Museum of Life and Science--Carter's 1st Preschool Field Trip

I'm currently stalling while Cameron grabs a little nap. She got up early for the dr this morning and then needed some quiet time in her bed. Triples at HT started last Wednesday and I couldn't get motivated to get all my coupons organized so I passed. But something came over me this morning to want to get some things together and go, so I'm letting Cameron get a little nap in before heading to HT. Hopefully it's worth my trip and effort since its the last day of the sale.

My mom had a few days off from work around Labor Day so she wanted to do something with us during the day. So I suggested the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. It's kinda pricey but I was able to catch a B1G1 coupon online. We headed out to Durham and made a day of it.
Carter's first Preschool Field Trip :)


Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
Here is Carter using a large scale microscope to see small insects


Animals: There are lots of barnyard animals. Cameron is a fan of cows but she was rather scared of this one. There is also a dinosaur trail and live bears and wolves. The bears were hiding but I was able to spot 2 wolves.


Picnic Lunch & playing music


Carter was super excited to ride the train! The train costs extra but was a fun treat when we returned from our picnic lunch.


Touching "clouds", Measuring himself & rolling balls

15 months

This morning, we got up EARLLLY (so we could go during 1st block planning so Aaron could join us) for Cameron's 15 month check up with Dr. Langdon. Carter was super chatty about wolfpack football, telling her that the bad guys lost, about the fireworks and tunnel and marching band, etc. We had to ask him to be quiet so she could talk. Cameron is growing, growing, growing...

Cameron at 15 months:
Weight: 27lb 7.5oz (96%)
Length: 33.25inches (off the chart)
Head: 46.4cm (60%)

I looked back at Carter's numbers and Cameron is almost 2lbs heavier and 1.25 inches taller.

Cameron got 2 shots & a flu shot and Carter got the flu mist for the first time.

All is well with our healthy children. :) Praise the Lord!

I want a drum for Christmas

That's the discussion that has taken place after the first 2 NC Football games this year. Carter wants a GIGANTIC bass drum (like the kind that you wear on your chest) and he wants Cameron to get some cymbals. I think this new love all came about after the band played right in front of our tailgate spot.







He's not just partial to the band...he loves the football team and the cheerleaders and mascots too. Carter is really enjoying the games this year, even this weekend's game which was cold and rainy.

Be intentional

Cameron on our trip to the Life & Science Museum in Durham


I'm tryyyyyyyyyyyyyying to be more intentional about things...one of them being updating this blog. Ahhhhh!
I was doing an online survery about Cameron's development for her upcoming 15 month appointment this month and one of the questions what asking if she said more than 4 words other than Mama & Dada. So I started thinking of them...

Here's a few things about Cameron at 14 months:
*Says Dog, Bow, Fish, Bye-Bye, Hey, Ball, Book, Baby, Pack Pack (for Wolfpack!), Door, Down, No & Mine (These last 2 she's been saying for a couple months!), Nana, Papa, Rock Rock, Tickle,
*Signs Thank you, More & Please (and sometimes says the words along with the sign)
*Counts along with Carter-more like humming along
*Cameron sleeps about 12 hours each night
*Naps for 2.5-3 hours
*When she wakes up earlier than I want her to, she willingly plays in her bed with her babies.
*Loves to read. Sometimes you'll find her reading a book by herself somewhere
*Loves animals. Her favorites(for sound making purposes)are dog, cat, horse and cow.
*She's a great eater. But so was Carter at this age. And she has her mommy's sweet tooth. Sometimes you'll see her dancing in place at the sight of something yummy.
*Wears Size 4 diapers & Size "18 months" but most of her clothes are 12-18/18-24m.
*Recently became interested in blowing a kiss
*It so neat to watch Carter & Cameron interact. In the car, Carter likes to ask her questions just to get to her say No repeatedly. One night he kept asking if he could have some icecream when we got home over and over again. Everytime he would ask, she would start out soft saying no and then she was eventually yelling no at him.

Happy Birthday Derrick!

Yesterday, we headed to Greensboro to spend the afternoon with my brother on his birthday. My dad & Aaron were there...just not in any pictures of these pictures.
Despite very short naps in the car, the kids did well during lunch at Mellow Mushroom & then we headed back to his apartment for cupcakes and icecream. The kids enjoyed yummy desserts, running around, jumping off the fireplace and wrestling with Uncle Derrick!

Carter's First Day of Preschool

On August 29, we embarked on a little adventure we refer to as Preschool...at home. :) This is another area that I must be intentional. Carter is a very smart 3 year old without someone sitting down and forcing him to learn. He learned most of his letter with the help of an alphabet puzzle with individual letters. If he couldn't remember the name of the letter, he could remember a word that started with that letter.
With the resources of the Partnership for Children of Johnston County, we've found some great stuff. I've also had a friend pass on lots of workbooks and a huge binder of A beka K4 materials. Now I have to figure out when I want to "plan". For me, I must have a plan to feel intentional. As a former teacher, I was able to "wing it" if I needed to but I want our time together to matter. So there have been intention days thus far and there have been not so intentional days. We do preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but there have been days were Carter requested to do school on a Tuesday or Thursday so we still do activities together then too. One day, he even requested to do school after naptime.


Looking like Handy Manny

So far, we've focused on the letters: B,C,D,E,F,M,N. We practice writing the letters, picking out words that start with that letter, do flashcards for each letter, do activities on starfall. These letter were chosen based on the kits available to check out at the Partnership. We've spent time on a few colors: Yellow, Blue, Red. Carter struggled with wanting to know his colors. Like most kids, he went through a phase where everything was Red, or Blue or Green. Occasionally, he'll now confuse orange and yellow. We've worked out sorting bears based on color and shape and even used a scale for fun, an interview about his grandparents for Grandparent's Day, made a birthday card for Minnie, Did alphabet puzzle matching game. We've talked about jobs and cereal. When talking about cereal, Carter would roll a di and he would have to count the number and pick out that many pieces of Fruit Loops to string on a necklace (and I would tell him which colors to choose). We've done activities on rhyming words and worked on coloring pictures that feature different shapes. It's interesting to observe Carter. On our first day, I had tons of activities planned but then I remembered he's getting one on one tutoring so things go a lot faster. There have been times where he'll ask me to color the Mop for M because he's tired. :) Not sure how that would go in a regular preschool setting. It would probably result in him not completing the exercise and instead pretending his crayons are football players. :)
Speaking of crayons, they have legs. I think I've already lost an entire box of 24...unless Cameron is hiding them somewhere.



Trying to keep Cameron entertained


Starfall.com

Enter to win...

Hey friends. I love blogs, I love to win things and I love to share cool things with people. Sooooo...I suggest you check out the blog Prayer of Hannah today! There just recently updated their page and are offering a giveaway full of 15 preschool activities. If you don't have a preschooler, you could enter and send me the prize if you win! ;) You have until Thursday at midnight...so check it out! :)

Aaron's last day of summer

We found ourselves running an errand in Fuquay (3 years late) and I was reminded of people rave about yummy icecream at Sunni Sky's so we stopped in for lunch! ;) I can't give a real personal opinion as I am still on the soft foods diet (for some reason I ordered a waffle cone) so I guess I'll have to plan to go back again soon.


Cameron sharing a sample with Aaron


They love each other!


She gets all into her icecream



/>Forcing a smile...my mouth still hurts.


Hanging out outside

Partnership for Children

We recently purchased a membership at the Partnership for Children of Johnston County after hearing a friend rave about this place. For $20 a year, you have access to tons boxes full of games, books that teach on a variety of subjects, or toys, books, movies, games, etc. for infant, toddler, preschool, & elementary school age for up to 3 weeks at the time. You can check out 3 boxes and 4 other items at a time (or 7 items total). You also have access to their die cut machine (bring your own paper), laminater ($1/foot), and copy machine (can't remember price). You can also attend the Tots and Tales (Literacy Program) that meets the 2nd Thurs of the month at 10:30 and your family gets the featured book of the day to take home, and you may attend the parent workshops, etc. Great resource!! We are currently enjoying boxes on insects & bees(since Cameron, Carter and myself have all been stung in the past 3 weeks) and a box of baby dolls for Cameron and a couple other books on bugs. We will use this resource as we do preschool at home starting this fall. :)

This past Thursday, we went for the first Tots & Tales. The featured book was Are you my Mother? We already have the book, but now we have the English/Spanish version. ;) We read the book and then colored a bird/put feathers on the bird. There was also a flannel boards for the kids. All in all, it was a fun time and Aaron joined us since he goes back to school...tomorrow. :(





Believe it OR NOT, I am currently caught up so I plan to go back and highlight some of our fun times. Plan...haha.

Watermelon Slices

My mom has made Cameron a couple outfits for this summer and we wanted to get some pictures of her in one while eating watermelon. :) She LOVES watermelon. Watermelon has been a great treat for her when she's teething.

Coordination

I find much enjoyment in coordinating the kid's clothes. I guess it's as close as I'll get to dressing twins! ;)

I'm just too wise!

At the beginning of August I started having some wisdom tooth pains and it kept getting worse to where my ear hurt, my throat hurt, my neck was swollen, I couldn't open my mouth to eat so I headed to the dentist. He said I was having pain from the way the tooth was coming in and that I would continue to have pain until they were removed. He gave me some antibiotics to take. So at check out time, I said I just needed to go through with the process and get them removed. Flash back to when I was a teenager: My parent's dentist told me I should have them removed...for some reason I didn't believe him. And now I am paying for it twice...financially & physically. After get married and finding this dentist in Clayton, they have recommended I have them removed but they didn't do anesthesia in their office and gave me some places I could contact...and of course I didn't. :) Ok, back to last Wednesday--Now our dentist office offers anesthesia so while I was there, I went ahead and signed up to get them removed...9 days later! and Boy, did I become anxious. The surgeon saw me that day and made sure to give me some anti-anxiety meds to take before the surgery (and they worked!). So on August 12, at 9am I had them removed. I remember them starting my IV...and next thing I remember was throwing up on the kitchen floor when we got home. So for the next few hours I was so nauseous and in a lot of pain and had no appetite. By about 8:30pm last night, I was hungry and was able to keep some mashed potatoes and icecream down. :) I slept great last night and today I was finally able to take a full pill of pain meds. I'm feeling ok, still feeling some pain but I've made sure to rest all day. :) My mom came over around lunch yesterday so Aaron could go to vball practice and then she took the kids to her house after nap and they stayed there last night. So I've enjoyed a restful 24+ hours! :) I'm looking forward to returning to a normal diet soon...but of course I don't want to return too early and be in pain. :)


Before



After & I don't even remember taking this picture! :) haha!

Carter's 1st VBS

August 3-7th, I had the pleasure of accompanying Carter at our church's vbs. This is our first year allowing 3 & 4 year olds (I talked our children's pastor into doing it) to participate and each child had to have an accompanying parent. Carter is slow to warm up to "new" things so I knew the first night would be a challenge. Our theme was Wildwood Forest and we rotated to different stations after we all kicked off in the sanctuary with an intro, skit and group song. The different rotations included more songs, skit, experiment, games and snack. Can you guess Carter's favorite time? The games outside! :) The first night during music, I had to help him do the hand motions while holding his hands. By day 2, he was all into it. Carter learns songs very quickly, is very interested in learning and doing all the hand motions and sings great! :) The kids learned songs from Seeds Family Worship which is a group that all the songs are straight scripture memorization. So this week he learned: Psalms 34:10, 40:1-2, Romans 8:38-39, Psalm 62:1-2 & Psalm 34:18! Cameron has even picked up on some of the songs and motions too!


During the skits we learned about Gideon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Paul & Silas, Elisha & Mary & Joseph and that God is undefeatable, unmatchable,uncontainable, unpredictable, unforgettable. Our experiments included making a balloon fly like a bird, making a bag explode, walking through an index card, playing with slime, mentos explosion.
On Saturday night, we had VBS at the White Deer Park with dinner. I spent the next 2 hours icing my hand as I got stung by at bee at dinner.
The game time was a little unorganized at time since we were dealing with 3 & 4 year olds but they just enjoyed running around! :)


Our VBS concluded on the stage during our Sunday Morning service. Carter did a GREAT job sitting quietly on the stage for 1 hour! :) And did a great job on singing the songs. He did need my help on the Romans verse--its long with a lot of motions to remember. Aaron took a video...maybe one day I can get it on here. :) I also took one on my phone...that should be easier to upload.

The dreaded month of August

August is already here and that means volleyball is already here. Volleyball isn't quite as fun with 2 little ones and the biggest downfall is Aaron being so busy. With practices 3 days a week till 5, and games till 7 or 8...it makes for really long days for Aaron and minimal family time. But, it does provide some extra income and 2 tickets to NC State football games...so...we (yes, we) stick with it. Here are a few pictures from this year's volleyball camp. Because Aaron was teaching summer school, the hours of the camp were moved from 9-12 to 1-4. Attendance might have taken a hit because of this, and/or the economy. Either way, he made 1/3 less than he has in the past. THANKFULLY, Aaron was teaching summer school so that helped make up for the low camp numbers.

Punkin'

My grandma has nicknames Carter-Pumpkin but it sounds more like punkin' and Cameron-Sweet Pea. My grandparents have a garden so they bought some pumpkin seeds to plant with Carter so we'd have pumpkins in October. Here's a couple pictures of Carter, Papa Don and Aaron planting about 25 pumpkin seeds.

Boyce Family Reunion

Saturday, July 23rd we headed to Richmond for a family reunion with Aaron's mom's side of the family. The 3 hour trip there started out a little tough as we weren't traveling during Cameron's naptime and she was kinda cranky but we made it. We always meet at a local Italian restaurant that has a room big enough to fit all 40 plus people and has a little arcade to keep the interest of the little ones. We headed back around 4. Though it was a quick trip, it was nice to see family we only see once a year and also to see Aaron's mom, dad, brother & sister. :)

Boring Weekend recap

Yesterday we had a productive Craigslist selling day, did a little cleaning in the garage, washed cars & played in the water. Now if I knew how to upload pics off my phone...I guess I gotta hook my phone up to the computer first. Oh well for now. I hope to come back with pictures to add to the post. Otherwise, I assume its pretty boring! :P
Today I ran to the Kids Exchange 1/2 off and it was nuts in there! Now I know why I volunteer! I discovered a 2t girls row that I NEVER saw on Wednesday night...but that's probably a good thing. I walked through there and Carter's section but nothing good jumped out to me. I had 2 books in my stroller but just decided to return them. I wasn't even in the mood to wait in a 10 minute 5 items of less line for $2. Oh well. Gotta head back tomorrow to pick up my unsold items. Pretty sure my infant carseat is still there. I wasn't planning on just selling it for cheap. Oh well-next sell or another local sell?
We went to a joint birthday party tonight for 2 kids in Carter's preschool class at church.
I'll try to add some pictures of our BEAUTIFUL kids tomorrow since you haven't seen them since March! :P

A Saturday with "nothing" planned...yet

Morning! It's a little before 10. Aaron is about the wrap up swim lessons, Carter is relaxing on the couch watching some videos on my phone (he loooves to do this) and Cameron is still quiet in her crib. Today there is currently nothing on our schedule...to be productive or unproductive around the house is the question?!
I survived my Kids Exchange working shift yesterday! :) And had lots of fun. Reminded me of my Old Navy cashier days. My schedule was 8:30-6:30 with a 30 minutes lunch. We didn't really start working till after 9, but the time was flying by because we were so busy all day! I had no idea it was already 1:15 when someone came to relieve me for lunch break. I opted to just sit down for 30 minutes instead of shop! :P It was crazy because I thought I saw everything in Cameron's clothes sections but I still checked out people with cute girls stuff in Cameron's size that I never saw. I enjoyed chatting with the shoppers and everyone was so pleasant too. It was funny to chat with first time shoppers and how overwhelmed they were! :) I remember those days! I finished with my last customers at 6:29 and headed home. Sure, yesterday was a long day but I enjoyed it, I worked hard and I enjoyed my benefit of shopping at 3pm on Wednesday. So I'll plan to do it again! :)
Last night we enjoyed pizza for dinner & had snoballs at Pelicans. (: Carter doesn't really like snoballs. He's maybe good for 5 bites and then he's done.
I hear Cameron starting to cry...I squeezed in another quick update. Happy Nothing To Do Saturday! :)

Other people's blogs

Today, a friend sent me a link to read some random person's blog...and I found myself really enjoying it. And then I remembered, I have a blog myself?!? So...attempt #1,000 to update semi regularly this blog. (; Wish me luck!
I must start with the present...and go to the past if time allows.
This week has been super busy for Aaron and myself. Aaron is teaching summer school for the first time and running the high school's vball camp in the afternoon. Talk about long days and then I've had him out and about after those hours. Monday, he joined me at the Kids Exchange to help me put out all our stuff. It took both of us 1 hour & 20 minutes. I treated him to some Bojangles for his help! Then yesterday, he left camp 30 minutes early to shop with me as a super worker for the sale. If you are unfamiliar with the Kids Exchange, you've got to check it out! It's so overwhelming, and fun and full of great deals! We found Cameron a play kitchen for Christmas and some plates and such to go along with it. I wasn't "sold" on the kitchen but it was a great deal and I knew I could resell for more if I found something I liked better. I was excited about the cute shoes I found for Cameron and I always love finding cheap sperrys for Carter. The 4T boys section was tough with stuff I didn't like or prices I didn't like but I went through the entire section. My method of shopping is if I think I like it, through it in the wagon and inspect it later while you rest! ;) Then I had to attack the 18, 24m & 2t girls sections. Mommas of girls are proud of their used clothes! I think some people forget this is a consignment sale. (: I say all that to say that I shopped for 7 hours & 45 minutes. We got in line at 10:45pm, after I entered the building at 3pm. Crazy--I KNOW! :) We scored a $20 carseat for my parents for Cameron, Dulpo legos, Patsy Aiken dresses, Gymboree outfits, State polos & hoodies just to name a few fun finds. We were also on a mission to find a list of things for some friends and were successful for them as well. So after waiting 45 minutes to check out, we left the building at 11:30pm...all the while Cameron was wide awake at my parent's house (but happy) and Carter was running a fever and later through up before we headed home. Yesterday was a very long but FUN day! I love good deals! :)
I work tomorrow as a scanner. I'll let you know how that goes.
Now off to dinner at a friend's house! :)

Thankful for the sunshine!

When its sunny outside, we've been out trying to get a dose of Vitamin D. We've enjoyed playing in the backyard and headed to Lake Wheeler one afternoon with Nana.

Snuggly

Aaron's parents came to visit the weekend before Valentine's Day so Aaron and I went out for dinner. When we came back, Cameron sat right beside me on the couch and fell asleep sitting up. Poor Baby recovering from RSV.




So of course I had to snap a picture of Cameron being snuggly.


Gigi & Grandpa came to visit