Celebrations

I have lots of pictures to post! The girls went to a make your own pizza birthday party at California Pizza Kitchen the day before Father's Day.  They got to tour the kitchen, make their own pizzas, and get their own drinks from the fountain.  Bridget really like the tour - she made me carry her but every time the waitress moved, she said "Mommy, go over there!"

The girls made Andy some cards and pictures at daycare for Father's Day.  B's picture and frame:

And this is what she wanted her teacher to write on Andy's card.  I'm not quite sure she understood what the card was for!

Audrey did an "All About Dad" card.  I love how she drew stubble on Andy on the front and apparently he loves to do yard work and loves brussel sprouts.  When I asked her why she said that brussel sprouts were Daddy's favorite, she said "Well, I wasn't sure what his favorite food was and I've seen him eat brussel sprouts before."

Her camp teacher took this pretty picture:

Last weekend, we celebrated Ian's 5th Birthday by jumping in the bouncy house...

... then Papa's birthday by running through the sprinklers!

Audrey is still having a blast at summer camp.  They go on a field trip every week and have been to the movies, an indoor trampoline place and last week, they participated in something called the Forsyth County Field Day.  Honestly, I didn't think the princess would participate in any of it, but she won a medal for a race and one for the long jump (probably because her legs are the length of most of the kids!).  She was so proud and told Andy "Daddy, I won these medals for sports!!"

And for some funnies:
Audrey to Bridget one night as they were going to bed: "Bridget, you are going to have to start sleeping in your own room when you are a teenager."

Audrey, about her goldfish: "Rainbow wants to get married, but I don't want her to so I'm not getting another fish."

Audrey on the weekends: "On Saturdays and Sundays are the teachers at the school just waiting for us?"

Audrey, after B kicked her "Bridget!  You only have one sister you know!"

Audrey has a friend at school with the last name of Berman, and for some reason, when Bridget is mad at me and trying to get my attention, she sternly yells "Mommy Berman!!" I don't know if she thinks that is a bad word or what?

Bridget asking for ginger ale: "I want more ginger bread"

Bridget asking for more cheese balls "I want some cheese meat balls"

Summer Time

B loves music and is always singing and wanting to listed to the radio (luckily she hasn't discovered Justin Bieber yet!).  This song has cute little motions to go with it - here are the lyrics so you can follow along (I had never heard it before she started singing it: "Mmm Ahh went the little green frog one day, Mmm Ahh went the little green frog.  And his eyes went Mmm Ahh Mmm Ahh Mmm Ahh Ahh.... Honk, honk went the big bad truck one day, Squish squash went the little green frog.  His eyes don't go Mmm Ahh anymore 'cause he got licked up by a dog. Ruff ruff!"

A couple of weeks ago, she was being sweet and said "Mommy, I like your face."  Me: "Ahh, thanks B!"  B: "And I like your fat arms!"  Thanks??  This picture is from Favorite Superhero Day at school. She didn't want me to take her picture - I get that face from her a lot.

Now that Audrey is a kindergartner, she is in Summer Camp instead of daycare (basically it's at the daycare  but it costs a lot more!).  She is having a blast!  She comes home every day with tons of artwork and they've already been on 2 field trips.  This is her Lorax tree painting that she made at a local pottery/canvas studio.

During her pre-K conference, her teacher was telling me how funny she thought it was that Audrey thinks so quick on her feet and always has a story for everything.  Her example was that Audrey was drawing a family picture and messed up Andy's head.  She scribbled it out and told her teacher that it was foggy so you couldn't see Daddy's head.  She has brought a couple of funny pictures home from camp.  This one is what she thinks my office looks like.  She said that the boss doesn't like his desk because it is old.

This one is Daddy shooting an alligator in order to protect a baby frog.  She wrote "Audrey, you're lazy."  I asked her why she made Daddy say that and she said that she was sleeping in the tent in the background while Daddy was fighting the alligator.  I can see why that would make him mad. ;)

Jekyll Island

Stephanie and Alex rented a house on Jekyll Island this week and invited us down for Memorial Day Weekend.  Andy wasn't sure if he would be able to get off of work, but last Monday afternoon he called and said that we were going to the beach!  We got down there at around 4 on Saturday and spent the evening at the beach.  Bridget had a blast in the water, but Audrey was a little scared.  She preferred to play on the beach, but Bridget told me "I love the water!" and would let Andy or I carry her out into the waves.  The waves were huge because unfortunately, there was a tropical storm coming.

On Sunday, we only got about 15 minutes of beach time.  The tropical storm was on the way and the sand was whipping our legs.  In this picture, the white lines in the sand is actually sand blowing at us.

We decided to go to the Sea Turtle Center, which is a turtle hospital and rehabilitation center.  Being the turtle lover that I am, I loved it!  Afterwards we walked around the historic district of the island a little before the heavy rains started.  We went back to the house for lunch and then took the 3 bigger kids (Dylan stayed home for a nap) to a campground that was supposed to have alligators.  We saw this one little guy in a pond.

We tried a trip to the playground before dinner, but the wind was insane!

That evening, the power flickered out a couple of times due to the storm.  At one point while the power was out, Audrey, who was getting a little nervous of the weather, exclaimed "This is the worst vacation ever!"  On Monday, we walked around one of the parks and then went to the fishing pier.  We didn't catch anything but we did see some dolphins out in the water.  We had to pack up and leave because the sky was getting black again.  After the next round of rain and wind, Andy, the girls and I had to pack up and head home.  The buildings and such on Jekyll Island are a little old and run down, but there was a ton of wildlife and beautiful trees with Spanish moss hanging from them.  I think we will definitely be back for another getaway!

Even though we were only gone for a couple of nights, Amos really missed his girls.  When I got up on Tuesday morning, I couldn't find him.  When I went to get the girls up, he was curled up at the foot of the bed (he was there again this morning too!).

Here is the link to the rest of the pictures:
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Belated Mother's Day Post

I wanted to share some of my Mother's Day gifts before it gets to be Father's Day!  My weekend stared with Muffins with Mom at daycare.  I had breakfast with the girls and they gave me the gifts that they made at school.  Bridget's class made bookmarks, tye dye tee shirts and cards.  Here is B in her shirt - sorry it is out of focus but she wouldn't stand still!

And here is the inside of my card.  I love how Bridget thinks I like to "play superheros" in my spare time!

One of her teacher's has a photography business on the side and took this cute picture.

Audrey made me a magnet with her picture and also made an All About Mom card.

I was also treated to breakfast in bed on Mother's Day, which was nice.  Audrey brought me up some coffee and then walked in with a little pink plate and said "This isn't for you.  This is mine."  Luckily Daddy had a tray for me! ;)

Pre-K is coming to an end this week and then I suppose Audrey is officially a kindergartner.  We had an end of the year conference with Audrey's teacher and she said that the only thing Audrey really needs to work on for kindergarten is her scissor skills.  She said that Audrey is doing well in class, she catches on to new concepts easily and is eager to participate in class.  She shows good leadership skills and her favorite thing to do is be the teacher's helper.  She said that when they get to choose their own centers, she rarely chooses the art center and really likes the "Community Helper" center.  That is where they have a little play house and get to dress up like various community helpers.  She said that her interests lie mostly with social studies subjects, which surprised me because I thought she would be more into science.  She also said that Audrey is very compassionate with her friends.  One of her best friends mom has been in the hospital for a couple of months and is not doing very well.  She said that Audrey asks her friend every day how her mom is doing.  Audrey also talks about her sister a lot, which is sweet because Bridget's teacher says that B talks about Audrey a lot too!

Last Friday the school had  Pre-K Family Picnic at Fowler Park.  Andy couldn't get away from work but I was able to take a long lunch and spend time with Audrey while she decorated a beach ball, had lunch and ice cream.  I'm so proud of my big girl!

2012 Recital

I've been slack with my blog because I've been trying to get ready for Audrey's recital today.  Her class danced to a song from Tangled and although she did a great job, us Mom's were disappointed that their teacher didn't have their routine drilled into them by now. It was a wee bit chaotic, but like Andy said "They are 5, cut them some slack!"  I recorded it to my phone, which can upload to YouTube, so excuse the quality and shakiness!



Here are the photos:
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Proud Mama

There is a new autistic boy in the after school program at the daycare.  Yesterday, the schools had the day off, which meant that there was also no pre-K, so Audrey hung out with all of the after school kids all day.

When I went to pick her up after work, the after school teacher asked me if Miss Carla (the assistant director) had talked to me yet.  I was thinking "Uh oh, what did Audrey do??"  When I said "No..." she told me that Audrey was SO awesome that day.  First of all, Audrey was her teacher helper all day and was a wonderful help.  Then she said "There is a new boy here that is a little different than the other kids and doesn't interact well with other people.  There weren't a lot of girls here today for Audrey to play with so she took it upon herself to take him under her wing.  She was by his side all day and helped him out.  It was so awesome to watch!"

I have to admit, it made me a little teary eyed that my girl is so sweet and compassionate!  I am so proud that we are obviously doing something right with raising the girls! :)

Miscellaneous

I am so far behind on the blog, so this will mostly be a picture post.  These were taken the weekend before last when we went on an evening walk.  We made it about 4 houses down and then just stopped and let the dogs play with the neighbors dog.  When their sprinkler system went off, the girls couldn't resist.

It was fun until Bridget tripped in the driveway and knocked her forehead.  Luckily, the neighbor has granddaughters and had some colorful bandaids, a pink towel and a lollipop to make things better!

The next day, Andy took the girls to the Chattahoochee park by our old apartment to go hiking and fishing.

Audrey said that Daddy drove them past our apartment and she said "Yeah, you guys had to move from there to make room for the baby."  Never mind that she arrived 3 1/2 years after we moved from the apartment!

I love this picture of Bridget.  She was eating breakfast before daycare and playing on her laptop.  It reminds me of me on the weekend, drinking my coffee and checking my email!

Last Tuesday we noticed that Audrey's loose tooth was barely hanging on.  Andy asked her if he could pull it and she said yes, but she was holding back tears and trying so hard to be brave the whole time.  She was more worried about whether or not it would bleed than about pain.

Bridget was trying to help by holding her mouth open, but surprisingly, it was not helpful!

Since the girls like to fish so much, I figured we should take them somewhere where they could actually catch something.  There is a local place called the Rainbow Ranch that keeps stocked trout ponds.  We ended up keeping Ethan overnight on Saturday so we had a third little fisherman and the kids all had a blast! Papa came along to help out (I invited him so I wouldn't get stuck touching any fish - ha!).  There are so many trout in these ponds, that you pretty much get something on your hook the second it hits the water.  I was waking back to the car to get jackets when Bridget (Papa) threw the first line out and before I even reached the car, I heard them yell "You've got one!"  I had to tell them to reel slowly so I had time to get back with my camera!

I thought Audrey would be grossed out by the fish, but she was not!  When she got her first bite on the line, she started giggling like a maniac.  She was our "netter" who grabbed all of the fish when they came to the side of the pond and picked up the fish to put in the bucket.  She even was trying to pick the dying ones out of the bucket!

Ethan was a little scared of the fish, but he got a little more brave as the day went on.  He enjoyed "feeding" the fish in the bucket.  We went to get some more bait and he had put it all in the bucket with the dying fish!

I am proud to say that the girls ate their catch for dinner!  Here are the rest of the fishing pictures.  It was such a fun day!
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The night before fishing, a took the kids on a short walk to make sure everyone would sleep ok.  Sometimes I can't stand the cuteness!

A little side story: Ethan was wrestling with Amos on Saturday and kept calling him Billy.  We asked his parents if they know a dog named Billy that Ethan was mistaking Amos for, but they do not.  Audrey said "Well, maybe Billy is Amos' nickname?"  So, in addition to being called Roscoe all of the time, Amos was also called Billy this weekend!

More funnies:

Andy: "Audrey, do you have to go potty?"  Audrey: "No, I'm just holding myself so I don't pee on myself."

Audrey: "I told all of my friends that you are my stepmother."  Me: "I'm not..."  Audrey: "I thought you said you were.  Did you used to be a stepmother?  You look like one."

Andy: "Can you put my bowl in the sink?". Audrey: "I am not your maid!"