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!

Green Thumb!!

Well...kind of.  Me and Travis do NOT have the best track record with living plants (as in 100% of them have died), but I grew up with a garden (and so did he) and there really is nothing better than a garden fresh tomato.  So this year I made it my goal to have a garden (after several years of putting it off).  We got some lumber and a few different types of soil mixes, with Travis handyman skills and my...um...taking pictures...we got it started!  The kids loved being able to help.

We planted a few different types of tomatoes, red bell peppers, green beans, peas, lettuce, and cucumbers.  I am kinda regretting the cucumbers because they are invading everything!  I had no idea they spread out so much.  We have gotten some green beans, a few peas, and the tomatoes are growing but nothing red yet.  I am anxiously awaiting the first tomato of the season.

A Day at the Beach

 It's beach season!!!  We have been having so much fun going down to the beach lately!  Our whole family LOVE'S the beach.  Something about the ocean, sand, sun...perfection!  Add in two kiddos that actually stay put (the last two years Phoenix had the lovely habit of basically spending his time at the beach running anywhere he wasn't supposed to), and you have got yourself a genuine relaxing day at the beach!

Travis has been bringing his board down almost every time we go down, this man loves surfing!!

Nature field trip!

I got to go on a field trip with Audrey, it was to a nature place (I am trying to contain my excitement).  Although it was NOT my cup of tea, Audrey actually really enjoyed it.  She has already made some wonderful friends in her new school, and it was fun to see her with her new buddies.

I had NO interest in touching the snake, but Audrey was very excited to...

 This lady below had a 5 minute lecture on how important it was to avoid stepping on the bugs when the kids were walking around in the woods.  It was...enlightening intriguing who am I kidding?  It was so boring...am I the only one who thinks there are too many bugs in this world?  If we could totally eliminate ticks that would be great!  I am sure as heck not jumping on board to save the little critters (that would put my hubby out of a job after all).  You should have heard the lecture at lunch time about recycling (they had like 10 different bins for all of the different types of materials to go it; capri sun over there, plastic bags over there, milk cartons over here...).

 Cute girls...

Audrey had a TON of fun, as did everyone in her class.  I was glad to be able to go with her!

Easter

 Everything has been so much funner this year.  The reason?  BOTH kids can enjoy basically everything!!  Including holidays.  My pictures are scanty for Easter this year, and as you can see...blurry...but here is what we have:

Audrey's favorite Easter candy is Cadbury eggs, and her big chocolate bunny.  Phoenix's was all of the chocolate, and the Reeses eggs (Audrey gave hers to Phoenix).  I had cute outfits for them to wear but I totally forgot to take pictures of them!

The house that we moved into had an unfinished basement with rusty nails exposed, so we fixed it up, made it safe, and turned it into a playroom.  One of the kids surprises on Easter morning was the playroom being finished (enough for them to play in anyway).  We had our Easter egg hunt down there, I am pretty sure that Audrey won.