Flashback to the beach

I am soooo behind in the blogging world....! I have been spending any free time with the boys and reading (not to mention my computer has been acting up lately....). 

But I wanted to blog about our beach trip a few weeks ago... Eddie's whole family was in town and we headed to the beach for a few days.  It was a lot of fun and we made a lot of memories!

We did a lot of fishing... both boys discovered the loooove to fish.  Cal especially... 

Eddie got to kite board.  Not as much as he would like...but he got to go several times. 

 And he's getting better-- he is starting to jump now...

We spent a ton of time outside.  The first day we had a HUGE storm roll in and then the rest of the weekend was spent on the water playing. 

My parents were down there too, which made it extra fun too! Andy went on a pirate hunt with Grandpa...

Poppy took a job with University of Arkansas, so we all got some new HOGS apparel... 

We watched some beautiful sunsets!!!!

The boys got some snuggle time with Uncle AhHo

Fun time on the beach with my buddy...

And we always have to do a jumping shot.  It is amazing how many outtakes this took... 

We did more fishing and sunset watching...

Not sure I have ever seen Cal happier.  He lived in a bathing suit and rarely put a shirt on the whole weekend.  He was in his element and it made my heart swell.  Before I know it, he will be at Camp Sea Gull, running around playing sports and sailing and fishing.  

The last day at the beach, Cal caught a fish.  And he was sooooo excited!

It was a great time-- I took loads more pictures, but already made the book, so I will spare the blog.  

 

#carriedaway: week 29

Week 29:

 Day 198: the other brothers

 Day 199: CHAMPS! Proud of our sharks as they wrap up a great season!

 Day 200: cuties at swim banquet! Cheers to a great swim season! Love my SHARKS!

 Day 201: wrestlemania

 Day 202: fun night with my MIL and SIL... missing you, CB!

 Day 203" how else do you shop for shoes? Always racing...

 Day 204: rainy days at the beach call for coolie making with grandma


 

Hi, my name is Carrie and I am a teacher-dork.

The teacher-dork in me is out in full effect.  I want to give Cal as much as I can on my end to make sure he does great in school.  I said at the end of last year, I wanted to work with him on reading some this summer-- not a lot, but getting him to start recognizing site words.  I bought these flash cards:

From Here

I kept them in my car forever, and then as I realized that summer is starting to wind down and I better get on it, I pulled them out.  We started with 5 words. I would hold them up while at a stop light and he would sound out the word.  Once he got it without hesitation, it went into the "he's got it" pile.  If he hesitated or struggled at all, it went to the back of the pile.  He is up to about 30 words right now.  His issue is rushing through words.  If he would go slow and sound them out, he will get more.  But that's part of learning! I try to go through our pile at least once a day. Some days, he's super into it.  Other days, he is into the dump truck out the window-- and that is totally fine too.  I don't push him when he isn't into it.  I want him to be excited!

A friend also told me about BOB BOOKS. Have y'all heard of these?

From here

Each book picks a sound and focuses on it throughout the book: "Mat Sat. Mat sat on Sam...." I ordered these and we tried to read one a few nights ago and it was painful.  Cal was TIRED and not wanting to sound anything out.  He would look at the page saying "Mat sat. Sam sat." and would say "Scott sits with Mat...can we be done now?" ha! My cue that we were done! So we put the books away.

Until Tuesday night. Cal came to me and said, "can we do some reading tonight? Like me reading to you?" I took a deep breath and reached for some patience from my back pocket and was ready for another night of him making up sentences... then this happened:

He was doing it! Woohooooo! And, as you can see, he was excited about it! There are several "levels" to these books.  They come in a little box and levels 1-4, and each level has 2 books (level 1, book 1 and book 2)...does that make sense?  On this night, we read both of the level 1 books multiple times. I am sure there is a whole lot of memorizing going on here, but he is still stopping himself to sound out the words. It's a start, right??

 

Greensboro Science Center

The week before last, Sally and I were talking about doing something with the kids during the day and she suggested the Greensboro Science Center.  Y'all, if you are local,  you should totally take your kids here.  We loved it!!! It is a museum, zoo and aquarium all wrapped up in one.  We spent pretty much the whole day there and the kids totally ate it all up!

I dropped the ball and totally forgot to invite a friend of mine (SORRY, RF!!!), but now I see that as a reason to go back again!

We were all pretty smitten with the penguins there-- they are just too cute!!!

There was a spot to touch sting rays, which was a huge hit for the kids.

Pippa and Brooks ended up joining us, as did my friend Julie and her son Fenton for a little bit.  It was a wild group of boys and they all loved it-- that, to me, speaks volumes about a place!!!

Jane didn't seem to mind being the only girl.  She can totally hold her own in this crowd!

The boys went up into the bubble to lemur watch...

 Then we headed outside while it was really cloudy so it wasn't too hot-- at all.  We totally lucked out with the weather!

The petting zoo was fun and the kids all loved petting the different animals.  After the petting zoo, we checked out the animals in the barn. 

A quick stop for a picture!

Or two...

After we covered the entire outside, we headed in to the museum.  Andy picked a nose...

And then we touched a few snakes...

This is a sweet little crew! Their behavior was awesome the whole time--and I think it was because this place was so neat with so much to do and see.  

I will totally go back here again-- we all really had a fun day! We were WORN out by the end of the day!!!


 

A Blonde Ambition

I know this is silly.

I don't even know the girl.

But that's the thing about this blog world.  You feel like you KNOW people who pour their hearts into their blogs, opening up and letting you into their little world.

I have been reading A Blonde Ambition blog for years now, so therefore author, Leslie, and I are besties.  Isn't that how it works??  From her posts, she is just adorable-- look at this smile! Hard not to like her, right?



I have emailed Leslie a few times to ask random questions and she always wrote back quickly and was always super sweet.

Leslie had two baby girls within months of each other (I think they were 13 months apart...). Right after her second one was born, she was having some health issues... she checked into a hospital very soon after she was born (maybe 6 weeks after) and spent 90+ days trying to get better (she had a pre-existing heart condition). 

They were having a hard time fixing the issue, whatever it was....

She posted this post last week, letting her readers know she was going to another hospital to try to get it all right.

And then today, I found out she passed away. 

Again, I do not know her.  At all.  But I feel like I do.  I feel like she's my friend.  I know it's silly.  She doesn't know me from Adam. 

I loved the way she wrote and her positive outlook on everything.  I loved reading about her and Stephen, and how they met (on Kelly's Korner blog Singles Day!).  She was always so adoring of him-- if that's even the correct way to say that....she thought the world of him.  And you can tell from pictures that he feels the same of her.

 

Leslie ended every post by saying: "Be Blessed, Lovelies...." And I love that! What a wonderful reminder.... BE BLESSED.

I will say this one more time, because I need to reiterate it: I know this is silly to be sad for someone I have never met.  Maybe her young age has reminded me of Molly...who I have been missing so much lately... my heart aches for her two young kids, who are growing up without their momma...much like Molly's kids. 

Life isn't fair.

A good reminder to BE BLESSED....