Anna is 9!

Our wonderful, sweet, caring, loving Anna Kathryn is now 9 years old.  She is growing into a wonderful little lady and we are so very proud of her!  She had a fantastic birthday month, beginning with a family party in Concord at the beginning of the month, a fun friend party on her actual birthday, and ending with a nice visit from Grandma and Grandpa F at the end of the month.  She also had her dance recital and the spring festival at school thrown in as some other special events, in addition to end of year festivities at school, voice, and dance.  We think she had a super fun birthday month!


She will have her checkup on June 10th, so we will get the good, bad, and ugly at that time.  She continues to be one of the tallest, yet youngest, kids in her class.  She seems to like that!  She and Erin wear the same size clothes and shoes, so the days of sharing and passing down are long gone.  She has had her glasses for just over a year and got a new prescription in April.  Her prescription had actually doubled over the first year, which the eye doctor said is common due to growth and her eyes now relying on the glasses more now that she’s wearing them.  She will see the dentist on June 3rd, but we see no issues there as far as her needing any orthodontia down the road.  She’s still only lost the first 8 teeth, so I imagine the next round will start soon.  She continues to not get sick much and is overall a super healthy girl!  I expect to get another dietary lecture at her checkup; maybe it will stick with her better than lectures in years’ past.

So, Anna.  She is a delight.  She is social, caring, intense at times, but oh so sweet.  She is our video gamer, bookworm, and friend to all.  Bob and I love walking in to school with her and hearing the chorus of “Anna!  Over here!” Coming from all directions...because, quite honestly, we never had that experience ourselves as kids.  We don’t know where this social butterfly came from, but we love it and think it’s pretty funny, to be honest.  Anna has a very good ability to remember details about people and what they like, and she is really very caring too.  She is not afraid to stand her ground and will do her best to get her way whenever possible.  I still predict that she will be our future lawyer!  She sings beautifully and is quite creative with drawing and art.  She is starting tennis back up this summer, which is wonderful, and while she is taking a break from voice next year, she will continue jazz dance through the summer and fall.  She is inquisitive and loves animals of all kinds, and most of all, she loves her family and friends and loves her time with them.  We just adore her and can’t wait to see what the next year holds for her!

May!

Whew!  We survived May (almost)...that month is no joke!  It was full of fun things, beginning with the school spring festival on the 3rd which was a hot and sunny day, and the kids had a blast until we had to leave for Anna’s last dance class before her recital.  Bob was busy grilling and serving food there with the Knights as well.  Finley also had his first visit to the Pooch Pad for day care that day as a trial run before we board him in June.  He enjoyed his time and was somewhat tired after, but not as exhausted as I was hoping he would be.

Saturday the 4th was the opening day for the pool, and as it was plenty warm that day, we took advantage of it.



The water was a little chilly, but the kids didn’t mind.  It’s crazy to me how the pool season here is 5 months long!  Sunday, we went to Concord for the day for the spring birthday/Mother’s Day extravaganza and had a blast...we had a Mexican fiesta with tacos, a piñata, snow cones, cupcakes, and football!



 

We celebrated Bob’s birthday at home when we got back from Concord that evening.



Bob went to Boston most of the next week, including his birthday, for an annual meeting, but he seemed to have a good time.  We ladies had the usual all week until Friday night, which was Anna’s jazz dress rehearsal!  Then, Grandma A and Ansley came up that evening for a fun sleepover!  We all went to the Wescott Mother’s Day event and then to the pool on Saturday morning, and then got ready for Anna’s recital.  Grandma, Erin, Ansley, and Daddy watched in the audience while I was helping as Anna’s class mom.  Anna and her class did a great job!



I had a nice Mother’s Day on the 12th, not too busy.  I hosted neighborhood book club here on Monday, and Erin had a great time on a field trip to the art museum and symphony on Tuesday.  The rest of that week was the usual events, including the final week of piano and voice lessons.  Saturday the 18th was, of course, Anna’s birthday!  She had a great day beginning with donuts and ending with a super fun friend party at our house.  In between, we also went to a fun pizza party at Ms. Margaret’s house for her piano and voice students to celebrate the end of the year.  The plan was for them to play video games, but they mostly ended up running around and playing inside and outside...as well as doing a painting project and eating dinner and ice cream sandwich cake.  I think she enjoyed it.






Sunday was church, pool time, and we had Bob’s coworker Dave and girlfriend Kristin over for dinner.



The 20th-22nd were a big few days for Mr. Finley because his neighbor friend Ruby stayed over at our house!  The dogs got along great, and Ruby was very patient with him.  He was like her little shadow and hopefully didn’t annoy her too much.



Finley gave us a scare on Thursday night buying himself a trip to the emergency vet, but after some fluids and antibiotics, he was fine within 24 hours.  Friday that week was field day at school and was a hot one, but the kids seemed to have a good time and made use of their new misting water bottles, and the teachers made use of spray bottles and squirt guns.  Bob and I both went to field day and then on to Anna’s class where we helped make rain sticks, which was a really fun project.  Then, Anna had her last jazz class for the year.  It was a very busy day for Anna!






Saturday the 25th, Anna went to a fun birthday party for friend Madeleine at the Science Safari where they got to pet lots of animals and make a chinchilla playground while Erin and I went to swim at Jordan Lake with Olivia and her family.  Then we all went to a new Mexican restaurant in Pittsboro together.



Sunday, we had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa F, including a Red Robin dinner!  Monday was more laid back with some chores and pool time on a very hot day.  The final week of the month was the last week of school, which is always met with mixed emotions around here, but the week of dress down days did help dull the pain.  I do think we are ready for a summer break and some leisure time...until we get bored, that is! Erin had her dress rehearsal for her ballet recital on the afternoon of the 30th for her big day downtown on June 1st.  She did a wonderful job!

 


So, that was May...it was a little bit crazy and a lot of fun.  I am glad that the piano and dance recitals were spread out so we really just had one of those this month, plus the birthdays and end of school.  I was Erin’s room mom this year which added a little bit of extra work at the end of the year, but it was fun and easy.  We are looking forward to our trip to the Bahamas coming up next week (!) and, after that, more summer fun!

April!

April was a great month of spring/pollen before the heat sets in!  The first week was fairly routine with Bob going to Boston and the usual schedule for us ladies (and Finley).  Anna went to the zoo on Monday the 1st, and I was able to go as a chaperone.  It was a gorgeous day and we had so much fun!  We had the last fish fry of the season on Friday the 5th, and it was delicious as ever.  Everything seemed to run smoothly as well!  Anna had a play date on Saturday morning, and the girls had a mock recital for piano and voice that afternoon.  We had a fun dinner with Olivia’s family here on Sunday.

The next week was more of the same, plus one of my book clubs and we ladies went to the school spring musical that Friday night in a crazy downpour while Bob worked at a crawfish boil at church.  The show was really great and both girls are planning to take the musical theater elective in middle school so they can participate too!  Saturday, we had a fun visit from Grandma A., plus the annual piano/voice recital that evening.  The girls both did a wonderful job, and it is always so much fun to see the kids perform.  I love watching the high school kids who have been training for years and have such incredible talent.  We all tried out a new restaurant near us, the Eggs Up Grill, for lunch after church.

Monday the 15th was the 4th grade Spanish Fiesta, which was lots of fun!  The kids performed some songs in Spanish and we had delicious treats that families made and brought in.  We had made pink sugar cookies which were yummy too!  Anna had a Charlotte’s Web party on Wednesday the 17th which involved a pancake breakfast while the kids watched the movie.  Thursday was a half day of school, followed by Anna getting her feet washed at the Holy Thursday mass.  We spent a stormy Good Friday at home and worked on a 1000-piece puzzle that Grandma let us borrow.

Happy Easter on the 21st!  The bunny managed to get by Finley and brought some candy, books, and gift cards for everyone.  The girls were off the week after Easter, but we still had activities and had the puppy to contend with, so we didn’t go anywhere.  We stayed busy with puppy class (graduation!), walking Murphy, play date for Anna at Defy trampoline park, voice lesson, ballet for Erin, Caroline Manning over to play, my piano and Erin’s piano (all lessons this week were at Ms. Margaret’s beautiful new house!) a fun visit with Enzo and Luke, book club, sleepover for Anna, and a fun day with Sarah on Friday including an outing to the dance store, Moe’s, and Goodberry’s!  It was a very fun week and we enjoyed having some down time together and a taste of the summer ahead.

The last two days of the month were just the usual, and that was it!  May is heating up already and we are looking forward to a busy month with birthdays, recitals, and end of year madness!