February 24, 2016

Sky Top Orchard

We went apple picking mid-September. It was still very warm, but we survived and came home with yummy apples and pears!

We drove almost 2 hours away to the NC mountains (Flat Rock, NC) and it was so worth it. This place is amazing! We can't wait to make this into a tradition.



























Hud and Mia

If you follow me on Instagram, you can follow #HudandMia.

I am really really LOVING this stage of parenting. Hudson is currently 4 and Amelia is 2. They are at such fun ages where they are actually starting to play together. Sure, they do fight and argue but oh the moments when they are so loving and sweet to each other melts my heart. They are such good buddies. I just bottle all this sibling love up and hope it lasts for years and years to come.

Adventure seekers (looking for bugs after church)




 Hudson "reading" bedtime stories to Amelia






Video: Hud reading to Mia. 
Prepare yourselves, this is just about the sweetest video you'll ever see. 


Video: Hud and Mia playing at REI.
Can't take these two anywhere together. :) 

Birthday #28

Breakfast Donuts
Started my birthday off right with donuts!






Swimming Party
Later, a swimming birthday party for one of Hud's friends and the kids zonked out in the backseat by the time we got home.  
I had a whole 30 minutes to read my book and eat chocolate that I had stashed away. Parenting win!


Birthday flowers from Logan



 Birthday presents from the kiddos
It was all about fitness this year. 
Water bottle, weights, etc.  




Family birthday dinner
Blurry picture, but here we are at my birthday dinner (Logan wrangling two kids)
We went to Bakersfield in Dilworth. Best tacos ever! 

 I wanted an ice cream cake this year. Logan was so sweet to attempt to make one. It wasn't exactly "pretty" but it sure did taste good. 




Birthday date night
Logan got me a pampering session at Sephora. If you know me at all, I'm a pretty minimalist girl when it comes to that stuff so it was fun to try things out and get new makeup. Later, we went to a cute town called Davidson for a comedy show and ice cream. So fun! 


Hudson starts Pre-K

Hudson started Pre-K (4YO class) beginning of September, three times a week for just a few hours in the morning. He was a little nervous for his first day, but he has loved it ever since starting all those months ago. His teachers, Ms. Leanna & Ms. Marcie, are super nice and personable. They call him "Hud" which I think is the best and they always tell me how they can't believe how much he knows about animals/dinosaurs. (He's his daddy's son after all). I am so proud of Hudson and I'm going to dread the day I have to send him to "real" school (probably next year for Kindergarten*).





*Hudson's birthday is in July (which is super close to the August 31st cut-off for Kindergarten here in NC). We are unsure about whether or not to send him next year as he will be a "young" 5 year old and we just have some mixed feelings about it all. We have applied to a bunch of charter schools in the area though and will wait to hear back from them before we pray and make a decision (unfortunately, the public school we are zoned for is a no-go as it is in the inner-city and does not have high ratings).

We have seen Hud grow so much this school year. He's really come out of his shell at preschool and is making friends. His teachers comment about how well he listens to details (wish that was all the time at home, but you know -- you win some, you lose some). He's also very inquisitive. I love the questions he comes up with.  

He knows his ABCs, numbers 1-20, can write his name fairly well, and is interested in learning to read. Most of these things have been him wanting to do it on his own which we were thrilled about. We try not to push too hard and just have him go on his own pace. He's loved the Letter Factory DVD since he was little and that was huge with him getting to know his ABCs and their sounds (highly recommend it). We've been working on the reading, but it's all really slow because I want it to be something HE wants to do. We tried "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" but that was kind of a fail since he got really bored with it. We are working on BOB books now which he seems to like, but again taking it very slowly. I just love this little boy and how excited he is about learning! He is full of questions and we love that about him!