Summer Life

I am super lucky to be able to spend every summer with my kids. It is an amazing perk of being a teacher. Most days start with London waking me up to remind me that is is "morning time!"...followed by Izzy yelling, "mommy?!" Luckily, this is usually around 8:30 or 9 and on some days as late as 10am. We spend morning eating breakfast, watching cartoons and just playing on the floor. This summer we made the awesome decision to get a pool so we usually swim in the afternoon and also have fun in the blow up pool and with the hose. I try to take them places every day but some days I just don't have the energy or patience to take them out solo. I do best when I meet up with friends with kids...gives me some back-up if needed. Luckily, Kary has Mondays Nader Fridays off so we are able to do some fun family trips. This summer we went to NY for a wedding and then to PA for family time and spent 11 days away from home.  We traveled 13 hours to NY, then 3 to NEPA and then 9 back home. The kids are rockstar travelers and usually do better than me. We also went to "Discovery Kids", "Tiger World", "Zootastic", the Water Park, "Bounce U" and went to lots of playgrounds and parks. We went to a few Concerts on the Green and hung at Crafty Beer Guys and went out to eat a lot. Some of our favorite places are Pinkies, Cafe 100, Lupies, Hawthornes, Bad Daddy Burgers (veggie) and 131 Main. Kary and I spent our evenings watching the entire series of Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black on netflix. We also enjoyed drinking wine in the jacuzzi after the little ones went to bed. It was a pretty awesome summer. We also have a trip planned to Wilmington to see some family and then to NEPA again at the end of Septemeber for Wine Fest and to see more family.
Here are pictures from the many fun days we enjoyed this summer.

London's 4th Birthday~ Pumpkin Patch!

London turned 4 last Sunday and so far he is loving it! There was a while back when he was super against the number 4 but now "4 is pretty awesome" and "4 year olds cab do lots of stuff!" We started off his day with some gifts (ninja turtle fort, race track, connect 4 launchers, a new fish named Iggy Lovely!) and an Angry Bird cupcake for breakfast. He was a little bummed he wasn't having a big party this year but I was so impressed with how sweet and grateful he was after he opened his gifts. He never once asked if there were more or complained...he's an awesome kid.

Our original plan was to go to the Asheboro Zoo but Izzy wasn't feeling good so we went to the Pumpkin Patch. It was beautiful! He tried everything! He went in the corn pit, rode the cow train all by himself, slid down all the big slides, did the duck races, played on pumpkins, went for a hayride, played with pumpkins and we topped off the day with some cotton candy ice cream. It was such a fun, sweet, family day. He kept saying it was the perfect day because he is with his family. When I look back at previous blog posts I can't believe my baby boy is already 4! I am already noticing him slowly pushing away from me to earn more and more independence. It is hard but I am so proud of the little boy he has become. He is smart, kind, loving, an inquirer, and confident. I just love him to pieces! 

3 is the Best Number

London is now 3 and almost a half. He has become such an amazing little boy and so smart! I am very impressed with his vocabulary and the crazy stuff that's goes on in that brain. Lately he's been into doing magic tricks, playing hide n seek, playing I spy, riding his bike, playing mean guy/good guy, planting seeds, building contraptions, and adding and subtracting. He can write his name, draw people, and identify all letters of the alphabet. I know this sounds like a big brag session but I'm super proud of all we've done to work with him. A lot for it he's done on his own though. 😍
London is a very sensitive sweet boy and doesn't like mean characters on tv. He shares with Izzy for the most part but does have his moments where he gets jealous and wants to hurt her. He mostly sleeps in his bed now but sometimes communicates that he is lonely and too far away and we let him hang out in our end for a bit.
London is doing awesome in preschool and loves going which makes me so happy. His teachers say he never gets in trouble and is bright. His teacher did tell me that sometimes when she is reading a book aloud to the class he interrupts and asks a million questions about each page. I am happy he does that but feel her frustration...haha. We could not be prouder of him and although he's going through a crazy stage of "that's not fair!" and "I love rocks. I don't like rocks. I like batman, I don't like batman" we know he is just coming into his own. He has a confidence that is unbelievable. London is the best name, 3 is the best number and he ALWAYS wins everybgame no matter what..haha...we can't wait to see what's in store next for the amazing London James. ❤️

19 Months and full of Spunk!

Izzy Alice will be 19 months tomorrow and she sure is one little spitfire. I feel so bad for being so negligent with my blog and feel like she's being shortchanged but I guess I've been busy living life (and posting a million pictures on instagram and facebook...haha) Izzy had her 18 month check-up last month and is a very healthy girl. She weighs 21 pounds and is in the 50th percentile for weight but a shorty (and I forgot the exact number of inches) and I think in the 20th percentile for height.

Izzy started going to daycare just 1 day a week in January. At first she was miserable, and despite never really being happy to be there she slowly gained some confidence and managed to smile a few times. I have noticed she's not a huge people person. She's like a cat, you have to earn her friendship. However, this is only the case when she is without me. When she has her mommy in tow she waves and blows kisses to strangers, says hi to everyone and prances around like she is "it." She is also way more cuddly with grandparents. London was afraid of men until he was almost 2! haha.

Izzy is a talker now. At first we were a bit worried because she did this weird growly thing. She still does it sometimes but she's mostly saying clear words. Some of the things she is currently doing:

*She LOVES to brush her teeth, brush her hair, try to eat markers, wrestle with her brother, eat bananas, play in dirt, be outside, copy anything her awesome brother does, take off her diaper, watch Dora and Peppa Pig, play in her Dora house, ride on cars, and BUBBLES!

*I'd make a list of words but she is at the point of saying everything you ask her to say. She now says, "eat" when she is hungry, she always wakes up concerned and says, "daddy at work?", she says "please" and "thank you." She likes to say, "mama!" in a weird demon voice which is pretty awesome. She will yell, "stop!" when London is bugging her. She knows all her body parts and will point to them and on you. 

I just love her to pieces. She is like my little monkey mini me. She hangs on my hip, has a crazy temper, but is also the sweetest. She is a nightmare in stores but a rockstar at sleeping. I couldn't ask for a more perfect/ imperfect little girl.

Izzy: 16 Months and Full of SASS!

Izzy turned 16 months last Saturday and seems to really be coming into her own these days. She has been saying a few words since she was about 13 months but lately she is starting to increase that vocabulary and is even repeating a lot which is great! So far, here is her list: cheese, mama, daddy, dada, nana, papa, London (only said it once so far), Dora, wow, yeah, uh oh, please, more, all done, purple, hi, babye, bye, hi, Boots (from Dora) and I think that's it for now.
Today I painted her nails purple and she was so cute blowing on the polish and looking at her hands in admiration. She also loves rocking her shaded. Don't get me wrong though, she is by no means a girly girl. She farts a lot and LOUD, she pushes her brother around, she loves super heroes and can rock out to "The Distillers" like it's her job. I love the little person she's becoming but I know we are going to definitely butt heads in the future. I can already tell she's stubborn and controlling like me. haha.
She currently weighs in at 21lbs, she is 29 inches long and is considered on the lower percentile for height and weight which is very different from our giant London baby. Sometimes I feel guilty for not posting enough on here but life with 2 and teaching is VERY busy. My goal is to try to post every 2 weeks. For now I am going to enjoy this moment where both are napping, it's 70 degrees and I have a minute to be alone. Although, I wouldn't have my life any other way.