Mom's 70th Birthday

We were so excited to see Mom a couple of weeks before her 70th birthday.  Doesn't beat being there on her actual birthday but because of school this week, we weren't able to make that happen!

Back in March I finally figured out what we were going to do for her big day.  

First - an arrangement from @citystems.  Look up her work on Instagram - it's unbelievable. And she happens to be local in Charlotte but doesn't ship.  Mom has always been a garden club gal so I knew she would really appreciate a special arrangement that didn't die in a week. I got on Laura's list (and she has a long waiting list, rightfully so!) and we touched base as it got closer with what I was thinking for the arrangement.  Isn't it stunning?  It certainly looked good on our island and I mayyyyy have wanted to keep it!  HA!  

This is how I got it to Maryland!  Ha!

And the second thing - I put together a book of special notes and memories from friends and family.  Talk about a special gift to get to be a part of.  I got ramped up for it in March.  I used a letter from my friend Kelly who had done it for her Mom and crafted it to be tailored to my Mom.  I asked Dad for all of Mom's contacts, started a spreadsheet with everyone's email or regular address and got to work!  I contacted about 75 people and ended up receiving close to 50 letters/cards/old pictures/memories.  I found a scrapbook at Michaels and put it all together in the book and gave it to her when I went home a few weeks ago!  I already knew how special she is but now I know even more!  Everyone speaks so highly of my Mom.  She is the best and I'm thankful for her!  

I highly recommend this gift for a parent or friend.  If you'd like me to send you my letter template, shoot me an email and I'm happy to pass it along.  anniesadventures16 at gmail.com

Happy day two of being 70 Mom!  We love you so much!!

Weekend

Today is my Mom's 70th birthday!  A HUGE happy birthday to her!  Tomorrow I'll show you all what we did for her big day!

Little weekend wrap up - 

Friday night we went to the club for dinner and saw our friends there!

They had ice cream sundaes together!

Saturday morning we squeezed some swimming in before the rain!

Cocktail hour next door with @drinkmoorecocktails beverages!

We went with our neighbors to Del Friscos which was a delicious treat!

Sunday it was a gloomy day out.  Kevin detailed my car, I semi assisted but not really.  Grady did puzzles by himself which I was highly impressed that he could do.  He was so proud of himself.  These are similar to the cute puzzles he did.  

My parents don't miss a detail.  Molly Anne was THRILLED to receive this card last week!

Everything set out and ready for her first day!

First lunch I've ever packed for real school!

Molly Anne read Grady a book before bed, then I read her a couple night before kindergarten books and she was in the bed by 6:15, and Grady was right behind her at about 6:45!  Early morning wake up call at our house.  School starts at 7:30 for her! 

Happy Tuesday!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Today is Molly Anne's first day of kindergarten!  She has been SO excited!  She was downstairs at 6:25am ready to roll!  She picked out her first day of school dress and how she wanted her hair and everything.  They do staggered entry at her school so she only goes one day this week and so do the rest of the kindergartners.  After they evaluate all of the students, they get assigned a homeroom teacher on Thursday night.  On Friday morning, she will have a Zoom call for her meet the teacher.  

And for our County with the covid situation, she will be in person learning one day a week and the other days be home doing virtual learning.  We are hoping that the numbers shake out and they may add in person learning days for the children that are participating in Plan B as North Carolina calls it.  

Here are her first day pictures!

We got to walk her in today!  All Kindergartners were able to be walked in!



The principal was there to greet us!  He's so wonderful and a big reason we feel so comfortable there.  

Then she walked to the Kindergarten rooms with another teacher and didn't even look back!  I wasn't surprised because she does really well in new situations.  She is confident and pretty flexible so I wasn't worried a bit about her.  We got in the car and Kevin made a comment that he was so pleased with her being at our particular school.  We are happy with it all but do wish she got to go in person five days a week!  Hopefully life gets back to normal soon but in the meantime, we are excited for our Kindergartner!!  Yes, Mama had teary eyes walking out of there - mainly because I'm so proud of her but also because she was just born and now she's growing right up!  I'll be at the front of the carline to pick her up today!

Random Thursday

 We've got all kinds of stuff going on around here this week. 

1.  Molly Anne is back at camp this week and she's loving it.  It's a gym but they also do crafts, games, water play and pajama day is tomorrow.  She has several friends there this week with her and she is zonked every day when she comes home.  It's only 8-12 so I have short days at my office but it's been so good for everyone! ;)

2. I'm back on my room mom duties for Grady's class and things moved quickly this year because his teacher's birthday is today.  So I had to collect money and get everyone on board over the weekend and I grabbed her gift yesterday - a Target gift card of course!  All 9 families are participating and I've never had an entire class be part of it for various reasons so I'm excited!  I am not sure how other room moms do it but over the years this has seemed the most fair for everyone - $10 per family per teacher per event.  So each family gave me $90 at the start of the year...so then for all three teacher's birthdays, Christmas and end of year, they will get a $90 gift card!  Just so happens to work evenly like this with 9 families and 3 teachers/3 events per teacher!  Teacher Appreciation Week in May is always separate.  

3. Molly Anne begins school on Monday and they do a staggered entry for Kindergartners.  So she'll go on Monday in person and all four teachers evaluate them.  Then other children go on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  On Thursday night, they decide based on learning styles, readiness and other reasons who goes in which class.  Monday the 24th will be her first real day of school with her assigned teacher!

4. Speaking of Molly Anne in school - I'm trying to figure out the best place in our house for her to do her remote learning.  I don't want one of those carts rolling around and taking up space.  I've thought about putting a desk in her room but I will need to probably be sitting next to her for a lot of the time and I don't know if that's the best space for that.  Right now, I'm leaning towards the dining room table.  I'd like for her to have a dedicated space that is hers for this. Anyone have any thoughts?

5. It's been a rough couple of weeks dropping Grady off.  He CRIES every time I drop him off.  I knew the 5 months out of school and being attached to my hip was going to create this but it's SO hard.  And he won't lay down on his cot and go to sleep for the teachers either.  He is such a good sleeper but of course has never slept on a cot before!  I know "time" is the only answer to all of this but it's still hard to leave a wailing child every morning!  Pulls on the Mama heart.  

6. Last night we had a little family fun and played out back on the "swing set" for awhile then came in for a mexican dinner.  After dinner we gave the kids popsicles and went for a golf cart ride.  It was fun and a nice way to break up the week!  

I've got about 1800 other things going on but that's what I thought of off the top of my head.  Yall have a great Thursday!

Rainbows and Unicorns

I think most little girls these days love their rainbows and unicorns!  Here are a few back to school items I got for Molly Anne!

This gaiter is made with performance material and is so much more comfortable than her previous mask.  She likes it much better and I think it'll be a lot easier for her at school.  

I saw this dress and had to order it for her...she doesn't know and will be so surprised!  It twirls and is rainbow -- I mean what more could a girl want?!  So far she says she wants to wear her smocked apple dress to her first day of school but we will see what she ends up deciding!  It's up to her!

And you know she had to get a new backpack for her big school start and out of all of the options, she chose this one and we ordered the size Large.  Her monogram will be on it in light pink!  It's adorable!

First time out!

A little boy and his puppy looking out the window together! 

They finally turned on the waterslide at our pool this past week and Molly Anne of course has lived on it...trying every different way to come down it the fastest!  Grady also has loved it.  He even went down a few times by himself!  So wild!  

Kevin and I went out for dinner for the first real time since March.  We've been out a few other times but to our Club and once on a patio.  So this was our first big time dinner date out!  I was most nervous/worried about the Uber ride.  We wore masks and it was a very clean car.  The driver said he airs out the car after every passenger.  We rode with windows down on the way home but honestly it was too hot to have them down on the way there.

We met up with another couple to celebrate Benjy's birthday.  First stop, we had drinks on the patio at Del Friscos!  I had been looking forward to a good dirty gin martini with blue cheese olives for a long time and they have one of the best.  This was such a treat!

Here is the dress I wore.  It is my favorite Lilly dress in a LONG time!  It's perfect for any event and so cool temperature -wise.  I feel like I wear it every time I leave my house if I don't have workout clothes on ha!

Dinner at Peppervine was outstanding as always!  We typically aren't small plate people but we enjoy doing it with Benjy and Jess and checking out unique food!  Fun fact - we've traveled the world with Benjy on his and Kevin's work trips.  We've had some crazy amazing experiences together.

The drink that Jess and I had was the Sub Polar Fizz and it was so good!

I got up at 6am the next morning and ran almost 7 miles with Jen and Kacey because I'm nuts!  It was good to sweat out those beverages and more ha!

Lovey time with the kiddos!  They have been so sweet this weekend. 

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Busy Week

It was a super busy week but here we are!  My nieces have been here in Charlotte staying with us so I’ve pretended to be a mama of four and loved every second of it. They are the biggest help ever and extremely well mannered!  Both of my kids LOVED having them here and so did Kevin and I!  We didn’t do a ton...mostly the pool, another pool and our big outing was visiting the Big Rock Nature Preserve one day while Grady was at school. But we still had so much fun hanging out!  

We also had a garage door issue at one of our rental houses this week, renewing a lease at another and the other had a locking issue that a locksmith had to deal with.  And we are working on our sliding glass door at our own house and a gutter issue too. Never ending and I feel like when it rains it pours on rental property stuff! 

This boy is so long!  

He loves his D as he calls Mills!



Aren’t these towels the cutest?  My parents got them for the kids for when we went to Maryland so they’d have a special treat waiting for them!  Here is Molly Anne’s and here is Grady’s!  They do this thing after they get out of the bath every night where they cuddle on the floor...so I finally took a picture of it ha!  They started doing it in Maryland. So cute!