Carter's First Day of Kindergarten

Waiting to leave the gym...
He is so cute!

The big day!

Opening the door to the school as a kindergartener.

Brushing Carter's teeth for school.

Chuck and I have been dreading this day for 5 years and 2 months. We didn't want our little boy to grow up so quickly.

In Gaston County, we have phase in days for kindergarten where half of the kids go to school on day from 8:30 - 11:00 and the other half go the next day. Then no children go on the 3rd day so that they can screen the children who weren't screened during the summer. Then it is full force for the whole day on the 4th day.
Wednesday was the day Carter went for phase in. I had to be at school at 7:30 so I left Chuck with both kids. He dropped Laney off at mom's and then brought Carter to school. Once I got my kids settled, I went down to the gym to meet Chuck and Carter. I thought that I would cry a lot and so would Carter. For those of you who don't remember, Carter was a pre-school dropout. He cried everyday and would chase me out of the school. I was late for work everyday so finally after March, I decided just to take him out.

Well, this was totally different. He walked in and kissed my goodbye. Then he went to sit with his class. He had to sit in the gym for about 10 minutes. The whole time, he just looked around smiling. We looked at him one time and he was trying to eat his lunch out of his lunch box. My mom came to pick him up from school at 11:00 so I went out to check on him. The first thing he said was, "mom, I didn't pull my bee, can I have a prize?" He said h e had a great day and loves his teachers, Mrs. Burgess and Mrs. Farris!

Carter being happy made me happy and I didn't cry on Wednesday. However, I did cry pretty much all day Tuesday. I guess I got it all out ahead of time.

Laney and my mom are going to be so lost without him but he is going to have a great year!

Laney is walking...

Last week Laney started walking with her baby stroller and taking a few steps on her own. Then over the past couple of days, she has gradually started to take more steps. This afternoon, she took about 15 steps before falling down.

Carter rode Laney around on his John Deere today. She loved it - she didn't want to get off but the battery went dead. They were so cute!

The video of Laney walking is sideways and I am not sure how to rotate it. Sorry. We also quit videoing before she walked the 15 steps. I guess that is how it works.

Vacation 2009

Jason after his 2nd loss to me.

Carter finally got to go eat Japenese

Laney, 10 months, playing in the ocean.

Carter and Laney

Nicholas after a day at the ocean.

Karrie and Brady

The kids loved playing in the sprinklers at Coligny!

Playing in the sand - her tummy must be full.

We were leaving our house one night and looked up to see this beautiful crane.

The men cooking and the kids playing.

Carter and Ian shooting each other with water guns.

Mommy and Laney

Just happy to be at the pool.

Daddy and Laney

Carter and Ian in the "hot pool"

The boys tie dyed a shirt at Salty Dog, they are waiting for their turn.

Karrie waiting to tie dye a shirt with Brady.

The boys with our vacation sign for Josh's video.

The pool

Superman vs. Batman

We left for Hilton Head on Thursday, July 23rd. We stayed in a hotel until our house was ready on Saturday. It was really nice to have those two extra days down there. Jason, Karrie, Ian and Brady stayed with us the whole time. Then Josh, Melissa and Nicholas came down to join us late Friday night. We had a great time as usual. Hilton Head is the best.

We have a pool in the back yard of our house so we only visit the beach a couple of times. When the kids get a little older, it will be easier to do the beach. Laney loved the ocean, especially eating the sand. We decided it was hopeless to keep trying to dig it out of her mouth. Carter also loved the ocean. He had a great time in the waves and built a big turtle in the sand. Luckily, both of our kids love the pool so that is where we stayed most of the time.

Laney turned 10 months down there. She is wanting to walk so badly but just falls down and starts to crawl. Being around all of those big kids made her want to walk but she couldn't quite get the hang of it.
We got most of Carter's school clothes down there. He is ready to start kindergarten. We will update on how that goes.