Fall fun!

We've been having so much fun this fall that I almost forgot about the blog!  Here's a little update to catch you up on the past couple months.  

Elle made it to her 50th day of Kindergarten!  She dressed like the 1950's to celebrate and even had a coke float at school.

Kindergarten just got more exciting from there...they went on their first field trip to the pumpkin patch!

I had a cute group of girls to watch and luckily for me they were well behaved!

Corn corn and oh so much corn.  I found corn on my floor for days after this!

Scarlett also got to celebrate Halloween with a crafts and snacks party at school.  I was busy doing the room mom thing so I didn't get any pictures!

We've had an insanely rainy fall, but we got lucky a few weeks before Halloween to hit the corn maze and pumpkin patch while Gigi and Donk were in town.

It was cornpletely cornfusing and cornmazing all at the same time!  

After we found our way out of the maze, we found some pumpkins!  So cool that pumpkins are actually grown here, so you can pick them from the vine!  

After Gigi and Donk headed home, the girls and I headed up to another fall fun day with Scarlett's girl scout troop.  So far she's loving being a girl scout!

There were some fall and Halloween themed treats this year, of course.  Scarlett's enjoying her "pumpkin patch"

We didn't have too much time for pumpkin decorating this year since we spent the week before Halloween in Disney, but we did manage to carve one before we left!

We had a great time in Disney for the week and the Mickey's Not So Scary Party was really cool!  More on that in my next post.

Once we returned from Disney, Scarlett went to her very first sleepover!  Her 2 besties from school / girl scouts got together and giggled and freeze danced and didn't go to sleep until the wee hours.  

Track Out Part 2

So I covered the first half of track out and the second half was just as busy!  I had to keep the girls moving all day every day so they didn't start fighting.  Oh, the tattling.  It's their favorite hobby now.  Anyway...back to fun stuff...

I left off on Thursday...We did the pool in the morning, then went to the Museum of Life and Science for the afternoon.

Elle loves the farmyard (Scarlett HATES it).  Elle said she wanted this pig.  I replied, "uh, NO".  So she said "Well, DADDY will get it for me".  

They both love the mist!

On Friday, Cameron and I flew to NYC for the weekend.  We left the girls at home to terrorize Grammie and Nomie for the weekend!  We enjoyed lots of walks through the park, the Met and Guggenheim, a walk on the Highline and shopping in SoHo and lots and lots (maybe too much) good food!  At least we walked it off!

We returned home Monday to find everyone in one piece, well, less one tooth!

Wednesday we went bowling with friends.  Thursday was the dentist (no cavities!) followed by PlayNation for a friend's birthday.  

Saturday we went back to the Life and Science Museum for the morning and caught all the stuff we didn't have time for the week before.  

"Take our picture on this dinosaur!"

Sunday we went to see Minions at the new dine and recline theater.  It's very fancy!

Monday the girls were back to school!  

I'm here catching up on all that stuff that went by the wayside as I kept the girls running for 3 weeks and finding a little time to practice my embroidery!  I got a machine for my birthday and I'm super excited about it!  So far I'm just practicing on scraps and old towels and pillowcases, but the girls and I have been thrilled with the results!  

Yesterday, Scarlett told me "if you feel like sewing someone's name on something today, Puppy needs his name on his blanket and he likes GREEN!"  

Track Out - Part 1

So school only lasted 3 weeks (really 1 for Elle after the staggered entry) and now the girls are halfway through their first track out of the year.  We've kept it jam packed with activities.  Here's what we've done so far:

The first weekend we took the girls bowling for the first time.  They thought it was so fun!  Scarlett was the big winner the first game.  Elle couldn't quite do the correct form, so it was more of dropping the ball on the lane (usually with a penalty for stepping over the line) and watching it slowly roll down towards the pins.

Monday we had a playdate at the pool with several neighborhood friends.  Tuesday was ice cream and the library followed by an hour of torture as I took them to Michaels and Target to pick out picture frames.

Wednesday we went to the North Carolina Museum of History for a kids program.  The girls learned lots of facts about the state, a little about the geography and the different industries that developed in each part.  They toured the museum (the highlight was where they saw a mock up of an old mill house and a lady demonstrating weaving on a spinning wheel).  They also really liked the hands on mining.  They panned through sand and dirt for "jewels" (which were really beads cut to look like jewels)

Thursday was more swimming and Friday we went to the bounce house with some friends.  

Scarlett has been working on her piano skills in our downtime (which we haven't had much of!).  

This past Saturday we took the girls to their first Durham Bulls game against the Gwinnett Braves. 

Elle was really only there for the cotton candy!

Scarlett could have stayed longer, but Elle's patience ran out when the food did, so we took the long way around when we left halfway through the game.  

Monday we met Cameron for lunch, then went by the SnoBall stand on the way home.  That's one thing we all miss from New Orleans (snocones are not the same!).  Luckily we found this stand that specializes in New Orleans style SnoBalls!

The girls are still enjoying gymnastics!  Elle is in beginner and Scarlett is in intermediate.  They are both doing great!

Tuesday we went to the $1 movie to see Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.  It was cute and I was surprised that even Elle sat through it.

Before our playdate yesterday, Scarlett made her first Perler bead project.  She loved it and her minion turned out super cute!

Heading to the pool again this morning!  

First Day of School!

First day of second grade for Scarlett and Kindergarten for Elle.  So far they are loving school this year!

A little of this and that - June edition

Here's a little bit of everything from June!

My dear friend of a million years (ok, 27) came up to visit us.  I still hate that we've both lived in this city, just not at the same time!  Scarlett and Cameron were at school / work, but Elle and I got a chance to meet them up at the Museum of Science.  Elle and Owen were fast friends and it was too cute!

We celebrated Cameron's birthday and then father's day the weekend after.

And here's miss sassy pants, still loving those carts at "da new Harris Teeter" (I think we will ALWAYS call it that).  This time Grace got to come along!  

Elle is FIVE!

Elle's birthday celebration went on for over a week!!  I can't believe this girl is 5!

The weekend before her birthday, Coco and Grandpa came into town and took her to Build a Bear and Fire and Rice.

Of course we had to have multiple cakes...here was the ice cream one!

On Monday we invited a few friends from the neighborhood up to the pool for a little party.   

Wednesday was the big day!  Daddy was at work and Scarlett was at school, so it was pure torture waiting for nightime to open those presents!  We had spaghetti and meatballs per her request, followed by a bear cake with sprinkles.

Then she FINALLY got to open her presents!

GRACE!!  I only heard about Grace daily since she came out on January 1st!

And thank goodness Gigi and Donk were able to find her the matching pajama set!  

Grammie and Papa made a perfect princess with this real Cinderella!

Then wait, you may think we are done, but NO!  There was still more fun to be had.  On Saturday we left for Great Wolf Lodge.  The girls had a blast on all the waterslides and the wave pool.  Also, the "camp" with bunkbeds in our room was pretty neat!  

Leaving on Sunday with their wolf and raccoon face paint!