Day Out with Grandma!

This weekend we are attending my cousin's wedding in Dallas, Texas. I have been procrastinating getting the kids outfits (and myself a dress), and my mom has been asking when I'm going to go. Well, finally she jumped in the car today and drove the almost four hour drive to take us shopping. It's probably a good thing since I was being lazy about it- ha! So, we spent the entire day shopping with Grandma (and of course doing all the "fun" stuff at the malls) and then Grandma had to drive home that night. Crazy, busy day filled with fun!

So my little dancer saw this pink circle in the Express store and proclaimed, "It's my dance stage." and away she went dancing to the music they were playing. Why didn't I think to turn my camera on video mode?

This is Katelynn's favorite ride of all time at the mall- the TRAIN! She roped Grandma into riding both this and the horses with her.

And we finished off the day with Grandma reading her bedtime stories before she had to go home!

Ballerina Girl

Katelynn starts dance class this week, and we are so excited! She has been taking a "fun" dance class where they run around and be silly to music, but this is going to be a ballet and tap class that she will attend the entire school year and finish off with a recital. We got her ballet and tap shoes this weekend, and she LOVES them. She has been wearing them around the house, and she even decided she just had to take her nap in her ballet slippers today.

My only fear about dance class is that she's going to have issues with being left. Parents do not participate or even stay in the room for this, and I think it's going to be really good for her since she needs to start getting used to mommy not always being right there with her. We have been talking about it a lot all week to get her comfortable with it so hopefully it works!

The "Fun" Place

That's what Katelynn called Carowinds, the amusement park on the North Carolina/South Carolina border that we went to yesterday. This morning she told me, "I want to go to the fun place again, mommy." I was lucky enough to win tickets to Carowinds a few months ago, and we saved our tickets until this weekend in hopes the weather would be cooler- no such luck though. We still sweat in the heat yesterday, but we had a great time. Katelynn is fearless. She loved every single ride she went on and wanted to do them again and again. As we were leaving, she was wanting to go on one of the huge, twist-you-upside-down rollercoasters and was so upset when we explained that she was just a little too small yet for those.

These picture are in no order since I am having trouble with the page again tonight but here are a few from our trip yesterday!

We took Justin on four different rides that they had there. This was one of them. It may look like just Jonathan is riding in the car, but Justin is driving it- ha,ha!
Katelynn says her favorite ride was the rollercoaster. She went on with Daddy, then Mommy, and then wanted to go again... and again.... and again.

Carowinds also had a water park that was included with admission. It was soo hot that we spent our afternoon cooling off there. While Katelynn is fearless on the rides, Justin is fearless with the water. Katelynn doesn't really like the water in her face still, but Justin didn't care one bit. He was trying!

Another fave of Katelynn's was the cartoon characters. She didn't want to pose for pictures with them, but she insisted on hugs!

I remember this ride from when I was little and attended carnivals!

Another of Justin in the water. He was killing me with that tongue.. determined to catch the water on his tongue!

My two favorite guys <3

This was one of Katelynn's first rides. She wanted to be able to ride anything and everything she could BY HERSELF.

Such a sport- hanging out in the stroller while his sister was having a blast.

How could I have forgotten?

Now, I sure hope no one else forgot that my baby boy turned seven months old the other week. He,he. I didn't for sure, but I did forget to post his comparision pictures with his bear!! I can't believe we are closer to his first birthday now than to the day he was born. How time flies! I love the age he is at right now though. Except for keeping me up all night long, he's so much fun! :)

7 months old

6 months old

Fall is coming!

As much as I love summer, I also love the fall in North Carolina. The weather has been perfect this week- not tooo hot but still warm enough to be wearing summer-ish clothes (sometimes some pants but never a jacket), and the best part is that we can spend all day outside and not be sweaty, stinky, and dehydrated afterwards! We took advantage of the weather this past weekend and did our favorite walk to the park on our greenway.

It was Katelynn's first time in tennis shoes (versus sandals) in a long time, and I thought her feet looked so cute!
Justin and Katelynn got to swing together! It's so fun now that Justin can join in some!

Justin didn't stop laughing. He loved swinging!

I let Jonathan talk me into getting rid of the double stroller. Katelynn doesn't like riding in the stroller, and for the rare two minutes she does- this works fine. And really, she hung out in the stroller with him for two minutes before she was ready to walk again.

A Sibling Cruise

Justin is officially old enough to cruise around with his sister in her jeep! Oh the fun to come when he is old enough to fight with her over who will drive :)

Messy Food Fun

I have been such a slacker in my blogging that I can't even remember where I left you off with Justin eating. I guess I'll just recap for you. When he started solids, he wasn't really that interested in them. We just kept offering them, and after about a week, he was loving them. Then about a week ago, he just stopped eating. I really think he has been having a lot of trouble with his teeth that he is cutting. He was just way more interested in stealing the spoon from my hand and chewing on it or nibbling on a biter biscuit or puffs. I have just kept trying and he is still refusing some meals, but other times of day he is eating like he has been starved.

I am following a very conservative schedule on what solids I give him. We started with veggies (sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, and carrots) and now are introducing fruits (bananas, peaches, pears, apricots, and soon blueberries). Here was his first taste of banana:

When the eating strike started, I tried getting creative and gave him a mushy banana in a mesh bag. He loved it, but we had to toss the mesh bag because it was impossible to clean!

And lastly, I had to share this with you. I think Jonathan was about to die the night I let Justin attempt to feed himself. He wasn't wanting to eat, only wanting the spoon. So, I grabbed a dipper spoon, handed it to him, put the bowl on his highchair and let him do whatever his little heart desired. Messy? Um, yes. BUT.. he's only little once so I figure- let him have his fun! He LOVES drinking from cups like this so he dropped his spoon and tried to just drink the food!

And of course he ended up dumping it all out and playing in it.

And since I figured we had such a mess going on anyway, I let Katelynn go to town feeding him. I think he wore more of it than he ate (and yes, I forgot a bib this time around too!), but he was actually eating for her, which was more than he would do for me that night!
Here's the messy boy at the end of the food fun. Can you guess where he went straight from his highchair??