Grand Opening: Drew's Sandbox

Todd and Drew worked hard over the last week. Todd built Drew a little sandbox for our back yard, and Drew was quite the little helper too. He helped nail boards, paint, and made lots of trips back and forth to fill the box with sand. After a lot of hard work, Drew finally got to play in it today and had a great time. He made ramps and set up his little monster truck course. It was pretty cute. He told us he wanted a sign that said " no girls allowed" next to it :)

It didn't take long though, Hannah and Lila greeted the sandbox shortly after it was usable and Drew was ready to show it off!

Hannah and Lila had a fun morning together. I was on a walk and saw Lila playing outside her house while her dad was doing yard work. I scooped her up for a few hours and surprised Hannah with her little friend when I walked in the door. Hannah was so excited!

Another busy weekend, yet we never have much to show for it lately. We never sit down, kids are busy and active as ever. Lots of pool time, friend time, work, life etc. Ugh.. I need a vacation from myself I think :)

We are sticking around here for the 4th, catch up on life around the house and get a few things done. I look forward to some time with the kids!  Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!

Superhero Run!

Well, it's not everyday you can dress up at Batman on a June saturday morning, but given the opportunity, we take full advantage of it! This past Saturday we took part in the Atlanta Superhero family run raising money for Children's Hospital of Atlanta.   Jason, Susan, Claudine and I headed out early in the morning for a 5k run, then shortly after Todd and Jonas showed up with the kids so we could all the do family / kids 1 mile sprint.  The event was held at Piedmont Park, and it was a gorgeous day!

Here are the kids pre-run, ready for take off!

We think they all make pretty cute little super heroes! Pictured above left to right is Hannah, Alexandra, Lila, Camden, Caitlin and Drew.

Two super mans and a flash Gordon!  Left to right is Jason, Todd and Jonas

Finally, the 4 of us. We had such a wonderful time, and we were so impressed with Drew. He took his race very, very serious, winning for team Ashebrooke, and winning the little kids run. Drew sprinted the one mile, and I mean sprinted. Drew was in the lead, I was chasing after him yelling "slow down" so I wouldn't lose him in the crowd. About three quarters way through he turns back and looks at me and says " mom, you think we can do this?" I said for sure little buddy, go get em... so he did. I managed to pull some random hip muscle while chasing him. At night as we went to bed, he said "mom, I am sorry I ran so fast I hurt you and people laughed at you". I thought, well, how do you get any sweeter than that, feeling bad about an injury and the people watching laughing at me as I chased him :) Just another Satuday with Drew.

Hannah had a sleep over party the night before for her friend Mackenzie's bday, Hannah wasn't the most wide awake for the event and walked most of it, which is fine, as long as everyone had a good time that is all that mattered.

I think we will take some time off from doing races with Drew until we can get in better shape to keep up with him, in the mean time, we will stick to tennis :)

Hannah's Dance Recital 2013

A busy week for Hannah last week, as Thursday was her final dance recital for the year. And thank goodness for that. Hananh did NOT enjoy dance and tap this year. We made her stick with it for the school year as we though she would come around, but she never did. We had signed Hannah and Maddie up together thinking they would enjoy dancing and seeing eachother every week. They surely enjoyed seeing eachother, but neither of than are future ballerinas, which honestly is fine by me. I met some pretty crazy dance moms over this recital, all of which make we want to avoid anything dance related. Regardless, what Hannah did enjoy was getting her little pink dance costume and performing on stage.

hannah and dad before we left for the recital!

Hannah and Maddie before they went on stage, and before they had to sit through a long night and 2.5 hours of performances for their 2 - 3 minute performances. OMG?!? Long night.

In the back on the right, there is Hannah on stage during her performance. She smiled, and seemed to enjoy it, but as we left made me promise her she would never have to take another dance class again. So, I promised :)

Ahh, finally, summer in full swing, we are down to just swim team and fun camps for Hannah.

Both Hannah and Drew have been at the pool nearly every day at some point. They are both really, really tan, and Hannah's hair keeps getting lighter each day. They are so cute, and having so much fun at the pool this year so far. We are loving it.

Hannah's 1st Swim Meet - Go Pinecrest Pirates!

Last Monday night Hannah had her first swim meet. She is part of the Pinecrest Pirate team this year, which is just right behind her elementary school. All the kids in the neighborhood swim there, as well as some of Hannah's friends from East Side Elementary. I raced to the meet as fast as I could from work, nervous I was going to miss her first race! I got there in the nick of time, and Hannah was so excited. It was the first time I have seen her with such determination. The night before at bedtime she looked at me and said "mom, I am going to win, I want a blue ribbon". I said, you just swim your heart out and have fun. In my mind I was more or less expecting her to freak out at race time and hang onto a lane line for dear life or chicken out of the race all together.  In Hannah fashion, he amazed me as always. Apparently she was more determine than I ever realized, because she did amazing. Her first swim meet race ever, 25 freestyle, wouldn't you know it, Hannah took home the blue ribbon and got first place. I was so happy for her, she was so excited and happy. It just warmed my heart to see how proud of herself she was!

Here she is in full swing, literally. Cinching the 25 freestyle, and her only competitor close to her was her little friend Lila. I asked Hannah what she was thinking about during the race, she said she was nervous that she didn't see anyone else's bubbles and wondered why she was the only one swimming. I laughed, and said.. well, they were all behind you!

My proud Hannah!

Hannah and Lila! They had so much fun at the meet, so cute!

Not only did she take home a first place ribbon for the 25 freestyle, she also won the freestyle relay for 6 and under girls at pinecrest too. Hannah was the anchor on the team, with a half of length behind the other team, Hannah swam her heart out, caught up and won! The whole crowd was cheering, super fun! I actually got a little choked up, I couldn't believe she pulled it off.   She ended up with a second place in backstroke and she kept running into the lane line :) I remember doing that too :)

Our next meet is tomorrow night. Now lil Hannah has quite the cold so hopefully she can still swim tomorrow and have fun.