Memorial Day fun

The Rutledge crew spent Memorial Day weekend at home this year. We rolled out a badminton net, set up a poor man's bocce court, invited some neighbors over to share in the fun and sun, and tried to relax as much as possible.

Saturday night ended up being one of the funnest nights we have had since we moved to Apex 4 years ago. There were 45+ people here with kids of all ages. The rain forecasted all day long held off, and once the sun went down and the lightning bugs came out the kids broke into a game of flashlight tag which took me back to the days on Kelly Drive playing that game with all the neighborhood kids. It was a great night.

Sunday was recuperation and re-hydration day. We tried to take the kids out for pizza last night and were quickly reminded that we have 3 small children. Tess, ever curious to see our destination's bathroom as she is potty training, had Amy up four times because "she had to go." Of course the one time you don't take her is the one time she's not crying wolf, so we take the bait every time. Meanwhile Owen decided he was all of a sudden not a fan of pepperoni pizza, so he moaned and groaned the whole meal. Amy & I were very happy to put kids to bed and call it a night.

Memorial Day was a pool day for our crew. The boys are bound & determined to learn to swim this summer, and it's time. Owen surprisingly has more courage in the water than Gus does. We'll see if we can get the two water bugs to be self-sufficient in the pool by summer's end.

Hope everyone's Memorial Day weekend was a relaxing one. We remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we can enjoy fun-in-the-sun weekends like this.

Cheers!


Finding a dozen 2x4's in the workshop from the previous owner of our house yielded the perfect poor man's bocce court.


Even the bees enjoyed the neighborhood get together as this poor fella was stuck to a bowl of melted ice cream when we went out to clean up the next morning. Looks like Owen isn't the only one who can't resist chocolate.
Tessa Lou was in prime form at the pool....
...while the boys try to get their sea legs back as quick as possible getting comfortable in the water.

Reunited, and It Feels So Good

Holy cow. The blog. Where do I begin? It has been such a neglected part of the Rutledge life, frankly for the last six months.

Life got busy. Really busy. And it remains really busy. Kiddos and sports, two working parents, a new demanding job, trying to serve in a leadership role at Covenant, and doing our best to find time for ourselves and each other, it can be pretty difficult to find a few minutes here and there for anything.

Then there was that contrived one-night stand with Facebook. Oh Facebook -- where do I begin with you? In reality Facebook is fun. It's voyeuristic and visceral. But it can also be laboring and pointless. I mean, I do enjoy getting a friend invite from someone that I forgot that I went to middle school with. But frankly I don't care what their high score is on Farmville.

So it's good to be back. For however long this lasts. Maybe just today, but I'll try to throw up some pictures every now and then. I think our readership dwindled down to single digits. We'll build it back up eventually.

Cheers everyone!



This photo was taken to show that I do have a daughter, despite the fact that she wipes off my kisses and cries by the minute for "Mama!" Tessa Lou is a mama's girl for sure. (She'll come around.) ;-)


The boys play soccer now. They are in a 5-6 year-old league where it's very low key with no pressure for winning -- or positions really. The kids all rotate from defense to offense, and in Owen's case "gazelle" as he hops and prances all over the field. When he's the goalie, Owen stands there with his hands up in front of his body ready to pounce as his coach once told him to get his tiger paws up. Obviously that stuck. He even had a game where ran after some poor little girl on the other team growling at her.

Gus is a little more competitive but still is learning the game. Today he was the most aggressive he has been, and we're hoping he gets a goal before the season is up in a couple of weeks. He still doesn't like his picture taken though.

Amy's annual Mother's Day picture where she begs the kids to sit still for 3 milliseconds so I can snap a picture without a finger in the nose or an elbow to a sibling's head. Note the contrast to Tess's happiness from the picture above! (Her dating age just got moved from 23 to 28.)

Paducah Invasion

Many have asked about Derek. Bless his cotton socks, he has been a busy man. He took a new job several months ago (still with IBM) which has had him working many nights and weekends. The rest of his time has been consumed with three kiddos, shoveling mulch, fixing sinks and training to be on Dancing with the Stars.

I had the pleasure of going to Paducah with the kids a few weeks ago. Thanks to my mom for flying out and driving with me. We had a fun drive and a great visit!

Amy