Shopping for School

As you all know, this is a big year for us. Sophie is starting Kindergarten this year and since our school system is on a weird, year-round schedule, that means school starts a week from tomorrow! That's right! July 16 is the big day. The day we have been talking about for the last year is finally around the corner.

Sophie picked out a new pair of sneakers (Skechers Twinkle Toes.) They are only sort of cute, but she loved them enough to agree to do laundry to get them. At $40, they are the most expensive pair of shoes I have ever bought one of my kids. Heck, I rarely spend that kind of money on shoes for myself. This is a special occasion, though. Right?

We also got our school supply list and headed out in search of the perfect supplies. Not a tough job, or so you would think. We're still short 4 bottles of glue and 1 pack of markers. I can't believe how difficult is is to find exactly what's on the list. I heard one of the schools around here gives an option to send $50 to school with your kid and they will get the supplies for them. That sounds like a great deal!

I have spent the last several days explaining to Sophie why she won't be riding the bus. I'm going to take her and pick her up. The school is only about a mile down the road. She would rather ride the bus and I guess that would be ok, but I have found out that you learn everything you need to know in kindergarten and you learn everything your parents don't want you to know on the school bus. Therefore, I have chosen to deliver her safely to school by means of her booster seat in the back seat of my influence-free Toyota.

Pictures of our first day will be coming soon. I'll keep you all updated on how she (and her parents) are doing with this big change. We have all-day kindergarten, so I think the biggest adjustment is just going to be so much more time away from home. I can't say that I'm ready for that yet. It's one of the reasons I only work 3 days a week. I'm just not ready to give my baby up yet!

Whitewater Rafting

Here's the pic of us whitewater rafting. This was Aiden's favorite part of vacation and I have to say it was one of my favorites too! Shortly after this picture was taken, a thunderstorm moved in. The wind picked up and it started to pour. Thunder and lightning made us all a little nervous, but the guide said it would only last for 5 minutes and we were glad that he was right! We were soaked through, but it was still a blast.

Family Vacation Pics

Here is the story of our first family vacation. We drove to Nashville Tuesday night and then got up early the next day and finished the trip to Gatlinburg, TN. Our first stop was the Ripley's Aquarium there. It was by far the best aquarium I have ever been to. Absolutely incredible. We all had a great time! This is a pic of the kids looking at the big tank they had there.

The sawtooth shark was one of our favorite things that we saw. It was so big!

This is a fun pic I took of the sawtooth shark's "nose." The sharks were swimming above us. I took this pic when the shark was directly above me! So cool!

Sophie's favorite part of the whole trip was petting the horseshoe crabs. Aiden and I were too scared to touch them!

This is a pic I took of the jellyfish. They were awesome to watch!

Sophie learned what the word "souvenir" means on this trip. Aiden got "Sharky" and Sophie got a rubber worm. The had so much fun!

We spent the second morning there driving through the Smoky Mountain National Park. It was absolutely breathtaking. This is a pic of the kids on our way up the mountains.

When we got to the state line, there was a bunch of people gathered looking at something. We soon found out that it was a bear! Sophie was impressed because "it wasn't even in a cage!" Aiden cried when we left because he wanted to take the bear home! No Way!

This is the state line sign. I was so excited to say I've been in North Carolina. We hit six states on our trip: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina!

One of the kids' favorite things to do was swimming at the hotel.

Sophie became a very brave little swimmer on this trip and had a blast going down the waterslide by herself! She also started swimming without clinging to mom or dad. Aiden is a completely different story!

We spent the third day at Dollywood. We had a great time, but I didn't bring my camera so here's a pic of the souvenirs. Aiden got a blue snake and a piece of coal and Sophie got a pink Jewel. Aiden saw that snake when we walked in and asked about it all day. He kept saying, " I get snake mommy? Say yes." It was so cute.

The hotel we stayed at was really nice. We had a big thunderstorm one night that knocked out the electricity for a couple of hours and an hour long incident with the fire alarms being set off. We really didn't mind.

The bear statue in front of our hotel.

We stopped in Louisville on our way home and went to the Louisville Slugger Museum to see them making bats. This is the giant bat at the enterance.

Travis swinging Mickey Mantle's Bat. They made everyone wear gloves!

Travis and Babe trying to see where the ball went.

We had so much fun on our trip. We also went Whitewater Rafting on this trip which was Aiden's favorite part. I'm still looking for the CD with our picture from that trip on it. I'll post it as soon as I find it!

Our Little Graduate

We got to celebrate Sophie's preschool graduation on Friday night at a local park. Her daycare threw a fantastic little ceremony and served burgers and hot dogs. The kids had a great time playing with each other in a non-school environment! The kids sang a few songs... don't worry grandparents, we got it all on video!

Sophie had a great time with her little friends. She is such a social butterfly. She had to talk to everyone! The kids got to keep their cap and gown, so we have another dress up outfit. This picture bears some resemblance to a pic of me graduating from high school...same haircut just a different color! We'll have to see if papa can find that picture!

This is Sophie's class. She is in the middle row, second from the right. Her little BFF is on the front row, second from the left.

Trains, trains and more trains!!!

We took the kids to the Transportation Museum a couple of weeks ago. This was a treat for Aiden. He is a huge train lover and there were trains everywhere, even some you could go in! You can see how big some of them were compared to my tiny children! I hope you enjoy these pics as much as we enjoyed the trains!

I had a hard time getting Aiden to pose for a picture on the tracks. Soon after I got this shot, he heard a loud noise and started shouting, "Get off! Get off!" It was pretty funny. I'm not sure how he learned that it was dangerous to stand on train tracks!

The kids had fun looking at the trains close up, touching the wheels and all the train parts!

There were rows and rows of trains. This is just a few of them.

Sophie will always pose for a picture...Aiden is a little more difficult!

Just a few things...

Well, spring is finally here and it seems as if it's staying. Sophie is getting geared up for kindergarten. We bought a backpack and lunchbox yesterday. She picked out a Cardinals backpack and Travis (almost) had tears of joy! She wanted it over any of the pink glittery girly ones! He lunch box is Hello Kitty, however. So I feel pretty good about that! Her first tooth came out last week and you can already see the new one coming in. The tooth fairy brought her a $5 bill as it is her first tooth. You absolutely won't believe this, but she woke up and the first thing she said is that she wished she had gotten 2 dollars so she could give Aiden one. Isn't that sweet??? Gramma and Papa sent her 2 dollars in the mail and after the excitement of getting more money, she gave Aiden one of her dollars! Sophie got a hula hoop that she has been wanting and Aiden got a blue lollipop!

We have recently found a good spot to go fishing, so Travis went out and bought Aiden a spider man fishing pole and taught him how to cast it. That kids is awesome at casting... a natural! He stands on the stairs and casts it down. He does it all day, like an addiction!!!

I recently got a set of golf clubs so Travis can teach me how to golf. (Like I really have time for that!) I've been hitting little plastic balls in the backyard and I think I've been doing pretty good.

We took the kids to the transportation museum last weekend. They had a great time. There are lots of (real) trains that you can get close to and go in and also a little train ride. Aiden had a great time there! (Pictures are coming soon.)

I'm taking 2 classes this summer so I'll be super busy. Hopefully I'll get to keep updating you all on what we're up to!

p.s. To our moms who are certain by now that we have forgotten Mother's day... I finally got to the post office TODAY!!! (Can you believe that???) You should be getting your packages in 2-3 days!

Playing around the tulip trees...

Our tulip tree is on my "top 5" list on things I like about my house. It blooms every year in May and is absolutely covered in these gorgeous yellow flowers!!! Our bedroom window is on the second floor right at "tree level" and I can remeber last year when one morning I woke up, looked out the window and noticed all the flowers! I was blown away!!!

I love my tree!!!

We have been having a lot of fun playing around this spring. The kids are really getting used to my camera!!! It is always in their faces. Poor things! I was playing around with the settings and took about 400 pics in yesterday! Here are a few I liked (of the kids, of course!)

Sophie...So sweet...

Ok, maybe not!!!