May 2016

We crammed a lot of "stuff" into May so it was a bit crazy.

Our friend's little boy turned 8 this month and he loves the 1980's, so he had an '80's-themed birthday party this year. My friend went all out and asked us to dress in our 80's gear. I am glad she had a photographer there to document this craziness.

Mother's Day was so sweet this year. The kids helped Todd with my traditional breakfast in bed and it was so good. Luckily, I finished the school semester the Friday before, so I got to spend the entire day with the family and it was awesome. The kids made some awesome gifts for me at school and they are some of my favorite presents ever. Even if Aubrey did totally call me out on my vices of make-up and wine in her "All About My Mom" card.



Aubrey had her 4th dance recital this year and it gets better to watch each year. She did her regular dance and acrobatics classes, but also added in a pre-pointe class this year. She is making a lot of progress in dance and I love watching her.

Mason closed out his 3-year old preschool year with their cute end-of-year show. Seeing how much these kids have grown over the last year was amazing. I can't believe we only have 1 more year of preschool left. There may or may not already be some tears forming over here.

A big milestone for the month was I finally made an executive Mommy decision and made Aubrey cut her hair. I was completely over the battles that were happening every morning around her hair. She loved having it long but getting her to do the maintenance on long hair was a nightmare. And, heaven forbid I tried to take care of it. So, with the recital over I decided it was time for a chop. She was not happy with me at first, but after the first time she washed and brushed it and saw how easy it was, she was sold. It has really taken the drama down a few levels in the morning so I am glad I pushed her through it.

We closed out the month with our first boat trip of the summer on Memorial Day. Our boat time was cut short when the boat died in the middle of the lake and we had to be towed back in. But, the kids thoroughly enjoyed their swimming time in the beach area of the lake, so it wasn't a wasted day. They also fished off the dock for a while and were pretty disappointed to not catch any fish.

So, May was a pretty fun-filled month. It was a great start to the summer and I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer brings.

April 2016

April was a beautiful month. It was nice to watch Spring and all that comes with it in its full glory.

First of all, I just can't even look at this picture without grinning like a fool. Look at that happy little guy in his first t-ball uniform! He was so excited that it was finally time to wear the uniform and play the first game. They had opening ceremonies the night before his first game and it was precious to watch each player be introduced and tip their hat to the crowd.

Most of the team including Coach Todd!

The next day was their first game and it was so much fun. Even though it was so cold that morning (like in the upper 40's, I think) the kids had such a good time and enjoyed playing. 

Todd and I actually got out of the house for a date night this month. A friend of Todd's from high school got married so we even got to dress up for this date. It was nice to dress up and get to hang out with each other. We don't get to do that nearly enough, especially since I went back to school.

The following day was Auntie Lacey's (my sister) birthday so we had lunch with her to celebrate.

Since Easter was a bit early this year, we had to wait to do the kids Easter pictures. We waited just a few weeks for the azaleas to bloom and I am so glad we did because they were gorgeous.

I won't gross anyone out with the the documented proof, but April also started the pink eye epidemic in our house. Mason started it towards the end of April and I was completely disgusted. I can handle puke and poop, but eyes are just yucky, so pink eye is even worse for me. Luckily, I was able to deal with it because it spread throughout all four of us (I'm writing this in June and I am on my 3rd round of pink eye in a month. Blahhhh). It such an icky, nasty disease and I'm really not happy whoever gave it to Mason.)

The rest of the month was spent was either being at school or outside and enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I love NC in the spring in this year was no different.

March 2016

We were so glad that March brought us some warmer weather. It was perfectly timed because we could finally sign Mason up for t-ball. My baseball loving heart has been waiting on t-ball since we heard the word boy. Now, I know Aubrey is perfectly capable of playing t-ball, but being the prissy girly girl, we have just accepted sports aren't her thing and that is perfectly ok. But, Mason is all boy and loves all sports equally. We bought him his first tee, bat, and glove and he couldn't wait to get outside and try it.

The league we signed him up for had a skills day so they could evaluate the their skills and make sure the teams were equally balanced skill-wise. Mason actually did pretty well during his skill test and we were pretty impressed since he had never played before.

As well as having a t-ball player in the house, we also had a t-ball assistant coach. My sweet husband volunteered to be a coach for Mason's team and it was so awesome. I think he enjoyed it just as much as the kids did.

A scary moment of the month was around the middle of the month. Todd met me at the dance studio to get Mason while Aubrey did acrobatics so I could go home and study. I was about halfway between the studio and home when Todd calls and frantically says we are going to urgent care because Mason's hand was shut in a car door. Aubrey, Mason, and 2 of their friends were playing in another mom's car and the girls were trying to keep Mason out and shut a locked door before realizing Mason was crawling in behind them. My heart sank hearing the poor little guy screaming in the background. I did a swift turn around and met them at the urgent care near the studio. Mason was so pitiful and it was all I could do not to cry with him. It seemed like it took forever before they saw him, especially when he was so upset and crying. They finally did some X-rays and the doctor said he believes there was a tiny break in his middle finger. But, he wanted us to follow up at an orthopedic doctor to follow up. The next day we saw the orthopedist and he reviewed the X-rays and looked at his hand. He said he didn't see sign of any fractures and it looked like the damage was along the growth plate, which is cartilage. They splinted his fingers back together and said as soon as he could bend and straighten them with no pain, the splint could go. We were glad for no broken bones because life was tough for those few days in the splint, especially when it came time for t-ball.

Easter came a little early this year. The kids have a basic understanding now of the reason for Easter and we make sure we talk about Jesus and the reason for their treats. But, they do get caught up in the excitement over Easter baskets and the Easter bunny. Its definitely getting harder to balance the two and I hope over the next few years they can truly understand more about Easter and what it means for us. Aubrey decided it was necessary to write the Easter Bunny a note along with leaving out some carrots and water. It was really sweet to see. They also enjoyed their annual egg hunt at Todd's parents' house.

No real story behind this picture. It just makes me laugh because they were playing some sort of game with Shopkins toys. These little overpriced plastic toys have taken over our house and it is a little maddening. But, they looooove them so we play along for now. Until we step on the next one....

February 2016

Thankfully, February was super quiet after the craziness of January. I was in the full swing of school so I was glad to not have a lot of extra activities going on for the month.

The sadness of the month was watching our Carolina Panthers play in the ridiculousness that was the Super Bowl. We let the kids stay up and watch the first half and we were really disappointed the Panthers did not play any better. The kids were just excited to stay up past their bed time and couldn't have cared any less about the game. Todd and I watched the entire miserable game and were so disappointed in the final outcome. However, we know this team is good and we are hoping for a better outcome next season.

Both kids had their well checks this month and were both given the thumbs up by Dr. Little. I was excited that Mason finally decided to make some increases on the growth chart. Little guy moved up to the 19th percentile in height, which is a decent place for him. We think he's growing like a weed until we see him next to his friends and then we realize just how little he really is. Poor guy is just going to be little. He's hovering around 14th percentile for weight, but that's pretty consistent for him. He passed his hearing and vision checks with zero problems, which made all of us pretty happy.

He wasn't happy about putting on the gown for his exam. The drama of being 4.

Aubrey on the other hand has really slowed down in growth. I looked back over her records and she has dropped from the 35th percentile in height at age 4 to 18th at age 7. I am not really concerned about it because she is physically fine. But, it is really obvious when she is around her friends that she is going to be a shorty like her mother. Of course, she is old enough to notice the heigh difference between her and her friends and she is devastated by it. Again, drama is the name of the game.

Proof that she is really is growing. The picture on the left is from spirit week at school in 2015 and the one on the right is during spirit week 2016. So, she is growing, just not as much as her friends.

Our main event of the month was Aubrey's school musical. The kindergartners and 1st graders combined to put on the show Stone Soup and it was very cute. The school gym made it very hard to understand much of what was going on, especially with the mouse-like voices the kids had in front of the audience, but they appeared to enjoy themselves and looked really cute doing it, and of course, that's what matters.

I'm pretty sure this was the 1st graders only at this point. 

I'm sure the highlight of Aubrey's month was being given her first "device." Although Aubrey has pretty open access to our old laptop she was pretty jealous that Mason got a Kindle for his birthday. She uses the iPad a lot more than he does, especially for school work, so it seemed pretty fair to us that he got a Kindle to play with. However, we realized that Aubrey is really starting to become more interested in music and wants to listen to music that she likes that we don't care for (aka teeny bopper music). We tried to hook up my old cd player for her so she could listen to some of her cds in her room, but realized the player was dead so we had to rely on some newer technology. After a lot of discussion, we allowed her to start using my old iPhone that has been completely parentally controlled and locked down to a glorified iPod. She was so happy to have all of her music in place and to be able to download the million apps she was always getting denied access to on my phone. She still has to ask us permission to use it and it stays in the master bedroom when its not in use. We are hoping by teaching her good habits with it now, she can learn to use is responsibly as she gets older. I'm still nervous about her having access to the internet but for now she sticks to the kids YouTube app and her games and music so we haven't had any issues with what she choses. I know this is just a part of parenting these days, but I really hate having to worry about her and her safety. It is definitely something we are going to learn to adapt to as both kids get older and hope we teach them well.

Playing nice with her brother while she uses the phone.

So, that was our quiet little February. I'm always so happy that February usually turns out to be so much calmer than January. We finally get a chance to relax and breathe after the January craziness and its usually just what we need.