The Big 4 1/2

Four-year-olds are funny. They make a REALLY big deal out of turning 4 1/2. Collins was counting down the days and kept making comments like:

"Mom- can you believe I can do the monkey bars by myself? I must almost be 4 1/2."

"Mom- I can reach the light switch all by myself. I am almost 4 1/2!"

"Mom- this dress was too big but now it fits perfectly. Does that mean I'm 4 1/2?"

I laugh, but it really is amazing how much she has matured in the last six months. She is a lot taller and stronger...she can make it around the neighborhood on her scooter pretty easily now. She is a lot smarter...her vocabulary amazes me and she can spell her name properly now with all the letters being the same size. She is more creative...she draws pictures of rainbows and hearts and people and can live in an imaginary world for hours on end. She plays independently quite often, makes connections I wouldn't think she could make, and seems so grown up all of a sudden. I am so proud of my little 4 1/2 year old, but just want time to slow down because I am not ready for five yet. Although she will be!

Around here we celebrate half birthdays with:

1) An official growth measurement...

2) And an ice cream cone! Collins chose Baskin Robbins and the brightest ice cream flavor she could find...

Collins told everyone about her half birthday and what came along with it this year...the booster seat that she has been coveting for so long! We decided it was finally time to upgrade her to a bigger seat, and she is thrilled. It was a good half birthday, but she is already talking about the real thing in February. :)

Time with Baby Hank

Rachel's Mom had to have back surgery in Raleigh a few weeks back so the girls and I got to watch baby Hank for two days while Rach took care of her Mom. Let me tell you that is one sweet little baby boy...

He is really cute, hardly ever cries, sleeps well and plays well with others. Rach might have the perfect baby on her hands! 

My girls were fascinated by our new friend...Collins impressed me by wanting to help take care of him so much. She wasn't like that with Addie when she was a baby, but I guess Collins was a lot younger then too.

Addie kept repeating "Hank", "Hank", "Hank"...she was mainly concerned that he was playing with her toys. But she impressed me too- she kind of went with the flow of having a new baby around and getting a little less attention.

 Here are the girls with their new "brother". :) We actually managed to leave the house with all three kids! (Go Collins for scooting all the way to and from Lacy for the first time! She didn't have a choice b/c she didn't have a seat in the BOB, but I was so proud of her for going that far and not complaining.)

What I learned from watching Hank...

1) Juggling the needs of three kids at three very different ages is not easy.
2) It's amazing how quickly all three of us adapted to having a third baby around.
3) How nice it would be to adopt a 7-month old baby who sleeps through the night and eats people food instead of going through pregnancy and those hard first 6 months again!
4) Boys freak me out a little.

Rachel's Mom had a successful surgery, and Rachel did a great job of taking care of her. We are so glad we got to hang out with Hank while she was doing that!

It's Almost Time For...

Football! The reason I know this is because we "planted the flag" to recognize Davidson's first day of football practice...

and attended "Meet the Pack Day". But the new indoor practice facility stole the show...pretty impressive.

Collins did get her face painted at the event so she was happy...and we all are happy that football season is around the corner!

Addie's Little Quirks

Addie's little personality entertains us on a daily basis. It's funny to me what she comes up with. For example...

She's already into playing dress-up (not shocking considering her sister)...and she can walk in high heels. Impressive!

She LOVES hiding...in corners, behind doors, and mostly in tiny spaces. She had more fun in the Ridge Road pool locker room than she did in the pool!

She calls Mimi a lot...on magnets. She'll grab one and say, "hello!" and I'll ask her who she's talking to and she'll confirm, "Mimi". :)

She likes to get dirty. Markers are her latest weapon of choice (glad she has discovered arts and crafts), but she also picked up some mud at soccer practice the other day and ate it. :)

She has decided she likes reading books all of a sudden. I love it when she says, "book" and grabs one and backs up into your lap. She's a lady who knows what she wants!

And of course, her refusal to wear accessories in the proper way. Sunglasses are upside down, headbands go across her eyes, and hats go on whenever possible. 

When you combine all these personality quirks with her love of meat products and her obsession with lawnmowers, you have one lovable little lady. She really brings a lot of laughter and fun into our family.

A Trip to the (Wild, Wild) West

I got it in my head that this summer would be the perfect time to take the girls to Tweetsie. Turns out I was right. :)

Collins, Addie and I packed our things and headed West for an extended stay in Hickory. We were excited to spend some extra time there thanks to the summer. Brian would join us for the Tweetsie trip!

Our first stop? The pool of course. It was HOT upon arrival. Addie took over the splash pad, while Collins and Mimi swam in the big pool.

We woke up on Friday to a picture perfect day. The lake was our first stop (to feed the ducks), but there were no ducks only beautiful weather and views. So glad we went!

Addie refuses to wear her glasses (or Collins's glasses) the proper way. It's really cute.

Collins was super excited about the next part of our day...the play! Mom saw that HCT was putting on some kid theater performances this Summer, and we lucked up to be there during the "The Unicorn of Many Rainbow Colors" show. Collins and Mimi went to see the show (and loved it) while Baba, Addie and I did some downtown shopping. 

Later that night, we had a fun dinner with Poppy and Nana followed by a special summer treat. Staying up late for ice cream! Good thing we broke the rules because we were treated to a special concert and dance by our girls.

Addie was mesmerized by Poppy's voice when he joined in. :)

Saturday morning we headed up the mountain towards Tweetsie. It's probably been 25 years since I've been there, and I was so excited to show it to the girls. I have such fond memories of the place, and I wanted their first amusement park experience to be just as happy. 

Good thing we lucked out with the perfect weather. It was 79 degrees with low humidity and nothing but sunshine in Blowing Rock. Wow! 

We jumped right into things by boarding the Tweetsie Railroad first thing. I was little nervous that the cowboys and Indians would scare the girls, but it turned out fine. There was fighting and gun shots, but they were all outside of the train during the acting scenes. Collins made us laugh- the only part that offended her was the bad smell of mulch during the fort scene. She held her nose the whole time. :)

The Indians did make an impression on her though. She kept telling everyone- "and the Indian leaped off the wall and fell into the mulch!!".

We weren't surprised that Collins wanted to saddle up, but Addie did surprise us. She didn't want to get off!

We loved the Western theme and how non-politically correct everything was!

Waiting to board the chair lift, we got some laughs in the funny mirrors. 

This was Collins's first time on a chair lift, and she loved it! (Brian is totally prepping her for a ski lift here.)

Mimi and Addie didn't have such an easy way to the top of the mountain. Mimi pushed the BOB all the way up- go Mimi!

This "neigh" was Addie's favorite ride by far. 

Collins loved the rides, but this one was tame compared to the one she went on next. Mimi, Collins and I rode the "Scrambler"- it was her first "real" ride. Brian was worried it was way too fast and scary for her, but not at all. She squealed in happiness the whole time...we all did. :)

Our Tweetsie trip was well timed...Addie just learned to say "choo choo". 

The go-carts were really fun because she had the steering wheel and I had the gas pedal, but Collins deemed us "crazy drivers". She may be right. 

Brian loves trains (it's in his blood) so he was excited to explain to Collins how the coal-powered train worked.

After we got home and got our sleepy girls into bed, we tried something new in Hickory- a Crawdads game! Brian has always wanted to go to a game, and I have always wanted to show him the stadium. After all, I spent many a night there when I was younger- it was my first-ever job! I was a Crawdette back in the day, and now they have a new official Crawdette "Candy". 

We had a really good time sitting out on a beautiful evening, drinking beer, hanging out and watching baseball. And bonus- there were fireworks afterwards!

On Sunday, we played at the park and then tried a new restaurant with Poppy and Nana. It was such a fabulous trip to Hickory! We saw so many cool Hickory and Western NC things, had gorgeous weather, and got to hang out with our favorite people. Who knew Hickory would be the perfect Summer road trip destination? 

New Park Things

My girls are veteran park-goers. We go almost every day so it's hard for the park experience to really stand out most days. But in the last week, a couple of cool things have happened.

First, Addie realized that she could go down the slide sitting frontwards without going backwards on her belly. It was  big girl moment, and she was pretty pleased with herself!

That gave her confidence to tackle the big slide. 

And then, it was like she discovered the bridge for the first time. And how cool it was to throw rocks off of it!

Then we were playing at Lacy, and I looked over at Collins and she was doing the monkey bars! For the first time! It was like all of sudden, she decided she could do it and she did. It's just so neat to see these milestones. I have watched my sweet girl play on monkey bars for years and to know she is physically capable now is so cool. She was pretty proud of herself too!