A Trip to the Zoo!

On Saturday, April 11th, our family visited the Riverbank Zoo in Columbia. I had been wanting to take the kids to this zoo for several years, and I am so glad that we did! The weather was perfect, and we had a nice relaxing day as a family! After leaving the zoo, we were able to go visit and have dinner with Craig's brother, Jason, and his family. It was so nice to spend time with them as well!! Mikayla, Drew, and Craig are looking for the lions. We had to take a ride on the carousel of course!

Mikayla and Craig pet a cow.
Look at the cute koala!! These and the giraffes were my favorite!

Drew and Craig feed the lorikeets! Mikayla was afraid of them, and I wasn't too sure of them myself. I knew they wouldn't attack me, but it is a wild feeling to have these birds swooping all around you and flying directly at you (sometimes your face). Aunt Jennie had taken Mikayla out of the exhibit at this point.

Drew loved it - even when they landed on his head, it didn't phase him.

They didn't bother Craig either - he had two on him a couple of times.These monkeys were so fun to watch! They were so loud, though, you couldn't watch very long.

Mikayla, Drew, and Craig liked the tigers.

Drew and Mikayla had a front row seat to watch the penguin feeding.

Awww - they loved feeding the giraffes. We didn't get to see the baby giraffe - maybe next time.

Craig and I took a picture while we waited on the 3D movie to start. He is so silly...

My sweet family!! They are a silly bunch, but I sure love them!!

Mikayla Lost a Tooth!!

I picked Mikayla and Drew up from Extra Edition on Tuesday, April 7th, and knew right away Mikayla had something to tell me. She came walking over to where I was standing with a huge smile on her face. A smile big enough showing a hole in her mouth where a tooth once had been. Then, she proudly held up a bag holding her tooth. She was very excited, and I don't know who was more excited for her, Craig, Drew, or myself! It had been wiggling for awhile, but she wouldn't let anyone pull it. She said it just fell out at Extra Edition. She couldn't wait to put her tooth under her pillow that night for the Tooth Fairy to visit - well, after she asked us what seemed like a thousand questions about her. Would she hurt her, what did she look like, etc. She is our cautious child for sure. She was thrilled when she woke up the next morning and found five dollars under her pillow!! Since April, she has lost another tooth on the bottom and received another five dollars from the Tooth Fairy and now has her third "wiggly tooth". We think she looks so cute. What do you think?

Baseball 2009

Okay, so if you have been following my blog, you know that I like to post one entry for every baseball game our boy plays in. I'm pretty sure that won't be possible for this season if I ever hope to get caught up with my posts, but I will try to include a few separate posts from this season.

The Jamboree for this year was held on Saturday, March 27th. Our nephew Haston played baseball for the first time this year, and since both Drew and Haston played a game in the jamboree, Nana came to watch her boys play. We got up early that morning to go watch Haston play. It was freezing out, and Haston and his little teammates were so cold they really weren't focused on the game. They were so much fun to watch though, and we even went to watch Haston again. He's a good little ball player too!! Look how little he looks! It was hard for Craig and I to remember what it was like being on the baseball field with Drew when he was that little.

Drew's game was later in the afternoon so we went and enjoyed "brunch" with Nana and then headed back to the baseball fields. Drew's team was scheduled to play his friend, Bryson's, team. It was a great game with them beating us by one point. We all had so much fun, though, cheering them on!!

Drew gets his first hit of the season - his first time at bat. He was so proud of himself and you know we were a proud mommy, daddy, Nana, and Poppi!!

Drew played catcher this year - something I was definitely not sure about at first. His coach asked Craig if he thought Drew would be interested at the first practice. I thought right then, "he needs to be over here asking the mama". Craig and my daddy assured me that Drew would be fine - he did have a lot of equipment to wear. Drew tried it and loved it! He had no choice but to be attentive because he was involved in every pitch thrown. He did a fantastic job playing catcher this year, and we can't wait to see if this is something he will continue with. Drew has also recently announced that he would like to play fall ball this year. The last two falls, he has played soccer. Baseball is his favorite sport by far, so Craig and I have left this decision up to him. We just told him there was no way we could do both at the same time. Time will tell. Emily, Breanna, Robert, and Mikayla had fun playing together while the game was going on. Robert's brother, Hunter, was on Drew's team this year (he also happened to be in my kindergarten class the year before). We were playing Breanna's brother's team. Notice the softball uniforms Breanna and Emily are wearing. We asked Mikayla if she wanted to play softball this year, but she said she didn't. After watching Bre and Emily play, and seeing their moms coach, Mikayla said she wants to play next year for sure. I can't wait to see her on the ball field!!

First Dance Competition of the Year!

On Saturday, March 6th, Mikayla had her first dance competition of the year at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium! She, Jadyn, and Lana had fun showing off their ballet dance for this year. Daddy, Poppi, Drew, and Mommy were all there to cheer our girl on!!

Mikayla smiles as Miss Nicole fixes her hair! She loves Miss Nicole!

Next, she watches Miss Andrea put glitter on Jadyn and patiently awaits her turn. She loves Miss Andrea too!!

Our sweet ballerina all ready to go on stage!

Look how pretty!

Jadyn, Mikayla, and Lana show off their awards. First place in their category and 2nd place overall for their age group! Way to go girls!!

Snow Days 2 & 3, 2009

Mikayla poses with her daddy (she was also wearing one of his pullovers)!

Drew gets ready to throw a snowball at his daddy!

Craig watches Drew and Mikayla play in the backyard. I like this picture because you can really see how much snow we got!!

I know it sounds weird to be discussing snow days when it has been so hot here lately - tomorrow it is supposed to reach 98 degrees. But, I'm that far behind in my posting. I thought about just starting here and moving forward - it's not like there wouldn't be enough to post about that way, but then thought differently. This blog is for our family and friends but also ultimately for Drew and Mikayla. This blog, along with baby and family scrapbooks will allow our children to look back at their childhood one day. That being said, I didn't want to leave anything out!!(Well with the exception of times I forgot my camera - like hanging out and eating dinner at Traci's and Mike's at the end of January, and hanging out and eating dinner at Nanda's and Jim's on Valentine's Day - I sure wish I had pictures!!)

OK, so back to the "snow days". On Sunday night, March 1st, Craig, Drew, Mikayla, and I went to the church for Drew's Upward Basketball banquet. It was different this year from in years past. Instead of being held in the sanctuary, it was held in the gym and Gina and Paul had arranged for some college cheerleaders and basketball players to be there. The weather forecasters had been calling for snow to start that evening, so Craig had been keeping a close eye on the weather from the door. Right in the middle of the college basketball players' shootout, my friend Nanda got a text from WSPA saying that Spartanburg District 2 schools (that's us) would be closed on Monday. After hearing that, Craig decided that he better check outside again - he knew from the previous times that he had checked that it had already started sleeting and snowing. He comes back to where I'm sitting and says "we probably need to go, the parking lot is covered". In the meantime, Nanda had gotten a text from her husband, who was home with a sick Breanna, telling her she probably needed to head out too. Since it was just Nanda and Bryson, Craig and I decided to follow her home first to make sure she didn't have any trouble. By the time we made it home, the grass was completely covered!! The kids and I were super excited about not having to go to school the next day, and Craig was wondering if he would work. It worked out that he didn't have to go to work on Monday, either, because the warehouse had lost power. We spent the day playing in the snow and relaxing as a family. Craig even brought Molly in after playing in the snow the first time and gave her a bath!! He is such a sweetie!

After warming up and resting awhile, Poppi, Aunt Jennie, Uncle Jonathan, and BJ came over. Drew and Mikayla always call their Poppi to come over when we have snow so they can build a snowman. Since they had all been sledding, daddy had gathered some "clean" snow and made three snowballs already. He transported them to our house and helped Drew and Mikayla stack the snowballs to make a snowman. We had so much fun playing in the snow with our family, and Drew, Mikayla, and I enjoyed two "snow days". I LOVE snow days!!

Uncle Jonathan helps Drew add a snowball to one of the snow people!

Mikayla and Drew work together to make sure that the first snowball is snugly packed. BJ helps build snow people too! Drew and Mikayla also had a ball sledding. One snowman just would not do. We had to have the snow family!! Poppi adds the snowballs to the snow people. Drew is heading off to begin making another snowball.

Uncle Jonathan and Daddy take a break as Poppi helps Drew and Mikayla with their sleds.

Our Silly Girl!

At the end of February, Craig brought these "tents" home. His plan was to share them with his brothers if they wanted one. They are actually "blinds" (I guess that's how you spell them) used when hunting. Craig and both of his brothers enjoy hunting - everything from deer to ducks. When Craig popped this one up in our living room, Drew and Mikayla thought it was a tent and were even prepared to sleep in it that night, hence Drew's comforter you see lying at the bottom of the picture. They did not have a camp out in our living room in the "tent" that night and were disappointed the next morning to see that their daddy had taken it down. He took it down after we got them in the bed. We couldn't see the TV otherwise.

Drew's Powerpoint Presentation!!

On Thursday, February 26th, Drew's class presented their PowerPoint presentations. Each student in his class selected an animal and researched that animal using the Internet and books from the library. His teacher, with the help of our school's Literacy Coach, librarian, and other teachers, then taught each student how to make his/her own PowerPoint to present to the class and parents. Drew selected the vampire bat as his animal. Is anyone surprised by this? His dad and I were not surprised in the least! Completing the PowerPoint and giving the presentation counted as two test grades, and his teacher said the students could earn extra credit by dressing up as his/her animal on presentation day. Drew loved having the opportunity to dress up as a bat, so he and his daddy went to Walmart to look for something he could use as wings (cape). We knew Drew would wear a black shirt on the day of the presentation and he made bat ears using a sentence strip from my classroom and construction paper, but he was determined to have a cape. He and Craig found some black fabric and they worked the night before to fix it to look like bat wings. Drew even decided to wear his vampire teeth on the day of the presentation.

I was surprised when I entered Drew's classroom to watch the presentations (well some of them because I had to get back to my own classroom), to see that Drew would be presenting first. They had been practicing and Drew had never mentioned the first thing about presenting first. Drew did a fantastic job of presenting and he even made everyone laugh. He began the presentation with those fake teeth in, but after the first sentence he said "mom, do you want me to take these out?" Everyone laughed and Drew smiled when I said "yes, I think that would be a good idea". I was so proud of Drew and all of his classmates (6 of which I had in my kindergarten class) for their hard work on this project. It amazes me that second graders can create their own PowerPoints. It just goes to show - you expect great things from your students and they will meet those expectations!! We are so glad that Drew will get to have Mrs. Turner again next year because she will be "looping" up to third grade with her whole class!!

Happy Summer!!

I know the calendar doesn't show summer yet, but summer vacation officially started for me and the angels on Friday, June 5th!! This school year flew by, but Drew, Mikayla, and I couldn't be more happy about summer vacation!! They both had very successful and productive school years, with Drew heading to third grade and Mikayla heading to first grade in the fall. We got their report cards in the mail on Saturday and I'm happy to report that Mikayla had all S's, and Drew had 2 A's, one B, and the rest S's!

So far, we have spent our days by the pool, which is something we look forward to every year!! Mikayla is attending dance camp this week, and Drew will be attending science camp for a week a little later in the summer. Craig is working to plan our vacation week - we are thinking a trip to Florida to visit GG ma and GG pa!! We would also love to take the kids back to Disney!! Nana has asked if Drew and Mikayla would come to the beach to spend a weekend with her - to which they both agreed. We are going to work to figure out a weekend that works for everyone. Craig and I won't know what to do with a weekend without our babies, but it will be nice to have time - "just the two of us"!

Drew has finished up baseball - I need to get to work posting pictures from this season. We had his banquet last Tuesday night so I have some fun stats to share as well. Maybe I will get to that sometime this week!

Mikayla is finishing up another dance season where she took tap, ballet, jazz, and clogging again this year. Her recital was last Saturday, May 30th. I need to get to work posting pictures from that as well. Again, maybe sometime this week?

Now that things have slowed down a bit for our family, I hope to get back into my posting routine. We shall see...

I'll leave you with some of our first pictures from summer. Drew and Mikayla always enjoy the pool and this year is no different. They talked Craig and I into taking them swimming the first Sunday it was open. The water was freezing so Craig and I did no more than stick our feet in, however, freezing water has never stopped our "little fish" and that day was no different.

She was so cold, but she was determined to swim!

It's like they were talking each other into it...

Once they got their whole bodies wet, they were used to the frigid temperatures. Craig and I let them enjoy the pool for about 30 minutes, then told them they would have to get out and enjoy the pool another day. When the temperature of the water increased....