Lynx

We are proud to announce that we have a new addition to our family.....
Lynx!
What a beautiful cat (she takes after her mom)!

James and Stacie are leaving on September 9 for the University of Bath in England (just left of London). James will be getting his masters degree and they will return next summer. In the meantime, we are thrilled to be the caretakers of their beautiful cat. We are "cat" people. At one point, before Nate was born, Bryan and I had 5 cats!!

James & Stacie are sure that Luke said "kitty kitty" this evening when he saw Lynx. Nate & Henry are so excited. They've been looking forward to Lynx moving in for weeks now. Hope Lynx enjoys living here. It's sure to be a little louder than she's used to!

School Daze

Whew! What a day! Back to school time is so busy. Nate had a fantastic first day of first grade. He woke up excited and ready to get to school. I am so thankful that he loves it. He's never said "I don't want to go to school today." I think that says lots for his great school.

Henry also started school today. He is going to another Elementary School every afternoon for 2 1/2 hours for a unique program that puts 9 special needs children in a class with 4 non-special needs children. It's designed to help the special needs children learn to play & socialize with other kids. Henry is sort of a role model. Scary, huh! He will start kindergarten next year (finally!) I sometimes forget that Henry is only 4 years old.

Luke had a great 1 year well visit at the doctor while everyone was enjoying school. So far, he's been measuring and weighing a little more than Nate did at that age and a little less than Henry did. Well, today, he topped them both. He weighed 24 lbs. 4 oz. Nate didn't weigh 24 lbs until he was 2 years old, and Henry weighed 24 lbs at 18 months. He measured almost 33" tall which is taller than Nate & Henry at 12 months. I guess he's my big boy. I love it!!!

Happy Birthday to Luke!!

Last night Henry told Luke, "Today you're zero, but tomorrow, when you wake up, your gonna be one year old!" Henry was up at 6 eagerly awaiting any signs of waking from Luke. By 7am, Nate & Henry were singing "Happy Birthday to Luke." They were sure that Luke would walk by himself on this day. (he didn't) Turning one was a big deal in this house. The party was great with lots of family and friends. Luke wasn't interested in his cake, but Nate showed him just how it was done.

Luke was in bed by 6:30 and happy as could be on this very happy first birthday.

What blessed

parents we are to have these 3 precious children.

Driving to Greenville

The last week before school!

What a fun week we've had! Big birthday weekend, Bryan's and Mama's on the 8th, Martha's on the 9th. We had lots to celebrate. Then a last minute trip to Gatlinburg with Granny, Nana and Uncle Brent. Now we're gearing up for the first day of school on Monday! So with all these exciting stories to tell, I really just want to share a few cute parenting tips I recently found:

1. Put Band-Aids on everything your kids want you to. Why not?

2. Just throw away the poopy underwear!

3. Answer this question: What's the worst thing that can happen if your kids sleep in their clothes?

4. Teach them to like cool music, Why suffer through The Wiggles when you could be enjoying Wilco or Barenaked Ladies!

5. Use duvet covers and forget about the top sheets. Your kids will thank you when they're learning to make the bed.

6. Teach them to pump on the swings ASAP.

7. If your child falls asleep occasionally without brushing her teeth, don't wake her; baby teeth do eventually fall out.

Thought these were great and I'm gonna remember them, especially #7.

Good luck going back to school!

Thanks Silas!

Portacrib in the bathroom

I had to move the portacrib to the bathroom so I could get a shower. Wild man isn't interested in toys, just escaping.

Getting ready for the big day...

Luke's 1st birthday is August 16 and Nate & Henry couldn't be more excited. When someone asks how old is Luke? Nate & Henry are quick to say "zero!" Turning one is a big big deal! They've decided to start practicing singing "Happy Birthday" so Luke will know the song.

This one's for you Silas!

Luke

VBS & Soccer Camp

Last week was Vacation Bible School. 5 fun filled evenings where the children took a trip to Rome every night from 6:30 - 8:30 to visit Paul and his underground church. Nate & Henry had so much fun. Luke was a VBS dropout.

This week is soccer camp! Nate is excited and Henry just informed me that he isn't going. Hmmm, may be time for a little bribing.

A busy week!

It's been a busy and exciting week for the Duncan boys! Yesterday we returned from a final Myrtle Beach trip, this time with MeMaw & Papa. Papa is the Six Mile Fire Chief and this weekend was the South Carolina Firemen's Convention. The boys had a blast (of course). They only spent about :15 on the beach because the pools at our hotel were awesome! They enjoyed hanging out with their Grandparents and showing off in the pool. The boys insisted we eat at Margaritaville the first night we were there. Here is Luke having a boat ride at Family Kingdom.

We had to say goodbye to Silas before we left. We had a great time hanging out with him for the last couple of weeks. We miss you Silas! Hopefully we can go visit him soon.

Luke is a wild man, crawling everywhere and destroying anything in his path. Forget toys, he only wants to empty cabinets, put his fingers in uncovered outlets (I gotta get on that babyproofing), throw his passy out of the crib then cry for it and tear down anything Nate & Henry have built. They think Luke is funny which encourages bad behavior. As Luke is sinking his teeth into your shoulder, he will nod "no no." He knows he shouldn't do it, but he does it anyway. He going to be the rebel.

And the big news....

Nate pulled his first tooth last night! He has really worked on wiggling it all week and it paid off. So, the following picture needs a warning: parental discretion is adviced, if a little blood makes you queasy, don't look....

The tooth fairy brought a $2 bill. They're hard to find these days. Nate was impressed.

Happy 4th of July

Family Fun on the Fourth!

James swinging with the boys at the riverhouse.

Luke enjoying fireworks at church. He loved them!

Palm Coast, FL

Cliff & James in St. Augustine

A few of my favorite pictures from Palm Coast.

It was a great week because I was able to spend time with my my boys & Bryan, plus my all 3 of my brothers & their families & my parents. I'm so blessed that my whole family can get together and have fun and get along so well. They're the funnest people to be around!

John Daddy w/Silas & Luke

Robin's visit & Palm Coast

Oh how I've wanted to update my blog, but our days have been so busy. We had a great visit with Robin & her 3 children. I haven't gotten the pictures off my camera yet, but we had fun swimming at the pool, visiting Stumphouse Tunnel & hanging out in the yard. 6 children with Nate being the oldest. It was crazy fun!! Robin & I didn't even stay up to visit after the kids went to bed. We were so wiped out that we just went to sleep when they did.

Here are a few pictures I stole from Denise (thanks!) of fun here in Palm Coast, FL. We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of John Daddy, Uncle Cliff, Uncle James & Aunt Stacie. The beach is so different than Myrtle Beach. There lots of creatures that make me go "eww" and thrill the boys. Just today they caught several fish, sand clams and something Bryan called sea fleas. They looked like roach bugs to me though. Why do little boys love things like that? The boys love seeing Silas. Henry wants to carry him around which makes us all a little nervous. Luke has been a trooper. We left at 5:30 am Saturday morning to drive 8 hours. Luke took about a 10-15 minute cat nap the entire day. He never sleeps in the car & then he was having too much fun once we got here to take a nap. He's recovered now, but Saturday was a rough day for him.

Looking forward to posting some pictures of the sea fleas! I know I'll have bad dreams about them tonight....yuck!

Beach Trip

We just returned from a great week at Myrtle Beach. The boys are exhausted. Highlights of the week include riding rides at Family Kingdom, Myrtle Waves Water Park, lots of fun in the ocean & playing in the sand and of course, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. The cast didn't slow Nate down one bit, but I can't wait until tomorrow when we get it off! The doctor warned us to not get in the ocean because sand would get trapped in it, but he did anyway. Bryan said if we had to go get it sawed off while we were there & get a new cast it would be fine, but he wasn't going to make Nate stay out of the ocean.

Luke enjoyed trying lots of new foods. Unfortunately most of them were junk foods! Here he is chewing on a pickle (yuck!) and enjoying his first Oreo.

Today we're recovering from our trip & getting excited about my friend Robin and her 3 children coming to visit tomorrow. She's driving 10 1/2 hours with 3 kids under the age of 5 to see us, I hope we're worth it!

Family Kingdom, Myrtle Beach

Mashed Potatoes