Clemson trip

We were invited to a baby shower in Clemson for out old neighbor...so we made the trip!!! Our first morning we were up and out early..and we found a new Clemson Tiger statue!

Then...we had a play date with Savannah's best friend in Clemson...Kelsey. They had a great time playing together. Actually, Kelsey's parents kept it a secret, so when we pulled in the driveway and Kelsey looked outside..it was a big surprise and she ran out yelling Savannah's name and giving her a big hug. It was super cute!

They were so excited that they got to see each other when they are both 7 - Kelsey is a year older...and there is only a 3 week span that they overlap in age. 

Gage and Kate used to play together every day when we waited to get savannah from school when we lived here. This was definitely a great stop during our trip - s & k really adore each other :-)

Next up...a baby shower! Here's melissa, the mom to be.

And Judy, her mom

She is the definition of a good neighbor.

It was a fun day to catch up with our old friends!!

party

Savannah had her birthday party with a few of her closest buddies. The painted nails, did a fashion show, and played like sweet crazies.

She was a huge fan is the tissue paper Pompoms I hung up!

Gage even hung out with the girls! He threatened to hunker down in my room and watch a movie..but within minutes is them arriving he was running around yelling bawk bawk pretending to be a chicken chasing them! 

After having to cancel one week because everyone was sick...it was worth the wait. I am so happy she has the sweetest little friends :-) 

shrinky dinks!

Gramma and grandpa Rapp sent shrinky dinks for valentines day!! They were mesmerized...for 3 minutes ;-)

a girl and her bike

It's taken a while, but savannah finally loves her bike. We're talking about taking training wheels off this spring! 

Childrens museum

Membership has its benefits - you can go all the time..and we do!! 

This is Gage's favorite thing to do - drive the farm truck while old music and a video of an old diet road play...savannah loads up the truck bed with fruit & veggies and handles gassing up!

This is the flying ball booth. When we left this time, we went out for ice cream. When gage took his sweatshirt off, ping pong balls went rolling everywhere - apparently they got stuck inside his good!!

Happy 7th birthday!

Savannah was anxiously waiting for daddy to get home tonight so she could open her presents!! Somehow...gage ended up with quite a few too!!

He loved his chompy shark!!

Savannah got lots of American girl things (okay, they are knock offs because AG is crazy expensive). She got a bath tub, a hair stylist chair, party accessories, a riding outfit...and great Barbie stable Legos...nail polish and barrettes that change color in the sun...movies...3 sets of magic tree house books. She was so happy with everything!

And, Adam had fun with this crazy balloon that gage got in his valentines day basket from school ;-)

Finally...it was time for cake. Gage decorated this all by himself today. And...the candles turned out to be the kind that keep relighting themselves!!

Happy birthday to my little valentine's day baby. It does not seem possible that she is 7 years old today! I am so very lucky to have such a smart, sweet, silly, thoughtful, and incredibly independent girlie. It's funny...I can't help but think of that teeny-tiny, skinny little chicken-legged, alert as all get-out little baby whenever I look at her today. I can't bear to think that in 7 more years she will be a teenager!! Where does the time go?

Big boy comb

Now that gage has a big boy haircut, he needs to comb his hair. He calls this his "big boy comb". Here he is after a bath combing his hair and brushing his teeth (we still have NO cavities...for either of them!!). I don't know why we bother combing, though...he has permanent bed head. No matter how much we comb it...he always looks like he just rolled out of bed lately!

Gage gage

Look at this great picture gage drew of mommy. And...look at how great he is doing writing his name!!! :-)

Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparents' Day at Savannah's school. Since we sadly don't have any of our grams and gramps close enough to come, Gage and I were substitutes! He got to go through the lunch line just like a big kid!

Savannah was sad that she had a substitute teacher on her birthday, but really excited that we got to spend the day with her.

Mommy, of course, was there since early morning setting up, and the kids had to stay late with me cleaning up. Three weeks of grandparent days in a row (one for each grade) is a too much!! But...I will say that the grandparents love it and really appreciate getting to visit the kids' classrooms, have lunch with them, etc. Maybe one of these days we will love closer to our grands!!!

Sad boy

We stopped to buy some fabric so I can make a superhero light shade for my superhero loving boy's room. When I asked for 1 yard of fabric, and he saw that the woman was *cutting* it off the bolt...he melted down. He did not want anyone to cut that glorious Spider-Man fabric. He wanted to buy the whole bolt!! I explained how the process worked. He wanted none if it. Well, he wanted all if it, actually. So he cried. Big tears.

At the cash register he realized we really were leaving without the entire bolt. He lost it. The old ladies around us were full of "oh bless his hearts". 

Living in the south, I have learned that the "bless your heart" phrase has two meanings. If directed at kids, it just means something like "oh, poor boy" (empathy/sympathy). If directed at adults, it's a thinly veiled insult, something that really means "oh..well aren't you just an idiot". But, rather than actually say that, they "bless your heart" and feign something more polite. Ah... Southerners ;-) Anyway...back to sad Gage.

We stopped at Savannah's school to do a few pto things on the way home, and he stood with his head against the window with big crocodile tears - breaking the hearts of all the ladies in the office. Then, he borrowed a pen and paper to draw something for me "just in case I didn't know he was feeling really sad".   This is what he drew. Sad sad boy :-(

Snowpocalypse

Well, it called for a dusting but we got 1.5". Now, up north the difference between a dusting and an inch is nothing. Here...the whole state shut down. No salt. No sand. No plows. It was 19 degrees and iced up. The state shut down for 4 days.

It was gridlock. The schools dismissed early. Everyone left work to go home. Traffic jams. Accidents. My 25 minute ride took 3 hours! A neighbor left campus 45 minutes after me and it took her 6 hours to get home.

I made it home and went to meet Savannah's bus but as I saw the bus approaching our hill, it turned around and LEFT - the driver wouldn't come down our hill! I had to call the bus depot and have them radio the driver. So, he came back to our street and I met him at the top of the hill to get her. 

4000 local kids spent the night at school. Luckily I was able to meet Savannah's bus so she wasn't one if them!

So, we want sledding!

Gotta love our giant hill!

Grammy - Savannah's boots still fit this year!! Woohoo!

All in all - school was out 1/2 day on Tues and then W, Th, & F were cancelled. At that point we had no snow left, so it seemed kind of silly!!!

Gage's school

I picked Gage up early from school, and caught them saying thanks for their popcorn snack. We had to take his snack "to go" that day to get to speech class in time :-)

Polar vortex!

This is what Savannah thinks of the cold weather!

Circus

Savannah's latest field trip was the circus. Parents could attend this one. She rode the bus with all the dis, but I had to meet her there. Oh my word. Mayhem. It was at 10:30 on a Friday, so it was all school trips. So many kids. It worries me that one teacher is in charge of keeping track of 19 kids in such a busy place. Wish that she could just ride with me!!!

There were 7 motorcycles driving around this cage at once. The kids were wowed!

We loved the acrobatics, balancing, and trapeze. Well, we both did. The Chinese national acrobatics team was amazing. 

Then it came to the animal acts. She loved it but I was a  party pooper and kept explaining and pointing out how badly they treat the animals. I know...I was a killjoy, but it really bothers me. And....the lion tamer was making all of us very nervous - the cats were growling, lunging, and swatting at him. He, if course, whipped them. Mommy the killjoy made sure to point that out. 

I hope this is her last circus. I hate supporting it. I think I got her to agree that we only go to circuses with human acts (no animals) from now on. Hey, at least she got to see the circus once for her field trip. I won't take them again!!'

Speech class

Gage started speech therapy and seems to really like his teacher, Rebecca. We are trying to get a jump start on these sounds before kindergarten -- when they start taking timed tests to identify letter sounds correctly (a not so lovely part of the "common core curriculum" that AL adopted).

This was his first class - all the others have been canceled for weather. He worked on the t, n, and d sounds...trying to keep his tongue behind his teeth when he says them. Rebecca calls it keeping your tongue behind the gate (aka, his teeth).  He was a great sport and they did a lot of giggling in there. Getting back to it tomorrow!

Cake time

Just making a for-no-special-reason cake. With a lot of chocolate chips :-)

Someone was caught snitching some frosting!!

Polynesian

We stayed in the Polynesian this trip to Disney. It was gorgeous! We took some hula lessons one night. We are so spoiled!!

And my cousin Patti (who lives in FL) came to visit one night. So glad to see her.