Shark Tooth Creek

Nate's class took their 2nd field trip of the year to Shark Tooth Creek on Friday! I was lucky enough to tag along, with about 30 other parents. (No joke - in both of the first grade classes, there are around 34 kids. There were only 3 kids that did not have a parent come. And some kids had BOTH parents! I love Nate's school.)

 

Before we headed out to explore, Mr. Ken explained the history of Shark Tooth Creek, the farm, and the different types of fossils we may see.

 We were warned we'd get wet, and that we did! We had to wade through the creek and sift through lots of rocks in the creek bed. So fun!

He found his first shark tooth!!



Hard at work



His buddy Anthony



Showing their faves to Mr. Ken



My boy



Ooh! I see a big one!



I was so proud of Nate. The water was a bit chilly, but he waded
right in without any complaints! (And yes, I had a change of
clothes for him.)



Mrs. Strickland & Mrs. Turner's 1st grade classes

 After hunting for shark teeth, and riding the Shark Tooth Express (& holding on for dear life), the kids got to change into dry clothes and have a picnic lunch.

We really lucked out with the weather; it was a gorgeous day!

 

Goofy boys on the Shark Tooth Express; waiting to head
to "Playworld" in Mr. Ken's backyard



Waiting in line for the zipline!



There he goes!

 Before we left Playworld and headed back to the cars, Mr. Ken was being silly, and came out in a mask & costume. Nate was just a teensy bit scared :)



Great group!!

I'm so thankful I get to go on these field trips with Nate. He has such a great group of friends, and the parents are pretty awesome too. I look forward to many more field trip adventures with my boy!

Reaching TKD Goals

Ever since Nate started taekwondo last June, he has been looking forward to becoming a blue belt (because they get to break boards)!

 

Well, last Friday, he accomplished this goal and I couldn't have been more proud!!

Throwing their old belts up in the air

His green & blue belt buddies

He's pretty proud too, can you tell!?

 It felt so good to see my boy work so hard toward a goal & finally reach it. Next up: black belt!!! :)

(But in reality, that'll be a few years down the road....)

Celebrating (& Organizing!) Gibson....

Thursday night, I hopped a plane to Charlotte to come to my dear little sister's rescue.

 

You see, she is great at many things....she is a career woman, an awesome mom & wife, the most thoughtful friend, and an all-around amazing sister. But where she falls short......ORGANIZING. Let's face it, Bec is a slob and always has been. (Love you, Bec!) This is the same person who paid me - on the sly - to do her chores & clean her room as a kid.

 

So, Bec is pregnant with boy #2 and due in June. Since she travels often for work, and has a busy 2 year old, she has little-to-no time to decorate & organize baby's nursery. Enter: super-duper sister & organizer (me!) who is happy to help.

 

I flew in for a long weekend, to help Bec with the nursery, and at the same time, throw her a baby shower! (Well, we called it a "sprinkle" to make her feel better. Because she didn't want a big fuss. But every baby needs to be fussed over!!) More on that later.

 

Friday morning, I got to see my favorite nephew & go on a walk with Bec to drop him off at the sitter's. Then I got to work!!

 

This is what I was dealing with, in the current guest room,

but soon-to-be Anderson's Big Boy Room:

 

(Task #1 was to sort all those clothes. They are too small for Anderson, & will be saved for baby Gibson and stored in his closets.)

 

Here is what I was dealing with in Anderson's current closets,

but soon-to-be Gibson's closets:

 

Around lunchtime, I pulled myself out from under 100 lbs of baby clothes, and a college friend came over to visit with her 10 week old twin baby girls!! My mom & older sister Lora had come into town by then, so we all got to enjoy baby Gabriella & Ariana!

 A few more hours of sorting, purging, and a quick trip to Target rounded off the afternoon. Dinner was Chipotle with my favorite little dude:

 And then of course popsicles on the back porch in our underwear. Ok well, Anderson was the only one in his underwear :)

Is he not the cutest?!

Celebrating "National Sibling Day"...who comes up
with these holidays anyway!?

 Saturday morning, everyone was in baby shower mode. I think Lora was cutting up fruit & cooking by 6 am! We blew up balloons, arranged flowers, made sausage balls, carried everything to the next door neighbor's house, and Anderson was nice enough to help me fix my hair:

 ...and steal my smoothie cup before his soccer game!

Sisters ready to celebrate Baby Gibson!

Gibbs Girls

Hostesses

 

Hostess Selfie

All of our yummy brunch food!

 

Plus cupcakes!

 

Sampling the Mimosa Bar

 

 It was a great shower, with lots of Bec's family & friends there to celebrate Gibson. This was a "diaper & bath sprinkle," and he really racked up!! :)

Though the Preggo wanted to take it easy Saturday afternoon, she rallied & we went to IKEA & Home Goods to pick up some bins, décor, and furniture.

We weren't able to get everything I wanted (think: a few more bins & labels, as well as some wall décor), but for now, here are the results! This was the guest room closet, and will now be Anderson's closet:

My bro-in-law stored a double hang/closet system on the right side.

 And here is Anderson's nursery-turned-into-Gibson's:

Bec's house has the best (read: biggest) closets!! Gibson is super lucky to have both of these closets in his room. We are using the left side closet for linens, diapers, and miscellaneous items.

And the closet on the right will house all of G's hanging clothes, shoes, and tubs of clothes-to-grow-into.

Love these dry erase labels!

Mom took us out for a girls' dinner that night, and we did what we always do - laugh, drink, & eat too much. Words can't describe how much I love these three!!

 And then there's these three.....Greg held down the fort while I was gone for 3 days. They went to Nate's belt exam, the Druid City Arts Festival where they painted & played, rented a movie, and went out for treats one night. It was nice to not have to worry about Nate & Abby one bit, since they were in very capable hands!

 I'm so excited for June, so I can go back to Bec's and finish my organizing job! And oh yeah, meet my new nephew Gibson :)

Easter 2015

These two bunnies were excited to hunt for their Easter

 baskets on Easter morning!!

 The Easter Bunny hid Abby's basket in the playroom. And Nate wanted a challenge this year, so he got one! It took him forever, but he finally found his in the cabinet under the kitchen sink.

Abby's favorite thing in her basket was a Barbie "Princess Power" costume. Although I am morally opposed to Barbies, this one is decent because at least she's a superhero! :)

Don't mind the missing sock!

 Our neighbors were gracious enough to come over before church and take a family picture for us!



BFF's

 Later that afternoon, we went to the Inaugural Downs Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. So fun! The empty lot is eventually going to be our neighborhood playground, and I look forward to many more  egg hunts (& other neighborhood events) being held here.



And they're off!

 Well, looky there.....it's the Easter Bunny just walking through our neighborhood....what are the chances of that!?



Some kids ran to greet the Easter Bunny....



...and some preferred to look at their loot :)

 Look who the mystery Easter Bunny is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The neighborhood was looking for a volunteer, and when I asked Greg to do it, he quickly said yes. Let's just say I was a wee bit surprised!

Luckily it was 70 degrees & overcast instead of 85 and sunny.
Otherwise the Bunny may have gotten heatstroke!

 

To be honest, the kids didn't really care about the Easter Bunny, until I told them who was inside! And then, of course, they couldn't get enough :)

 The perks of having your Dad dress up as the Easter Bunny are that you can try on the costume when we get home!!

We finished off a wonderful Easter with a small dinner party at our house, with our neighbors (who are soon to be moving! So sad!), and waaaay too much food.