One Step Backwards

Addie loved swimming until she took swim lessons. Since Collins is really into swimming right now, Brian had been taking both of the girls to the indoor pool regularly on the weekends and Addie was loving it too. So she was really excited when I signed her up for swim lessons...until she met Ms. Susan (a.k.a. "the dunker").

Ms. Susan asked Addie if she wanted to go "above or below" and not really understanding what she was asking, Addie answered, "below". So Ms. Susan dunked her, and scared Addie to death. She came up screaming and screamed pretty much every class after that. It was horrible watching her be scared after knowing how comfortable she had been in the water.

Thankfully, Ms. Susan could only teach half the classes so Ms. Tricia took over below. I explained the traumatic situation to her, and she did a great job of helping bring back some confidence to Addie in the water. During her final lesson, she actually had a smile on her face and would dip her face into the water. Baby steps...

I'm guessing we will lay off swim lessons for awhile, but as summer approaches and our new pool membership is available, I'm not happy about taking one step backwards in the pool! 

Rolling Along

Yep, he's officially a roller. Happened in his fourth month- rolling in both directions. I'm not really surprised he's already doing this because he seems to be ready for these physical milestones early. I say this because he is the sturdiest, strongest baby I have ever held. Maybe my girls were just squishy, but Luke seems different. In the hospital, he had decent head control...he loves to push up and stand on his legs...he will take a couple of steps if you stand him up...and he can roll across a room pretty darn quickly. I will be really surprised if he is not walking by the time he is one!

Took him awhile to get both of those arms free, but he eventually got it!

When he rolled over from back to front the first time, I got really excited because I thought this might mean he/we would finally get some sleep! When both of the girls could roll onto their tummies, they quickly started sleeping longer stretches and through the night....so what did Luke do??

Not a darn thing different. Still is waking up every three hours to eat...sigh. Maybe he needs extra calories for all that rolling and curtain wrestling that he does during the day. Boys! :)

Strawberry Bummer

To summarize strawberry picking this year (in Addie's words), "where are all the fun stuff?!?" Apparently, picking strawberries without the corn pit, farm animals, tire swing, and ice cream is not actually that fun. We were surprised when we went to our fave Page Farm, and they informed us that none of the "fun stuff" was open for strawberry picking- only for pumpkin season this year. Bummer!

So for Collins, nothing about our farm experience was interesting this year except for this giant pile of mulch (and she actually thought it was really cool)...

and the only thing Addie cared for was eating strawberries from the patch.

She managed to get a couple in the bucket...

Yep, this picture summarizes our trip pretty well. Girls ate strawberries, Dad did the picking, Luke cried when I tried to bend over to pick a strawberry, and not much excitement was experienced by anyone. Oh well, there's always  pumpkin season to look forward to with all the "fun stuff"!

A Good Workout

 I love my Barre 3 workouts. These hour-long classes make you feel strong, centered, and sore for days. If I got to do more than one a week, I might be in good shape! :)

They recently had a "Mommy and Me" class (in honor of Mother's Day), and Collins and I went. Girlfriend surprised me. She nailed the poses and already knew the "boat" pose below from gymnastics. She was like, "I've got this!"

She claimed to want to do Mommy's Barre workout instead of Daddy's F3 workout because Daddy gets really "dirty and sweaty", but I'm not sure she still felt that way the next day when she woke up so sore!

It was fun working out with her!

Making it Work

Juggling our schedule as a family of five makes my head hurt. Doctor's appointments, playdates, work dinners, after-school activities, birthday parties, school events...it all really challenges my multi-tasking skills, and they are still little! I know it will only get worse.

A few weekends ago on Sunday morning, we all were invited to a birthday party at the park for a family friend. At that same time, we were scheduled to have several raccoons that were decaying in our chimney (long gruesome story- don't ask) to be removed, Luke was supposed to nap, and I was supposed to teach Sunday School. See what I mean? The solution? We all went to the party for a bit and then we split up. Brian and the girls headed home to meet the chimney guy, and because I was Luke's only chance for a nap (in the Ergo), he went with me to Sunday School.

I'm not sure it was appropriate to take my baby to church with me, but I didn't really have another choice. I just had to make it work, and it did! Luke slept through the whole lesson waking up at the end at the perfect time. Our lesson that day was on "Feed my Sheep", and I told the kids that Luke just happened to be wearing a sheep onesie that day. Little Zoe begged, "show us his sheep costume!". So I brought him out for the kids to see him, and they swarmed. "Can he walk yet?", "Can he talk yet?", "Luke is a book in the Bible!", "What can he do?", "I can put my toes in my mouth, too!". It was hysterical.

The kindergartners were fascinated by Luke, and Luke was fascinated by the six-year-olds. Luke became part of the lesson, and it all worked out just fine. A good lesson in just making it work!

Summer Feels

If you didn't know better, you'd think Summer was already here. Sure looks like it and felt like it in the moments below! We've had our fair share of warmth so far this Spring- enough to get everybody in the mood for some creek hopping...

 

playground-sliding...

first time-swinging...(exciting!!!)

lemonade money-making...

flower-planting...

garden-watering...

and BOB-ride-snoozing. I start to get antsy if the sun is shining, and we are not outside to enjoy it. The real Summer doesn't actually begin for a few more weeks, but I'm glad we got a little taste of it early this year!

 

Winding Down

The school year is winding down, and I don't think Collins is a bit sad about it. In fact, when I told her there was only four weeks left, her response was "hooray!!!!". I think we might be dealing with a little burnout here...she has worked hard this year. Here she is reading "Hop on Pop" and being quite proud of herself for it!

She read it to me....

and then to Addie (I am so excited for when she can fully read to her sister- how sweet is that going to be??).

And then last week, these rising 1st graders got to sing to their parents and then to the incoming kindergarten class...there was a lot of pride in getting to do this. They sang "Grand Old Flag" and "Hello Around the World" (there was lots of "Gutentag" being said around our house leading up to this) and an "ABC song".

I was also in the literacy center in her class last week and couldn't believe how tall everyone has grown and how mature they looked. I think it's officially time to wind down this school year and head on to first grade!

Birthday Girl

Alli was the birthday girl a few weeks ago, and we celebrated with a family dinner party, some good wine, and a lot of cake. What else do you really need?

Natalie and came and stayed a few nights with us for the occasion which was fun...

 Yes, that is a lemon blueberry cake from Hayes Barton. The birthday girl's favorite!!!

 Group shot of the ladies...

and the cake...

and the little mister who was all out of sorts that day. Maybe he was just mad that he didn't get any of that birthday cake.

Collins made Al her own purse made out of duct tape, and she made Tallulah (who shares Al's April 22 birthday) her own special doggy headband. Definitely the best presents she got that night.

So glad we all got a chance to celebrate our favorite girl together!

Science Fun in Chapel Hill

Umm...yes, we did start out our fun Saturday in Chapel Hill with a GIGANTIC SUTTON'S BURGER! So good. I did not feel guilty at all...maybe a little sick, but not guilty. :)

Andrea's company, Syngenta, was participating in a Science Festival at Carolina a few weekends back and she invited me and Mandy to go and take the kids. I'm so glad we went because we had such a good time! It was really neat spending time on our old campus with each other and with our children. And bonus! They might have learned something, too. 

Addie didn't even know she was sitting on the magic engagement bench. Worked for Jen and Jack!

 Collins, Emma, and Addie loved the bubbles...

and the face painting...

 

 and this fancy water fountain....(never thought I'd see the day with my girls in the Old Well!)

 and the "kissing" (or was it hissing?) cockroaches...

and the Bouncing Bulldogs...(C just learned how to jump rope so she thought this was really cool)

and the challenge of putting together the brain...

and the cool spinning-thingy. Brian Fork was not excited about a whole day in Chapel Hill, but he was a good sport and kept the other boy (Luke) company. He tried to keep his mouth shut, but when the girls tried to buy stuff at Johnny T-Shirt that's when he put his foot down! A Carolina basketball would not be coming home with us!

Sweet Evie enjoyed the Carolina tour...

And in true Carolina girl style, we ended our outing with Yogurt Pump. Our girls now know why we spent many a day and night there.

The science festival was really well done, none of the kids had meltdowns, we got Carolina swag, and we got to spend time with each other...pretty great day in Chapel Hill!

A Sister Thing

The girls have been driving me crazy lately because what I do for one of them (whether it's give them a snack, buy them a new dress, have them sit in my lap), I have to do for the other one. I am scrambling to make things perfectly equal all the time, and it's wearing me out. (And bad news- according to my Mom this never ends.)

But the positive side of this dilemma is how much Addie looks up to Collins. Like many younger sisters, she wants to be just like her big sis. I can appreciate that as a big sis. :) I tell her that she can be her own person and want different things and that's okay, but that advice usually gets ignored (she is only three!).

I love the moment above. Last week, Collins went and got changed for gymnastics. Next thing I know Addie says she needs to get changed too, and I asked why because her outfit was perfectly fine. Then I understood why...she came downstairs looking like a mirror image of her sister (and she did not have gymnastic that day!). So sweet...I hope she always admires her sister (and vice versa) and wants to emulate her energy and intellect and kindness.

Easter Celebration

Collins did not like our little side adventure to Southport on Good Friday because she was worried that we were going to miss Easter in Raleigh. We tried to convince her it was still two days away and she would be fine, but she was THAT excited about the holiday. That made me really excited about it too!

So we got back from our relaxing Spring Break trip and went full force into Easter mode with a fun Easter egg hunt at the Boyles, menu planning for the dinner we were hosting, and making sure we were ready for the Easter bunny.

I was excited to get to worship with all these ladies Easter morning...

 

and how cute is this picture of them in their Easter dresses? I had tried to take this picture earlier in the day and completely failed. But if their Dad asks them to take a picture??? He gets FOUR different adorable photos. Ugh!

But before they got all fancy for church, there was one small item of business to take care of...

that Easter bunny!

Collins was thrilled with her maxi dress and chocolate bunny...

 

Addie loved her "Daniel Tiger" book the most...

and mister Luke got his very own swing for our play set. :)

We hosted Easter dinner last year and I thought it was super fun, so I asked to do it again. Missy joined us (it's our tradition!) and so did Alli (love that she is so close by again) along with Donna and Marty.

It was a gorgeous day so we sat outside on the deck and enjoyed some lamp chops and one final Easter egg hunt and then came inside for a tasty dinner...

 

 

and the most adorable bunny cake you have ever seen. My sister's talent blows my mind sometimes!

 It was a great holiday all the way around...I'm so glad we made it back to Raleigh in time. :)