Kindergarten Update

Kindergarten is no joke! I'm amazed at the things Collins is learning in her first semester of school. I thought she would be eased in to surviving a seven-hour work day with 23 other 5-year-olds, but I was wrong. She spends her days writing sentences, learning how to add numbers, drawing elaborate pictures, practicing counting to 100, and sounding out a surprising number of sight words.

We recently had our first parent-teacher conference with Mrs. Dalrymple, and I got overwhelmed with the work load she is handling! I know she must be overwhelmed. Collins is doing a good job and met all expectations on her first report card, but I left the conference feeling like we should be doing more at home.   

And then I remembered that she is a kindergartner who is very bright and listens well, and I relaxed...the reading and math will come in due time. In the meantime, she is making new friends, learning how to survive a long school day, and coming home inspired to play teacher. That is good enough for now!

And how cute is her first official kindergarten photo?

Bunks are In!

When we found out we were having a third child, we decided that the girls would share Collins's large room and that the baby would have the nursery. Both girls seemed to like this idea- especially when we floated the idea of bunk beds. They got really excited about Collins sleeping on the top and Addie sleeping on the bottom and wanted the bunks immediately. We had to hold them off for several months...and then things kind of fell into place.

We were able to get these adorable beds from our neighbors. Their daughters had outgrown them, and they wanted them to go to a good home. Then we had to paint them, and Brian had to figure out how to put them together. It was not a quick process, but we eventually got them finished...and how cute are they?!?

The girls love them! Of course, Addie can't sleep on hers yet until she becomes a good sleeper. We really hope this bribe works for our not-so-great sleeping child. The baby has to sleep in our room for awhile anyway so there is no rush getting Addie out of her crib, but we have a big-girl bed ready for her when she is ready. And in the meantime, she is enjoying playing on her bed.

Collins started sleeping on her bed immediately, and it is going really well. I was nervous it might be hard for her to go from sleeping in a double bed to a twin bed, but she doesn't care and likes the added bonus of being up high.

Full reveal of the girls' shared room once it's finally complete. But finishing the bunks was a big step in the right direction!

 

Addie These Days...

Addie these days wants to do one of two things...dress up or sing. Or do both at the same time. Perhaps she has a future in live theatre?

On any given day, she changes outfits at least five times (which drives me and my laundry pile crazy), and it usually involves a multitude of costumes. Here she is as a butterfly queen princess....

and here she is as a Native American dancer who can fly. And her outfits always involve multiple shoe changes with the shoes ALWAYS on the wrong feet. Let me tell you, some days I have to cut her off from the dress up rack because she cannot help herself and just goes crazy.

Once the outfit is on, it's time for the show. She LOVES to sing these days, and sings all day long. I'm not sure if it's because she's excited she knows the words to songs finally, or because she really has learned something in her new music class, or because she's trying to be like her big sister. But regardless, something has inspired this girl to sing. "Twinkle, Twinkle", "It Don't Hurt Like it Used To" (country song), and "The More We Get Together" from school are some of her faves. Here she is at school playing the viola...perhaps that is a source of musical interest? Who knows, but it's fun listening to what comes out of this little's girl mouth lately.

Road Trip to Buies Creek

Brian loves his Wildcats and proposed a road trip to Buies Creek to cheer them on against Campbell. Of course this meant that he and his Dad would need to drive directly to the State/FSU game from the Davidson/Campbell game...a football double-header? No problem.

The girls and I were only in for part of one game, but it was enjoyable afternoon with the beautiful Fall weather and the bounce houses! The girls love themselves some bounce houses.

Collins made us sit on the very top row in the very corner to view the very bad game. Those Wildcats had a hard time that day...so much so that Addie started making comments like, "Get the ball!". It was pretty entertaining. Us girls also got to meet Gaylord the Campbell Camel, eat Bojangles for dinner, and listen to Addie serenade us the entire hour drive back to Raleigh. :) Brian and Marty didn't get to see either of their teams win that day, so it's safe to say that the girls had a lot more fun than the boys did.

Update on Little Brother

Yes, he is still known as "little brother" because we have yet to come up with a name for this child! Ugh, not good. Who knew a boy's name could be so tough? We talk about the baby all the time, but we refer to him as "little brother" so my fear is that is what the girls will always call him. :)

These are the last pictures seen of little brother- taken a long time ago at 18 weeks. I was happy to confirm that he is indeed a boy (no surprises needed!) and looked perfectly healthy.

This is little brother today, quite a bit larger at 36 weeks. Since Addie decided to make her appearance in this world at 36 weeks, we have been preparing in case someone else decides to do a surprise attack. We were a little apprehensive about taking a trip to Wrightsville beach this past weekend so we took his car seat and a hospital bag just to be safe. But no baby so far! :)

This little boy is ACTIVE. I feel his kicks/squirms/wiggles so much more frequently than I did with the girls. I can watch my belly just move at night when I finally get to lay down, and he doesn't just kick. I can feel him dragging body parts every which way in there. It is kind of alien-like to be honest with you. With the girls, I loved feeling every tiny kick. With this little boy, the movement is so constant (throughout the day and night) that I am concerned that he may be a "wild boy". Only time will tell!

We have a C-section scheduled for Wednesday, December 7, at 8 a.m. if little brother decides to wait that long. Mom thinks he's going to follow in his sisters' footsteps and come on a holiday eve (Collins is Valentine's Eve and Addie is Christmas Eve). She is betting on the day before Thanksgiving. I am betting on the day after Thanksgiving because that's the day of the State/Carolina football game and that would just be funny timing. Again...only time will tell!

Regardless of when he comes, we are going to have a baby in less than three weeks and are so excited!

A Scary Halloween

 Here are our pink and purple butterflies ready to take on Blenheim! Of course, I couldn't get a decent smile out of Addie for our official Halloween photographs so I had to bribe her with a piece of candy...and this is what I got! Very natural. :)

 

The Bakers were nice to host our neighborhood party again this year so we headed down the road for the pizza party...where the first scary thing happened on Halloween night. Addie spotted a dog! Her dog phobia is a bit out of control these days, and that spooked her enough to ruin her mood for the party.

I had to hold her the rest of the time, and then she spotted some guy dressed as a headless monster and that did her in. Poor thing clung to me in fright and screamed her head off...we really need to work on her party/social skills! From then on, she just asked to go home so eventually I gave up and did.

  Brian and Collins stayed for the hayride and neighborhood group shot.

Her face said it all...

and what didn't help things was when we got home, we discovered we had been the victims of a candy theft! Two older boys dressed in camo were leaving our house when we got there, and I had a sneaking suspicion that they had taken more than their fair share of candy. When I asked them if they had cleaned us out, they said, "No, it was the boys in front of us". Right...by 6:10 p.m. (not even dark yet), we had been robbed of all our candy. We were so mad! The girls and I said we hoped they got a tummy ache and the "throw ups".

 Then after all the drama, it was finally time for trick-or-treating. You can see Collins was rather into it...

 

Addie not so much at first, she needed Brian's help. And every house we came to, she would ask, "Do they have a dog?" She was scared, but eventually she let the dog fear go and had a good time going door-to-door with her sister. By the end of our rounds, she was having a great time and saying hilarious things.

 The girls were most excited to go to 1117 Blenheim Drive and you can guess why...

they knew that house had a Gigi and special treats!

We were some of the last Blenheim people out Halloween night believe it or not. The girls stayed up till 8:30 p.m. and had a fabulous time. It was perfect Halloween weather and once we got in the rhythm of trick-or-treating, it was hard to stop! Although the holiday started out a little scary (Addie's mood, the dogs, the candy thief, the headless monster), it finished up strong (and sweet- those girls ate WAY too much candy)!

Halloween at School

Addie was excited to wear her butterfly costume to school and to celebrate with a Halloween party. And when you lined up all the two-year-olds in their costumes, they were a pretty darn cute bunch...

even though we didn't get a smile out of one of them. :)

They got to do some neat pumpkin activities and crafts...

and have a more fun-than-usual snack. And that was about it. Not much to a two-year-olds Halloween party!

And then it was back to play like normal!

I was excited to get to volunteer in Collins's classroom for the first time on Halloween morning. Several Moms planned a Fall Center where the kids participated in themed crafts/games for a couple of hours that morning. My craft was to make witch's hands with popcorn and candy corn. The kids loved it, and I got to meet all of Collins's classmates. They are a nice bunch of kids! I really enjoyed it, but I will be okay if I don't make anymore homemade popcorn for a long time. (I took in 8 gallon-size bags!). :)

The Best Laid Plans

I get these ideas in my head that we have to do all these festive things to celebrate the holidays properly with the girls. Last year for Halloween, we carved pumpkins on the deck on a gorgeous Fall night, watched "The Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin" movie and ate a Fall-themed dinner with a monster popcorn mix for dessert. It was super fun! So fun, I wanted to make it an annual tradition.

Well...it so did not happen this year despite my best efforts. After a long morning at church and then a long afternoon of attempting to put the bunk beds together, we were left with virtually no time to get ready for Halloween the next day.

The girls provided entertainment as we tried to build the bunks...

When we realized it was dinnertime and we had no dinner, it was night-time and we had no jack-o-lanterns, we literally just threw something together. Collins became the pumpkin designer, and I went to the store for brats.

 

Collins serenaded us as Brian attacked the pumpkin (perhaps taking bunk bed building frustrations out on our innocent pumpkins?)...and then Addie completely flipped out. I made the mistake of wondering out loud if there were bats in our backyard. She literally started screaming and climbing up me. She got so scared and then could not calm down.

Collins went outside to sit with the jack-o-lanterns because Addie's screaming was so loud. (She did such a good job on the "scary" pumpkins.)

Then after some brats and indoor smores (wanted to cook some over the fire pit in the backyard and they got broiled in the oven instead), she finally came around. But there was no Charlie Brown movie...instead a mad dash to bed. Some of the best laid plans you just have to let go of...and know that although our Halloween Eve was certainly not relaxing or particularly fun, it was funny and memorable. And there's always next year. :)

Girls Get in the Game

The girls are seasoned tailgaters, but rarely ever game attendees. Collins had been begging to go to a game, and luckily Donna scored some great free tickets. We were in the game!

But first...tailgating of course- this time with a Halloween twist! I couldn't decide which fun Halloween dessert to make so I made three. :) The girls approved.

We had great seats on the 40-yard line, and it was the perfect day to take in a football game.

The girls did really good sitting (relatively) still for three whole quarters...

And once the sillies came out, we knew it was time to go home...

Which was a good call because State lost a close one and Dad probably needed time to cool off!