Something to do When You Don't Have Gas

I have been on empty for 3 days now.  The serious gas shortage in Charlotte is unreal, so with the exception of karate/dance classes yesterday, I haven't left the house in 3 days.  Brad was able to find some this morning, although he had to wait 20 minutes to get $50 max.... and that actually isn't that bad compared to how long some people were waiting last week.  I decided today that I really needed to think about what driving I do and so today, when Brad went in to the office, the kids and I had Art & Craft Time.

Brad's birthday is on Thursday, so we each made him a card, using construction paper, glitter, glue, stickers, markers.... whatever we wanted!  Then when our cards were done, the kids each used their water color paints to paint a picture for him.

I almost felt like Ms. Katie with this activity and the kids LOVED it.  Henry even said, "Mommy, aren't crafts fun?"  I'm going to try and do more craft like things with them again soon.  We spent 1.5 hours on all of this - I couldn't believe it... of course, as you can see by the last picture, Kyra got a little mad at me when I tried to help her!!

Preview

About 3 years ago, a co-worker of mine got me 2 Halloween costumes from his brother who works for Disney.  One was Tigger, which Henry wore for 2 years and the other was Captain Hook.  Henry is now big enough to wear the Captain Hook outfit & last year, after Halloween & marked down more than 60%, I bought Kyra a Tinkerbell costume.  I'm very excited because I think they'll look SO cute and even more so because Henry WANTS to be a pirate.

However, I went to the new Super Target today & saw all of the costumes & began to wonder if Henry's school would allow them to dress up for Halloween.... and then I thought, if they did, do I want him to mess up Hook?  What if he loses the hat, the wig or the hook?  Most days he forgets to bring home his water bottle, so a costume doesn't really stand much of a chance.

Clearly, the child does not need two costumes, and if I was smart, I would have waited to see what the school was going to do before I showed it to him, but he was SO EXCITED to see it and he begged me to let him try it on... I couldn't resist the preview!!

Princess Party

Today Kyra and I went to Sydney's 3rd Birthday Party.  Sydney's mom & I work together and we were most excited to go to our very first princess party.  

Another friend from work loaned me two princess dresses - Belle & Aurora - and Kyra chose Belle.   Before we left for the party, she said, "Mommy, where's your dress?"

Sydney was Ariel and imagine the girl's surprise when Ariel herself showed up at the party!  She made butterfly balloons for them, painted their faces, let them make bracelets and they danced to music & a bubble machine!  Kyra was a huge fan of the face painting, and of course dancing!  

Sydney got a special sash, tiara and magic wand from Ariel.  It was a really cute party!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

So Brad took these pictures last Sunday... apparently, this is how I eat ice cream - with a pillow on my lap.  Kyra asked for some ice cream too, in her own bowl.  She made Henry get off the couch, so that she & I could sit there & she made sure we each had a pillow.  I didn't even realize that she was copying me until Brad got out the camera!!

Videos from Sparta

We finally got around to downloading these videos - here are 3 of my favorites.  

Kyra Liebowitz

Kyra got a hold of our camera yesterday, managed to turn it on AND take pictures with it!  She was most excited!!  Here are some of the pics she took, which are sure to be in her portfolio some day!!

Mommy & Kyra Day

Today Brad and Henry went to their very first ASU home game... both were beyond excited... but so were Kyra & I because we had a "Mommy & Kyra Day."

We met my friend Courtney at the mall, and played at the indoor play area, then we went to get our toes done (Kyra chose blue!) and then we had lunch at Red Robin.  The girl loves to dip her food in ranch dressing, as you can see!

On the way home, Kyra fell asleep, and honestly, that was the best part of the afternoon because when I got her out of the car, I decided to lay on the couch with her, instead of putting her in her bed.  She slept on my chest for well over an hour... something she hasn't done since she was a baby.  I hope some day she'll remember getting our toes painted together, but I'll remember watching her sleep!

What a Day!

First - there was a water main break this morning at School 4, so Brad had to pick Kyra up & take her home.  They had a great day together though - they went for a bike ride, played with sidewalk chalk, rode big wheels, played with bubbles & went to the grocery store.  Between you & me, Kyra needed the extra attention as she has taken Henry going to KDG rather hard... yesterday when she & Daddy got home, she walked right past me so that she could say "HI" to Henry & give him a hug!

Second - I drove all the way to South Park for my bi-annual dermatologist appointment (mole patrol) that I scheduled some 4 months ago, only to find out that my dermatologist moved to Texas 3 weeks ago!!!

Third - I got home to find our First Fundraising opportunity had been sent home with Henry.  They want us to sell Citipass books - basically coupon books to area establishments.  Do you know how many friends / family members we are going to alienate by soliciting those things??  

First Homework Assignment

Henry's first homework assignment was to write down 5 things he likes about himself.  He wrote:

1)  Watch Star Wars

2)  Karate

3)  Funny

4)  Baseball /  Football

5)  Good reader

Mountain Weekend

We spent the weekend at Old Beau - that is in Roaring Gap (about 1.5 hours north of Charlotte).  On Saturday, we drove to Mt. Airy which is famous as being the town which Mayberry was based on.  We went to Barney's Cafe for lunch and dropped by Floyd's Barbershop, where ironically, there was a wait and a woman running it.  The kids favorite stop was to Opie's Candy Store.  Believe it or not, it was insanely hot in the mountains this weekend - Saturday had to be like 90 degrees! Note the pic of me & Henry (taken at Barney's Cafe) - he asked us to buy him this flag & he sang "The Star Spangled Banner" all weekend long!

On Sunday, we drove to Sparta in an attempt to find a playground.  We also stopped and got some balls and bubbles and had the best time there.  We played volleyball, basketball, and then spent time on the playground, before stopping off at The Pine Restaurant for lunch.  Note - if you are ever in Sparta, you might want to avoid the Pine Restaurant.  They had no air conditioning, my cole slaw was served at or below room temperature and the sanitation grade was only 90 or something like that.  The waitress was very nice though!  

I have a bunch of videos from our time in Sparta - I'll ask Brad to post them when he's done air-rating the yard!!