Thursday, March 29, 2012

An Early Egg Hunt and Spring Break

The Kindergarten classes at Kyle’s school held their Easter Egg Hunt today.  It’s always fun to see the kids faces when they see just how many eggs are scattered on the lawn.  All of the eggs are numbered and each kid is assigned a number, which makes for a LOOOONNNNNGGG hunt!  By the end, the parents did all of the hunting. 

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After the egg hunt, the classes had an ice cream party.

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Spring Break is here and we’re off to Nashville, TN bright and early tomorrow morning!  Lots of wedding planning and fun things planned for the kids.  We are all looking forward to the down time!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Dudes in Brown Flip Flops

We all bought new Rainbow sandals this weekend.  Dave and Kyle look so cute in their matching pair…

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Seeing them in their matching brown flip flops makes me think of the funny YouTube video “Arlington-The Rap”.

Dudes in Brown Flip Flops

On another note, Dave and I used to live in Arlington, but in the real ghetto of Arlington, not the nice places that are shown in this video.  We always said if we didn’t have kids, we’d live in a condo above the Pottery Barn!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Yard Spruce Up

Dave has been so busy over the last month, planting new plants and sprucing up our landscaping.  We are finally done with the front yard (with the exception of flowers, which will be done when we get back from our TN trip).

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This is a new bed on the corner of our yard, along with making the bed larger on the front-side of the house.  We also extended our rock wall.

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We planted some irises, which I LOVE.  I’m planning out my flowers for the blue pot.  I’m trying to talk Dave into letting me paint our front door that color blue, but I’m not having any luck convincing him.  I don’t think the HOA would approve anyway.

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Dave created this bed last year and we just got around to putting trees and plants in.

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This mess of a back yard is next!   After having a dirt, rock and weed back yard for 7 years, Dave broke down and signed a contract to have sod put in.  Finally.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Kelsie’s Piano Concert

Kelsie had her piano concert on Saturday.  The concert featured all of the “Bullard Music Studio” students.  It was wonderful to hear all of them play – this is the only time we get to hear them, besides hearing them practice their songs.  Any festivals they compete in are behind closed doors with a judge.   Betsy Bullard, Kelsie’s teacher and the studio owner, asked all of the students a series of fun questions.  She then presented that information before each student played.  It was fun to hear what the kids had to say.  Kelsie played beautifully, of course.  Here’s the video of her song…

Kelsie’s Piano Concert - 2012

Her teacher recognized her as one of the few students that received a “Superior” grade in all festivals she competed in.  We are so proud of her!

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Kelsie and her teacher, Betsy Bullard

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All of the Bullard Music Studio students

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Spring Pictures

The kids had Spring pictures at school today, which meant a clothes shopping trip since my kids grow at crazy rates!  We went from winter weather straight to summer here.  Last year’s summer clothes were definitely too short.  Here are the outfits they picked to wear for pictures…

 

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Their pictures were full-body poses, so, like any girl, Kelsie had to have a pair of shoes to match her outfit.  I think they’re ready for spring!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

An Easter Picture Sneak Peek

Along with yard work, baseball practice and a birthday party on Saturday, the kids had their Easter pictures taken.  When we moved to NC 7 years ago, I found an ad in the local newspaper for a photographer that takes pictures with real bunnies.  I took Kelsie there when she was 18 months and have been going back every year.  It’s a wonderful Easter tradition and the kids LOVE seeing the bunny that will be in their picture.  Here’s a sneak peek…

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Future MLB Player??

Kyle has started baseball with the Clayton Civitan league.  He’s on a t-ball team, but will be pitched to instead of hitting from a tee.  Dave and Kyle play baseball quite often and Kyle has become a good hitter for his age.  Just how good, Dave and I weren’t sure.  We attended his first practice on Saturday.  We were blown away when he stepped up to the plate!  Out of the 4 times he was pitched to, 2 of his hits would have been triples, if not home-runs!  His coach came up to me and said he was definitely the star hitter on the team!  Here’s a video of one of his hits…

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What the video doesn’t show is that Kyle’s ball hit Kelsie!

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Monday, March 19, 2012

What a BUSY weekend!

This is what consumed our Dave’s weekend…

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a BIG pile of mulch!  15 yards, to be exact.  Dave worked his butt off all weekend to get the yard looking awesome before we left for Tennessee in 2 weeks.  He worked on this most of the day Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday.  Pictures of the spruced up yard will come soon.  We still have more planting to do.  And more mulch to get!

The kids had a birthday party at Monkey Joes – an inflatable party place, popular with the younger kids.  It’s one of the most disgusting places I have been to.   So many kids = so many germs.  I doubt anything ever gets wiped down.  Oh well… the kids had fun and that’s all that matters!

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When Monkey Joe arrived (a very large purple monkey), Kyle freaked out, so we left the party early (didn’t hurt my feelings!).

Hope y’all had a great weekend!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Onto the next sport…

Kyle finished up basketball last night – the same night he was supposed to have his second baseball practice.  He will soon start soccer.  Juggling two sports… I’m exhausted just thinking about it!  I don’t know how working parents do it.

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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Another Cool Kids Birthday Party!

This past Saturday, Kyle went to Hannah’s “Mad Scientist” birthday party.  All of his classmates were there – he was just happy to be with them outside of school.  He didn’t really care about the rather large sugar buffet Hannah’s mom had put so much work into.  The other kids dove right in – dropping candy EVERYWHERE and eating it off of the floor (has anyone heard of the            Noro virus, people!?) 

hannah party pic

She is one of the most creative mom’s I have ever met!  She had so many fun things for the kids to do (to work off the sugar rush!) – crafts and science experiments, bounce houses, trampoline and swing sets.  All of the kids had a wonderful time!

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Kyle said his favorite part was his green hair.  Yes, Hannah’s mom also spray painted (and glittered) all of the kids hair.  Mom of the Year!

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Monday, March 12, 2012

Our First Family Volksmarch!

This Saturday we attended our first Volksmarch in North Carolina.  A Volksmarch is an organized walk with local walking clubs.  We are members of the “Triangle Trailblazers”!  Denni and I (and some of the cousins) used to participate in Volksmarches with my grandparents in Maryland, so this was something special to me.  Most of the walks are mapped out through scenic or historic towns.  Our walk was through a beautiful neighborhood in Cary, NC, Preston Wood.  It’s a neighborhood with a few golf courses and some million dollar homes.  We chose the 5K walk since we had the kids with us (there is also a 10K option) and we weren’t quite sure how they would take all of the walking.  It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.  We all had a great time (except Dave who had to carry Kyle on his shoulders for a mile or so).  It was nice to do something like this with my family and think about all of the times Nana and PapPap took us with them – wonderful memories that I will never forget!

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Hope y’all had a great weekend!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Super Hero of the Week!

Kyle was chosen to be the “Super Hero of the Week” in his Kindergarten class.  I’d like to tell you that he was chosen because of his good behavior, good grades, good manners, good looks, etc… no… his name was pulled from a hat.  He had to complete a poster with pictures of all of his likes – food, sports, animals, etc.

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His poster has a picture of his family, Drew (his best friend), him playing baseball, bowling, playing on the computer and a picture of him at Kings Dominion.  Some of his other likes are dogs, waffles, Mini Wheats cereal (which he calls Mini Weeks and I never correct him – I think it’s cute!), strawberries, Girl Scout cookies, apples and bacon.  Isn’t he the cutest Super Hero you’ve ever seen!?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Family Night Out

On Saturday, we took the kids bowling with two other families.  We went to a new place in Raleigh called “Sparians”.  This place isn’t the typical bowling alley – plastic chairs, greasy pizza slices and lanes hogged up with league players.  This place is AWESOME!  There is a big restaurant inside with great food, TV’s everywhere and leather couches to lounge in while awaiting your turn to bowl.  We had so much fun!

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All of the kids

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Kyle and Kelsie dancing in their lane

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Not a great picture, but it gives you an idea of just how big the TV screens are at the end of the lane.

 

Hope y’all had a great weekend!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Way to go, Kyle!

Kyle has had a bit of a behavior problem in Kindergarten this year.  Nothing major, just lots of talking and not a lot of listening.  Each day Kyle brings home a behavior chart.  If Kyle gets a stamp, that means he’s been good or stayed on “green”.  If Kyle gets on “yellow”, he’s in trouble!  Usually once or twice a week he’ll be on “yellow” for talking and not following directions.  At my wits end, I told Kyle that if he stayed on “green” for the entire month of February, he could go to Toys R’ Us and get anything he wanted.  Yes, I bribed my son into behaving!  This is what he came home with yesterday…

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On “green” for the ENTIRE month!!!  We’re off to the toy store tomorrow night!  Now, what to bribe him with in March?!