New Skirts at the Carolina Inn

This is kind of a crazy story but . . . Kirsten, who is selling the new home to us and who is fast becoming a good friend, has her own line of clothes that she sews! Long story short, the last time we met with our realtor up in the mountains (Ann Weeks), she bought part of Kirsten's line, . . . and then made a gift of matching skirts for Leia and Annie! Here they are in front of the beautiful fresh-cut flowers at the Carolina Inn this morning.

A Day in History

Today was the most exciting day in politics EVER because, just as I was picking Leia Rose up from school, JOHN MCCAIN CHOSE SARAH PALIN AS THE VERY FIRST FEMALE REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE!!! I was so excited in the car listening to it all on NPR that I clapped, screamed, . . . and I actually cried. That my daughters are here and able to witness this brought me such joy! And as soon as we returned home, I made them sit in front of the TV to watch despite protests of it being a "Mamma show." Ha! I told them that they will want to say, one day, that they were watching when the very first female Vice President was chosen. Sarah Palin: career woman, mother of five, youngest child with downs syndrome, major pro-life advocate. Hooray!!! And kudos to you, John McCain, for being a TRUE maverick and literally thinking outside the box!!!
And then I changed my proflie picture on Facebook to reveal my self-proclaimed "Proud Palin" face. ; )

Home Inspection / Immaculata Parent Night

Today I drove all the way to attend the home inspection at the new house (which passed with flying colors) and to attend parent night at Immaculata.
I just HAD to take a picture of the little self portraits in the doorway there. : ) (Minus Leia Rose, I'm afraid. : ( But I was given the little circle for her to make one.) And with the number of traditional school worksheets they gave me, I'm just hoping Leia Rose transitions well from a Montessori to Traditional Catholic. *sigh* We'll see . . .

First Day of Kindergarten #1

Well, it was a rainy morning, but that didn't diminish the fact that this was Leia Rose's very first day of Kindergarten!!!
And Leia flew through her first day with flying colors! Never mind that we went back and forth between telling her Artgarden/Immaculata for days. We'll we're still here in Chapel Hill, so Artgarden it is. : ) Her "First Day of Kindergarten #2" won't be until October 1st, most likely.

Visiting the Greensboro Children's Museum

Today the whole family met the McNeils at the Greensboro Children's Museum for a day of fun. The girls had a blast! As for me, whenever I go to one of these places I go back and forth between saying, "Wow! This is the greatest place in the world! If you lived near here, you'd never have to buy any toys at all! Just come here most every day!" and saying, "Uh! This is WAY too much stimulation for any child! What happened to the simplicity of Laura Ingles?!?" Ha!
The coolest thing about this museum was the vast number of REAL vehicles that were set up for the children to explore. Here the girls are in the firetruck. Eventually we even got Annie to try on the fireman boots!

And there was a REAL cockpit of an airplane as well. Or, actually, it was the whole FRONT of an airplane, including the first row of seats and the jumpseat (which we were really glad to get the real skinny on from Miss Laurie, who was a career flight attendant).
Annie's activity of choice was the sand, which included a real boat and a mock-up of the Cape Hatteras light house.

At one point, Annie and I entered the doctor and dentist area, and Annie gave the teddy there a good brushing!

And she did some exercises.
Now, Leia's activity of choice was definitely these "Kapla" blocks, . . .

Another one of Annie's favorites here was this little ball roller coaster (for lack of a better term). Except Annie always avoided the top tunnel, . . . not being able to figure out that you could also put the ball in standing beside it, instead right in front of it. She's funny about things like that.

Then there was the pencil box painting which was fun (and messy), . . . both of which we forgot at the end of the day. : (
And Annie, Leia, & I spent lots of time in the 1/2 scale real house where she fed the baby lots of bread, cheese and cake.
And then there was this area that reminded me SO much of Green Acre Farm and Leia Rose collecting the eggs from under the hens, that I just HAD to have Annie repeat the experience. Except, for Annie, these stuffed animal hens were simply in the way (and I had to keep her from simply shoving them on the floor and dumping the eggs into her basket). Ha!
But it was THIS that was the highlight of the day for Annie (and consequently for me as well). We ate at the local Greensboro diner for lunch on Main Street, and the owner (who fell in love with little Annie) came over every minute or so to entertain us with music and dancing straight out of the 1950's! : ) Annie was enthralled! The guy just couldn't believe that this 1 1/2 year old knew how to ask for fries!!! Ha! And when we exited the diner, Leia Rose said, "I really liked your dancing!" and Annie chimed in with a rousing "Bye!!!" : ) [And here just let me say that is has only been within the last month or so that it has been ANNIE that has been getting the attention of servers, while Leia Rose silently sits on the sidelines with a smile on her face. Up until this point, Leia Rose has been the focus of all attention and Annie (although admittedly cute) was most likely viewed as a "toxic food cleanup" type of situation. Ha! Needless to say, it's been interesting to witness this change and perhaps even more interesting to witness Leia Rose being such a good big sister in the balance.]

Annie's "Phone" Conversations

Today, right before dinner, Annie found the TV controls and began using them all as phones. : ) She would pick one up, hold it like this, and say, "Hello?!? Wa doin?" So cute! and when I asked her who she was talking to, she'd say, "Oma! . . . and Papa!"

And in case anyone is wondering why Annie is already in her PJ's, it's because we have had a few issues with explosive poops these days (the kind where the child actually ends up in the tub). Who would have ever guessed that that issue would come a long with a runny nose. ; )

Solar System Adventure

Today Leia Rose and I decided to do something we wouldn't be able to do after we move: visit a planetarium. : ) We we bought tickets for "Solar System Adventure" at Chapel Hill's Moorhead Planetarium and enjoyed the show! Leia learned lots about the planets and even got to explore their exhibits that focused on mucus, for some reason. (Yuck!) ; ) As a result of our visit, the big telescope in Chile is going to take a picture of the Trifid Nebula that Leia Rose chose to look at, and then send it to us!!! : )
Here's the picture that Leia Rose had taken!!! : )

Candy Party (*sigh*)

Sometimes I think Daddy is a real softy when those puppy dog eyes look up at him, . . . because a few days ago Leia Rose asked Daddy if she could have a candy party, . . . and Daddy promised Leia Rose with a great big "Yes." *sigh* A promise is a promise, I suppose. SO today we had a candy party after lunch at Meadowmont pool. Leia had requested Air Head taffy and Junior Mints (and I offered candy sticks from Mamma Dips, . . . because I felt required to make a contribution). Everything melted while we were at the pool, of course. Ha!
No one was happier than Leia and Annie as they ate their disgustingly-blue-superman-sonic-punch-air-head-taffy. (Yuck!) I'm a big candy fan, but this stuff was really gross. Ha!
And then Leia Rose asked me to take this picture. *sigh* I told her that the next "candy party" would be on Halloween night. Period. (Ha!) ; )

Annie's Ordering

Recently, Annie has taken serious note of how Leia Rose orders her food at restaurants, . . . and for weeks she has spouted some nice (unrecognizable) sentences to the waiter/waitress, thinking that she was supposed to order, too. Well, this morning was the first time that Annie actually placed her own order! The waitress came over and Annie said, very clearly, "Want eggs, . . . bacon, . . . eat." Ha!

Just Like Daddy!

This morning we had another house showing (*sigh*), this one was at 8AM, for goodness sake. So here was a good excuse to go out to breakfast at Mamma Dips. : ) During breakfast, I tried Leia Rose's orange juice which was definitely pulpy and I said, "Uh! I don't like any pulp in my orange juice!" After asking what pulp was, to which I replied that it was little bits of orange in the juice, Leia replied, "Gosh, I LOVE having the little bits of orange in mine!" And we all said, "JUST LIKE DADDY!" all at the same time! And this is the way Father and Daughter looked at each other. So very sweet! : )

Artgarden Open House

Here is Mrs. Tench: the directress nice enough to let Leia Rose return to Artgarden so as not to apply too much transition. : ) Leia Rose had just finished giving her a kiss. Everyone seemed to be incredibly understanding as to the changes going on in Leia Rose's life right now. I hope these first few weeks of school will be a source of comfort and joy for Leia Rose.
And then we met Daddy & Annie under the willow oak outside for a lunch out at Spanky's.

Southpoint Playground

Don't these little signs make for the cutest/funniest photo opportunities?!? : )
It was such a nice respite (ironically) to escape to a totally loud and boisterous playground and just have fun being a wild and crazy family.
There was a lot of roughhousing with Daddy. : )
And Leia Rose is being SUCH a good big sister lately, . . . today she was wanting to share with (and feed) Annie her Dippin' Dots. : )

Artgarden Playdate

This was Leia Rose during the playdate for all of the Artgarden students today. Hmmm. Not a lot of social interaction today. Not sure if this is a result of the changes going on in our lives or just simply a day where Leia Rose felt like being a loner. Either is totally possible.

Bathroom Salsa Dancing

Because of many unforeseen house-showings and other impromptu moving-type agendas these days, there's a lot of eating out. Tonight it was at On the Border (because the closest one will be in Charlotte after we move). Well, I'll take fun with my girls wherever I can get it, . . . so when I took Leia Rose to the bathroom and Annie came too, . . . and when I discovered there was a great big floor in there, . . . and there was a speaker right above it, . . . Mamma decided we should all do some "Bathroom Salsa Dancing." So that's just what we did. : )

Pics from the Trip

Here are the girls running down to the creek that flows through our new yard. (Doesn't look that different, does it?) : )
Leia's favorite part of Imaculatta Open House? Picking out her "kitty mat" that she'll use for rest time. : )
And can you believe that Annie found the one empty blue bin in the room only to coerce her sister into a ride? : )
And on the way back, the girls got a big kick out of letting their feet blow in the wind. Something tells me this position in a booster isn't very safe. ; )
And, of course, little sister followed suit. : )

Courtesy of Grandpa's Blackberry

While Mamma & Daddy were securing the new hoe, Leia & Annie had a nice day with Grandma & Grandpa at the lake: lots of boating, lots of swimming, lots of fishing, and lots of eating out. : )
They went to the new restaurant on the lake called Spinners, and while they were there a band began to play and a bachelorette party started! Grandma thought it was a hoot how different the girls' personalities were at this point! Leia Rose just sat and covered her ears, . . . while Annie got up and danced with the bridal party! : )
Okay, and I suppose there was a point when both of them were dancing together. : )

Grandma gave Annie lots of Golden Grahams cereal today, and Annie kept saying, "More Cake! More CAKE!" : )