Happy Mother's Day to Heaven

Today was an exceptional Mother's Day.  I woke up to two sweet voices wishing me "Happy Mudders Day!" and a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and lots and lots of coffee to combat the sweet voices at 6:30 am...  I got some sweet cards and presents and then enjoyed church with my family.  The girls and I even got to wear our matching outfits.  Hey, if you can't be cheesy on Mother's Day, when can you be?!

But the most special part of our day happened at lunch at my aunt FA's house.  You see, a few days ago, the girls were signing their Mother's Day cards for their grandmothers.  Campbell very seriously asked "What about my Grandma who is in Heaven? Can we send her a card, too?"  I quickly reassured her that we would definitely send her a card...knowing that somehow I would have to figure out how to accomplish this.  Campbell went on to say "I miss Grandma so much.  Do  you think she can send me a card, too?"  I tried hard not to cry as I reassured her that Grandma is looking down on us and knows we love her and miss her.


So, we stopped and bought 6 "Happy Mother's Day" balloons on our way to my aunt's house.  One for each great-grandchild who would be there.  After eating our lunch, each of the children signed their name to a balloon and several wrote a message to Grandma.  We released the balloons and sent them to Heaven to wish Grandma a "Happy Mother's Day".  The kids loved watching the balloons sail into the sky and the grown ups all tried not to cry as were all really missing Grandma today.

As the balloons were flying away, Campbell said to me: "I did something good, didn't I?  I think she likes them."  I hugged her tight and told her that she did something great and I knew Grandma loved the "Happy Mother's Day" wishes they sent to Heaven.

5 on Friday

Here are 5 reasons I'm loving my girls this week:

1. Most parents have kids that like to sneak candy...and while my kids love candy, we don't keep any in the house so they like to sneak and eat frozen peas! Here is photographic evidence:

2. "Questions"
Every day after school, the first thing the girls ask for when getting into the van is to watch the DVD player.  It was frustrating because I felt like I was never talking to them and when I did, they didn't want to talk to me...they just wanted to watch Dora.  So, I started a new policy.  To get me to turn the DVD player on, they have to answer at least 3 questions each.  We already to "roses and thorns" at dinner (ask questions about good and not-so-good things from their day), so I decided these questions will be more trivia-like.  We have all really enjoyed them!  I ask them things like simple animal trivia, simple addition and subtraction word problems, completing a pattern, how to spell Maggie's name (which she has mastered, by the way!), etc.  Yesterday when I asked how many questions each girl wanted, Maggie said 5 and Campbell said 124!  If you have any suggestions for trivia type questions or even simple riddles, I'd love to hear them!

3. Maggie was "reading" Robbie's shirt the other night and we thought it was too funny.  Here is a transcript in case it's hard to understand...
"I love me.  I love sister.  I love Chamberlain. I love Mommy!"  (Mrs. Chamberlain is Campbell's teacher and Maggie's future teacher)

4. One of our favorite things about warm weather is eating outside on our back porch.  We only have a small bistro-size table back there, but we make do and we love it!

5.  Campbell has such a sweet heart and spirit. This week she was signing some cards that they picked out for Mother's Day for Robbie's mom, his Grandma Compton, and my mom.  Campbell asked if she could send a card to her Grandma who died and is in Heaven.  She went on to say that she misses her so much and really hopes that Grandma would send her a card from Heaven.  I'm pretty sure on Sunday there will be cards and balloons available to send Grandma her Mother's Day message in Heaven...

Strawberry Festival

This week the town of Fort Mill held their annual strawberry festival.  While our schedule kept us from partaking in many of the events, we were able to find time to work in an all-you-can-eat strawberry pancake breakfast.

After eating our weight in strawberry pancakes, we couldn't leave without some strawberry doughnuts. 

5 on Friday

Here are 5 reasons I'm loving my girls this week:

1.  My girls are cuddlers.  Seriously, great cuddlers.  Somehow we have recently started a tradition of the 3 of us girls laying together on the couch after their bath under a blanket and just cuddling for a few minutes.  I love it.  I call them my "cuddle bugs".

2.  Soccer continues to be something...fun...for all of us.  I'm  not sure that Campbell is really learning much about soccer although her long-suffering coach (AKA "Daddy") is trying his best...

Maggie thinks Daddy needs an assistant coach and she's ready for the job!

3.  This was posted in Campbell's classroom this week:

I got so sad seeing this.  We are planning a trip this summer to Texas to see the Popes and it can't come fast enough!

4. The girls are so cute at gymnastics!   They are having so much fun with it and are really fun to watch!

 

 

5. We went to a birthday party for Campbell's old friend, Boston, this past weekend at the bowling alley.  The girls had a great time and long after the boys had tired of bowling and wandered over to the arcade, Campbell and Maggie were still at it!

Come See Me 2013

Rock Hill has an annual festival called Come See Me and it's perfect for families! We enjoy going every year. It was a little bittersweet this year, though, as it is usually an event we attend with our former neighbors, the Popes. We were really missing them! The "mascot" of the festival is Glen the Frog, so I thought their outfits were perfect!

  

One of Campbell's favorite events is the Frog Jump...not so much Maggie's or mine!  Poor froggie, "Isabella", I don't know if she'll ever be quite the same...

This is Maggie's opinion of the frog jump:

 The girls also enjoyed ice cream and a story with Mother Goose.

At the Nothing But Trucks exhibit, Campbell dressed up in search and dive gear!

Maggie just loves sunglasses, no matter who they belong to!

 

Playing the drums at the music festival was a hit, too! Robbie and I really think Campbell might have a future in music.  She loves instruments, especially the violin and flute. We're looking into violin lessons this summer for her if we can find someone who will teach someone her age.

 

Chalk on Main is another popular event.  I don't have any pictures of them drawing on the sidewalk because they were more interested in playing with the beach balls donated by a local bank and playing with their friends from school who we saw there. But I just thought this picture of Maggie was so sassy, I had to include it.  :)

Catching up...a snow surprise!

In my efforts to continue some catch up posts from the holidays, here is one about a very special day!

All winter Campbell asked about when the snow would come.  She was very concerned when it didn't snow at Christmas.  So, Robbie and I planned a special surprise a few days after Christmas.  Robbie's grandmother lives near Greenville, which conveniently is on the way to the mountains.  So, we packed the girls up and told them we were going to go see her for a Christmas visit.  We snuck snowsuits and sleds into the back of the van and covered them up.

The girls really enjoyed the visit with their Grandma Compton.  One perfect note: on Christmas Eve, Campbell told us she wanted to ask Santa for a telescope.  We let her know that unfortunately, Santa was already in his sleigh making his rounds.  It was perfect timing for Grandma Compton to swoop in and save the day with the gift of a telescope!  She also gave Maggie a Doc McStuffins doctor's kit that they really enjoyed examining Grandma Compton with!

After having a really sweet visit with Grandma Compton, we piled the girls into the van and pretended to head home.  Instead of heading home, though, we headed to the public sledding hill at Beech Mountain for an afternoon of fun!  The girls seemed oblivious so about 10 miles away from the sledding hill at Beech Mountain, we told Campbell...you can tell she was very excited!

It was very cold so Maggie and I sledded a couple of times and then warmed up in the van...Campbell and her cold-loving daddy had a blast and went down the hill many times!

Here is a video of Campbell sledding.  She loved it although I was very nervous because she went so fast!


The sign of a successful adventure?

It was so much fun and hopefully will be the first of many such snow adventures!

We did finally get some snow in Rock Hill and of course, Campbell especially was so excited!

5 on Friday

Here are 5 reasons I'm loving my girls this week:

1. Maggie is very into her imagination these days.  The other night before dinner I told the girls to go wash their hands.  Maggie walked up to her play kitchen and pretended to wash her hands.  When I told her she had to go wash her hands "for real" she insisted she already had washed them.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to wash them "again" in the bathroom sink!

2. Last week was clothing week at Campbell's school.  She wore Robbie's shoes for "Who's shoes?" day and one of my old Carolina Cup hats for "Hat day".  Her teacher said she was actually able to walk better than any of us expected in Robbie's shoes ;)

3.  Maggie and I have been enjoying going to Campbell's soccer games and practices!  We color, eat a picnic dinner, play on the playground near the fields, and take pictures of ourselves!

4.  The girls and I totally copied another friend's idea to make a "fairy garden".  We had a great time shopping for the pieces and putting it all together!  (I also think it's pretty cool that I was able to use some of the leftover beach stones that Robbie and I brought back from our trip to California!)

5.  We attended Maggie's open house for Macfeat preschool yesterday.  She is excited about going to school where her big sister has gone for the past two years.  I can't believe our baby is going to preschool next year...which also means that Campbell will be going to kindergarten!  Where did the years go?  Here is Maggie playing on the playground at her new school.

San Antonio

Robbie and I got to go on a rare trip without the girls to San Antonio over Spring Break.  I was presenting at the national Council for Exceptional Children conference and Robbie attended the conference.  My friend, and co-teaching partner, Melissa and I presented on co-teaching students with significant disabilities.

Robbie and I had a great time exploring the River Walk and seeing such sights as the Alamo...which was exactly what I pictured, just not where I pictured.  It was in the middle of downtown right across the street from Ripley's Believe It or Not and a Fuddruckers and definitely seemed out of place!

We got to visit with an old friend from South Carolina that I used to teach with. Caroline and her husband moved to San Antonio last year and are expecting their first baby in a few months!

We also got to meet one of my fellow preemie moms from a private message board I'm on that I've "known" for years!  We met up to go for a run since she is a fellow triathlete (and I knew my tri coach would ask if I'd worked out on vacation!).  Alicia took me to a part of the River Walk (away from the tourists) that was beautiful!  She also brought her beautiful kids to our hotel and we got to visit with the three of them.  Little Savannah is a doll and her big brother, Kevin, became best buddies with Robbie!





The girls stayed with my aunt, dad, and sister and had a blast while we were gone! We are so thankful that they were so well taken care of while we were gone!  Thanks, FA, Pop, and Sara!