Happy 4th of July 2013!

Happy belated 4th of July! We hope everyone had a nicer one than we did. It was one soggy wet day here in Atlanta where most of the festivities were canceled. Here is Hannah and Drew's sad faces as they watched the rain come down :(

Even with the rain, they decided to decorate their bikes and scooters "just in case" teh neighborhood parade was going to come back on the calendar. They had fun blowing up balloons in the garage and putting streamers on their bikes.

Typical Hannah and Drew. Hannah her sweet self, Drew the photo bomber :)

Drew wanted to wear his "hot dog eating champion" medal in honor of joey chestnut :) Drew couldn't believe that guy put down 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes. OMG, disgusting to watch. I kinda wanted to puke, but the kids got a kick out out it.

We played at home most of the day, then met up with our friends the Whitman's and went to Marlow's for dinner and then went to the movie Despicable Me 2. Hannah and MacKenzie ( Mac n Cheese ) and Drew and Lundy had a great time at both dinner and the movie. The movie was really cute.

After the movie, Mac N Cheese came back to our house for a sleepover. The girls were super cute together. Around 9pm we walked through the neighborhood and in one of the cauldesacs one of the neighbors put on a big firework display, the kids loved watching it. Finally, Hannah and Mac N Cheese made a bed bahind our couches in the family room down stairs with books, blankets, pillows, nightlights, and even a little bed for Murphy and feel asleep around midnight. These little sleep overs are more exhausting for me than the kids. I was ready to go to sleep at 10pm, but wanted to kids to have their fun.   And wouldn't you know it, the kids all came running in our room at 7am blasting Katy Perry's Fireworks song dancing and singing on our bed to wake us up, ugh!

I am just glad they have fun together, and they even let Drew play with them and he was pretty excited to be included in the sleepover activities.

Hoping everyone else got some sunshine this weekend. It was a soggy one here in Atlanta, but at least you don't have to shovel rain :)

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.

Ashebrooke Drive-in (way) Movie Night at the Steinamanns

There is really never a dull moment at our house, never. In the midst of chaos, work and life as we know it, we always find time for fun. This Sunday night we threw a party for all the families in the neighborhood. It was family movie night and we played Wreck it Ralph for all the kids. We had about 60+ people over. Everyone brought a lawn chair and some bug spray and planted themselves on our drive way for a movie. We projected the movie above our garage and it was just as big as going to the movie theatre. I went to the movie theatre  and picked up a HUGE trash bag full of popcorn and filled all the containers. We had cookies, tons of glow sticks for the kids, bubbles, popsicles, squirt guns. You name it, summer fun was covered!  The adults had their own table of summer fun with beer, wine, and some veggies and chips! Equally as popular!

Everyone came over around 7:15 and hung out and played outside with kickball, baseball, checkers, hula hoop etc. The parents had fun just hanging out. The minute the sun started to go down, Todd yelled, "movie is starting" and all the kids came running over and sat in their chairs and never moved again until it was over. Every parent was pretty much in schock! We all set up our chairs in the grass and could actually have uninterrupted conversations?!

Here they are in the dark in the middle of the movie. Hard to see, but lots of glowing lit up glow sticks in the crowd!

Our neighbors told us it was the best party in Ashebrooke's history. We got lots of kudos at the pool today too! We are just glad it was a success and everyone had a nice relaxing time. It was so fun for us just to see everyone enjoying themselves, and see what great friends both Hannah and Drew have already made in the 2 years we have lived here. We are very very lucky we moved into such a great neighborhood meeting so many nice people!

Hannah's Last Day of Kindergarten 2013!

Last Thursday was Hannah's last day of kindergarten. I am a little late on the update, but working my hardest to keep up!! Here is the picture of the bus stop kids before school in the morning. They have pretty big smiles, all excited for their last day, so cute! I have never seen them all so giddy in the morning before!

Drew went to the bus stop too, just so he didn't miss anything. Hannah wrote a cute little thank you note to her bus driver, Ms Mona who she just loved.

The best part of the day was the early dismissal at 12 noon! I took a half day off, as did most all the moms, and when the kids got off the bus, we had a sign ready for them cheering, but what they didn't know was that we had about 100 water balloons waiting for them. Did they ever have fun!! Big water balloon fight with the kids and parents at the bus stop. I think we just started a new fun tradition :)

Finally, after the water balloons were cleaned up. We headed to the pool for the end of school year pizza, ice cream pool party. The kids all had a blast. With a little over 50 kids there, and parents happy to celebrate with them, it was truly an enjoyable day. Above is Hannah, Lila, and Mackenzie ( Mac n cheese).  

What a great end to a great year. Hannah absolutely loved kindergarten and is already excited about 1st grade. I can't get over how quickly she is growing up. We are finally excited, and ready for all the summer fun that lies ahead, as Drew says.. "bring it on"! :)

Atlanta Braves vs the Minnesota Twins!!!

As Todd put it, 3 years ago this picture would had been taken at a Twins game. 3 years later he is at the Braves game, but playing the Twins. Win win. Todd took a half day off and spent some good quality time with Drew yesterday. I think they had a pretty fun day together. Ate hotdogs, popcorn and watched a little baseball in between. Drew came home with all types af Braves goodies, and at night, went straight into the front yard to practice batting and catching. We have a little baseball player in the making.   So happy my boys had a fun day together! I promised Hannah we would do something special together this weekend too.

Gators & Neighbors = Weekend Fun!

This weekend was action packed with a lot of fun! Friday night pool party, saturday morning was Hannah's last softball game of the season with a pizza party to follow. After that we drove to Athens and watched the Gators play the Bulldogs in baseball. The kids didn't really know what to think so we live in Georgia, and we were definitely in the minority at the game. Ultimately, they cheered for both teams and we had a lot of fun. It was fun to drive through the campus as it was really pretty. Parts reminded me of Ohio State, just a lot more southern style. I was quite jealous of the porch swings and rocking adirondak chairs on the front of the KKG house. Thought it was a nice touch!

Family photo before we left the game, and yes, Todd bought Drew the neon light up Bulldog cup. Kinda his favorite thing right now !

Later that night, we headed over to a neighbors house who is unfortunately moving to Houston in a few weeks being transferred with work. They are a wonderful family and will definitely be missed in the neighborhood, specifically their 2nd grade boy, Daniel, who every little girl in the neighborhood has a crush on. They all scream and run when he is outside. It is really funny to watch.  I left the party early and brought a bunch of kids back to our house to play so the others parents could spend some time not running after kids and actually finish a conversation.   Above is Hannah, Lila, and her new friend Mackenzie also known as Mac n Cheese. They are all in kindergarten and are so cute together. Hannah and Mac N Cheese played on the same softball team this spring and she is a little sister Lundy 10 days older than Drew. They are ADORABLE together and we are already hoping they go to prom together.

Above is Drew and Lundy, love them :) 

All the kids set up tents, blankets, and chairs outside and we brought the movie projector out and watched a movie about the garage on the big wall. It was actually pretty cool and was like being at the real movies the projection was so big. Nothing like watching the Muppets on an early spring summer night with friends, super fun. 

After that, Hannah got to have her first away sleep over at Lila's house with Lila and Mackenzie. Hannah's favorite part was that their dog Hailey slept in bed with them. Lila's mom sent me a picture of the 3 girls and dog sound alseep all snuggled up to eachother. It was really cute.

Now we are on the count down, 2 full days and 2 half days until school is out. Hannah will be a rising 1st grader in just 4 days. I am amazed how quickly this school year has flown by. I am so excited for her and her summer ahead. I have so many fun things planned for her including swim team, gymnastics camp, vacation bible school, drama camp, and tennis camp. She has a good balance of home time and half day camps a few weeks of the summer.  Even Drew gets to go to gymnastics and tennis camp. Cross fingers that works out!!

Happy Mother's Day 2013!!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, Happy Mother's day to my mom! Thank you for all you do! No one every told me I motherhood was so amazingly wonderful, and so hard all at the same time. I am grateful for each and every minute I spend with these two little kids, I feel like the luckiest mom in the world.

Today was perfect, and beautiful gorgeous spring day. I went for a run this morning and Todd took the kids to Sope Creek to get some photos. He says he was really really careful, but I pretty much freaked out when he downloaded the pictures and showed them to me. In the background of each picture, just a foot away from the kids was a 4ft brown snake with it's head arched up, eyes open, mouth open.  Ummmm, lets just say I would had FREAKED out if I were there, and I think we won't be using these photos until there is a some good photo shop work done!   I won't even post the ones where you see that icky scary snake in the background. OMG! ICK!!!

Beyond that, a great day spent having a little alone time to run and relax, and quality time at the pool with the kids and their friends and parents, then played tennis for a few hours with friends while ordering pizza at the park for the kids. Kind of a perfect day if you ask me.

The kids made me a bunch of home made cards and mother's day gifts which are adorable. Drew sang me a little mothers day song and I got a lot of hugs. Todd got a cute bouquet of flowers and some new shoes!  I feel blessed just to have them part of me life.

I look at Drew and think, hmmm. He is strong and willful and there are moments I wonder if he will be in jail before the age of 10. He over powers his 6 year old sister knocking her down and punching her, he looks me in the eye and shouts " I no like you". In those moments I wonder where in the world he came from ( clearly not my personality right?) and what in the world to do with my little boy with his olive skin, bright greenish blue eyes and a funny little laugh that can melt away every little bit of frustration in 2 seconds. For each moment he is more like a tyrant that I know what to do with, there are  at least 100 more moments where he is sweet, gentle, caring, loving and just plain hilarious.   When he is a tyrant, he is Todd's child, when he is sweet and caring, clearly my child. It's just the way it works.

And Hannah. She is caring, loving, sweet, gentle, smart, funny, silly, and sassy. When I look at Hannah, I know exactly where she came from. She is the perfect combination of both Todd and I. She has Todd's emotional nature, his sensitivity, and artistic abilities and love for life. She somehow, not sure how, picked up a little sassy from me with some attitude when she wants it to come out. I am still in awe how that could had happened?? :)  I can't believe I am going to be a mom of a 1st grader in a few short months. We are about to have a kindergarten graduate here soon. I couldn't be more proud of her strength, perseverance and hard work at school over the last year. She amazes me each day with all she is learning.

I can't help but to be a proud mom. I have two of the most amazing kids on earth, and an amazing husband that gives 110% each day to being a great dad and mentor to both of them. I love you all. Thanks for making me a mom, and making each and every day special.