November/December!

Well, I guess December was so busy that I didn't get a chance to write a post for November!  Here's a quick summary of the final two months:

November - Started out with All Saint's Day, 2 book clubs, and a fun visit with Tom, Pam, Jimmy, and Danny!  Anna went to Caroline's roller skating birthday party with Sarah on the 3rd. 



Girls were off on the 5th and 6th, so we had school conferences, two playdates for Anna, and some down time at home.  The rest of the week was the usual until my first of two solo trips to Fort Wayne, this time for cousin Meg and Brent's wedding!  The wedding was beautiful and so much fun, and I had a great time!  We even go to do some sightseeing at Sweetwater Sounds.  Bob and the girls stayed home and did some house/car work and helped at the pancake breakfast at church on Sunday.

The week of the 12th was fairly calm with our usual routine and activities, plus neighborhood bunco for me on Thursday.  Anna went to a fun painting birthday party on Saturday, and Erin went to Olivia's sleepover birthday party as well!  Erin and I went to a concert with Enzo and his mom on Sunday the 18th and saw Ms. Margaret sing some opera!  The girls just had school for two days the week of Thanksgiving, and we went to Concord that Wednesday for a fun time!  We also got to visit Cole and Cooper at their house while we were there. 



The kids were also off on the 26th and went to the dentist.  The remainder of the week was back to the normal routine, plus book club, rounding out my favorite month.  I sure do love November for its nice weather, leaves changing, Thanksgiving, and the calm before the storm (aka December)...

The busiest month of the year started out with a bang on Saturday the 1st while Bob set up the nativity at church and we ladies got ready for the lighting/blessing of the nativity that night.  Unfortunately, it rained and we didn't have a great turnout.  We all worked hard on Christmas decorating on Sunday. 





The following week was a little extra busy at school with Santa's Secret Workshop, where I went and helped the students shop for gifts for their families.  We got our fence installed that week in anticipation of a furry friend!  Third grade had the reconciliation prayer breakfast on Friday, which was really nice.  Then the kids got out at 11:30 and we had Sarah over to play before jazz class.  We attempted to make cinnamon ornaments which was kind of a fail...we need to use more glue or something next time!  Anna went to a bowling birthday party on Saturday the 8th, and then they had their holiday piano/voice mock recital that afternoon.  We were supposed to go to Concord that evening for Ben and Cole's 7th birthday party, but we had a surprise early snowfall!  We ended up with less than 2" here, and it was really wet snow, but it sure was pretty while it lasted!  We got to have extra special visitors when Olivia's house lost power...we had her, Josie, mom/Dawn, and Ginger stay for 2 nights, and we had such a great time!





Bob went to Seattle the week of the 10th, and we ladies held down the fort, including a snow day on Monday, 2-hour delay on Tuesday, and Erin being in the school Christmas pageant on Tuesday evening.  She did a wonderful job as a narrator!  Anna had a field trip to the science museum and capitol building on the 12th.  I enjoyed doing some baking for the teachers' gift exchange that week, and then I had my second trip to Indiana that Friday for Kristen and Amir's wedding!  The weather was great, and I had fun flying one leg each way with Leslie and Elliott!  He did so well on his first flights!  We enjoyed staying downtown.  The wedding was beautiful and I was so happy that I was able to go to both weddings this fall.  Bob and the kids had planned to go to the mountains while I was gone, but they were still dealing with the snow in that area, so they stayed put and helped with the pancake breakfast again and enjoyed the neighborhood holiday event/hayride.  

My room mom skills were put to the test on Monday the 17th for the fourth grade Christmas party.  It seemed to go well and the kids had fun!  Erin had her checkup that afternoon and got a good report.  The girls got out for Christmas break at 11:30 on Thursday the 20th, and then the fun really began!  Enzo and his mom and brother came over to play that afternoon, we had fun visiting the Grinch at Ms. Karen's on Friday as well as a fun outing to the Nutcracker that afternoon.  We really enjoyed the show! 



Saturday, we watched dog friend Ruby, had a home visit with the Carolina Basset Hound Rescue (we passed...fingers crossed!!!), Anna went to sleep over at Addie's, and the rest of us had a fun dinner with Liz and David.  After church on Sunday, we went to Concord for lots of Christmas fun.  We came home on the afternoon of the 24th and went to our neighbors' Christmas Eve party, then home to try to sleep!  Santa did arrive, and we had lots of fun on Christmas morning opening gifts!  We then went to church and back home to play all day. 





I was busy shopping on the 26th for gifts for Santa's Secret Workshop 2019 (we plan ahead and hit the sales!).  We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the Callaways and Flanagans on the 27th, and I hit more stores on the 28th.  Anna had a 4-day dog-walking gig over the week and enjoyed walking a neighbor dog.  She also had 2 playdates on Saturday the 29th (only Anna has a social calendar like this).  We had a super fun visit from Grandma A. and Ansley on Sunday and Monday and put them to work unloading the gifts at school that I had bought, but then we all had a yummy lunch at Moes.  We finished out the year at home for New Year's Eve crying over our poor Wolfpack Gator Bowl loss.  Maybe next year!

So, it was a very busy couple of months, but we are thankful for lots of fun and good health!  Here's to 2019!

July!

Well, our exciting month is behind us, and what fun it was!  Let's see...July 1st seems like a long time ago.  We started out the month with my last-ever day of watching Saywer on Monday the 2nd.  I had watched him 3 days a week on the 9-week year-round school rotation since July 2015.  I am so happy to have been able to help his family out and am also looking forward to some newfound freedom for me (once the girls start school, that is)!  We went to swim at Enzo's house on the 3rd and did some trip work on the 4th, as well as a trip to our pool and then a fun neighbor party at Ms. Karen's that afternoon/evening...until storms broke up the party.  The kids yet again missed seeing fireworks due to storms and trips. 

We left Friday morning the 6th for our weekend in Indiana!  We drove to Columbus, Ohio, that day and spent the night in a cute suburb northwest of Columbus called Dublin.  We swam in the Residence Inn pool, had pizza in the room for dinner, and then walked around the historic downtown/riverfront area of Dublin. 



Saturday morning, we drove the remaining 3 hours to the Big Barbee area, including a stop at the ol' Meijer by our old house.  We helped set up for Grandpa's 90th birthday party, which started at 1pm.  The party was so much fun and we had perfect weather.  The girls enjoyed swimming off the dock, riding in pontoon boats, and also on the jet ski.  Bob enjoyed playing volleyball all day and I enjoyed seeing everyone and just being at the lake.  We stayed at an Airbnb cottage at nearby Lake Webster which was large and nicely furnished.  Sunday morning, we all met at Jellystone Campground for 7:30am Mass and then had a great day at Barbee, swimming and riding on the boat.  We had a terrific time and loved seeing everyone!  We got up bright and early on Monday and drove the whole way back...5 stops later, we were door-to-door in about 12 hours.  Not too bad!





The following week was our down time between trips.  The girls and I took in "Sing" at Crossroads theater on Wednesday morning, hit the Y a few times, met some friends at their pool on Thursday, and had Enzo and Luke over on Friday.  Saturday, we made a day trip to Concord for Elliott's first birthday, which was so much fun!  On Sunday, we had church, Anna partied at Lifetime Fitness with for Gabi's birthday, and we went to a nice dinner at Enrigo in Cary with the Knights of Columbus.  Monday and Tuesday, we had Sarah here while her parents worked, and Erin went to see a movie with Enzo and his family.  We went to the YMCA pool on Monday and painted some pottery on Tuesday.  Wednesday, I got my windshield replaced after an incident driving home from Indiana, and we made our final preparations for the big trip to Europe (FULL RECAP HERE)! 



After getting back on Sunday the 29th, we worked on laundry, unpacking, and setting back in.  It took us a few days to completely adjust to the jet lag (or at least me), but now we are settled back in and are back to normal.  Bob left for Boston on Monday for the week.  I went to the dentist on Monday and the girls had a blast with new babysitter Kate.  Otherwise, we are just hanging out and enjoying the final stretch of summer!

June!

For those of us on the crazy year-round school calendar, June is a weird month.  It feels like summer, everyone else is in summer mode, but yet it's still the last month of school (at least for Erin's track).  So, it can be hard (and busy) when we want to do lots of fun summer things in addition to school.  So, we had a great and busy month and ended it with a really fun trip to Indiana!

We started out on the 1st with the girls' last Atrium/Sunday school class (so sad, now they have to sit with us at Mass until September, BUT they are enjoying our new experiment of sitting in the front row!) and a fun picnic at Harris Lake with my St. Andrew's mom's group.  We had perfect weather and it was lots of fun!  Anna and I went to a puppet show at the library on the 3rd with friends Caroline and Joshua.  We hadn't been to one in awhile, so that was a fun treat.  We had neighbor friend Ella over on the 5th and all went to swim lessons that afternoon.  We met Aunt Pam, Jimmy, and Danny at the YMCA pool on the 6th, and Uncle Dale, Aunt Maria, and Cole came to spend the night on the 6th on their way to their beach week and stayed until lunchtime on the 7th.  It was so great to see them...we miss them so much now that they're back in the Charlotte area!

Speaking of swim lessons, they are going really well.  Each girl gets a half hour private lesson a week with a lifeguard at a nearby pool.  Her prices are cheaper than the group lessons at the Y, where the kids seem to spend most of the time sitting at the edge of the pool anyway.  Erin started from being wild and not listening to Becky at all in May, to swimming about 6 lengths of the pool with help today!  Anna still spends the majority of her session running her mouth, adjusting her goggles, and going to the bathroom, but manages to get a little practice kickboarding and jumping in too.

Daddy went to California the week of the 8th, and we ladies stayed busy with our usual routine.  I was able to check window washing off my list while Anna played at Ella's house on the 9th, and she came back here on the 11th.  We've enjoyed having lots of fun with her this month!  We had a nice Father's Day weekend at home, just being together.

Erin had her pre-K graduation on the 20th, and Grandma and Grandpa A. came up for that.  Erin did so well with singing the songs and receiving her diploma.  It's sad to me that she is done with this class after being there for almost 3 years, especially when I think about all that the teachers have done for her and how much progress she has made, but she is more than ready to move on to her next adventure in kindergarten.  She spent each morning in the month of June in a kindergarten class, learning their morning routine and participating in academic work.  Towards the end of the month, she didn't want to go and complained a lot, but we think she was a little overwhelmed by the work since the kids were at the end of their year, plus she seemed a little sad about graduating from her class and was also burned out in general.  Anyway, we nervously await for her to start The Big K on July 29th and hope we made the right decision by keeping her at Middle Creek!

I got to cash in my Mother's Day gift on the 21st with a trip to the beach with my friend Mary Kathryn.  We had a really nice time there and got a nice quiet dinner without any kids!  Anna, Ella, her mom, and I went to Marbles on the 23rd, and we played at the YMCA pool with Jimmy that afternoon.  Anna and I also met her preschool friend Anna W. and her sisters at the YMCA pool on Wednesday morning.  Now that most kids are out of school, that pool has gotten a lot more crowded!  We prefer our neighborhood pool; even though it isn't as shallow, it's much less crowded and closer to home - plus, we can have inflatable floats there.  Erin's last day of pre-K was the 26th, and we all (except her) cried a little bit over that.  Her teachers have been truly phenomenal and are some of the most patient, caring, and creative people I have ever met.  They have a very hard job, but seem to do it so easily and are happy doing it!


















We ended the month with our big trip to Indianapolis for my cousin Brad's wedding...we drove up on the 27th, had the wedding on the 28th, drove to Cincinnati to see the aquarium on the 29th, and came home on the 30th.  So, it was a quick trip, but lots of fun, and the ladies did awesome!  They really are good little travelers.  We got all our stuff in the Accord, which ended up being nice since it was easier to reach the kids, and of course it gets much better gas mileage.  Mommy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed the aquarium, but the ladies were underwhelmed.  They did, however, really like the Crowne Plaza in Indianapolis, which was an old train station and train cars that had been converted into a hotel, as well as the Embassy Suites in Cincinnati complete with happy hour and breakfast buffet.  Both hotels had indoor pools that were really big hits too.



So, that was June.  I don't have many pictures on the computer, but will upload some from my phone to the Picasa site soon.  Bob was off work this past week for his company's shut down and got LOTS of projects done at home, but that will have to wait for July's post, since they happened in July.  As I say every year, summer is not my favorite time of the year.  Kids wake up early, everyone is tired, and it is so hot!  But, this summer has been more fun now that the girls are more independent, and we've really enjoyed our pool time since they are swimming better.  We've also had a couple of breaks from the heat and humidity that have really help my morale.  July is shaping up to be a great month with both kids out of school and some more laid-back days!  The girls have a dance camp this coming week every morning, which we are all pretty excited about...and we plan to have lots more fun together before Erin't first day of kindergarten on the 29th, which she is none too happy about at the moment!

Indiana Trip!

Well, we made it back from our whirlwind 4-day trip to Fort Wayne!  We left on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and came back yesterday, Sunday.  The girls were so good in the car, even though we wouldn't let them watch a whole lot of DVDs due to carsickness (Anna has had trouble in the past and Erin threw up on the way there).  Kids' Dramamine seemed to help too.  We got there on Thursday around 6pm after 11-1/2 hours, got to be a part of the Lothamer Thanksgiving (50 people!), then got the girls' rooms settled and went to bed.  Friday, Bob went to see his friend Mike in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while we girls hung around Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Friday evening, we made the perfunctory trip to Meijer, then out to dinner at Bandido's.  Saturday was Katie and Matt's wedding!  It was beautiful and wonderful and they looked so happy.  We were able to let the girls take a 1-hour nap between the ceremony and reception so they were ready to party.  And party they did!  They loved the party food and the dance floor.  Anna particularly loved the pink cake, and Erin had 3 plates of fruit salad.  It was a wonderful time, and we had so much fun!  Yesterday, we got back in 12 hours including lunch and dinner stops, and they did so well.  We had a great time!  

I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I did on our trip last year, but here are a few of the wedding:  

Update from Indiana

We all made it to Indiana today, despite the cold and frozen conditions in the midwest. Erin took her first plane ride today (two actually) and did pretty well - only some crying right before takeoff of the first flight to Cincinnati, and during the descent into Ft. Wayne. Gina's grandma had an infant scale, and we weighed Erin - 12 pounds! She's already enjoyed meeting her great-grandparents, and her first cousin (once removed) Jimmy and his kids (including their 3 month old Carson, who just stared and smiled at her).

We hope you had a good Christmas!