No Nap Neverland

Okay, so this mom of a 3 1/2 year old has decided that after 4 months of fighting to get my child to nap, it is just not worth it. I have settled for a 30-minute downtime where he must stay in his room and rest (under the rain tent of course). It is great, he is still getting his 12-13 hours of sleep, going to bed at 7:00 and waking anywhere between 7-8 the next morning. But here is where I need some suggestions: what's a mom to do all day long with no other siblings to play with and entertain the little guy? Mom cannot be the playdate all day long-mommy needs her own downtime, and all the chores and extras that used to get done during naps are just not getting done. I am sitting down trying to come up with a workable schedule forthe Fall so that he and I know what to expect on a daily basis so that everything can still get done during the day, we can have fun together and apart, and we can make it until Daddy gets home with our sanity!! Any creative suggestions? Any good activities/classes that you have done with your kids that I can check into and enroll Grayson in?

Bringing the oceanfront home

I absolutely can't stand going to the Ocean for the day--the sand everywhere, and I mean everywhere!!, the crowds, the parking, all the gear that needs to be lugged. packing and unpacking, etc. But after going through all the things I hate, there is the other list, too. The way Grayson's face lights up to be in the sand, the way God provided a close spot, a sandy area vacated right down beside the water, relaxation for Trevor to just sit in the chair and vegetate after a crazy week and just watch Grayson and I living it up, making sandcastles that Grayson inevitably knocks down just as I'm finishing or starting a master creation, running away from the waves that force to crash on our feet, going out far enough so that our heads are only visible bobbing over the waves, watching Grayson giggle with delight as he lay on his belly waiting for the waves to come up and catch him, a slight nervous feeling when a wave got too strong for Grayson and forced him to be caried back out a little ways into the next oncoming wave, picking up a pizza onthe way home, enjoying the fact that we had a great time at the beach as a family, and being thankful that we live so close to be able to enjoy it anytime we like. So yes, we brought the Oceanfront home with us, but it was all worth it!!

Rain Tent

I don't know when or how this got started or by whom, but it is the most fun for Grayson. It has also been a little incentive for what was then naptime and now bedtime. He hates the rain tent to be down at bedtime, so he stays put (instead of making his usual trips down the hall out of bed) to make sure that the tent stays up for the night. The "rain tent" as Grayson calls it is simply the sheet from the lower bunk tucked into the top bunk rail, creating the "tent". It has actually been great because Trevor loves to sleep in an icebox, and even with long-sleeve pj's, Grayson was always cold. But under the rain tent, the vents don't blow on him and he stays nice and warm. He loves to be under the tent to play and read and do puzzles. I must admit that it is fun to get under the tent with him at night and read our bedtime stories via flashlight!! It gets to be a really crowded tent when Mommy and Daddy are all under there together. Grayson is never alone, which he loves. All his favorite stuffed animals "sleep" on the ledge built into the headboard. Sometimes he even cooks and serves meals to his friends in the tent. We can hardly wait for him to experience camping when he'll be able to sleep in his own real tent with mommy and daddy all night!!

Couples party

Last night Trevor and I were invited to a Pampered Chef party with our friends, the Henaghans. Terri Henson, whom some of you met at our 4th party, just started her own business. I have not been to a show in some time, and it's always great to see the new products and gadgets. And for sure I've never been to a couples party! It was great fun--laughter, joking, cooking, meeting new people, and bringing home some good stuff. The way Terri did this show was different than any other than I'd been to. The men actually cooked the food, using all Pampered Chef products of course, and we took turns reading little factoids that Terri had written. This was a really creative way of sharing about Pampered Chef without boring us all with little details, especially when you've heard it all before. A lot of us had little kids that came in tow and they played outside. Grayson came in to go to the bathroom (which after a previous blog was a good thing!) but he got his fingers stuck in the door!! He was fine, but he also lucked out because Trevor and I were just getting served our strawberry margaritas and Grayson enjoyed some too. And no, this was a church gathering, just strawberries, ice, and mix. At the end of the evening I discussed having a get-together for us ladies in small group and we came up with a great way to have a night of fellowship, good food, and a chick flick. So look for invitations to this fun evening in September!!

Busch Gardens for the 1st (or10th) time

Seeing as the Conners decided to stay one more day, we gave them a couple of local choices, but ultimately decided on a day at Busch Gardens. Elijah has only been on small fair rides, so the big park was exciting. The whole experience was wonderful! Grayson loved showing off "his park" and all of his favorite things. We're convinced that the boys could have just rode the train all day, but we did hit some other rides too. Trevor and Kevin got to Griffon right away--nothing like going for the big one to get broken back in!! Grayson even got to do a first and rode Le Scoot, the log flume. Although Trevor said that after the first little hill, he wanted off of the ride, he made it to the grand finale and even liked enough to tell me that "he had fun on the big slide and he and daddy got really wet!" We can't wait to get back and do this together as a family. Maybe he'll be ready for the Big Bad Wolf next summer afterall, girls!! Elijah did brave the Wolf after hitting all of the smaller rides, but after getting off he said "never again". After doing the skyride and the train one last time, we circled the park adn went home. We had great intentions of stopping at Cracker Barrell for supper, but both boys were sleeping 5 minutes down the road! A successful day with a peaceful ending.

Assuming the position

I feel like I spent the day on my knees--cleaning up spots, wiping dirty bum/legs, and cleaning wet legs adn feet. This is not a picture to show how good of a helper Grayson is when it comes to laundry day. Rather this is a picture of all the dirty underwear we went through today. Three filled with pee, which translates to 3 spots on the floor still drying out. And as always 2 dirty ones. After the 3rd pair I had quite had enough and made him stay in the soiled pair for a while, but that did not deter the next 2. Without a nap today and Trevor still not home at 7:30, I am exhausted. Grayson is in bed and I'm off for a bubble bath. The dishes and laundry will wait for tomorrow!!

The Conners' Weekend

WOW! I should have blogged after every day of our very busy weekend becasue there are a lot of great moments to share. Kevin and Tania (Trevor's sister) and Grayson's only 2 cousins, Elijah and Josiah, were here this weekend for a visit. We packed as much fun as possible into 31/2 days. On Friday, after we had initial hellos and dinner, we headed out to the yard to enjoy the cool evening and play some basketball. The boys took turns scoring, and Aunt Tania was a great sideline cheerleader. Elijah even joined in because it took Grayson a while sometimes to actually score a basket. Natalie, the cheer couldn't stand a torch to yours, but holding a 9 month old kept her feet firmly planted on the ground!!

Saturday was a jammies day as the men headed out to see Transformers. The mommies and the boys enjoyed a quiet morning just visiting and watching the cousins interact and play. The imaginations were hard at work. Elijah and Grayson played so well together we went down the hall to check on them several times! They were playing on the top bunk, once pretending it was a trai that they were fixing, another they were cooking food. Tania and I enjoyed some quiet time together just being able to talk and dig a little deeper and catch up. After a great supper cooked by Trevor, we went down to the Oceanfront. It was a perfect evening! The crowd was sparse, the air and water warm, and a slight breeze. We started off with a great view from atop the Hilton Parking garage. You can see for miles! After having to walk down all the stairs because the elevator was on the blink, we went down to the water. The boys even passed by the playground to get straight down to the water. With only having been to the beach a couple of times, Elijah immediately wanted in the water. The daddies took the boys out into the waves which were the biggest I've ever seen in VB! Grayson tuckered out early because even though the water was warm, the air was quite cold. I loved to see Trevor out in the waves. It's always great for me to watch him totally relax and enjoy himself and unwind and just be. He did some wave riding and I even captured some of it with the camera!! Tania and I were content to watch the boys in the sand. Josiah got his chubby little feet into the sand for the first time ever! What a sight to see the little faces when they have not had that experience before. We stayed until the sun went down and then packed up to get a good night's rest before Church the next morning.

Sunday was Church day. Four adults, 2 kids, and a baby with 1 bathroom to share all got to Church on time!!! They loved visiting Shores with us! Although Grayson had a meltdown even before getting to class (which come to find out later in the afternoon it was because I didn't say good-bye before I left to go to Kids Thang and Trevor took him to class!!) Elijah had a great time in Treasure Cove! He loved the teacher and talked nonstop about the morning. Dad and Mom were very happy that he was engaged this morning and excited. They visited Kids Thang at 11:00 and loved it as well. As soon as we got home Elijah was talking to me all about the lesson that I taught that morning and asking questions--he is very bright and also a new Christian so all of that is very exciting for him and us!! The boys all napped in the afternoon, which allowed us to play some more cards. We are all avid Spades players, so if any you read this and find that we have that in common, let us know and we'd love to get together to play! It was pizza night so we went to the Locks Park to play since it was close. Again it was a great time to see the boys interacting and playing and chasing each other! They don't get to see each other that often. After the boys got pizza, we ate around the table and laughed together. They decided that they hadn't had enough so they decided to stay for the day on Monday too. After putting the boys to bed, we again played cards--way too late! Why do we do that when we know the boys will be up early!!

I'm signing off for now--I'll have to add Monday's fun later. If I don't ya'll will be tired of reading and I'm afraid that this one posting might take up the whole page. Although, some of ya'll are longwinded too and everyhting seems to fit! Come back later for the Monday posting from Busch Gardens!

Water logged!

How much sun and chlorine can a pair of people take? Grayson and I have had 2 water-filled days and loved every minute of it!! Sorry, I got a little lax and only captured a few shots. Wednesday morning I met Katy and the Schrodt kiddos at the Greenbrier Y for swimming hoping to beat out the afternoon potential bad weather. We had a blast! I got to see all of Josiah's new tricks, Jacob dunking his head under the water, and Callie loving every minute of being in Mom's arms. Grayson and I got home in time to have lunch with Trevor before heading back out again.

As soon as we got home, Sue called and we met Alexander and Hamilton at the Hickory Y. Well, no sooner had we got there and there was a crisis--logs in the pool, of the Snickers variety!! No joke, we had to wait 30 minutes before we could get into the pool again. Many people were not so crazy as to wait so it had cleared out a lot by the time we got back in. Sue and I had a great time talking, the boys played in the boat, and Hamilton crawled everywhere. Oh, and Sue, Trevor was going to be even later than planned, so I headed to Wendy's for supper too!!

Today we had another pool day. We met Terri and Joel Henson, and Mary and Katie Henaghan at Miss Shelly's house for a pool day and lunch. What a great time! Grayson loves Joel and as he has said before "Katie is my best friend". The kids had fun and us ladies got to chat and catch up. We talked about Kids Thang adn the year ahead as that's where we all serve together. We ate our lunches on the deck and had one more good swim before it was time to head home for rests. We'll be entertaining Trevor's sister and her family this weekend, so I'm sure there will be more tales to tell about Grayson and his only 2 cousins, Elijah and Josiah. Until then...

I was checking my comments this morning, which resulted in...

Philippiams 1:3 "I thank my God upon every rememberance of you" Had to begin that way because that's how we are all connected. Secondly, to Sue: thanks for sending us 'My Regal Men'. It's because of you and it that we are all blogging. To Heidi, Katy, Natalie, and Sue: I just wanted to let you all know how precious you guys are to me. These last 2-3 weeks I haven't talked with you all in person so much more, but I feel like I know you so much better through the way you bear your souls through your posts. I am enjoying getting to know things about ya'll that may not come up in regular conversation. You have all made me laugh and cry, and try new things with my family to make interesting new memories. As Meg Ryan said in "You've Got Mail", "...people are more apt to write about nothing than something, but this nothing has meant more to me than a whole lot of somethings" (or something close to that anyways). To which Tom Hanks responds late in the movie, "...keep talking to me". So until the next posting and the next comment, I love you guys!!! Keep writing!

Bubble Gum, Please!

I have learned the magic of bubble gum. Okay so it's maybe not magic, but I hate to admit it's a great bribe. Grayson has been introduced to gum and after swallowing quite a few pieces, he learned to keep it in his mouth. I fought it for a long time, and boy there were many spankings due to him sneaking it out of my purse. Yes, we have already been through the pulling it out of my mouth and now it's all over the place stage. I'm sure gum in the hair will ensue one day. But as for now, Grayson will do just about anything for a piece of gum. And he always asks so nice and politley for it that it's hard to resist. The crooked, toothy smile, the batting brown eyes, an uptipped chin, and a really sweet "May I have some bubble gum please Mommy?" always works on me! He can't wait for the day when he can actually blow a bubble. I will be glad to teach him as I am a bubble gum fanatic. Until then, I just love to see his jaw working extra hard to get the full enjoyment out of that piece of bubble gum!

Summer's Best Week at ASBC

Okay guys, let me back up a little into the month of June. I have some great pics to share, so I'll just write about our experiences, too! The last 2 weeks of June, our church did Summer's Best Week, aka VBS. It truly is Summers Best because of all the excitement and all the great activities, but for some of the children who attended, it was the BEST because they became new members of God's family. I had the privelege of praying with 10 of the over 80 kids that came forward to accept Christ! How Great is Our God!!!!


The theme was "Stowaway to Scar Island". The church's sanctuary was decked out with a huge pirate ship, the Arabella, and all the activities, crafts, and snacks during the week went along with this theme. Trevor and I had the opportunity to serve in the Drama as Captain Clueless and Nerdy Scalliwag, respectively. We had a great time getting to know some of the other people in our church that we have been serving with. Between all the practices and the 2 weeks of SBW, we became closer friends.

Grayson even got to take part in SBW this year because PreSchool Week begins with 3-year olds. He had a great time, and is still singing the songs, doing the motions, wearing his t-shirt, and talking about the Arabella and Scar Island. Even today (which is probably why I am writing this!) he had his Fisher Price Noah's Ark loaded down with people and proudly announced to Trevor and I that they were going to Scar Island!! Miss Mindy and Miss Shelly would be proud!!

Thanks to God for the talents we shared for His glory alone, to our church for supporting such an awesome outreach to children, and to our new-found friends for sharing the great week with us and making lasting memories!!!!!

Night at the Oceanfront

We needed to get out of the house yesterday afternoon to pass a little more time since Grayson decided this was one of those days he was not needing a nap. We packed up and went down to the Ocean. There was a great band to greet us as we parked and got out by the Hilton. There were people dancing, listening, sleeping. It looked like one of those moments out of a movie! As we crossed the bike path, Grayson got really excited-there was a new playground in the sand. He had a great time climbing, sliding, driving, and getting out that energy!

We continued the rest of the way down to the water's edge. The tide was beginning to come in and the waves were actually really good! As Grayson kept going into the water with his bucket (faced the wrong way to be catching any water!) he continued to be knocked over by the crashing waves and water that chased him all the way back up. He laughed and ran and swam with delight. Trevor and I enjoyed seeing his little footprints in the sand where he had run away from the waves. Unfortunately, my camera battery had died so did not a photo of his little feet! A great family night down at the VB Oceanfront! Thanks Heidi and Sue for your blogs about great beach evenings that inspired us to get out and do it more often! Love you guys!

Mommy Jayne and Daddy Trevor

Okay, so this is one of those journal entries that's really just a reminder for me for later on down the road: what is it with Grayson calling Trevor and I by our first names? Maybe it's Gran's fault because from a very young age she thought it was cute to confuse or otherwise entertain the other menbers of the family by referring to us as Jayne and Trevor. Well, the first time he did it as a toddler was cute, and I still remember the chuckle it brought. But now, it seems as if I am hearing Jayne and Trevor more and more. How do you explain to a 3-year old that yes I am Jayne, but he needs to call me Mommy. He's also giving me pet names just like I give to him. Yesterday we were playing a game and I knew it must have been my turn because I heard, "It's your turn, super girl!". I am thankful that Grayson knows that we are the Hoare family and that Daddy and Mommy have real names, but I still love to be called Mommy! I'll take a super girl every now and then, too!

The Three Baptist "F's"

We are fortunate to serve with an awesome bunch of people we now call friends. We are all a little crazy and zany in our ways which lends perfectly to the place we serve. We are all part of a cast that does drama sketches in our children's program at church. We had a summer get-together tonight and had a great time catching up. The food was awesome, the fellowship was great (although I must say that having to chase and watch Grayson didn't necessarily lend itself to many extended conversations), and fun was had by all. The older kids were able to get into the lake and do some swimming, jumping onto the inflatable, floating raft, and jumping off the dock. Grayson tried his hand at climbing up into his first treehouse on a rope ladder, and riding on a tire swing. Due to the "spiders that might get me", the ladder adventure didn't last long. But after time, the tire swing became his favorite. Thanks Mike and Kristen Henry and all our friends with Kids Thang' Drama for a great night!

My Little Monet

Okay, so I must admit that I have kept the paints away for as long as I could because I just didn't want to deal with the potential mess and the discipline that might be needed in dealing with Grayson and wet paint! I am so sorry that I kept them from him-he loves to paint and to create. He doesn't draw much of anything recognizable, but he loves to see the colors mix and change. He is now trying to create circles and squares, and although he tells me what he has drawn, it is lost on me. This latest creation really did look very good until the paintbrush started to fly and marked everything up!! The teacher in me had to say to leave him alone and let the genius work and create on his own without Mommy's input. Happy painting Grayson!

A Lemon of a Day

Today was one of those ordinary days...nothing special planned, no where to go, no where to be. It was a good thing because our car wouldn't start. Before I had a chance to think about it though, Grayson awoke with a kick of energy, running in to decide which video we were going to watch today. So, we made the best of our day and began with breakfast in bed with a DVD of his choice. We proceeded to move into the living room, where I believe we played every game we owned. We even did some cooking together in Grayson's kitchen! I haven't spent some good quality time like that with Grayson in a while. I did sneak in some dishes. To top off the day, Trevor called and we went on a little road trip with him in the "big truck". One little boy was absolutely ecstatic-good thing because that meant no nap! After special treats for the ride home, and a stop at the warehouse, we decided on one of our favorite quick evening meals--Breakfast. We enjoyed french toast, bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit. A potentially bad day turned out to be a gem, one I would do over again. A great day with my 2 special guys!

P.S.-Thanks to you Sue, I even had my camera close by to capture silly moments on this "ordinary" day!