Marbles

And now, I give you, for the first time ever (from me at least)...

decent pictures from Marbles!  Do I actually hear cheering?  Yeah, I am pretty sure I do.  After years of going to Marbles with countless photo ops, and 100% of them being yellowed and blurry, I am pleased to share these pictures from this afternoon.  (p.s. please do not think I am bragging about my "photography skills", I am just insanely excited to have some decent pictures!)

Kindergarten Program

My little girl is 2 days away from being a kindergarten graduate!  Today they had their program.  It was cute to say the least.  I was happy that Audrey was on the front row (made getting a picture much easier).  I have noticed that people with very fair hair, and fair skin almost absorb light.  Look at how Audrey glows!

 After the singing we had a picnic lunch.  Travis was able to make it, and Phoenix was at school (meaning we could actually relax and focus on Audrey).

 I might be biased, but doesn't Trav look so handsome?

 Had to capture the freckles...and somehow while she is eating she has more normal expressions (she likes to pose in a silly way in pretty much every instance)

 Her teachers, Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Aclin.  They have really helped her out so much, I am so glad that she had such wonderful teachers.

 Love this girl!

Pretty Pretty...Travis?

Raise your hand if Pretty Pretty Princess is was your favorite game.  ME! ME! Pick ME!  OK, to say that I loved this game is an understatement, I was obsessed with it, but I had to keep it in check, so as not to look like a total freak.  I did not own this game, but I had a friend who did.  When I saw it in a store a few months ago all of those years of longing, yearning, dreaming (you get the picture, right?) came back and I put the game in my cart.  Audrey was a little apprehensive of the game, princesses aren't exactly her thing, but I am thrilled to report that she totally loved it.  We have been playing it a lot lately, and she had the idea to play it for our family night activity (after the lil fella went to sleep).  We had a lot of giggles about how Trav would handle it.  He was resistant at first, but I am pretty sure he had fun (winning will do that to you).

Drum roll please...

I recently acquired something that I have wanted desperately for a long time...years.  A camera that can actually take a decent picture!  Yay me!!!  And yay for you, because now you no longer have to look at my blurry, poorly lit, over-edited (due to total desperation) pictures!   Here is just a sampling of my new camera:

Trav was kind enough to pose (and pose he did!) for the first picture!

 (Let's pretend you don't see all of the junk on my junk counter #2...yes, I have 2!!)

 I literally squealed at this picture!!  Not because my unattractive hand is so close, but hello focus!  Sigh!

 Phoenix made a pretty good model...

The definition is not as sharp in this picture, but it was too cute to leave out!

So, instead of spending loads of time editing my so-horrible-it-could-induce-tears- photos from my old camera I posted these with absolutely no edits (not saying they are amazing, or that they shouldn't have editing, just that if I don't want to edit, I don't have to)!  I am so happy!!

Dress up at Janae's

We went up to Janae's house a few weeks ago, Heather was visiting and we had so much fun!  One morning I woke up and Audrey was dressed like this:

and Phoenix was dressed like this:

I just could not get used to him in these overly girly shorts!  It really changed how he looked.  He didn't seem to mind.

Phoenix's last day of school

I only took one picture because I didn't want to be extremely annoying.  Phoenix has loved school, and I have loved taking him there.  I kept him in his school after we moved to finish off the year, and I am so sad to be leaving it.  His teachers were so wonderful.

Eloise Party

Audrey does not usually choose girly things (something I never really considered possible), so when she told me she wanted an Eloise themed birthday party I was shocked, and oh so proud.  How fun is this theme?  For those of you that don't know (probably many of you) Eloise is a book series, turned movie series.  Eloise is a spunky 6 year old who lives at the Plaza hotel in the 50's, raised by her English nanny, and constantly making mischief.  

 Birthday reel (wish I had realized the flash was on when I took this picture...)

 Trav sketched this, he did an awesome job!  I am planning on framing it and putting it in Audrey's room.

 I made Eloise headbands for all the girls and these top hats for the boys (well, I added the ribbon).  I wasn't sure how the boys would feel about them because of the pink, but they loved them!

 Two of my besties, Meg and April <3

 Doesn't Audrey look like Eloise?  Perfect!  Sometimes she wants me to call her Audrelese  (how does that compare to Reneesme?).

 I made her a cake that totally fell apart (in chunks) 15 minutes before the party (first and only time using a mix cake from now on).  Trav saved the day and got a close replica at Harris Teeter.  It even had the strawberry jam filling!

 We had a balloon room, story time, bubbles on the deck, and pin the bow on Eloise.  Things were a bit chaotic, but that is a sign that the kids had fun!!

So I invited Audrey's old flame, Andrew.  They spent the whole party together, and I *think* they rekindled their flame.  Talk about cute couple!!

This was my favorite party to date.  In the past I underestimated time that I had, and over estimated how much I could realistically do, but I am getting better about doing things way ahead of time, and taking shortcuts with the food preparation where I can.  I LOVED this theme, Audrey LOVED the party, we all had so much fun.  Next years theme (yeah, we usually start planning it the night after her party) is a nature/scientist theme.  Should be fun!!

Zoo Trip!

In all of our many times going to the Asheboro Zoo, I do not think one of them has really been enjoyable, until this time.  I think it was because we always went on hot, humid, muggy, crowded days.  This time we purposely went during the week, and carefully picked out a weather friendly day.  Phoenix was old enough to enjoy everything, we didn't even bring the stroller!  

The zoo has a pretty decent playground filled with enlarged stuff to make the kids feel like they are bug sized.  So fun!

 There was this geizer (no idea how to spell it) that misted, so refreshing!  (oh, and I am pretty sure it is mad made)

 Gorillas and Zebras are my favorite.  This time there were 3 female gorillas, and one male.  When we walked up to the window one of the females (who was sitting much further away) looked over at Audrey and Phoenix, and walked right over to them.  It was definitely the coolest thing that I have ever seen at a zoo before. Phoenix was a little scared, Audrey loved it (of course).  I barely got my camera out in time to catch this photo.

We are already planning another trip in the fall.

Strawberry Fields

We totally missed strawberry picking last year, which means I had a year without strawberry freezer jam.  I was NOT going to make that same mistake again!  This summer has been so enjoyable, the weather was perfect (up until about a week ago), Audrey is her happy self, Phoenix has started to talk more and he is old enough to understand (and actually obey) words like "stop", "come back", "stay here".  Life changing.

 After we were done picking we got some delish homemade ice cream right there. I got butter pecan.  It was...heavenly.  I ate is so slow so that I could enjoy every last lick of it.  There was a sand pit for the kids to play in, and Phoenix was in heaven.

I made a ton of freezer jam, and now our freezer is stalked.  I thought I made more than enough to last the year, but we are already going through it faster than anticipated.  Oh...strawberry freezer jam, how I love thee!

7 years

Audrey's birthday was the same weekend as our anniversary.  Two years ago we went to the Outbanks and we loved it so much that we decided to do another overnight beach trip.  We stayed at a Hilton suites hotel, it was awesome.  Best.hotel.breakfast.ever.  Yum!  The kids got the main room, Phoenix figured out how to climb out of his pack and play, Daddy brought out the big guns, or lungs rather, and luckily Phoenix stayed in his bed after that.  We swam at the pool that night and the next day, there was a hot tube where we spent most of our time.  We had a wonderful time, and I am already wanting to go back!

We have been married for 7 years (kinda crazy!), and I can definitely say that I love Travis more than ever. He works so hard, he has the perfect sense of humor, I have the most fun with him, I love being around him, I love how he plays with our kids, and he dances!  I still can't believe I snagged such a hottie!  I love you sweetie!

Turning 6

 My baby girl turned 6 at the end of April!  I am sad that she is growing up so fast, but there are a lot of fun things about her stage right now (such as being able to play Pretty, Pretty Princess).  I like LOVE birthdays.  We basically let Audrey choose everything she wanted to do on her birthday, and now that she is on year-round school she actually had her birthday off.  

The day started with breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, Audrey always gets the bacon, egg, and cheese wrap and a Boston Cream donut.  Phoenix had some...frosting.

 Audrey's current favorite shirt is this poodle one.  After breakfast we hit up Monkey Joes.  We had the place to ourselves and it was awesome.  I pretended that my kids needed help so that I could get my slide on.  The employees only had to tell me once to stop budging ;-).

 Whilst the kids and I played Travis literally fell asleep...right next to a pair of garbage cans.  He got in probably almost a solid 30 minutes.  Impressive, especially when you consider how loud  I er I mean the kids were being.

 Olive Garden for lunch, Chicken and Gnocchi soup for the birthday girl, with several plates full of Parmasean cheese.

 Then we were off to the Science Museum (this girl LOVES science).  They had added a new wing, which is huge and very high tech if you ask me.  I still like the kid part the best though.

 Audrey loves cherries, so I made her a cherry cake.  She didn't like it.  But it at least got the job done.

 I had to relight the candles at least 3 times because Phoenix kept blowing spitting them out.  I seriously think the kid extinguished them purely with excess saliva.

 Audrey got some monogrammed jammies from her Aunt Jessie (Eloise style!).

 She was so giddy when she opened up the treasure box filled with coins and cash...this picture captures it all.  Thanks Grandma Andrew!!

Audrey had "the best birthday ever" (her words), and Phoenix was the perfect little brother (aside from blowing her candles out...3 times).  It was a very fun day.  I love my little 6 year old!