The Pledge of Allegiance

This video is a bit old, but we are so proud of Averie. Since beginning school she has learned the pledge of allegiance.

Halloween Activities

We kicked off Halloween weekend on Friday at the kid's daycare with Trunk-or-Treat. I took a half day off work and volunteered. I decorated my trunk and dressed up as a witch. It was so much fun! The kids were all so cute! They came out class by class starting with the youngest and circled around the drive-way. Afterwards the kids had class parties with treats and snacks. Carson's class loved my hat and and enjoyed playing in the tulle layers of my tu-tu.



Saturday we woke up and Averie asked for a "Halloween Breakfast" so we made orange pancakes in the shape of pumpkins. Later that afternoon we carved pumpkins. Averie asked for a princess pumpkin so Justin carved just that... "Princess" into her pumpkin. I have absolutely no patience for intricate details so I carved Carson's pumpkin with pretty basic triangle shapes. As the evening neared we dressed up. Averie as a fairy princess, Carson as a biker, Justin as a mechanic and I as a witch. We went outside to turn on our lights and light the pumpkins. It started to sprinkle lightly, we figured we would wait it out then it started to rain pretty hard. Averie and I were very discouraged, but after about an hour it stopped and we went trick-or-treating. The kids had so much fun! Carson was a trooper and hauled his heavy pumpkin around, walking by his self until the last few minutes as we made our way home. We had such a good time!



At the end of the night I went outside to get a few more pictures then to turn off the lights and blow out the candles. When I turned around I saw the kids peaking out the window at me.

We had such a good time. We thought the kids would fall asleep right away after all of the walking. Carson was a little too sugared up, but he eventually fell asleep (in our bed, of course). We had a rude awakening in the middle of the night when Carson threw up... Too much candy. We put him in the tub and changed the sheets. We took his temperature and he was fine so we layed him down on a towel and went back to sleep... Only to have him throw up again (this time the towel caught it). Back to the tub. He fell right back to sleep and woke up fine. Next Halloween, we won't let him have so much sugar!

Averie's Princess and Knight Party!

Last Saturday we had Averie's Birthday party. It was a great party and she played the part of princess very well. I love playing hostess so this was a good opportunity for me to "play" too! Of course we wanted it to be fun and kid friendly, but I also wanted it to be a bit elegant. We ordered personalized invitations from Shutterfly. They were PERFECT!



Averie has MANY princess outfits, but she wanted to wear her ballet outfit. We quickly modified it by adding the long, tulle skirt.



I debated whether to buy or make the cake. There is a great little bakery near-by that makes delicious cakes. I decided to save some money by making it myself. My plan was to make a layered butter cake from scratch. I made the cake and let it cool, then when I attempted to put the top layer on, it fell apart. It wasn't really salvageable so I quickly made the top layer from a box mix. Rather than an elaborately decorated cake, we went simple and I think it turned out rather well.



Averie admiring her cake. She LOVED the tiara on top!


Decorating was really easy. I bought plastic table clothes from the dollar store, cut each into three strips and draped them from the light fixture. We made tissue paper pom-poms to hang in the center. Averie had fun sprinkling confetti all over the table (which, by the way, ended up all over and I'm still finding pieces a week later). I took this picture rather hastily. The kids were just starting to arrive and I wanted to get a "before" picture.

Justin did a wonderful job of arranging the Knight's chest armor and swords and the Princess tiaras and wands. Averie watched out the window as her first guests arrived.

Carson loved it too!

As each guest arrived I took a picture of them with their Princess or Knight accecories. As we waited for all of the guests to arrive the kids watched "Enchanted". We then played a game of Memory. I had photos of like items printed and we placed them face down on the ottoman just like a Memory game. The goal was to match various Disney Princesses to their Princes and match other royal items like crowns, thrones, swords, shields, etc...

After two games of Memory we had a treasure hunt. At the end of the hunt the kids found the treasure but it was guarded by a dragon (pinata). They had to "slay" the dragon before they could reach the treasure.

After the pinata we had cake then Averie opened her gifts. Since the party was after lunch, we had snacks (punch, apple slices, chips and dip, carrots and cheese) and, of course, candy and more treats.

While we wrapped up and waited for parents to pick up the kids there was a lot of sword fighting and the poor dragon was torn to pieces!

I found this cute idea online... marshmallow lollipops (marshmallow dipped into white dipping chocolate and decorated with sprinkles), they were pretty but not a big hit with the kids. I, on the other hand, LOVED them... very addicting!

The "after" mess. Pictures don't do it justice. The floor was sticky from spilled punch, confetti all over and black pieces of tissue from the pinata ALL over the living room! It was well worth it!

For Thank You notes we ordered stationery to match the invitations. We printed a picture of each of the children to include with the thank you note. We had so much fun!

Snuggie

A couple of friends at work and I like to tease about silly inventions "as seen on TV". The Snuggie is definitely one of them. So for my birthday a few months ago, one of my co-workers (who has since moved out of state) gave me a Snuggie. It has stayed in the original box until last week. We decided to make our own poster (through www.Shutterfly.com of course). We took random pictures around the office to show how "convenient" the Snuggie really is. Needless to say we got quite a few chuckles during our photo shoot. We are going to print it and send it to our friend who has moved just as a reminder of the fun times we've had at work.

On to serious things... Carson had another asthma flare up this weekend. This is the second in less than a month. We have been consistent with his preventative medication and his allergy medication so it's especially concerning that he's still having trouble. I took work off yesterday and took him to the doctor for a check up. We'll up his medication this week and he has a follow up on Friday. Since we're heading into "sick" season these flare ups are not too uncommon. Fortunately, Carson doesn't seem to be terribly affected by this... he is as energetic as ever and doesn't let it stop him. While at the Pediatrician's office Carson got a flu shot. He didn't even flinch and I wonder if he even noticed that he got a shot. After his appointment he and I had a wonderful afternoon of one on one time. Later that evening he discovered the bright orange band-aid from his shot and spent a good thirty minutes playing with it. If I had known all it took to keep him occupied was a used, bright orange band-aid, I would have bought a case six months ago!

The countdown is on for Averie's sixth birthday party. It is this Saturday and the theme is "Princesses and Knights". Stay tuned for pictures.

Back to School

Here are the long awaited pictures of Averie's first day of school! She goes to RiverGate Elementary. It's a brand new school very nice. She was so excited.

We did have a little miss-understanding... The Kindergarten students started on a staggered schedule where students with last names A - G start on day 1, H - N on day 2 and O - Z on day 3. Then they all take that Friday off and all return the following Monday. I did not understand this schedule meant that the kids went ONLY on the day of their alphabet then had a few days off before returning (which, by the way, I think is stupid... but that's just my opinion and I'll shut my pie-hole). Anyway, I took Averie on her "2nd Day". See how excited she was!

But, when I got there we walked in and amidst the chaos I asked one of the teachers where Averie needed to go. She looked down at her list and said "Ohhhh... She's not supposed to be here today." Then she explained the schedule. Poor Averie was devastated... I was pissed. We made the walk of shame back to the car. It was hot and muggy, I was toting a 25 lb, wiggling, toddler on my hip and Averie was fighting back tears. I was livid... However, I must be the dummy because it seems all the other parents got it. As we walked back to the car Averie said "I guess I only get to go to Kindergarten one day." This poor little child thought she didn't get to go back at all! I explained the schedule to her and apologized (after all we could have avoided this all had I paid better attention to the instructions). Then when we got to daycare I saw a photo op...

At the time I was heartbroken for her. Now looking back we can laugh. Plus I think it's a bit funny to see the before (diva) and after (sad) pictures.

One of her class' first projects was to make a book. Each student drew a picture which made a page of the book. In addition to her page, Averie was picked to draw the cover picture!

Here's a funny picture of our Diva!

And now on to our silly little boy.

I just love this picture! He'd just had a bath and we were playing on the bed. I think his look is priceless. I'm sure he'll give me this look MANY times in his life. Notice the buzzed hair-cut. This boys hair grows like crazy. This was his second buzz.

I have so many pictures of him in his highchair (and shirtless). This is just a few weeks later. We buzzed the sides of his hair to give him somewhat of a mohawk.

Poor Carson had an asthma attack last weekend. I don't know what set it off, but his breathing was very quick, short and shallow. Luckily, he reacted well to his breathing treatment. He has regular breathing treatments using a preventative medication, but we had to also give him his rescue medication. He doesn't like the mask, but he tolerates it. Sometimes he tries to secretly slide it off; he slowly pulls on it until it's at his chin.

The Mohawk! This is the most recent haircut. Look how long the hair on top is! This is the most fitting haircut... it's so rough and masculine and that's just what Carson is... he's a rough little boy.

DOES ANYBODY READ THIS?

I feel guilty that I don't keep up on our blog regularly. I try, but with our crazy, busy lives it's difficult. I'm beginning to wonder if people read this. At least I feel as though it takes the place of a journal, which I don't even bother with because, well, seriously... I can't keep up with a blog and I'm at a computer 60% of my day.

If you do still view our blog and are up to it, send us a message.

Pictures to come...

Yes, all of my recent pictures are trapped in my digital camera! I'll download them soon. In the mean-time here's what is happening in our little world.

AVERIE started Kindergarten. She is really enjoying it and I know she'll do well. When I drive away each morning after I drop her off, I always look back at her walking up to the building and she looks so small. She's enjoying making new friends and LOVES to ride the Tutor Time bus back to daycare. We are now planning for her "Princess and Knights" birthday party in a month.

CARSON moved up to the Toddler class at daycare and he is working on potty training. He's doing well. If he feels the urge to go potty he tells us "poop"... he doesn't quite understand the concept of 1 and 2... it's just all "poop". He's a little bam-bam. The other night we were watching TV and he climbed up to Averie and head butt her. I heard the thud from across the room and of course, Averie yelped in pain, but he wasn't even phased. He can be sooo difficult one minute and the next soooo sweet. Case in point, just a couple hours before the head butting incident, while riding the carousel at Carowinds, he reached over, gave me the most wonderful hug and said "Happy".

ME - Work has been crazy busy. We have a big project that just wrapped up today (yay!) and I've been working long hours. Today was the first day in over two weeks that I haven't gone into the office. It's been wonderful! Averie and I worked on her school project and we haven't left the house... relaxing.

JUSTIN had hernia surgery late last week. It went well and he is now recovering. He can't lift anything over 20lbs. Luckily, Carson is a climber so Justin doesn't have to worry about lifting him. Justin has a follow up consult this Thursday and hopefully his Dr will release him back to work.

Seems like so much more is going on - our lives are non-stop.

I promise to post pictures very soon.