Such a Fun Weekend

Every Friday, Em has Show and Share in her class, and they're working their way through the alphabet--this week was the letter V, and she wanted a veil!  We made one together on Thursday night--the color of Elsa's dress, complete with snowflake beads on the hair clip.  When I got there to pick her up from school, she still had it on and had worn it all day!  She was really proud of it :).

That night, we headed to Barnes & Noble for "Frozen Friday."  Em wanted to wear her Elsa dress, of course, and she met lots of little friends who had theirs on too.

One of the fun things to do was decorate a cupcake, and she liked checking out the other desserts while I paid for her chocolate cupcake.

Our little Elsa was all smiles!

The cupcake station had sprinkles and mini marshmallows, so she was thrilled!

The event advertised that Olaf would be there, but Elsa was there instead.  It wasn't much compared to the princesses she met at Disney, but Em was still excited.  Mick held our place in line for Elsa while Em decorated her cupcake, built an ice castle with Legos, and made some other crafts.

Somehow, Em convinced us to buy a balloon modeling kit at the bookstore, and she wanted to make every animal when we got home.

We were up way too late twisting balloons!  Mick gave up pretty early on, but I was determined not to let it beat me--I have a whole new respect for those clowns :).

On Saturday, we went to ImaginOn in uptown Charlotte, a children's museum and library.  I read that there was a fairy tale exhibit and we decided to go check it out--I can't believe we've never been before!

There was a big typewriter keyboard, a pencil and huge stamps out front that Em liked climbing on,

and she found her E right away!

It was a rainy, dreary day, so perfect for being inside.

We were all pretty excited to check it out!

Em jumped right in and started climbing Jack's beanstalk.

She got to the top and realized she had to slide down!

This was the inside of the Beast's castle--

she sorted all of the food on his table and tried on the crown.

Here she is playing Belle's harpsichord.

And posing in the castle tower.

She practiced making boots with the Elves and the Shoemaker.

But her favorite thing by far was dressing up and playing Cinderella!  She tried on the glass slipper,

and changed dresses to take an imaginary ride in Cinderella's coach.

This is an overview shot of the center of the museum.  Now that we know how much fun it is, we'll have to go back when there's a new exhibit.

When we were done in the museum, we walked across to the 7th Street Market, where there are several different restaurants, a deli, sushi shop, and dessert bar.  Em decided quickly that it was pizza for lunch, and even got to watch them make our pizza. 

After lunch, she enjoyed a rare little treat--a chocolate ice cream cone.  She rarely has these because she eats them so slowly and they're usually a big mess, but we sat outside for her to finish it before we got back in the car to head home.

We had a great Saturday and Em was asleep as soon as we got home that afternoon.  The late naps she takes on the weekends really give her a second wind to stay up a little later and enjoy her "stay home days."

Getting Good at These

Em had another successful play date yesterday with her best friend, Emmy.  Her mom came with her and we sat and talked the whole time they played, so I didn't even take any pictures!  They came over at 3:00 Saturday afternoon and played so well together--making crafts, playing dress up and painting pictures.  I was pretty sure Em would ask to bake something or watch a movie, but they never did.  Best of all, Emmy is so much smaller than Em that she picked a couple of her princess dresses that don't fit her anymore and gave them to Emmy.  If we can get rid of some stuff every time someone comes over, I'd consider that a success :).

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 :).