July 2015

I've gotten pretty far behind with blogging again, so I thought I'd just summarize the month of July in one post.

We stayed at home this 4th of July weekend instead of traveling anywhere, which was nice with a 3-day weekend.  We were invited to a block party in our neighborhood on the 4th, so we took our tent, chairs, a bunch of food and headed down.

There are so many young kids in the neighborhood and it makes for easy events because they really entertain each other well--they had a few kid pools set up and Em quickly made friends. 

There were multiple families who brought tents, so we had a big shady area with plenty of chairs and so much food it would never all be eaten!

Em had a great time.

Once it started to get dark, the kids all played with sparklers and one of the moms had this great idea of putting a cup over their hands--genius!

We took plenty of glow bracelets and necklaces, so they all came out.

When it was dark enough, the fireworks started so Em put her earphones on--she loves watching them, but hates the noise.

The second week of July, we signed Em up for an acting camp through the Charlotte Children's Theatre.  It was a one-week camp from 9-3 every day, so I adjusted my schedule at work so I could drop her off and pick her up, and I just worked from home in the mornings and afternoons.

She absolutely loved the camp!  She came home every day talking about how awesome it was, and how much she wanted to go back.  At the end of the week, they put on a short show for the parents. The theme was Monster Mash, and they had learned songs, choreography, short skits and individual lines.  She was not at all intimidated by the stage!

The camp was rising kindergartners through rising second graders--this was the group of kindergartners.

And here's Em's best monster face.

The following week, I had a three-day meeting in Asheville, so I took Em with me and went on Sunday afternoon.  We met up with my parents and took Em to Looking Glass Falls.

It was great weather and not too crowded, so we went down to play in the water.

The humidity really brought out our curls :).

Em fell in a couple of times but that didn't slow her down.

Em stayed with my parents while I was in Asheville for meetings, and I came back to Brevard to pick her up on Wednesday when I finished.  We walked downtown and had ice cream at the old-fashioned soda shop, and found some entertainment outside the toy store.

And there was a kids' show at the library that we went to that afternoon.

Em had a good time, and then she and I hit the road back to Charlotte.

Right after Christmas last year, I found the DVD of the old 1982 version of Annie in Target for $5. As much as Em loves performing and singing, I thought she might like it--she LOVED it, and it quickly became one of her favorites.  We started listening to the soundtrack in the car and she quickly learned the words to all the songs.  She usually wants to "play" whatever her latest favorite characters are--so in this case, she's Annie, Mick is Daddy Warbucks and I'm Grace.  She likes for all of us to call each other by those names and act out scenes.  It can be a little exhausting sometimes because she always seems to be a character!

So when I heard that Annie was coming to Charlotte, I got tickets early.  We took the light rail train from south Charlotte into uptown and had lunch before the show.  They did a great job with the show, and she loved every minute of it!

Em is very interested in makeup, particularly when I'm getting ready on the weekends.  One Saturday morning, she decided to play with some eyeliner and this was the result!

MetLife partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Charlotte for a bowl-a-thon fundraiser in July. The bowling event was for employees and families, so Mick and Em went with me.  I made sure some of my coworkers were bringing their kids too, and they even had a kids' bowling lane set up. Samantha, who I work with, has a son who's about 6 months younger than Em.  She recently moved him to Rainbow Station from another preschool locally, and Em and Preston met on the playground and fell in love :).  Em was happy to see Preston at the bowling alley!

Lauren, another coworker, brought her daughter Clare (she's almost 2) and Em had a great time "teaching" her how to bowl.  It was a really successful event and we raised over $30,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters!

At the end of July, our neighborhood had its annual pool party with tons of food, games and activities for kids and adults.  Em and her friend Ella had fun in the water balloon toss.

They definitely need a little more practice to take home the prize though.  Ella came home with us from the pool party for dinner and a movie--she'll be starting kindergarten with Em and we're hoping they'll be in the same class.

It was a beautiful day for the pool, and the girls were exhausted by the end of the day.

This was the next day, when we built a fort from a sheet in the floor of our bedroom and ate snacks while we relaxed.

Haircuts aren't always a really big deal, but Em got 5 inches cut off this month and her hair is still super long!  I'd be okay with shoulder length for a little while--she can't stand having it washed or brushed, but still wants it long.  We'll keep working on that.

Em and I spent a Saturday afternoon at a neighborhood friend's house for a playdate.  This is Lily and her little sister Maddie.  Lily will also be starting kindergarten with Em, so it's another opportunity to hopefully have a friend in her class.

It's so hard to believe they'll be in kindergarten next month.  The summer has flown by, but Em is so ready to start, and we're excited to see how much she grows this year.