An NC Visitor

We had a visitor this weekend!!

 

My older sister Lora flew into town to spend some time with us & cheer Nate on at the triathlon. Her plane was delayed Friday, but she made it into town just in time to tag along to the kids' haircuts. (Super exciting, I know). Then, we had some delicious Post Office Pies pizza before heading to a concert.

 

Now, this concert was part of the "I Love The 90's" tour, and so I thought what better person to take with me than one of the people that I grew up with in the 90's?!??!?! The headliner was Vanilla Ice, and the other acts, in order, were: Young MC, Coolio, All 4 One, Color Me Badd, Salt-N-Pepa.

Lora is not so sure she is going to like this, ha!

 After the first two (brief!) acts, the amphitheater still wasn't too full. But it filled up quickly after that, and the next 3 acts were awesome!!!! We loved reminiscing about our high school days with All 4 One, Color Me Badd, and Salt-N-Pepa. Seriously, I had no idea we would remember the words to their songs.

 THEN - Vanilla Ice came on to close the show and he was awful. Like, seriously bad. He kept plugging his HGTV show (it's in the 7th season.....who knew?!) and opening water bottles and spraying them everywhere. I did not understand why. He sang a few *awful* songs, invited about 50 people onstage to dance & take selfies with him, and then finally sang "Ice Ice Baby." We left right after!! Despite his poor showing, I had a great time with Lora. I can't remember the last time just the two of us got to hang out, alone! #sistersrule

 

Saturday morning, we were up bright & early to head to Lake Lurleen for Nate's triathlon. More on that here. Nate was so excited that Aunt Lora was there to support him!

 After the race, Greg & Nate stayed to ride some more trails at Lake Lurleen. How Nate still had energy, I'm not sure. I was tired just as a spectator!

 

Nevertheless, Abby declared it was a "girls day" so we headed to....where else....Krispy Kreme! (She asked to go out to lunch but it was only 10:30 am). Then, she told us we were going to go home & paint nails. But by the time we got home, she had changed her mind and just wanted to color with Aunt Lora in the carport :) #blondebesties

 After a late lunch and a little bit of downtime, we headed to a new park that afternoon. It's literally about 2 minutes from our house and it just opened last week. We LOVED it!!

 Click here to watch Abby on the zipline.

The kids loved the treehouse!

 This merry-go-round thing with little "capsules" was insane. So fun, although it was heavy to push once there was a lot of kids on. Click here to watch us all get dizzy on the merry-go-round! (I seriously almost barfed filming it.)

 

 While I was cooking Italian stuffed peppers for dinner, Nate got in a little one-on-one time with Aunt Lora and wanted to show off his Rubik's cube skills, as well as some new features he discovered on his kindle! #nerdsunite

 After dinner, we played a rousing game of girls vs. boys Pictionary. See our winner picture below! Girls rule and boys drool.

And yes, Abby was topless so I made her cover up for the picture.

Aunt Lora, we had the BEST time with you and can't wait to see you at the beach this summer. Thank you so much for flying all the way to Alabama to spend your weekend with us. Hope you had a good time, minus the groin pat-down x2. Ha!

 

We love you!!

Nate the Triathlete

Nate competed in his first triathlon on Saturday!! It was the Tuscaloosa Kids Triathlon at Lake Lurleen, and all the proceeds went to the Secret Meals for Hungry Children organization.

 

I registered him months ago, and we did some "training" this past month so he'd be ready. His age group was required to do a 50 yard swim (the equivalent of 2 laps in a pool), plus a 2 mile bike ride and 1/2 mile run. Greg handled the biking portion of the training (duh), while I handled the rest. I was really only nervous about the swimming part, but once I found out that it was in very shallow lake water - and he could stand up & take a breather if need be - I stopped worrying. Well, mostly :)

Let's do this!

Warming up & stretching

Excited to watch my boy!

Aunt Lora came all the way from NC to cheer Nate on! (And good thing she did....Miss Priss was a handful during the race and Aunt Lora graciously agreed to follow her around :)

And they're off!!

SO happy once the swimming portion was over :)

Swim-to-bike transition

Looking good!!

Click here to watch Nate make the swim-to-bike transition. (And yes, he does actually ride his bike eventually! They just had to run up the small hill until they got to the road.)

 While we waited for Nate to complete his bike ride, Abby found the playground and Big Al found Abby :)

Click here to watch Nate on the biking portion of the race.

He made up a LOT of time on his bike ride!!! #gregjr

Coming towards the finish line!!

So.proud.of.our.boy!!



One of his many cheerleaders :)

Nate's buddy, Jake competed too. I'm so glad he had a friend doing this for the first time with him!

Proud Daddy :)

Aunt Lora may be a great cheerleader, but she's not the best photographer. Ha!

Nate placed 12th in his age group (out of 22 kids) and was super excited to hear that he beat five 10-year-olds. I told him he'd be one of the older ones in the age group next year, and that he might even get on the podium if he tried extra hard :) #goals

2nd Grade Mass & Publisher's Picnic

Nate had a full day on Thursday! His class joined the other 2nd grade class to sing "Love One Another" at mass. It was so sweet :) Click here to hear it.

 Shortly after mass, the 2nd graders had a Publisher's Picnic. Parents got to go around and listen to everyone read their "All About Me" book. It was fun to learn so much about Nate's classmates! And he did a great job writing & illustrating his book. I'm proud of my little author!

 

 Sweet boys & silly boys!

It's hard to believe Nate only had TWO (half) days left of 2nd grade!!! :(

Spring Sing

Abby's class was asked to dress up as Peter Pan for their Spring Sing this past Friday. Since I was given 2 days notice, we ended up with brown ribbon & a green t-shirt from Walmart that I cut. Impressive, I know! :)

 

Abby was not thrilled about her "boy" costume, but was excited to sing and dance with her class. Click here to hear the kindergarteners sing "I Won't Grow Up" from Peter Pan....All the classes sang a song from a famous musical.

 

(And I apologize in advance for the shakiness halfway through....I was trying to move and get a better angle. It didn't really work though! I was not pleased that the boy in front of her had a hat on & blocked her!)

She spotted me!

This was at the very end; Abby was so excited to make a silly face to the audience!

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Click here to hear Nate's class sing "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz. He was excited to show off his moves! And that he did. I was so proud of him for really letting loose & dancing this year. (That is rare for him!!)

Let's do this.

Final pose. Love this!

The kids did a great job, and were thrilled that BOTH Mommy & Daddy came to watch. I cannot believe they only have 7 days of school left this year!!! I have very mixed emotions about the fast-approaching summer, and the fact that I have a soon-to-be 1st grader and 3rd grader in my house....

Abby's Half Birthday

Abby Reece, you are now six and a half !!!!

 

I remember this day like it was yesterday.....you were 6 months old, with the cutest giggle and rooster hair. What happened to my baby?!

 And then, in the blink of an eye, we were celebrating you at three and a half....

 And now, another blink, at six and a half....

That saying "The days are long, the years are short" has never rung more true. Looking back at these pictures makes me realize how fast my baby girl is growing up :(

 

Abby Reece - you are quite the character, and I will never grow tired of your smile. Or your nightly dance parties in your underwear. Or listening to you sing as you play in the craft room. Or watching you and Nate strategize over Minecraft, trade Pokémon cards, or run around together outside.

 

You truly are the perfect caboose to our family, and I'm so blessed to call you my daughter!

Happy half birthday, sweet pea!

We celebrated last night with a "half" (or mini) cupcake, half party hat, and half birthday song. The kids think this is the *silliest* tradition ever, which is why we do it :)

Nate's Field Day

Nate had his Field Day on Friday as well, and although it was the "same old stuff" according to him, he still had a fun day :)

 

First up: Clothes Relay & Paddle Relay

Basketball Toss and Scooter Relay in the gym

Sweet George!

Snack break!

Crab Ball, Parachute, and we snuck in Tug-of-War even though that's supposed to be for 3rd grade & up! :)

Back in the gym for more relays: Bear Crawl & Basketball Dribble

They had lunch inside and Nate was a bit grumpy because it was only 11 and his "tummy usually eats at 11:45." Think he is used to a schedule or what?!

 

Luckily, bouncy houses improved his mood after lunch!

Mrs. Wagner's 2nd grade class. Great group of kids!

Finally, it was time for the Spirit Run!!!! They had to carry a card while they ran, and then after each lap, an adult would put a mark on their card.

Ready, set, run! He was all business. And I love the shot on the far right....he is actually studying/counting his laps mid-stride. Ha!

He finished all 35 laps!!! And got first place actually, though they don't give out awards (#lame). He said to me "Mommy, this is the first time I've ever come in first in anything!!!" Melt me.

Proud parents

Afternoon snack

Potato Sack race

Nate's teacher let them grab a THIRD snack before heading inside to sign yearbooks. Can you say sugar coma?!