the rest of the weekend

You would think that would be enough excitement for one weekend, but no!  That night started the summer movie series.  It was Brave, so Amelia really, really wanted to go, even though it felt like March and not the first weekend in May.  We took two cars, and the boys left us after finishing their slurpees.  The girls stuck it out, in our jeans, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, and a quilt!

We had been invited to go roller skating with one of Amelia's preschool friends.  She has an older brother who is Seth's age and the boys get along well, but he goes to a different school so it is hard to get together.  This was our first time checking out the local skating rink, and it's a keeper!

That evening was Cinco de Mayo, so we hit Mi Pueblo early for some cheese dip!  Our waitress likes to teach Amelia Spanish, and she gave us lots of little goodies that night!

virtual 10k

The next morning I woke up and went for a run, hoping that my body and mind would cooperate with what I had in mind, after posting it on FB so I wouldn't wuss out...though those closest to me had known my plan for a while.  That morning I ran a virtual 10k. At the same time that morning, Race for the Cure was going on in Winston-Salem, and I really wanted to go in support of my friend, who was battling Stage IV cancer.  But I also really wanted to do Jogging for Jonah in Clemmons.  I couldn't be in two places at once, but one day I had a genius idea, rather than make myself sick choosing one over the other, I would do both races...here.  Turns out if I run to the end of my friend's neighborhood and back, it is one mailbox longer than a 10k.  Perfect!  I got into a groove...I wasn't too fast, I wasn't too slow, and despite an encounter with a scary, hyper, overly excited pit bull/boxer puppy (think knock-me-over big, don't think aw-cute), I had an awesome run, even though it wasn't a PR.  Mile 5-6 is pretty tough because it is UPHILL the whole way back to my neighborhood, but I prayed the prayer I have said for the past two months. It is a very specific, aggressive prayer...that the chemo would get every single bit of cancer in my friend's body, and that it would all LEAVE and not COME BACK.  I focused on each area I knew the cancer had spread.  She is on my mind a lot when I run, because I figure most days she would love to exercise, and most days she can't.  Runs like that make we wonder why I don't do long runs more often.  

And I am happy to report WONDERFUL news:  this week, my friend shared that her latest scan showed complete response to treatment and every single lesion is gone!!!!  God is good!!!!

Pinkalicious

We had a very special girls' night out and went to see Pinkalicious at the Children's Theatre with Hannah and her mom.  We all wore our best pink for our night out on the town!  (I bought a new dress at Old Navy for $6!)  After the show, we stopped at a restaurant and had an ice cream brownie for dessert.  We got home so late that both boys were asleep in my bed, so we made it a girls' night and slept in the guest room together!

our geriatric teenager

We don't know Colette's exact birthday, but we adopted her on June 10th, and the vet thought she was not quite the six weeks we were told she was, so we've always called May 1st her birthday.  The kids made a big deal of her special day, and Colette celebrated her 13th birthday in high style.  We bought her this flower for $5 at Target, and she loved it.  Of course, it took her less than a week to destroy it, but she cherished it at first, and the funniest part, she did NOT want Amelia to touch it!  She would bring it to me or Nathan, and sometimes Seth, but she got ugly if Amelia tried to play with her.

Old Salem

On April 30th, I chaperoned the second grade field trip to Old Salem.  I was kind of worried how Seth would react being back in the area again.  We went into town the opposite way he was used to, so it was a non-issue.  From a chaperone standpoint, it wasn't nearly as fun as our zoo trip, but I had a good group of kids and they asked a lot of really good questions.  Here's some pictures of our day:

This covered bridge takes your link back in time, or to the modern world, depending which way you are going:

Check out my nametag.  I'd say they get it right 50% of the time.  Once it was wrong on Seth's progress report, and I was tempted to say it wasn't my kid. 

 And here is one last picture from my cellphone, with a Winston landmark in the background:

BeachFest

We went to our first BeachFest, a smaller scale festival of the one in tow in the fall.  Friday night had all-you-can-ride wristbands, so they kids took advantage of it.  It pretty much rained the rest of the weekend, so I'm glad we went when we did.

Saturday morning a baby-sitter came over EARLY and Nathan and I ran in the BeachFest 5k.  I tell you what, I need to keep doing these small races.  I won my age group again!  We found out the baby-sitter was in the play Alice in Wonderland that night, so we went to watch the musical.  It was fantastic.  I'm pretty sure we were lazy bums all day on Sunday, and I can't find any photographic evidence that says we weren't, so we'll just roll with it. 

I may have lived here almost 20 years...

...but according to this, I'm still not from NC.  Please do not assume all North Carolinians can't spell just because the columnist can't. 

My commentary.
#1- Go DEACS!
#2-Not a fan.
#3-Yum. Double yum if you add hushpuppies.
#5-First person in the family to pick it up. 
#6-Amen.  Although I'm picky about where I will drink it, and have started making my own.
#7-Negative.
#8-Negative again.  Now Bojangles' seasoned fries and sweet tea are another story.
#9-Why Florida and Minnesota taught me the wrong pronunciation, I'll never know.
#10-I will order grits at a breakfast establishment!!!
#12-I'll eat a hot dog all the way...
#13-Yuck. 
#17-We don't usually get nice snow, and are not prepared for winter weather.  But it infuriates me when they cancel school way ahead of time, and then nothing happens. 
#18-Love me some Avett Brothers!!!
#19-Yep!
#22-Absolutely not.  But I'm married to someone who is.
#24-On my to-do list (again!) for next month!!!!!!  Yippeeeeee!!!!
#25-Nope.  There are snakes in the lakes and sharks in the ocean.  Give me a swimming pool any day!
#26-I've done this once.
#27-black and gold tie dye!
#28-not yet!
#29-Last summer I fed myself and the kids on multiple occasions.  Grilled chicken sandwich, two corn dogs, and a sweet tea.  Bring two juice boxes and you've fed three people for $4.30-
#30-Never been stuck in traffic.  Did spend 5 hours seeing it this past Christmas, though.
#31-I will eat a KK glazed doughnut, especially when the doctors brought them to work.  I prefer a Dunkin Donuts boston crème or powdered jelly doughnut, and that is sacrilege when living in Winston-Salem.  (And when I say I eat doughnuts, I'm talking about maybe three or four all year...it's not usual for a "normal" person to eat that many KK glazed in one sitting when they are warm!)
#33-I went to two Hornets games in college.  I have been to one Bobcats game.  The colors are better, the mascot is better, and changing the name back to the Hornets is not going to make the players play better.  This household is not excited about the name change back to the Hornets in 2014.  Nope, nope, nope!
#36-Not really.  I was in college when Cary was hit, but I did go to the beach a day after a hurricane once.

baking with Amelia

Amelia picked out Amelia Bedelia Bakes a Cake at the book fair.  In the back was a recipe for "Amelia Bedelia's Sheet Cake".  If you don't know Amelia Bedelia, she is a housekeeper who takes directions literally, which always ends in calamity, but her employers tend to forgive her mistakes because she is an excellent baker.  My Amelia wanted to try out the recipe.  I had all the ingredients in the pantry, so we did.  It was my first from-stratch cake, and it was very yummy.  There was no way I was keeping a cake in the house for no reason, so we shared with her preschool teachers!

clearing out

We've been cleaning out all the leaves and years of pine straw out of all the flowerbeds, trying to see what we have to work with.  This particular corner had a lot of viney groundcover that was starting to get out of control by mid-April.  Nathan tore all that out and we planted a couple rose bushes.  They we cut down five smaller trees that were on the outside of the fence, trying to let as much light in as possible.  I tidied up the vines on that section of fence, and by the end of the weekend, it looked like this:

Nathan has since taken out the section of vines between the two trees, and we both like it better that way.  It's actually honeysuckle, and for right now we're leaving it on the other parts of the fence.  I have big plans for the right side of the gate next spring...I already know which trees are going to go...timber!

ps-This picture is at least 3 weeks old...our grass looks a lot better now.

the very next day...

(Sorry, these pictures are even darker; it was about 20 minutes later the next night.)

 

The next night, Nathan went out, and our owl was back, this time on a branch actually hanging into our yard. 

 He actually talked to us a little bit, and it was right before we went in that we noticed he'd brought a friend!  Can you see her? (One near bottom left corner, one near top right corner.)

We thought we may have interrupted some sort of courting ritual, so we went back inside.  I think Nathan has had one more sighting, but we hear them several times a week.  So fun!

who else visited?

A night or two later, Nathan was out in the yard, and he started this guy, who flew up into a tree and beat us in a staring contest.  We talked to him, and told him he was welcome to stick around if he kept the vermin and snakes away.

the cat next door

Our next door neighbors have a cat and a dog that get along fine.  Their young adult son also has a dog, and when he comes to visit, the cat spends a large amount of time in our backyard.  She has found that if Colette comes out, she can just lay down wherever she is and Colette won't notice her (the old eyes, ears, and nose aren't what they once were).  But this was a first:

There is a large screw on that "seat" to attach an ear of corn for squirrels; that had to hurt!

Daddy Day

Amelia's preschool had a very special Daddy Breakfast.  Nathan went into work late.  It's the first thing he's been able to go to at school since Seth's Christmas play in first grade.  It was very special for both of them.  Here are some of the goodies he got:

 Here they are that morning:

before the cold snap...

We did a lot of yard work.  Our garden is in (no pictures yet).  We have cleaned out multiple beds, cut down vines, planted, and weeded, and our yard looks really nice.  We bought some river rock to put under the bird feeder, so it makes the safflower mess a little less unsightly:

 Last fall we planted a few bulbs.  Here is our first iris in bloom:

we just ran

Last month, another bad thing happened.  I came on the computer right after I picked up Seth and saw what had happened.  I emailed Nathan, and then I started sending out messages.  Nathan had a childhood friend who had already finished the race and was back safe in his hotel.  Thanks to social media, it was fairly easy to find out who you knew was there and if they were safe. By the time evening rolled around, I was angry.  I have stood for long periods of time in crowded corrals, waiting for races to start.  I have stood along countless finish lines, with my kids, peering over temporary fences, waiting to see Nathan cross a finish line.  I have never not felt safe.  How dare they!  Then the stories started circulating...all the heroes who immediately helped out, runners who went straight to hospitals and donated blood, but what could we do?

 

There quickly became grassroots efforts all across the country.  In our area about 900 people met the night after and ran a mile to show their support.  (A local couple who work at a FITNESS CENTER were injured in the explosions.) A trio in Texas started a FB page, and on April 17th, people all over the world ran, and posted pictures on FB. Here is ours:

Neither of us ever plan to run a marathon, but we know the kind of dedication it takes to do so, especially to qualify for Boston.  About once a year, I order myself a new running shirt.  This year, my shirt is from a fundraiser for the victims.  I expect it any day.  The bad guys got caught.  We still run.

dinosaur week

Amelia's school had a fun-filled dinosaur week.  They dug for bones on the playground and even hatched dinosaur eggs.  This was on the wall one day when I picked her up:

 And here is her dinosaur skeleton:

 The other two pictures were on her classroom's webpage:

book club

I became FB friends with a mom in Seth's class, and her most recent post had said, "Does anyone have the book Gone Girl?"  I told her Nathan had gave it to me for Christmas, that I hadn't read it yet, but that she could borrow it because I had plenty of other books to read.  She wrote back, "Why don't you read it and come to my neighborhood book club?"  Well, you don't have to invite me twice!  I read the book over spring break and enjoyed my first ever book club experience.  We talked a little about the book, which turned into discussion about other books, which turned into bits of school/area gossip (which never hurts the new girl to know!)

 

When I got home everyone was asleep.  This is how I found Amelia:

Penguins in Charlotte?

That Sunday morning we played tennis again and the kids played on the playground.  On the less than 3 mile ride home, our train of thought went something like this:

 

--Let's get Taco Bell for lunch---no, let's change clothes and go to Mi Pueblo--hey, I just remembered Sea World is doing something at South Park, I'll take the kids while you watch golf--what time does it start--let's go to Cheesecake Factory---I'm starving, let's take the world's quickest showers--kids put on something nice, we're going to the fancy mall!

 

After lunch, we walked through the mall, and sure enough, there were penguins in Charlotte.

We didn't win any free tickets to Sea World, but it was some fun enrichment on a Sunday afternoon!

Kids' Night In

As some of you know, our new Y doesn't measure up to all old Y, especially when it comes to front desk organization and family activities.  Seth had an awesome basketball coach (parent volunteer), Amelia loves her ballet instructor, and my Pilates instructor is nice (but not nearly as intense as what I used to do).  Anyways, it hasn't been well-advertised, but the Y has started doing Kids' Night In, which is the equivalent of our old Y's Parents' Night Out.  We tested it out one Friday night, and went to play tennis and watch a movie at home while the kids played.  They had a blast.  They played all sorts of games and Seth got to swim.  At 10pm when I picked them up, Amelia had to show me how well she could do the rock wall:

early April yard

There weren't too many spring surprises in the yard...my Christmas ornament trees bloomed pink...

 The vine over the garage bloomed yellow...

 

It currently has a house finch nest and a sparrow nest in it.  We are always startling the birds (and vice versa).

 

The little yellow flowers are in the flower bed in front of the garage.  We planted "deer resistant" hosta and hen & chicks in the metal bucket.

I can't even remember what was in this corner last year (except the tree).  Nathan and the kids planted these:

Since then, a few rogue hostas popped up, and we have transplanted them.  So far, so good.

broken resolution

I didn't make many resolutions this year, it being a kind of "keep doing what you're doing" type of year.  I did tell myself I was NOT going to buy any books this year, because I moved at least three banker's boxes of unread books here last summer, and Nathan's mom had been passing lots of books along.  That lasted until January 2nd, when I went to pick up a book for Seth at the library, and they were having a buy one, get one free book sale in the lobby.  Came home hanging my head, four new books in hand.  Nobody thought it was as bad as I did, and I had done pretty well until one day Amelia needed an umbrella for preschool.  Found three Diary of a Wimpy Kid books for Seth at the consignment store when I was buying the umbrella.  (Those don't count.)  My next stop was the library to pick up yet another book for Seth, and darn it if I didn't walk out with four more:

We went to the library after school on Monday to pick up another Oz book and I came home with four more!  And the worst part was, I didn't have any cash so I had to write a check!

Tomorrow morning is the spring book sale at the senior center.  I'm going.  Hardcovers for $1 and trade paperbacks for 50cents are too good to pass up!

DWTS needs to be over soon so I can get more reading done!

third fish of the season

Nathan and I have rediscovered tennis.  One of the great mysteries of my childhood is why I didn't start playing tennis again when we moved to Minnesota.  I really, really liked it in Florida.  Taking lessons is on my to-do list when the kids are in school.  While Amelia and I were in Boone, the boys had played a little bit of tennis, and Nathan and I have been playing some mornings, while the kids play on our phones.  This particular morning, we played tennis for about 45 minutes and then did a little bit of fishing.  We had accidently left our tackle box at my parents' house, but made do with a sand pail containing a few tools.  We dug up worms in our garden.  It was still pretty cool, but after an hour, Nathan caught a fish, and we were finally able to go home.  

Turtle Trot

Back in February, I got an evite inviting me to do the Delta Zeta Turtle Trot 5k at Appalachian State University (Minnesota family, I guarantee you're not pronouncing one of those words right as you read this in your heads).  I jokingly said we should do it, and then kind of backed out, because it hasn't been the nicest spring Boone has ever had.  The week of the race, I reconsidered after checking out the forecast.  Friday evening Amelia and I drove up for a sleepover, and Marie and Will joined us.  The weather ended up being better than we expected, and the race was literally across the parking lot.  Everybody came down to watch the run, and entertained themselves on the greenway during the race.

Willie and Millie had a great time getting some 5-year-olds-only time together.  Marie and I felt horrible during our runs, and figured out later that we hadn't accounted for the significant change in altitude.  Still good times though, just couldn't breathe!

Marie had to leave right after the race, but Amelia and I headed to the outlet mall on our way home and found some good deals for spring.  For the first time ever, she tried to pick out her own clothes, in a head-to-toe matching outfit from Gymboree.  I should have bought it, but it wasn't on sale, so I just couldn't do it!  Not when the sale racks were an additional 40% off sale price that day!  So today she looked like Cyndi Lauper going to school.  So what?

new backyard visitor

Weird.  I just looked up the official name of this type of bird (turkey vulture) and google took me to an article about how these birds were hanging out near Nathan's rival high school (about 45 minutes from here) in February.  It said that due to our mild winter, they had hung around longer than usual rather than migrating farther south.  The kids and I first saw two at Seth's school in late October when we went to the town Halloween party.  Since then, rarely a week would go by without seeing anywhere between one and eight taking care of the local roadkill.  I was cooking dinner one night and this huge shadow went across the backyard (wingspan is between 5-6 feet).  This big boy perched on our fence, which was kind of scary-looking.  Then it hopped off the back side, and when I was setting the table, he had moved to a post between our yard and the neighbors.  He stayed there the whole time we ate.  Nathan scared him away (but took a plastic baseball bat for protection...it wasn't needed).