Cheap Manual Labor ;-)

Before you ask to hire out this labor, they only finished about one-fourth of the car, got bored, and then moved onto another activity! Good thing they were cheap! ;-)

Ninja Henry

Lately Henry loves ninjas and imitating ninja moves. He especially loves for me to take pictures of him doing ninja moves in the air.  ;-) 

"Hi-ya!"

Charlotte showing me her ninja moves (haha!)...

Where does he come up with this stuff?! :-)

Charlotte and Mommy Time

Charlotte loves to play! She is very easy to play with because she will play anything you suggest. The only thing she requires is a playmate.  She is definitely not a "play by herself" kind of a girl!  :-)  I love having Mondays and Fridays with her but unless she can help, not much gets done around the house! So what do we do on our days off together? 

She loves stickers, any kind.  She thinks it is hilarious to put them on anything but paper...our couches, the kitchen table, her car seat, my legs....

This girl loves dance parties!  She loves to turn up Henry's Kidz Bop CD's, play her guitar, and dance, dance, dance!   

Charlotte loves, loves, loves the park! She squeals whenever we pull into the parking lot! :-) Her absolute favorite thing to do is swing. She would let you push her in the swing for hours. "High to sky!", she says.  ;-) 

She loves to include her stuffed animals and lovey in on our activities.  She sets up slumber parties with all of her animals "tucked" in.  :-)  

She loves to color, play with Play-Doh, use glue, scissors, and stamps, but she especially loves to paint!

Charlotte has never been one that will sit to watch television any longer than twenty or so minutes.  Lately she loves Paw Patrol and Peter Rabbit on Nick Jr.  I try to use TV time when I desperately need to get something done.  :-) 

She loves, loves, loves puzzles!  You might think that playing with puzzles is something she could do on her own but she really loves when you sit next to her and she pretends to put the wrong piece in and you laugh and tell her she is silly.  It never gets old to her!  ;-)

(Look at that girl striking a pose!)

No matter how much fun stuff we do throughout the day, her most favorite part is always waiting for Henry to get off of the bus in the afternoon.  That girl LOVES her brother!  :-)

Super Star Henry

I was so excited to receive this email on Thursday from Henry's teacher...

"I have nominated Henry for the October Character Education Trait of Responsibility. Congratulations, Henry, you deserve it! I can count on Henry to make responsible choices every day!"

We let our Super Star choose a place to celebrate and he chose...

...Chuck 'E Cheese! ;-)

Every Super Star deserves their very own monster truck!  ;-)

Charlotte was excited to celebrate with Henry...

...and Clifford! ;-)

Henry and I share a great love of Skee-Ball but already he is much better than me!  :-)

The hooligans taking a trip through outer space...

Henry, your daddy and I could not be more proud of the big kid you have become! School can be tough but you are thriving! We could have never dreamed of a son as wonderful as you! We love you a googolplex! ;-)  

On a side note, Henry's red face is Fifth disease. He woke up with a red, splotchy face and neck on Thursday. When I told him he was going to have to miss school, he cried. :-( He kept saying he didn't want to get behind. We saw the doctor and he told Henry that he could go back immediately. Once the rash appears, he is no longer contagious. So we stopped and had Chick-Fil-A and then I dropped him back at school!  ;-) Henry was not sick at all the few days before the rash...no fever or upset stomach.  Since Thursday the rash has spread all over his body so I am glad that he has the weekend to hopefully clear it up.  

Ballerina Charlotte

Charlotte is taking a ballet class at our YMCA on Monday mornings. It is probably one of the cutest and most entertaining things I have seen in a long time! Their teacher is clearly a ballerina...tall, long legs, very graceful...and she is trying to teach seven two-year olds the positions and graceful movements of ballet. Precious! :-)

Surprisingly Charlotte started crying halfway through the first class and didn't stop until it was over. I hadn't told her that I was not going to be in the room and I think she got upset once she realized I wasn't there. The moms all wait outside of the studio but can watch their class on a TV screen. She likes to know exactly what is going to happen at all times. Before the next class I showed her where I sit and how I can watch her and she had a great time from then on!

How adorable is she?!  :-)

She and her best friend, Mary Wynne don't get enough of each other at school so they are in dance class together too! :-)

I am not sure that Charlotte is destined to be a ballerina but you just never know! :-)

Friday Night Football

We have a private school right down the street from us and we love going to their football games on Friday nights!  Maybe it is because it is a private school but it is unlike any high school game Trey and I have ever been to.  There is tailgating in the parking lot, they sell Moe's and Chick-Fil-A in the concession stands, and they give out different favors at every game!

This particular Friday they were giving out Mardi Gras beads, noisemaker whistles, and blow-ups that make noise when clapped together...

...or become weapons for our Super Henry! ;-)

Trey and Henry watching the football players run into the stadium...

"Go Bucs!"

Friday nights are made for football...

...and for time together! :-)

Charlotte's First Week of Preschool :-)

Charlotte started preschool the Tuesday after Labor Day. She is going to the same preschool that Henry went to last year. She goes Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday from 930a to 1p. (The first week was only 930a to 1130a.) When Henry was age two we only sent him two days a week. We decided to send Charlotte three days for several reasons. Charlotte is a social butterfly. She loves being around people and thrives in social situations. Charlotte is also not a huge fan of playing by herself and I knew that would be difficult for her (and me) at home with Henry at school all day. We also have several friends in each of the three day classes but did not know anyone in the two day class. Plus we have never had a problem with separation anxiety with her so it never crossed my mind that she would have any difficulties with this transition into preschool.

Our beautiful big girl all ready for her first day of school...

We were really lucky to get into this class. One of her best buddies, Mary Wynne is in the same class. Mary Wynne's brother, Charlie was one of Henry's great friends from preschool last year and we have become really good friends with their family. Also the teachers she has are "legends" (as one friend put it) and are amazing with the children.

Charlotte and Mary Wynne fashionably coloring with purses in one hand and crayons in the other...

The first week of school went well. She seemed anxious in the morning before school. She would say that she didn't want to go but as soon as we were at school she would confidently take her school bag from me and walk right in. Her teachers said she was really excited about everything and was always very happy. They even got her to pee pee on the potty!  :-)  

Best buds sharing some quiet time in the reading nook...

Charlotte, I miss you when you are at school but I love picking you up and seeing that sweet smile excited to see me! You are our beautiful big girl and we love you!

Henry's First Week of Kindergarten :-)

Henry started kindergarten at Sharon Elementary on Monday, August 26th.  They do something called staggered entry for kindergarten.  Half of the kindergarteners start on Monday, half on Tuesday.  They visit all of the teachers and are evaluated on a different skill in each of the classrooms.  No school on Wednesday.  Meet the Teacher night on Thursday and then school officially starts on Friday.  

This kid of ours is a Rock Star.  Charlotte and I took him to school on Monday.  He walked right in and never looked back.  (And luckily his mommy held it together until she got to the car!) :-)

We picked him up in the carpool line on Monday afternoon and the first thing he said was, "I want to ride the bus." He has been riding the bus ever since and loves it! His favorite part is not having to wear a seat belt! ;-) He sits in the front seat with a first grade little boy from the neighborhood. He blows us kisses out the window before the bus drives off in the morning and happily runs off of the bus in the afternoon.

He has a couple of friends from preschool in kindergarten at the same school but unfortunately none are in his class. There are a couple of boys in his class that we met through mutual friends. One of the qualities that I really admire about Henry is that he makes friends wherever he goes and that certainly holds true for kindergarten too!

Henry has a sweet teacher. She is one of the older, more experienced teachers which we like.  She is very, very serious about developing a love of reading in her students.  My neighbor's daughter had the same teacher last year and she said that her class tested the highest out of all of the other classes in their grade level at the end of the year reading evaluations.  I don't know how she does it but even just a month in and Henry has shown much more of an interest in reading and writing.  Henry really seems to like her and respond to her teaching so I think it will be a really successful year for him!    

We really could not be prouder of our big kindergartener! I volunteer at the school library one morning a week. A couple of weeks ago I ran into Henry's class on their way to lunch and his teacher pulled me aside and told me that she could not ask for a better student than Henry. She said he is so polite and such a hard worker. That's our boy! ;-)

Celebrating a wonderful week for Henry and a hope for many, many more!  We love you Buddy!  

Family Update :-)

Since it has been two months since my last post, let me get you caught up on our family happenings! :-)

We had a really busy end of our summer.  I tried to cram in as many activities and as much time with friends as possible.  This past summer will most likely be our last here in Charlotte so I wanted to soak in the city happenings too!

Henry started kindergarten about a month ago and has handled this major transition perfectly (his mom...not so much)! Charlotte started preschool three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).  She had a bit of reluctance at first but she is well in the groove now and loving it! Henry really wanted to play flag football but he is not quite old enough so he is doing a flag football fundamentals clinic at our YMCA on Saturdays. Charlotte is taking a YMCA ballet class on Monday mornings and we do Storytime at the uptown library on Friday mornings.

Trey, like always, has a lot on his plate. He is busy with his clinical duties and lots of research projects and he is also studying to take his oral general surgery boards in October.

I thought I would have a ton of time to knock out my to-do list once the kids started school but that has definitely not been the case. Those few hours fly by!  It is really, really nice to have three mornings a week that I can make appointments, have coffee with friends, or even meet Trey for a lunch date, and of course take care of that pesky to-do list! It is a running joke with the preschool moms that we peel out of the parking lot after drop-off to not waste a second of our free mornings! ;-)

We love our lives here in Charlotte but we are certainly looking forward to the future in hopes of a wonderful job opportunity that will reveal itself soon!  :-)