to the first day of school stands at 3 days, with just one day before the Open House where the kids will meet their teachers and see their classrooms. There's a wide range of emotions being expressed, from "I'm not going to be in a class without Will/Cuyler" to "If I don't know anyone who's in my class this year I'm not going to school" to the straight to the point, "I'm not going to school". There's gonna be some good first day pictures this year!
But right now it's still summer and we kept busy the last few days. We took Bubbe on a tour of the scrapbook and rubber stamp stores in the area, 2 of which I hadn't even been to yet. We went to a book signing on Saturday where we met and hung out with a "scrapbooking celebrity" named Donna Downey. Daddy took the kids to Ray's Splash Planet where they took several trips down the 3 story high water slide. The boys also played "Guess Who's Who" with us Friday night.
They came downstairs dressed exactly alike (down to their underwear they said) and wanted us to guess who was who. Which Bubbe, Daddy and Mommy did, correctly several times. There was much "shoveling" around to try to mix us up. Mommy was even successful when the boys didn't give it away by talking. Do you know who's who??
Babysitter Bubbilicious stayed with the kids Saturday night so Mommy and Daddy could...go out...ALONE. Wow. We had dinner at Birkdale Village, checked out Barnes & Noble and then hit Target for school supplies. Each child has a list of 10-12 items they are supposed to bring to school. Along with the standard pencils and crayons, parents are requested to send in bottles of Purell, dry erase markers, reams of copy paper and Kleenex. On Ebby's list is a 2" 3-ring binder, no Trapper Keepers, no zippered binders (of course not, she already has one of those sitting in her room). When the binder rang up at $7.99 we had to draw the line. Daddy has a number of unused HIPAA binders in his office, one of them is dying to go to 3rd grade for sure! Of course all these supplies are just what's on the list for the beginning of the year. I'm sure more requests will be sent home as the year goes along. Last year Ebby's teacher requested candy and Clorox wipes. If we're not careful they'll be asking for the desks in our playroom by November...
Bubbe and the kids had fun Saturday night playing cards and cutting up magazine to make ATCs (artist trading cards). They went thru at least a dozen magazines over the course of the weekend and created many lovely cards...
Yesterday we braved the heat and humidity and visited the Carolina Raptor Center. How hot was it? It was so hot that the owls were panting...in the shade. Most everyone enjoyed our quick visit. As the volunteer was telling us about raptors Will was busy stomping on ants so Daddy took him for a walk to see the eagles. Cuyler was attentive for a while but then his navy blue long sleeved shirt that he dressed himself in apparently became too much and he turned into a whiny heap o' sweat who wouldn't move. Did I mention that it was 3pm and the Raptor Center is outside? Bubbe loved it though and is thinking about adopting one of the owls named Bob. Coincidence?? 
