Oh, I did not think they would have these. That was the old days.

Summer, I love you!

Well School is out for summer!

We have been home less than a week and we are so thankful that summer has finally arrived. We have had a very nice adjustment week but it has been an adjustment. Anyone that have kids home for the summer know that there is an adjustment week. Charlie and Carrie Beth participated in Bible School at Bethesda. They had a great time "down under!". We have enjoyed our 3 days off and are looking forward to Myrtle Beach tomorrow!

Myrtle Beach!

Here we come!

We are on the way to Myrtle Beach for 2 weeks. I have been looking forward to this trip for almost 1 year. We are staying in an ocean front condo. The first week we have a 1 bedroom condo and the second week we have a 2 bedroom penthouse. I can't wait to post the pictures of our trip!

Fred is trying to decide when he should come to MB. Mom and Dad will be there most of the time!

I am soooo excited! After today, one more day of work and I will be packing for the trip!!!

Kids are out and I am still working.

What is up with that?

Well, we are all miserable. Just kidding. I am still at work and the kids are attending summer camp at BCA. Really, the kids are having fun at camp it is just getting up and getting there. (And the thought of getting up and out during summer break is just wrong.)

The big excitement of summer camp was the train wreck on June 10th. The summer camp took the kids to Pullen Park on the Amtrak train. What a great idea, until a car intentionally sits on the tracks and caused a train wreck. Well, everyone on the train was ok. The kids with camp did not even feel the crash. They just heard the horn for a really long time. Evidently, the delay was really cool. They sang song, ate pretzels, went to the bathroom (many times), and watched the EMS, Firemen, and Police come through and check the train. All and all, it was an interesting day. After the train delay the kids went to Pullen Park for a picnic. The media followed them to the park and filmed the group as they walked up the trail. They looked so sweet. Ms. Carrol did a nice job talking to a reporter. I know I am thankful that the kids were safe. But, I do have to admit I was (surprisingly) a little overwhelmed with the "what ifs".

I am hugging my kids a little extra tight these days!

Love,

N

It's a BIG day at BCA! Year Book's are distributed!

Be BIG, Be an Imitator of God. Be BIG, Behtesda.

Be big, Be an Imitator of God: Ephesians 5:1

The title of the 2008-2009 year book. Wow! is all I can say. A huge shout out to Erica Badenchini, Senior Editor, and the entire year book staff! I am so impressed with this year book! This book journals the activities of the Bethesda Christian Academy 2008-2009 year starting with the end of 2008, ten reasons our staff is the BEST, and What does it mean to Belong? Each page has a title that begins with the letter B: Beautiful, Blessed, Becoming, Bread, Brother, Bind, Be, Believe, Battle, Bold, Because, Breath, and Beautiful. The Cover (Wow) is, surprise...surprise...a huge letter "B" with each student's picture on the cover. (Now that is brave!)

Each grade level is featured with teacher, student, and fun group photos. BCA's special events: Race to Win, DeLights, Meet me at the Pole, Agape Love Mission, Mina Project, Jump rope for the Heart, Night at the Museum, St. Baldricks, PTF Spaghetti Dinner, Movie under the Stars, PTF Silent Auciton, Art Fair, Field trips, Reading with Grandparents, Middle School Retreat, and Operation Christmas Child are all highlighted. Sports and BCA Spirit are properly recognized! GO BCA!! Clubs are recognized, the band is praised, and Veteran's are remembered. Not to mention the fact that this is a Business!! Parents and businesses have ads on display.

Wow, we have got an awesome reminder of our school year. Thank you BCA for not only thinking BIG but giving us a BIG reminder that we go to the BEST school in the RDU area!

My BABY is getting BIG!!! :(

Charlie is getting very big! He likes to 'help' to Fred. Last week they mowed the grass together {I think it took about 2.5 hours}. Charlie was a GREAT helper!! {Grin}.

...up the hill

down the hill...Charlie and Fred Spring 2009

Best Friends

Carrie Beth has lots of good friends. She is a great playmate and when the girls get together they play for hours without a word. I love to have CB's friends over to our house!


Carrie Beth and Hope have been great friends (BFF) since Kindergarten. CB and Hope love to play together. They have another BFF (Louise not pictured) the three of them get along like three peas in a pod.

Silly faces

CB doing a cheer leading stance!

Don't even ask me how CB enjoyed cheer leading this year. Ha! Love, Nicole

What did Charlie do while I was at Book Club?

Charlie has enjoyed lots of time roller blading while I was at book club! Our new neighbors have 2 children Jacob and Grace. Charlie loves to play with them. Their Mom, Jainie, took them for a walk and Charlie wore his roller blades. So this is what he came home with...

elbow
...shoulder

Charlie is rough and tough! He is very proud that he did not cry. He finished his walk with his friends. All is well that ends well! Love, Nicole

Book Club April 2009

We had a lot of fun at book club this month! This was the first time that I had been in about 2-3 years. It had been too long and I am glad to be back! On the first Friday night of each month a group of girls get together to fellowship, eat, and discuss a book. This month we discussed Carrie Fisher's memoir. Everyone thought it was pretty good. Personally, I found this book to be really sad.

It was great to catch up with my friends. Everyone had exciting news. Jan and Terri's kids are going to Carolina. Melissa is ranked 2 in her class! Go Melissa! AND, Heather is expecting her first child. Wow! We are going to have a lot of fun conversations over the next few months. Thanks, for welcoming me back to book club. I love you, girls!

A week in Review

Charlie and I had a great weekend home alone. Friday night Charlie and Jayce played outside until dark. Jay took them for a long ride on the scooters. They had a great time. I let Charlie stay up as late as me by 11:30 he was begging me to go to bed. Since Fred was gone he slept with me. Philly was a very good girl this weekend.

Saturday Charlie and Jayce went to Frankie's Fun Park to celebrate Jayce's 11th birthday. They had a ball. Happy Birthday, Jayce! I had a GLORIOUS day on Saturday! I caught up on my blogs, played on the Internet, and just enjoyed the time alone. Saturday night Charlie got to play with lots of his friends and Deborah and I had a girls night out. We enjoyed driving the Corvette around town. We went to church, dinner, and a movie. It was a good time.

Fred and Carrie Beth got home from camp about 12 o'clock on Sunday afternoon.

Back to homework this week. We survived. Mrs. McCracken had her baby last Friday and Mrs. Jones took over in Charlie's class. Overall, they had a great week. I am so glad that they were able to find someone that is so nice and QUALIFIED!! I certified teacher to finish the last 4 weeks of school! How great is that?

Carrie Beth had a great week. She wore her PJ's to school on Wednesday because she thought it was Wacky Tacky Day (it was not.) Then she cried and refused to change into her regular clothes. After a quick conversation with Mrs. McDonald, she changed and all was well. Until later in the day she decided to turn in all her seat work (without doing it) and moved on to the fast finisher work. So, on Thursday night she got to complete all of her seat work from Wednesday. She cracks me up!

Charlie is working on learning the United States of America. He is getting really good at it! We have been working on it together and he has been playing games on shepperdsoftware.com. Charlie worked with Dr. Lucy on Monday and Tuesday. I really think that she helps him focus!

Wednesday night we participated in a tennis clinic with Tim Wilkerson and Rex Miller. It was fun to play. I think we are going to start participating in the tennis activities. I would like to get into the game again. The kids really enjoyed the lesson with Mark Trail. People come from all over NC for their children to take lessons and work with Mark Trail. We are right across the street.......

A week in Review

We had a great week! It was the kid's first week back from Spring Break AND they had Standardized Testing. They both took the Stanford 9 test this week. Testing is always a fun week due to the NO HOMEWORK policy. No homework is ALWAYS a blessing. Both students enjoyed the testing. Charlie said that he used smart guessing if he did not know the answers. Carrie Beth did not really say anything about the testing.

Happy Birthday Pascaline! Charlie's teacher had her baby today!

Carrie Beth seemed very emotional this week. She was up on Monday and Tuesday before I left for school. By Wednesday she was exhausted.

Charlie
Charlie worked with Dr. Lucy and Thea 4 days this week. I am really excited that Dr. Lucy was able to work him in her schedule. He has had 5 hours of treatments and 2 more are scheduled.
Charlie did not sleep in his bed all night. Sure do not know what to do about that.

As far as sleeping goes, I have been waking up about 5AM and being able to go back to sleep. I hate that. But, it has been making me go to bed earlier. Yeah!

Fred and I are starting to work out at the Brightleaf Club. We have been having fun. We are participating in the Brightleaf Biggest Looser contest. You get points for exercising, losing weight, etc. This week I went to 1 complementary class and 1 power workout. Next week I hope to do more. Fred went to 2 power workouts.

Fred and Carrie Beth are headed to Camp Seagull for a weekend of Indian princesses FUN! They had lots of fun items on the agenda. I am looking forward to hearing lots of stories.

Our Cousin Virginia

During Spring Break Nano and Papo kept Charlie and Carrie Beth so that Fred and I could work. They also got Virginia so they could enjoy some cousin time. I met Dad in Burlington at this fabulous McDonald's. The kids had a great time playing and eating lunch. This This was the first time that we have seen Virginia since Christmas. It was very good to see her. We just love her so much. Hopefully we will be able to visit with her for a week or two this summer!

Monkey Joe's

A day with Charlie! Fred and Carrie Beth went to an Indian Princesses meeting on Sunday afternoon. So, Charlie and I wanted to do something just as fun. We tried out Monkey Joe's. Charlie had a great time there. He says that he is going to have his birthday there.

How often do your kids talk about where they are going to have their birthday party? At least once a week for me!

Mrs. McCracken's Baby Shower

The second graders at BCA showered Mrs. McCracken with love and gifts on April 8th. Both classes pitched in to make the party super fabulous!

Lots of gifts...

Lots of great food...
The menu for the event was cheese and crackers, cup cakes with cute baby rattles and shoes on them, strawberries, orange juice, and chocolate milk. The favorite item on the menu for the students were the cheese and crackers.

Charlie gave her a Hanna Andersson dress (pink) and a Brighton key chain with a locked for a picture. He was very proud of his gift. We are so excited that Mrs. McCracken is having a girl!

Charlie's New Bed

We have been looking for a new mattress for Charlie for about a month. We ordered one from the Mattress Warehouse but it never came in. Charlie enjoyed shopping for the mattress. He would go in a store and try all of the mattresses. He knew what he liked and what was not comfortable he really wants a Tempur-pedic but seriously, I am not paying $1000 for a twin mattress, he is 8 after all. Anyway, we shopped at least 6 places for a mattress. We never made a decision so when he went to Asheboro for Spring Break (camp grandma) Nanoo bought him a new mattress.

The whole idea of buying a new mattress is that the one he has is not comfortable. We are hopeful that Charlie will start sleeping in his room. He has a (bad) habit of coming to our room and sleeping on the decorative pillows. So far, one night in the bed and 2 nights on the decorative pillows.

I still have hope!

Spring Break is FINALLY here

We have made up all of the snow days and our holiday is finally here! Yeah!

Easter Eggs

Spring is in the air and Easter is on the way! Saturday evening (at Food Lion of all places) I picked up a couple dozen eggs and the dying supplies for Easter Eggs. Sunday afternoon was spent beautifying the eggs. All this was done with no screaming, crying, and falling on the floor kicking (by me). You all know how I feel about crafts!

Every year around Easter the Cornell's get together with the Noon's and the kids dye eggs. We (Karen and I) started this tradition several years ago. Karen is always in charge. I do everything she says, I am not crafty at all and the thought of dying Easter Eggs tries my nerves. Karen is very patient and crafts are right up her alley. So, she is in charge I am her assistant and it is always a good time! This year our schedules did not line up so Karen was unable to assist (take charge of this event) so I (the un-crafty one) had to step up and get the project underway. I boiled 1 1/2 dozen eggs per kid, bought 2 types of dye, and we were in business. Look at the happy faces!

We had a good time! Cornell's, we missed you! But, we survived the project and had tons of fun! Next year, we look forward to continuing this fun event with the Cornell's.

What a beautiful day! It has been overcast but not RAINING!! Yeah! We are about done with the rainy season in NC. Seriously, I do not know how people manage in Seattle. The kids have enjoyed an afternoon outside. Charlie has enjoyed his mini bike all afternoon. He stopped when it ran out of gas! Charlie found a small ditch full of water that he went through at least 100 times. Carrie Beth rode her power wing and her electric scooter.

January, Feburary, March...

Well, tomorrow is April 1st! What happened to the first quarter of the year? I wanted to document our life and we have been so busy (lazy) that I can not even remember what we have done over the last couple of months.

January

In January we had several snow days. Charlie and Carrie Beth had tons of fun! We missed several school days during high school final exams. I tried to enjoy the snow days and put MHS in the back of my mind. It was stressful for me and fun for them. Now, the last day of March, it is OK...I survived January and it will be easier next time. Both of the kids spent many hours in the snow. As much as I hate to admit it I always hope for the snow day! Charlie LOVES the snow. He would play outside for hours. He would dig, roll, slide, sled, run, and totally enjoy himself. Of course, he would be soaking wet when he came inside. I do not know how he continued to play outside when he was wet, cold and happy.


One Friday afternoon when the weatherman called for snow for the weekend I took the kids to the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk. We (Charlie, Carrie Beth and I) walked up and down every isle of Food Lion. I told the kids that they could buy anything they wanted. This was (by far) the best they had ever behaved in the grocery store. We bought lots of great junk!! The 2 things that they enjoyed the most were the cereal straws and rice crispy treats. Now I know how to get them to drink their milk! Carrie Beth still talks about the time we went to the grocery store and (mom) let us buy anything we wanted.

Another Friday night in January, The kids and I met Becky's family for dinner. Right after school I called Becky and we decided to meet 1/2 between Durham and Greensboro for dinner. So, we headed to toward Greensboro and they headed towards Durham. We met at the Red Robbin in Burlington. We enjoyed a great dinner but were not ready to part ways so we went to the McDonald's play land right around the corner. This was the nicest McDonald's I have ever been to. The kids played for about an hour and a half. Becky and I were able to have an adult conversation. It was great. None of us wanted to leave...but we did make plans to meet again.

February
We have many celebrations in February! Right after Valentines Day we celebrate Fred's Birthday. We had a low key Valentines day. I know we did something but I truly can not remember what it was. Fred brought me a bunch of beautiful flowers. Surely, I had fabulous gifts for the kids. If I remember I will give an update. My dear friend Sharon was married on Fred's birthday. So, Charlie and Carrie Beth had to take care of Fred on his birthday. I woke them up before I left for work to remind them of their birthday duty. The 3 of them celebrated by going to the Brightleaf Club for an oyster roast. I headed to Greensboro to spend the afternoon with my Peace College Roommate, Becky! We love catching up and I totally enjoyed spending time with her 3 girls. Of course, time passed and the day came and went way to fast. I went to Sharon's wedding with Becky and Andy (just like old times)! It was a great night. If I could pick my neighbor...It would be Becky.

March
Charlie turned 8 on March 10th!! Charlie wanted a sleepover for his birthday party. OK, so that is what we did...I picked up Charlie and 3 of his friends from school. I took them to Frankie's Fun Park for Lasar Tag and Putt Putt. After the festivities at Frankie's we came home for more laser tag, pizza, ice cream cake, loud running around, gifts, and tons of fun! One of the boys spent the night. I think the boys enjoyed the party. I know Charlie did!! I also celebrated a birthday in March. I am one year away from a BIG one!

We had another surprise snow day in March. Still tons of fun. Charlie played outside most of the day but Carrie Beth was not to interested. She was recovering from the 12 hour stomach bug.

Happy New Year

We rung in the new year with the Ost! They served up a fabulous spread with caviar, shrimp, Dreama's famous potato salad, and lots of other yummys. We love our neighbors! The kids put on several "plays" and we all enjoyed our time together.

New years day was uneventful. I have started Flylady (again) and hopefully, will continue in my personal quest for a less chaotic life. So this time I am going to (do my best) follow her routines. I will let you know how this shapes up. So far, I have made my baby step for today. You should see my sink it looks awsome. I am going to try to get Becky to come with me on the Flylady adventure.