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.