Lazy 5

This weekend, they had a teacher appreciation weekend at a local zoo attraction called Lazy 5. Teachers and their families got in for free with ID. I can't pass up a deal like that and I knew the kids would love it - a place where we could see everyone's favorite animals - pigs, giraffes, and sheep - all in one place!! We got there right as it opened so that we could beat the crowds. The weather was so pleasant and we walked right up and got on a wagon.

We got to feed all kinds of animals right off - goats, llamas, deer, pigs. . .  there were so many cute little baby pigs! I wish we had gotten a good picture of them, but all the ones I took turned out blurry. I think if Lucy could have gotten off the wagon, she would have grabbed one to take home with her!

When the wagon would drive off, you could watch some of the animals chase after you in hopes of more food!

We finally made it to the giraffes - what Charlie had been waiting for!! I got a couple of pictures when they were feeding them out of their bucket. I also held them out so that they could feed the little two year old giraffe named Patrick. They loved his long tongue! 

There were big ostriches along the way too. They would reach across and go for the food buckets if they were close enough. At first, Alex wanted to feed one. . .

But then, the ostrich decided he wasn't quite finished eating!! :)

After we got off the wagon, we headed over to go find the sheep!

This picture makes me laugh . . .Charlie back their, creeping in the background!

When we got over to the sheep and the goats, none of them were over at the fence. But then, as soon as they realized there were people with food, they just came running!!

After we ran out of food, we walked around a little more and saw the camels and the donkeys. Across from the donkeys, was a giraffe statue. Charlie had to have his picture taken with it.

We also saw a family of lemurs - there are two twins back there on the back of the parents. :)

After looking at all the animals, we took the kids over to play on the playground. While we were there, a sweet little cat came over. Lucy loved looking at it and since we were right by the hand washing station, we let her pet it for a bit.

We snapped a couple pictures by these pretty flowers before we left. How in the world did this little girl grow up so fast???

We drove up to Statesville and had lunch at Groucho's - a favorite of everone's! Aunt Cheryl told us about a new snowcone place so we stopped and had dessert well. We had a fun day to celebrate the official end of summer!

Boys first day of school

Monday was the boys first day of 4 year old preschool. We knew they just weren't ready to go to Kindergarten this year, so we're hanging out at Calvary for another year.

Alex

Charlie

The boys are in different classes this year. (Our choice, not the school's.) They have both been very excited to have something that is all their own, but they definitely seem to miss each other, especially at recess. It will be good for them to start to learn to make new friends this year.

They both had a great first week and Charlie said today that he couldn't wait for Monday. I think they're going to have an awesome year!!

Birthday Boys!

I can't believe I have two five year old boys!!! How did time go so quickly??!! This morning at 6:00 AM, I had a little finger poking me saying, "Mommy, now I'm five!" I had to go to work today so I left this morning and planned to meet them for lunch. The birthday boys, of course, wanted ChickFilA!

Aunt Lauren, Uncle Joe and the girls joined us for lunch. The people at ChickFilA were so nice and gave them balloons and a little stuffed cow for their birthday. After we ate, they opened their presents from Mommy, Daddy and Lucy. The boys liked their Raffi and Sheep shirts!

Lucy was so excited to give them her gift. She had gotten them all of the Lion Guard figures to play on their new toy.

Alex was very excited to open his magnet blocks. Magnet blocks WITH WHEELS is something he has been wanting for a very long time.

Finally, they opened the gift with their Lego house set. Lucy couldn't wait to show them that there was a potty Lego! When does bathroom humor start to lose its appeal???

I had to go back to work after lunch, but everyone else went back to the house and had playtime together. When I got home, it was time to get ready for birthday dinner with grandparents. There was an accident that had shutdown eastbound I-40, so we had to travel a different way to get to Carter Brothers for dinner. Our trip that should have taken 30 minutes took us an hour and 15 minutes!! They were so busy when we got there but we finally got seated and had a nice meal. I didn't even get any pictures at dinner and once we got home, it was time for bed! Oh well. . . 

It seems like these past five years have just flown by . .. maybe not in the day to day struggles, but it does seem like it was just yesterday that they were learning to walk around our house. And now? Well, Charlie sat with me on the couch for a bit when I got home because he wanted to do his "homework." (He has these little workbooks for letter recognition, beginning sounds, etc.) We sat there together and worked on beginning sounds, which at the end of last school year, he just didn't get - he could recognize all the letters, but didn't understand how those letters matched up with the sound. Now we were sitting here and he could answer everything like a pro. I just sat there thinking, "When did this happen? How did he grow up into a KID??" But he has. . . they both have. I am so thankful that I get to be Mom to these amazing two little boys. They are just the sweetest, funniest kids who are just so much fun to be with. Sure, they have their moments (many of them these past few weeks of summer!!), but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. Happy birthday, Charlie and Alex! Mommy loves you SO much!!

Alex's Favorites at Five Years Old

What is your favorite color? orange
What is your favorite toy? magnets
What is your favorite fruit? oranges
What is your favorite TV show? Mutt and Stuff, Equestria Girls (Thanks to Lucy)
What is your favorite movie? Sing
What is your favorite outfit? sheep shirts
What is your favorite snack? Gummies
What is your favorite book? "My New Friend is So Fun" - an Elephant and Piggie book
Who are your best friends? Charlie, Lucy, Harper, and Rosa
What is your favorite animal? sheep
What is your favorite song? I love my shoes
What is your favorite holiday? Valentine's Day (Because we went to Disney. . . and got candy)
What do you sleep with at night? Scratchy BoBo
What is your favorite drink? Pepsi
What is your favorite breakfast food? blueberry waffle
What do you like to eat for lunch? Chickfila
What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? Carter Brothers
What do you want to be when you grow up?  a builder

Charlie's Favorites at 5 Years Old

What is your favorite color? pink
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
What is your favorite TV show? Paw Patrol, Equestria Girls (Lucy's been introducing them to this!)
What is your favorite movie? Sing
What is your favorite outfit? Pink Shirts, Giraffe shirts
What is your favorite snack? Cupcakes
What is your favorite book? Raffi book . . . then he said and ALL my books!!
Who are your best friends? Raffi and Mommy . . . and Lucy and Alex
What is your favorite animal? Raffi (Giraffes, of course!)
What is your favorite song? All the songs in Sing
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas - because Jesus was born . . .and also presents!
What do you sleep with at night? Raffi
What is your favorite drink? Sunny D
What is your favorite breakfast food? Lucky Charms
What do you like to eat for lunch? Hot Dog with a bun
What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? Carter Brothers
What do you want to be when you grow up?  A Raffi keeper! (He wants to work in the zoo in the giraffe section)

Alex and Charlie's birthday party

It's hard to believe these boys are going to be 5 this week!!! Where does time go? Weren't they just turning two??? For their birthday party this year, they wanted to go to the Play Lodge up in Asheville. So on Friday, we drove up the mountain for the day to play.

First things first, I made the boys go and take their picture in the rowboat. They looked at me like I was strange, but I have a picture of them in the rowboat from every time we've gone.

They're getting so big . . .weren't these pictures taken just the other day??!!

I took almost no pictures while we were there . . . so not like me! But they were all running around and having fun, and didn't want to have to stop and say cheese!

After we played, the boys decided on Juicy Lucy for lunch. We had a nice lunch but they were anxious to get to the best part of any birthday celebration - the presents!!

After presents it was time for blowing out candles!!!

I wanted a nice picture of the boys . . . however, that is proving to be difficult these days! They are so silly!!!!

After we finished at Juicy Lucy, we drove down to Gaffney so that we could go to the Prime Outlets. Usually around this time I am at Choral Fest and I stop by and get Lucy a bookbag from the Pottery Barn outlet. However, there was no Choral Fest this year. It was a good weekend to go to the outlets though because it was tax free shopping in SC. We got Lucy's bookbag for $12 even! We also purchase new tennis shoes for everyone at the Nike outlet and got a few other clothing items while we were there. The kids and Michael sat and ate sno cones while I did a little shopping for me too! :)

We got home late, but I had promised the boys a little bit of play time with their new toys before bed. They wanted to play with the Lion Guard set so we had a little fun with that and our new Star Wars toys before heading to bed.

The last few days have been filled with playing with new toys - Lincoln Logs ( or "Linking Logs" as the boys call them), Tinker Toys, dress up, and cars! Hopefully, these new toys will keep them occupied for their last two weeks of summer vacation before we return to school!