Five Years!

Yesterday Brian and I celebrated our five-year anniversary.

To celebrate, we went to see the touring production of Mary Poppins in downtown Charlotte. It's great to be within walking distance! We also got smoothies before the show. (Melanie R: I'm sure you'll recognize the noteworthy "pink building".)

There were a bunch of kids at the show which made it fun. We also had box seats, just to try it out. We felt very important. :) Mary Poppins even flew right by our box!

We've had a ton of experiences together in these short five years, so it'll be interesting to see what our life looks like when we hit number 10!

Preschool 2010-2011

On Tuesday, September 7th, Wes had his first day of preschool at Sharon Presbyterian Weekday School (that's what they call preschools around here). He goes Tuesday and Thursday from 9:25am to 12:50pm so he gets to take a lunch in his new Lightning McQueen lunchbox.

I'm really excited for him this year. I think last year was great for him and I think the program this year will be a perfect next step. It's kind of weird to give my kid to someone else and know there are 6+ hours a week that I'll never know exactly what he's doing or learning (generally speaking I do, but not specifically). However, I'm excited to see how he changes over the next few months!

Almost 3 1/2 years old! When he picked out his lunchbox, he first had a green one (Sydney's holding it in the previous post). Green has been his favorite color for as long as he's had a favorite color. That is, until he saw this McQueen lunchbox and told me, "Red is my favorite color. I just hate green every day." What a silly kid. I'll try asking him again next week what his favorite color is. :)

Sydney and I used a free bagel coupon at Bruegger's Bagels (Einstein is much better) and then we went to the bookstore and Sydney pushed around a play grocery cart for a while. Then we ate lunch outside before we picked up Wes from school.

When we dropped Wes off, Sydney said, "I don't want Wessie go pea-school." She survived though. :) About 5 times in the 3 hours he was gone we had this conversation:

Sydney: "Where Wessie go?"
Mom: "Wes is at preschool."
Sydney: "Pea-school? Oh, cap!"

Apparently I say "crap" a lot because so do my kids. :/ We've also had this exact conversation multiple times about Dad and work.

A 23-Month-Old's Priorities

Sydney loves bags (an inherited trait from her Grandma Swensen, I think). When we're at the store and she finds anything with a strap, she collects as many purses/bags/dog toys/lunch boxes as she can get on her arms. When I try to put them back she throws a fit. However, I think I've discovered a way to get her to part with her bags (or lunchboxes, etc.).

Candy!

NC Visitors

We had our first visitors here in Charlotte over Labor Day weekend. Brian's friend from high school, Aaron and his wife, Shelby, and their son, Tyler flew in from Utah for a visit!

Wes had a great time trying to keep up with everything Tyler was doing. Tyler was super patient with our kids!

Tyler, Wes, and Sydney ready to go!

Friday the 3rd was Tyler's 6th birthday so we all (minus Brian, he had a work lunch meeting) went up to Dan Nicholas park to play.

This was Sydney's first merry-go-round experience. She didn't want me to hold onto her. No surprise there.

The kids loved Aaron and walked around the park holding his hand. They rarely hold my hand!

Looking at the black bears whom we saw fighting over a log just minutes earlier.

Eating lunch on a rock.

Playing in the splash area. Sydney was being a grump, but she was really tired. (She fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car to go home.)

For Tyler's birthday dinner, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. I highly recommend the red velvet cheesecake. Super delicious.

Then we went home and celebrated with more cake!

On Saturday, Brian and Aaron went mountain biking in Pisgah National Forest while Shelby and I took the kids to the Matthews Alive Festival. We all had a great time and were worn out from our days of fun. On Sunday, we went to church and lounged around. On Monday morning, the Bairds flew back to Utah.


Thanks for a fun visit!!!

Clap Your Hands

We happened upon this book at the library the other week and it has become a favorite. It's a lot of fun for the kids to do and for me to watch them do. It's called "Clap Your Hands" by Lorinda Bryan Cauley.