First Official Practice

We get very excited around here when the Hurricanes roll out their first official practice at the RBC center. So we packed up the kids and went down to watch as much of it as we can handle. Actually Kevin, Cole and I could sit there almost all day. Adison, however, has not quite captured the excitement with hockey that we all have. Still, I think her interest was peaked.....for about 45 seconds.

Starting Preschool

Adison started Preschool today and she could not have been more excited. So excited, in fact, that I had a hard time getting her to stand still and look at me for a picture. Since I helped out a good bit at preschool last year with Cole, she was almost always with me and very familiar with it. Because of that I didn't anticipate her being hesitant at all and she certainly wasn't. She and her friend Lindley are the only two girls in the class but they hold their own. Icing to the cake is that their class is called the Teddy Bears, and in Adison's book, there is simply nothing better.



(Update 12-30-09)
Adison continues to love preschool and is doing great! She loves music and watching her in the christmas program (if you could see -- it's a notorious mad house at the Christmas program every year) was a treat. She sang with enthusiasm.

A Moment in the Day

Kevin outside reading his bible and talking to Cole about it.

Old Girl

Bou turned 9 this August, and I love all these grey hairs on her snout. She simply could not be a better dog. As hyper as she was as a puppy, she has mellowed out considerably. She sleeps a lot of the day, but mention the word "walk", put on your tennis shoes or accidentally touch her leash and she leaps up and to the front door. She has always loved taking walks. She's also started accompanying us on as many trips as we can take her. She adores the mountains and the fresh air, and also comes with us to High Point on most occasions now. Sweet, sweet girl.

A Moment in the Day

Adison, 2 1/2, watching a little show on my iPod.

Starting Kindergarten

This is a big day. A very big day. Cole is starting kindergarten at Lynn Road Elementary. There's the usual flood of emotion I'm sure all mothers feel when they drop their kids off for that first day, and I definitely felt them (although I managed not to blubber and tear up as I dropped him off).

Cole is usually slightly hesitant about new things, so I was bracing myself for a difficult transition since we'd only been inside this school on one other occasion. On the contrary: he walked in like he'd been going for months, sat down, and said goodbye.



(update 12-30-2009)
He has two wonderful teachers, Mrs. Wisniewski and her assistant Mrs. Rushton. They are such loving, encouraging women and Cole took right to them. Cole is thriving in his class. He simply cannot get enough books, particularly space books and is a good friend to his classmates. I'm so proud of him. Here's his picture from this year.

1st Tooth Gone!

Cole lost his first tooth! It had been wiggley for a good while, and finally Cole and Kevin coaxed it out. He's so proud of it. Almost as proud of the new silly cross-eyed face he loves to do.

Adison-Ism

I haven't done any of these for Adison yet, and realized today that I should start after she told me:

"I'm taking my dollies for a walk, because they CAN'T walk, because they're not smart enough."

--Adison. 2 1/2

Fresh Mountain Air

We decided to take the kids up to Kevin's parent's mountain house for a long weekend and enjoy a bit of cooler weather. It's always so nice to get up there, have the degree's drop by about 15, wake up to crisp mornings and have no agenda. This trip we decided to try out an easy hike Kevin had found online that said it was great for kids, and it was around a pond. Kevin went out and bought walking sticks for all of us in anticipation for this amazing hike. A few surprises were ahead of us. For starters, it was about a 30 minute drive on the parkway (which was beautiful, as usual) to the starting point. When we finally made it, we stared at a small little tiny pond and wondered, could this be it?? It was. Determined to use those walking sticks we made the grueling 4 minute "hike" around the pond.

Once back in the car we decided to stop at an old cabin we had passed on the drive up. It was full of history of the family and the land and truly fascinating to see what mountain living was like way back then.

We spent the other days flying kites, hiking our old stand-by hike 10 minutes away, and just relaxing and enjoying one another. I don't know what it is about the mountain air, but we all just heave a sigh of relief when we get there. The kids play together almost without incident, and it's such great family time together. I tried to whittle down my pictures, but it's just too hard. Lots of snapshots of our time together.

A Night at the Beach

We checked into the hotel, shower off, rinsed off, and were coming hair when I noticed something in Adison's hair. A LOT of something. I don't have to say it, do I? You know what it was. Yes. Lice. Next thing you know, we're at the drug store buying several products and then back to the hotel to begin the painful process of combing. And combing. And combing. We treated Cole as well, just as a precaution.
It wasn't our ideal ending to such a fabulous day, but we still are proud of the fact that we had a great weekend despite that.

And sweet Adison. It was a full 7 days before she was clear, but we combed her hair twice a day, every day. I did laundry twice a day, every day. I had a lice comb overnighted to me because everything in the drug store was worthless. I'm telling you now: buy the metal comb. Order it now, even if you never think you'll need it. I ended up having a few, but not near as much as Adison. That poor girl...how did we miss it? I have no idea. We are constantly washing and combing those curls....but we made it through our first lice successful.

A Day at the Beach

We decided to take an overnighter trip to Wilmington/Wrightsville beach with the kids. I think the last time we went to the beach with them, it was December, Adison was a baby and it wasn't really play-time weather. We planned on spending the morning at the beach as long as the kids would make it, then go and check into our hotel. It was such a beautiful day and the kids and such a wonderful time -- as did we. They just enjoyed the waves, the sand, the breeze, it was truly a beautiful day!

Swimming Lessons

Cole loves being in the water, but in years past he hasn't taken to lessons very well. It might be the nervousness of a new thing, and a new teacher, but we'd tried a few times and never made it through a class.

Since we have a summer membership to a pool, it's been on my must-do list to get both the kids swimming. We missed all the group classes at our pool, so I signed him up for classes at the public pool through the city. He started out very hesitant, as usual, and with a few tears. But his instructor, "Big E" soon got him having fun and he really made some big strides in just one week of lessons. Thanks to Big E's fun attitude and good teaching I think we are one step closer to having a swimmer boy.

By friday I was tired of the pack up, sunscreen up, drive 15 minutes to the pool routine, but Cole went to a new level with his strokes and Adison seemed quite happy waiting patiently for him in the baby pool.

Trigger Finger

Kevin has a wonderful (feel the sarcasm...) habit of setting the camera to 1000 pictures per second and snapping almost as many pictures in a row when he has the camera. I will say he always gets a great picture -- and about 50 not so great ones. While snapping a picture(s) of Carine and I he caught some funny moments. We are laughing in some, chatting while oblivious to the picture taking, bad smiles, a winner, and finally the last one where we are tired of smiling and we honestly look pretty awkward.

See You Soon....

I'm not a fan of the goodbye. I'd rather just say, 'see you soon', even if "soon" is a year away.

Micah and Carine are taking a job in Louisiana and what better way to say farewell than at the fried fish place down at the Farmers Market. It has been such a treat to have their family nearby. After years of them being in Switzerland or Connecticut, we really did not take it for granted to have them a few minutes away. Especially for the kiddos, to have cousins close by who are so close to their own ages, it was a whole lot of fun. The best part of being close in proximity is the spur-of-the-moment get togethers: a walk to Mellow Mushroom, coffee and desserts afterwards, I'm-going-to-Trader-Joe's-Do-You-Need-Anything phone calls. I can say with confidence that we made the very most of the time that they lived near us. Just a few pictures of the crew hanging out and my final shot of Carine in my gift to her: the absolute largest sunglasses I could find at Target.