What a Month of May!

First of all I cannot believe it is June already.  The kids will be out of school in a week.  But we'll get to that in my next post.  For now, let's talk about May...well the last half of it.

Since I have been so good about keeping things relatively up to date I thought it would be easy to share the happenings of the second part of the month but we have been super busy.

We decided to take a trip to the beach for Memorial Day weekend with some friends of ours.  They found a great house at Ocean Lakes Family Campground (which is more than a campground) and we were set.  We got there Friday night, picked up some things at the store and set ourselves up to relax for three days.  The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast!

When we got back we were at the start of a busy couple of weeks so our little vacation was like the quiet before the storm.  We had school work and projects to finish up and then begin the preparations for the end of elementary school for Grace.  First item on the list - the 5th Grade Farewell Dance.  Now I don't know if it was because she spent a few days with a girly, girl or because she's starting to become more girly on her own but we had to go buy an outfit for the night.  All the kids looked stylish and some of the boys reminded me of those crazy guys that I grew up with.

 Of course Adam's second year of baseball is winding down.  He's still enjoying every minute of playing and learning about the game.  He gets up every morning so he can watch Quick Pitch on the MLB Network.  I can't help but think of my Aunt Annie and her love of baseball when I watch him get excited about games.  His final game of the season is this week but I have to miss it so I made sure I got some shots of my final game.

Finally our month ended with a little more a baseball as Grace got to sing the National Anthem with the WR Odell Elementary School Chorus at the Charlotte Knights game.  She's no stranger to performing in front of a crowd so this wasn't a big deal for her but it was really cool to see her out on the field with the rest of the kids sing their heart out.  And I may be a tad biased but it was the best rendition I ever heard!!

That's her on the big screen.  The boys (David & Adam) are actually sitting right under the screen so they didn't get to see her.  When they were finished we nestled in to our very hot seats in left field to take in the game.  This was our first time at this ballpark.  It opened last year in uptown Charlotte and we never made it to a game; but the ease of getting there and the amenities will make it a regular item on our to do list and if you come to visit we just might take you there!

That wraps up our month of May.  This week Grace has her EOG testing and Adam is just counting the days until he becomes a first grader.

At the end of the week we will enjoy a Kannapolis Intimidators game because the chorus will be singing again, I will get to see Barry Manilow in concert and then I will begin my efforts to turn back time as Grace will graduate from 5th grade next Wednesday.  Where has the time gone?!?!?

A 5K, Baseball and Fun Runs

This spring Grace took part in the Girls on the Run program.  For those of you not familiar, GOTR is a 10-week program that uses running to prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.  Grace had two sessions per week which included a 30 minute lesson about topics ranging from body image to bullying and then 30 minutes of running.  At the end of the 10 weeks we "ran" a 5K.  It was a cold and rainy morning.  We lined up at the front and by the time we finished we were in the middle.  Even though I had to push her from the half way point, Grace had a good time and was pretty excited when she crossed the finish line.

We are also in the midst of Adam's second season of baseball.  He has improved dramatically since last year.  His fielding is excellent, he's trying harder and paying attention.  He also seems to think he's Frank Thomas because every time he steps up to the plate he tries to knock it out of the park.  Apparently he told David he doesn't run very fast, to which he replied "then I guess you'll have to hit home runs so you don't have to worry about it".

Finally, today was the Boosterthon Fun Run.  Many of you made a flat donation to support Grace & Adam in their efforts to raise money for their school which will go toward improved technology and upgraded playground equipment.  So THANK YOU!!!!!

Boosterthon is a fundraising program that promotes the values of fitness, leadership and character during the nine-day program.  Each day the kids had a morning pep rally that included a lesson on these values.  Grace's class had the first running slot.  She ran all 35 laps but took her time doing it.  Adam's class was in the next group.  He was all about the run and completed his 35 laps and then some.  Both of them had fun and I'm glad I got to be there to watch.

Catching Up

So much has been going on since last month that I just haven't had time to update you all on our world.  I'm going to do my best to bring you up to speed.

Grace continues to do well in school and brought home straight As for the third quarter.  She continues to participate in the We R Odell chorus and will join them in singing the National Anthem at two baseball games this year - the Charlotte Knights and the Kannapolis Intimidators.  Her involvement in the Girls on the Run program has been going well too.  We are closing in on our 5K at the end of April.  Hopefully we can run at least part of it though most of the time we have run indoors so the transition to outside may be difficult.  Finally she has officially committed to the Certified Instructor in Training program at karate.  Over the next few years she will learn about being a karate instructor and will slowly participate in leading the younger classes to gain experience.  Her instructor had so many wonderful things to say about her and how she has grown over the past 3 years; he and I were both crying.

The boy has started his second season of baseball.  He is having a blast.  Now that he understands the game and what to do we've seen a lot of improvement.  His first game was this past weekend - I was out of town but David said he played well.  He still has good days and bad days at school but thankfully the good ones outweigh the bad.

The week before Easter was Spring Break for our school district.  I still don't understand why people make such a big deal over spring break for elementary school kids and we certainly didn't plan a crazy getaway.  The kids spent their week at their after school facility and enjoyed different activities.  Although I did take the afternoon off the last day so we could enjoy a movie.

That about sums it up for us.  I'm sure I've missed something but we are always on the go so it's difficult to remember what I did yesterday let alone three weeks ago.  Here's a couple of pics of the kids to enjoy.

Let it Snow, Let it Ice, Let it Melt

February was quite an entertaining month for us as it relates to weather.  But before I get in to that, let's talk about our visitor.

My mom spent a few days with us.  It was one of those visits for alternative reasons - we had the chance to go to the mountains for the night and needed a sitter.  So we brought mom down.  She got here on Friday night the 13th, got to see Adam's basketball game and then spent quality time with the kids.  The biggest adventure was getting her home as the aforementioned weather wreaked havoc with planes and automobiles.  But she finally got home a day after she was supposed to.

Now let's talk about that weather.  Monday the 16th we had freezing rain like I hadn't seen since I first moved here.  It was not fun and I drove in it because we were still under the notion that mom's flight was leaving.  By the time we got to the airport it was cancelled, they put her on another flight and we came home.  That journey was full of adventures - constantly freezing windshield, my wiper coming off, driving with no wipers and using the fact that I'm a lady to get what I needed.

Tuesday the 17th we were covered in ice.  Nothing was going anywhere.  I worked from home and the kids were off from school.  I was able to get mom to the airport and she eventually got out at 3:00.  The temps didn't improve much, the sun didn't shine everywhere so what happened was the kids were out of school the whole week.

Finally we awoke to a lovely morning on the 23rd and the kids got to go to school.  But it was short lived.  Tuesday was some snow and ice so school was closed.  Wednesday we were back to school but the BIG one was coming.  Don't make me laugh.  On Thursday, we awoke to about five inches of wet snow which melted by the end of the day.  Unfortunately the temperature never got above freezing so all that water refroze and the kids were off on Friday.

Needless to say here we are - March 2 - and the kids are in school, the forecast is only calling for rain and there is still a portion of spring break intact.  You gotta love the weather in North Carolina!

The Boy

Our sweet baby boy, who's not much of a baby anymore.  He's turning in to a bigger ball of fire than he was before.

Aside from a couple visits to see the assistant principal, he's having a great year in Kindergarten. He's also becoming quite the little athlete.  After playing baseball and soccer last year he asked to play basketball.  He's doing pretty well, he gets the concept he just needs to work on dribbling, passing and shooting.  But, as with everything he's in to, there's plenty of time to develop.

2015 plans for the blog

As you may have noticed, I have not updated the blog since September.  My apologies to the five of you who check it for updates.

My hope for this year is to make at minimum one update per month (two if something really big happens).  I've already missed January but I'm going to get better at this.

I spend so much time with FB posts that I neglect the blog.  That's most likely because I don't have many readers.

So TeamBuckelew will be back in full force in 2015.  Look for a new post next week while I try to figure out the direction I want to take it.

Hugs XOXOXO

Labor Day Weekend

Even though the kids had already been in school for a week - we still decided to "celebrate" the last official weekend of summer with a little fun.

Friday night we took in an Intimidators baseball game.  It was their last home stand of the season and we had free tickets to use.

After Adam's swimming lesson on Saturday we put our walking shoes on and headed to Carowinds for some fun.  I hadn't been to the park in over 10 years and the rest of the family had never been so it was an adventure.

We settled in to Camp Snoopy which was made up of rides for kids to enjoy with their parents.  I got Grace on the roller coaster (she was a tad nervous) but after the first time, she was really in to it.  David and Adam did some riding of their own before we walked around to check out some other rides and adventures including the Dinosaur Park.  It was really cool to see these replicas of various dinosaurs.  Unfortunately the whole section was in the sun so we moved through it pretty quick.

After the obligatory stop at the gift shop, we headed home.  Both kids were tired, in fact they fell asleep within 15 minutes of leaving the park.

Sunday after taking care of our chores we went to the pool for what is probably the last time of the year and then Monday we caught up on the things we didn't accomplish before preparing for the week ahead.  I'd say it was a pretty good end to summer (even though summer doesn't officially end until the 21st).