Kate's 1st Day of Preschool

Today was Kate's first day in the 3 year old class at preschool.  Just about all of her friends from Ms. Edie's class last year are in Ms. Sharon's class, so she saw lots of familiar faces.  And even though she has been sooooo excited to start, (mostly since Jackson has gone back to school) given her first couple of days last year, I was prepared for at least some hesitation.

Today was our first morning getting all three of us dressed, fed and out the door, so it was a little crazy rushed.  Aside from simply going to school, Kate seemed most excited about having a 'present' for her teacher.  We had several things to bring in this morning, but she only wanted to carry the present for Ms. Sharon.  As soon as we walked through the door, she marched right over and gave it to her with a big hug.  From there she moved on to the play kitchen and got to work.  I stayed for a couple of minutes, gave her a big hug, and walked out.  She never batted an eye, despite the craziness in the hallways.  One little boy in Ms. Edie's class must have felt like Kate did last year b/c he was a mess!

My happy girl was all smiles for pictures before we left!  Her outfit is pretty cute, huh?  I got the skirt from Etsy seller ButterBeans&ChicPeas.  She makes super cute skirts, dresses, and all kinds of fun stuff for moms and she's right down the road with kids who go to Jackson's school!  I asked for a scrap of the fabric, so I put the little applique on an ON tank Kate already owned.

The scallop has her name in it, but it's hard to see in the picture.  I'm still learning thread choices on fabric.  I have a hard time visualizing before it's stitched.  Oh well, I thought it turned out pretty good.  :-)

Proudly walking into preschool with her 'present'.  When Sean asked her this afternoon about her first day, she was most excited to tell him ALL about the present.  I love that my little girl loves giving!  Makes me so happy!

My Little Loves

I have cute kids - I'm not denying it.  But taking their picture together is not something I (or they) enjoy.  Jackson is certainly no fan of a camera.  Nevertheless, I wanted 5/3 year old pictures, so we adventured down to Fort Macon first thing this morning.  It may not have been fun, but I did manage to get a couple of good shots....

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Parker!

We spent the weekend in Columbia with our friends Matt and Beth.  We celebrated sweet Parker's 1st birthday on Saturday.  This little guy is more than our good friend's kid, he's also our godson, so we couldn't have missed his special day!

As is usual for Kate, the mama in her was in full effect with Parker.  She wanted to be right there with him, taking care of him and holding his hand.  So sweet!

Matt and Beth with their birthday boy!

The best part of any 1 year old's party is watching this smash into the birthday cake.  Beth said Parker had never had a cupcake before, but he knew exactly what to do with it!

I'd say that's a pretty good cupcake, wouldn't you?

Kate absolutely couldn't get enough of Parker sitting in her lap.  I'm glad I captured this, because I'm sure the next time we see them, he'll be interested in anything but sitting with a girl!

Let's not forget the other handsome little boy that we spent the weekend with!  Mason has gotten so big and is all over the place.  Jackson and Kate both had a blast hanging out with him.  Is that smile not adorable?

Muddy the Mudcat

We took in America's favorite past time on Sunday with Nana and Pa-Jack.  The baseball was fun, but seeing the grounds crew cover the field in the pouring rain was pretty exciting too.  Ole Muddy the Mudcat wasn't the only thing 'muddy' thing around after that!  Haha!

First Day of Kindergarten!

That's right - today was Jackson's 1st day of Kindergarten!  If you need a moment to let that one sink in, I understand.  I still can't get over the fact that I'm the parent of a school aged kid.  Not a preschooler, but a school ager.  In school all day, every day with big kids...5th graders!  He couldn't have been more excited about today and it went great for all of us!

 

Today was actually Jackson's 'staggered entry' day, which is really more of an assessment day for the teachers and probably a sort of orientation for the kids.  All of the kindergarteners were assigned one day this week, M-Th, then tomorrow they will all go to meet their teacher.  So, in some respects, Jackson's first real day will be next Monday.  That's when we'll drop him off in his classroom, with his teacher, at his desk, with his cubbie labeled with his name.  

As for today though, he was very eager to tell me all about it.  The way I understand it, they had some kind of hunt around the school, looking for a raccoon, and the raccoon's mommy left them cookies.  They went to playground and had lunch in the cafeteria.  He did have a little mishap during lunch, but he didn't seem fazed by it.  Knowing him, he probably thought it was just funny.  In his lunch was a homemade frozen smoothie pop.  I explained to him this morning that it would be thawed by lunch and it would actually be more like a drinkable yogurt.  Well, apparently I should've been more clear in explaining that he would need to open it very carefully (not squeeze it!) as to avoid slinging smoothie all over the place.  So yeah, he opened it and from what he described it made 'a big, BIG mess!'  He said a teacher helped him clean it up, but I saw evidence of splattered smoothie in his lunchbox and on his shirt.  Needless to say, we will be practicing opening thawed smoothie pops before I send him with another one.  I sure do hope the teachers weren't too mad at me! :-)

My proudest moment of today was when I asked him what was his favorite part of the day.  He replied, 'Meeting new friends!'  I guess the Friendship Award that he received in pre-K is a quality that will stick with him. :-)  

Summer Fun in the NC Mountains

To mark the beginning of a new chapter around here, (Jackson is about to start KINDERGARTEN!) we decided to take a little trip to the mountains.  Of course the main event was Jackson and Kate's first visit to Tweetsie Railroad, but we managed to pack a whole lot into our long weekend.  

Sean took Friday off and we left bright and early which gave us all of the afternoon in Boone.  On the way to Grandfather Mountain, we had lunch at Frontier Barbeque.  Tricia recommended it and when we past right by it with rumbling tummies, we decided to check it out.  After eating more than our fill of BBQ, brisket, mac & cheese and fried okra, we headed on over to Grandfather.  I'm pretty sure Mildred here was disappointed that we didn't bring in our leftovers to share with her!  

This rock was the perfect beginning to Jackson's mountain adventure.  You say I can climb it?  Okay!

Of course, what Jackson does, Kate does.  Sean thought Kate climbing this rock was a terrible idea.  She does have a history of being a little careless clumsy. 

She thought it was great idea and was happy to climb right to the top with her big brother!

Jackson still hates having his picture taken, but Kate is always ready and smiling for the camera.  Such a pretty girl!

At the top of Grandfather Mountain, the temperature dropped and the wind was a whippin'.  The storm clouds were heading towards us, but since we weren't planning to hang out up there, it made for a nice view of Mother Nature.  

Kate was happy to cross the bridge with me.  Jackson, eh, not so much.  He and Sean finally made it across, but I don't think he ever took his eyes off the storm clouds.  

Not to worry, we were inside the Top Shop when it started raining and rain is all we saw or heard.  

We spent all of Saturday at Tweetsie Railroad and the kids had a blast!  We got there bright and early and were on the first train ride of the day.  Maybe not our best move.  The kids did fine, but I think they would've liked it more if they would've had a little time to get used to the cowboys and their antics.  Jackson just seemed a little timid - not really sure about the whole gun fight thing.  

Seeing the dynamite blow the walls off the outhouse was definitely Jackson's favorite part!

Life is good.

I do hope this picture is not foreshadowing...

Tweetsie was hosting the K9's in Flight - some pretty talented, frisbee catching dogs.  They were cool to watch, but it was hot and Kate doesn't do 'sit and watch on bleachers', so I was glad it was a pretty quick show. 

We decided to take a lunch break away from the park so we could still salvage a nap for Kate.  It worked out pretty well and we were back at Tweetsie by 3.  The afternoon was the first time we made it up the top of the mountain.  As you can see, Kate loved the chair lifts!

The petting zoo was probably my favorite part of the day.  There were tons and tons of goats - even a few smaller ones walking around with us.  Jackson loved feeding them!  We had to keep reminding him to save some of his food for the other animals.  

It took Kate a little while to get the hang of feeding them.  She went for more of the tease method, which I was afraid would result in a little nip.  

She finally figured it out though, once we got to the goats that didn't have to try and fit through the fence to get to her.  

This one especially liked her!

And when she ran out of food inside the cone, she just let him eat the cone!

This llama just looks sad.  I mean, he actually looks pretty happy, but I think that may be because llamas don't have mirrors.  He could really use a good bath and brush.  Poor guy.  I admire his confidence though!

The pot bellied pigs gave the crowd quite a show.  Okay, maybe it was just one especially happy pig that had his eye on a lady.  And I did not want to have to answer any questions, so we moved on.  (Of course, Sean and I giggled like teenagers though.)

The rest of our afternoon was spent on the rides.  They both had a blast and fortunately the lines were fairly short!

This is a real ferris wheel - a big one! 

The view from the top...

Can you find Sean and Kate?

After packing up on Sunday morning, we stopped by Foggy Mountain Gem Mine for a little treasure hunt!  

Then on our way out of town, we attempted to see one of the Linville Falls, but I read the directions wrong and we ended up at one of the longer trails to the falls.  We stopped by the information center to look around and the folks there gave us directions to Linville Falls.  They also told us that we were already about halfway up the mountain to Wiseman's View which overlooks the Linville Gorge.  Since Kate was already on the verge of falling asleep, we decided to skip the waterfall and instead took the 3.5 mile drive up the gravel road to the top of the mountain.  It ended up being perfect!  We parked, walked a short ways along a paved trail that let right out to the overlook.  It was a beautiful sight!  I can only imagine how gorgeous it is in the fall! 

Jackson was our photographer for this shot and he loved it!  All he wanted to do was take pictures after this!

{photography by Jackson}

{photography by Jackson}

He was quite proud of this shot.  He said, 'Mommy, I just took a picture of the clouds!'  It is a pretty shot with the mountains in the distance.  :-)

{photography by Jackson}

We took the parkway back to 421 and it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon ride.  Quiet too!  Both kids were fast asleep before we even made it down the mountain from Wiseman's View!