While Chris has had to spend the week in training - the kids and I have enjoyed time by the pool. Where we are staying has several nice pools and the three of us have had a ball splashing, playing and relaxing.

I tried to get Isaac to look up and smile to which he replied 'Mama, just take a picture of me swimmin' - so that is what I did. "

Lacie was only to happy to stop and smile.

You'll never guess what I found in Florida...

CHRIS' SMILE!!! :)

If the following happens to you in a less than 48 hour time period - perhaps it is a sign that you need a vacation (and no this does not include how tired or stressed you are from work and other various responsibilities)...
     * Your son develops a 100+ temperature
     * Your baby girl who is trying to teeth and who is having trouble pooping constantly screams and crys
     * Paint that has been sitting in your closet for months suddenly gets spilled all over the carpet
     * Your son (who never gets sick) throws up during dinner
     * After putting in new oil and a filter - the pressure explodes dumping most of that oil unto the garage floor
     * Wanting to clean up the oil, you decide to move the car (whose brakes you've just replaced) and ask your wife (who doesn't know to pump the brake in order to get the brake fluid to the new brakes) to be the one to move the car. Lack of brakes + panicked wife = hitting neighbor's truck.

Yes, if any or all of these things should strike you and your family - book a vacation immediately. We leave tomorrow at 9 - SHARP!

So I'm not real sure what happened to July...and now it's the middle of August. Time goes by too fast. Here is what's been happening with the Cinnamon crew over the last few weeks.

Isaac...He is doing awesome. He is getting so tall and is growing extremely fast. Over the last few days I've fed him cereal and a fruit bar for breakfast and he's looked at me and said 'My tummy's telling me I'm still hungry.' :) We've been practicing writing, letters, numbers, etc - and he gets highly upset when it's time to stop. It was almost an hour of working on 'school' type stuff and he nearly lost his mind cuz he didin't want to stop. It's fun to see how excited he is about learning - he just can't seem to get enough. I can only imagine the notes that will be sent home from his teacher one day. He can spell his name (audibly) and is beginning to recognize some words. He is a pretty awesome little guy. He is getting ready to start a two day (three hours a day) preschool - to which he is SO excited. We bought school supplies and everything. (I LOVE school supplies). Later in September he'll start soccer. So big things are on the horizon.

Lacie...Of course, our baby girl is growing so fast (too fast). She is starting to 'thin out' a little and is getting more adorable every day. She's been army crawling for several weeks now and despite the whole world of 'yes' that we lay in front of her - she heads for the 'no' everytime. She is a funny mixture of completely laid back, go with the flow - and if it's not exactly what she wants she gets flat MAD. Green veggies for instance - she is not a fan - she'll tuck her lips in and politely turn her head, but when you force them in she turns fifteen shades of red and screams. Needless to say among many of the firsts in her little life - she experienced her first 'spanking' this past week. (Don't worry grandma - it was a mere tap on her diaper). She is a mama's girl - to a fault. Not that I mind that at all, but poor Chris. She'll be in his arms, see me, cry, and then when I get her, she'll look at Chris, tilt her head toward me, bat her eyes and smile the biggest gummy grin you ever did see. It's painfully sweet, but man are we in trouble. I think she is working on some new teeth and is just a baby girl who is full of laughter and smiles.

Chris & I...We're doing good. We've been in project mode for several months now - hopefully that will wind down soon - I mean you have to run out of projects eventually, right? Chris just finished putting a concrete border around our swingset and this weekend he and I shoveled about 4 yards of mulch inside (and no, not an exaggeration). Looks good. A couple of weeks ago we weren't doing so great - during a pretty bad storm - lightening hit our computer and fried it. All of the work that Chris has done for church, all of our pictures from the last year and a half - gone. I can't fully describe that sick awful feeling. Chris knew that to try to recover these things could be in the range of thousands of dollars - with no guarentees. But awesome man that he is - he kept researching and researching ways to try to recover our data and this week he recovered everything. (He'll have to fill you in on the details) 
We are still in the process of getting the computer put back together - once we do we'll update our pictures.

This Saturday the four of us are headed to Florida - no we're not chasing hurricanes, well, not intentionally. He has training for work, so the kids and I are tagging along for a little R-n-R and maybe some fun at Disney. Yes, I am becoming one of those parents that I have ALWAYS fussed at - by taking our 3 year old and baby to a theme park, but what are you gonna do - just have fun I guess. :) I'm sure there's so much more that I've overlooked, but we'll get that next time.