8 Week Follow Up

Jasper went for his 8 week follow up at the surgeon's office this morning -- the vet said his leg is healing nicely and he is now allowed out in the yard without a leash, and some limited running for the next two weeks. After that, if all is still fine, he is allowed to be back to his usual activity including doggy playdates! We can't wait!

Kindergarten Picnic

Mike went to Amelia's kindergarten picnic last week, where she read an "All About Me" book that she had written and illustrated, and got to have a Chick Fil-A lunch in the courtyard, courtesy of Mike -- yum!

Water Balloon Fight

 

Hello Summer!!

Sunday Morning Baking Continued

Scuffins -- jam filled muffins!

QB

Charlie has been alternating between quarterback and running back and is having a blast with flag football this season despite the fact that his team has yet to win a game!

Cats & Taylor Swift

Amelia has been asking and asking for a Taylor Swift shirt -- I finally let her pick one out online and this is the one she picked: "I like cats and Taylor Swift" -- pretty accurate I guess!

Charlotte Race Fest Half Marathon & 10k

Mike and I ran the Charlotte Race Fest 10K and half marathon this weekend. We had a babysitter for Friday night, had a delicious dinner at Dogwood Southern Restaurant and stayed in a hotel the night before the race.

Mike did a great job running his first 10k, coming in at 1:03:17. I am now trying to convince him to run a half marathon with me!

I made my goal of running the half marathon in under 2 hours, squeaking in at 1:59:12 which is a full 10 minutes faster than I ran the same race last year. I have now set a few new goals for myself which include running the 13.1 Mile in Ballantyne in September averaging under 9 minute miles (I averaged 9:07/mile for this race) and running the Charlotte Marathon in November in under 4 hours.

(But for this week I am chilling on the couch eating ice cream and Oreos!)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Report Cards

The kids brought home 3rd quarter report cards last week. Charlie brought home straight A's for the second quarter in a row with comments again being "conduct is excellent".

Amelia got straight 3s which is the highest mark for kindergarten. Her teacher wrote that she is an excellent student, asks important questions to direct her learning, is extremely attentive during lessons and a delight to have in class. She also has graduated to an "H" level reader, I had earlier mistakenly reported "G" level. Expected level by end of kindergarten is "E" level so she is ahead of the game!

The kids earned dinner out at Chilis for their accomplishments.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Busy Busy

After a review of my calendar I have come to realize that the rest of April, May and probably June are shaping up to be busy busy!

On the school front we have oh about one billion things, including 3 field trips (including Charlie's class trip to Raleigh) coming up, a half day and a some sort of kindergarten picnic day coming up next week, the annual school carnival the first week of May, not to mention Charlie's end of grade exams at the beginning of June and I think there is a power point presentation due in there somewhere and probably some other large projects that I'm not looking forward to?

On the birthday party front we have a bunch of them coming up -- this weekend Amelia has a birthday party to go to, next weekend she has another, the weekend after that is Charlie's birthday party and the weekend after that the twins next door to us are having a first birthday party (but at least I hear there will be alcohol at that one...!)

On the crazy busy life in general front, Mike and I are running RaceFest this weekend, which means a babysitter overnight and us up at the crack of dawn Saturday to run a 10k and half marathon, respectively. The kids are into their 8 week session of flag football, Amelia continues with tumbling on Friday nights and swim team starts in less than a month -- daily swim practice and lots of swim meets, here we come! I think also we have some Mothers Day plans thrown in there somewhere, a tattoo scheduled for June 1st (yes that's for me) and who knows what else! Can we say just a little overwhelmed? I needed a couple days off just to organize my calendar!

Reading

Amelia's reading level has increased exponentially in the past couple weeks -- all of a sudden she is actually *reading* without having to look at pictures for context clues or stop and sound out words all the time. While this is good, I have to say it can be tiring too!

Amelia: Mom, we have to buy that house!
Me: Huh? What?
Amelia: The sign says it has a pool!! We have to buy it!!
***
Amelia: I want the strawberry starburst slushy!
Me: What? There's no such thing.
Amelia: I'm staring right at the sign, Mom.
***
Amelia: Mom, I'm a little worried.
Me: Uhh, why?
Amelia: "Because that sign said "beware" but we were driving by it too fast so I didn't see what I'm supposed to beware of!!"
Me: Omg.

Meanwhile at school she has gone from an E level reader to a G level in two weeks :)

Four Day Weekend

I took a much needed four day weekend this weekend -- since we have been a little bit slow at work this past week I took Friday and Monday off. I must say it was very relaxing, and I got a lot accomplished! I had to do 15 hours of continuing education by June to renew my state OT license and I got all of that done. I also got Charlie's birthday party invitations sent out, did some much needed summer clothes shopping for Amelia, and got my hair done. All things knocked off my to do list, and now its back to the grind!

More Artwork By Amelia

Strawberry Coffee Cake Muffins

Another win for Sunday breakfast! I have to say these were completely delicious slathered in butter and --ahem-- cream cheese.

Catch Of The Day

Charlie informed me on Sunday morning that he would be catching a brown skink -- he looked it up online and read about where to find them and then wandered off to do his usual (that being whatever it is that Charlie does outside that turns up these creatures.)

Later in the afternoon he came back to show me his catch, which he had set up in one of the (many) terrariums we have in the garage:

Happily he has since let it go, after reading that they do not, in fact, eat dandelion heads as one of our little neighbors attempted to convince him -- rather, they eat various arthropods which even Charlie did not feel like attempting to catch.

Flag Football

Amelia decided she wanted to play flag football just like big brother -- here she is rockin' it at her first game of the season!

The Shirt Says It All

Actually, do they come in my size?

Ten Year Well Visit

Charlie had his ten year well visit with his pediatrician yesterday -- he measured up at 60 1/4 inches tall and 99.6 pounds. This is a three inch gain over last year and a six pound weight gain, which the doctor said was perfect! It also means that he has gained 3 inches for 2 years in a row now -- the doctor told me my days of being taller than him are "very limited" -- oh dear!

No shots needed this year and no health concerns, so an easy check up!

They're Baaaaack....

The lice, unfortunately!! Amelia woke up Sunday morning complaining that her head and neck itched; when I looked she had the same rash on the back of her neck that she did last fall when she had head lice -- OH NO! Sure enough, when I come through her hair with the lice comp I came up with 2 lice and one egg. So we are sentenced to slathering her head in olive oil every night for the next week :( :( Fortunately yesterday's comb through produced nothing, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is a, err, minor infestation this time. Mercifully I did not find any on Charlie although I do feel the need to check his head again i the near future...

Banana Upside Down Muffins

Sunday morning breakfast: Yes, they were as good as they looked! Yum!

Still After Snakes

With a home made snake trap courtesy of YouTube, this time.

Big Brother

Always little enough to be carried by big brother!