The Kugler Family Adventures: A lot going on....and we're not slowing down!

I hope all of you wonderful mothers had a nice Mother's Day. I sure did! My mom was in Asheville with friends, but I had an awesome day with my family. I got to sleep in a little, go for a run, then we hopped on the boat to head to TBones for their yummy brunch. The problem was, though, that everyone else in the Lake Wylie area had the same idea. There was a long wait for a table, and even longer wait for the brunch buffet. So, we walked over to a sushi restaurant. No complaints from this mommy! We spent the day on the lake with friends, and other than the boat trying to sink itself (we had a hot water leak coming in from a busted heater console, which Brian plugged with a princess dive stick, lol! He even got 2nd degree burns, all while I was freaking out...thanks, babe!), it was a great day!

CAUGHT! With a mouth-full of sushi!

No naps on Mother's Day, but Diana and Tobias were nice enough to let them relax and watch a movie :)

At a Saturday morning craft event at Lowes Hardware

Listening to music at the Whitewater Center

Here's a picture my cousin, Cindy, posted one "Throwback Thursday" on Facebook. Griffin SWEARS that Uncle JP is him. Too funny. I can't see the resemblance at all ;) Sidenote, Kelly looks thrilled to be there, haha!

Brian and I had a much needed date night out! We went to Piedmont Town Center first, then onto Osso and the NC Music Factory to see the Blue Dogs play (they are a band, not actual blue dogs. Playing, haha). Somewhere along the way, summer made an exit. It was COLD! We had a fun time even so...

We met up with She-She for a few minutes

Payton has been working hard since January to get ready for her second ever dance recital. This time she had to learn two dances, one for ballet, and one for tap. She did INCREDIBLE! The girls were so cute and she was so proud of herself. Granby was out of town, but Grumps came to watch her performance. Griffin had a blast clapping and yelling for everyone.

Um, hello, Mini-Me!

Such a sweet picture of Payton and her Grumps!

This was from the actual recital...we didn't get much video, as I was taking lots of pictures.

But here are a couple of cute and funny videos from her rehearsal the week before the recital:

And even though it was chilly that afternoon, I went out on the lake with some friends....and some of their friends, and some of their friends. At one point, we had 10 boats tied up together at the sandbar. We pretended it was warm and that the sun was out. That evening, Brian went to a friend of ours wedding shower while I stayed home with the kids. Babysitters get expensive!!

Diana and me

Lots of people!

Brent, Marie, JT, Matt, Me, Caiti, Damon

The ladies...(nice photobomb, Matt!)

So, other than school, soccer, dance, swimming, and boating, what have the kids been up to? We had a picnic at Brian's work. Payton rode her bike and scooter, and Griffin pretty much ran all over the the tennis courts. I took them strawberry picking, although we went the day after a huge rain storm, and the strawberries were all mushy. The kids had fun, sampled a few, but then we ended up going to their store and just buying some. The pictures turned out super cute though. The kids are definitely looking forward to summer. Although they will be in summer camps for most of it, they love that McKaley will be keeping them some again. We are also looking forward to some upcoming beach trips. I truly could just move to the beach for the summer.

Silly boy found Braxton's paci..and that bruise on his head? A result of Payton pushing him, while a hula hoop was wrapped around his legs. Ouch. He's eventually going to have to get really tough around his sissy!

The ones he picked? The green ones. The ones I told him, specifically, to stay away from. He took one as a souvenir. It's around our house....somewhere. Eeeek!

Griffin has decided it's finally time to go pee and poop on the potty!! As long as he had no pants or diaper on, he would have no accidents....but as soon as I put underwear or a diaper on him, he pees in them. So, we'll keep trying, but I feel like we made a TON of progress over the weekend (seeing that he went from never peeing on the potty to going all weekend!) GO GRIFFIN! Also, with very little help, he counted to 50! Still no interest in swimming, but I'm going to focus on teaching him soon. Payton is so grown up for her age. She plays dress up and pretend with her friends. I have her doing small chores (making her bed, putting dirty clothes in the laundry hamper, putting dirty dishes in the sink)...most of the time she's a big help. She's recognizing more and more words in books and her writing has improved. She's writing her numbers some now. Time is flying. I can't believe we'll be registering her for kindergarten in October. I'm not ready for all of this!!!

I just wanted to see what the big fuss was about these fingers in the mouth!

Yep. It's pantsless Candyland. Hey-whatever we have to do to get that boy to keep going on the potty!

So, I asked Griffin what this telephone was. He said a T-Shirt. He's really never seen many "telephones." Sign of the times. Wow.

We saved this turtle from becoming turtle squash!

Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to share the story of the bravest little girl I've ever known. Her name is Libby Jones. For the past 14 months she has battled, and I mean battled, A.L.L. (an aggressive form of leukemia). With over 200 blood transfusions, a bone marrow transplant, medicines, procedures, IV's, multiple chemo treatments, losing her beautiful hair, in and out of hospitals all over the nation, ups and downs, smiles and tears...Libby has touched so many people throughout her fight. She lost that fight on Thursday, May 8th. A beautiful celebration of life was held for her. The things that were said were so heartfelt and touching, and I have NO idea how her uncle and dad had the strength to speak. But they did, and did so with poise, strength (from Libby, no doubt), and lots of love. I had to explain, to Payton, what happened. That was one of the hardest conversations I've ever had to have. She still asks questions about Libby. She understands she's in heaven with Emma, and she gets sad about it. She wears her pink Libby bracelet almost every day, or at least keeps it close. Even though she doesn't really remember Libby (they went to pre-school together, but weren't in the same class, and they got to meet each other at Discovery Kids one day), she prays for her every night. It's really sweet.

I have learned so much from Libby, and her loving family, and it's put a lot of things into perspective for me. Life is truly short. Make the best of it while you can, and try to leave something positive behind. For all of us who knew Libby, or knew of her story, the memory of her will never fade. She is an incredible almost 4 year old who lived her short life to the fullest. Give blood, when you can. Make donations, when you can. Give your time, when you can. Ask the Joneses if any of this makes a difference. I know what their answer will be. Being a mom of a daughter the same age, I cannot even imagine the grief from which they are suffering. Please keep them in your prayers...#libstrong