Summer Time and the Livin's Easy

It's officially summer at the Mardis compound...pool's open, music's playing, and kids are EVERYWHERE.  Good times for sure.  You know I'm committed to this blog when I'm sitting at a computer while the NBA playoffs are on in the other room...just saying.

Whit's college buddies and their kids came over for a cookout on Memorial Day.  We had a great time but couldn't swim yet.  The kids still had fun as only kids can...doing everything from drawing contests to shooting hoops.  Here we coaxed them into a group photo by giving them popsicles.

And here Kate, Jake and their best buddies the Gladyses (and Grace) enjoy a post swimming picnic in the front yard.  Brooks even got in on the action.

Speaking of Brooks, the old guy is still humming along.  His favorite thing to do now is lie in the kitchen floor and wait for me to come help him get up.  I guess it's not just old folks who are ornery...old dogs are pretty ornery too!  I snapped this photo to remind me of the funny little things that I'm really going to miss when he's gone.  Sniff.

Kate graduated from First Grade!  We're very proud of our her for everything she accomplished this year.  Her class consisted of a great group of kids and we hope that these kids will continue to be a part of her life as she moves through elementary school and beyond.  Until this guy shows up at my front door for a date in a few years...

And here's Kate with her teacher Mrs. Brown.  Let's put it this way...I really hope Jake gets Mrs Brown  when he goes to Norton.

And here's Kate as she accepts her awards for her accomplishments this year.  Nice job kiddo!

Kate's not the only one who's moving up either.  Jake got in on the action too!  He's moving up from Pooh's Corner to the Dolphin Room at the Y.  Of course, he was completely unaware of this until I dropped him off at school on Monday in a different room but that's neither here nor there....atta boy Jake!  Here's my man doing his best rock and roll face.

We went to the zoo with Kate's best buddy Eve.  It's worth noting that this might be Jake's favorite place in the universe.  He loves giraffes...if he's trying to play it off in the picture below, he doesn't have much of a poker face.

The girls love face paint...

And everybody loves Merry go Rounds...

 and seals...

and whatever this thing is.

Whitney had a birthday...happy 37th!  Jake and I did a little shopping for mom's birthday while Mom and Kate were busy with a yard sale in Lexington (which was a big success thanks to Judd and Jennifer!)  We were able to unload a majority of our old "baby" stuff and a few other items.  Anyways, Jake picked out a pair of shorts for mommy's birthday; his favorite color orange.  I'm going to gamble and say he took this picture?  Looking good babe!  See what happens when you let your husband take over the blog?

Whitney and I also celebrated our 8th anniversary on the 4th!  Thanks to mom for allowing us a night out for some sushi.  I should have taken a picture of our sashimi from that night...nothing but our favorites-salmon and white tuna.  Love you babe!

And lastly, Kate's on a swim team this summer.  Not sure if she had started this yet during my last post. They practice every night and it's a pretty brutal schedule for a kid (and parents) but we want Kate to be active and we know this is only the beginning.  She was crazy nervous when we got there but as you can see in the video below, she knew what to do when they blew the whistle!  Proud of you kiddo!

It appears I made a wise decision to work on this blog instead of watching the NBA playoffs.  Spurs 113-Heat 77...blech.

Under New Ownership

Whitney's idea of a party is starting a new job with more responsibility while also starting an MBA program at one of the premier business schools in America.  While that sounds incredibly fun, most of us would call that crazy but we all know Whitney...driven to succeed in everything and always improving.  Unfortunately, all this succeeding and improving has had an unintentional consequence...the almighty blog has been forgotten.

Fortunately for everyone, Whitney's husband (me) has decided to step up and get this blog back on track.  Since there hasn't been a post since February, I'll summarize the past few months with a few pictures (if I can figure out to attach pictures).  

With Whitney being so busy in February with school and work, I took the annual ski/snowmobile trip to Michigan without her.  I have one picture to sum up that entire trip...

I turned 38...you know you're getting old when you can't find a single picture of you on your birthday (or remember what you did for that matter).

Kate finished her second season of basketball.  This year was extra special because she had her best buddy Eve on the team.  Her team was called the Packers (that's what happens when you let the kids pick the team name) and I won't divulge their win/loss record...let's just say they tried hard.

We took a really nice family trip to Perfect North.  Whitney's aunt and uncle (Janet and John) were nice enough to rent out a great place for all the families.  It was a great chance to get the girls (Kate and her cousins Sawyer and Cameron) out on the slopes for their first ski lesson where they learned "french fries" (go fast) and "pizza" (go slow).  They must have been talking during the "go slow" portion of the lesson because I didn't see too much of that.  

Kate's in the middle with Sawyer on the left and Cameron on the right.

 Jake even got in on the action with a few trips down the tubing slope.

Jake celebrated his 3rd birthday on March 22nd!  Happy birthday my man!  Since he's such a great kid, we got him a Goalrilla...which will belong to me and Kate for the next couple of years.  He'll thank me when he's 10 and all his buddies are coming over for some 3 on 3.

I ran a mini marathon with a few buddies in Lexington.  I've decided this will be my last...I'm sticking to runs 6 miles or less after this one.  Kate even got in on the fun and ran a mile with some of the other kids.  

Kate and Whitney took their second annual trip to Fredericksburg VA for Easter this year to see the King family.  Whitney and Sarah King have been friends since sometime in the Middle Ages.  It's really cool that they keep in touch after all these years.  We look forward to having the Kings (and Bateses) in Louisville this summer!  The girls apparently had a tea party...or they really like funny hats.

During that time, Jake and I chose a more manly adventure...like hiking in the woods (or the jungle as Jake calls it) and catching snakes with our bare hands.  More accurately, we kept our distance and took a picture...

That brings us to May.  Whitney took Kate to her first concert...Taylor Swift.  She and some friends took their girls to YUM! Center in downtown Louisville for the show.  Kate loved it and even got to stay up late on a school night!

Jake's school notified us that Jake needed to start working on being potty trained so they could move him up to the next class at daycare.  Whit and I were more than a little concerned because Jake has not shown the least bit of motivation to pee anywhere but in his pants.  He proved that we know very little as parents by figuring the whole thing out in a matter of days.  He still sleeps in a diaper but mostly wakes up dry and pees on the potty first thing in the morning...atta boy Jake!  Here's the stud jumping on his bed in his big boy skivvies.  

We also made the trip to Daniel Boone National Forest for the second annual Mothers Day camping trip.  This might be the greatest camping trip ever devised...great spot, great people, kids have an absolute blast as you can see...

Lastly, happy Mothers Day to a wonderful wife and mother who makes so many sacrifices so that we can give the kids a fabulous life.  I'm happy every day I'm with you and look forward to many more happy days in the future.  It may be tough sledding now with school and work but one day soon you'll be able to sit back and enjoy what you've accomplished.  I love you babe.

And another Happy Mothers Day to my mom!  It's great to have you in Louisville and be able to see you a few days a week at this stage of my life.  I know the kids appreciate all that you do for them and love having dinner at Nana's house.  I'm excited that the kids get to grow up knowing you for the wonderful Nana/Mom that you are.  I love you too Mom.

New Year's Resolutions...oh, wait...it's February

And to think I was on such a roll...5 posts in December and then all of a sudden, it is February 8th!  Such is life.

We are all happy and healthy and looking forward to a great 2013!  I personally have a few New Year's resolutions but choose to keep them to myself this year!  It is hard to believe that this time 5 years ago I made the resolution to keep a blog as a means to document all the fun, exciting, and trying times we encounter through this journey called life.  I can't wait until I finally get the opportunity to print off my blog books - it is so fun to look back at the pictures and read the funny stories.  I think I can proudly state that resolution was a success.

The first 5 weeks of the year started off with a bang, to say the least.  After enjoying a little unplanned downtime at the end of 2012 (hence the extra posts), things quickly picked up with the start of my new job, the completion of my GMAT exam, a little strep throat, and the transition to a big boy bed, which turned out to be the toughest of all.  Update: I can happily admit that my extra hours of studying for the GMAT paid off in that I was accepted to IU's Kelley School of Business starting this Spring.  I am already enrolled in 2 courses - Financial Accounting and a Statistics course, which I must complete prior to my start date of March 2nd.  And to think I had February to relax...  My new job is okay.  I have completed home study and through the process of taking a step back to sales, I have learned A LOT about myself and what I want to do professionally.  More on that to come.  As for the transition to a big boy bed, well, that was tough.  In mean, newborn tough.  The sweet, innocent, precious, cute little boy that we had through December left us for 12 days. As with most 2-3 year olds, he is in the process of expressing his independence and we found out that he is REALLY good at expressing it!  So good that his daycare even got in on the fun :)  It was hard to be tough on him but he did respond well to the heightened discipline.  

Quick story: After spending 20 minutes or so with his teacher expressing how I was losing my mind with Jake's defiant behavior, she reassured me that it is just a phase.  That the sweet little boy we all know and love would be back, he just does not handle change very well.  We changed his nightly routine and there have been some small changes at school - all of which have had a great impact on him.  She reassured me that we need to stick with our current parenting practices and let him know that we are always in charge (Ryan is much better at this we come to find out).  If we want him to stay in bed, there needs to be a consequence for getting out.  So we did it and it worked!  He is back and better.  As for his sweet teacher, she liked adding a few extra notes on his daily report to get me laughing/in a tizzy. The Satan part was pretty funny.  Between Ms Anne and Ryan, I am reassured (have I said that word enough?) that laughter will get you through anything.  Here are a few of him most recent notes.  Yes, he has a moderate case of OCD (see 2nd note below about the mis-matched snow outfit which turned into a 30 minute tantrum) and yes, he likes his routine but at least we are self-aware and now we just need to figure out what profession that can be most useful.

It was just a phase and yes, our sweet little boy is back.  He is well rested each night and wakes up happy as a lark.  His sweet smile and loves each morning just melt my heart.  I know there will be more phases (Lord knows we are going through a talking back stage right now with his sister) but I am at peace right now as I am reminded that everything is "just a phase".  Get through it and things will be even better.

Otherwise, Kate is still rocking 1st grade and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her sweet teacher.  She aced another report card and we could not be more proud of the way she handles herself (well, except the talking back but that is worthy of another post).  We are in the trenches of basketball for Kate (#3 below) and Ryan is busy training for another 1/2 marathon.  Actually, as I type he is skiing and snowmobiling in Northern Michigan without me but I won't hold it against him.  He deserves the break in honor of his 38th birthday!  Kate, Jake, Eve and I are all off to the UK gymnastics meet tonight and I'm looking forward to a low key weekend with the kiddos (and hopefully a visit to my moms).  Happy February :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

What a joy it was to wake up Saturday morning to 3 inches of snow!  I successfully snuck out of the house to the gym before anyone woke up and by the time I returned, all of our bins downstairs had been turned upside down looking for the snow gear.  The kids were just about dressed and anxiously awaiting the okay to get out and play.  Luckily we only needed a pair of boots for Kate so by 10:30 we were out in the snow and by 11:00, our 1st-ever Mardis Family Snowman had been built.  Christmas memories are one thing but mornings like this are the BEST.  Pure childhood joy.

It is also moments like this that make me so, so, so very thankful for Ryan.  He is truly the best dad ever  (yes, I am biased but he is really good) and our kids will get so much more out of life because he is their dad.  He takes such joy in these moments, making sure the kids get to experience everything they should at their age.  As we were wrapping up our fun in the snow, he started throwing snowballs into the air and having them land on his head.  I wish I had the sound of the kids laughter bottled up as there is no better sound.  The last few pictures are from that moment and I think we can all agree that Jake was one happy little boy.

Here are a few (or maybe a ton) pictures of our fun.  Jake was a little hesitant at 1st but quickly warmed up to the fun.  Please, please, please Mother Nature, let it snow again.