What are weekends are made of!

Weekends around here have consisted of cheer and being lazy, riding bikes when we can and just taking a break to enjoy each other before the busy spring begins. Our weekend are filling up fast so it is nice to be able to hang low for a while. Ann Elizabeth cheered this year for Upward at our Church. She loved it and I really enjoyed being a coach to the girls also. 20 1st and 2nd graders and 5 coaches..and it took all 5 of us to contain these energetic girls.



Me and Ann Elizabeth at Cheerleading through Upward!


Our sweet friends next door, Katie & Samantha.

Happy Love Day!

Valentine's Day was great this year. My how things have changed in the years though. Our day consisted of school, karate and Cheerleading. Just a regular day around here. I was able to go to both of the kids parties at school and see all the valentine's they got and enjoyed a sweet treat with them. No matter what we did, I am just glad we were all together.


Daddy helping with the class Valentine's.


Our sweet treat the kids helped make.


Walter's last preschool Valentine party.


Ann Elizabeth's 1st grade Valentine party.


AE and her love....Miss Maye.

Mini High School Reunion!

Last night 3 of my girlfriends from Westminster Catawba got together for dinner. I was so nervous...I felt like I was 15 getting ready for the first day of HS trying to decide what to wear...crazy!
We graduated HS in 1995 and I am sure that it has been that long since we all have been together. It was great to reminisce about times in HS and remind others of what they forgot. I realized that after last night...keeping up with friends is super important. None of us could figure out why we never really kept in touch after graduation. Some of us would see each other periodically but others not so much. We never could come up with a good reason why we didn't keep in touch!
We did realize that after 15 years apart, we still enjoyed each others company and really hadn't changed that much. We have all just really grown up (thank the Lord for that). All of us are married and have at least 1 child. Crazy to think that we all use to run around and get into trouble and now we are all successful at what we do and are happily married with children.
We can't get back the 15yrs that we lost, but we can pick up from here and stay in touch. Even though times zones may separate some of us soon, we all promised to keep in touch...at least through Facebook, and get together again soon! Next time we want more of us to get together....we missed quite a few people but it was super fun to reconnect!

Us in 1995!




Us now...in 2011...we look fabulous!

Walter gets into Kindergarten at CCS!!!

I have never been so excited to get the mail yesterday and receive this letter! Our little guy got accepted into Kindergarten at Carmel and we are thrilled. He has worked really hard on learning his letters and numbers and writting them. His testing went super and he was so proud of himself afterwards. We love Carmel and hope that it will be a great experience for him like it has been for Ann Elizabeth. YEA WALTER!!! Kindergarten Class of 2011-2012!






The one line that says it all!

Walter and his Karate accomplishments!

Walter has been doing Karate for the last 6 months. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments. He has been working really hard and his hard work has payed off. His instructor Ms. Olver thinks that he is doing great and has invited him to be a part of an elite class. While we think that this is wonderful, we are going to wait until the fall and make sure that he is really into Karate. Plus....the summer is coming up and want to give him to time to play and have fun vs. being at karate everyday...and he is only almost 5.
He really enjoys it and even has started working with Nunchucks. He loves them. He had the kicks and the punches down and was getting a little bored, so this is right up his alley! So in the last 6 months, he has earned 2 patches and gone up 3 levels in belt rank....and at the end of February will graduate to another belt rank. We are so proud of him!!!!






Walter and his instructor after receiving his Orange Belt


Walter after receiving his Yellow Belt




Walter receiving his Yellow Belt with the Patch

Kindness

Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them!

Ann Elizabeth has started going to church on Wednesday night to Kid Jam. Once a month they have Fam Jam, where the family all goes together. Each month they have a character trait and this months was Kindness. As I sat with 3 little girls...sweet 1st graders who all cheer together, they got super excited about Kindness. They were told that they would be given 2 Crazy Bands (Silly Bands) each. One to keep for themselves and one to give to someone, totally out of the blue, someone who didn't expect it, not a "friend" or a popular kid. Maybe even one that was lonely.... as an act of kindness. Immediately these 3 little girls started talking between themselves of who they were going to give the Crazy Band to. It was so precious to sit and listen to them choose someone and then give the reason why they chose that person.

So, today AE came home and told me that she had chosen Wyatt to give the Crazy Band to. She said she went up to him and said that she wanted him to know that he was special and she wanted him to have the Crazy Band. She has such a sweet heart and is so tender.

We love our church and school....and this is just one more reason of why we send our child to a Christian school.

Ground Hog Day!!!!

Walter's preschool class learned about Ground Hog Day this week. So, on Monday this cute little critter was sent home and we were to sit it out on Wednesday and see if he saw his shadow. Before school we sat him in our yard...and no shadow did he see!! Thankfully all the other ground hogs had the same experience, so it's an early Spring for us!!!!





NO SHADOW did he see!!! YEA!!!

The Circus!!!

The Circus was in town and Daddy surprised us with a trip on saturday. It was the best time we have had at the circus. We were able to sit front and center...and be Circus Celebrities. We had passes that allowed us to go onto the floor and sit and watch some of the show. The kids were in awe! I think that the elephants were our favorite part, and the motorcyles in the cage.

Ann Elizabeth learns to ride her bike!!!

Out of the blue, Ann Elizabeth decided she wanted to ride her bike with no training wheels. It was a long holiday weekend so Walter was home from work with us and and we warmer weather than normal. So, Sunday after church the training wheels came off and off she went. She is so determined that she learned almost right away. Monday we even took a family ride down the bike path. She did better than her Dad and I riding her bike. Times are changing around here and it is fun, but so sad too that she is growing up.

Sick at our house!

My sweet little munchkin isn't feeling well this morning. He started out being "not himself yesterday so we just hung around the house after church. Sweet boy just layed on the couch all day. He had his Kindergarten play date on Saturday so I hope he didnt pick something up from there. Tomorrow is his testing for CCS kindergarten, so we are praying that it is just a sinus infection and not that horrible 3 letter word that begins with a f and ends with u....shhhh don't say it! Off to doctor in a few we go!

1:30 Update....no Flu....just a sinus infection! Praise The Lord!
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Spirit Week at CCS!

This past week at CCS was Spirit Week. Ann Elizabeth loves this and really gets into it every year. This year the themes were favorite sport/team (missed that on camera), Retro Day, Black Out/White Day and Blue & Gold Day. I think her favorite was Retro Day.
On Friday they had a pep rally and Sir Pur from the Carolina Panthers showed up. We all went to cheer on CCS...little Walter was super excited to see what he gets to be a part of next year!

"Mom, do you want to hear what I learned in Sunday School?"

So yesterday we are sitting in church and Ann Elizabeth leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Mom do you want to know what I learned in Sunday School?" Of course I wanted to hear so I said, "Sure babe, but be really quiet because we are in church". She leans over and whispers this into my ear:
"Girls go to college to get more knowledge, boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider. Boys drool, girls rule and that's the rule!"
I laughed so hard I was crying!