Monday, May 28, 2012

Our First Official AHG Camporee! Part 1

Last Friday afternoon, Eliza Grace and I headed to meet Troop NC1230 and several other American Heritage Girl troops for our inaugural North Carolina AHG Camporee!

For those of you who know me, I'm not a camping kinda gal.  Oh, the things we do for our kids.

We traveled to Camp Durant in Carthage, NC.  Camp Durant is a Boy Scout camp, which kind of explained the urinals on the outside of the bath house.  I say "kind of" because, if you are a Boy Scout, do you really walk all the way to the urinal at the bath house? I don't think so.

Anyhoo, in order to earn her Camping Badge, Eliza Grace had to be the one to put up our tent.  

She did a darn good job, with very little help from me, aside from helping to hammer the stakes and holding it up as she ran the poles.

First, she unrolled and laid the ground tarp.
Next came the tent proper.
 
"Now let me see...this pole goes..."
"Whew, this is hard work."
Ta Da!!!
Photographic proof that she "got'er done!"

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Prepping for a Camporee!

Eliza Grace is prepping for her first ever AHG Camporee!

First she is working on knife safety and usage by whittling a shape out of a bar of soap.
Next, she worked on some really cute "swaps" to trade with the other campers.
We are excited about going camping in a couple of days!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sinking In

What Will typed into his iTouch this morning:
I think those Sunday morning messages are sinking in!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Almost Time For A Kindergarten Farewell

Will's last day of kindergarten is coming soon. 

It really has gone so very fast. I say that every year. And every year it is true.

Mrs. Germano and her assistant, Mrs. McPhail, have been the most wonderful teachers.  I am pretty sure that Mrs. Germano told Will she loved him every single day, even when he was scolded, even when he was praised.  What he has learned from her, far above and beyond the reading, writing and arithmetic, is that an adult, someone outside of his family, loves him, cares for him and expects the best for and out of him.

It's a priceless gift.

The past couple of weeks have been full of end of the year activities. First, they had their annual kindergarten show. That's Will in the Carolina blue polo shirt on the top riser with all the tall kids.

Suffice it to say, I was never, ever on the top riser.  

I was always, ALWAYS on the bottom riser.  Sigh.

ANYway...

In the show, Will was one of three cool mice.
He was a little shy.
And his left shoelace was untied.
But he sure looked cute up there!
Here's a quick 94 seconds of the show:
(Ok, seriously, how cute was that little Anaise
-white dress, front row?
That girl is destined for Broadway!)

Anyhoo, a week later his class had a family ice cream social and each student received a personalized book with pictures from throughout the school year.
Then Mrs. Germano presented them with a Kindergarten Certificate of Completion :)  She also told the children that she would, in fact, be hugging and kissing each and every one of them.
 
She also thanked the parents for sharing their children with her and then she teared up and could not talk.  Which of course set me to boohooing as well!

Only two more weeks and my baby will be a first grader!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Recorder Club Performance

Eliza Grace joined the recorder club at school this year and they performed at the Spring curriculum night.  Here is Eliza Grace introducing their first song.

We were very impressed with how great they sounded!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Quick Trip to the Beach!

We grabbed the kids from school early today and headed for a Mother's Day weekend at the beach!
They don't look excited at all, do they?

We spent the afternoon walking around downtown Wilmington, eating ices and taking a trolly tour.
(The USS North Carolina in the background
across the Cape Fear River)
We hit Front Street Brewery for dinner and then headed on to Topsail Island.

The next morning, Eliza Grace watched the sun rise over the water, sitting in a big green chair wrapped in her Winnie the Pooh blanket.
Will wanted in on the sunrise action as well.
The water was cold, but that did not stop the kids!
On the way home we picked up one happy puppy who missed his humans very much!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Tee Ball, Part Deux

Spring Tee Ball season has arrived in Cary, NC.
 Will and best buddy, Gabe, are Colorado Rockies once again!
On the pitcher's mound and feeling fine!

Friday, April 6, 2012

A Walk in the Woods

On this Good Friday we wanted to spend some time in the beautiful outdoors of this amazing planet that God has given us. With that in mind, we piled into Scott's truck and headed in a westerly direction.  Our destination: the Uhwarrie Mountains (pronounced you-WHAR-ree), situated south of Asheboro, NC.

The Uhwarrie Mountains are the oldest mountain range in North America and were formed by glacier movement over 500 million years ago.

They're old.

And green.

And quiet.

And lovely.

We wound along the road enjoying the views and stopped off at one of the Uwharrie National Forest trail heads for a quick hike.

I feel such peacefulness when I am in the woods. I definitely feel closer to God when I soak in the quiet majesty of a forest.

The kids wanted to keep going and going further down the trail but, since we had not planned for a real hike, we had to turn back after a short time. 

A Hermione and Harry pose.
I think Will was trying to conduct an animal orchestra.