Got to Be NC Festival

Now, I love a good festival, and I spend a lot of time trying to convince my family to love them as much as I do.  Some festivals, they are not as enthused about as I am, but the Got to Be NC Festival is one that we all look forward to and have a great time at every year.  This festival is very similar to the NC State Fair except that it's on a much smaller scale.  It has all of the good things like rides, yummy fried food, and animals without any of the bad parts of the state fair like crowds, lines, and expensive admission prices.

So, we headed on over, and the boys were immediately excited by the rides.  Each time we would walk by one that wasn't too scary, they would want to ride that one.  Eventually, we found one that they wanted to ride and that they were tall enough to ride.  Dad and Benny hopped in one helicopter, Evan hopped in another, and they were off.  Ben and Daddy had a good time going up and down and around in their helicopter, but I loved watching Evan who was tall enough to ride by himself.  He was smiling from ear to ear and laughing as he moved his helicopter up and down by himself.

Next, I actually convinced the boys to ride a little dragon roller coaster with me.  This was a big deal because it was basically the first roller coaster I've been on since I married Ian because he doesn't like roller coasters.  Hopefully I'll have some little ride buddies from now on.  While I couldn't convince anyone to lift up their arms and scream, we all had a great time.  I did happen to accidentally leave my cell phone on the ride, but thankfully the ride operator kindly saved it for me.

After being kicked off a ride for being slightly under the 42" mark even though he had been 42" on the two previous rides, Evan quickly rebounded and rode a few more.  Both boys finished off with a trip down a huge slide with a parental escort, of course.

After that, the fun continued.  We listened to some bluegrass while we ate a snack, ate some of our favorite state fair mini donuts, tried out riding on some tractors, went to a food festival and sampled all kinds of NC foods, and even went into the animal area where we saw some baby chicks and practiced milking a cow.

It's always one of our favorite days, and it gives me hope that I'll actually have some buddies to ride some roller coasters when they get just a bit taller! :)

(Evan takes off in his helicopter.)

(Ian and Ben enjoy their ride.)

(roller coaster buddies)

(Wheee!  Evan is in the first car in front of Ben and I, but you can't really see him.)

(Tractors are fun even if they're not moving.)

(Testing 'em out)

(My boys get up close and personal with a pretend cow.)

Happy Bird-Day!

As you could already tell, it's birthday season in the Davis household.  We had already celebrated Ben's actual birthday in fine style with strawberry picking and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  Evan's birthday hadn't arrived yet, so we were right in between both boys big days.  It was the perfect time to throw a big party to celebrate both boys.  (I just don't have it in me to throw a big party twice in a row.)

So, what type of party would we have?  Both boys have really been enjoying playing their Angry Birds on either the nearest adult's phone or their Kindle.  When their screen time is done for the day they even sit on the kitchen floor for hours drawing Angry Bird levels and "playing" them.  It was pretty clear, we were going to have an Angry Bird party, so I started to prepare.

Now, I felt like I had prepared for a LOT of at-home birthday parties, so I was determined to keep it smaller and lower key which was hard because it was for both boys.  We definitely couldn't invite all of their classmates that we wanted.  However, we still ended up with quite a few people there.

After much reading on Pinterest, printing out various crafts, and blowing out balloons, party day finally arrived.  Gram and Gramps arrived, Izzy and Carolyn made their way over from across the street, and pretty soon, more friends started to arrive.

Everyone had a great time making Angry Birds out of little craft poof balls and googly eyes, coloring Angry Bird pages, and bowling for tin can piggies.  But the biggest hit of the party was definitely the Angry Bird slingshot that Ian had rigged up on the boys treehouse in the backyard.  We stacked up a bunch of cardboard boxes and green "piggie" balloons and let the kids sling shot them with dodgeballs with bird faces drawn on them.  Everyone had a ball, especially when it all degenerated into kids launching balls at other kids hiding behind the boxes or trying to launch themselves!

Of course, there was food.  We ordered pizza, had snacks (including a container of cheese balls which was far too large and tempting for me).  Ian made some fabulous cakes as usual, criticized them, as usual, and people raved about them, as usual.

In the end, we had a great time with our friends and most importantly, the boys had fun and felt special.  Happy birthday to my two little birdies!

(Angry Bird cakes waiting for the party to start)

(Mom finishes set up.)

(Dad finishes preparing.)

(Ready, aim, fire!)

(Amelia takes a great shot while Alex and Zachary watch in awe.)

(These little birdies need a snack.)

(Happy Birthday, Ben!)

(Happy Birthday, Evan!)

(Anybody want some cake?)

(Nathan takes aim.)

(Evan tries to sling himself.)

(Kara and Anna watch the chaos.)

(Duck!)

(Kids play in the boxes.)

(Hi Carolyn and Izzy!)

(Ian takes a moment to relax after a successful party.)

A Little Reunion

Now, that our summer had begun, we were ready for some fun!  We were ready to live it up in the sun!  Fortunately, some old friends were available on our first week out of school.  We've been friends with the Offenbaker family since before Evan and Quinn could walk, but since they moved a little further away and the boys started to go to school more often, we haven't been able to see them as much. However, the great thing is that good friends will always be good friends no matter how much you see each other.

First, we met up with Abby, Quinn, and Jonas at a great park, and the kiddos picked up right where they left off.  Even though it had been a while since the hung out they were laughing and playing immediately.  Abby and I were having a great time catching up as well.  After our great time at the playground, we headed over to my favorite Tex-Mex place, Chuy's to continue the fun.  We all had a great meal, and it was just as good as I remembered.

There was still more old friend fun to be had.  A few days later we headed down to Asheboro for one of our epic zoo adventures.  We have been many times, even in 98 degree summers pushing a double stroller, and have had a great time every time.  We checked out the new kids' play area at the zoo where there was even a river to get wet and messy in.  We watched some of our favorite animals-the turtles and the sea lions in particular.  We also got to check out the new fabulous bug exhibit where we got "spit on" by a bug and even got to push around some fake "poop"-the little ones LOVED that part!

It's always great to see old friends, and if this is the way that our summer started, I knew there were great things in store for the rest of the vacation!

(Quinn and Evan take a break from exploring the zoo to relax.)

(Jonas and Ben are all smiles.)

(Building and playing in water, can't get more fun than that!)

(My little goober, Benny, posing in the playground.)

(Evan thinks the zoo is exhausting.)

(Playing with "poop" in the insect exhibit....sigh...boys!)

(Our boys)

(Take a look at our little boys a few years ago on that infamous 98 degree day.)

(A little bigger now)

(Watching the sea lions in 2011.)

(Can't wait to see this picture again in about 10 years!)

School's Out for Summer!

The boys both had their last day of school a few weeks ago.  I can't believe that I have a boy that just graduated from half-day Kindergarten and one that will be in his last year of preschool next year!  How did those little boys get so big?

Evan had his last day of school a day before Benjamin.  He even had a little graduation ceremony.  All of the parents and students gathered in his classroom.  Then, each student had his or her own moment where they walked up, received their certificate, and got a picture and a round of applause from the audience.  It was so nice that each student got their moment to feel special.  They finished out the year with a whole school picnic and party and sent the kids on their way with a bag full of treasures from the school year.  In the bag was also his end of year report card.  Of course, academically he was a rock star, but what I was happy about was that he had definitely improved from the fall in his ability to stay focused, listen, and follow directions.  I think that boy is really ready for full-day Kindergarten next year!

Ben followed Evan with his last day of school the next day.  He had already celebrated at a picnic the week before and had a great time bouncing in the bounce house and getting a balloon fish from the balloon man.  Benny has really grown up this year, making new friends and learning how to interact with his classmates.  It was a little bittersweet to say goodbye to preschool this year.  Our director that has been there since Evan started in the 2's class said goodbye too this year, so the boys had to pose for a picture before we headed out that day.

My boys have both had great years in school and have grown so much.  I can only hope for as much in all their upcoming years of school.  First, bring on the summer break, sleeping in, long days in the sun, and all sorts of fun!

(Evan gets his Kindergarten certificate.)

(The boys share a hug at Evan's last day celebration.)

(Ben poses with his teachers Ms. Karen and Ms. Michelle.)

(My silly boys with our outgoing preschool director Ms. Jennifer.)

(Benny-beginning of the 3's)

(Ben on the last day of the 3's)

(Evan on the first day of half-day Kindergarten)

(Evan on the last day-ready for elementary school!)

Four!

On May 11, 2010 Benjamin James Davis arrived on the scene.  Four years later I am amazed at the little man that has grown up.  Ben is my little capricious elf.  He alternates between the determined little man with the snarl on his face trying to get one up on his brother to the sweet little angel scratching my tummy making the cutest little noises asking to be picked up.  He loves to cuddle, take care of little animals, and run-fast!  He can run all the way from our house to the neighborhood pool, about a half mile, and delights in picking up the speed with his little blond curls flying.

His teachers say that he's smart (of course), but perhaps needs to do a few more things for himself.  It's true, that boy knows how to work other people to get whatever he wants.  The day that his teachers told me that about him, we went to pick up Evan at school.  Immediately, he walked up to one of the other mothers, scratched at her and made his little, adorable pick me up noise.  Of course, she obliged. Whenever he sees an older women (prime age between 10 and 25) he will glue himself to them and hang out with whomever he has found for as long as he can.  He's quite the ladies' man.

When Benny's birthday rolled around, he had two things that he wanted to do for his big day.  He wanted to go strawberry picking and head to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner.  Since it happened to be strawberry season we could oblige him on both requests.  For breakfast, he ate his favorite food of all time-waffles with cream cheese, and we headed out to the strawberry patch.  Now, little boys don't have much attention span for picking berries, so they didn't last long.  But they had fun, and Ben loved eating the berries as he walked along the rows.

After a little break at home to cook some strawberry jam, strawberry cake, etc, and to prepare his presents, we went for an early dinner at Chuck E. Cheese.  Ben had seen a commercial for the restaurant on TV and wanted to go check it out for himself.  When we arrived, we bought tokens and they ran into the game area to check out what was there.  He enjoyed all of the games, but for the whole night, he had his eye on the video game where you get to drive the car around a race car track.  This kid loves anything with a screen, so he stared longingly at the game, but everytime he came by there was some bigger kid was playing it.  Finally, he got his chance.  With me holding my foot on the gas Benny flew around the track.  I don't think I want Ben behind a real wheel for a long, long time.  They enjoyed the pizza and the really expensive snake and straw that they bought with their tickets, and we headed home.

Once we were home it was time for the strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream that Ben requested.  Plus, we had a big pile of presents to open.  The other thing that I had done for his birthday was to decorate his room, big boy style.  He wanted sharks as the theme, so I had taken all afternoon to fix it up for him.  We put all the presents up in his room and let him come see everything.  He loved it!  He liked all of his presents, but I have to say that his favorite was definitely the Kindle that Daddy got for him.  Daddy knew how much he loved to play games on our phones, so he bought a Kindle for him and loaded every Angry Birds game he could find onto the thing.  Benny was in heaven, and Ian was so happy that he had found something that he would love so much.

I can't believe my youngest little angel is four years old!  Next year, he'll be the in the biggest class in the preschool.  While he's getting bigger, I still love the chance when I get to cuddle down next to him at bedtime and sing to him.  I love watching him turn into a little man, but I wish he'd stay little forever!

(Walking through the strawberry fields)

(my little four year old)

(brothers)

(boys in a tubes)

(birthday big boy bedroom)

(my little screen junkie)

(ride 'em cowboy)

(boys in a bubble)

(Happy Birthday Benny!)