2014,  Brayden,  Charlotte,  Family,  Hanleigh,  September

The Calm Before the Storm

Well, the first three weeks of September were relatively calm…and we needed that (just wait until the October post). Brayden had a milestone (not such a great one, though): her first cavity. She did excellent getting it filled (thanks, in part, to a fabulous dentist…her uncle!). We had the Dunlaps over for dinner and I went to my annual girls’ beach trip in Oak Island with Leslie and crew. As usual, we put that town to shame. Thank goodness they have another year to recuperate before we wreack havoc again on that sleepy beach town. I created a new invention (see pictures), we had fabulous weather, and laughed so hard our bellies hurt. That same weekend, Trent and Brayden went with their Y Guides tribe to Zootastic and then camped at Lake Norman while Hanleigh and Nana played together.

Cooper stayed with us one night and we went to dinner, then the next morning we took him to his first one-mile fun run (Isabella Santos) with Brayden and Hanleigh (it was their first one, too!). He wasn’t too sure of it at first, but once he donned his superhero cape, he ran like the wind. There were a couple times where he wanted me to hold him, but he and Hanleigh ran most of it together. Brayden and Trent ran separate from us and she ran nearly the entire thing! When it concluded, they all received medals, jumped in bouncy houses, and played on gym equipment. We may have future runners on our hands!

Now that our back porch is 99% finished, we knew we needed to give the kids a place to play in the backyard, so we invested in a brand new playground (the one we had when we moved in was rotten, so we tore it down). They absolutely love it and we know it will provide them (and us) with many, happy memories over the years. So far, we’ve caught them playing “school” where their (pretend) kids are having recess and they are the teachers, pushing them on the swings, etc. It is really cute. They even make up different names for themselves. So creative. We also had the furniture for our porch delivered, so the pieces and parts are coming together!

Miss B is really enjoying the personalized learning format of her school. For example, her class is working on a research project since there are so many mosquitos that hang out around the mobile units. They are using the iPads in the classroom to research effective ways to get rid of mosquitos and are designing posters along the light poles to educate students. She is figuring out how to apply that to life at home as well. She suggested we plant lavender on our back porch somewhere because it repels mosquitos. It is so great to see the students using technology to provide them with solutions that apply to real-world problems.

We went to dinner and Scarowinds with our neighbors one evening, too. That place was so incredibly crowded (much to my surprise) that we only rode about four rollercoasters. They do a great job of creating the scary characters that are lurking about the park, so that kept us on edge. The latter part of the month ramped up quite a bit in terms of travel. Trent spent a week in Bellevue, WA at Microsoft’s headquarters developing an app that he could take back to his company and repurpose for the software they sell, so that was exciting. He landed from that trip and Brayden and I flew to Louisville, KY for Adam and Jamie’s wedding. Unfortunately, while there, I developed a case of bronchitis that lasted for about two weeks. Immediately after returning from KY, I turned around the next morning and flew to Detroit for work for three days. That takes us into October, with even more flights. I’m tired even typing this.

Brayden-isms

  • This girl loves schoolwork and learning! With the new personalized learning format, we have only seen reading homework. She was funny one evening and said, “I love to read, but every once in a while, I would like to have other homework to break it up a bit.” She asked me to email her teacher and see if she would have homework this school year (other than her nightly reading). The answer I received from the teacher was that she would start to receive more homework soon. Love the ambition and drive she has!

Hanleigh-isms

  • I was showing her the latest Jimmy Fallon lip sync battles and after watching them, she said, “I’m gonna smack his face right now. He has a really weird song.”
  • I asked her to go potty before watching TV one evening and she was being stubborn about it. She looked at me and said, “You’re not in charge of this room.” Oh my.

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