Birthdays, Birthdays and MORE Birthdays!

It seems like all of Em's friends at school have birthdays around the same time, and this month has been really busy for birthday parties!

This was her good friend Aamani, who regularly plays Anna to Em's Elsa--they were singing and dancing to "Let it Go" in this picture :).

The party was at a place that just does music, lights and games for kids--they had a great time.

Another one was for two kids in her class who are twins.  It was at Monkey Joe's, the bounce house place. She had a good time bouncing, but just as much fun in the arcade games.

Her friend Evan had Party Pets at his party--this is the same guy who came to a birthday party she went to last year.  Honestly, if I had known this was the one at the party, we might have skipped it.  Em loved it (as you can tell), but the man is a little strange.

Em had the boa constrictor wrapped around her waist...again!

But regardless of how comfortable she was with the snakes, she loved the furry animals more.

She would have held this bunny and hamster all afternoon!

In the middle of all this, we took some time to go to the ballet yesterday and see Cinderella!  Em really liked it, but a little while into the first half, she asked "when are they gonna start talking?"  Probably not an ideal first ballet--but she'll definitely be ready for the Nutcracker this Christmas :)!

We're also getting ready for Em's party next weekend.  She was helping me make favor bags for her friends, and we were probably halfway done when Em said "I'm getting sleepy of this job--will you finish them?"  Ha! She's great at knowing what she wants to say, and will sometimes swap out words that mean the same thing, but doesn't quite understand why they aren't interchangeable.

What's Happening This Spring!

Em is so quickly developing into a very bright, intelligent little girl.  She learns fast and often tells us about the things they're doing at school--whether it's a song or a book they've read--it seems like she retains everything!

Mick's parents gave her a Tag/Leap Reader at Christmas, and she loves it.  I walked into her playroom one day and found her dressed in all of these fancy clothes, sitting on her beanbag reading!  She can play really well by herself, but I think she prefers for us to be with her to interact.

We've gotten in the bad habit of sitting in her bedroom with her at night until she falls asleep--or worse, lying in bed beside her (which usually means I fall asleep too).  I love the extra time with her, and she usually wants to snuggle or hold hands--one night, we were talking as she was trying to fall asleep, and she said "when we get up, can we snuggle?"  Of course, I answered yes, and she said "I'm gonna dream about it."  I know she should be falling asleep by herself, but I hate to think about missing those moments :).

Mick has been really excited for the weather to get warm so he can get outside with Em and start some planting.  One afternoon, they decided to plant some bulbs that we bought--Mick threw away the package, so I don't even remember what they are, but I think irises.  We'll find out when they start to bloom!

Em gets so excited to see seeds or bulbs start to sprout after she had a hand in planting them.  It's really cool to see her reaction!

She continues to love crafting, and will quickly get into any project we suggest.  She and Mick picked up pine cones one day and decided to paint them.

It was kind of a nasty day outside (we've had a ton of rain!), so it was a great indoor project.

We found a bead kit on sale and picked it up--she and I made necklaces and crowns for each other one night.  She wanted me to braid her hair like Elsa in Frozen, and I crowned her queen of Arendelle :).

Transition

Part of the reason I've fallen so behind on blogging lately is that aside from the fact that we've just had a lot going on, I've also been working through a significant personal transition.  After 13 years at Aramark, and a lot of accomplishments I'm really proud of, I decided to make a change.

I have been thinking about looking at other jobs for a while now--I'm commuting 80 miles round trip each day, which is sometimes up to 3 hours of my day.  It means Em has to get up at 5:45 in the morning so I can drop her off at school and sit in traffic to get to the office.  In the afternoons, I'd sometimes leave at 4:30 and call Mick almost 2 hours later because I wasn't going to make it to pick Em up by 6:30 when Rainbow Station closed.  He adjusted his schedule so he was picking her up most days, but it meant he had to drive home, switch trucks (his work van doesn't have a back seat for her car seat), and go back to the school.  I knew I wanted to find something else by the time Em started kindergarten in a year and a half.

Honestly though, I was kind of used to the commute, and that obviously wouldn't have been reason enough to leave somewhere after so long.  The organization was going through a number of changes, and after our HRVP's position was eliminated in October, I didn't feel like my team was going to receive the support or resources we needed to be successful.  I could go into a lot more detail, but that's not the point of this blog.

In early December, I decided to look at MetLife.  There had been recent announcements locally that they were relocating their Retail Headquarters to the Ballantyne area of Charlotte, and I started researching the company.  The more I read, the more I liked, so I looked at their job postings.  I applied for a position, and got a call from the hiring HRVP the Friday before Christmas.  We had a good conversation, and he asked me about coming in for interviews in January.  Long story short--after six interviews, I got the offer (while at a Leadership Summit with Aramark in Vegas, of all places!).  Mick and I had talked about it, and I already had requirements in mind that they'd have to meet in order for me to leave Aramark.  Surprisingly, we didn't even negotiate on the offer--they met my requirements, and I accepted the job.

My last day at Aramark was February 24, and it was really emotional!  Last Friday night, a group of us went out for drinks after work to celebrate together--and that's what made it a tough decision.  We've worked hard to build a great team, and I know that's not something you find easily.

So this week, after leaving on Monday, I took a few days to myself to clear my head and get ready to move on--it was nice to have that time, and I wish I could have taken more!

Friday afternoon, I picked Em up early from school and we went to have frozen yogurt.  I showed her where my "new work" will be, and she said it was so close, that she could see me any time she wanted!  It's literally about a mile from Em's school, and shortens my commute from 80 miles a day to about 12.

We're hoping this will be a significant improvement in quality of life for us!

We also signed Em up for a new gymnastics class at The Little Gym, which opened recently in Ballantyne. She had a free introductory class, and loved it so much that we enrolled that night.  It's more than just tumbling and running around--they actually practice on the balance beam, uneven parallel bars, rings, and all kinds of stuff.  The class is once weekly on Tuesday nights, so she's already looking forward to it! 

One wall of the gym is a huge window, so parents can sit and watch the class.  We're looking forward to having this extra time together each day to do things like this--or to just get home earlier!

Zoo Day

The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so we decided to make a trip to Columbia to the zoo.  It started out a little chilly, even when we got there around lunch time, but we ended up in short sleeves before we left late that afternoon.

I'm not sure how I ended up with no pictures of the animals--believe it or not, I actually forgot my camera, and ended up only taking pictures on my phone.  I still need to have my good camera repaired, and haven't fallen in love with the smaller stand-in yet, so it's easier to forget.

Em had a great time on the train, and made some new friends easily--she decided she was grown up enough to ride by herself when she found out she wouldn't have to wait as long in line for a spot on the train!

She's a huge fan of horses and pony rides, and always asks if we can have a horse after she rides.

I remember wanting a horse when I was younger, so I think it's neat that she's so crazy about them.

There are a lot of statues and sculptures, and these are a huge hit with her.

She loved the lions!

Okay, so we did get one picture of animals, but you can barely see these giraffes!

I think this is a cool picture--it looks like they're having a conversation :).

She loves all of the big cats--it's a good thing she can't get close to the real ones, or she'd probably try to climb on them too.

And as always, the carousel is a must-ride attraction!

She wasted no time at all falling asleep as soon as we got in the car to head home.  With all the winter weather we've had, it felt great to get outside in the sun, but all the walking around wears her out!

Back to a normal weekend

Last weekend was our first normal weekend since coming back from Disney--it's really hard to follow a trip like that with expectations of grocery shopping, household chores, and hanging around the house, but Em managed just fine.  Or I guess I should say, Princess Jasmine helped with folding clothes as they came out of the dryer :).  Em is really getting great at folding, and she loves to help.  Her specialties are socks and washcloths.

I saw online that Frozen--the singalong version--was still playing in theaters, so we decided to go see it.  If you can't tell, Em is wearing her Rapunzel dress and performing right along with Elsa.

It was a great time--the words to all of the songs were on the screen, but the funny thing was that most of the kids singing weren't even old enough to read (nor do they need to see the words at this point)!

The best stuff about snow days...

The week of Valentine's Day, we had more snow--and this time, it was a pretty big deal.  On Tuesday, the weather forecasters predicted things would start, so I left work early and picked up Em around 3pm.  It started snowing lightly that evening, and by Wednesday it was coming down nonstop, so we all three stayed home.

So we took advantage of the best things about snow days--making brownies in our pjs, 

and sampling the batter, of course...

making projects like these cool masks for each other,

and playing in the snow (but even better than that--drinking hot chocolate with plenty of marshmallows).

Mick decided he thought his lawn mower would double as a four-wheeler, so he got it out of the driveway,

but not much further.  Em and I were laughing, and when I told him what I was doing, Em of course repeated me in her own way by saying "Daddy, you're stuck and we're putting you on Facebook!"

Em finally got her snowman!  This one also had a smaller friend that I didn't get a picture of--it was so cold for several days in a row that they survived a while!

By Friday, temperatures warmed up quite a bit, and we were all planning on getting back to our routines, but Em's school was closed still, so Mick went to work and Em and I stayed home.  I can at least work from home if I'm here, but Mick can't do everything he needs to from home, so it's a pretty easy decision for us.

That afternoon, we checked out our melting snowman, and this is Em trying to reattach his carrot nose!

Friday of course was Valentine's Day, and we hadn't been able to get out of the house to get what we wanted for Daddy, so we ventured out that afternoon to get a monster chocolate chip cookie and some cake mix to make cupcakes. The roads were still really icy in some places, so I was glad we stayed home.  Em also picked out some flowers for herself, and Mick brought some home for both of us, so our house was pretty festive for a few days :)!

The End of Our Disney Vacation

On Friday, we had a late breakfast reservation at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian.  We checked out of our hotel, got the car packed up and drove over to the hotel.  It was another chilly morning!

The lobby was beautiful, and Em felt like a princess at the piano under the huge chandelier.

Honestly, this was probably the only time all week when we were slightly disappointed (Mick and me, but not Em).  The food was just okay, and the restaurant was older and felt a little run-down.  Granted, it's 1900 Park Fare, so we didn't expect anything state of the art, but it didn't quite compare to Chef Mickey's the day before.  We weren't sure which characters we'd see, but I read that Cinderella's wicked stepmother might be there, and Em was really hoping to see her.

We didn't see the stepmother, but Em was excited about Mary Poppins!

And Alice, who showed her the proper way to hold a cup of tea,

and she checked out Em's curtsy.

The Mad Hatter was there too, and he and Em had quite the conversation!

We also saw Pooh and Tigger again!

I think after such a fabulous week, our expectations were just high--if we had started with this, it would have been even better.

Plus, we were all a little sad that we had to leave.  After breakfast, we went over to Downtown Disney for a little shopping, and Em first wanted to go in the Lego store.

It was such a cold, rainy day that she enjoyed playing inside for a while.

And at another store, she got to play with Mr. Potato Head dolls.

We didn't stay too long when it started to rain harder--we headed to Brunswick to Mick's parents' house. Our original plan was to spend the night with them and go home Saturday morning, but we ended up resting for a couple of hours, eating dinner, and getting back on the road around 8:00.  That made for a late night, but we got home around 1:00 AM and went straight to bed.  We knew we'd be glad to be at home on Saturday morning after a long week, and Em said she missed her doggies :).

It should go without saying that our week was an incredible vacation!  Em is already asking when we can go back--and we're trying to help her understand this isn't something we can do every other month :).