Vacation!

So I did an absolutely horrible, terrible, awful job of taking pictures this vacation.  Seriously.  But hey - I enjoyed myself so that's what counts, right?

We rented a house on Fripp Island with some friends and I think the pictures that I DID take pretty much shows, we all had a great time.  We drove golf carts everywhere (one of the girls favorite parts of the trip!)

We had a few pool days.  We went shopping.  We saw LOTS of deer, a few real alligators, and of course this fake one...

And we had lots of beach days. Kate and Karsten had a blast, and so did we.  It was so nice to spend mornings at the beach and then have low-key afternoons reading while the girls napped. 

At this point in the year we all really needed a vacation, and this one did not disappoint. Lots of fun and lots of relaxing.  Fripp Island, you were good to us!

Life Lately

I kind of take a lot of pictures. :)  So the easiest way for me to do a catch up post on life around our house the past few months is to flip through my iPhone and Instagram photos and share them on here. So, here we go!

My sister and brother in law bought a house a few weeks ago. They closed on their 3rd anniversary and moved in a few days later. Kristi really wanted to update the fireplace, so she and I, along with another friend, attempted to whitewash the brick. I LOVE how it turned out (and it looks even better in person!)  I think maybe this convinced Kevin that sometimes Pinterest projects DO turn out well!

We are getting ready for a much needed vacation and one thing on my list was some meal prepping! I can't WAIT to be at the beach.

One thing about owning a home is that there are never-ending home improvement projects.  Actually, a more accurate description would probably be "home maintenance". Every spring there seems to be a million things to do.  Shout out to this guy who has tackled and finally finished the tedious and unrewarding project of our windows. We have older windows that are all wood and are starting to fall apart. We have 19 windows, and each window has 12 panes. On each window Kevin has scraped the old paint and wood putty or caulk off, re-caulked each pane, painted the windows, and then scrapped them again. Soooo time consuming, but it definitely was a necessity. I'm so thankful for a hard working husband who can get things done!

On Kate's FIRST day of summer, we decided to take the kids to Sonic to get ice cream after dinner.  Kate chose a slushy.  Pretty sure they enjoyed it.

Last week I got to the office one morning and as I was checking my email, I realized that I'd only taken my nail polish off of 9 of my fingers.  It was only Wednesday, but clearly it had already been a long week!

Last Thursday, after running errands we decided to go to our downtown area. On Thursday nights our town shows movies in the city park, and on this night they were supposed to be showing Moana.  Well, it seemed like about 50,000 other people had the same idea as us so we decided to skip it. Plus, apparently the movie wasn't going to start until dark... which isn't until about 9:15pm. No thank you. We walked around for a bit though and the kids had fun.

We're in the middle of transitioning Karsten to a big-girl bed, and her mattress arrived in the mail this week. She was so proud of this bed!  We've put it on the floor in her room for now and she has slept on it successfully about 2 of the last 6 days.

Speaking of that big girl bed, I found a Jenny Lind twin bed on Craigslist for $30 - a steal!  It had already been painted, but it needed a fresh coat. I've put a few coats of white on now and just need to seal it so that Karsten actually has a bed to put her mattress on. 

Way back in December, a few people in my family bought tickets to see the Broadway play Lion King the next time it came to town. Well, that was this past weekend! I saw it about 4 years ago the last time they came through, but Kate was too little to go.  This time, we felt like she would do well, and she did! She loved it and I loved getting to do this with my big girl.

After the play, we walked outside and who did we see but Poppy from Trolls!

This weekend we ran by Golf Galaxy to see if Kevin could find a new hat. He stuck this one on (jokingly) and I told him he looked like a Rickie Fowler wanna be. He couldn't keep a straight face!  And in case you're wondering, we did not buy the hat. 

I've been reading a book that friend from church gifted me for Mother's day called Chosen for Greatness. It is SO good. Each chapter is about someone famous who was adopted. I'm not quite finished with it, but if you're considering adoption, I'd definitely recommend it!  Here's a quote from the beginning: 

Future Crest Spokesmodel

I did SO well in keeping up with my blog for the last couple of months.  And then... silence.  Why?  Well, Life.

Whew.

End of school year craziness.  Work craziness.  Getting ready for vacation craziness.

However, I can't miss documenting this little milestone - Karsten's first trip to the dentist.

So a little backstory.  I took Kate to the dentist the first time when she was around 18 months because she had a mouth full of teeth.  We get to the dentist and.... she doesn't open her mouth. Nothing.  They were super nice and showed her all of the tools, and said to try to come back in 6 months. Apparently that's pretty typical and kids just need to get used to all of the weird stuff.  So 6 months later we're back and Kate is sitting in the dentist chair and.... she still won't open her mouth.  Won't even let them LOOK.  6 months later, same thing.  FINALLY when she was closer to 3 years old, Kevin took her to the dentist and she let them do their thing! She's been fine since then. So because of that experience, I haven't been in a huge rush to take Karsten for the first time. We brush her teeth well and she has plenty of space, so we haven't really had a need.

However, Karsten found out that Kate had a dentist appointment one day and was crushed that she did not get to go to the dentist.  For weeks after Kate's appointment, Karsten would ask when she got to go to the dentist.  So I made her an appointment.

Most people don't particularly love the dentist.  Some people even hate the dentist.  But y'all.  I have never seen a kid more excited for the dentist in my entire life than this girl was.  It's like we were going to Disney.

And her appointment was at 7am!!

I thought when we got there, she might change her tune.  Nope. She was pumped.  The only little hiccup was when they raised the chair. She got caught off guard a little and was a tiny bit concerned when her chair started to raise. Once she realized what was happening though, it was smooth sailing. 

She did great "opening her mouth like a shark" and letting the hygienist clean her teeth.  Then the dentist came in, counted her teeth, told her she was doing great, and we were on our way!

Dentist visit #1 went great, and she is already asking to go back.  At least we're starting out on the right foot!

Kindergarten Graduate

It seems like every day there is just one more thing happening that is further proof that our kids are growing up.  Today was one of those days.  Years are FLYING past, and it seems like just yesterday that Kevin and I were waiting and praying for a phone call from our adoption agency, to let us know that a birth family had selected us to parent their child.  In reality, all of that waiting and praying happened nearly SIX years ago.  Where has the time gone? 

And that baby we prayed for?  Well, she is now a kindergarten graduate. 

Cue the tears. 

She knows all of her letters, knows the letter sounds and the combination sounds.  She can READ, y'all.  I mean I remember learning to do that in first grade. And the books we read in first grade were things like "See Spot run. Spot can run fast."  She is legit reading, and I'm so proud of her!  It's also a little scary. Kevin and I have basically had to stop spelling things in front of her when we're trying to "code" our talk, because it doesn't work! She figures it out.

She has learned MATH.  She can count to a hundred.  She can also add and subtract double digit numbers with single digit numbers in her head.  (For example 47 + 8 = 55)

Her school didn't have a kindergarten graduation (with caps and gowns) like I remember having as a kid, but they did have a K5 awards program a few days before school got out. Kevin and I were able to both be there.  The kids sang a song at the beginning, and after all of the big awards were given out, we were all able to go back to the individual classes and the teachers handed out some additional awards.  Kate was given the award for being an All Star at Circle Time.  As her teacher explained, Kate ALWAYS has an answer to whatever it is they are discussing, even if it is neuroscience. Sounds about right to me.  Anytime Kevin and I try to tell her something, she say "I already know that!" 

She loves her school, and so do we.  Kevin and I had NO idea what elementary schools were great in our area. We debated private schools, but in the end, we decided to stay with the public school we are zoned for, and I am so glad we did. Kate had two awesome teachers, who loved her and gave her so many life-skills, even beyond reading and writing. 

I know this post has been a bit picture-heavy, but here is just one more.  From her first day to her last day, she has grown so much. And now, on to first grade.  But first, summertime!