Claire is 6!

I've gotten behind on here because we've been just a little busy!  Did I mention we sold our house in 2 weeks, removed the contingency for the new house, found an apartment, had a huge yard sale, and now we move in 4 weeks?  Yikes!!

So I think I forgot to blog about Claire's birthday.  Oops.  Rob was out of town unfortunately, but we made her day a happy one.  She woke up and I gave her a present and made her sprinkle pancakes.  Then she had a fun surprise on her way to the bus stop - Mimi and Papa drove by to say hello and Happy Birthday!  (Papa was still driving Mimi to work everyday then due to her injury.)  She got a nice birthday hug and Papa found 60 cents in the car so she could buy some chocolate milk to have with lunch.  :-)





It was Abu's day to babysit while I worked.  When I got home, we had a pizza dinner (Popa came too), cupcakes, and presents.  Popa and Abu gave her a Lalaloopsie doll and a princess sticker book - both were big hits.  Even Aunt Alison stopped by on her way back to Roanoke - a little surprise visit and a gift!  I let the birthday girl stay up late playing with her new toys and finally made her go to bed since it was a school night.  She had a great day and still more celebrations to come...

 

To our Georgia friends!

I'm a week late on posting this, but Mr. Norman's birthday was last week and I had to get a picture of Fielder in the Georgia shirt!  (just like we did with Claire 5 years ago!)
Go Dawgs!

1st day of K!!!

The big day was finally here.  As requested, we had sprinkle pancakes for breakfast.  She was just so excited.  I could hear her bouncing around in her room early this morning.  She had even cleaned her room and made her bed by herself (which she was very proud of) all because I had told her the night before that she couldn't go to school until her bed was made!


Of course, we took the 1st day of school pictures on the front steps.  And a few more at the bus stop. 


When the bus pulled up, all the kids ran to get in line.  She stuck by her friend Mallory and followed her onto the bus.  When she spotted me in the crowd and blew me a kiss, I was glad I had worn my sunglasses!  :-)



Such exciting times.  It's hard to send her off into the world - I spent the whole day wondering what she was doing, if she was making friends, if she was listening, if she had used the potty at all, if I packed enough food for her.....sigh....

But when I saw her jump off the bus, run towards me with a huge smile, and give me a big hug, I felt so happy for her!  I'm so glad she made it through the first day and was still smiling.  (And she did in fact use the potty, but she told me that it's too loud and she just won't go potty at school anymore.  Awesome.)  ETA....Day #2:  "Mommy, guess what?  I used the potty and my friend flushed.  So we used teamwork!"

 

More on Topsail...

Just a few favorites from our time in Topsail....




Uncle Andy Captain Hook left the girls a map to find some buried treasure one morning!

Several days during low tide, we would have these tidal pools and big areas where the kids could play without waves knocking them down.  It was perfect!  Wednesday afternoon was my most favorite day - we played for a long time and even Fielder had a blast.  He didn't even care if he got completely knocked over and went underwater. 



It was also the only time the whole family was outside at once. (Dad must have been hiding under the umbrella.)  I love the girls hugging in this picture!


One night while we were eating dinner, we noticed a crowd a ways down the beach.  Tara and I went to investigate and it turned out that there had been a turtle hatching the night before.  The volunteers were there rescuing the babies that didn't make it out of the nest.  We got to see 9 little babies released as they made their way to the ocean.  The girls really seemed to enjoy it.  And then the next day we got out Mimi's turtle kite and look....9 little baby turtles on the kite tail!


They love to bicker with each other, but they also LOVE to hug it out!  This was a special trip to a little park nearby with Aunt Tara and Uncle Andy.


Thursday night we had a "party" - Christmas lights, music, special drinks for the girls, and matching t-shirts (Thanks Dad!!) 

Unfortunately our vacation ended with Mimi in the hospital.  She took a fall down the stairs and fractured her pelvis and elbow.  She stayed several nights in Wilmington until the doctors released her to go home.  We are so lucky to have so many friends and family members to take care of her, bring meals, send cards, and keep her in their thoughts.  It means so much to her (and all of us!) Here's hoping to getting Mimi back up and running in the near future!   

Topsail with the Masons

We've been home for a while, but I'm finally getting around to posting about our 2nd trip to Topsail this summer!  I've been a little overwhelmed with so many pictures to sort through (none of which were taken with my camera.  Nope, didn't even take it out of my suitcase.)

I'll start with our family photos on the beach.  We had a wonderful week B.T.F.  ("Before the Fall".....more on that later) and so many great memories.  These pictures on the beach are always my favorites.  It was almost impossible to get Claire to smile normally and Fielder to stay still!  I love the pictures of him running away.  It's just such his personality.  He ended the photo session by rolling around in the sand (of course this was all after his bath and right before bedtime!)

 

Big news for the Barnes family

We are officially on the market!  Exciting times around here.  As if we didn't have enough with school starting and the normal everyday craziness, we have decided to move!  Rob and I did not have plans to move until at least next year, but we fell in love with a new neighborhood in the area and couldn't pass on the opportunity.  We signed the contract, but construction won't start until we sell this house. 

Here we are on our lot!!!  I can't wait to watch the process of our home being built.  Claire has had mixed emotions about it, but I think the more she sees of our new house, the more she will like it.  They had fun running around in the dirt and meeting a family that already lives there. 

Kindergarten, here she comes

Lots to catch up on....I'm going to skip around a little. 
Thursday was Kindergarten orientation and Claire is so excited to start school!  The kids got to meet their teacher and take a practice bus ride around the loop.  I'm excited for her, but it's starting to "hit me" that she is really going to K!  Yikes!  She has been counting down the days and I just hope it lives up to her expectations!