Let's Go Racin'

I've learned that the girls either love racing or spending time with daddy. Since I love spending time with the girls and exploring racing, I don't need to know which one it really is. Last week, with the sitter on vacation, I helped out by taking a day to spend with McKenna and Keeghan. We headed out in the afternoon to visit some race shops outside Charlotte and ended up at the Roush Fenway and Hendrick shops.

I had been waiting for last night's "Night of Destruction" at the local track to arrive. Besides racing, the event had two monster trucks and a demolition derby. When Camdyn heard where I was going she really wanted to go too. It was a long night, but we had a lot of fun, and surprisingly Camdyn did very little complaining. It helped to make sure she know what was going to happen and what behavior was and wasn't going to cut it before we left home. She was resting her eyes when the last race ended with the first and second place cars wrecking into each other through the final turn with both crossing the finish line side by side, sidewise, and in the grass. Otherwise, she saw it all including the grand finale derby (although some of that was hidden behind the thick smoke of wrecked vehicles directly in front of us.) Unfortunately, the camera's battery didn't make it all the way, so I can't show the last race or the derby, but here's some of what we did get:

Up next, Marcey and I are going with the church on a trip to tour Lowe's Motor Speedway next week. Ladies and Gentleman, Start your engines!!!

Summer Camp at School???

Throughout July, Camdyn is participating in the public schools summer camp program and is really having a good time. The camp is for grades K-8 and is held at a magnet school for visual and performing arts. Today, I dropped her off and got to meet her teacher, see her classroom, and get a sneak peak at some of the art projects she has made. I'll save these for a later post, but did want to share some pictures of the school and her classroom. She started out holding my hand to escort me, but was so eager to get there, she almost left me behind.


However, the tour doesn't stop there, because the school is located close to a "Shell" gas station:

And a little further away is the big cow in the sky:

These are just a few of the oddities we've encountered in the area, but those too will wait until a future post.

It's a FIRST!...Birthday, that is!

One year ago today (6/26/06) at 1:59 p.m., Miss Keeghan became the 3rd girl in our family. On Saturday, we had a small family birthday party for Keeghan and Don (his birthday is 6/24). Grandma, Pap Pap, and Mommy's Mommy all came to be part of the celebration. Keeghan loved being the center of attention and especially when everyone clapped for her.

As you can tell, she also enjoyed her cake...


Here are just a few of the things that make Keeghan "Keeghan":
--She loves to sit on chairs or the bottom step and swing her legs -- She has a one track mind to getting what she wants even when it means going through her sisters' wrestling -- Her face lights up when she sees someone special -- The way her face "crinkles" when she smiles --She can't share a lap with her sisters; she will make sure she is the primary seatholder -- She can crawl pretty darn fast -- She insists on eating the same food as everyone else, none of that baby food! --She loves crawling up the stairs -- She loves making "wah-wah" sounds with her hands and mouth (much to Daddy's delight!) -- When the phone rings, she crawls towards it -- She can walk while holding one hand and loves her walker --She has 4.2 teeth (four teeth out and two right at the surface) -- She turns on her crib music to let us know she really wants us to come and get her; she has been patient enough.

She brings so much joy -- Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Squeezing it all in on a Saturday

On Saturday, we celebrated Camdyn's last day of kindergarten by bookmarking two events daddy wanted with a trip to Greensboro that mommy wanted (and since daddy was driving, we found time to go to one other place daddy wanted to visit there). We started the day visiting the NC Association of Percherons annual field day. Here McKenna gets as close as she dares to the gentle giants that average nine feet tall to the tips of the ears:

While, daddy enjoyed watching raking and bailing hay using a full two horse power, the girls were bored. They were bored watching the young ladies clog dancing, and pretty much with the whole thing, until they found the playset. Now they are anxiously looking forward to next year's field day, and daddy will be happy to make this happen.

In Greensboro, we visited the Historical Society's museum. The museum's Gate City has representations of a school house, drug store, fire house, moving picture theatre and a hotel lobby from around the start of the 20th century. Here I'm trying to teach the girls, but I seem to have lost their attention:

After having lunch at everyone's favorite, Red Robin, we drove home to take a nap before attending the BB&T sponsored Winston Salem Warthogs game. The BB&T race car was on display, and BB&T was offering give aways and prizes based upon what the team did. We even got Warthog hats as modeled by Keeghan:

The game was clinched with an RBI triple late in the game. This shot was taken right before it happened:

You'll notice the carousel lit up in the background of that picture. This is Camdyn's second favorite thing:

I know it isn't the first because as she begged me to take here to the souvenir stand she explained that all she wants to do in life is look at things to buy and to buy them. Immediately following the game were fireworks:

While it was a long day, I think everyone did something they enjoyed, even if it was just spending time together as a family. I know I did!

A Beginning and End of the School Year

In September, Camdyn started kindergarten with excitement. The day she had been waiting for a long time and finally arrived and she couldn't wait to make new friends and learn lots. Mommy and daddy put her on the bus and then drove to the school for a parent's meeting. We hoped to get to school about the time she did, but with the first of several bus incidents that first week, she finally showed up.

Fortunately, Camdyn enjoyed her teachers, her class, and everything else school had to offer. Each day we discussed what she learned and got weekly progress reports to let us know she was on track and doing good. Throughout the year, she learned about writing, drawing, music, math, high frequency words, shapes, animals, spelling, rhyming, gym, making friends, being well behaved, going on field trips, keeping a journal and a gazillion other things.

And I wasn't the only one looking forward to seeing Camdyn after school. McKenna loved seeing sister come home and offering to help carry her bag whenever it was needed.

Finally, the last day of school came and Camdyn was eager to get to school, get her yearbook signed by a few more, and spend what little time was left with her friends and her teachers. She loved just about everything about kindergarten and will really miss everyone and everything until school starts again.

Getting off the bus for the last time this school year she was sad, but in no time she'll be back to school again and hopefully will be just as sad that a really fun summer had to come to an end too.

A few of the birthday girl's favorite things...

favorite thing about being 3: "I don't know"
favorite part of her birthday: "kids having come to my party and good-bye"
favorite toy: "playdoh things"
favorite food: "mashed totatoes"
best friend: "Christopher"
favorite thing about outside: "jump" (she does this inside, too)
favorite thing about school: "Camdyn goes to school! I'm out for the summer now."
favorite thing about church: "I love Christopher at there and reading books at Church"
favorite animal: "cow MOOO!"
favorite sayings: "I don't know!" and "Daddy, start your engines!"

Yes, she really is 3!

Here is the birthday girl, McKenna, who turned 3 at 4:53 p.m. on Monday 6/4:


Needless to say, she is a joy to have around and earns her nickname "Good-time Gal" daily.
(The nickname was bestowed upon her by Ms. Wadley when she was only a couple of months old.)

McKenna asked for a party at the local gymnastics place. They do a fantastic job and the kids always have a great time. The problem is they didn't call Mommy back... so on Friday morning I finally gave up and called a couple of McKenna's friends to come and join us on Monday afternoon for a party and cookout. On Monday, I took McKenna to the grocery store to pick out a cake (no, I didn't even order a cake! must be mellowing after having 3 kids...) and McKenna picked out her cookie cake. Wasn't interested in the princess cakes, the funky colored cupcakes or anything else... just the cookie. And lucky for me, they still write on the cake if you pick it up at the last minute...

So even though it was organized at the last minute, McKenna still had a fantastic time with her friends at her Princess/Dora/Scooby-Doo/Cookie party...