Weekend With Friends

This past weekend our Texas neighbors and friends, who now live north of Atlanta, came to visit.  We love the Rockenbachs!  Emmie and Kate are good buddies - when they weren't bickering and fighting they had a ball!  Why is it kids that age have to be so testy with each other anyway?  Kristi and I had a great time watching the kids play and many a glass of wine too!  We only wish Ken had gotten to stick around longer and have some fun with us.  We were sad to see him drive back to Georgia Saturday morning with a sick baby.  Oh well - there's always next time!

We had a super busy 3 day weekend!  We visited parks, played in the backyard, went on walks (scooter rides for the girls), and spent a long day - 6 hours - in downtown Greenville.  I can honestly say that by Sunday we were all completely exhausted!  Here are some pictures of the highlights.

I love this picture of Brett spinning Anna Clare around.  I still remember doing this with my dad when I was little.  She loved it - as did Emmie and Kate!  And Brett got a quite the workout!

Backyard play after Kate's swim class Thursday afternoon.  

Scooter riding in the park - the girls were so cute in their flowered dresses with their helmets on!  And visiting a couple of our favorite parks too.  Even Anna Clare and Graham loved climbing around on the little train!

Kristi introduced the girls to what I hope will be Kate's new favorite pastime - hunting for four leaf clovers.  Anna Clare even tried to get in on the action!  Though realistically I know the clovers won't be around long since Kate's daddy is pretty serious about having a perfect lawn again in the near future!

On Saturday we enjoyed a girls day in downtown Greenville!  We walked from one end of Main Street to the other and finally found all the mice.  The little girls had a ball!  The big girls did too - especially the lunch break with no babies to care for!

 Finally back at home again!  We're actually using our porch now - we call it the "arts studio" since the girls have all their coloring supplies out there.  This table has been Anna's favorite place to sit since we had it in the playroom in Texas.  It's her favorite big girl seat!

What ARE Those Faulkner Girls Up To Now?!?

What, you might ask, are those Faulkner girls UP to these days?  Well Anna Clare had her 18 month check up yesterday - a bit delayed - and is up to exactly 32 inches.  Which means she is in the 41st percentile in height!  41st percentile!  Meaning Anna Clare might NOT be the shorty her mommy and her sister are!  Go figure!!!  Whoda thunk?!?  On the other hand, she is below the 1st percentile in weight.  Which meant mommy got another "talking to" from the doctor about making sure baby eats enough and gets enough fatty foods.  Sigh, been there done that.  (Kate was below the growth curve at 9 months)  Guess I better buy some butter!

Kate is up to almost crossing the width of the pool in freestyle in swim class!  She may be a shorty but that short girl can swim!  She's been in swim class since the beginning of March at our gym in preparation for The Guppies.  The Guppies is the "little kid" version of our neighborhood swim team, which begins in late May.  They are serious - they practice daily from late May thru early July and have 4 Guppy swim meets.  Though the Guppies is only entry to the big swim team - they practice twice daily and have swim meets throughout the summer!  They really don't mess around.  This momma grew up in a wwim team community and knows the value it holds! (for the kids AND the parents -- hello social hour)  We are all super excited!  Okay at least Kate and Mommy are super excited.  

Hanging out by the hot tub prior to swim class!

Everyone's ready to swim!

Swim Kate Swim!

 

 

A Time to Play

We had a big week!  The playset we ordered (and paid for - these things are expensive!) about a month ago was finally installed!  It went in on one of the many, many cold and somewhat wet days in Greenville.  Kate couldn't have cared less.  The men were literally packing their truck and she was out the door and ready to climb!

Thankfully it did warm up this week.  The girls and I enjoyed some time in the sun today - we even had a little tea party in the tree house as we like to call it!  Its nice that the fort part is actually big enough for a couple of kids, an adult (or two) and a tea party!  And as we discovered later, there's even room for Max.  I never would have believed that Max would actually climb the ladder.  Only Max...

So after playing in the tree house a little while it was time to come down.  No one really wanted to go inside.  Finally after coaxing Max down the ladder and the girls down the slide it was time to come in.  I'm just not sure that Brett's method of carrying Anna Clare is okay!  After all, she isn't a kitten!  Anna, of course, thinks its fun and was all smiles!

Time for Mommy to get with the program!

I am not the creative type.  I'm just not and I have finally come to terms with that.  Every week in preschool Kate's class studies a letter of the alphabet.  On Friday they have show and tell where they are supposed to bring something that starts with that letter.  We've sent a princess barbie for "P" and her princess kitty for "K".  However most weeks Kate goes to school empty handed on show and tell day.  Not only am I not creative I'm forgetful too!  This week's letter was X.  What the heck starts with the letter X?!?  (some bird called a Xenop but my printer didn't cooperate when i hunted it down on the internet!)  So I was pretty impressed with myself for throwing this together 20 minutes before school started today! Hopefully Kate can explain that XOXO means kisses and hugs to her class. Hmmm....

Adventures in Greenville!

So on the occasional relatively warm day in a winter that doesn't seem to want to end we hit the road in search of a park or playground!  Here are some highlights from a few of our favorite finds thus far.

 

While Greenville has the Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport it also has a small airport used by local pilots and small businesses.  This little airport has a restaurant and a playground just off (and I mean just off) the runway.  It is truly a family experience.  I think Brett enjoyed watching the little airplanes taking off and landing as much as the kids loved the playground and riding (or being pushed) around the little track!  Plus after playing a while we sat down for a yummy lunch where we could continue our airplane viewing.  Definitely one of our favorite new places to go! 

 

 

 

The girls and I also recently joined some friends for our first visit to the Greenville Zoo.  The zoo is located in downtown so its also a pretty drive through a beautiful, historical area. While I personally think the zoo is more like a large park with animals that shouldn't be in a park (like giraffe and cheetah) it certainly makes for a nice walk through a pretty area.   After strolling through the zoo we stopped to play on the massive playgrounds located just outside the zoo's entrance.  While it doesn't compare with the zoos of bigger cities (like Dallas or Ft Worth) the Greenville Zoo and Cleveland Park is definitely another one of our new favorite places to go!





 

 

 



Last week was Hello Kitty tattoo week at Casa De Faulkner.  Though Kate had the most tattoos even Brett got in on the action!  Only to be heckled at the gym...









My sweet baby is growing up so fast.  I notice this most when I see Anna Clare doing, or trying to do, something she sees her sister do.  And doing it a whole lot earlier than super-timid Kate ever did it.    Like climb a ladder to get to the top of a slide (which Kate wouldn't do until she was 3), or ride Kate's scooter (which Kate only recently became comfortable riding), or grab for my phone and, my personal favorite, take a selfie.  Yes, both my girls are quite fond of the camera... Thankfully Anna Clare hasn't yet figured out how to take photos of herself while running away with my phone and leaving me with about 20 shots of a half-smiling face! 

Wee Ski!

So Kate had her first snow skiing weekend!  We had a great time but I had forgotten how exhausting the whole ski thing can be.  The lugging of equipment - 2 pairs of skis, 2 helmets, 2 poles and all the stuff to keep us warm!  Just the shopping before the trip was enough to make me hope Kate hated the cold!  Ski bibs, ski socks, goggles, mittens, and more.  Its a good thing I had most of my gear from my ski days - I may have been out of style but I was warm!

The whole weekend was an adventure!  After getting lots of snow in Greenville and throughout the Carolinas we weren't even sure were were going to make it to the mountains.  But thanks to some sheer determination on the mommies parts (and NONE on the all-too-worried-daddies parts!) and a little Ford Escape with a BIG ability to drive down snowy mountain roads we made it!  After all who cancels a ski trip because there's too much snow?!?

So after a day of sunshine we got to Boone to find they actually know how to handle snow in those NC mountains!  Of course they do - its their business!  The roads were clear - even the steep, windy road up to our condo community!  Though when we got into Echota we quickly realized that the snow plows clear the snow but not the parking lot.  Or the walkways to the condos!  After some walking around in the snow for a while we ventured into the condo.  I was thankful to find a snow shovel after trudging through the 8 or so inches of snow to get into the condo!  I am not afraid to admit that it was this southern girl's first experience with a snow shovel.  But the walkway magically became clear!

And after going to bed Friday night to clear roads here is what we woke to Saturday morning!  And this is after the snow plows had been by a time or two.  Unfortunately the city is responsible for the steep and windy road coming up to Echota so it was quite snowy on our way down early that morning.  We would have been up a creek (or a mountain) without a paddle had it not been for the mighty little Escape!  (Did i mention the entire weekend was an adventure?)

Finally after several hours of driving, lugging gear and dressing we were ready to ski!  The kids had a great time in Ski School - at least in the morning.  Shortly after returning to school after lunch Pam and I began hearing parents of Ski Wee students being called to pick up their kids.  They were dropping like flies!  Soon enough we too picked up our exhausted little skiers and returned to Echota to soak in the hot tub.  That and lots of wine made for a good end to ski weekend day 1!

While Kate enjoyed skiing, she said it was boring.  I think she needed a bigger challenger!  Next time, my dear, we tackle a lift and your first real slope!  Tubing was much more exciting for Kate!  We went fast and she didn't have to lug anything!  Mommy, however, got to lug a tube with a 35 pound kid in it - who needs a gym?!?

All in all it was a super fun weekend!  And the weather couldn't have been better.  Skiing in the North Carolina mountains is notorious for slopes icy slopes covered in man-made snow.  Not this weekend though!  Thanks to Mother Nature we had lots of soft snow, no ice and we never heard the roar of snow machines!  Cheers to a fun weekend, new adventures and time spent with great friends!