Vacation Bible School

The week after Safety Town Julia attended Vacation Bible School at Cumming First Baptist Church from 9-12.  I debated between there and our own church at St. Brendan's but knew she would feel more comfortable where she went to school and would likely know more people and hence it being more of a positive experience for her.  Of course the night before it started she told me she didn't want to go but luckily when I dropped her off she knew two kids in her class and she was fine with me leaving.  Turns out she absolutely LOVED VBS.  In addition to knowing two kids in her class she also met such a sweet girl who helped out in her class named Jessica and they hit it off and connected so well.  Jessica took great care of Julia and Julia loved her.  This is a picture Jessica shared me with one day of them on the playground.  She's going into 10th grade and she's going to babysit for us so Julia is ecstatic to be able to see her again.  On Friday she was quite sad VBS was over...she had such a fun week!

  

Julia and Jessica on the last day of VBS.

Julia also really liked another teenage helper named Brie.  Pictured here are Jessica, Julia, Brie and her friend Presley from dance class.

Just Julia and Brie on the last day.

On Friday night they had a performance for the families where they sang songs and had a slide show from the week.  Julia enjoyed singing the songs for us at home that she learned during the week.  VBS was such a great experience for her so I'm sure we'll sign up next year.

Park Playdate

While Julia was at Vacation Bible School I took Andrew to the park to meet up with some friends from my Thursday night mom's group.  Andrew loved climbing the rock wall and then going down the slide.

The group of kids enjoying a snack.  Gotta love Coal Mountain Park that has a slightly covered playground so the kids didn't get too hot.

Safety Town

A few years after we moved down to Georgia I taught Safety Town in the summer for a couple years.  It was a camp offered to kids who were entering kindergarten and everyday they learned about a different safety such as stranger danger, poison, body safety, gun control, fire safety and much more.  Even back them I always knew when I had kids I wanted them to attend this camp.  It was a week long from 9-12 and Julia was actually quite hesitant about going...she even cried.  I felt horrible but I know it's good for her to go and do new things.  It made me sad when she had some tears in her eyes when I left her the first day but I was so glad when I picked her up and she had fun.  She is definitely timid when it comes to new situations...especially when she doesn't know anybody.  I am hoping she knows at least one person in her class once school starts in August because it will make a huge difference for her.

So proud of my Safety Town girl and we loved hearing about what she learned each day.  She was super cute saying Stop, Don't Touch, Leave the Area, Tell an Adult for gun safety.  It's actually kinda sad we need to teach our kids about gun safety especially since Julia didn't even know what a gun really was but obviously we want to protect her and keep her safe.

All About Andrew

I though I would write a little more about our sweet guy Andrew for those who don't know him as well as us.  The first word that comes to mind when I think of Andrew is fun or funny.  For a little boy he has said and done some things that just make Thomas and I laugh and he definitely has a fun personality and outlook on life.  He usually wakes up each day at 6:30 and takes one nap around 2-4 and goes to bed at 9.  Andrew loves to snuggle when he wakes up from nap since we always have to wake him up...I don't want him sleeping too long and have trouble going to bed at night.  Right now after a story, some snuggling and a few songs we lie him down and goes right to bed.  Andrew is definitely one who likes to snuggle and cuddle throughout the day and I love that because before long I know he won't be interested in cuddling with Mommy and Daddy.  He loves his lovey he got from Julia when he was born and honestly carries it around all the time and he even has a favorite corner.  He puts it down while playing but not for all that long.  I know Thomas thinks he should leave it in his crib but it doesn't bother me at all...I'm just glad he doesn't suck his thumb.  He usually does fine when we ask him to leave it behind so it's no big deal.  Andrew is a big breakfast eater but not as big of a dinner eater but that seems to be changing a bit.  He is definitely a picker eater in my opinion but he has been eating more vegetables likes carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and green peppers so that's been good.  His favorite food by far is noodles and almost every night he asks me if we're having noodles for dinner. Andrew absolutely has a sweet tooth and loves dessert of any kind thus far.  He is potty trained and only wears a diaper to bed but probably doesn't need to since he wakes up dry most of the time.  It was quite a challenge potty training Andrew and he struggled for a while pooping in the potty but thankfully he's mastered that and he's doing great now and staying clean and dry.  I'm so glad the potty training days are over for us!  Many times Andrew and Julia play great together and he goes along with whatever Julia wants to play and seems to be very easy going.  His favorite TV show is Paw Patrol and he loves the break the ice song from Frozen.  We're working on learning the alphabet and he knows A,B,C and D and a few others like J but he hasn't been as interested in learning time as Julia so I don't push it.  We've worked on numbers too and some counting and he knows all his colors.  He's going to start preschool in September and will be going three days a week and we're hoping he gets the same teachers Julia had when she was three...they were awesome!  I'm going to miss having my side kick with me all the time but I'll be able to get somethings done on my own and hopefully volunteer in Julia's classroom too.  Andrew is such a sweet boy who also likes to pretend to be a pirate and a little bit of a tougher side shows through.  I'm sure I left out some big things about him but at least it allows you to know Andrew a bit better than before.  We sure love our boy and feel blessed to be his parents and we love the fun he adds to our family.

Happy Birthday Andrew

Happy 3rd birthday Andrew!  We didn't do a party with friends this year but plan on doing something special one Saturday with just our family that we wouldn't normally do to celebrate our little guy who has brought so much fun and laughter to our lives!

Donuts for lunch...well only on your birthday!  So glad Daddy was able to join us for some donuts at lunchtime.

He's such a cutie and so fun too!

Andrew was very excited to open his presents and he knew it was his birthday.

Julia got a pillow pet for her birthday from a friend and ever since she has wanted to get one for Andrew.  When she saw they made a dog pillow pet she had her mind made up and got it for Andrew for his birthday.  I love how excited she was to give it to him...the absolute joy of giving to others.

Andrew got this super cool scooter from Nana and Papa and he loves it.  Julia doesn't have a scooter so this is a completely new toy around our house and both kids are loving it.

One of the things Grandma got Andrew was the game Hungry Hungry Hippo and we've been having loads of fun with it but clearly I forgot how noisy this game can be.

Andrew wanted a Mickey Mouse cake for his birthday so that's what we got for him.  Last year he had an airplane with Mickey Mouse so this year we got Mickey Mouse driving a car.  My kids absolutely love the little toys that come on top of the cake.  It's the little things that make a difference!

Andrew did great blowing out his candles but who knows if he made a wish.  He was very excited to eat his birthday cake!

Gotta love Facetime!

Aunt Kim and her family got Andrew a T-Ball Set which has been a fun toy.

He had no problem hitting the ball off the tee.

Andrew has enjoyed his new scooter and is doing great with riding it. 

Toyland Ballet/Tap Preformance

This is Julia's third time preforming on the stage for Cumming Dance Academy.  However, this time she has two different routines to preform...both ballet and tap.  So excited she has completed another year of dance and had made some good friends in the process.

Julia and her best buddies from dance posing.  Back row - Ava, Peyton or Presley, Julia and front row - McKinzley and Peyton or Presley.  The twins are so hard to tell apart even in person let alone in a picture.

Sweet girls on the pink carpet.

Tap solo on the pink carpet of Julia posing.

You can only take pictures and video during the rehearsal so that's just what I did.

Looking so cute and definitely concentrating!

Such cute little tap girls!

Showing their teddy bears.

Exiting the stage.

Julia had a special part at the end.  Once everyone was off stage she had to shuffle with her left foot, shuffle with her right foot, blow a kiss and then wave.  It was super cute!

The girls are ready for their ballet rehearsal.

I definitely liked the ballet costume better than the tap one.

Such great form!

Had to get a picture of my ballerina on the pink carpet.

Andrew giving Julia her flowers and saying 'good job.'

Sibling love.

Daddy and his little girl.

Me and my little girl.

My beautiful dancer!  Looking forward to taking ballet and tap next year with her best friend Grace.

New Floors

With our house being 10 years old it was in need of some new flooring.  We've been talking about it for a while and it has finally happened.  After much discussion we finally decided to go with hardwoods all downstairs and upstairs in the hallway along with the master and replacing the carpet in the other three bedrooms.  We got 53 boxes of wood delivered which was enough for the entire downstairs and the hallway but at the last minute we decided to do the master bedroom so that will be done at the beginning of July.    

The kids and I went to the beach for a few days and came home to our downstairs completely transformed.  The hardwoods look absolutely beautiful!  So excited to get rid of the old builder grade flooring.

Just need to get everything organized and back in place but very happy with the way it turned out.