Happy Birthday 3 Year Old!

 It's hard for us to believe Kylene is 3!  She is such a joy!  We can't get enough of her smiles and giggles.  Connor can get the BEST laughs out of her. :)

 Kylene is totally enamored with dogs (doggies), cats (kitties) and horses (horsies).

I was thrilled that she was thrilled with her doggie cupcakes.  She clapped her hands and called them "Ollie" cupcakes (one of her favorite doggie friends).  Success!

 Kylene does not like to be the center of attention and wouldn't blow out her candle until we all "looked away".

 She's completely in love with all of her presents.  They're all doggies, kitties, and horsies of course.

 It's hard to ever get upset with this face!

{All decked out in new birthday duds.  She's worn the top 3 days in a row, alternates between the new pink and purple "comfy pants" and loves her new boots because that's what she needs to ride her horsey.}

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

2011 Spooktacular

A few days after we arrived in Indiana it was time to go trick-or-treating!  This was also Connor's first day of school here--it was a big day!

The weather was glorious and we spent the afternoon outside carving our pumpkins.

Trick-or-treaters starting ringing the doorbell at my parent's home at 4:30 so we had to hustle-our-bustle to get some dinner in these kids and get going for some candy!

{a beautiful princess and a fierce dinosaur}

Can't get enough of this face...

Happy Halloween!

Fall Soccer

It has been so fun for our whole family to have Connor participate in soccer this fall.  Our great friends and neighbors Jesica and Jami are the coaches which has made is extra special.  Kylene has a ball running around with the other siblings during games and practices and Byron and I love the association with the other parents!

Connor is so enthusiastic about soccer.  He seems to love the constant action and even has a ball sitting with his friends on the bench. :)

The night before his first game, as we said goodnight to Connor we told him to get a good night's sleep because he had school and his first soccer game the next day.  Connor stood up, punched the air and said, "Yeah!  We're going to kill them!"

{He's learning good sportsmanship along the way too.}

 

Connor also loves getting a snack at the end of every game...who wouldn't?

We think he's super handsome and hope his enjoyment in running around and having fun with his friends never wears out.

First Day of Kindergarten

Connor was too excited to get going to school to bother with taking pictures.  These two are the best I got!  Connor is thriving in school and we all love his teacher Ms. Barber.  His favorite things are riding the bus, eating breakfast in the cafeteria, gym class, and participating in centers in class.  Connor was just named "Terrific Kid" from Ms. Barber's class for the month of November.  We are so happy for him that he loves school!  Go Connor!

Northeast Park

About a month ago, a friend introduced us to a wonderful place, Northeast Park in Gibsonville, NC.  From what I could tell driving into the park, it seems to be a place with lots of walking trails, playgrounds, ect and an awesome swimming pool!

The kids and I got there a little bit before it opened and waiting in the LONG line with ALL of our stuff for the day.  It turned out to be totally worth it.

One end of the pool had a zero-entry with a child size water slide and play area.  There was a roped off area with 3-4 feet of water that Connor swam like a fish all day in, a lap pool part and the diving board area.  There were great big umbrellas for great shade and it was clean, ahhh.

We started our day there before 11 and left at 4:30.  As I looked back to back our van out of the parking lot, I saw two little heads slumped over.  It was a beautiful, silent ride home.  Glorious.

Now we need to figure out a day we can take our Daddy!

Beautiful pool days of summer.

Blueberries for Sal

This morning the kids and i went to Hawk Hill Berry Farm here in Mebane to go blueberry picking.  After driving on the winding dirt road, past the pond and barn to get to the field, i thought, "We need to read Blueberries for Sal today!"  Connor loved picking and at one point i heard him say to himself, "Kurplink, kurplank,kurplunk."  {Makes sense if you're familiar with the book.}

Kylene would put some in her bucket and then come to me with a look of distress and say, "Mommy!  All gone!"  By her face, I thought she had maybe spilled her berries and I asked where they were?  She lifted up her shirt and said , "Here, in my tummy".  Kylene didn't come home with any of her own picked berries but she came home with a full stomach.
The kids have all kinds of plans for our blueberries:  a pie, muffins, scones.  However, the rate where going through these babies in the 10 minutes since we've been home, we'll have to make a trip back tomorrow for any blueberry culinary delights. 

I'm dreaming of my mom's blueberry muffins...

skills

learned something new about my husband...

the man's got mad lego building skills.

t-ball

Connor played T-ball this spring.  This was his first time participating in an organized sport and it was a hit!  He enjoyed going to the practices, loved putting on his uniform for the game, and really like the snack after the game.  Our good friend and neighbor, Philip Bush, was the head coach and I loved hearing Connor refer to him as "Coach Philip".

The best part though was being on the team with two of his best buddies, Jaxton and Talan.  I think the picture below shows the closeness between the three.

I knew Connor would receive a trophy at the end of his last game, but kept it to myself so it'd be a surprise (and so I wouldn't have to keep answering the question "Is it time for the trophies?!?" over and over and over again.)  All you parents out there, you get me?

When Connor realized what was happening, he was so thrilled!  All the way home he kept asking questions such as "Mom, is this the greatest trophy you've ever seen?  Mom, is this the shiniest trophy you've ever seen?  Mom, is this the biggest trophy you've ever seen?  Mom, do you have trophies as cool as this one?" and ect.  You get the flavor.  That night as I was reading him a story before bed, he jumped up and grabbed his trophy off of his desk.  When he sat back down, he looked at me a little sheepishly and said, "I just wanted to hold my trophy."

Can't wait for soccer in the fall!  Go Pirates!

Daddy, You Rock

Byron, you really are the coolest, funniest, most handsome, hard working, magic trick showing, Lego building, play dough shaping, garden building, funny joke telling Dad to our children.  We all adore you!  Happy Father's Day!

preschool graduation

 At the beginning of June, Connor finished 2 years of preschool and participated in a "preschool graduation".  We thought he looked so handsome and we were so proud of him when he stood up with his class to sing (he's was really concerned about it).

 Connor has had a wonderful experience in preschool.  It's in turn been a wonderful expereince for me and enriching for both of us.

 This year his teacher was Ms. Andrews.  She loved Connor and Kylene and we loved her back!

 The next day, Connor and Kylene and I went over to Z Bowl for a graduation party with the class.  Connor got to bowl, eat pizza, drown himself in pop, and play games in the arcade with all his friends.  I watched Connor from a distance most of the time while I was keeping Kylene entertained and it was so wonderful to see what a nice, sweet, fun boy he was without me hovering around making sure he was behaving properly.  Byron, we might be doing something right!

Next stop, Kindergarten Buddy!  You're going to knock 'em dead.

strawberries

we've tried every year since we moved to North Carolina, but somehow each season just missed our chance to go strawberry picking!  I was so excited to take the kids and go with my good friends Jami and Rachael and their kids and pick some of the season's juicy deliciousness.

We've been enjoying strawberries in many different forms over the last week...yum.