September Snapshots: Carter's New Hobby

Carter has always liked domino rallies but lately he has taken it to a new level.

Now it involves watching YouTube videos (which - holy moly - who knew how many hours are spent by people on this planet setting up elaborate domino runs??? I mean - hundreds of thousands of dominoes!)

It also involves trying to recreate some of what he sees by making domino runs on our coffee table.

There's this one....

and this one he worked on a few days ago.

Unfortunately his domino runs are limited to the one set of dominoes we own.

Think I know what he may be getting for Christmas this year! ;)

(shhhh....)  

September Snapshots: Friends

Today is a fun Friday with friends for our kids.

 Chloe & I met her bestie (& her bestie's mom) for a pizza date!

(She also had lunch with another friend today....while Mommy had lunch with her bestie!)

 Chad took Carter & his friend (& his friend's dad) to the Phillies game!

This pic is from last weekend, but Audrey is at a birthday party and sleepover with her friend Kessa (standing to her right).

I am thankful for the friends my children have!

They are all such great kids.

And friends make everything better in life. :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 47: Proud Mama

This past week Audrey & one of her best friends have been participating in a performing arts camp, where they have worked on singing, dancing, & acting. 

Tonight these two rocked it in their roles in Cinderella & Peter Pan!

Plus they did some awesome singing and dancing in the Disney musical revue.

I am a proud mama because 'being up in front of people' doesn't come naturally to my Audrey.

(Nor does going off to camp for that matter....just getting her to try it was a little bit of an ordeal.)

But she was actually excited about performing tonight.

Now she wants to do the 10 week performing arts workshop!

I am so happy for her.  I think she has found something she really enjoys!

Great job, girls!!

Summer Snapshots, Day 38

Today is Carter's "half-birthday" and he decided we should go bowling this morning!

 Oh, and Chloe had a visit from "Elsa". 

They had a tea party together. :)

{I for one was just really happy to see these 2 playing so nicely together.....}

Tonight, my Bible study ladies came over for a deck party.

Love those ladies!

But alas, no photos. :(

Happy Wednesday!

Summer Snapshots, Day 23

My baby girl is starting to read.

These are two books she has been reading with us lately.

It is so sweet to see her learning lots of sight words....and hearing her voice reading the words....and watching the pride in her eyes as she's starting to "get it."

Kindergarten.....ready or not, here she comes!

Summer Snapshots, Day 11

Today was a pretty low-key day.  We had some friends over to play and have lunch this morning, which was fun for us all.  For the rest of the afternoon, the kids played in the pool and generally chilled out while I did some packing.  This is what "chilling out" looks like for Carter:

 

 He LOVES maps.  And spends lots of  time looking at the globe and filling in blank copies of the continents.

I know, not the usual thing a 7 year old boy wants to do.  But I love it.

 

 I think it is starting to hit the kids that I am leaving soon.  They each individually have expressed a little sadness or wishing that I didn't have to go.  I just keep reassuring them that they will have so much fun with Daddy and friends and that I will be back soon! 

Summer Snapshots, Day 7

And.......pool season has begun at the Y.

And with that - the dreaded wristband test.

Audrey tested for green.

Carter tested for orange.

Both passed!

 Oh happy day.

May the dog days of summer swimming commence!

{photo bomb brought to you by little sister}

Spring happenings

Just wanted to record some of the things going on in our home lately.....

A friend at church gave Carter an unused science kit they had.  He & Chad (& Audrey too) have had fun doing experiments!

I love that he was recording his observations in a little notebook!   Chad is teaching him well. :)

Chloe has had some fun play dates with friends.  I think one of the reasons she loves to play with Evie is because - for once - Chloe is the "big kid." 

And here she is playing with her best buddy from preschool, Fiona.  They had such a great time together!

We went to the Phillies game in late April and man, it was COLD!

We had to snuggle to stay warm!

This spring, Chloe has spent many hours playing out in the backyard.  She pretends this climber is her "car."  She also spends a lot of time in the play house, the sand box, etc.....Sometimes even dressed as a princess!

Carter started coach-pitch baseball this year.  He gets to bat without the tee this year! 

Audrey was in a local spelling bee a few weeks ago.  She did not win, but she did a GREAT job!! I was so proud of her!

To celebrate Audrey's spelling bee participation, we all went out for ice cream!  Cheers!

In late April, I went on the zoo field trip with Carter's school.  It was really fun even if it was a little stressful to try to not lose 3 busy boys!  (And I never realized how tall Carter was until he was standing next to these 2 friends!) 

While I went on the field trip, Mom-mom came and spent the day with Chloe.  They had fun coloring and making play-doh creations together!

On a warm day Audrey opened a lemonade stand.  Always the entrepreneur, she charged 25 cents per cup.  She even charged her siblings, although I did talk her into a "family discount" of buy one, get one free. :)
Some day she will have enough for that Kindle Fire she's saving for ....

My 3 little loves. :)

Happy Spring!!

Friday Faves: Thanksgiving Edition

Just some things I'm thankful for in particular this week:

Chad's trusty Honda Accord reached 100,000 miles.  This car has been around longer than our marriage!  May it run for another 100K!  (or at least until the van is paid off....)

Our yearly Thanksgiving tree. So much to be thankful for, including Dollar Tree that was selling these precut leaves - 32 leaves for $1. I used to cut them out by hand!  I love that the kids are all now writing by themselves (or trying to write) the things they are thankful for.  They sure are growing up.

I am thankful for this wreath made by Carter, who is my least crafty kid but succeeded in putting together this gem.  I am thankful for Kids Club at our neighbors' church, where he made this wreath, and where he & his sisters learn more about God and the stories of the Bible.

I am thankful for Legos, which provide my kids hour upon hour of enjoyment.  And I am thankful that my mother-in-law had the wisdom to save all of Chad's old legos that my kids now play with.  I am thankful that the kids throw them all in a bin together and I don't care that they are "messed up"....because normally that would bother me. :)

I am thankful for my traditional Thanksgiving pie recipes.  Pumpkin, Chocolate Pecan, and Caramel Apple Pie....here we come!

I am thankful that this (and the next photo) are the only injuries I sustained in my "extreme baseball" accident yesterday! :)

I am thankful that I have the health and strength to run around and play....and that I am able to stay home with my kids and enjoy afternoons outside playing with them.

And last of all, I am thankful for Christmas music, which I have been secretly listening to for the past few days.  I discovered this Josh Groban CD at the library and I love that he sings all the old Christmas hymns!! 

What are you thankful for this week?

Today I am linking up with: 

 A great blog if you have the chance to swing over!

Soccer Saturdays

During the summer, Audrey & Carter both attended a soccer camp sponsored by our church.  So come fall, both decided to try soccer.

Audrey had never played soccer before and was on a coed team with a number of kids who had been playing for years (and were really, I mean it, REALLY good).  At first I thought this could be a disaster for her confidence-wise, but her coaches (both women!) were amazingly encouraging and really helped her learn and improve.  She never scored a goal in a game, but in one of her last practices, she scored, and everyone went crazy! :)  I don't know if she will play soccer on a team again, but I was very proud of her hard work and her sticking through the season.  At her last practice, they played until it was dark, then put on headlamps and glow sticks and kept playing!

 

 These pictures aren't very close.  Audrey is in the middle with blue socks.

 Running....

 Catching her breath!

Carter also played on a coed team.  At his age group, the skills are considerably lower (haha) but he also learned a lot.  Although there were still a few times when he went to pick up the ball!  He really enjoyed playing goalie.  I think so he could watch the action and stick his head in the net....

 Stopping the ball!

 Posing for Mom. :)

 A little break in the action.

 Last game, receiving trophies from coach

Carter & his soccer trophy 

The season is now over and - no offense, kids - I am glad.  Juggling 2 kids' practices & games was tricky!  

But I am very proud of their hard work and all they learned.

It was a good experience for them all around.

Thespians

 I haven't posted too much about Audrey lately.

Mostly that's because whenever I take a picture of her recently she says "Don't put that on facebook!  Or your blog!"

So I am trying to respect her privacy and also not embarrass her unnecessarily... :)

 Anyhow, she deserves her own post now.

Earlier in June, Audrey and her friends in the neighborhood decided to do a play.

As in, write a script, type it up, print it out, practice it, make invitations, have a "dress rehearsal", set it all up, and act it out.

All of us parents had nothing to do with it.  At all. 

I was so impressed with how the girls planned and executed their event.

 

They even set up their own chairs.

 Their play had to do with picking cherries and finding a fairy.

 They did a great job!

 Although perhaps they need to work on facing the audience. :)

 And maybe getting their noses out of their scripts?

 If you haven't noticed yet, the play involved MANY outfit changes. :)

(This IS a girl play after all.)

 But they were so proud!

And we parents were so proud  of their hard work!!

I love, love, love when the kids use their creativity!

The girls have already written a play for July entitled Firework!

Can't wait to see it.