June 2016

So much for my grand ideas to catch up over the summer. I think the summer was just as crazy for me as the school year. But, I think I need to accept that this season in life is about running behind and doing what I can when I can.

June wrapped up 1st grade for Aubrey. First grade seemed to go so much faster than Kindergarten. I know part of it was that life has been so crazy, but it really did feel that the school year had just started when it finished.

First and last days of 1st grade

We celebrated the end of school by having our first miniature golf day. The kids enjoyed it at first, but it really was too hot, so they were over it by the end. It was fun and we do hope to go back again.

Being out of school meant more time at the pool. The kids love being in the water and it gave us some time to sit down and relax while they played.

Another bonus of summer is being able to watch movies outside. We took the kids to see Cinderella outside at the Shoppes at Northcross. It was a free event and perfect weather, so it really was a perfect night.

Aubrey had dance camp for a week so I got to spend some extra one on one time with Mason. We found a cute little park near the studio and battled through the heat to play on the equipment. I love spending one on one time with the kids because its not that often so it was fun to hang out with the little guy.

Our exciting news for June was I made the decision to join LuLaRoe as a fashion consultant. I had been researching for about a month before I finally got the courage to talk to my sponsor and make it official. Getting Todd on board was a little harder, but once we talked numbers, he was a little ok with the decision. My hope in selling is to make enough to supplement the income I will lose when I go back to school. My paperwork was submitted on June 29 and entered the queue to wait for my call. More updates on this journey later!

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.

January 2016

As always, January was so, so busy for us. As soon as the holidays ended and the kids went back to school, we started birthday season. Somehow, someone gave Mason permission to turn 4! This little guy is growing up on us and becoming such an awesome little man. We celebrated his actual birthday at home with cupcakes and presents.

I love his reaction to getting his Kindle. He was so excited and loves this thing.

For his party, we decided to go with the Sports Connection and it was a hit amongst the 3 and 4 year olds. After this party, he was invited to 4 more Sports Connection parties and loves each and every one. For his party, we chose the bouncy houses and the mini bowling and the kids loved it. 

The weekend after Mason's party was supposed to be Aubrey's birthday party. But instead, we ended up doing this.

The kids did enjoy the snow and missed a few days of snow, including Aubrey's actual birthday. She was devastated to spend her birthday home from school (I'll remind her of that fact in a few years). The roads really weren't that bad to travel near our house, so I took her out to celebrate her birthday to brighten her day. That night, we went out for dinner and then did cake and presents so I think she ended up having a great day, even if she wasn't in school.

Getting her nails done

Opening her American Girl doll that I finally won the battle to buy for her.

Posing with her doll that she named Abby. Story behind the name. Mason has struggled with Aubrey's name since he started talking. He called her "Aubee" for a long time and only recently has he been able to say "Aubwee". R sounds are still hard for him. Aubrey wanted to name her doll something close to Aubrey so when I mentioned Abby and how it was close to what Mason calls her, her face lit up. So, Abby it was.

Finally, the next weekend was beautiful and warm so Aubrey's birthday party could go down. She wanted a dance party this year so we found a dance studio near us that hosts birthday parties. They did a dance routine, some free dance, and some activities with the girls before cake and snacks. It was a great party and Aubrey had a blast spending time with her friends.

Mason had a good time, as well, I think. 

Decorating their "feet art"

As usual, birthdays dominate January for us. But, we also had a lot of football talk going on since our Carolina Panthers eventually made it to the Super Bowl. Even Aubrey, the anti-sports girl, got into the Panthers' spirit so we had a to take a family picture while rocking our Panthers' gear.

So, that was our January. It was a busy, but great month.

Well, hi

My sad little blog. I have had a serious case of life happening over the past 5 months and this little space has been completely neglected. The spring semester of school totally kicked my butt and left zero time for pretty much everything that wasn't essential. So, I have a lot of catching up to do over the next little while. So, I will be adding the past 5 months of our lives to the blog as I can and hope that I remember what's actually happened over that time.