Never Too Late To Go Swimming

I came home from work today after 5pm, but Amelia was eager to go to the pool! Here she is catching the last rays of the day and doing some one handed cartwheels on the pool deck...

Memorial Day

I had to work all day today but Mike took the day off and had a fun day with the kids, taking them to the greenway in the morning for a hike with the dog, and then to lunch and to see the Angry Birds movie (which judging from the previews I am not sorry I missed out on!)

Here is Charlie with one of his catches of the day, and the kids at the movie theatre:

New Hair Cut For Summer!

We Have a Little Swimmer!

The JCC pool opened on Saturday so after the yard sale wrapped up we headed over there for the first of many Saturday afternoons spent at the pool for the summer. the kids had to take their swim tests -- Amelia took and passed the green band test for the first time; she had to swim a lap freestyle, a lap backstroke and tread water for one minute! The green band earns her free roam of all the JCC pools. The lifeguard was so impressed, saying she was the youngest kid so far that day to get a green band! Way to go Amelia! Here she is doing her version of the backstroke during the test:

Yard Sale & Bake Sale

This past week was consumed by my last minute decision to participate in the annual Beverly Crest yard sale, in addition to co-hosting a bake sale with Mandy, the proceeds of which went to her Moms In Training fundraising endeavors for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I realized that I do not do this on a regular basis because it is SO MUCH WORK!!

In addition to getting things together for the yard sale, cleaning and pricing them, I had to -- with Mandy's help -- bake 3 batches of brownies, 2 batches of pistachio lemon squares and 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies.

Both the yard sale and bake sale were a huge success, with buyers showing up at 6:30am even though the yard sale did not start until 8! By 7am I had already made over $100 and was frantically texting Mandy to come get the bake sale going, as people had already started donating to it even though there were as yet no baked goods out.

We ended up raising over $140 for LLS and over $700 from the yard sale, the proceeds of which are going to fund my birthday tattoo, which I'm getting on Wednesday ;-) Everything we didn't sell was picked up by the National Kidney Foundation, so it was a win all around!

Here is the bake sale in full swing, Amelia with the first money donated to the bake sale before  it was even set up, the delicious treats we had for sale, and Amelia and Rebecca sampling the bake sale lemonade:

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Because how else should you kick off summer??

Its Swim Team Season Again!!

The Beverly Crest Sharks are back in the water again -- look out!!

Yard Work

Mike put new mulch down last weekend and added an American flag to our Red Sox flag, for summer. Looking good!! (Next outside project -- power washing!!)

Celebrating 2 Years In Charlotte

We celebrated two years in Charlotte (a little early) last weekend by going out to dinner at Soul Gastrolounge with Mandy and Joel. Yum!

Kindergarten Program

Mike and I went to Amelia's kindergarten program last week, where the kids dressed up as farmers and sang songs -- super cute!

Summer Wreath

The Robinsons are ready for summer with this custom burlap wreath one of my friends from work made for me!

Mothers Day 2016

I had a great Mothers Day yesterday, which involved sleeping in while Mike made chocolate chip muffins with the kids, cards & candy from the kids, brunch with Mike at Passion8 restaurant while the kids had a babysitter, shopping for new running sneakers, going out with Mandy for summer clothes shopping, coming home to hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, taking the dog for a long walk, and then going on a 5 mile run to test out the new sneakers. A great day!

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Another Birthday Party

Our neighbor's boys celebrated their first birthday yesterday with a yard party that involved playing corn hole and some betting on the kentucky derby -- what fun! (Let's just say I might still be recovering this morning.)

Football Medals

Amelia earned her team's medal for sportsmanship at flag football last week for having a positive attitude and Charlie won his this week for, well, being responsible for his team's only points scored in both of the last two games! (Actually, technically I think, in the entire season thus far because I'm pretty sure the last two games before that were shut outs and the first game of the season was a practice game that didn't actually count!!)

HawkFest 2016

The kids enjoyed the annual carnival at Elizabeth Lane on Friday evening!

A Birthday Field Trip

Charlie's actual birthday -- May 3rd -- fell on the 4th grade field trip to Raleigh. Charlie had to be at school at 6:15am and came home at 6:30pm, after a great time in Raleigh.

Here he is as a newly minted 10 year old heading out for his field trip :-)

A Game Truck Party

We celebrated Charlie's 10th birthday last Sunday with a game truck party, which has to rate as the easiest birthday party I have ever done! The kids disappeared inside the truck and played video games for an hour and a half, then came out and stampeded us for cake and snacks, then played football and basketball in the cul de sac until their parents came to pick them up. Super easy and fun!