Splashville

So I'm sitting here on our one gross couch in Asheville enforcing quiet time for my twins.  I picked them up today from school in meltdown mode.  So we are having quiet time to recuperate.

Since I must police quiet time, I figured what better way to spend the time than to write about a fabulous morning we had last week at splashville.  It is a small little pad in the heart of Pack Square.  I did not get and "good" pictures because the water squirts up from the ground and the kids are moving a million miles a minute. This is a free activity if you exclude parking.  Parking is about $5 but if you come on Sunday it is free:-). Note to self!  

There are hot dog stands so you don't even have to pack a lunch!  The most important part if this park is that there are clean bathrooms!!!  Whohoo!!  I have one child that uses the bathroom every 30 minutes so a nice bathroom gets 5 stars:-). We knew we were in Asheville when on Sunday morning we were waiting to use said bathroom and found ourselves in line with none other than a man dressed as a nun (?).  Yep.

Mercer Anne DID go to Lake Julian:-)

Mercer Anne's teacher sent this picture out last night of Mercer Anne and Paige - Paige is MA's new best friend and I think they are perfect for each other!

We found a new park yesterday - Splashville.  I'll post pictures tonight!

MMR

Field trip and Fuddruckers

 So the twins too a field trip today with their pre-school class at the JCC Asheville.  The lady in the left is Haviva, their teacher.  She is wonderful! They went to Lake Julian, played, rode a pontoon boat, ate lunch and came home.  There were no photos of Mercer Anne, but Woodson seemed to have a great time.

 Tonight we had swim lessons and some friends join us at the pool.  My friend had the idea to take the kids to Fuddruckers afterwards.  I should have just said no.  But I didn't.  6PM after a field trip, swim lessons and the pool is not the time to go to a restaurant like Fuddruckers.  I hate that place.  I really hate it.  They give you a free cookie which is exactly what kids need at night.  Furthermore there are a million video games and those put in a million quarters to grab a stuffed animal/ball/piece of junk. Its a money pit.  On the bright side.  My kids held it together like champs.  And a sweet girl and her mom heard me tell Woodson no we could not insert a million quarters into the machine and IF you are lucky you grab a ball with the "claw". Apparently the little girl had won 5 balls and brought them over to our table and gave them out to our kids.  Crisis averted.  I do not have to play the claw game which I basically feel is a trap and recipe for disappointment.  I did however, "mom up" and let Woodson play the game where you shoot things on the screen and Mercer Anne/ Elizabeth Grace do the race car driving game.  I did learn that I don't know if I will ever be ready to ride in the car with Mercer Anne.  We died a million times.....

Bringing back the "camera".

So I found my point and shoot before I left for Asheville.  I had misplaced the connector to the computer so I simply stopped using it - which is rediculous because it cost $5 at the grocery store to buy a connector.  So I downloaded some 400 odd photos tonight (you will be seeing them later this week) and this is the last picture that was taken...

I am thinking maybe Elizabeth Grace or Mercer Anne figured out how to take pictures, most likely Mercer Anne as there was also a blury EG photo.  This is in the Asheville house.  And this is a pre-crazy-angry-woodson photo.  It is the, "I am about to completely erupt", "I am going to pinch you", "I am going to hit you" or at least stomp my foot several times to get your attention look.

Glad I missed it.  We are going through a stage right now where I see this expression multiple times a day.  I would never be brave enough to try and photograph it.  However, I got a slight chuckle when I saw that one of his sisters did.

xoxo
Morgan

My girls

 Mercer Anne looks so grown up here - I can't get over it!  I feel like she turned into a real person (not that she hasn't always been, but one with her own thoughts, opinions and behaviors!) overnight.  This was taken at the pool yesterday.  It is several degrees cooler here so the pool doesn't open until noon which means we don't go until really late after EG's nap.

EG was hamming it up last night at bed time.  She loves her little room in Asheville. So far they all love it.  And I am so happy they do - it is going to be a great summer!

white belt

 

Two months ago we started going to "Ninja" class.  And to be honest I had reservations about it being weird or influencing my children to fight.  And then I thought about it.  And watched the teachers.  I realized this was possibly the best thing ever for Woodson.  Great for Mercer Anne too, but the timing could not be more perfect for my sweet son.  

They teach them obedience and respect.  Respect for their teachers, adults, peers and most importantly, themselves.  I heard a lot of, "yes ma'am" and "no sir" coming out of my children's mouths and decided we were coming back as much as they would let us! 

In order to receive your white belt, you have to memorize the Ninja creed.   Woodson did it two weeks ago completely out of the blue.  Of course we had practiced and practiced when we first started.  I pushed and pushed.  And then one day he saw another kid do it and after class I suggested he recite it.  He walked up to the leader (I am not sure what they are called) and did it.  Cold. I was so impressed and extremely proud of my baby boy!  GREAT JOB!

Finding our way around Asheville

Yesterday around 4:30 my children became little monsters.  Usually, when they become little monsters it means we need to GET. OUT. OF. THE. HOUSE.  So we did.  And we found this little gem of a park.  It is in the center of a soccer park.  I guess they built it for moms who have little children that need to play while their bigger kids play soccer?  I dunno. It works though.  I hesitated to post these pictures because they do not represent the true mood of the afternoon if you know what I mean.  They look like "summer".  But they were the 2 minutes out of 45.  You can kind of tell from Mercer Anne's facial expression that life was not perfect:-)  But I will say I caught a few awesome smiles on the tire swing that made the afternoon worth it.  I read somewhere recently that there are no "good" days when raising children, only good moments.  And I felt this rang true yesterday.  We had a few spectacularly wonderful moments.

This one is my easy child (this month).

This one does not like to wear shoes, ever.

This one knows where the camera is...always.