7

Seven years ago today, we became parents.  It was one of the happiest days of our lives.  Another year has already gone by.  You are growing up so much faster than we had thought you would.

 

First grade was a big adjustment for you but you handled it well.  Your teacher this year is a wonderful fit for you and knows just what to do to encourage you.  You have made great strides in your reading and writing, especially over the last few months.  Now we see you reading things when we are out somewhere or to figure out how to do something.  It makes us so happy to see this transformation and can't wait to see you grow even more in your reading.  You and Dad really enjoy reading comic books together now.

 

You are still a compassionate and sensitive child.  The love that you show other people amazes me.  You love to give others hugs and kisses and I never get tired of seeing that side of you.

Your relationship with Katie has become much more competitive over the past year.  I think a lot of that has to do with both of you getting older and wanting your way.  You have such a special relationship with your sister.  I can see in your eyes how much you really love her, even when you are fighting with her!

 

This year you joined Cub Scouts and developed a love for camping.  You have even had impromptu camping in the tent in the backyard with Dad and Katie.  Cub Scouts has been a great bonding experience for you and Dad.  It's where he taught you how to play chess.  You also learned archery and how to shoot a BB gun (not really sure how I feel about those two things). 

You still love to play most electronic devices and continue to show us how well you can do that.  Even though I sometimes worry that you spend too much time playing them, I also realize that this is most likely going to be your reality when you grow up. 

I would still say that Legos are your favorite toy and your collection continues to grow.  I am honestly not sure how we have room for all of it.  Joining the Lego Club at school this year was a real treat for you and I think you enjoyed it.

Dad, Katie and I love you so very much.  We can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

Vegetables of our Labor

Over the past few weeks, we have started harvesting some of the vegetables in our garden.  We ate a strawberry spinach salad for Mother's Day using spinach and green onions that were freshly picked.  The broccoli is almost done.  We also noticed that the cabbage heads were ready.  Todd picked one on Sunday and our neighbor grilled it with some sausage and potatoes.  Tonight, Todd let each of the kids take one of the heads that he picked inside.  Here is the finished product:

Valentine's Treats

One of the things I love most about holidays are all of the baked goods.  I read magazines, look at Pinterest and just get ideas from other people on things to make.  This year I made 3 things.  The kids helped with 2 of them and I did the 3rd one on my own. 

We made heart shaped red velvet crinkles to give out to Katie's classmates.  The kids had fun using the cookie cutters to make the heart shape.  And almost as much fun eating the scraps from cutting them into hearts. 

For Michael and Katie's teachers, I did white chocolate covered strawberries.  I put Valentine sprinkles on some of them but left a few plain.  I used Valentine cupcake wrappers to put the bigger strawberries in and small cupcake wrappers for the smaller ones.  I forgot to take a picture of the strawberries before I gave them to the teachers so this one will have to do. 

On Valentine's Day, we baked a heart shaped cake.  It was snickerdoodle with cinnamon buttercream icing.  It was the first time we ever had it and I must say it was as delicious as I hoped it would be.  I also did cupcakes with the leftover batter and the kids enjoyed those.  I love holiday treats!

 

Wonderfully Warm Winter Weather

After several weeks of colder weather, a warm front seems to be moving into the area.  This morning was one of the first in several days that there was no frost on the windshield.  It was in the mid 60's by the time that Michael got home from school.  Katie had already been playing outside for over an hour and he quickly joined her.  They mostly played on the porch with Katie's new Playdoh popsicle set and then did some coloring on the easel.  When it started to get dark, they came inside, although neither of them wanted to.

The final picture is something that I want to remember forever.  My view from the kitchen as I prepared dinner:

Visit with Santa

Tonight we took Michael and Katie to see Santa at the mall.  When we arrived there, we realized that we had once again gone on "pet night".  Every Monday night in December until Christmas, you are allowed to bring your pet to the mall so that he or she can visit with Santa.  Some of these pets are dressed better than the kids there!  One good thing about going on pet night is that the pets don't take nearly as long to tell Santa what they want.  We were about the 8th or 9th customer in line but I think Michael and Katie were the first kids to see Santa that night.  We usually try to get there right when Santa gets back from dinner to minimize the wait.

This year was the first year that both kids were excited to see Santa.  They couldn't wait to tell him what they wanted.  Michael's list had 4 things and Katie asked for 3 things.  The picture wasn't the best but we are going more for the experience of seeing Santa. 

After we left, Katie said that she forgot to tell Santa that she would like some girl Legos too.  I asked Michael what he wanted to get Katie for Christmas later that night.  He told me girl Legos since Katie forgot to ask for those from Santa but he still wanted her to have them.  Wasn't that sweet?

Even More Decorating

After Christmas last year, my mom brought us some mini artificial trees and wreaths.  I kept them in a bag all year and took them out over the weekend.  Todd had the great idea of each kid decorating a tree to put in their room.  I went to the Dollar Store earlier this week and got some ornaments and garland that were just the right size for the tree.  I wrapped the trees with red bell garland to start.  Katie and Michael put the ornaments on the trees and picked out a place to put them in their rooms.  They turned out really cute!

Fun at the Fair

Yesterday we went to the SC State Fair with Todd's parents.  This was the first time that Katie and Michael have ever been to the fair and the first time in many years for the rest of us.  Todd and I used to go there for lunch when his office was located across the street from the fairgrounds.  It was a perfect day to go as the weather was sunny and in the low 70's. 

We got there a little after 1:00.  As soon as we entered the fairgrounds, the kids were ready to go on rides.  The first one Katie went on was the carousel, which Michael does not like.  I had to ride with her as she didn't want to go on alone and it's not my favorite ride either.  Both kids also went on the roller coaster with Todd and Grandmama.  Katie was NOT a fan of that ride and told me when she got off that she did not want to go on the roller skate again!

Some of the kids' favorite rides were the motorcycle, the racecars and the giant slide.  We got to the slide at the right time of day.  There was no line and the kids were able to go on it multiple times in a row before a line formed.  Neither of them wanted to ride the ferris wheel and Michael reconsidered going on a few rides that he said no to when we walked by the first time.

They rode several different rides and then we got something to eat.  We decided on hot dogs and fries.  Later we got strawberry lemonade, cotton candy and cookies.  As we headed home, the kids got candy apples to eat at home the next day.  They both chose the original red with sprinkles. 

We also looked at the animals inside at the fair.  We didn't pet any but did get to see the winners for several different categories, including the rabbits.  Katie and Michael both loved the pony ride but this was no surprise since Katie did it at the zoo a few weeks ago and Michael rode one a few times last year.  There was also an elephant that you could pay to ride but we did not do that.

Everyone was exhausted when we finally headed home after 8:00.  The kids did really well and the only meltdown occurred when we were getting ready to leave.  Katie didn't want to hear that she had to wait until the next day to eat her apple!  We got into the van and asked her if she wanted to go back to the fair again.  She was so tired that she said she never wanted to go back.  Considering all the fun she had, I think it was just the lack of sleep talking.

All in all it was a wonderful day!  We all enjoyed ourselves so much and will look forward to going back again next year.

Flu Shot Fiasco

Last year, I took both kids in to get the flu shot separately.  This was due to the fact that Michael got really upset the previous year and I didn't want him to scare Katie again.  Today both kids had off from school for Columbus Day so I decided to be brave and take them together to get the flu shot. 

I am not quite sure why I thought this would be a good idea but they needed to get it.  I told them we had to go to the doctor but didn't say why as I knew Michael would get upset.  Sure enough, we pulled up at the office and the first thing he said asked was, "Am I getting a shot today?".  I told him yes and then he wouldn't even get out of the car.

Michael did come inside after a few minutes.  The kids and I waited in the well visit room for their names to be called.  Thankfully, we were called back fairly quickly.  I was worried about a long wait so this was a good sign to me.  We got into the exam room and the nurse came in to give the shots.  It was at this point that Michael just started crying and screaming that he wasn't getting a shot.  I tried to get Katie to go first but she wasn't willing to do that.  I wonder why......

It took the nurse and I holding Michael down to get him the shot.  Then he was talking about how his leg was broken and that someone was going to have to carry him out of the office.  I told Katie it was her turn.  She walked up to the table and climbed up to get her shot.  She actually was trying to see what the nurse was going to do.  She was extremely calm considering what was still going on with Michael.  The nurse gave her the shot and she cried.  I told her to look at her sparkly silver bandaid.  She did and the tears stopped.  She was fine.  Michael was still crying about his leg. 

It's amazing to me that Katie was able to get the shot with little crying, especially after the way that Michael was acting.  In that respect, she definitely takes after her father.  When it comes to small, everyday pain, Michael clearly has inherited a low pain threshold from me!

Beach Weekend

We celebrated Labor Day weekend at the same place we did last year: at the beach with friends and family.  We headed to my parents' house in North Carolina on Friday night and spent some time with them.  The kids were so excited to go on a trip for the weekend.  On Saturday afternoon, we headed to South Carolina to visit with some close friends and their kids.

The weekend was full of time spent at the pool, beach and eating some good food.  We went to the beach and used the pool both days we were there.  The kids also got to play at a local playground.  We all rode there on our friend's golf cart, which the kids loved! 

Katie and Michael both enjoyed the beach this time around.  They actually got in the ocean without major prompting.  Both kids let Todd take them out a little bit further than they normally would have.  Katie kept running out of the water up to our stuff and wiping off her hands on the towel.  It was pretty funny.  Katie and her friend Macayla also collected seashells to bring home.  Michael loved jumping over the little waves by the shore and wasn't scared at all.

The only bad thing about the weekend was that we had to leave on Monday because there was school and work on Tuesday.  We are going to do our best to spend more time at the beach next summer.

Summer Swimming

The summer is coming to an end with school starting in less than 2 weeks.  Our neighborhood pool will remain open for a few weeks after that, closing sometime in mid September.  I plan to take full advantage of the remaining days of summer at the pool.

This was the first summer that I was actually able to let both kids go into the pool with me standing at the side.  Michael's swimming lessons of the past few summers are finally paying off.  He was able to swim this year without any assistance, although he still likes to swim to Todd and I.  He even was able to use a kickboard the right way and swim from one end of the pool to the other.  Michael has always been timid when it comes to the water.  He finally embraced jumping in to the water to make big splashes!

One day early in the summer, Katie took a swimming ring, stepped into it and swam off into the pool.  This was pretty much how she spent her entire summer.  She would easily swim from one end of the pool to the other.  I can't wait until she can get lessons when she is 4 because she already uses her arms to paddle and legs to kick.

Apparently Katie felt so safe in the ring that she thought she did not need it.  When we were getting ready to leave the pool one day, she took the ring off, walked to the side of the pool and jumped in.  She went under the water and had to be rescued by the lifeguard.  Talk about a scary moment for both me and Katie!  The good news is that this incident left a lasting impression and she never went near the water again alone or without her ring.  Katie still talks about when she went in the water without her floaty and sank to the bottom and says how it was scary.

Overall, there has been a lot of fun time at the pool!

Looking Back

I have been working on cleaning up the pictures on my laptop and camera memory card.  The kids love looking through pictures on my computer too.  Here are a few pictures from this week over the past few years:

2008

 2009

2010

2011

Water Balloon Fun

I went to the pool on Monday with Michael, Katie and the 3 kids I was watching for the day.  I was exhausted after that.  I think the ratio of 1:5 was a bit much.  It was still hot out today though and the kids wanted to play with water balloons.  So I set up the slip and slide in the backyard, along with the play slide and filled 36 water balloons.  My finger was so sore after tying all of those balloons.  You would think someone would come up with a better way to fill the balloons!

The kids wanted to play with the balloons but didn't want them to break right away.  They took turns rolling the balloons down the slide into the water and following them down.  It was a great way to keep cool but kept it interesting.  At the end of the playtime, they took turns breaking the ones that were left before heading on the porch to eat popsicles.  I love summer fun!

Science Fun

Now that Michael is out of school for the summer, we have been trying to stay busy to keep him from getting bored.  I was cleaning up some papers in the kitchen and came across a folder that had pages from magazines that I had ripped out.  There were recipes, crafts and educational games.  I found an article I had taken out with easy science experiments to try at home.  I decided to do this one with Michael and a modified version for Katie.

Michael was hesitant at first because he didn't want to do anything that had to do with learning.  I told him that it would involve him and he would get to perform the experiment on his own.  This seemed to get his interest.  I got him his own bowl and gave him some pieces of paper towels to cut into strips.  He used each and every different marker color (I think there were 15 or so) and hung each strip over the edge of the bowl when he was done.

It was really neat to watch the colors move up the paper towel.  Michael also told me that he was happy he decided to do it and that it was fun, not boring like he thought it would be.  This activity actually held his attention for about 45 minutes, which seemed like a long time to me.  Katie did it for about 20 minutes, which was good for her.  Both of them told me that they would love to do another experiment soon!

Happy Mother's Day

The weekend started with Todd and Katie going to have lunch on Friday with his mom.  They picked up some amazing flowers for her, which she loved.  I also made a red velvet cake with homemade cream cheese frosting, her favorite.  Since they brought the cake to her office, it was finished off by the end of the workday by her co-workers.  However, she did manage to get one piece.

We went to my parents' house in NC to spend the weekend with them.  Michelle, Alex and Lila also joined us there.  It was a nice weekend spending time with family.  Todd and I even got to head out to the outlets for a few hours on Saturday afternoon without kids.  We don't often get time to ourselves together away from home so it was a real treat.  Saturday night Michelle and Alex went out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary and Lila stayed with all of us.  I loved smelling her sweet baby smell.  We headed home this afternoon.

I got a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure from Todd and a covered cake pan from the kids, as well as a sweet card and silhouette tracing from Michael.  I look forward to my mani/pedi but will probably wait until we are going on our trip to Johns Hopkins to get it as it would get messed up due to occupational hazards :)

This is not the best picture of me and Katie but it's the only one with either of my kids today.  Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!