Monday, September 30, 2013

Random Ramblings!


It's getting harder for me to stick with posting on this blog. Life is just busy and I want to be present for the busy - not trying to get a cute picture.


Life is really good right now. Ages 2 and 4.5 are wonderful! Lots of laughing, trying new things and of course screaming. Evie even retrieved Henry from his crib on Saturday morning at 8:00.

Henry is all boy and Evie is all girl! 

Just a few things for posterity's sake:


We went to the Onello birthday party - three girls with a birthday in the same week! Evie and Abby have been friends since they were in-utero so it is always to special to celebrate with Abby. It was the perfect afternoon for a party. Henry loved the jumpy castle and the pizza. Evie and I decoured the cake. It was such a fun afternoon with sweet friends.


Both kids are enjoying football season with Carl especially when popcorn is involved.


I love Mondays! Yes, you read that correctly. It's always my best day of the week. I worked out with Courtney this morning, played outside with Henry, whipped up dinner during naptime, and had some time to myself. Perfect! I love having time with Henry without Evie. It gives me a chance to soak up these fleeting toddler days. 

Hope everyone has a terrific week!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Lately: Weddings, Pocahontas and Stomach Bug



Where does the time go? It sure goes quickly with the exception of the hour before bedtime. Not much happening here - we enjoyed our first weekend at home in a month. That was nice! 



School is still going well for everyone. Both kids are learning so much. Henry knows his colors, is counting and can identify a few letters. Pretty impressive for a two year old! Big Sister teaches him new stuff all the time. I am loving my two classes too! Teaching 4 hours a week is a pretty sweet deal. Our schedule was tweaked a bit so now I go in at 9:30 to teach Literature 4 and then have a break before teaching Composition 6. I love 6th graders which really surprises me since I loved teaching first graders so much. We had pajama day on Thursday and had a blast. Our angel parents put together a breakfast to start the day off on a sweet note. Fun times!


We went to North Carolina for a wedding last weekend. I babysat for the bride so it was bittersweet for me. Jackie looked gorgeous and it was such a special night. It's hard to believe that I met her when she was 6 and now she is a married woman. Evie has been told not to discuss marriage until age 30!

 
We squeezed in a visit with my aunt and grandmother while in North Carolina. My grandmother recently moved to an assisted living facility. It was good for me to see her and my kids brightened up the spirits of so many there. Carl and I discussed how nursing homes inspire vigorous exercise and excellent retirement planning among their visitors. 

The stomach bug hit our house last week. YUCK! Everyone is much better. 


Evie attended a Pocahontas birthday party yesterday. It was an exciting time for Evie and all the other girls. Pure wildness but so sweet to see their excitement over the princess. Evie even asked Pocahontas about Belle.

We were happy to get back to our church this morning. Nothing too eventful which is always a good thing.

Carl took over kid duty for most of the day so I could get some tasks completed. That's always nice to have a little respite from the day to day. 

Hope everyone had a delightful weekend and that your Monday gets off to a magnificent start.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Almost Famous!



Almost famous might be a tiny stretch but Henry has been featured as the cutest two year old boy twice lately. Lifeway Christian Magazine photographed Henry for their Spring Sunday School Insert for 2014 and our salon plastered his precious face on their promotional materials. It's a tough life being such a cutie!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Lately!



It's been a busy few days! I keep waiting for life to slow down but it looks like this may be our new normal.

Evie is loving four days a week of school but it is exhausting to get up and out of the house four mornings a week. It's great practice for Kindergarten! Speaking of kindergarten, I went to a Kindergarten Meeting at her school last week and got a little teary. It just seems impossible that Evie will be in kindergarten next year! I know she is going to love it and will do just fine. Evie is a teacher-pleaser and catches on quickly - two elements that will help her to succeed in the classroom.

Henry is adjusting to days of school. He is still not sure he likes it at drop-off but is fine within moments. He says, "No, teacher Bell" as we walk in the school but seems ready to learn once he gets inside the classroom. He is one of the youngest in his class and one of three that are not potty trained. Teacher Bell is ready to get them all potty trained but I am not convinced. My experience is that most two year olds that are potty trained really have trained Mama's. I am not interested in going to the bathroom all over town while he experiments with this. Evie learned in less than a week with only two or three accidents - that's my plan for Henry too. Not to mention, I am not ready to stop dressing him in the jon-jons and longalls. If Henry decides, he is ready then we will start helping him at home!

My job is going well! It's a dream job for sure with only a few hiccups. Most of the hiccups are from the transition to 4th grade - the tutorial has only accepted Middle and High School students until this year. It's bit of a learning curve to get parents, students and instructors on the same page but I love being back in the classroom!

I had a room parent meeting on Friday at preschool. There were at least 50 parents there. Oh my goodness! It was chaos with that many parents and kiddos. I am excited to help out in Evie's classroom this year. 

We have had a low-key weekend. Carl and I had a date night on Friday. It's always so fun to spend time with my main squeeze. Evie and I went out for some girl time on Saturday while the boys watched football. We had a great time together and accomplished so much - birthday party, grocery store, eyebrow wax and shoe shopping. I love my time with Evie! 

Carl had a work event today which made for a super long Sunday! I should have taken the kids to church but it seemed overwhelming so we just walked to the park. Molly came over to play with Evie this afternoon and then we all went to the library. Three kids in a library is no joke. I am pretty sure that two kids is plenty for me! 

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend and that your week gets off to a wonderful start tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

First Day of Ballet!





Evie was excited to start back at dance this afternoon. She is thrilled to have three friends from school in her class and was all smiles when I left her in the studio. We love our ballerina!



First Day of Dance 2012

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Labor Day!










We spent the weekend with Carl's parents at Lake Keowee in South Carolina. It was a long drive - a drive that seems to get longer instead of shorter over the years. Our kids are terrific travelers, really terrific travelers but 7 hours in a car is hard.

We were all thrilled to arrive to see She She and Poppy! They prepared us a delicious Ina Garten meal and we just enjoyed watching the children run around like hooligans.

Saturday, we took a boat ride to the pool! Evie and Henry had a ball swimming. It's the perfect pool for kids!

Henry slept for 13 hours and barely woke up for church. He finally stirred at 9:20 so I grabbed his sweet little self and threw in into his clothes for church. Henry made it all of five minutes in church and off we went to the playground. Nurseries are valuable ministries! I think that I may just hug the nursery workers neck this Sunday for saving me from sitting through a church service with a two year old.  After naps, we took a quick and I mean quick trip to a waterfall. Evie loves a hike and it was sweet to see her attempt to take care of Henry on the hike. It was beautiful for the five minutes that we there and then we raced back for our reservation. I am still not used to those curvy roads and it about turns my stomach upside down to traverse the mountainous roads.  We made it for dinner and had a wonderful time enjoying the yummy food. Henry and Evie made friends and had a ball playing. We waited for darkness to fall and then the most spectacular fireworks were the highlight of the night. Henry kept saying, "wow" and Evie was perfectly content to sit back a bit and asked me 2.4 million questions about the logistics of fireworks. Evie is considering a career in "firework productions" so it is important for her to figure all this out. You know the important stuff like where does the firework go after it goes away, how does it get so high, why are they in the shapes of flowers, is it littering when the pieces fall? Everyone crashed after that fun night with Poppy and She She.

We packed up the car and left early on Monday. It took us forever to get back and we only stopped twice - traffic on Labor Day is no joke! It's always fun to spend the weekend away - it's the coming back that is not so fun. Laundry, grocery runs, getting everyone back on track. It's been a doozie of  day and we are traveling to the Carolina's again in less than two weeks. 

Thanks Poppy and She She for a super fun weekend!