December 2015

There were so many Christmas-related events in December but we did squeeze in some other events in the month.

Aubrey's cheerleading squad wrapped up their season with a party and awards banquet. After all the drama that went along with this season, I was glad to see it end. Aubrey was pretty sad about it ending, but glad football season was over for her. 

The MICS cheerleaders had their mini cheerleading event for K-2 early this year. Aubrey was excited to get to cheer more and they added in stunts that stopped this momma's heart for a few beats.

We also convinced Aubrey to pull her last top tooth that was hanging by a thread and she got many comments about asking for her two top teeth over Christmas.

The last newsworthy event of the month involved every single member of our family being sick. Mason started out with another ear infection. But, after some extra loving and a day of antibiotics, he was back to normal.

The rest of us getting sick was not cute enough to get pictures for. Aubrey, Todd, and I all got a nasty stomach virus the day after Mason's ear infection and it was bad. I honestly don't think I would wish that mess on my worst enemy. Luckily, it all started on a Friday and we were good to go by Sunday. We managed to clean and disinfect our house with a whole can of Lysol after that event because I had no desire to keep that mess in our house. 

For New Year's Eve we let Aubrey stay up to watch the ball drop on tv and I was surprised she managed to be wide open and full of energy until about 11:30. Todd and I were both struggling to keep our eyes open, but we all made it to midnight. It was fun to spend that time with her and I can't wait until the whole family can go out together and do something fun.

So, that was our December. It was such a busy month but still managed to be my favorite of the year. Despite the few days of sickness, it was overall fun and exciting and lots of good memories were made. We can't wait to see what 2016 holds for us!

Christmas 2015

I swear, Christmas just gets better and better every year. As the kids get older, I have more and more fun watching them enjoy the season. They start adding presents to their wish list right after their birthdays and their anticipation is so high all year. As soon as we decorate the house after Thanksgiving, their imaginations are in full gear. We try to balance out the wishes with lots of talk about the reason for Christmas and why its such an important holiday to us. They seem to be understanding Jesus a lot more and getting that we give presents for a reason and that makes my heart happy.

After starting the holiday season with decorating, our next Christmas adventure was going to Christmas in Davidson. I had never heard of this event before, but our nanny works for a chocolate company in Davidson that was set up at the event and she said I should bring the kids up for it. The cute little downtown of Davidson transforms into a Christmas village for a few nights with crafts, horse rides, food, and entertainment. The parking in Davidson is so limited, so they offered shuttle rides in the form of a trolly from satellite locations. Mason was fascinated with the fact we were riding in a trolly. Once we got into Davidson, I quickly realized it was going to be a long night because it was sooooo crowded. Their downtown is really small and it doesn't take much for it to be crowded, so adding in an event makes it nuts. But, the kids seemed to enjoy it and it was nice to get out and spend time together. We ended the evening by watching the live nativity put on by one of the churches and that was great way to get some good discussion in about the reason for Christmas. I hope we can go back next year and I will be a little more prepared to handle the craziness that went along with the event.

Selfie on the trolly ride

Watching the living nativity

After school let out for break, we finally were able to see Santa. Northlake Mall set up the Santa experience a little different this year. You had to book the event in advance and pay up front. I was a little put off by the cost, but once we got there and it started, it was totally worth it. It had a Shrek theme and we got to ride in a virtual sleigh, get a pilot's license, and then end with a visit to Santa. Mason wasn't the most cooperative with Santa at first, but he finally warmed up and we got a great picture of them. 

Our next holiday event was walking through the lights at McAdenville. I love sharing this with the kids every year since I grew up just a few miles from McAdenville. They look forward to seeing all the lights and getting hot chocolate to warm up. We did it for the first time this year with no stroller and that was a mistake. Mason started complaining about being tired 1/4 of the way in and that went on the rest of the night.  It is so neat to see how much the town has changed over the years but still looks the same in many ways. We took a break about halfway through and ate dinner at the little restaurant in their downtown. The kids were able to get their hot chocolate and we made the trip back to the car. It was another nice night that I am glad we got to spend together.

The kids with Santa and an elf in front of the lake

After that fun, Todd and the kids took off to Raleigh to visit his family for Christmas. I had to work and stay home with the dogs so I got to enjoy 4 days by myself, which was a nice treat. Todd and the kids had a blast and were all spoiled before coming home Christmas Eve.

Once the kids got home on Christmas Eve, I planned some fun activities with them to give Todd a break. I bought and assembled our first gingerbread house and the kids had a blast decorating it.

After decorating the gingerbread house, we baked cookies for Santa. The kids love to help me in the kitchen and this was no exception.

Right before bedtime I let the kids open their presents from each other and then we set out treats for Santa and the reindeer. We ended the night by reading Twas The Night Before Christmas. The kids didn't seem to interested in the poem, but its one of my favorites and I hope they grow to love it.

Christmas morning the kids actually slept until we woke them up at 7:30. They tore through their presents and the squeals of happiness as they check out their toys never gets old.

First view of their haul

First view of their gifts from Todd and me

Checking out their scooter and bike

After we finished at our house, we drove to Todd's parents' house for family time and breakfast. The kids were given handmade bows and arrows and they were instantly hooked.

We came home and let the kids enjoy their new toys outside.

We wrapped up the night with my family and dinner at our house.

So, I would say Christmas was nothing but awesome this year. I am sad that the season is over, but excited the kids enjoyed it so much. It really is true that Christmas as a parent is even better than Christmas as a kid. 

Let's play catch up...AKA October and November 2015

So, I am only 2 months behind right now. I guess that's not too terrible. The last 2 months have been full of activity and life. I hope I can get all the details added in because I don't remember many of them now, let alone what I will remember in the future.

So, October. We finally settled into the back-to-school routine and it made life go by so quickly. Our days were a blur of school, dance, cheer, soccer, and repeat. 

We did get to squeeze in our usual trip to Hodge's Farm to pick our family pumpkins. We've gone every year since Aubrey was a baby and I look forward to watching them explore every year. However, some jerk kids in our neighborhood had to break the kids hearts by stealing our pumpkins right out of our front yard. I'm a firm believer in karma and know they will get what they deserve, but it was still hard to explain that to my kids the next morning.

I did buy the kids new pompkins later at the grocery store so they would have something to decorate.

After a lot of rain this month, Mason was able to finish out his 2nd season of soccer. I swear 3-year olds playing soccer has to be one of the cutest things ever.

Halloween was so much fun this year. Mason has gotten into Star Wars this year and has wanted to be Darth Vader most of the year. We begged and pleaded with Aubrey to be Princess Leia, but just like Mason's first Halloween, she refused to play into the family roles. So, Mason was Darth Vader, Todd revived his role as Luke Skywalker, and Aubrey was Strawberry Shortcake. It was nice to see her in such a different costume. I love the princesses and all, but seeing her choose a non-princess costume was nice. We trick-o-treated with several other families and the kids pulled in some serious candy. For 2 weeks after Halloween, Mason kept asking when it would be time to dress up for Halloween again. Poor kid still has no concept of time, but its rather cute to see him so excited about it.

November was slightly less busy for us. Our biggest event was hosting family Thanksgiving at our house. I love having Thanksgiving at our house every year. I love having people over and I love not having to travel so it makes perfect sense to host it here. This year Todd fried our turkey for the first time and it turned out so good. I was initially a little nervous, but Todd did a great job and no limbs or house were harmed in the process. We also got to meet my cousin's 4 week old son and my kids were so excited. Mason loved holding him and got mad when someone else held him other than him. It was took cute.

In other exciting news, Aubery lost 2 more teeth this month. The dentist told us she had 4 loose teeth and we were expecting them to come out quickly. 

We bought a fire pit for our backyard and the kids were so excited to roast marshmallows in their own backyard.

The day after Thanksgiving we went out to find our Christmas tree and decorate our house. After the tree was up and decorated, the kids had their usual hot chocolate and commentated while Todd and I decorated the house. We ended the evening by reading the Elf on the Shelf since Buddy the Elf made his long trip to our house the night before. 

So, that was the last 2 months in brief. Before we know it Christmas and New Year's will be here and I can't wait to see the fun we have then.

September 2015

September officially started the full on craziness that is the fall. Life just blew up this month and we are just barely holding on for the ride.

We started out the month with Labor Day. Todd goes out of town every year for a hunting trip over Labor Day so it was just the kids and me for 5 days. It was a pretty stressful 5 days because I still went to work, had my first 2 tests, and played single mom the entire time. We managed to make it through the weekend with minimal drama, but I was pretty glad when it was over.

Mason started back to preschool on the 9th. There is such a big difference between his teachers this year and last year. Last year's teachers were ok, but I never really got the warm fuzzies like you expect with preschool teachers. This year's teachers, however all warm and fuzzy all over. We were so excited for him to start this year after meeting them and he fed off that excitement. The first day was a little tough for him, but his teachers said he had a great day so it all ended well.

Mason also started soccer again this month. I haven't been able to go to any of the sessions, yet so I have no pictures to share for him. But, he says he's having fun and wants to play in real games when he turns 4. We're also starting to look at some other options for sports for him so he doesn't get overshadowed by Aubrey's busy activities. Most of the sports will start at age 4, so by January he should be ready to go.

Aubrey finally had her first football games to cheer for this month. The first scheduled game was a disaster because there was a big lack of communication between the cheer coaches and the parents. And we had no uniforms until week 3. But, it all came together by week 3 and Aubrey is enjoying being a cheerleader.

Game 2. No uniforms for this game, but she still had a blast. She's on the end of the 1st row.

Game 3 she finally got her uniform and loved it.

After much begging, Aubrey convinced me to come to her school's fun run that raises money for the new buildings. It got bumped a day because of the rain so I couldn't stay long, but she had a good time.

Our lives involve very little besides school and running back and forth between practices right now. But, I wouldn't trade it for anything else. 

August 2015

Life has picked back up for the fall so I'm 2 months behind. Again. Me thinks this will be life on the regular for the next 4.5 years. I started back to school in mid-August and am crazy busy with just 2 classes. But, I hope to not get too far behind in my blogging. The kids' baby books are rather sad but I've managed to keep this little piece of the internet current for the past 7 years so I guess that balances it all out.

August was pretty quiet for the kids. They enjoyed plenty of downtime and playing before the craziness of school started.

Aubrey was so excited to get her first library card. She has become quite the reader and plows through books at a crazy speed.

They love "playing" corn hole in the backyard.

We spent an afternoon at Monkey Joe's the weekend before school started. I think it has lost its appeal as the kids have gotten bigger. They got bored pretty fast.

Sadly, the summer ended for Aubrey on August 24th. I cannot believe this girl is now a first grader. She survived the disappointment of being separated from most of her friends (as we were promised last year because of all of the Kindergarten drama). Her teacher this year is Mrs. Johnston and so far she is having a great year.

Aubrey also started her 4th year of dance and 2nd year of tumbling. She added a pre-pointe ballet class to this mix this year and surprisingly loves it. I was shocked because she usually doesn't love structure and pre-pointe is very strict and structured. But I am glad she has taken an interest in ballet because it will help her across the board.

We also made the decision to let Aubrey start cheerleading for Optimist football this year. She had so much fun cheering at the MICS cheer camp this past winter and really wanted to try it out. I have been really, really underwhelmed at the organization and concern this particular Optimist club shows for their cheerleaders, but we committed so she will finish out the year.

So, that was August. It really was the calm before the storm of the school year and I miss it already.

July 2015

July was a lot of fun. We started out the month at our typical July 3rd celebration in Mooresville with both sets of grandparents. Unfortunately, it rained a big part of the night, but we still managed to have a lot of fun and were able to make it to the fireworks, even if they were 30 minutes late.

We also continued our tradition of spending July 4th at our house this year. We grilled and enjoyed spending time outside before lighting 100 sparklers and watching the various fireworks set off in our neighborhood.

Mason wrapped up his first soccer season in July and got his first little trophy. I was so sad that Todd and I weren't there to see it, but we planned a cooking class with our friends for Todd's birthday so Todd's parents took him for the last session. It was so sweet to see this little trophy when we got home and he loves to show it to everyone when the come in his room. 

Todd's company had their annual family outing at the Charlotte Knight's game on the 18th. It was a lot of fun and we actually managed to stay through the entire 9 innings. On our way out, Aubrey got to take a picture with their dancers and was so excited about it.

With the cheerleaders. It was Christmas in July night, hence the Santa outfits.

After 6 years, we had a huge change in our family routine. We are finally a nap-free family. Mason started staying up until after 9 or 10 every night after taking a nap and that was not cool so we decided to go ahead and drop his afternoon nap. He still technically "needs" the nap, especially around 3:30/4:00 pm, but he is going to bed so much easier now that I can't complain too much. After 6 years of planning around nap time, its been a joy to enjoy some freedom in our lives again.

Todd and the kids spent a weekend in Raleigh for a family reunion and got to meet some members of the family they had never met. I was stuck at home working but kept up on the play-by-play through lots of pictures and FaceTime chats.

While the rest of the family was in Raleigh, I took on the big task of converting Mason's toddler bed to its final resting place as a full-sized bed. We bought this bed for Aubrey and planned that it would be her only bedroom set. But, after realizing the cost associated with buying a new set, we decided that Mason would use the crib/toddler bed again and Aubrey went to a different bedroom set. When we bought the crib 7 years ago (that was a time shock to think about how long ago it was) we were fortunate the salesman told us to go ahead and buy the conversion set. The crib company went out of business a few years ago so I was so glad that we listened to the salesman. I dusted off the box from Mason's closet and decided I would just sort everything out and see how it all went together. I had already purchased the mattress for the bed so I let my stubborness get the best of me and decided to go ahead and put the bed together. As I started to unmake the toddler bed for the last time, I was really overcome with sadness. This was the Facebook status I posted right afterwards: 

I managed to get the bed together by myself, but I really don't recommend it as a 1-person job. The next morning, after I went to work, I decided to go to Lowe's to buy plywood to put under the bed. We decided to skip the box spring on the bed for now because Mason is so short and I knew the bed would be too high on top of the box spring. So, I take my measurements and go to Lowe's convinced I would fit the plywood in my car and bring it home myself. Oh, how wrong I was. After I busted my butt (literally, I fell over trying to load this 4'x8' sheet of wood on the cart), I got it cut and took it out to the car all by my self. Only then did I realize there was no way in the world this sheet of plywood was fitting in my car. Luckily, my dad came to the rescue and saved me from more embarrassment by coming to meet me and load it in his truck. Once Todd and the kids got home the next day, we did the final assembly on the bed and it was ready for the little guy to test out. He was so excited about the change and has slept like a champ in it ever since. He has fallen out a few times (despite the pool noodle trick) but otherwise has handled the transition well. 

So that was July. I am glad we got to spend so much time as a family because I know life will be changing too soon as we prepare to go back to school and the crazy life.