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Friday, September 28, 2012

Repeat After Me

We had a great afternoon at home one day this past week. There was very little fighting, no climbing the shelves in the pantry for more and more snacks, etc….. In fact, we did some workbooks, read Will’s school books, had a snack, played some football and cooked dinner while watching a little Looney Tunes.

Will is doing great in school and with all the first grade work they send home for him. As we were reading this week’s books, he was adamant he was going to teach Avery how to read.  He keeps saying he wants her to know how to read before she goes to Kindergarten.  So he has her snuggled up next to him on the sofa, pointing out the letters in the word “always” to her, showing her that all of those letters except for the “s” are in her first name or his so she already knows them.  He wanted her to repeat the letter after him when he tapped it.   

Avery was in one her moods. One of sweeter moods I should say. But she was tired and it was late in the week and she wasn’t completely into this impromptu reading lesson. So every time he would ask her to say a letter, she would lean over and kiss him on the cheek. This exchange happened over and over. It was too precious. 

His reaction was so funny. He was frustrated that she wasn’t paying attention to him but loving the other kind of attention she was giving him.  And it was one of those moments that I didn’t dare move to get the camera because I knew the moment would be ruined.

I told Matthew the other day that if I never had another parenting success, at least I had raised two children who (thus far) adore each other.

A glimpse of them reading together at his 6 year old well child check-up today.....

Thursday, September 13, 2012

A Football Birthday Bash

After a cool spell, it turned HOT and HUMID the afternoon of Will’s big birthday bash. We went with a NCSU football theme and of course planned for the events to be outside.  We had planned for football games and cheerleading events but it mainly just turned into a big play time for the kids. I think they all had a great time though!


Someone had gotten into some eye make up before the party, hence the dark eyebrows!











 Aunt Greta made these cool signs!

We surprised Will with a special guest!







Mr. Wuf was almost a surprise to us too as we had requested him back in July and didn’t find out until 3 days before the party that he was going to make it.  He was an awesome guy…very smart and involved at NCSU. I felt privileged to have him at our house.

He was a very good sport as it was H-O-T and the children were man-handling him and asking him to chase them. Poor Mr. Wuf!!!

We did go inside for a bit of a break. Avery and Lilly loved showing Mr. Wuf around. They even took him upstairs to see the pugs!!! 




Avery also showed him where the restroom was!

He was being manhandled, but I think he was enjoying the reprieve from the heat!

I was so excited….so was Matt!! I kept jumping up and down saying “Mr. Wuf is in my house! Mr. Wuf is in my house!”  I am still excited when I think about it!!!
A few more pics outside before he left.



I need to do a whole separate post on  the pics we tried with these signs....






I had the great idea to make a big banner, high school football style, and have the kids and Mr. Wuf run through it. Man, it was the strongest bulletin board paper ever! It took 2 tries, the 2nd with cuts put into the paper, and it still never broke!
 



Take Two!



Food time! 


Sunday, September 9, 2012

A pizza picnic in the park!

For Will's actual birthday celebration, he wanted to get a pizza for dinner and take it the park and have dinner and play time. So we grabbed a pizza and off we went! 


After dinner, it is time to play!










Then we raced home for cake and gifts. I made him a Speed Racer cake. Well, I made a cake and stuck a vintage Speed Racer car from eBay on top of it. Car collectors around the world cried when I opened the car package and removed it from the blister pack.  Hey, I'll do whatever to make him happy!





Earlier in the day I told Will the story about his first birthday party, where he went head first into this cake. He thought it would be fun to re-enact that. I did not.
 Presents time! Lindy and Stella gave him the 30th anniversary Grave Digger. His reaction was quite funny. It reminded us of the Red Rider scene from A Christmas Story as he was spouting out all the stats about this particular truck!

 Celebration #2 is in the books! Celebration #1 was a cupcake delivery to school by Daddy earlier in the day!