Goodbye Summer

Things have been totally weird for lack of a better term due to the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that hit earlier this year. Cacy finished the last 3 months of her Kindergarten year at home. She enjoyed the moments of face to face contact with her class and she loved watching videos of her classmates. Also she received her Perfect Attendance Award and Promotion paperwork in the mail.

Then she spent her entire summer basically at home with us. There were very few play dates and social activities. Once we figured out a way to maneuver while being safe during the pandemic we did what we could to make the most of our summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh37ysapc-Y

She has enjoyed going to the pool and she has really started to flourish with her swim lessons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0N8riN_LiE

We took our annual family beach trip, this year with my family. We had a great time and are already talking about next year.

https://youtu.be/aryG6byR6kQ

Since Cacy has never had a summer vacation from school mom took advantage of that to the fullest. Cacy read 20 minutes and did math daily, unless she had a free day. Other days she did some sort of reading for science and social studies. Early on in the summer she really wanted to read for her classmates, so we recorded her reading her favorite chapter of her current favorite book. https://youtu.be/WxCZttJqsb4

What she has discovered is a little app called TikTok, and she is of course she is all over YouTube.

The new school year starts NEXT WEEK! We will officially have a first grader in the house. Where oh where did the time go?

The 2017-2018 Check In

It has been FOREVER (I hear this in Squint’s voice from The Sandlot over and over) since I last updated this blog. I think it’s for a very good reason. We have been super duper busy!!! I should break this down into a few posts, but I am not. You can check below to see what Cacy has been up to. - Canita (aka Mommy)

My 4th Birthday Party

 My first trip to Build a Bear

NCSU Homecoming 2017 > My first one

Homecoming 2017 was my first real trip Raleigh. I got to hang out with Toni and we had a blast. We visited Pullen Park, this place is awesome and I can’t wait to get back. Hands down it's the best park I have ever visited. I went to NCSU (my mom’s alma mater) and it was cool. GO WOLFPACK! While at State we went to the creamery on campus made with milk from the vet school called the Howling Cow. It was delicious. Of course we saw the Bell Tower because it was the perfect spot for pictures. I’m convinced that Belle from Beauty and the Beast lives to this very day.

We had our first bowling experience as a family. 

I got to see the Nut Cracker live for the first time. Because I have seen various versions of the Nut Cracker before the one thing I whispered to my mom was “They aren’t talking. Why aren’t they talking?” She told me it was because they do not speak during a ballet. I guess I thought it was more like a play, just like when we saw Madagascar.

We put on a Christmas pageant at school. It was about the 12 Days of Christmas. I listened to that song over and over and over again. I was a lady dancing.

Then we went back to Raleigh for Auntie Freda’s birthday weekend. Again it was so much fun!

Next my family went to see Black Panther. I loved it!

Then we visited Aiken for the first time since Uncle Matt, Aunt Kara, and Maura moved. We had a great time, and we are long over due for our next visit. 

We saw the Cinderella ballet at the library. You already know the library is one of my favorite places to go. 

I have started have true play dates. 
I attended what felt like a million birthday parties this year, mostly over the summer. I had a ball.

I started my swim lessons this past year. I am a work in progress, but I’m getting there, I think. 
My family attend the Sparkleberry Fair for the first time ever. 

I was able to attend the Lupus Walk for the first time with my mom in honor of my future sorority sister, Tabby (my mom’s LS).

I took my first trip to Carowinds. My mom signed me up for the free Pre-K Pass so I was able to go a couple of times this summer.

I started and ended ballet lessons, twice - not my thing.

Muffins with Mom at school

Went home and visited family several times (of course).

(Pawpaw Jerry and Grandma Vera)

Pre-pre school graduation (but not for real). I have another year before I can enroll in Kindergarten.

We went to Twilight at the Zoo. We watched Paddington 2.

Annual beach trip

Shades day at School

4th of July fireworks at Doko Park

Back to school bash at church

Panthers Fan Fest 2018

Beauty and the beast puppet show (another birthday party)

Back to Carowinds (see above)

River Banks Zoo

I finally helped daddy mow the lawn.

Whew, I am exhausted!

Cacy's 2017 Year Review (2Q)

Well frankly to be cheesy, here we grow again. Cacy is sprouting up and slimming down. Pretty soon she will be moving up the 4s classroom. I'm super excited. I'm ready for the real learning to begin. She can recognize some letters and numbers, but I want her to start writing. At home we have been working with her to write her name, but we are not teachers. So, yeah. The other day she drew her first picture - a face. I was so excited and I still am! We have been traveling this quarter, which means we are broke. So our activities are budget friendly.

I took Cacy out of ballet and gymnastics. She didn't seem to enjoy ballet and she told me one too many times she didn't want to go. So bye bye ballet. She loved going to gymnastics, but she was not great at it. I saw no progress in the four months she went. But most importantly she was not doing a good job of listening. I did not want my child disrupting the class. So we went to inactive. If her behavior gets better, we may start it up again. She has been saying she wants to do soccer and dad wants to do that too. So I guess we will see.

Here is what we have done since May to now (July):

We went to the Plex for the first time. She only did Jumping Jacks. She loved it, but it would have been better with a friend.

Lots of park visits. My favorite is Doko in Blythewood.

Sandhills Spring Concert series - two Friday's. We all know she loves to dance!

We planted tomatoes and basil!

Pool play.

For Mother's Day we went to Miyabi's again. She loves the show. We also went to the mall. This is very rare, because the mall is so far away. There is a Dave and Busters - we walked through - I see fun in the future.

We went to the Splash Pad at Sesquicentennial. She had a blast.

We attended Vacation Bible School.

We had our annual trip to the beach. She played her first game - skee ball. She took her first night walk on the beach. She got to see her first ever very awesome sand sculptures, and sand crabs. And first game of putt putt.

She attended her first birthday party!!!

We went home around July 4th and played with Sparklers.

She flew for the first time. We went to Montana!! And she was a flower girl for the first time. She went on a paddle boat for the first time and row boat for the first time. In case it's not clear, lots of firsts there!

Still more new restaurants.