Damon takes Washington D.C.

This past weekend Damon and I hit the road to D.C. which was his first trip there and our first trip in the car for 7 hours with no co-pilot to keep Damon occupied. I must admit, I was a little nervous about how this trip was going to go...

No surprise to some of you but Damon did excellent in the car. He didn't even watch a movie. He just read his books, played with his cars, practiced his writing, and of coures singing songs with mommie!

Friday night we decided to stay at my cousins home with their two kids so needless to say, Damon was excited when we arrived. The kids played so well together until almost 1 a.m. We slept in the room that had the snake in it...yes, I said SNAKE!!!! Damon had a hard time falling asleep due to his infactuation with watching the snake but finally sleepiness snuck in and took over.

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to D.C. where we met a friend of mine and then headed straight to the zoo. I must say, this was Damon's first trip to any zoo and I thought he was going to be in shock of all the different animals. Well, it wasn't more than 3 bears later and he was on to bigger and better things...like rocks. He absolutely loved climbing the rocks that were strategically placed throughout the zoo. This meant that we had to stop periodically so that Damon could climb the rocks. My friend and I were joking about the amazing animals around but Damon's interest was on rocks...too funny.

There was one bird that Damon freaked over, mainly because it was un-caged and he was able to get right next to it. Even though it scared him, we were able to get a picture.

We left the zoo, took the metro back to the hotel, and headed out for dinner. On our way back to the hotel, Damon fell asleep in the car and that was the end of our night.

Sunday morning before checking out, we put on our bathing suits and took a dip in the indoor pool at the hotel. He loved that...its the simple things in life that make him happy. We headed out that afternoon for our 7 hour trip home...Yawn! We didn't get home until 11 p.m. Damon fell asleep in the car and I of course drove.

Over all it was a fun trip and I'm so glad Damon enjoyed his time...I know I did.

Birthday Party Fun!

Boys just want to have fun!!!

Damon was invited to a birthday party at the bowling lanes. This was the first time Damon has been bowling so I was excited for him to try something new. Of course being the natural athlete he is, he did amazing. It was adorable seeing him in the dorky bowling shoes.

Damon looking at all of the bowling balls and deciding which one he wants to use. Of course he picked the heaviest one and needed a little help from his friend.

He is about to bowl. Look at that form!

And again with his eyes closed...now that's talent folks!

Everything he does, he does well. My baby got the highest score out of all of the 4 year olds!

Cool, calm, and collected as he throws up the peace sign.

After bowling it was time for pizza, cake, and arcades!

The thing I love about these 4 year olds...you don't have to give them coins for the games. They just jump on anything and think they are playing. Which allowed me to play 5 rounds of pac-man! Yeah!

Roughing it at Camp Meeting

Damon and Riley swinging together on the back porch.

Damon and I were lucky enough to celebrate my friend, Kat's, birthday today at Denver's Camp Meeting. This is something completely new to the both of us but we were excited to try a new experience. For those of you that are not familiar, camp meeting is a religious gathering. Two weeks out of the year families who have shacks that were passed down from generations move in and worship which dates back to the 1800's. Now it has become more of a social gathering and a little partying. Kat's family has had their shack passed down to them from their family in the 1800's...obviously improvements have had to be made over the years. They had the nicest shack in the entire place.

As soon as we got there Damon and Riley played outside with all of the other kids. It was very interesting. We had great food and good laughs. Kat, Laurie, and I decided to camp out there that night with the kids...that too was interesting.

The front of the shack


The kitchen and the kitchen table inside the shack


The bathroom with a sink but no shower or tub.


The stairs leading up to the bedrooms upstairs.

The bunk beds before we turned them into beds. There were four on each side of the wall so a total of 8 beds to sleep in.


This was a picture of what the rows of shacks look like. This was taken on the balcony of the second floor.

This is the back of the shack.

Damon and I had a blast. It was surprisingly peaceful and the simplicity was nice for a change. Thank you to the Link family for having us in their shack.

Bike Riding

Damon started riding his bike when he was about 3.5 years old, which is documented in earlier posts. We stopped riding for a while with the cold weather that came around and the fact that in our appartment complex there wasn't many places to ride so we took a few months off.

These past few weeks Damon regained interest in riding his bike and he is doing awesome. Today he figure out how to start off on his bike by himself without me having to hold on to him. He can also slam on the breaks and make skid marks in the driveway.

We took it to the road where it is a little trickier. We would drive up the road, turn around, and come back into the driveway. On Damon's firs turn into the driveway he ran into the mailbox. He was not happy about that but he got up and tried again.

Minutes later the little girls across the street came outside to play and to make sure they saw Damon riding his bike Damon decided to make loud noises such as: "Woo Who!" or "That's awesome" or "Yeah!" and then clapping his hands while the entire time looking at them to make sure they were looking at him. Even when he saw them looking he never said hi. He pretended like he didn't see them and he just jumped on his bike and started riding.

I did tell him that once he got really good I would buy him a new bike...well, he's really good so it looks like this weekend I will take him to pick out a bike and I will probably get one myself. I have always loved riding bikes but didn't want to get one until Damon was able to ride. We will be the biking duo. Yay!!

Busy Saturday!

This morning Damon and I got up, ate breakfast, got dressed and headed out to meet my friend at the pool. Damon did and excellent job swimming. He didn't even need his floaties! He swam under water, jumped in the pool, and floated on his back.

I failed to bring my camera to the pool...didn't really think about it but you better believe I'm bringing it next time.

Damon was complimented by a lady at the pool with how well he swam along with how polite he is. She was watching me teach him how to float and swim and thought he did such a great job taking it all in. She actually asked me if I taught swimming...uh no, I can swim but my technique is poor as anything. I never took lessons or classes so everything I do was self taught hence the splashing when trying to do a forward stroke. :)

It was time to leave the pool go home and pack our close for a sleepover. My cousin was going out with some of her friends so I agreed to watch the boys at her house and have a little sleep over.

It started out really nicely. We ate dinner, played together, got our baths, brushed our teeth and put in a movie. Once the movie was over I put together their camping tent and made a little bed inside for the boys. I read them 5 books and it was time for nighty-night...so I thought.

They couldn't agree on sleeping with the light on or off, they wanted to watch a movie but then wanted to play with toys so needless to say it was going to be hard getting them to sleep. Damon finally decided he was ready for bed but didn't want to sleep in the tent with his cousin. He wanted to sleep in a bed by himself. Aden wanted to sleep wherever Damon was sleeping. Unable to come to an agreement both of the boys jumped in my bed and that is just how we slept. Aden woke up with a bad dream in the middle of the night so we had to play musical pillows and I had to sleep next to Aden.

What a night!!

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, brushed our teeth and then headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. We played for a little that morning until my cousin came home and then Damon and I bolted back up to my parents house as I had to go visit my brother.

What a good weekend.

Water Fun!

Today I received a call from a friend who asked if Damon and I wanted to go onto his boat after work. I was really unsure about it because Damon has only been on a boat one time so I wasn't sure how he was going to do. I wasn't so much concerned about him being scared but concerned that he would be too brave and maybe fall out of the boat at some point. Damon stated he wanted to go when I asked him so...we went.

We got home, changed into some boat gear, and headed out to my friends house. He lives on the lake in this beautiful house. The boat was even more beautiful. We loaded up and took off. Of course. As soon as we got on the boat to the point where we were not close enough to go back to shore but not far enough to where we were in the main drive of the boats, Damon decided he needed to pee. After getting the approval, Damon and I stood on the very back of the boat as I balanced both of us and let him pee off the back. How embarrassing!

My friend was really careful about driving slow. Damon was all over that boat. Walking from the front to the back, from the passenger seat to the driver seat. He was making me nervous. Finally I got him to sit in my lap so we could go a little faster. He was so excited! Then it was time to go under a bridge. You may know from experience but when you are on a boat and you're approaching a bridge at some point it doesn't look like you are going to fit under it. Damon was a little nervous about it but then he saw we were going to make it. We were on the lake for about two hours and as it was getting dark we headed home. Damon curled up in my lap, I wrapped the towel around him and he started to fall asleep.

We had a blast!

Volleyball Game

Tonight was my first beach volleyball game. I am on a team with one of my doctors and two other guys. My cousin picked Damon up from school for me and brought him to the game. My biggest fan was front and center watching me play. Every once in a while I would hear Damon yell "Go Mommy! You can do it."

During any kind of break Damon would run over and give me a hug and a high-five. I was so happy that he was there to watch me. It is important for him to see that I do know what I am talking about when it comes to sports and that I am actually pretty good at some of them.

Water Balloon Fight

Today Damon and I had a water balloon fight. I bought some small balloons, filled them up with water and started pegging Damon with them. He absolutely loved it so of course I had to make about 10 more and let him throw them all at me.

It wasn't as fun cleaning them up though.

Transformers II

My cousins and their kids came into town this weekend: Jason, Kelly, Trenton, and McKenna. Ihad a 5 hour meeting this morning in Charlotte so I was gone from 7-2. When I got home Damon and Trenton were playing outside. At that moment I was told to get ready because Jason and I were taking the boys to the Transformer II movie but not at just any old regular movie theatre...no...we had to go to the IMAX dome inside the discovery place.

We get there and the boys got to play around in the "museum" part of the discovery place and they absolutely loved it. Damon got to pick up a real four wheeler utilizing this contraption, he got to float in a vacuum inspired chair lift, he worked with a maze wheel to move beans around, and got to play in a blues band.

It was time for the movie to start so we got our snacks and headed in. It was the most intense movie but to have it shown on a dome shaped screen made it very difficult to follow...not to mention the movie is like two and a half hours long. Needless to say we weren't able to stay the entire time. We left about half way through it because the boys were ready to go. Normally they can sit and watch an entire movie but they couldn't handle this one.

On our way home we decided to stop in Birkdale for dinner and to let the boys play in the water. We stayed there for about 2 hours and then headed home. The boys fell asleep in the car.

It was a successful night.

McDonald Disaster

Today Damon asked to go to McDonald's for dinner and since I had made plans to stop by one of my friends homes, I was not opposed. Damon told me what he wanted, so I ordered and we pull up to pay and the first thing Damon yells is: "Mom! That lady is old!!" She looked at me and the only thing I could do was puff out my cheeks and try not to laugh. I know I was beet red but I couldn't say anything. I just handed her my money said thanks and drove off...I forgot my change.

As soon as we left her "old butt" behind I explained to Damon there are just some things he can not say out loud or if he does it needs to not be in front of the person he is talking about. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Damon, you can't say stuff like that.
Damon: Why? She was old mom.
Me: Yes, but that might have hurt her feelings.
Damon: Doesn't she know she's old?
Me: She probably does but some people do not like to be reminded.
Damon: Okay.

I love how they are so honest to the obvious.

Last Soccer Game

Today was Damon's last soccer game and of course we did not have the entire team there...yet again. The two teams played for about 40 minutes against each other and then it was time for the parents to hit the field against all of the kids. It was comical to see each parent try to be as bad as possible. When the kids would actually get the ball near our goal we would kick it half way down the field. Every once in awhile we would let the kids score.

After the parents against kids game, it was time to hand out the trophies. Our team went first and they were sooo excited. I got some adorable pictures of them!!! (To be posted later)

Damon had a big fan base: G-ma, G-pa, GG-ma, and his dad. Damon ended up going with his dad for the rest of the week to spend Fourth of July.

Swim Time!

We were invited to my friend Kat's house to swim. Couldn't have been more perfect. Damon and I were very hot after a long game. We ate at our spot, IHOP, and headed over to Kat's to change and swim.

We walk to the pool, put our sun screen on, and jumped in. About 10 minutes in to swimming the lifeguard blew his whistle and yelled "ADULT SWIM". I looked at Damon, Damon looked at me and the next thing I knew he got out of the pool. I was shocked because we've never been to a pool with a lifeguard nor have we been to a pool where adults could swim without kids. Poor thing. He was just getting started when he had to stop. :)

I got in and swam around for a bit while Damon sat on the side with his feet dipping in the water. Finally after 15 minutes which seemed much longer, for all I heard was Damon yelling: "mom can I come back in yet?" "Where did the lifeguard go?" "When is he going to blow the whistle again?", the lifeguard came back and it was kids swim. Damon did excellent...of course.

We stayed out for about two hours then rushed back home to go to a house warming party...which we didn't not have enough time to make it to.

Went home and relaxed a little bit before his date night with grandma. I think they went riding around and to dinner...or something like that.

2 Goals for Damon!

This morning Damon and I jumped up and headed to soccer practice. There is usually not much to write about when it comes to soccer but this time there was...

Damon, my son, scored two, yes two soccer goals today. I was the only coach on the field today so I unfortunately did not get to see the goal he kicked all the way from our goal. Let me set the visual. Damon was playing goalie, the ball came to him and he just kicked it. I saw him kick it and I saw it go in the other teams goal but I was so busy "coaching" I just assumed that one of the other kids kicked it in the goal. I didn't realize the only connection that ball had before it went into the goal was from my son's foot.

The next goal he made he actually stole the ball from the other team and dribbled it all the way to their goal and kicked it in. He was so proud of himself and so was I.

We had a nice cheering crowd behind us. Of course Grandma and Grandpa who attend almost every game and this time the special guests were Aunt Erin and Briana! Yay!

Some Birkdale Fun

Today after school my cousin and I decided to take our boys out to eat and then to play in the fountains. We took them to eat at the delicious Eez Sushi Restaurant. The boys were so cute eating with their chopsticks...no I didn't get pictures...but they ate all of their food. Damon even got brave and decided to eat some of my sushi. In fact, he took one roll and put the entire thing in his mouth! It took several minutes for him to actually finish it. In the end, he really enjoyed it...I was kind of shocked.

After dinner we walked over to the fountains. Now this is water that shoots out of the ground at all different heights. Kids from all over get in their bathing suits and just go crazy. The nice thing is, during the summer they have live bands playing a variety of music so the parents can enjoy themselves as well.

You have to be careful when running around the fountain because inevitably two children will collide. My son happened to be one of them...twice. First he accidentally ran into a toddler who was walking along. He didn't so much run right into her as he wasn't looking and tripped her. She started to cry and then he started to cry out of embarrassment. The next incident was up against a hefty boy that knocked Damon completely on his bottom. Damon looked at me while laying on the ground and just as he was about to let those tears flow I told him to "shake it off" and he got up and kept going.

Time went by so fast the next thing we knew it was 9:45 and completely dark. Time to go home...I was exhausted.

Isle Of Palms

Today my entire family and I decided to take a quick day trip to the beach. I told them about Isle of Palms which is a beach my cousin and I visited the other week and completely fell in love with.

We left around 7:30 that morning and drove about 3.5 hours to arrive at the beach a little after 11:00. Damon did excellent during the trip there. He sat in the third row of my grandmothers SUV with my mom so they were able to entertain themselves. We of course had to make a couple of stops and surprisingly enough not for Damon. At one of the gas stations my Dad took a picture of Damon. He dressed himself in this getup...he had his baseball gloves on too but those didn't make it in the picture.

We arrived at the beach and Damon was ecstatic! It's been about 2 years since he has been to a beach so this was a special trip. My family piled out of the car, grabbed all of our beach gear and headed for the ocean. The water was not cold at all. It felt kind of like bath water so it was easy for all of us to run in and just start swimming. After being in the ocean for about 20 minutes I decided to rent a boogie board for all of us to catch some waves with. We all took turns showing Damon how it worked until it was his turn...

Now this next video you are about to see might be a little scary but I wanted to share how tough Damon is...

So he fell under the water for a second but what you didn't get to see is me hauling butt and grabbing him out of the water. He was okay, really mad when he first came up from the water but didn't give up. He let us put him on the board a few more times until he was not interested in going under water anymore.

This was not one of the times Damon did not fall off his board but I was running right behind him to make extra certain.

Damon was not interested in playing in the sand which is a little strange seeing as most kids are; all he wanted to do was swim and run in the water. He would lay on the beach, flopping from his stomach to his back, while the waves crashed over his body. We would all take turns taking Damon out into the ocean as we would tire pretty quickly...Damon was non stop.

"Unc", Damon, and me. Tyler did such a great job playing with Damon and I know we were all happy that he joined us for the trip. Damon loves being with his "Unc" and I know the beach trip wouldn't have been the same without him.

Damon and G-maw giving the peace sign and thumbs up in the ocean.

Damon was trying to ride G-paw like a whale...or was it a shark??

And of course we couldn't end our beach trip without sharing a kiss in the ocean.

We started packing up our stuff around 3:00, loaded it up into the car, and did a little souvenir shopping before we hit the road to Charleston. We were desperately looking for a place to eat whole crabs but didn't have any such luck so we ate at some restaurant in Charleston that was equally satisfying. I got the Carolina Platter which came with crab legs, a crab cake, and shrimp. Damon ate all of the crab legs while I did all of the work to get the meat for him and ate most of the shrimp. Before getting back in the car, Damon and I ran across the street to get some ice cream for the ride home.

We were all exhausted from the beach and I was sure it was going to be a quite ride home because Damon would be falling asleep...wrong! He stayed up the entire ride. I, on the other hand, doze off for few minutes here and there.

The trip was a success. Damon had a blast, we made it back safe, and spent little money. Damon is already asking when we are going back.

Last day of school!!!

Today was Damon's last day of school however he will still be going to his school during the summer for summer camp so technically he will still be at school but there won't be an educational curriculum to follow.

Anyway, for the last day his class had an ice cream social. Damon signed me up to bring: cool whip, cherries, chocolate chips, gummy bears, and caramel syrup...thank you son. :) So I arrive to his school at 3:00 for the social and helped the teachers scoop the ice cream and put toppings on.

They had a Hawaiian theme and all of the kids had grass skirts and lei's on. I topped Damon off with a Hawaiian straw hat.

At the end of the social the teachers made a beautiful speech about how much they loved and enjoyed our kids. Each student received a sand bucket, shovel, goggles, and candy inside with a handmade t-shirt. It almost brought a tear to my eye until I remembered he'll still be with those teachers through the summer...so we had time.

IHOP

This morning after the kids woke up from their sleep over, which they were so good by the way, we decided to take them to IHOP to have some delicious pancakes.

Damon decided to get mini pancakes, eggs, and bacon. He ate pretty good. I'm not the biggest fan of breakfast foods so I got a strawberry crepe and hash browns. I know, not the healthiest choice but who goes to IHOP to eat healthy?

The kids enjoyed their time together but after breakfast it was time to go home.

Thank you Kat and Riley for a wonderful time!

Family Fun

Today Damon and I went to visit some family in the "mountains", as we like to call it. There was a big cookout going on at my aunt and uncle's house where all of my cousins and their kids (who are Damon's age) gather for a little swim and great food.

Damon doesn't get to see his cousins as much as I would like. It's hard to get everyone together when you live 1.5 hours away. Damon and I do keep such busy schedules. The kids always play together so nicely which allows the adults to have fun and carry on decent conversations...well not so much decent conversations as trashy talkin'.

We got up there around 2:00 that afternoon and stayed until after dinner.

We always have such a great time when we go up there so I'm going to really try to make a trip at least every other month.

Back to the farm we go!

Damon and I were invited, by my good friend Kat, to hang out at her parents farm today with her and Riley. We were so excited to go as we always have a great time.

We headed out there around 4:00 that evening so that it wouldn't be too hot for them. As soon as we go there the kids wanted to run over to the donkey's to feed them. Then we jumped on the golf cart and rode all around the farm visiting animal after animal. We got to see the new baby calf and she was so sweet. I got to feed her and her soft tongue and silky nose rubbed up against my hand.

It was feeding time and Damon got to help Farmer Jim feed all of the animals. It was amazing to see and a little scary at the same time. There were hundreds of different animals that migrated towards the food. They were popping out from the tall grass, coming from the woods, and out of the barn.

As the day came to an end the kids and I played soccer with some of the peacocks and dogs. That was funny to see. Then we loaded the kids up in the car, stopped off to get some food, and ended up having a little sleep over at Kat's house.

It was a long exhausting day.


*****pictures and video's to be posted soon****

First School Field Trip

Today Damon went on his first field trip and of course I volunteered to go and help the teachers. I went to the school around 10:00 and watched the kids pile onto the bus. The other parents and I followed the bus to Patterson Farms.

There the kids got to feed different animals, take a tractor ride around the farm, pick strawberries, plant beans, and play on the playground.

I must say, I enjoyed picking the strawberries more than the kids did. It was really fun and we all couldn't wait to wash those berries and have a little taste. This kids were so well behaved and excited about everything they got to do.

During the tractor ride some of the little boys started pointing at my shirt and saying "look, look!" I looked down at my shirt and saw nothing so Damon pointed out very loudly "your boobies are bouncing." Ugh! They all started to laugh so I just folded my arms across my chest and laughed to myself. I was kind of happy when the ride stopped.

After all of our activities the class sat down for a picnic lunch. I stopped into the produce store and bought a divine looking watermelon...yum, and then it was time to head back to the school. The kids were so exhausted from all of the excited and blazing son. I just knew they were going to fall asleep on the bus...I wanted to fall asleep in the car.

Sure enough we pull into the school as the kids were stumbling off the bus with no energy and arms dragging behind them. I ended up taking Damon home for the rest of the day. I can't wait for the next field trip!


****Pictures to be posted when I can figure out how to download them****

Damon's new favorite song.

You know how much Damon loves music...well, I was at the store the other day and found Elton John's greatest hits cd. Oh yeah! When I actually buy a new cd (which is not often) I play it out. We're talking morning to night, day in and day out. Damon was in the car when Elton's "Crocodile Rock" was playing and he fell in love with it. Especially the La-La-La-La-La part and now he knows the words. One of my favorite songs is "Yellow Brick Road" and now Damon can sing both of those songs.

My mom got in the car with us the other day and Damon says: "Grandma, this is Elton John." She was amazed at his love and knowledge for music and the fact that he already knew the words.

I will try to record Damon singing the song although it will be difficult because I'm usually driving while he's belting out the lyrics.

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Tonight was Damon's first school performance and boy was I excited. It started at 6:30 so I got to the school at 5:30 to make sure I got great seats saved for me and my family. I'm sure glad I got there an hour early because the first two rows were already saved by parents that showed up that morning and put their names on it...why didn't I think of that. You would have thought it was a Justin Timberlake concert because there were hundreds of people, the cars were all over the place (on the road, parking lot, grass, driveways etc.), and the parents were getting upset with the people that reserved their spots. I thought there was going to be a fight breaking out between two dads...it was serious. So I'm sitting there, by myself, for an hour in my seat and saving 3 other seats by putting random items in my purse on each seat so that it was clear they were taken. Sure I got some looks but hey, it's a dog-eat-dog world and I wasn't about to give up those seats. It was touch and go for a second but I pulled it off.

This play included the entire school and each class played a different color of the rainbow. Damon's class was the color orange but honestly, I had no idea what they were doing. Damon managed to keep it a complete surprise.

Their scene was about 5 minutes long, their main line was "We are orange, orange are we. We like to laugh, Ha ha ha, because we are so happy.", and their main song was "Don't worry, Be Happy."

All of the kids did such a great job but I was especially pleased with Damon's performance. He had all of the moves down, he knew exactly what to say and when to say it and the most impressive part is he knew where is audience was at all times. Some of the kids during the dancing part would forget to face the audience when singing...not Damon.

All the kids came back out on the stage for one final appearance. Damon is upfront and center.

Don't worry, Be happy! Could there be any better words to carry with you throughout life? I was however a bit worried that during the spinning parts of the dance someone would have spun right off the stage but luckily that didn't happen.

BRAVO Damon! Excellent Job! We LOVE You!

Oh and since Damon is a boy, I didn't think flowers would be appropriate to give him after his performance, so I took him to Dairy Queen for some Ice cream. Is that perfect or what?

Like mother, like son...

You are not seeing double, you are seeing a son carrying on his mothers athletic tradition with the number 8. This number has always been my favorite and has always been on my jersey for as long as I can remember. T-ball, softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball and if I had played football then yes, that would have been my number then too.

I've always hoped to have been able to coach my child's team, whatever the sport, and now that dream has come to fruition however there is nothing like seeing my son wear the same number that was on my back during some of the best times of my life. The number 8 was there during my first soccer goal, my first home run, and my first ACE in volleyball. It saw me through wins and losses (but mostly wins), rainy games and night games, double headers and all stars and helped me make history. My number was retired from Mooresville High Schools Softball team.

I hope this number becomes a favorite of his although whatever number Damon decides to carry with him I hope it stays with him through all of his athletic success.

Horsing Around

I think I've said before in other posts that my parents neighborhood is privately owned therefore it's not your typical side-by-side houses. Everyone is on at least a half acre (my parents an acre) and there are maybe 20 houses total which means less traffic. Also we know just about everyone because they've been in the neighborhood for a good 13 years now. My point is I feel very safe letting Damon go out and play by himself and that includes walking across the road to the horses.

I was cooking dinner today at my parents and Damon saw some kids from the neighborhood with their parents walking to the horses. Damon asked if he could go and I said after dinner we could walk over there. He said he really wanted to go with the other kids so I went outside with him to make sure he got over there okay and I told him to be careful and stay where I can see him. I couldn't leave the house because I had already started dinner but the window in the kitchen faces the horses so I had a direct shot of where Damon was and what he was doing. I also knew the parents that he was over there with.

He was having a blast with the kids and then I saw the kids and their parents leave but Damon was not with them. I went outside to wait for Damon to follow but he was too busy talking to the owner of the horses (Mr. Brantley hence the name of the neighborhood Brantley Acres). I stood at the end of the driveway so I could keep a better eye on him and the next thing I know...

Here comes Damon on a HORSE!

I love the above picture because Damon is twirling the horses hair. When I was younger (1-6 years old) I used to twirl my hair or the persons hair I was sleeping with to fall asleep. Damon has always done the same when he would get really sleepy although he doesn't do that anymore but it seems to appear every once in a while.

I was screaming with delight and yelled for my dad to bring his camera. This was a big occasion as Damon has looked at these horses every weekend since he was a baby and has always wanted to ride one of them.

Our good neighbor, Mr. Steve, who has known me since I was 13 years old, allowed Damon to take a spin on Belle (the horse). This is the biggest horse Damon has ever been on and without a saddle!

He now calls it "his horse"...

Mother's Day Tea

Today Damon's school hosted a mother's day tea party. All mothers were invited to bring their own tea cup and come to the school for tea and snacks in your child's classroom. I get there and Damon was so excited to see me walk in his classroom. He seats me, gets me a plate of cookies and muffins, and sits next to me. He was being so sweet. He told me happy mother's day and proceeded to cater to me by feeding me cookies. A girl could get used to this!

Later the teacher gave all of the students their gifts to give to the moms. Damon made me this beautiful butterfly wind chime along with a homemade card.

The card read (front): Thumbunny loves you! (with a picture of a bunny made by his thumb prints)

(Inside): I love my mom because..."She watches t.v. with me."

OMG! Not because I read him books, or play sports with him, make him dinner, kiss his boo-boo's, nurses him back to health when he's sick, or teaches him things but because I watch t.v. with him??? and I don't even watch t.v. with him. We don't really watch t.v. at all!

I started to feel kind of bad about his answer; thinking that he thought I don't do anything for him or that all we do is watch t.v. I couldn't understand why he didn't remember we do so much more. It wasn't until my dad made me realize that to Damon he cherishes the simplicity of us just being together, watching a movie, and me not running around cleaning, or shopping, or making dinner. It was the fact that we were just together.

I tend to forget that he is only 4 and may not realize everything I do for him or everything we do together (hence the reason for this blog) but that he loves me and loves the little things, the simple things, that make him happy.


++++++pictures to be posted later+++++++

It's official...

Damon has admitted he has a girlfriend! Tonight, while I was cooking dinner, Damon asked me to dance with him...Oh yeah, besides the fact that we sing all of the time, we also dance a lot too...Anyway, he asks me to dance and shows me how to put my hand on his shoulder and then our other hands together and out (like ballroom dancing). I said, "wow Damon that is really great! Where did you learn how to dance like that?", thinking he would say: "from you mom". He instead came out with "My girlfriend and I dance like that." What???? "Who is your girlfriend?" he replies, "Riley." I just smiled and said "Oh Riley's your girlfriend huh?" He smiled back at me, shrugged his shoulders and with a shy facial expression said "Yes."

Oh boy...

The Great Wolf Lodge

and boy was it. My family and I decided to visit this new indoor water park located in Concord, NC. The family included: My aunt Sandy, Cousins: Casey, Haley, and Madison, my parents, Damon and me.

My dad and I decided to go ahead and take Damon to the lodge while my mom waited for the others to come into town. Pulling up to the lodge was almost like pulling up to Disney World. All three of us were screaming with excitement. The reservations were under my name, so I get all of us checked in and we head straight to the water park. Our room wouldn't be available until 4:00 p.m. and we got there at 2:00, so we had plenty of time to kill.

The lodge was beautiful and the staff were so friendly. Walking into the water park was a bit overwhelming, not because of the people but just the sight was incredible. When you walk in there is always someone there to open the doors and hand you a fresh, clean, warm towel. Isn't that cool? You don't even have to bring your own towel! I think that was my favorite part of the entire trip because when you leave the water park, you throw your towel in a bin by the door on your way out. Anyway, back to the fun...

We started climbing around the water playground...yes...it's for adults too. Then we hit the wave pool, played pool basketball, and sat on the floating snake. After all of that it was time to check out our room.

The kids freaked out when they saw that their room was a miniature log cabin. Our theme was "Kid Cabin" hence the log cabin bedroom. The kids had a bunk bed and then a single bed, complete with a flat screen t.v.

We went back to the pool for another hour and then took a break to eat dinner. We chose to do a buffet and boy was it good. After dinner the lodge has bed time stories in the lobby. All of the kids in in the lodge put on their p.j.s and enjoy the nice bedtime show. My dad, Casey, and I headed back down to the water park to do nothing but the slides while the kids got ready for bed. The water parked closed at 9:00 so then we headed to the arcade to play a few games.

We were completely exhausted and I had to go to work for a few hours the next morning so I went upstairs and fell fast asleep.

Monday was our last day (you only need one night there) and we did it all again. This time I took Damon down the big slides and he loved it. I thought he would be a little scared but he wasn't. He just wanted to do them over, and over, and over.

I'm so glad we went. I had a blast and can't wait till our next visit.

Coach Mom...

Yes, you heard me...Coach Mom and we're not talking about me wearing designer clothes. Damon had his first soccer meeting/game/practice today. The parents and kids met on the field at 9:00 this morning awaiting our coach. I found myself and one other dad on the field kicking the ball around with the kids when we were approached by one of the employees of the "camp" who was holding a bag of balls. He asked us who our coach was, the dad and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay" he said "I'll be right back". The next thing we knew another guy with the soccer company came down to the field and explained to all of the parents that the guy who was originally supposed to coach our team could not be reached therefore it was up to us to designate a coach.



After much deep discussion one of the mom's volunteered me as she watched me playing soccer with the kids and thought I was "pretty good." Ha! I haven't played soccer since middle school! After the dad who was on the field with me said he would help I was willing to take the challenge. We made it through our first practice with no time to plan and to top it off we actually played a small game against another team. Who does that? First time ever meeting your team and we play a game! The kids had fun, we tied the game, and we have a lot of work to do.

Oh did I mention, Damon does not like the idea of me being the coach? Yeah, he wants all of my attention...geez.

Davidson Fair

After Damon's soccer game/practice...whatever...we decided to pick up Erin and Brianna and head to this street fair in Davidson.

It was so crowded but fun. Damon got to go down the firetruck bouncy slide, play in the sand pile, and then spent the rest of the time watching the dancers perform. I had Damon sitting on my shoulders so he could see and we were dancing around.

We stopped for some pizza on the way home and then Damon fell asleep in the car.

I'm tired just thinking about our long weekend....

Pictures to be posted soon.

Damon's Injury

Today I picked Damon up early to take him to see his dad for the weekend. When I got to his school the class was taking a bathroom break so they were all standing in a line in the hallway...Damon was crying. I went over to him and asked what was wrong. After getting no response from him I looked at his teacher and asked what happened? Damon is not a cry baby so I knew something was up. The teacher told me he got hurt on the playground-a kid accidentally poked him in the eye. I asked Damon to show me his eye and he couldn't open in. I explained that I needed to see his eye and that he needed to open it for me. The only way that he could do that was to pry it open with his own hands and at that point I knew it wasn't good. When he finally got his eye opened he would scream with pain, close his eye and put his hand over it. Now Damon doesn't usually have to go to the doctors except for the occasional sick visit which is maybe once a year and then of course for his yearly child's check up. After calling about three doctors offices I was finally able to get a doctor that could see him today...it was however 3:30 so I was very lucky to get an appointment that wasn't at the urgent care or the emergency room. I just loathe those places.

When waiting for the doctor in the exam room I try to keep Damon's anxiety down so I get the tongue depressors and sword fight with him, then I'll get a glove and blow it up into a small balloon. When the doctor came in Damon of course got very chatty with nervousness and started telling the doctor random facts like:

"My mom always drops her stick (tongue depressor)"
"I'm going to see my dad today"
"I had wacky dress day"

Poor thing! I explained to the doctor what happened at school and he said okay Damon I'm going to make you feel better. I need to look at your eye but after he opened it and Damon let out a yelp, he looked at me and said "we need to numb his eye". Ugh! Damon heard that and freaked out as the doctor got the eye drops out. I literally had to lay my body over him and hold his head while the doctor pulled his eye open and put the drops in. You could tell Damon felt immediate relief as he stopped screaming and just laid there. Next the doctor had to scrape his eye and put dye in it. I could not watch it so I just held Damon's hand, talked to him, and looked the other way. The doctor then turned the lights out and put a blue light on and said "Yep, Damon has a corneal abrasion." He then let me look and I got to see the small hole in his eye. It was pitiful. The good news is it's not severe enough that a few drops a day can't help. Damon sat up and the doctor said "See Damon, I told you I would make you feel better." Damon looked at him and said "I know that but do not do it again." The doctor then whispered to me "the numbing will wear off in a few hours and he's going to be hurting again." That broke my heart.

We left, got our stickers and suckers, and met Damon's dad in the parking lot. Since it was a minor injury I was okay with Damon leaving me for the weekend. I always like to be with him when he is sick but he really wanted to go with his Dad and I was happy to let him...I don't have to put the drops in his eyes this weekend!

I asked Drew to put a patch on Damon's eye if he goes outside or if any kids or animals are around him and while he sleeps. I didn't want to take a chance on it getting worse or irritated.

Wacky Day...and it was!

Wacky Day!!!

Today Damon's school had a Dress Wacky Day. Damon and I didn't really have to talk much about it. He went in his room and picked out what he wanted to wear. As I was getting dressed for work he comes in my room and says "hey ma, look." He was wearing his Soccer pajama shirt, green sweat pants that were too small, green army socks and his black cowboy boots. It was very interesting to see his own definition of "Wacky Wear". After being in his boots for a few minutes in the house he realized they would hurt his feet if he wore them all day so he decided to put on his blue and white tie died crocks...perfect. :) To top it off he put is Geico hat on sideways and a small pilots jacket. I love it! I think this is something he would probably wear everyday if I let him completely pick out his own outfit everyday...thank goodness for uniforms.

Damon and his music

Damon has always been a musical child dancing, singing, playing instruments, beat boxing etc. I would like to take credit for that as our life together has been one big musical. We sing in the morning, during the day, and at night. We both dance to the rhythm of our own beat and let me tell you Damon doesn't miss a beat!

Damon has never really been interested in the kids music-you know ring around the rosie, old McDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider etc. He and I listen to random music depending on the mood we are in.

He amazes me with how quickly he can pick up the words to songs like Pinks "Sober", Queens "We will rock you", Billy Joel's "My life", Flo Rida's "In the Ayer" and his most recent one All American Rejects "Gives You Hell". Tonight at dinner while I was clearing the table Damon busted out with: "When you look at my face hope it gives you hell, hope it gives yooouuu hellll." That is not exactly the words but he was very close and he had the tune and rhythm down. It was pretty awesome.

The funny thing is he has only heard that song once or twice because it has only played on the radio, it's not something I have on a cd and play for him over and over. I don't necessarily like the fact that he says hell but you know what, I don't have a problem with him using inappropriate words so I feel like it is okay for him to sing it in a song...on the occasion.

New Bike Safety Gear

It became apparent to me, now that Damon is learning to ride his bike without training wheels, it might be a good thing to get him a helmet that wasn't 3 sizes too big and decorated in Dale Junior crap...I mean thanks mom and dad!






It was time to test out the new gear. Damon was so excited to wear it because he felt like a big boy.





I have to help him get started and it has been a few months since he has ridden his bike so he was a little rusty. Now that it is nice outside we should have him riding by himself before the end of June. We'll see...






Today was a long day and Damon was exhausted. He fell asleep in the car on the way home which was around 7:00 p.m.





Oh and guess who the lucky person was that got to carry him up two flights of stairs in a dress and heels?...Me!

Arts and Crafts

Please let me first apologize for the long posts. I have yet to figure out how to do a slide show which would make this a lot easier to view. Any who...

Today Damon and I met my cousin and her son at the Cornelius Arts Center where they were having arts and crafts for the kids. We got there about 30 minutes early because I wasn't sure if parking was going to be scarce but we kind of got front row. The next few pictures are random shots I took of Damon as we were waiting for the festivities to start.

He posed himself and put his hat on crooked...not me.

I know what you're thinking...is he doing...no he can't be... Don't worry he's not. We were flicking a bottle cap in the air and catching it. I told you we were trying to waste some time. I hate to say but he's got the K-fed motif going on...don't you think?

Well look who we ran into first, Mrs. Clown! It's funny because the guys are not scared of the clown but they definitely kept their distance...

Of course nothing like a good balloon sword fight...typical.

The first station we stopped at was the pirate hat station. To try this at home please follow these steps: lol ; )

First take a regular newspaper and let the kids draw on it. As you can see Damon chose a black crayon. It might be wise for your child to use a colored crayon as the newspaper is generally black and white.

Secondly put the newspaper over your child's head. Make sure it doesn't blow off once, twice or three times.

Then you put your child in a headlock and put a strip of tape around your child's head.

Lastly you fold the sides of the news paper up and voila...a pirates hat. It was no time before that pirates hat became a ball of trash on my car floorboard.

How convenient...the next station was right behind us. It was the "paint a random hat" station. Damon decided to pain his hat red...the entire thing red!

Literally 30 minutes later Damon had completed his red hat and we hung it up to dry.

Next was the "wash your hands before you get it all over your clothes" station.

We got out of the sun for a bit to go inside and make kites and pictures.

On our way out we stopped and watched a skit the local acting school put together. It was kind of cute.