heroic feat of all was Wyatt convincing Cameron to try a bite of broccoli. Dave and I nearly fainted when he actually bit into it, albeit a mouse-size bite. A VEGETABLE!!! Buzz Wyatt to the rescue!

Deane entertained the masses before bed-time. She was quite the pied piper!

The day everyone left, I asked Wyatt if he wanted to move to NC. He thought hard for a minute and then replied "We'd have to take the truck, b/c we have a lot of stuff." I like his thinking!

First Day of First Grade

Before and After

My sister's alternate career would be photography. While she was here, I asked her to take photos of my kiddos before Jackie lost her first tooth. She seriously still has ALL her baby teeth, albeit some wiggly ones. And some VERY wiggly teeth.

One by one, Steph's boys awoke from their naps and performed as court jesters. Most of them were not dressed, which made for some good smiles!

So this was BEFORE Deane truly taught me how to nit pick my children. Seriously, there was lice. On my children. And possibly me. Lice. Soooooo 8 hrs of laundry, Nix shampoos and de-lousing, Deane rid our house of the little tiny creepy crawly bugs IN OUR HAIR! And possibly in the beds, car, sofa... So that was our last day of summer vacation. Steph and her boys always pick up some new tricks from our clan. This time, they got more!

Swim, Swim, Swim

Spending nearly every day at the pool has payed off for Cameron!

The Boys Are Back

With the departure of Kristin, Cory & PJ came the arrival of my sister and her 4 boys. It has been a non-stop party for the kids. As per our usual circuit, we made the rounds to Marbles and The Museum of Life and Sciences.  Both Jonah and Jackie were cool as a cucumber with a butterfly on their finger. 

By far, the biggest hit was the train ride. Santa and Rudolf were no where in sight.

CamO and Wyatt are becoming fast friends, which is good, since they are cousins and will be spending summers together. 

The day concluded by digging for buried treasure. After all, they have to pay their food bill!

Let the good times roll! 

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Lucy and PJ

Our dear friends from WI came in for the weekend. Cory, Kristin & PJ were more entertainment than we could have expected. Lucy and PJ hit it off right away. And whatever PJ did, Lucy would follow.  One was not without the other.

We spent one day at Marbles Kids Museum and everyone had a great time. Here, Cameron is vying for a free ride aboard the pirate ship. Unfortunately, the 40-pound shipmate can't hoist this stowaway aboard.

Lucky for us, this was just a dry-run on crutches.

PJ took our tickets and welcomed us to the kids playhouse.

So the thing about Marbles, is that it opens at noon on Sunday. But we arrived at 10am. To kill some time, we found a playground nearby. Unfortunately, it was 97 degrees and humid. (Whatever. I KNOW I live in NC, but tell me you don't complain about WI or MI in January.!)

One of the girls most favorite activities together was bath time. It was like they were soul sisters. PJ has a way with words and Lucy can put on a diaper like no other nearly 2-yr-old.

While the weekend was quite an adventure together, it made us realize how much we really miss Cory and Kristin. With the bond that the babies shared, we KNOW we'll be seeing more of each other throughout the years. Hmm, perhaps we could get them to move South...

Escape to Carolina Beach

Julie and I took the kids to Carolina Beach for one last Hurrah! before school starts. We had so much fun! Now Julie and I need a vacation.

Oh, yeah. the gun. Did you notice that? Leigh is guarding the dvd player. There was much screaming and chaos until we put her in charge. 

Confessions of a Six-Year-Old Teenager

JBird: "What?! I cut my own bangs and I love it!"

Me- not so much. Also found in JBird's bedroom (besides hair) was my Bobbi Brown eyeliner and eye shadow, later determined to have been used on Lucy. Is this the beginning of the teenage years?

Who knew?

Jackie has been so helpful lately. She gets Lucy out of bed in the mornings, changes her diaper and puts her in the high chair so she can fix Lu's milk. Jackie's been clearing the table voluntarily and acting like a BIG sister. So we decided to reward her for her helpfulness. Dave got Jackie a giant York peppermint patty, which she devoured instantly. Then she wrote this sweet letter to DaddyO.

Yeah, so 30 minutes later, she barfed her guts out. Then I read the label for the peppermint patty and it has egg whites in it! Who knew? We let our guard down. We assumed it was safe, since JBird's had both chocolate and mint before. We felt bad enough as it was, but this letter didn't help matters any.

So Oscar Meyer changed the formulation for CamO's natural hot dogs. It now has sulfites in it. Repeat above scenario today. We ROCK at this parenting thing! Give us our Parents of the Year award already!

Welcome Tooth Fairy!

We will be expecting the tooth fairy this evening. Our first born FINALLY lost that wiggly tooth! We had been trying for a week to get her to pull it out on her own, but to no avail. So tonight, Dave got out the needlenose plyers. I put a little lidocaine on it and held her down while Dave yanked it out. The other kids watched in awe. There was no resistance and no yelling. What a big girl! How much does the tooth fairy pay for the FIRST tooth? (scroll down for pictures)

The Sun'll Come Out...

Between High School Musical and Annie, we are ALL about Show Tunes. Here, Jackie is sporting the HSM microphone taped to the right side of her mouth. Since Cameron and Lucy were also in the show, she made microphones for them as well. This is the opening scene from the HSM show tune dvd when Gabrielle, ahem...Jackie gathers the audience and gets them ready for the performance. I believe her exact words were "Are you READY?! HSM is HEREEEEE." Dave and I are awed at her creative talent, as well as her outfit.

Cameron didn't want to spoil the show when we saw him backstage. But we got a good glimpse of his costume. He's playing the part of Ryan AND Sharpay. 

Accompanied by our CF friends and Deane, we saw the Annie musical a few weeks ago. The original Annie, Andrea McArdle played the part of Miss Hannigan. At the end of the show, she did a reprise of 'Tomorrow'. It was truly amazing! In fact, Al Roper from the Today Show was there for the same performance and gave it rave reviews. I wonder what he would say about my little theatrical bunch.