Welcome Sophia (Sophie) Elizabeth Estes

Our dear friends Neil and Ramona welcomed their beautiful baby girl into the world on Monday, August 10th. She was born at 7:52 pm and weighed 7lbs, 2oz and was 20 inches long. The proud parents are beaming with joy and only just now beginning to suffer from loss of sleep. Below are just a few of the pictures I was able to take when we were there for a post-delivery visit.
Congratulations Estes Family...we wish you all the best!

Hatcher's first Gymnastics Class

Hatcher is always doing somersaults and talks of learning cartwheels. So, when Amy (Hailey and Tomy's mom) and Jodi (Ava Mei's mom) told me about Ultimate Gymnastics offering a class for 3-year olds, I thought we would give it a try. I enrolled Hatcher in the Tiki Tikes class with Ava Mei and Hailey - their first class was on Monday. Hatcher was so excited that he told everyone in school about it. When I went to pick him up the day of the first session, all the teachers wished him well in his gymnastics class. While Aidan, Hatcher and I headed to the first gymnastics class after school Monday, Daddy headed to the hospital to await the arrival of Uncle Neil and Aunt Ramona's baby girl. We hope he can make it next week!

All the moms headed up to a balcony area to watch the kids tumble their hearts out. There is a big range of kids that use the facility - so some of the equipment they don't even use. It was fun to see the kids in action. Aidan had such a hard time watching Hatcher and not being able to participate. We both walked down closer to where they were and every time Hatcher finished an exercise, Aidan would clap and say "Yeah Hatchee!" (It is so sweet - Aidan still doesn't pronounce Hatcher's name correctly - so he calls him Hatchee.) Aidan even had to take his shoes off like Hatcher did...too cute.

Hatcher said his favorite part was jumping in the foam pit. I didn't get a picture of that...but must say that when I took gymnastics as a small child, that was my favorite part too. I remember it vividly - flying through the air and landing into a pit of giant sponge blocks. What fun! When we went to leave, Aidan repeatedly tried to sneak onto the practice mat, with his mischievous grin, running around probably imaging he was practicing too.

No School Today - Georgia Aquarium

Last Friday the kids daycare/school was closed, so I told Hatcher we could either go to the Zoo or the Aquarium. In hindsight, I should have only offered the Aquarium...with it being near 100 degrees outside and the Zoo being all out in the open...outside...in the hot southern heat! Thankfully Hatcher chose the Aquarium. At first Derek was going to be at work, but surprised us all by getting some time in the morning to join us to the Aquarium. It was a good day to go as the crowds were light and everyone was in a good mood. The boys loved it! Hatcher has been really big into sharks lately. Every night before he goes to bed he requests tickle time with Daddy and takes on the role of a shark, either a fight shark, a whale shark or hammer-head shark. It is too funny. So, that is all he wanted to see at the Aquarium. We saved it for last since we knew he would want to stay in that section of Aquarium the longest. Aidan liked most of the fish. All the fist are "Nemos" so - anything swimming right by or in front of him was a huge highlight.

Hatcher was so excited that he picked out his dolphin shirt to wear that day - and had Aidan wear his Octopus shirt. It is amazing how much they think about stuff at this age. We had such a good time and we were home before it was time for a nap.

The Goddard Gang

Finally...we pulled it together enough to have the Goddard Gang over for dinner and fun. There is a group of us whose kids all attend, or did at one time, the same school. The kids all hang out together and the adults get along great as well. Over the summer, most everyone has hosted or had some sort of a function at their home where we have all attended...that is except for Derek and I. So once we synched up everyone's schedules...we locked in a Saturday afternoon where we could host the gang for dinner, drinks and fun. As usual, the laughter kicked off early and lasted late. We are lucky to have met up with a great group of people who like to have as much fun as we do. And - all our kids are close in age to boot and can whoop it up in their own way together while the adults can sort of let loose too! We were able to help celebrate Jodi and Christy's birthdays. Jodi and Dave brought Jodi's favorite cheesecake and so I put a huge candle on top for the cerimonious "make a wish and blow out your candle."

Thanks everyone for coming. We had so much fun...I know the boys did too! Until next time...