October 2014

October is my absolute favorite month of the year. The weather is awesome, there are lots of fun fall things to do, and my birthday gets thrown in just for fun.

We started out the month with pumpkin patch visit #1. Aubrey's class went on their first field trip to Lineberger's Farm in Dallas. I grew up 20-ish minutes from this place and never had the chance to visit it, so I was excited about going. Aubrey was more excited about getting to ride the school bus to the farm than being at the actual farm. I couldn't chaperone because I decided to bring Mason with me so we drove separately, which really upset Mason because he thought he was riding the bus, too. We got there a little before the buses so we explored the little market area of the farm and it was so neat. They had pumpkins and gourds galore along with some other locally grown produce. Once the buses got to the farm, we listened to one of the owner's tell the history of the farm and then she explained how pumpkins grow. After that, the kids got to spend time in their awesome play area before taking a tractor ride around the farm (which was Mason's absolute favorite part). The trip wrapped up with each kid (and me) selecting a pumpkin to take home. It was a fun trip and I hope to take the kids back to that farm again in the spring for strawberries.

About a week later we did our annual trip to Hodge's Farm for pumpkin patch #2. Linebarger's Farm is much more kid friendly, but we've been going to Hodge's since Aubrey was a baby so we had to go back. The kids enjoyed seeing the farm animals and walking around their huge pumpkin patch. We needed up with 3 more pumpkins from this trip, making our total pumpkin count in this house 6.

Unfortunately, my Great Uncle Bob died on October 21 and I knew I couldn't make it to the funeral, but I really wanted to pay my respects at the visitation. It was being held in Burlington, NC, which is a little less than 2 hours from home which meant I had to leave before Todd got home from work and the kids had to go with me. I hated the thought of taking them, but there really wasn't an option so I explained as gently as I could to Aubrey what would be happening. She seemed a little nervous about the whole thing, but handled herself well at the funeral home. Mason, on the other hand, was a complete wild child. I think everyone understood that he didn't know what was going on, but it still made it difficult to manage him. It was nice to be able to visit with some of my extended family because I haven't seen many of them since my grandfather died 4 years ago. However, it did make for a long night and we didn't get back home until close to 11:00 so the next morning was rough. Not an ideal situation, but I guess sometimes you just have to make the best of it.

We celebrated my birthday on the 26th, even though admitting I am getting older is not any easier year to year. It was still nice to celebrate and even better to eat some yummy Public cupcakes. 

Aubrey's school decided they needed to keep Halloween somewhat "educational" so they decided the kids could dress up as book characters and have a parade around the school. There was no doubt Aubrey would be going as Pinkalicious. She was so excited to be able to wear so much pink to school. 

The night before Halloween, we finally carved 3 of our pumpkins. I usually leave this task to Todd and the kids because they have so much fun with it. Todd did a great job carving and the pumpkins looked pretty cool sitting outside. 

The grand finale of the month was Halloween. Back in the summer when I ordered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes for the kids, Todd said we should all dress up as turtles for Halloween and I blew him off. I was not wearing a green unitard around our neighborhood. But, he got the kids all excited about it so I decided to play along and search for a decent costume. I managed to find a girl turtle outfit so I ordered the costumes and was ok until I tried it on. I guess this was supposed to be the "sexy" turtle costume (ridiculous that everything for females must be sexy) because this costume was shooorrrt. And I'm a short girl, so I can only imagine how short it was on taller ladies. I was able to to make it work with some leggings and the kids were thrilled when I walked downstairs in my get up. We did the obligatory pictures before making the round of the neighborhood. I walked for a bit with the kids before going back to the house to hand out candy. It was a little embarrassing to be dressed up and sitting all by myself on the porch so I was glad when the other 3 turtles of the house got back. The kids enjoyed handing out candy as much as they did receiving it so it was a good night all around. 

Except for the sad news about my great uncle, October was a good month. Now its time to prepare for the holidays and I can't wait!

September 2014

This is something different. Sitting down to write this post and its not half way through the month. Yay, me! I think we are starting to get in our groove as far as school and the routine, so I am better able to judge time needed and allow things to be no so crazy.

We didn't have a lot of of happenings going on in September, which we really needed after the past month of craziness. I also haven't been working as many hours, which has allowed us more freedom and flexibility in our schedule.

Mason and Aubrey are both settling into the school routines. We are now knee deep in sight words, math problems, and fundraisers and the nerd in me is loving it. I always loved school and both kids seem to be enjoying it so far, which makes me happy. Aubrey got her first progress report from school and she is on track in all of the measured areas. She also got her first note home from school telling us she is struggling with paying attention and following directions in class, which was not a huge shock considering this is a big problem for her at home. This was also noted on progress report, so its something we are really trying to work on more in the evenings.

Some bad news of the month was that Aubrey had to have a lot of dental work done this month. I finally took her back to the dentist last month, which was long overdue. Her last dental visit had been at age 3 and it didn't go well so we held off as not to scare her off from the dentist. Unfortunately, they told us she had 4 cavities in her back teeth, none of which would be falling out soon so they required work. All of them were between her teeth, which means the problem isn't a lack of brushing, more a lack of flossing. I never remember flossing as a child, nor do I remember having any sort of cavities before I was like 8 or 9, so I was really surprised to hear this information. She handled the first 2 fillings like a champ. They gave her nitrous oxide prior to doing the work and she said she felt no pain. She seemed fine after the visit and went right back to school. She had the last 2 cavities worked on Tuesday, and due to 1 cavity location, she had to get a crown instead of a filling. This visit did not go so well and she was a miserable mess after we left. She cried or whimpered the entire way to school. I gave her a dose of ibuprofen and hoped she would feel better after a few hours. We've added a fluoride supplement to her brushing routine, as well as twice daily flossing in hopes that we can prevent anymore cavities because I hate the thought of having to do this to her again.

The bright spot of our month was going to the beach for our 7th wedding anniversary. We've skipped our anniversary trip the past 2 years because of low funds, but now that I am back to work we could afford it this year. We decided to just do a quick weekend visit to Oak Island because of Aubrey being in school. Oak Island is where we went for our honeymoon and holds a special place in my heart after years of childhood visits plus our honeymoon. Mason had never been to the beach and I really wanted him to experience it, so leaving the kids at home wasn't an option to us. We got down there late Friday night but still wanted Mason see the beach so a quick walk down the water was necessary. We got up early Saturday morning and spent most of the day out on the beach. It was overcast outside and cool, which made for a comfortable day of playing in the sand. That evening, we went to Southport for dinner, and unfortunately, it started raining so we weren't able to walk around the town. We had to get up early Sunday to pack and head out, but not before taking a trip to see the Oak Island lighthouse and the Oak Island pier. We are already considering a week-long trip back to Oak Island next summer because the kids really enjoyed themselves and want to spend more time there.

We wrapped up the month by taking our first trip to the Huntersville farmer's market. I've worked so many Saturdays that we have never been able to attend, but since I had a Saturday off and it was so gorgeous outside, we decided to take advantage of it. Its a neat little place to visit and I hope to go back next summer. The best part of the trip was noticing that the town of Huntersville was hosting a fall festival so we had to take the kids for a walk through. There were games and bouncy houses and free prizes so the kids enjoyed themselves. Mason was thrilled he got to sit in a real fire truck and walk through the fire department. He is becoming obsessed with all things on wheels and fire trucks are pretty high on the list, so he was in heaven.

So, this month was a nice transition month for us. The fall is shaping up to be busy for us so it was nice to be able to relax and spend time together as a family while the weather outside is so awesome.

The little guy's turn

Months ago we made the decision that Mason would start preschool this fall. I know most children don't start until age 3, but we knew he needed it. His only real socialization has been with Aubrey and her friends, with the occasional child his own age thrown in. The preschool Aubrey attended offers a 2-year old program and we loved the school so much with her we had no hesitations in sending Mason there as well. I sent the registration form in the same day I got it in February and didn't realize quite how fast those 7 months would fly by us. Before I knew it, I was getting an email with teacher assignments and supply lists. We prepped Mason all summer by telling him he was going to Aubrey's old school in the fall and he seemed pretty excited each time we talked about it. He always wanted to stay in her classroom and play when we dropped him off so we knew it wouldn't be a big change for him.

We went to open house a few weeks before the big day. He was so excited to finally play with the toys he coveted during Aubrey's preschool days. In fact, he was the child screaming when it was time to go because he wanted to keep playing. It seemed a little surreal to me to see his name on the board and see a little spot for his backpack and jacket. I tried to keep reminding myself it was just preschool and this was a good thing, but that lump still formed in the back of my throat. 2 open houses in 2 days made this momma a mushy mess.

Unfortunately, we had to wait almost 2 weeks between open house and the first day of school. He asked me everyday if it was time to go to school and would get downright mad when I told him it wasn't.

Finally, his big day arrived. Unlike all the other first days of school, it was just him and me taking pictures. He wasn't as excited to take pictures by himself as he had been with Aubrey, but I managed to get a few.

When we got to the preschool, he wasn't quite sure about everything without Aubrey and Todd being there. He pulled my hand to the table to look at some toys and then seemed ok. He ran off to look at other toys and I had to call him back to give him a hug and kiss bye. I was a little sad that he didn't seem too bothered by the fact that I was leaving. My little boy is quite the big kid now and that's a tough pill to swallow. 

I had to go straight to work after I dropped him off, so my mom picked him up after school and said he had a great day. He was excited to show me his school work when I saw him later that afternoon, but otherwise didn't seem to care as much about the big day. 

Now that we have 2 weeks under our belt, I would say he is doing a great job. He's still a little unsure of himself when we get there, but that lasts about 15 seconds before he runs off to play with the toys. He always seems happy at the end of the day so I think he's enjoying it. 

So, both of my kiddos are officially school kids now. I have kept myself busy with errands while they are both at school because I don't think I'm quite ready to be at home by myself yet. I'm sure I'll get used to the quiet, but for now I'll just enjoy the kid-free time while I shop and distract myself from the fact my kids are getting older by the minute.

August 2014

I am just sitting down to write this post in the middle of the month because the last month has been insane. I am really having to go back and think about August and hope pictures jog my memory because we have been so crazy that I struggle to remember what happened this morning, let alone last month.

We started out the month by getting Aubrey a new, bigger girl bed. Todd didn't think she really needed a full size bed, but I knedw when we convert Mason's bed from the toddler bed to the full it would be an issue if Aubrey was still in a twin bed. I finally convinced him to let us pull the trigger on the bigger bed by telling him it could serve as a guest bed when people spend the night and Aubrey can sleep on the air mattress. I furiously pinned ideas for her new room but I should know by now that my opinions don't mean a whole lot to a very opinionated 5-year old. She picked out the bedding by herself, which actually ended up saving me a lot of money because I wanted the cute PBK set and she chose a set from Target. No complaints from me, though. We settled on a pretty wrought iron-looking bed from Ikea and she loved it. After we assembled the bed and put it all together, it just seemed even more surreal that my little girl is sleeping in that big bed. Didn't I just put her in the crib for the first time? She loves her big bed and it is pretty cute to see her crawling in at night. 

However, Aubrey didn't even get to sleep in her new bed the first night it was assembled because she hosted her first sleepover that night. She had been hounding me for months to have a sleepover so finally I caved and let her do it. She invited 5 friends, but luckily only 3 came over to play and 2 spent the night. I planned a few activities for them, but mostly just let them play and do their thing. Todd went to visit his sister for her birthday, so I called in my sister as reinforcement. That turned out to be one of the better ideas I had because Mason was a handful that night after having no nap that afternoon. The girls had so much fun, but this momma was worn out by the time they went to sleep at 10:30. 

We made the decision this month it was time to convert Mason's crib to the toddler bed. He was started to pull up on top of the crib rails and I knew it was only a matter of time before he crawled over. After talking about it for weeks, we finally cleared his room of the crawl-worthy furniture and did the conversion. He wasn't sure what to think about it at first, but he went to sleep with zero problems the first night. It took him 3-4 weeks before he would get out the bed without permission. Since he insists on sleeping with his door open, we installed the baby gate at his door to keep him confined should he wake up and start wandering. I'll admit that knowing we'll never use the crib again was a little sad, but it is nice to give him some freedom and know that he's safe. 

We took the kids to watch a Charlotte Knights' baseball game in their new stadium and it was a lot of fun. It was Mason's first baseball game and he was fascinated. They both got bored after about 3-4 innings, but hopefully they'll have more attention span to watch the games as they get older. We'd love to go to Atlanta next year to watch the Braves game and hope to take them with us.

We spent a few days on the boat this month while Todd and his dad worked on the dock. The water still seemed a little cool for the kids to swim in so decided to let them fish. Mason was so happy to catch his first little fish. Aubrey was able to help a lot more with her fish and still seemed giddy excited every time she caught one. Todd loves that they both like to fish so I see that as some daddy-children bonding time in the future.

The kids also spent some time in the wading area at the lake and had a great time. 

The day after Aubrey's Kindergarten open house was Mason's open house for preschool. He was so excited to finally be going to school like Aubrey. Many of the children in the class were petrified to leave their parents sides during open house, but not my child. He was too happy about having a whole new set of toys to play enjoy. He did pull us around to show us the toys, but was really ok playing by himself. He was very upset when it was time to leave, so I was confident he was ready for his first day. Unfortunately, he had to wait over almost 2 weeks before he actually got to start and he let us know he wasn't happy to wait. 

This was the best picture of him I could get at open house. He was too interested in the toys to take pictures.

Aubrey started back to dance this month and as promised, we also let her start tumbling at Mrs. Rhonda's. She still isn't 100% happy that she is tumbling there instead of her old gymnastics center, but she has friends in her class and that seems to help. The only drawback to tumbling is the schedule. She dances from 4-5 and then tumbling is from 6:15-7:15. This makes Wednesdays a loooong day for all of us. I now understand and appreciate even more the sacrifice my parents made for me to be in the activities I was in as a child. She is doing something she loves and that makes the long days completely worth it to me.

I'd love to be anticipating a slow-down, but I know that won't happen anytime soon. We are at break-neck wide open speed until Christmas, I'm sure.  So, we'll just try to hang on and make it through until then.

A Bittersweet Day

A day that I have been dreading and so excited about at the same time finally arrived. My sweet little Aubrey started Kindergarten today. We've been planning and discussing this day for so long that going through it all just seemed surreal. We went to open house to meet her teacher and see her classroom last week, but that really didn't prep me for what today would feel like.

We started getting ready yesterday by picking out which outfit to wear (not that she has a lot of choices since they wear uniforms), packing lunch, and working on her All About Me project. Each student had to prepare a half poster board sized project that told 6 things about themselves and then be prepared to talk about it. We had everything laid out and ready before bed and then it came time to read The Night Before Kindergarten. I knew I was in for it when I started wiping tears away about half way through the book. Aubrey and I talked for a bit about what to expect today. I tried to speak in a way to calm her nerves, but also calm myself. She finally went to sleep and I went back to my room and read the book again, just to make sure I got the message that the first day is so much harder on mom and dad than the children. I went to bed feeling ok, but woke up several times through the night thinking I had overslept. You would really have thought I was the one going to school, as nervous as I was.

The alarm went off sooo early and we all rushed around to get ready. Todd took half a day off work to go with us and that turned out to be a blessing for me. Seeing Aubrey in her uniform and little pink Converse shoes was so awesome. She begrudgingly went through the obligatory pictures and then we loaded the car and took off for school.

At MICS on the first day, they let the parents participate in the morning routine of the Pledge of Allegiance, and then they do a little reading for the parents on the first day, again meant to calm our jitters more than the little ones. Then, her teacher, Mrs. Mims, led the students in a craft for us to take home. And, now I just need to talk for a minute about how in love with Aubrey's teacher I am. This woman was born to be a Kindergarten teacher. She seems to have patience and warmth coming out the wazoo. Its just amazing to watch her with the kids because she is calming and loving and everything you would want from a woman who spends her day with 5 and 6 year olds. At open house, we went in to meet her and she immediately got down on Aubrey's level and bonded with her over their love of sparkles (since Aubrey was wearing sparkly flip flops). She was so patient with me and my 25 questions that I know she's heard a million times before. I guess after 25 years of teaching, she must have heard and seen it all, so nervous parents are nothing new.  When we walked in this morning, she immediately greeted Aubrey by name and complimented Aubrey's shoes. I think Aubrey is truly blessed to have such a special person as a teacher and I can't wait to see how things go through the year with her.

Ok, so back today. I managed to hold it together until it was time to say good-bye. I gave Aubrey so many kisses and hugs before I finally had to leave. It was so nice of Mrs. Mims to give the parents hugs before we left, but that's what started my tears. I know Aubrey will be loved in her class, but leaving her there still hurt a little. I just can't believe my little 7 lb, 3 oz baby girl has grown into this 5-year old girl that is ready for Kindergarten and it hit me hard. Todd knew I was upset so he held my hand, which helped to calm me down as we walked back to the car. We were all starving at that point, so we decided to get some breakfast before heading home.

Once we got home, it felt so weird to be there with just Mason. Even after 2 years of preschool, it just felt empty without her here. Around 11:30, Mason grabbed my hand and led me to the door and said "We go get Aubrey now" and I shed a few more tears then. The day went fast though because I managed to get so much more done with just him here and before I knew it, it was time to go pick her up. Unfortunately, the worst part of our day was the pick up line, but an after school email assured us it would be smoother by Friday. I surprised Aubrey with Anna and Elsa dolls in the car as a treat for making it through her first day, despite being a little scared. We then went out for frozen yogurt to hash out the details of the day. Her favorite part of the day: of course it was recess. I should expect nothing less. She said she had a great day and was upset that she doesn't go back until Friday.

We got an e-mail from her teacher tonight that said Aubrey had a great first day and shared this picture with us.

So, we officially have a Kindergartner in the house and we all survived the day. I will call it a success. I just hope the rest of the year goes as smoothly.

July 2014

This post has just been sitting in my needs to be published folder since the beginning of the month just waiting on the pictures. I actually took a lot of pictures with my big camera in the month of July (still a lot less than in years past) and it took me forever to get them edited and uploaded. July was pretty relaxed, it still felt like it moved so quickly. I can't believe this summer is halfway over.

For the first time in a few years, we got to attend the Mooresville July 3rd celebration. We were worried it would get rained out, but a few brief storms made their way through right as we got there and the rest of the evening was perfect. We had a picnic dinner, played on the inflatables, ate way too much junk food and then watched the fireworks. I wasn't sure how Mason would handle the fireworks since we were much closer to them there than at Disney, but he laughed every single time a new one exploded, so my worries were pointless.

Silly girl posing while we waited in line

Waiting for it to get dark outside for the fireworks

July 4th was absolutely perfect. Todd and his dad spent the morning finishing the kids' new swing set and the kids spent the entire afternoon playing on it. I am so glad we were finally able to put one in our backyard. The neighborhood set is always so hot and has minimal shade so we made sure ours was in a shady area in our back yard. The kids are in heaven and love having their own place to play and swing. We grilled dinner that evening and then let the kids play with sparklers at dusk. It was awesome to watch their faces light up while the sparklers burned. Then, we walked down to the corner of the block and watched the neighbors shoot fireworks for a while. It was nice to just spend time at home and not have to fight crowds or traffic.

Aubrey was so excited that we got to change her earrings out from the ones that pierced her ears. She still complains that her ears hurt and doesn't like anyone touching or messing with them, but she loves changing her earrings and always wants to look a new pairs while we are shopping.

We've spent so much time at the HFFA this summer with swim lessons. Both kids are making a lot of progress with their lessons. Aubrey has done so well we signed her up for 2 more weeks of lessons because she is able to swim a few yards on her own and we want her to feel confident before she stops lessons. We also spent an afternoon in the HFFA outdoor pool and she surprised me by going down the large slide and going into the deep end by herself. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do if she freaked out because I had Mason on my hip, but she quickly realized she could touch the bottom and she was golden.

We drove to visit Todd's college friend outside of Rocky Mount, NC on the 17th and attend their annual pool party. The weather turned out to be a bit cool for July (a common, but awesome theme so far this summer) but the kids didn't let that stop them from enjoying the pool. Aubrey decided she was brave enough to jump from the diving board with her swimmies on. She got up on the diving board and then freaked out because everyone was watching her. Later on, another little girl her age jumped off the diving board and that's all it took to re-boost Aubrey's confidence so she march back to the diving board and jumped right off. I was in the deep end near the diving board just in case she freaked when she came up, but she popped right out of the water and said "that was awesome." I lost count on how many times she went off that diving board that afternoon, but it was so nice to see her confidence bloom. Later that night we drove back to Todd's cousin's house in Zebulon and spent the night before driving back on Sunday.

Its been a big month of purchases as we start getting ready for the kids to go to school. I've enjoyed buying the uniforms, backpacks, and supplies the kids will use for the year. But, one of my most fun purchase of the year was some dress up clothes for Mason. Todd was getting tired of seeing Mason wearing Aubrey's princess clothes so he insisted that I buy some boy stuff for Mason. So, I bought him a Jake outfit from Jake and the Neverland pirates and bought both kids Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle outfits. Aubrey has gotten into the turtles over the summer, so she was excited to have that outfit to play in. Todd seems to think we need to dress up as the whole Ninja turtle crew for Halloween, but we'll see.

So that was our July. Next month brings some huge changes to this house and I can't wait to see how it all goes down.

June 2014

The month of June brought a bit of a slower pace, thankfully. However, it also brought the yucky hot, humidity with it. But, I'll take June heat over January freezing any day. So, the name of the game for the summer has been finding as many ways to cool off as we can.

Since our crappy neighborhood has no pool, I decided to go old school and bring out the sprinkler for the kids to play in. They loved it, however the water bill loved it more so that has been a limited thing so far.

Since our bank account can only handle so much of the sprinkler running, I found an awesome FREE alternative in the Birkdale Village splash pad. Its really sad that Aubrey is 5 and this is the first time I've taken her. Both kids were in heaven and would have played for hours if I would have let them.

We also started both kids in swim lessons this summer. We've wanted to sign Aubrey up the past 4 years, but money and time have always been a factor. But, there was no more putting it off, especially since we are able to go to the lake more often. Both kids have enjoyed their lessons and have done very well so we are happy we finally signed them up.

And, of course, what is summer without ice pops? Mason wasn't quite sure what to do with one at first, but managed to eat about 1/2 of one before dropping it on the porch.

Aubrey also attended her first camp this year. Her dance studio offered a week-long summer dance camp so we signed her up. She wasn't sure about going at first, but by the time the first day ended, she didn't want to leave. They learned 2 dances that and did a ballet puppet show with puppets and scenery they created so I was pretty impressed. Plus, Aubrey got to dance with one of my oldest friends Christy and I think she might have caught the dance bug from her. Aubrey was always whining that she didn't want to go to dance and didn't like it, but we forced her to stick with it. That all changed after a week with Christy. Now she leaps and twirls all over the house and says she can't wait to start dance again this fall. I'm so excited that she seems more enthusiastic about dancing now. It was such a huge part of my life for so long and I would love to share that with her.

I have really enjoyed watching the kids enjoy all the fun summer activities and so thankful that we are able to provide them with the opportunity to do those things.