a boy. his sister.: August 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011

Ocean Princess

This little princess had her first day as an Ocean Friend today! She is so excited to follow in Brett's footsteps because she heard him talk about his class all year last year. She was definitely ready to go this morning!! Let's just hope this excitement continues :)

She said she had a great day. Apparently both teachers read stories today, and they had snack and playground time, and ate lunch, and had centers. Her friend, Logan, was in her group for centers. He and Kate are in class together for the third year in a row! Yay! I tried to ask who else was in her group, but that was all I got. She starts her new gymnastics class tonight, so we'll see how that goes. Such an exciting day of new things!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Hurricane Irene

While our friends down on the coast are getting hammered by Hurricane Irene, we consider ourselves very lucky. We've had 1-2 inches of rain and wind gusts around 40mph, but we don't have much damage at all. There are several small branches, leaves, and other small debris around. Our neighbor lost a tree, but it was fairly small and completely missed his house, so that's good too. We even still have power (assuming I didn't just jinx it)! Basically, we're laying low today, waiting for the storm to blow out of here. The kids think it's great - a low key day, filled with tons and tons of playtime! Dress-up, dolls, Barbies, Transformers, dinosaurs... you name it, they've had it out today! We hope that you and your family stay safe during the storm!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Kindergarten!

Today is Brett's first day of Kindergarten. He is soooo very excited. He's been talking about it all week! They only go a half day today, so he got to pick a snack to bring and then he'll eat lunch at home. Plus, they only have a third of the class there at any given time this week, so it will hopefully make things a smooth transition.

On the way there this morning he tried to convince me to drop him off at the sidewalk and let him walk in. Thankfully, we're not allowed to do that on the first day :) We'll cross that bridge next week when we have to use the carpool line!

I'm so glad to see him eager and excited to be there and I can't wait to hear all about his first day!

Brett with his preschool friend, Mark - We're so glad they're in the same class. They've been friends since they were 2 years old!

Update - Brett had a GREAT first day! Todd picked him up in the carpool line and brought him home to my mom, who said that he was just as happy at the end of the day as he was at the beginning of the day. He said they wrote some different letters, had recess, ate snack, and read two stories - one about a gingerbread baby and one about the first day of school. Usually when I ask what he did at school, I get maybe one or two things, at best, but he's been talking about it non-stop! I'm so glad that he had such a fun day and I'm looking forward to a great school year :)

We'll see how he does next week when they start going full days!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

We've lost our marbles!

Last week of summer, part 2.

We spent my other day off work this week at Marbles Kids' Museum with some of our friends. Their oldest son and daughter are both starting Kindergarten with Brett. The little siblings got to tag along too :)

Kate likes to play in the ambulance and take care of her "patients"

Emma Kate was driving the boat. Kate had her life jacket on for safety :)

Brett and Brayden are going for a cruise

The boys and the train table - they go together like peanut butter and jelly!

Brett was cranking the motor on the sub

This is Brett's favorite part of the entire museum - building and racing cars

He would've done this all day!

Money-palooza - the balls are "money" and there is a bank with teller stations and all sorts of very cool, creative things to teach kids about money and saving. Kate hoards as many balls as she can possibly carry!

Zachary thought this part was very cool

Policeman Brett thought it was pretty cool too!

Strike!

Part of our end-of-summer tradition is filling up our last week with fun things that we don't get to do every day. It's fun to end the summer with a bang and it saves us from the end of summer sibling rivalry that just happens from them being side by side for 3 very very very long months. Part of me thinks it's flown by, but part of me feels like they've been out of school forever. I'm ready for them to be back in a routine and for me to be back in a routine and have time away from my sweet munchkins :) I love them, but a little time away does the body good!

So, we started out our last week of summer with a trip to The Alley for some bowling. Last time we went down there, Hillsborough Street was wide open because there was no school in session at NC State, not even summer school. It was easy-breezy to drive in, find a parking place, and be done. This time was a little more challenging, but we managed. Once we got there we realized they were teaching bowling that morning to a bunch of freshmen (presumably freshman anyway). It was pretty entertaining, but we had our hands full with these three boys (and two little siblings).

These three boys managed to get three different Kindergarten teachers. I'm 100% certain that was not an accident!

This little princess loves her bowling shoes and her gumballs. She also loves getting more spares than all the boys combined!

This little dude was not feeling it, or maybe he just wasn't feeling the picture. Yeah, probably more like it!

Dad and son combo... still equaled quite a few gutter balls (yes, even with the ramp and bumpers!) In their defense, the lane was insanely lopsided!

Love these two!

Back to School

This is a big week in our house! The start of school - real school - Kindergarten! Brett got his first homework assignment already and school hasn't even started yet. When we got our e-mail and letter telling us which teacher he had, there was a coloring sheet attached that he has to bring with him on the first day. Brett does not love coloring, to put it nicely. He would rather do just about anything else, so I've been putting it off for a couple weeks. I finally decided that yesterday was the day and that he would have an easier time sitting down to do it first thing in the morning when he's well rested, and if we colored with him. Obviously, I don't intend on us doing "work" every time he has homework, but it worked out ok in this case. I enjoy coloring and Kate LOVES coloring, so there we were, all 3 of us sitting around the kitchen table coloring our gingerbread pictures in our pajamas.

I especially like the pink head on the gingerbread boy :)

Back to school supplies - crayons, eraser, scissors, glue, and a nap towel. What a life!

Brett had his "meet the teacher" night on Monday and he seemed to really enjoy himself. He was very friendly and outgoing and not at all shy, which is a relief! He knows several kids in his class even if none of them are his "best" friends. He was able to play in the classroom, find his cubby and his hook for his bookbag. Tomorrow is his first day, but he only goes a half day with a third of his classmates. Next Monday and Tuesday half of the class goes for a full day (8:00-2:40) and then on Wednesday of next week the whole class is there together all day.

Kate has her "meet the teacher" on Friday morning. Of course, we already know her teachers since Brett had them last year, but it will be good for Kate to get to see the classroom and some of the kids that will be in her class. Just like Brett, none of her "best" friends will be in her class, which is good and bad, but mostly good. Brett didn't know hardly anyone in his 4 year old class at the beginning of the year and now those boys are like best friends. I'm happy about the fact that Kate's class has more girls this year! The last couple years she's only had a few girls in her class and a ton of boys. This year is a little more even, so hopefully she'll form some good friendships with these girls and boys in her class.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

GOAL!

It's officially soccer season - this year with two teams. Kate is playing on the preschool Monkeys team and Brett's team aged up almost entirely together, so they are still the Dolphins. Todd is coaching both teams with one of our good friends, Mark. I'm not sure who was more tired after the games today - the kids or the coaches! It was a HOT one!

The Pre-K Monkeys, Game 1

The K Dolphins, Game 1

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Quack Quack!

We took advantage of a beautiful, cool(ish) summer morning and met our sweet friends at Lake Lynn to feed the ducks. No, those blonde-haired beauties most definitely do not belong to me - they are Kristen's over at Three in the Nest. Her daughter, Caroline, and Brett will be in the same Kindergarten class this year - so excited!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Calling all Kindergarten Moms!

I found this on Pinterest (yes, I know, I have an addiction!) and it was too good not to share! Here is a check list of all of those great back-to-school pictures. I can't wait to see what great pictures you get! Counting down... T minus 10 days!

This is from I Share Printables. Check it out! She has printables for everything imaginable! Love it!!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Kickin' It!

Soccer season officially kicks off next weekend, but we thought we'd have a little practice of our own so that the kids can wear their new shoes and stuff a little bit (and try to prevent any complaining the first real day of practice). As you may or may not remember from last year, Kate was not completely enthusiastic about soccer. However, Todd decided that he's going to coach both teams and he has high hopes for Kate. We'll see :) I do think the pink soccer shoes and princess ball are big steps in the right direction though!

Doing some drills

Playing a game

Practice got rained out! Let's hope the same doesn't happen next week!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

OIB 2011

My parents (aka Memere & Poppy) rented a condo on Ocean Isle Beach for a week and invited all of us down there for as long as we could go. We only got to go for a few days, but it was a blast. We drove down early Wednesday evening so that we could all eat dinner together and be ready for the beach first thing Thursday morning. About an hour into our beach day, this is what we saw literally feet away from us.

At first they were telling everyone to get out of the water, which we all jumped to assume had something to do with a s-h-a-r-k. Yikes! That is Todd's biggest all time fear at the beach. Turns out, there were two guys on a raft way far out and they were going to bring them back in. Everyone was fine. Drama over, thankfully!

There was the raft - way far out there! Two teenage guys were on it. They didn't really seem fazed at all. I would've been completely embarrassed, but grateful that someone rescued me!