Royal Fairytale Ball

Sunday, 27 October 2013

We have taken the kids to a few plays at Creative Spark Center For the Arts and they have really enjoyed them. They are close to the action and the cast involves the crowd in parts of the play.

I saw they were having a Royal Fairytale Ball and the whole family was encouraged to dress up. I knew this was something my kids would enjoy so I signed us up. I only had to buy one item to complete our Royal Family transformation.

I was a queen. I wore the red bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding and pinned my kids' dress up king/queen robe to my dress and wore the red headband crown from Kayla's outfit.

Kayla was a princess in a red and gold gown that my mom got her last year for Christmas. My dress matched hers almost perfectly. She wore the tiara that she wore when she was a flower girl in the above-mentioned wedding.

Lucas wore the knight cape with his shield and sword that he got for his birthday last year. He thought it was pretty cool that he was the only knight. (considering there were only 2 other boys, one a toddler and one a little older, odds were in his favor!)

Joe could have went as a king, but he opted for the jester hat that I picked up for him at the store. Every royal family needs a jester.

Joe wasn't alone in his jester-ness!

Twirling and dancing (notice she couldn't keep her tiara on as referenced in my sensory post; nor the necklace she tried on at home or the one they gave her there.)

Protecting the jester and chasing the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk

Having her palm read.

Also, this family won the best dressed royal family award. One of my kids will be attending a free summer class next year!

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Sometimes You Meet Someone

Thursday, 17 October 2013

In the summer of 2012 Kayla was invited to participate in the Charleston RiverDogs' HOPE Week.

The RiverDogs is the local minor league baseball team - a Class A Affiliate of the NY Yankees. HOPE Week (Helping Others Persevere & Excel) is a Yankee organization week-long community program that all of their affiliates participate in.

Being a Boston Red Sox fan I had to totally look past the whole Yankee-connection in letting Kayla participate!

She was the guest of honor at the Lowcountry Children's Museum where several players came to hang out for a few hours.

During her time at the museum Kayla connected with (now former) pitcher Dan Mahoney. When she was done with an activity she wanted to make sure he was following her to the next exhibit! They spent a fair amount of time together at the museum and he was a good sport at going along with what she wanted to do.

Getting pitching tips from Dan before she threw out the first pitch for the game that night.

A couple of months later we were at another game for Military Night and the kids both got to throw out a 'first pitch' ball. During the game Kayla kept looking for Dan and saying, "That my friend! He's my buddy!" After the game he came out of the locker room to meet with us for several minutes.

Before long the season ended and Dan headed home for the off-season; and to prepare for his wedding a few months later. He kept in touch with us via Facebook and I was floored when I received a message from him and his soon-to-be-wife letting me know of their plans.

In lieu of giving out wedding favors for their guests they were going to be making a donation to an organization and asked for our input on organizations that we support. I can't even tell you how touched I was by that gesture.

They used this picture of Kayla and Dan (I have to admit I cringed, cringed, when the RiverDogs gave Kayla this HOPE Week shirt at the game. Cringed that I was putting clothing on my daughter with a Yankee logo! Ha!)

They had this letter explaining their reasons for not having wedding favors and what they were doing instead. (Ultimately the donation ended up going to Research Down Syndrome when Joe ran in the Disney Half Marathon).

Sometimes you meet someone ...and you don't know how you'll make an impact on them, or how they will make an impact on you.

Thank you Dan and Laura!


 

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Mother-Son Time

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Since Lucas started Kindergarten I don't get many chances to spend time with just him anymore. I remember the same feeling after Kayla was in school and Lucas was born ... not having much mother-daughter time with Kayla. It was rare to get to spend some one-on-one time with her.

I know it's important for each child to have some alone time with each parent for that undivided attention, and while my intentions are good for trying to schedule that, I often fail at finding the time. Weekends are usually pretty packed doing things together as a family that we don't get much time to go our own ways with each child.

As preschool was winding down for Lucas I was treasuring the last few times we were able to do things together like the occasional breakfast at IHOP which was a treat for him since Kayla can't eat there.

Looking back on my time with Lucas before he started Kindergarten I feel like I didn't take advantage of all the 'free' time we had together. That I didn't get us involved in enough things. That we didn't have enough special days together exploring our community. Although Joe said it seemed like I was always telling him what Lucas and I did over the week; I look back and can't remember much of what we did!

A couple of weekends ago I had planned for us to go, as a family, to Drayton Hall since it was free for Smithsonian Museum Day. We've been to this plantation before, and while the kids aren't too interested in the house tour, it is nice to walk the grounds and take the trails by the river and the marsh walk.

Kayla ended up having a friend over to play that day and when her friend wasn't going to the plantation Kayla wanted to stay home instead. Lucas said he still wanted to go to the plantation and since Drayton Hall is part of the Charleston Explorers Club we could get the kids' passports stamped.

So Lucas and I spent a nice afternoon together; just the two of us, exploring the grounds of Drayton Hall, and counting all the large spider webs on our marsh walk. And it reminded me that I need to make more of an effort to find time for Joe-Lucas, Joe-Kayla, Me-Kayla, Me-Lucas time together!

 We thought it was pretty neat to see how this tree grew around this old railroad tie and eventually lifted it off the ground.

 

How do other families fit in time with each child to have one-on-one time with each parent?

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Little Violinists

Friday, 21 December 2012

We started out the first day of Winter Break by going to see a semi-staged production of Hansel and Gretel by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

I admit I didn't know what 'semi-staged' meant and thought it was going to be like the production of The Wiz we took the kids to see earlier this year. It wasn't quite like that; Hansel and Gretal were center stage with the orchestra behind them. While they did act out their scenes there wasn't spoken dialogue - it was all sung in mostly an opera tone. I admit I had a hard time deciphering most of the words when sung that way so it was a little hard to follow along with exactly what they were saying (singing). So the kids were a little antsy during some parts, but mostly entertained throughout - especially when the witch came on scene. Overall we all enjoyed the production.

Before the production they had an Instrument Petting Zoo where the kids could try out different instruments. I got such a kick out of watching Kayla play the violin. She seemed to really enjoy it as you can see her whole body got in to the rhythm of the music she was creating.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Lucas had fun with it too:

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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My Dancer

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Once a month downtown Charleston celebrates "Second Sunday on King Street" where the roads are closed off for foot traffic only. There are street musicians, some vendor booths, and restaurants set tables up outside.

This past Sunday we walked by a couple doing some swing dancing. Kayla was mesmerized. We had to stop and watch. Then she was just itching to get out there and dance too. After the couple finished their second dance Kayla started inching her way out there to dance. The gentleman said she could dance; I asked if he wouldn't mind dancing with her. He obliged. Kayla shined. She loved every minute of it.

I love this one - she was copying his moves with her hand on her hip and bringing her knees in and out.

 

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Boone Hall Pumpkin Patch

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

In the midst of the 21 Days of Giveaways I didn't get the chance to post these pictures from our visit to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. By the way, thanks to everyone who donated items for the giveaways. It was fun highlighting all the different products and businesses. Winners are posted on this link, as well as on the individual giveaway posts.

These are some of my favorite pictures from our visit to Boone Hall Pumpkin Patch.

 

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Dancing Under The Stars

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Last weekend the Charleston County Parks and Rec Department and the Lowcountry Special Needs Adaptive Programming Coalition hosted a night of "Dancing Under the Stars" at the Mt Pleasant Waterfront Park & Pier.

There was a threat of rain and the possibility that the dance was going to be moved to an indoor location; which just wouldn't have been as fun as dancing out on the pier. Thankfully the rain held off and it was a beautiful night with a gorgeous sunset.

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