Backyard Camping

Wanting to do something special during the week before the kids head back to school (or just because she is a crazy person, you pick), my neighbor Kim decided to plan a backyard camp-out for our kids. Four boys, one girl, one adult, in one tent. (I'm leaning towards crazy person at this point.)

But in typical awesome Kim fashion, she pulled off a fantastic day that kept the kids engaged, got them to help with planning, shopping and executing, included a great dinner for us adults, s'mores for everyone, and ended with four boys, one girl, and one adults all asleep in the backyard tent. I am still a little shocked and much in awe.

Four boys in a grocery store?! Still leaning towards crazy person at this point.

First the boys had to help plan a menu for the evening's dinner and then help shop for the food. We ended up with hobo packets (veggies and chicken in a foil pouch grilled to perfection). Kim confessed to receiving a few looks at Publix. One lady whispered in terror, "Are they all yours?!" One woman swore she could see the halo around Kim's head, to which Kim replied that it was more likely her forehead was stamped with "crazy person!" But they all lived to tell the tale and we're all still allowed to shop there, so it's all good.

Next up, make camp! And trail mix! The boys were sweet enough to make Violet a bag of trail mix since she was at school. When I picked her up, she couldn't wait to join the festivities!

Look how helpful we're being!

And then, make dinner! Everyone got a sheet of foil and got to pick which veggies they wanted to include. For the adults, Kim made an awesome salad in a jar which was deemed a complete success! And the best part was the clean-up. Crumple up the foil, pitch it in the trash, call it a day.

Check out that awesome jar salad!

 Finally it was time for the campfire! Reed, having survived a week at sleep-away camp-out camp, was our fire expert and got everything heated up. Violet was strangely scared of the fire, despite the fact that we've had this fire pit going numerous times this summer. But no one was scared of the s'mores! We tested out a new combination of toasted marshmallows with Reece's peanutbutter cups for the chocolate and oh. my. stars. Do not try one. It will be impossible to go back to plain Hershey's chocolate again. Wow. I can almost still taste it. Must. Make. More.

I got the baby to bed a little after nine, but everyone else was still going strong. There was much debate about whether Violet would last the night. She had been insistent that I stay with her (nope) or that we sleep outside for a little bit and inside for a little bit (um, no). But she gamely dragged her Hello Kitty sleeping bag into the tent and acted like she wanted to stay. She was so convincing that I actually went back inside and got in bed, assuring Kim that the backdoor was open and to call when Violet threw in the towel.

Playing cards in the tent, one big, happy family.

Notice everyone else pretending to sleep except for my noodle. Quite cozy in there!

Imagine my surprise when morning dawned, my alarm blaring me awake (stupid back to school alarm!) and Violet was still in tent! I even check the video monitor to make sure she hadn't been smuggled in during the night. Kim reported that Violet was actually the first one to follow directions to get into the sleeping bag and fall asleep. Everyone else followed soon after, although there was a slight snafu when Christian lost his first tooth (don't worry, the tooth fairy found the tent). All in all, it was a most excellent adventure. Most importantly, Kim is a) alive, b) still speaking to our children (and us), and c) says she would actually do it all again!

Survivors!

Annie 10 Months

Staring boldly into the future.

 Miss Annie is 10 months old now. (That's NOT older than Violet, she'll have you know, even though 10 is more than four. We have long discussions and reassurances about this fact. But back to Annie...)

Annie has four teeth now, two on bottom and two on top with a charming (hopefully not eventually expensive) gap. I think the sides are going to fill in soon. She can crawl, point to things she wants, complain vigorously when we take something away she was playing with (ie: dog food), and has figured out how to access Siri on my phone. They have long, confusing conversations with each other.

I swear Annie is trying to talk, or she's gotten very good at mimicking our sounds. She says "dawdie" when she sees the dogs and "bah-mmm" when I hold up her bottle. Perhaps I'm giving her more credit than she's due, but these sounds are pretty consistent.

Still rockin' the thigh chub...

Stranger danger is in full swing; she ducks her head bashfully and tries to burrow into my shoulder when it's time to leave her with a babysitter. Her appetite is still awesome and she now points to our plates and cups - she loves fruits and veggies and can pretty much try anything on our plates.

Her hair is getting so long! I have to keep a bow or ponytail up there constantly or she ends up with hair in her face. So far she's much better than Violet ever was at keeping in her hair do-dads. But look at how light her hair is getting! Must be bleached by the sun... Annie continues to be the awesome, laid-back baby she's always bin. But I think this one might be our sneaky trouble-maker. I caught her pulling all the books off the shelf the other day. And don't even get me started on the dog food...

A glimpse of those bottom chompers.

Home Run!

We picked Violet up from "camp" last night, meeting up with everyone at a Braves game. It was a steamy, muggy evening but we had fun nonetheless. We had seats in a section I don't venture into often, left field, the third row from the bottom. Great seats! Everyone was there, my brother and sister, my parents, Matt's parents, of course our girls... Annie's first baseball game! (Although I have no pictures of her to prove it, sorry. Mom fail.)

So, we're sitting there in left field and I'm half paying attention like I usually do during baseball games. Then there's a roar from the crowd. I look up to see a ball in the air. I lose it in the lights. When I pick it up again, it's heading straight towards us. The guy sitting in front of Violet has his glove up... Home run! And talk about a close call!

Closest I've been to a home run - one row down, one seat over.

We left in the eighth inning. The grandmas were doing a great job keeping Annie entertained, strolling her around and catching a cool breeze, but Big Sister was done. I think she was worn out from her longs days at "camp". So we headed home and after some loud, sisterly bonding in the backseat, both girls crashed. It was a great night and a nice way to cap off our summer.

The only way to watch a game - your radio, binoculars, and favorite son.

The Last Week of Summer

It's my last week of summer. On Monday I'll put the girls in daycare so I can get my classroom ready before preplanning starts on Thursday. I'm sad the summer is over but I'm also ready, and that's a good feeling.

But we still have a bit of fun planned before the week is done. Violet has been spending a few days in Peachtree City for what we've affectionately termed "Camp Mimi/Grandma". (At first Violet thought this was going to be legit camp with a tent and outdoor sleeping and everything, ha! Not so much.)

Who is this grown up girl?!

Blueberry picking!

Making play-doh pizza.

Lego time!

 Today they went to the zoo, tomorrow we'll pick her up at the Braves game... looks like she's having an awesome time, despite no actual camping!

Getting my eyes dilated!

In the meantime, I've had this girl all by herself (poor Annie misses her sister!) and life has been a little less exciting. Annie had an eye check-up to rule out any lazy eye (she passed! Whew! I just can't take anything else being wrong with her... I'm done.) Today she hung out with our favorite babysitter while I ran and did some things in my classroom. What was supposed to be two hours ended up lasting three and a half, but she was great and I got a lot done and am feeling much more settled about the thought of back to work next week.

Tomorrow the first grade team is coming over for a pool party, then we'll head downtown to the Braves game and pick up Violet. Thursday we have nothing written on the schedule, amazingly, and Friday I'm taking Annie to daycare for a couple hours so she can get used to the new places and faces. And before I know it, the week will be done! 

Shop 'Til You Drop

Well, this is a first!

I guess we're all still recovering from the trip to Ohio. Annie fell asleep in the car on the way to Publix, continued sleeping after I loaded her into the shopping cart, slept the entire way through the grocery store, and stayed that way until we got home! Here's hoping she enjoyed her beauty rest - it's back to the school routine in two weeks!

Ohio

Tough life.

So it turns out that Annie likes Ohio. As she should, since she spent the entire trip being held, fed, pampered, cheered on (she's crawling!) and basically entertained. If you're going to travel, this is the way to do it, let me tell you. My lovely mother-in-law drove up a few days in advance, meaning we could send the car seats, diapers and other necessities with her. Aunt Stephanie, our hostess with the mostess, had a pack-n-play, high chair and toys waiting for us. This, my friends, is the only way to do it!

Sorry for the dog butt shot. Annie loves puppies!

Aunt Stephanie and her new BFF.

Annie was in charge of feeding the dogs.

Violet also enjoyed the trip, mainly getting to spend so much time in Aunt Stephanie's pool with cousins to keep her company.

Swimming with Brooke

Slightly less enthusiastic about dogs than her sister.

Why we came...

We loved the time we got to spend with family, and of course, getting to remember Matt's grandmother Betty (who Violet gets her middle name from). We had a lovely little gathering at the cemetery where we all shared some memories about this funny, feisty lady, then we spent the evening looking through old family photos and reliving moments (and awful 90s haircuts). There was much laughter and smiles, and I think Betty would be happy knowing she brought us all together to share a few sunny days in the place where she lived and loved for so long.

Bye Ohio! We'll be back!

On a Plane!

Checking out the view.

We decided to suck it up and take both girls on a plane. We've just returned, in fact. Destination: Ohio. Mission: accomplished! For a first flight with both girls, it could not have gone better. We left the house at 6 a.m. in order to make our 8:30 flight. We checked both bags to leave our hands free for the stroller, diaper bag, purse, kids, backpacks... Violet thought the bus from the parking lot to the airport was cool because she didn't have to wear a seatbelt. The security line was only mildly unbearable - we got to walk through the old-school metal detectors instead of the crazy new body scanners. Good thing too, since Violet would never have gone for it.

More fascinated by the buttons than the clouds.

We made it to the gate just in time for the final boarding call, and were extremely pleased to find an almost empty flight. We had rows and rows to ourselves. Violet colored in the new coloring book she picked out, chose Sprite for her beverage and generally amused herself by looking out the window and asking a million questions. Annie, after several rounds of bottles and a little bit of bouncing, fell asleep and even let me read a bit of my book. She woke up as we landed.

And this is what greeted us on the ground! Ohio really is beautiful, at least the parts of Ohio that I've seen. Lovely rolling hills, fields of corn, farms, America at its finest.

Greetings from the heartland!

Of course, going straight from the plane to Aunt Stephanie's house, pool and patio didn't hurt either! It was an excellent start of our trip and I'm happy to say the rest of our stay was just as nice. Even the plane ride home, which was completely full, wasn't too bad.

Let Freedom Ring

Sangria!

We had a wonderful Fourth, did you? The weather was perfect, almost cool in the morning. We had a lovely lazy day, went the pool in the afternoon, headed to the neighbors for food and festivities and fireworks. Violet made a new BFF in Chloe and they played until the sun went down.

Our red, white, and blue kids!

We did the traditional grilling thing, burgers and dogs. There was guacamole, not necessarily American but a welcome picnic food anywhere. There were lawn games like badminton and croquet. There was patriotic music and excellent company and children who behaved themselves and fun all around.

Had to go for the matching outfits.

Frame worthy. 

We discovered in about 10 seconds that Violet does not like fireworks. They were too loud, apparently. And even I was a little nervous by the close proximity as the menfolk set them off - we were pelted with debris a few times. So both girls ended up inside, asleep, as the festivities wound to a close. We'll try again next year. It was, all in all, quite a lovely Fourth of July.

Just Keep Swimming

As a parent, you want your child to be good at something. Smart, gifted, talented, what have you. I'm a big believer in trying something out to see what fits, what Violet can be good at naturally.

She did ballet through her daycare, with what I thought were less than stellar results. You know the kid who stands in the middle of the stage, looking around and picking their nose while everyone else is making coordinated motions with something resembling gracefulness. Yep, my kid. So ballet was out.

She's done about a year of gymnastics, during which I've definitely seen progress. And anything that gets her muscles coordinated and keeps her active is a win in my books. But there's no real innate talent there that I could see. (Her little friend got asked to try out for the team - we did not. Her little friend flips over the bar - we do not. Not that it's a competition, but still.)

This is our second year of swim lessons. She did the entry level class last year, and I opted to have her repeat PS1 again this year before she moved on to PS2. Violet isn't over confident in the water, she hates to get her face wet. Plus, she's quite shy when it comes to starting new things, especially when there won't be anyone there she knows. the fact that she remembered swim lessons from last year was a huge plus for us.

I wasn't wild about the instructor at the beginning. At the first lesson, the poor woman had laryngitis and it was almost impossible to hear what she was saying. She didn't seem overly warm and fuzzy, with hugs and high fives and good jobs. But hey, we're all different, everyone has their own teaching style, and at least Violet wasn't crying (like another little guy in her class). I didn't get to stick around and watch - Miss Fuss had to be walked around in her stroller non-stop (that's what I get for scheduling lessons during nap time). But by the end, I'd warmed up to the teacher. Her voice came back, the high fives and positive praise were there. But best of all - Violet is swimming! She made it halfway across the little pool by herself, head in the water, everything! The instructor told us not to bother with PS2, she was promoting her straight to PS3! I'm so proud! Not that we're about to join the swim team or anything, but it was awesome to see how much progress my girl made in only four days. We talked a lot of confidence and being brave, and she showed a lot of both. Maybe too much, based on her "I'm a really awesome swimmer!" comment. Although I'm not too worried that she's going to attempt jumping in the pool without someone waiting in the water for her. Now we just have to convince her she can swim without her floaties "for real," not just as a part of swim lessons.

And we're totally signing up for soccer in the fall. If we try enough different things, Violet is bound to find something that she loves. It's a two day a week commitment, which I'm not excited about, but two of her school friends are doing it with us, and I'm really hoping soccer is a good fit for her. But until then, we'll just keep swimming!