4th of July Weekend

Robbie, Stacy and Zachary came to visit for July 4th weekend--they got here Thursday 

afternoon and Em pulled Zach into Frozen puzzles right away.  He went along with it and didn't complain. 

She was pretty interested in doing everything he did the whole weekend.  Now that he's 8, he's really grown up a lot and is very patient and tolerant of her :).  They had sword fights, played in her kitchen, dressed baby dolls, and hung out the whole weekend! 

On Friday the 4th, we went to a place called Adventure Land and played putt putt golf, drove race cars, and watched the boys in the batting cages.

That night, we went to a neighborhood block/cul-de-sac party.  We made some food to take down, and everyone pooled money to buy fireworks.  We ate, played cornhole, and made glow necklaces while we hung out with the neighbors.  When it was time for the fireworks, we watched from the tailgate of Mick's truck.

When the fireworks got too loud, Em and Zach got in the truck with Mick to watch from inside.

We came home late and Em made her rounds acting silly with everyone!

She really enjoyed being up late celebrating!  Bella was glad we were home--she's terrified of fireworks, and we heard them well into the night.

We spent almost the entire day on Saturday at the pool, and took our canopy down so we'd have plenty of shade.  On a crowded pool day, we usually run out of umbrellas at the pool.

Em and Zachary had so much fun together!

We took our portable grill and made burgers for lunch, so it was a great, relaxing day, and a really fun weekend overall.

Quick Visit

My mom had been staying with Jason and Jenn for a few weeks while Cody was out of school this summer, and they came through Charlotte to meet up with my dad.  Jenn, Mama, Cody and Chase came, so Em got some good quality time with her cousins!  We went to the pool on Saturday, and Em and Cody watched a movie together with their snacks.  

Then they pulled Grandma in to sit with them and watch!  It was a really quick visit, but better than no visit by far!

Changes

One of Em's favorite friends is Brady, who lives next door to us.  He's a year older than Em, but they play really well together, and are always excited to see each other.  We've spent some time at the pool with them lately, and these were a couple of cute poses as they were having their Italian ice :).

Unfortunately, Brady's family is moving to Chicago next month because Tricia, his mom, got a great new job offer there.  We're really sad to see them go, and have our fingers crossed for good new neighbors!

Father's Day Weekend

For Father's Day weekend, we decided to go to Asheville on Saturday morning--we went to a Western Carolina nature that Em loved--there were sheep she could pet and brush,

and otters playing in the water that she just thought were fascinating.  I didn't get any pictures of the actual otters, but she liked posing with all the animal statues.

There was a little stage set up with puppets, so Em enjoyed putting on a puppet show for us.

Funny how real this wolf looks!

There was a boardwalk that led you through the whole park, and about halfway through, there was a playground with all kinds of climbing structures.  It was a nice place for us to have a snack and take a little break while Em played for a while.

That afternoon, we headed to Zen Tubing on the French Broad River.  I had read about this in a magazine and we really wanted to try it--we're so glad we did!  We parked the car and the shuttle took us about four miles up the river where we picked up our tubes and got in.  We rented a separate tube for our cooler and all tied together with the lanyards that are attached to the tubes.

We made two mistakes--one, we didn't make time for Em to have a nap before we went, so by the time we had been on the river a couple of hours, she was getting tired and was ready to "get back on land," as she put it.  Our other mistake was that we only got one paddle!  The river was pretty calm (these weren't like white water rafting rapids), and where we hit still places and the current wasn't moving us much, he had to paddle to keep us moving.  The weather was perfect though, and it was really nice and relaxing.  That night, we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Biltmore Village and got back to the hotel for an early bedtime.

On Sunday, we arranged to meet up with my dad for brunch--my mom was spending time in Wilmington with Jason and Jenn, so he was by himself and doesn't live far from Asheville.  Em was excited to see Papa, and proudly gave him the Father's Day card she wrote in!

We had brunch at Cracker Barrel, so Em and Papa played checkers for a while too.

And then we paused long enough to take a few pictures.

It was a good short trip for the weekend, and nice to have a double Father's Day for two of the special dads in our lives!

Another Play Date

Em has been asking to have Aamani over for a play date since she went to her house a few weeks ago, so we invited her this weekend.  Em wanted them to bake cupcakes (she LOVES being in the kitchen, especially if we're baking something sweet!), and they had a great time.

Anxiously waiting for the cupcakes to finish baking...

and then, the decorating!  Almost the best part,

but not as great as EATING them!

Around noon, a really bad storm came through, so they had to stay inside but were content to watch Aladdin, which is Em's new favorite since she hasn't had it long.  They had some lunch, and Aamani's mom picked her up a little after that.  They were both very sad to leave each other, and didn't seem to understand they'd be together again at school tomorrow :).

Family Reunion

My grandma was turning 90 on Memorial Day weekend, so the family had planned a birthday party/family reunion to celebrate her.  We drove up on Saturday morning and got there around lunch time--we met up with Jason, Jenn and Julie at Grandma's house, where they had arrived the night before and spent the night. We had lunch there and stayed for a while just to spend some time together before the crowds arrived!

We had hotel reservations in Lynchburg, about 20 minutes from her house, so we headed there for the afternoon on Saturday.  This is the best we could do for a group picture!  It's nice to have, because we rarely all get pictures together.

We picked up some groceries for our rooms, ordered pizza for dinner, and Em and Cody watched part of a movie before we got them into bed pretty early.

The day of the party arrived, and we headed to Pamplin, VA to my cousin Archie's house to help get everything ready.  Em wanted to help with the flowers and decorations.

Chase wasted no time finding a four wheeler, and Cody and Em joined him for a little photo shoot!

Em got in some good snuggle time with her Grandma!

One of the few times you'll see these two actually smiling in a picture at the same time!

This is more like it :).

The kids enjoyed their own little picnic when it was time to eat--there was delicious BBQ, chicken and hot dogs with plenty of sides.

When it was time for the cake, Great Grandma needed a little help with those 90 candles!  Cody, Chase and Em are her only three great grandchildren and were the youngest party guests--they were happy to pitch in!

Grandma and Great Grandma with the grandchildren!

One of the whole crowd--well, almost (we didn't start taking pictures until a couple of people had already left).

A rare family photo of us.

We were all glad to get back to the hotel that night where the kids could go to bed early again--none of them had naps all day, so they had time for a quick card game and were done.

Our room setup was perfect, because the rooms were right next to each other and opened in the back into a courtyard that was deserted except for us, which was really nice.  We ordered Chinese food, shared some wine, and just enjoyed each other's company!  Times like those are too few and far between for us.

Gymnastics Show Week

Tonight was Show Week at The Little Gym where Em takes gymnastics once a week--that meant that all the parents got to go in the gym and watch the kids demonstrate all they'd learned throughout the class!

Especially considering that Em started halfway through the class, we're proud of what she's learned.  She has really gotten over her initial fear of the balance beam, and now prances across it even when she doesn't have a spotter.

Her flips are much stronger now, and she likes monkey jumps, which are the introduction to a cartwheel.  All of the kids were awarded medals at the end of the session, which got them pretty excited!

Honestly, Mick and I could do without gymnastics each week--we do like watching her, but her behavior isn't always ideal when we're there and she can see us.  By the time she's in this class, she's been listening to a teacher and following instructions for 9 hours, so it's sometimes tough for her to focus completely.  She loves the activity though, and most of the time does a great job, so we signed her up for a summer session.

This was some of her class with her teacher, Ms. Missy, who Em LOVED!  She will miss her as she moves up to the next class, but hopefully being with the 4-5 year olds instead of the 3-4 year olds will help her focus.

Four Year Checkup

It truly seemed like four years old was a lifetime away when Em was 2 and getting her last round of shots, and now it's here!

We went on a Thursday afternoon after school, and she was in great spirits--she got a gown to wear this time, and the technician was a young guy, who she thought was very handsome (and told him so).  She showed off her crazy vocabulary and did well with the vision test.  He redid one part of the hearing test a couple of times because she didn't hear the deepest beep--we weren't overly concerned about her hearing since she had a couple of pretty advanced hearing tests when she was seeing the ENT specialist.  I think she just has very selective hearing, so if the beep took too long, she found something more interesting to do or talk about while she waited.

As usual, she went straight for the reading material.  They always have books in the exam rooms, but I sometimes take a few of her favorites too, just in case we wait long enough to go through all of them.

When the books were done, she put on a little dance show.

And I got her to stand still long enough for one smile :).

Overall, she's perfect--she regained the weight from when she was so sick last month and weighs 41 pounds now (82nd percentile).  She's 43.25 inches tall (95th percentile).  She did fantastic until it was time for shots--she had two (boosters for MMRV, Polio and DTap), and is now done until she's 10 years old!  Now that had better take a little longer to get here.  She put on a pretty good screaming/crying show for the shots, and even limped around after we got home, saying her leg hurt.  Funny that it really only hurts when she's not jumping, playing or doing something she wants to do.

Em can write all of her letters, and can spell some words--usually, she'll ask me to tell her the letters of the word she wants to write, and she'll do the writing on her own.  We're working on beginning reading, and when we really take the time, she does a great job with sounding out some very simple words.

Nighttime potty training has been a much better experience than we imagined--she's so happy to be out of pull-ups completely!  I still get up once in the middle of the night to take her to the potty, and she almost never wets the bed.  Once in a while, if she drinks a lot of water later than usual, there will be an accident, but the sheet protectors have been great, since they prevent having to change the whole bed out at midnight.

Em's personality continues to blossom, and she makes friends so easily.  She is truly a leader (her teachers have told us this repeatedly), and always knows the right thing to do.  Of course, she doesn't always make the right decision, but typically responds pretty well to correction, and fully understands the concept of rewards for good behavior.  We've struggled a little bit with consistency in our discipline, but I think we're getting much better.  She sometimes makes it tough to stick to our guns when we threaten to take something away as punishment, but we're improving.  Honestly, the most valuable thing we have with her is books, so when she doesn't cooperate at night or won't listen, she gets her bedtime stories taken away. That's a tough one for me too though, since that's one of my favorite times of day!

We still struggle with brushing teeth more than any other routine--hoping we'll get over that eventually, but that's one that I'm not willing to back down on, so it makes it easier to be consistent.  Now we are working on some simple chores and helping with routine things around the house--she doesn't have an allowance, but loves to get loose change for helping with things, and we both feel strongly about teaching her that she needs to earn money instead of expecting it for nothing. It's nice right now, because she values a penny as much as a quarter :).  So we're working on things like different values of money, starting to understand how to tell time, and some other basic concepts like those.

She loves board games and card games, so we'll sometimes play games for an hour or so after dinner at night when it's not too late.  She loves Crazy 8s, Slap Jack, Old Maid, Candy Land and Go Fish, but has some other cute games too, and will play for as long as we will!  She really enjoys the time she has playing with us (or with other kids), but can also play by herself so well for a long time--we'll sometimes hear her in her playroom singing, reading or acting out scenes with her different "friends."  She's a fun girl :).