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!!

Mommy & Henry Day

About 3 weeks ago, I asked Henry if he wanted to have a "Henry & Mommy Day."  I told him I'd take the afternoon off from work and we'd do something special, just the 2 of us, before school really got started.  He was very excited.  I suggested Carowinds, but he actually wanted to go to the Lazy 5 Ranch.... which I thought was a great idea and we chose today to be our special day.

However, we've had about 6+ inches of rain in the last 24 hours and for fear of getting rained on, not to mention all the mud that must be at Lazy 5, I decided we needed to do something indoors.  The movies would have been good, but there is nothing out now for him to see.  Chuck E. Cheese was NOT an option & neither was Monkey Joe's as I wanted this to be something we could do together.  So I suggested Discovery Place and Henry was all game for that.

But this morning, I really didn't want to drive uptown, so I suggested bowling.  Well, Henry just thought that was the best idea ever!  We bowled FOUR GAMES... honestly I thought it would never end!

This last picture is of the scoreboard after our first game - we tied at 91.  How sad is that?  I got better & won the 2nd game (but seriously, only by like 20 points).  For fear of a total breakdown, I let him win the 3rd, which believe me, is really hard to do with those bumpers!!!!

The First Day, Part Two

Since I was able to work from home today, I picked Henry up at 4pm... I just couldn't wait any longer.  He was in the gym, playing basketball... well, trying to make a basket really.  He ran over to me and said, "This was the best day ever.  I love kindergarten!"  I asked him to tell me all about it, but he said to wait until we got to the car.

When we got to the car, I asked him what his favorite thing was about KDG and he said, "Playing Basketball."  Given that was not exactly school, I asked what he liked about Mrs. Fentress's class.  He told me how he played with blocks, listened for noises in his ear, read letters, wrote his name and then said, "But Mommy, there was one really bad part.... we had to read the lunch menu into a microphone in front of everyone, but I was too nervous so I just showed them pictures."

Now, I'm not exactly sure how true that is or what all was involved with that last one.  I know that today was more of an evaluation day - they wanted to see where the kids were in their reading, writing, etc... and it would appear that they had some interesting ways of testing the kids... why they didn't just ask the parents, I do not know!  :)

So today was a total success and to top off the night, I asked Henry if he wanted to snuggle in my bed.  He said that if I snuggled with him, "it would make his dreams come true."  So at 7:55pm, I brought him up to my bed and was brushing my teeth before I joined him... by the time I was done, he was out cold... sound asleep... completely exhausted by his first day of school!

The First Day

Well, we did it!  I am so proud of Henry - he was SO EXCITED this morning!!!  His alarm went off at 6:10am, he immediately got out of bed, turned it off, went to the bathroom, got dressed & brushed his teeth.  Then we came downstairs, he had his vitamin, a bagel w/ cream cheese and at 6:45 told me he was ready to go to school... I had to hold him off though - mostly for a few pictures.  I really wanted to take my camera to school, but I didn't want to embarrass the boy!

When we got in the car, he said, "Mommy, this is going to be the best day ever."  The car pool drop off line was a bit longer than I expected, but as long as we leave the house by 7am, we will be totally fine.  I walked him in of course and honestly, I think he was eager for me to leave.  He put his lunch box & water bottle in his cubby and hung up his back-pack and then went to a table with dry erase markers and sat down with the only other child there.  He looked at me and said, "Bye."

And OK, I admit - my eyes filled up with tears, but I quickly said good-bye and walked out (using the side door of the school for my even quicker exit).  Oh sure, I'm crying a bit now, but I'll be OK... and I've never been more proud of my son!

My First Lunch

I just packed my very first school lunch:  1/2 peanut butter sandwich, string cheese, mandarin orange fruit cup, 2 Oreos, goldfish and Scooby snacks... clearly I had no idea what Henry would feel like eating, so I just threw in a little of everything.  I can't believe tomorrow is my son's first day of school!  I think I'm actually kind of excited... I mean as I sit to type this out, I feel like crying, but that is only the first time today, so that's kind of good, right?

I've tried to prep Henry for the next week - how tomorrow will work, when I'll drop him off, when I'll pick him up, when he'll go back to School 4, what day would be his last there, etc.  I talked to him about homework and how he'd be expected to read something every day... that's what they told us anyway.  He said, "Mommy, what if we read the story about the pig and the spider?"  I thought he meant If You Give a Pig a Pancake but no, he meant Charlotte's Web.  So we sat down and took turns reading the first chapter... first he read a page & then I read a page... and when we were done, he told me he loved chapter books.  

I found myself wondering how many 5 year olds could read Charlotte's Web?  That's got to be a 2nd or 3rd grade reading level, don't you think?  I mean, clearly this child is ready for school... I just hope I still am at 7:00 tomorrow morning!

Cable Man!

Henry's had a cough for the better part of 2 weeks.  I stayed home with him on Thursday and Brad stayed home with him on Friday.  We were sure it was nothing, but since school is starting on Tuesday, Brad took him to the doctor... turns out he either has Walking Pneumonia or Bronchitis.  Now, I'm a tad concerned that they couldn't narrow that down a bit, but the antibiotic they prescribed works for both, so I guess that is OK.

So while Brad was home on Friday, he made a call to our local cable company... turns out we were lacking an upgrade to our system and for $5 more per month, we got a few more channels - mostly HD ones!  It's the little things that excite us around here.  

Henry's new favorite channel is the NFL network - they were replaying an old Buffalo Bill game... here are pics of him watching that.

Then today, while Henry & Daddy went to see The Clone Wars, Kyra and I came across HDNet which was televising a recent Rick Springfield concert!!!!  Here she is enjoying some mini muffins and watching Rick in action!

Future Olympians?

A few months ago, we enrolled Kyra in Gymnastics at her school.  Every Thursday, Ms. Leah takes her & her best bud Samantha to the 1/2 hour class.  Kyra LOVES it and will happily do a split for anyone.

One month ago, we enrolled Henry in Karate.  He absolutely loves it and I swear, you can not be in a bad mood after watching him attempt various karate kicks!  I never laughed so hard as I did when I took him to his first class!  Although last Monday's class was pretty entertaining as they were asked to do jumping jacks, push ups and sit ups.

So last night both kids wanted to show off for us.  Since Kyra was the ring leader in showing us her skills, Henry attempted to do gymnastics as well, thus no karate moves.  This morning I asked Brad to simply download last night's clips, but he decided to play around with the editing feature on our computer instead and TWO HOURS later, he created a little movie which I was unable to fully download, so he had to shorten up quite a bit.  I would have preferred him to edit out my motherly comments, but he did not.  Oh well.  Enjoy!!

Caliente

So I have this habit of filling the bathtub with water that is not as cool as it should be... mostly because I turn the water on & walk away to do other things while it fills up.  So the kiddies have gotten in to the habit of checking the water before getting in.  The other day, they dipped their toes in the water & Kyra said, "Oh, caliente." 

Editor's Note:  Caliente means "warm" in Spanish although I've likely not spelled it correctly here.

Open House

Yesterday was Open House at JV Washam Elementary.  We got to see Henry's new classroom, meet his teacher, and even went to the school store and bought him a "JV Washam Hawk" t-shirt.  Mrs. Fentress was very nice!  Henry was a little shy in her classroom, but he loved walking around the school.  We took him to the cafeteria, the gym, the library and we even did a dry run and asked him to try to find his class from the car pool drop off area.  He did great!  What's even more exciting is that one of the boys in Henry's Kindergarten went to his daycare at Gateway!  I don't know if the boys will remember each other but it is somehow comforting to know that a familiar face will be in his class!

Oddly, Mrs. Fentress suggested that I NOT walk Henry in next Tuesday.  I'm guessing with 19 years of teaching experience, she's seen enough blubbering mothers to know that the first day of school is a tough one.  I very nicely told her that I did not think it would be possible for me to not do so.

After we left, Henry said that he loved his new school!  When I asked him what his favorite thing about it was, he said, "Everything!"  I took this as a very good sign and while I'm still semi-scared for next Tuesday, I'm slightly less worried about it.

Last Beach Trip of the Year

We spent most of last week at the Beach... our last trip for the year now that Henry is starting school in 2 weeks.  We did the usual - went to the ocean, swam in the pool, went to the Aquarium, Brad and Henry went to a baseball game, we all played mini golf, went shopping and of course, ate!!  We forgot to juice up the camera before the trip so on Saturday, I took as many pictures as possible before the battery died.  Enjoy!