Trikeathon 2016

Tommy and Charlotte's school held a trikeathon this year to raise money for St. Jude. We opened a fundraising page online and were extremely successful thanks to family and friends donating to such a great cause.  We offered to send thank you videos to everyone who donated and the kids held up their end of the bargain.  Here is a compilation of all our thank you videos. It turned out to be pretty funny.


During the same week, we also celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week.

I got this idea from Pinterest where it was executed much better.

But when it comes to donuts, I don't believe there can be any wrong way to give them, amirite? All the teachers really appreciated the donuts and we appreciate everything they have done for us these past five years.  It was a week full of giving.  Hopefully the kids learned a little and the world will be just a teeny bit of a better place.

People Let Me Tell You About My Best Friend

These two do everything together. 

 They brush their teeth together.

 Have outdoor picnics together.

 Sit in chairs together...

 Make funny faces together...

 Ride in Target carts together...

 Watch Land Before Time together...

 Relax in the tub together...

Did I mention relax in the tub together? ;-)  

Throwback Tuesday: Charlotte's Two and a Half! (My Bad)

The poor second child.  I completely missed her 2.5 year post by two months!! AAHH!! The worst! Sooooo here goes Charlotte's two and half year post...

Charlotte, you are 30 months old as of March 21st! Your doctor's appointment recorded your stats, although incorrectly.  Your length was instead measured as a height at 34.8 inches.   This puts you in the 30th percentile for length.  If they would have had you actually lay down, I think your percentile would be a little more accurate.  You don't go from the 70th percentile to the 30th in 6 months.  But oh well.  It is nice to know what rides you will soon be able to ride! You weigh 29 pounds which is the 53rd percentile.  You are strong and prove it to us all the time by picking up something we had no idea you could lift.  You are hilarious. You also prove this all the time with your facial expressions, comments, the way you say things and play. You are a joy to be around.  You still constantly get comments on how beautiful your eyes are from strangers.  You love princesses, dinosaurs, blankets to lay over your babies so they can nap, cooking in your kitchen, soccer, bike riding, listening to music in the car and SINGING, books, your best friend Lakynn, counting things, your brother, and basically everything your brother likes.  You are incredibly sweet.  You use the phrase I love you frequently and at the best moments. 

 Look at that face! So tough!

 I believe this picture is your third viewing of the movie Zootopia.  Boy, does you love Officer Judy Hops!

You also are kind of enthused about being able to wear Tommy's old jammies. 

You love wearing dresses and skirts but you hardly have any at all.  This summer is going to be dress-tastic I have a feeling.

 Hey, is that Officer Hops?? ;-)

You love food but truly I think your favorite foods are soup and salad.  We can't eat either of those things without you coming over to sneak a few bites.  I suppose in this picture you had more than a few bites. :)

Look at those eyes.  Seriously.  This picture doesn't do them justice.

Your smile isn't too bad either.  Look at that joy!

 You and Tommy have so much fun together.  You have your moments where you don't get along but most all the time you are best friends.  It is so much fun to sit back and watch happen.

 Like this moment for example.  :-)

Happy 30 months Charlotte! We are so happy you are a part of our family.  Thank you for being you.

Week of the Child 2016

Every year at school, the kids have what is called "The Week of the Child".  It's a week to celebrate the kids.  Each day is a theme day and they have a fun family party at the end.  I had a work conference to go to for part of the week so I was all worried about making sure the kids had their themed outfits for each day but Andrew knocked it out of the park. 

This was Mixed Up Monday.  Mismatched clothes.  Andrew had trouble with this one.  He brought down a light pink shirt and dark pink pants for Charlotte.  He said, "It looks hideous!"  I said, "Actually it almost matches."  Haha!! So we ended up with silly clothes like this.  Charlotte actually looked pretty stinking cute.  Tommy was definitely mismatched.  Stripes so cray cray. ;-)

 We didn't get a picture of PJ Tuesday. Charlotte wore her Arial jammies and Tommy wore his Thor jammies.  But Wacky Hair Wednesday was perfect.  Tommy did an amazing job with Tommy's hair.  Charlotte's hair was a mowhawk of ponytails.  That's the best I could do.  She actually let me put ponytails in her hair that day.  It was a rare day!

 It was Throwback Thursday when I was gone.  Tommy is 50s, or 90s? Or pretty much any decade because... you know, dudes.  Charlotte was 80s with her adidas track suit.  Adorbs.

Friday was Hawaiian Day and the family picnic.  Tommy wore his Hawaiian shirt that was a bit small from a couple years ago.  Charlotte wore another tutu because... well, tutus. :)

We got a family selfie.  Well, most of us got in the picture.  I made it back from my conference just in time for the picnic lunch in the gym.  Whoo hoo!  Happy Week of the Child!

Visiting Baby Cousin Wyatt

 Aunt Erin had the great idea to get the fam together so we did last Sunday. 

As would be a typical day with our kiddos, Charlotte stuck a glow stick up her nose on the trip down. 

 The kids were excited to see their baby cousin again.  He's grown up so much! He rolling and scooting and all kinds of fun stuff.

 Wyatt loved Charlotte and her ponytail.  It was adorable.  Babies love to grab things and her ponytail was perfect for that.  She took it all in stride though.  :-)

 Cousin photo! They make quite the trio.  Love it.

 They played games together.  They rolled a ball back and forth.  Definitely the beginning of many more play dates.

 The kids snapped a quick pic with Wyatt's giant bear.  This was seriously the best picture I got. :)

 Look at the T-burg kiddos.  Are they not the best looking kids you've ever seen??

 Did I mention the day we met was Sibling Day?? Had to get a picture of the T-burg sibs!

Before I could stop them, both kids crashed on the way home.  They were exhausted.  We will definitely have to do this again soon.  Such a fun afternoon!

FIeld Trip to the Purdue Farm

 I signed up for another field trip for Tommy's class.  This time it was a trip to the farm at Purdue. 

 We hopped on the decrepit bus and took off.

 Instead of going from one barn to another and another, they brought a sample of all the animals they had into one barn.  They had a couple beef cows, a couple dairy cows, two pigs, hatching eggs, baby chicks, hens, fish, sheep and a tractor.  Tommy was impressed, I swear.  He just didn't want to have his picture taken.

 He finally came around.  My chaperone group was the girl with the purple hat, the boy in the navy coat (who specifically asked for me, awww) and Tommy.  They were a perfectly behaved group.  I was super lucky.

 Check out those hatching chicks! They were pecking their way out as we watched.  Very cool.  It also looked incredibly exhausting.

 We had to get a picture in front of the tractor! It was my group and Mrs. A's group.

After we visited the farm, Mrs. A decided to take the kids to Happy Hollow park.  What an excellent park! We had so much fun.  The kids were about to explode while they waited to cross the parking lot.  As they ran and screamed across the parking lot to the playground equipment, Mrs. A said, "The natives have been set free!!!"

They certainly had.  It was so fun seeing how much fun they had.
 

I made this happen.  I'm pretty sure that's Tommy saying, "What is happening????" The kids LOVED it.  They were having so much fun.  More and more kids kept getting on.  Less and less kids were holding on.  One girl fell off and got a face full of mulch.  It was the wrong girl to get a mouthful of the brown stuff.  She has an easy gag reflex and started spitting. I thought we were going to having someone HURL.  Luckily, she got all the mulch out of her mouth without vomiting and we moved on with our day.  Thank goodness! What would you even do with a kid's barf in the mulch? Bury it? Ha!

So we made our way back to the school and picked up Charlotte who was crying/screaming about not coming with us on the field trip when we left the school.  Poor thing.  But all was well when we came back and informed her I was taking her home with us.  We went home, ate lunch, and we all took 2-3 hour naps.  It was an amazing day.

Nice Little Saturday

 Charlotte and I went to the salon one Saturday morning for Mother Daughter haircuts.  Charlotte took to the salon like a duck to water. 

 My haircut took longer than hers so she had to wait it out in a salon chair.  She did really well for having to be patient while 2 years old. 

 After our salon visit, we went to Target with a pit stop at the Target Starbucks.  Cake pops for the win!

 Cake pop face!

Cake pop face numero dos! 

 We probably took 37 selfies.  Good times!

We had a nice little Saturday together. :-)