Fall Fun!

This fall has been filled with field trips and fun.  Leah's class just took a field trip to Kersey Valley, which has several attractions, including a corn maze, pumpkin patch, and outdoor education center.  Leah was chosen to be the "worker bee" for the 2nd grade science demonstration, and Peanut was so proud of her special role:

Leah's teacher was the Queen Bee, of course, and these two are smitten with each other this year.  We love Mrs. Allen!

Leah has the BEST group of girls in her class.  They are kind and sweet, and several of Leah's closest friends and teammates are with her.  We don't take for granted how a class of supportive peers makes all the difference in our children's school years, and we'd like this group to stay together for oh, maybe the next 10 years (until graduation)! 

This is second grade!

Mrs. A's girls.

We made it through the 3+ mile corn maze with the same number of children as when we entered, so we consider that a success!!

My little pumpkin.  

Such a fun day with this cute class!

I also chaperoned two field trips for Luke this fall.  These kids go to the Greensboro Science Center every year, and somehow I thought it would be easier to take a photo of them this time: 

5th grade boys!

They did finally look at me for a second so that I could snap a quick picture, but these boys were constantly in motion all day (so not much as changed since kindergarten in that respect)!

My group was actually quite well behaved, and they are great kids.  We had such a fun day exploring the Science Center!

 Luke's second field trip was to Alamance Battleground, a Revolutionary War site.  Luke was selected to demonstrate the care and cleaning of the canon, and this was a perfect job for him! 

There were Colonial-era reenactors who described various aspects of life in the late 18th century:

The boys were drawn to the military display, and this station was, by far, their favorite:

Fascinated by the firing of the musket.  

I am so grateful that I am able to go on all of these field trips with my kiddos.  It's one of my favorite parts of being a stay-at-home mom, as I get to know their peers, watch the students have fun, and help the teachers with these excursions.  

Back at school, there has been plenty of fun this fall, too.  Leah's buddy, Connor, joined Chess Club this year, and these two look forward to their 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning chess match each week:

These two have been kindred spirits since the beginning of kindergarten...

This special girl was also recognized recently for being the first Terrific Kid in her class this year.  We're so proud of Leah's great character, and she constantly wows us with her insight, intellect, and kindness:

There's been some special birthday fun this fall as I celebrated my 40th.   My dear college friends, the BBs, celebrated the year of our milestone birthdays with a Girls' Weekend in Williamsburg recently.  Mark and the kids spent the weekend at Bean and Poppy's, so their weekend was full of fun, too!   

BBs turn 40!

Love these women and our 20+ year friendship!

Leah, who I described above as being so sweet, made me this birthday card:

"Me and my cane"

This 3-D cane popped out of my card when I opened it!

I'm pretty sure she was egged on by her Daddy, who keeps mentioning that he's still in his 30's for another 1.75 years... but who's counting?!

We found lots of fun in Oak Ridge this fall as our town celebrated its own milestone birthday.  The Town of Oak Ridge turned 20 last month, and there were lots of special events to mark this occasion.

One of these events was a Scavenger Hunt.  Over the course of several weeks, 10 clues were posted which highlighted specific locations in Oak Ridge.  We solved the clues and took a picture of our team at each location.  Prizes were awarded, and our family came in first place!  This was SO much fun to do as a family, and we had a blast.  Here are some of our Scavenger Hunt photos:

 Mark was super disappointed (insert sarcasm here) to miss out on this photo where we went to Town Hall to pick up our prizes (and got to pose with our new 20th annivesary t-shirts): 

The next photo is questionable to fit into this "Fall Fun" blog post, as I think we found first few hours of this adventure to be fun, but it got old pretty fast.  I think I jinxed myself in my last blogpost where I chronicled our September week of Hurrican Florence (and wrote that we didn't lose power).  For the second time within three weeks, a major hurricane hit, and Hurricane Michael was not as kind to our town.  We lost power and water for several days, school was canceled, and there were tons of trees down (including a large pine tree that fell which blocked the entrance/road into our neighborhood).  The kids had many "picnics" close to windows where we could see well enough to read books, and we played board games to stay busy.  We were very fortunate to not have any damage to our house, but we realized how much we appreciate flushing, showers, electricity, and refrigerated food after a couple of days without these things.  

Speaking of counting our blessings, this past weekend, we participated in a 24-hour Bible reading at church.  During our family's time, both kids read aloud, and my heart almost burst.  Such sweet little voices reading God's Word... nothing could be more special to me:

We had a combined worship service on Sunday morning at the conclusion of the Bible Reading, with a chili lunch.  Luke was a judge for the chili cook-off, and our little foodie was in his happy place, tasting all of the chilis and voting for his favorites.  

Life is busy.  Life is full.  What a delight to have a fall filled with so many special things!

September Recap

September was a unique month this year.  We visited Grandpa in Myrtle Beach over Labor Day weekend, and this was an awesome last hurrah to say good-bye to summer!  The kids had just finished their first full week of school, and little did we know that this would be their only 5-day school week until the end of the month.   We enjoyed the long weekend and came back from Myrtle Beach ready to begin our full fall schedule of school and activities.  Leah began taking piano lessons at the end of the summer, and this is an adorable addition to our weekly routine.  (When L&L's piano teacher mentioned that they could perform a duet for the spring recital, I immediately began planning coordinating attire).  With soccer, GoFar running club for both kids, Girl Scouts for Leah, ORES Jumpers for Luke, and Chess Club for everyone, our September looked like it was going to be packed with our favorite things.  Then the news of Hurricane Florence's impending arrival changed several weeks of our month.  

There was a week of build-up and drama as people prepared for the potential impact and devastation that the hurricane may cause to the Carolinas.  We stocked up on bottled water, non-perishable food, and prepared for power outages. We filled up our bathtubs with water and prepared coolers filled with ice.  (Since we have a well, if we lose power, we also don't have running water...).  Grandpa had a mandatory evacuation from Myrtle Beach, and stayed with us until the hurricane passed and he was able to return safely home.  School was dismissed early mid-week, cancelled on Friday, and little did we know, it wouldn't resume until the middle of the next week.  We had previously signed up to have Leah's class guinea pig at our house for the weekend (before the news of the hurricane).  Being a Kiwi Keeper means that Kiwi stays with you until school is back in session, so we ended up picking up Kiwi early and keeping our furry house guest for a week!  

Kiwi came with her own Victoria Secret tote bag, and when Leah's teacher told me that Kiwi's favorite thing is to be wrapped in a blanket and swaddled, I was certain that the joke was on me.  But no, this was for real, and both kids absolutely adored having Kiwi here: 

 Kiwi seemed to recognize Leah, and had a special high-pitched joyful squeak when Peanut held her.  It was very cute, and I wouldn't have said that I'm a rodent person, but Kiwi provided great entertainment for us during the many days of rainy weather.  

Another day, more guinea pig swaddling: 

  

(Of course, now Leah wants a guinea pig for a pet, but I am hopeful that I deterred her by signing up to bring Kiwi home for another weekend in a couple of months...)

The hurricane was extremely slow moving and meant days of dreary weather/being housebound.  We were very fortunate that we didn't lose power (half of our town did, but we were spared), and the road flooding was minimal.  By Saturday, we were stir crazy, and went to SpareTime for a morning of family bowling and arcade games:

We read books, baked cakes, took new Lego sets out from my secret stash, and played in the garage to burn some energy after days of rain.  The kids slept in our room, which is on the first floor and away from any trees that may fall during a storm.  They thought that this was all a wonderful adventure, and I am thankful for their innocence.  After days of being glued to weather reports, Hurricane Florence was over, and we were fine.  Thank you, God! 

The kids finally went back to school on Tuesday, and there was a beautiful rainbow as they waited for the bus that morning.  In fact, many people in our community posted pictures of this rainbow on social media and claimed that it was the biggest and brightest that they had ever seen.  Our Sunday School lesson that week happened to be the story of Noah's ark, and the beautiful rainbow was a poignant reminder of God's promise to us after the storm.

L&L were back to school for exactly one day before they were home again for a scheduled Teacher Work Day on Wednesday.  By this point, we were desperate any activity to get us out of the house, and I remembered that the Guilford County PAGE (Parents and Advocates for Gifted Education) was sponsoring a field trip for members on this day off from school.  The Refuse Road Rally was a behind the scenes, three stop tour where we experienced the path of garbage, yard waste, and recyclables.  As crazy as it may sound, this event was incredible, and we had an amazing time.  

Our first stop was the Guilford County Solid Waste Transfer Station, which is the garbage hub for all of the residential and commercial waste in Greensboro.  We watched garbage trucks arrive at the massive warehouse and tip their loads.  We also learned the process of how that waste is compacted by heavy machinery, weighed, and placed into giant 18-wheelers for transport to the landfill:

Still fascinated by 'struction vehicles!

Our fellow tour participants got a kick out of this sweet, pink little girl, who happily posed for so many picture with garbage:

She was excited to be included in this tour with her big brother!

The kids' comment at the Transfer Station was: "It doesn't smell as bad as we were expecting!"

The second stop on our Road Rally was the White Street landfill, which consists of 184-acres and the highest point in the city of Greensboro.  The landfill was not at all what we pictured, and was actually quite beautiful.  We were able to drive up to the top of the landfill and overlook the city, and all around us was scenic vegetation and mounds of dirt.  The landfill was more like a nature preserve in appearance than a garbage facility, and accepts construction debris and yard waste.  There were workers actively mulching yard waste into fresh mulch and compost material, lots of wildlife, and a peaceful, serene atmosphere.  The only clue that some sections of the landfill hid decades of the city's garbage below the rolling hills were the large methane flares and signage indicating the site's purpose:

The third and final stop of our Refuse Road Rally was the Material Recovery Facility (MRF), where all paper, plastic, metal and glass in Greensboro is recycled.  Over 57 million pounds of recyclable materials were kept out of landfills and able to be repurposed at the MRF last year, and we were able to watch the steps of the sorting and recycling process here.  

This field trip turned out to be a huge highlight of our month, and we are so thankful that we had the opportunity to get this up close look at an important part of our community as a part of our Refuse Road Rally!

By the last week in September, our regular school routine resumed.  The sun came out, soccer games started, and our schedule was once again back to normal:

This is a GREAT season so far for Leah, and we LOVE watching her play!

Go Aqua Dogs!

She amazes us on the field with her fierce determination!

We also had the opportunity to see Dav Pilkey give a special Kids' Keynote in Winston-Salem.  Both kids love this author and have read his Captain Underpants and DogMan series.  The evening was full of games, giveaways, and photos with the characters, and everyone who attended received an autographed copy of Dav Pilkey's newest book.  The kids were starstruck, and this was a great, inspirational, and positive event:

Leah and her friend, Joshua.

Captain Underpants!

Dog Man.

 I'm not sure there will be another month like September.  Lions and tigers and bears have nothing on our hurricane, guinea pig roommate, Refuse Road Rally, and Captain Underpants: Oh My!  

Sports Lessons

Over the past couple of months, we've had the opportunity to participate in some really cool sports activities, which are not only fun, but have provided some valuable lessons.  L&L renewed their Junior Deacon Club memberships, which means that they are able to be VIPs at many Wake Forest sporting events, and we kicked off the fall sports season with a WFU Women's soccer game.  Leah had a front row seat right beside the Deacon, and absolutely loved watching the collegiate soccer players compete:

During halftime, the Junior Deacon Club was invited to go onto the field to kick the ball.  L&L are on the left side of the photo, and had a blast playing in their scrimmage:

Leah has been playing soccer since she was 4, and loves the sport.  It was neat for her to be able to watch the older girls play and see how hard work and dedication to a sport pays off.  The WFU team won in overtime, and after the game, the players autographed a team poster for Leah.  Peanut was in awe of these "celebrities", and they were equally smitten with their cute little fan: 

I also had the chance to be a Wake Forest VIP when I attended WFU Women's Football Camp this summer with a few friends:

These women are in our Life Group at church, and I am so thankful to do "life" with these amazing mamas!

When we signed up for Football Camp, our husbands and kiddos were amused (and possibly incredulous) about our decision to participate.   I was a little apprehensive before attending, especially when Mark found a YouTube video of last year's football camp, which showed women barreling into large tackling dummies and grunting during difficult drills on the field.  However, this night was awesome, and extremely well done.  Dave Clawson, the head WFU football coach, led the camp, along with many of the players, and they were supportive and encouraging to the 200+ women in attendance.  We all donned WFU jerseys and eye black, learned several offensive and defensive plays, participated in skills sessions, and executed a few of our newly-learned plays on the field.  None of this is anything that I would have done on my own, and football/sports lover are not words that describe my personality, but I loved it all.  For the record, I would like to have in writing that I scored TWO touchdowns and we had the BEST evening, with many giggles, a few squeals, and so much fun.  (I admit that the hors d'oeuvres and wine that were served afterward in the swanky field house reception room were a big motivator).  It was such a great evening, and a wonderful lesson in stretching our comfort zone.  We challenged ourselves as we shared this adventure together, and accomplished more than we thought possible, which is a good lesson to remind ourselves of at any age:

The kids also were recently invited to a one-day clinic at Chris Paul's CP3 Basketball Academy, and were excited about meeting this former WFU player, current NBA star, and Olympic athlete.  Chris Paul grew up in Winston-Salem, and does a lot to give back to the community. He established his own foundation which provides leadership opportunities, life skills, and basketball training/education for youth.     

Chris Paul talking to the kids.  

The event was open to kids from ages 7-17, so Leah was one of the youngest participants (and one of only a handful of girls).  Both kids worked hard and I was very proud of their perseverance as they rotated through each station and were coached by the Skills Developers.  Leah amazed us as she eliminated many of the boys during a "Knock Out" competition, and then endured the heckling and jeers from several of the kids that she beat.  The coaches handled this learning opportunity appropriately, but it was one of the first times that Leah has been singled out for being a girl, and my mama instinct was to comfort her and make sure that her feelings weren't hurt.  However, our fierce, brave girl completely ignored the negative comments and continued to show exemplary sportsmanship.  She later commented, "Those boys were just jealous that I was better than them...".   This sweet girl is so full of courage and grace, and constantly reminds me that she's truly one of a kind!  

We're so thankful for all of these sports opportunities and the life lessons that they teach ALL of us.  Since we're in the middle of WFU football season now, you can find us on Deacon Hill most Saturdays, cheering on our beloved team and soaking in this great family time together! 

P.S.  I came home from Football Camp and proudly announced, "I learned that those white marks on the field are called hashtags!".    I think I lost all credibility with my family as they all groaned and replied, "No, Mama, they are hashmarks.  Hashtags are used for Twitter."  (We won't comment on how I am too old and uncool to know how to use Twitter either...😉).  Maybe this was my lesson that pride goeth before the fall, at least in terms of my football knowledge.