field day

You can't have an end of the school year without field day!  I was the room mom in Seth's class, so I had to fill the water bottles donated by a local orthodontist and cart them around.  Since preschool was done, Amelia was my assistant for the morning.

 I didn't get a lot of pictures, because I was running kids to/from the bathroom most of the morning, but here is one that is always a huge hit, the parachute.

Amelia got bored, so I handed over the camera.  I have a lot of pictures of grass to delete.  She took one of me and my book club buddy, but I won't post that one.  Here's a fuzzy one of me and Seth...

 ...and a perfectly clear self-portrait!

The kids seemed to have a good time, and it wasn't super hot.  Fun morning!

playing in the crowd

Amelia sat with us during the recital.  We took a lot of pictures to pass the time.

 

dress rehearsal

 I have tried for a week to upload the video of Amelia's ballet dress rehearsal.  I give up.  It was cute.  They danced to "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.  Here she is after rehearsal with her group:

She loved ballet and her teacher, Miss Ashley!

This was about 30 minutes from home (in good traffic), so we hustled back during the Friday evening commute because Seth's school was hosting a movie night at the park across the street.  The kids had a blast.  We watched Madagascar 3 and they saw a lot of buddies.

first harvest

Our little garden is very bountiful!  In early June we harvest our first zucchini.  Since then we've had a bunch of cucumbers, more cherry tomatoes than we can eat, and a few big tomatoes and snap peas.  

 Here's how it looked in early June:

Memorial Day cookout

Our neighbors invited us to a "bring your own meat/BYOB" Memorial Day cookout.  It ended up being a mini-street party.  Seven families, 25 kids.  Needless to say, the water balloons we brought didn't last very long.  I thought this was funny, while eating ice cream, they separated into boy/girl groups...

weekend fun

The time changed didn't mess Nathan up too much, and we played hard all weekend.  On Saturday we went to Discovery Place (I had won free tickets from a local parenting magazine).  There weren't any new exhibits, but the kids had fun.

Nathan brought back an incurable sweet tooth from his trip, so we checked out Bruster's for the first time.  I'm a huge fan!

Since we don't have a neighborhood pool, we used the money we would have spent on a pool membership to buy season passes to Carowinds.  That Sunday we went for the first time.  We took a quick stroll through Planet Snoopy and then spent HOURS in the waterpark.  We had a blast!

character?

On the same day as Amelia's program, students with good character were encouraged to wear mustaches to school...here is Seth's invention:

no more preschool!

That Friday was Amelia's very last day of preschool.  Her program was mid-morning, so there was no way Nathan could sneak over to watch it.  Amelia was bummed, because she wanted two people in the audience.  After I dropped her off, I ran a couple errands and signed Seth out of school for a couple hours:

As soon as we walked in, I saw this pic on the screen, and I thought I was a goner:

 Then the kids marched in.  It took Amelia a couple minutes to find me in the crowd, but here's her reaction when she saw who was sitting next to me:

 The first thing she did after the program was hug her brother:

 One last picture with her marvelous teachers.  I am so grateful for the year she had:

 Her diploma!

We took Seth back to school and then went to the park for an impromptu playdate with friends.  No more tuition payments, yea!

class gift

 I volunteered to organize the class gift for Amelia's preschool.  I collected cash, and then I found this super cute project on pinterest.  I was worried it wasn't going to work, but it turned out perfect.  All year long, the teachers had asked the kids so many open-ended questions, and the responses were priceless.  I sent home sheets for the kids to answer five questions about each teacher.  I then printed out their responses, and a couple other moms helped me cut them out to the size of a dollar bill.  We then alternated reponses and dollars, and made a little booklet out of them using padding compound. (There is a step-by-step tutorial on how do to do this online.)  Here is the finished project, and one of Amelia's responses:

first week on the new job

Nathan's old job was a contract position, which was his only way to get his foot in the door in Charlotte last year.  But that has meant no sick days, no vacation time, no corporate insurance.  On May 16, he started a new job in a different department at the same bank.  That Friday, he was taken up to the executive suite for a meet and greet lunch.  On the rooftop, a peregrine falcon had made her nest, and Nathan got to see the babies.  (They fledged this past weekend.)

 

The following week, he went to San Francisco for a team meeting (and to meet his boss in person, ha!)  They did a lot of group activities, including a scavenger hunt around the city.  Tuesday night they went to a restaurant in the water.  He saw the seals on the wharf...

 Inside the restaurant:

 Alcatraz:

 The original plan was for the guys to fly back Wednesday night, but they couldn't get them on a flight, so they sent them to a baseball game instead:

 Tough life!

It was really more play than work, but he deserved it.  There will be a little travel involved with this new job, but I'm excited that he'll be racking up miles so I can go somewhere again! 

strawberry pickin'

That afternoon, the kids and I went strawberry picking at the same farm we had picked our pumpkins in the fall.  It was one of the first (and few) hot days we had, and the kids pooped out rather quickly, so I did a lot of the picking myself.  Turns out they use a different type of strawberry plant here, and I was highly sensitive to the leaves.  I took a shower when I got home and had hives/a rash until I went to bed that night.

 Here's a whole of lot deliciousness!

I froze most of the berries, but I did make two strawberry yogurt cakes with the fresh berries we didn't eat.  One of those I froze, and we're still snacking on it!

restaurant week

Mid-May, preschool had a restaurant week.  That Wednesday, Amelia's class ate lunch at the next door class's Mexican restaurant, and then Amelia's class served desserts in their bakery.

On Thursday, a local pizzeria came and made pizza in front of the kids, and they had pizza for lunch.  It was a nice break from packing lunches!

camping

I apologize for the long break.  The computer wasn't letting me upload pictures, and frankly I've been trying to spend less time on the computer and more time entertaining the children.  But I'll sneak this in really quick.  Mother's Day weekend we went camping at Dreyer Island State Park in SC.  We had beautiful weather.  The guys spent countless hours fishing, Seth biked with whatever adult he could talk into accompanying him, and the kids had a blast playing.  

 Our crew Sunday morning before heading home:

 Camping cousins picture, 2013 edition:

 Good times with friends!

 Colette assuming her camping position:

 Bike helmets for safety!

we biked to school!

Seth's school participated in National Bike to School Day.  We met at the park and the kids biked the 1.25 miles to school (I ran).  Here they are on the greenway:

 Approaching school...the principal was outside giving high fives:

 Biked locked up on the fence for the day!

Amelia stopped to take a picture of the latest artwork on the way back.  The drainage pipes have been painted to look like giraffes.

We repeated the process after school, so Amelia ended up riding five miles that day. 

And now, the rest of the story...

As we were unloading bikes, I took my key off my keychain as I always do when I run, and it disappeared.  Luckily, Nathan hadn't left yet, so he swung by on his way to work.  Unfortunately, he didn't understand me, saw that my keys were in the back, unlocked my car, and went on his way.  I still couldn't find my car key.  So...Amelia's preschool teacher picked us up, dropped me off at Nathan's truck, and took Amelia to school.  See, I had keys to Nathan's car, just not mine.  He had keys to my car in his.  So I got the key and walked the two plus miles back to my car.  Still couldn't find my key.   It was the weirdest thing.  I was never really stressed out about it, just perplexed.  It was a nice day, I was dressed for the weather, I didn't have anywhere I was supposed to be, and I didn't see any snakes or get chased by any dogs.  So I get a couple things done at the house and then it's time to go get Amelia.  And then we go get Seth.  I load the bikes in the back of the van, and we drive home.  When we get home, I unload the van, and there, under Seth's bike is my key! 

So here is my theory:

I dropped it at the park, and it got magnetized somewhere on Seth's bike.  By some minor miracle, it stayed attached for the ride there, seven hours parked at school, the ride back, and me putting the bike in the car.  It must have shook loose on the ride back.  Weird!  I didn't look into it too much, because I was exhausted!

bobby pins, Amelia-style

Amelia's friend, Hannah, dresses like a little adult.  Amelia, as you know, dresses like Punky Brewster most of the time.  Hannah wears her hair pulled back with bobby pins almost every day.  Amelia wanted to try it too, if we could find colored ones.  So...bobby pins + nail polish = colored bobby pins!  She'll be wearing them in future posts.  She really likes them.

Mother's Day art

Both kids made a lot of sweet Mother's Day projects at school.  When I picked Amelia up early that week, this was on the wall:

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, because her picture for Daddy day was not suitable for the blog!  (She said they wrestled...use your imagination what her artwork looked like.)  The yellow animal to the left is supposed to be Colette, and she even drew the iris that is near the swing. 

puppy love

 

These two are best friends.