The Pink Barbie Car

Here are Caroline and Tucker doing the one thing that Caroline could not wait to do once she got to Huntington...ride in the pink Barbie car! This car belongs to a neighbor across the street from Nena and Poppy and they were kind enough to indulge the kids. Caroline drove for hours as I do not think Tucker ever got to drive. Thankfully, Tucker was content just riding. They are going to be talking about this for days...

Go Tigers!

Last Saturday we went out to Hampden-Sydney to watch H-SC play Sewanee. We stayed until halftime as that was about all the kids could do. Tucker enjoyed seeing the tiger mascot and let the tiger hold him. I really wish that I had a picture of that...it was C-U-T-E! Caroline, on the other hand would not even give the tiger a high 5. She stayed close to me when the tiger came around. When the announcer would say "Sewanee" on the loud speaker both kids would look at me and say "Mom...he just said Sewanee!" They were a little confused when he would say "timeout Sewanee" or "timeout Hampden-Sydney." Caroline and Tucker looked at me and asked "why did he say timeout?" Of course they assumed that somebody had done something wrong!

Hampden-Sydney won the game, 38-o. We did cheer for Sewanee towards the end of the first half as we made our way to the car. I must say, I felt bad for those boys who were loosing by 31 points at the half. Caroline obviously felt very comfortable on the football field and Tuck just wanted to be one of the football boys. Maybe one day...

New Shoes for All!

Go Falcons!

Tuck's new Chucks.

Beautiful Boy!

Tuck (aka Speed Racer) riding his bike with his new running shoes.

Caroline showing off her new kicks!

Lunchboxes

Who knew that packing lunch for school could be so challenging? I mean I can only pack a peanut butter sandwich for so many weeks in a row. I have made a very strong effort to make sure that Caroline and Tucker have healthy foods to eat. Tucker is a little more adventurous than Caroline as she is at this point a vegetarian too. I pack lots of fruit and carrots and celery. Recently they have been on a cantaloupe kick and can't seem to get enough. Caroline has also been eating a lot of yogurt and a couple times I have included a homemade trail mix that I make from different cereals with the occasional chocolate chip thrown in. They love this. Caroline will not eat the lunch that the school provides and I am ok with this. I'd rather her not have hotdogs, corndogs, cheeseburgers, pizza and barbequed chicken for lunch. I don't consider these healthy or appetizing options for my PreK-er. I continue to look for new and exciting things to pack in their lunchboxes. I try to cut their peanut butter sandwich in a fun shape (after I sprinkle flax seed on top of the peanut butter...they haven't caught on to this yet!). So, my lunches may seem boring but once I see the food that the other kids are eating, I am glad that Tucker and Caroline are getting a "boring" lunch and one not filled with fruit snacks, cheese-its, and other non-nutritious food.

Krazy Kids

Caroline and Tucker had another great week at school. Tucker's favorite thing about school is bike day. He loves to ride his bog boy bike in circles around his younger classmates. He insists that we chant "go Speed Racer!" as he zooms around. I was doing it to appease him and before I knew it a few other of his buddies were saying some version of "go Speed Racer." Tucker loved it!

Caroline only had one complaint about school this week. She was upset because the librarian told her that her name was not Paige and Caroline was very distraught. I'm not sure why the name Paige was even being discussed. I guess Caroline didn't have a chance to tell her that in fact her middle name is Paige. Aubrie has been declared Caroline's official BFF. And, to make life even better, Aubrie was at the football game on Friday night. You might consider Aubrie to be somewhat of a tomboy, which is why Caroline now refuses to wear dresses or skirts or bows in her hair. "Aubrie doesn't wear this, Mom." I think she must say this every morning as we are trying to pick out clothes.

Below are some pictures of the kids at the playground with Chad. They truly are "Krazy Krouse Kids!"

School Spirit

After school on Friday, all Caroline could talk about was the "pepper ally" that they had at school. Her class got to walk over to the "big kid" gym and watch the cheerleaders and see the football boys. I asked her how she liked the cheerleaders and she enthusiastically said "Mom, there were these two cheerleaders and then they put a girl on top and threw her into the air!" Amazingly enough, I was able to convince Caroline to participate in school spirit day and wear red like her teacher had asked.

I decided that I would take the kids to the football game that evening at 7 pm. Caroline was so excited and Tucker was ready to see the football boys. This was the first football game that either of them had been to. I practically had to hold Caroline and Tucker back from running up to the gates. Once we entered Tucker immediately saw one of his buddies from his school. He and Griffin played and played and played!

The kids were treated to popcorn and M & M's while they watched the game. As we sat on the bleachers Caroline would say "Mom, there's Mrs. Johnson, there's Mrs. Tyree, there's Ashley" and on and on. I bet she recognized at least a dozen people. Pretty good for a little girl that has only been at school for two weeks! Once they were finished with their snacks, Caroline decided that she couldn't live without a red and black pom pom that the cheerleaders were selling. So, at halftime we found some cheerleaders and got two pom poms.

Tucker continued to play with his buddy and Caroline watched every move that the cheerleaders made. At one point I caught her with her hands up in the air imitating the cheerleaders. Fuqua won the game by 30+ points. After the game the kids ran to the field and pretended to be football players. Tuck and Griffin chased each other and even snuck in a few "tackles." I could just envision them in 12 years or so actually playing on that same field. (Although, I am still not sure if I will let Tucker play football or not...I don't want my little boy to be tackled! Too bad, I won't have a say in the matter...) We really enjoyed our little outing. The kids had fun and lasted through the entire game. I think we'll try it again next time there is a home game...Go Falcons!

School!!!

We are back in Farmville! Caroline and Tucker have successfully completed their first week of school. Caroline is in a 3 and 4 year old Pre-K program and loving every minute! Although she didn't have to be at school until 8:30 on Monday morning, she was up at 7:15, dressed and ready to go! I asked her to come sit down and have breakfast and she said "No Mom, I have to go to school." Thankfully she had plenty of time to spare. Once we got to the school and out of the car, she looked around and said "Mom there are big kids here!" (This means 4th and 5th graders.) Chad, Tucker and I walked her to her classroom and she didn't look back. In fact, she saw so many fun, new things to play with that when we tried to hug and kiss her goodbye she gave us each about 2 seconds and then she was off! I think Chad and I were a little teary eyed, but there was no doubt that she was in the right place!

I picked her up around 4 and she could not stop talking. She only knew a few names but identified everyone by what they were wearing..."the boy in the blue shirt; the girl in the pink dress; the Henry with black hair." I am not sure I have seen this little girl more full of joy! The downside of her excitement was that she was up until almost 10 pm talking about her day. She gave me every detail! Later in the week I talked to her teacher and Mrs. Frank said that "Caroline talks a lot (but it is cute!)" and that Caroline is not gonna let her get away with anything! Yep, that's my Caroline! Caroline had a hard time getting up and going to school on Tuesday morning because she was exhausted...that, and suddenly overnight she decided that school was "yucky." Interesting considering she had another great day on Tuesday. Her only complaints so far have been- 1) the music teacher told her that she had white hair, and that was upsetting because we all know her hair is yellow! 2) "Why won't my teacher every let me have ice cream after lunch?!?!" Well, little does she know that Mommy informed her teacher that Caroline does not need ice cream everyday after lunch. (I have decided that I will let her have ice cream on Fridays as a special treat.)

And for Tucker...He loves his "bit boy school" too! On Monday we took him to school after we dropped Caroline off. He was a little pouty and when I asked him if he was sad to leave Caroline he said "yes." Once we got to his new classroom, he was just fine. He seemed a little more hesitant than his sister, but his teacher said he had a great day. He played with construction, ate all of his lunch and went down for a nap easily and slept for 2 hours. Sounds like a good day to me! On Tuesday, I began working at Tucker's pre-school. I am now the lead teacher in his class and have 8 two year old kids to keep up with. It is fun for me to see Tucker on his own and not following behind or being bossed around by big sister. He is great at cleaning up! He is the oldest in his class by a few months. Tucker has learned well from Caroline and acts like he has 7 younger siblings when at school. He is caring, thoughtful and does a great job using his words when there is a confrontation.

I am so, so proud of my two little ones! They have had a lot of change in the past few months, but have handled it like champs. It is so great to see them so joyful and genuinely happy with their new home and new schools. I think I'll keep'em!!!

July in a Nutshell

Below are some pictures of how we spent July. We enjoyed going to the beach and riding on the boat. Every Thursday we went to the library for the kids' story time and craft project. We picked blueberries...a lot of blueberries. Tucker ate most of the blueberries he picked right off the bush. We went to the Yellow Duck Bakery and tried new muffins such as zucchini apricot. Yum! A couple of times we went to the Corner Bakery and got some donuts for breakfast...not so healthy, but a fun treat for the kids!

I think Caroline was tired of blowing bubbles...

Caroline and Tucker spent much of the summer riding their "big bikes." I created a town from sidewalk chalk that even included COTA, as Tucker said.

Did you know that sidewalk chalk + water = "paint?"

Tucker Gets a Trim

So Tucker got his first "real" haircut or I would say "trim" is more like it. On Saturday morning the kids and I went with Grandaddy to do some errands, one of which was the barber shop. As Grandaddy was getting his hair cut, the kids we having a hard time sitting still and being patient. I told them that if they didn't sit still then they would be next in the barber's chair. Well, this approach totally worked for Caroline as there was no way she was going to let that strange man cut her hair! But, Tucker was a different story.

As soon as the chair was empty, Tucker jumped right up there saying "It's Tucker's turn. It's Tucker's turn." I must say, I was shocked that he was actually going to let someone take scissors to his hair. I have cut his hair once in December of 2009 and that is the only haircut he has had. Period. I have tried a couple times since then to trim a few pieces but he was not willing and reached for the scissors each time. So, I gave up. And, quite frankly his hair is pretty cute. There have been multiple times that strangers would comment on his hair and say how much they loved the blonde curls.

So, as he sat perfectly still in the barber shop chair, I carefully watched every little piece of blonde hair fall to the floor. I gave instructions to take a little off the top but not to touch the curls in the back or on the sides. Thankfully, the barber followed my instructions. Once it was all through, Tucker got to pick out a piece of candy from the candy drawer. I was so proud of Tucker for being such a big boy...and I admit, I had my doubts about the whole thing. Way to go, Tuck :)

OC Fun

Last week we spent a couple days in Ocean City with Aunt Annie and Bull. We went out on the boat, played at the beach, went swimming and watched the pirate ship takes loads of tourists on a pirate tour. One evening we went to the boardwalk and played games and rode the rides. The kids rode tons and tons of rides and I even rode a couple (I had to too, because Tucker and Caroline were too short). After we went through all 120 tickets, we got ice cream. It was the perfect ending to a fun day.

The next day we went to Jolly Rogers Waterpark. The kids loved it...and I did, too! Tucker went down all the water slides that he was tall enough to go on. Once he got bored sliding down on his bum, he flipped around and slid down on his belly. Caroline did the water slide too, but I think she really liked swimming in the shallow pools. She was very proud of herself for not needing any help. We had a great time and slept well for days after all the OC fun!